[Gaming] Board Game Praise

[Krisken]

Woot!

Apparently Wil Wheaton won the Catan tournament. The heavy set dude on the left is a guy who is part of the Milwaukee gaming club. Played some games with him about a month ago, real cool cat.

http://instagram.com/p/dDua8DOjf7/

 

[Frank]

My friend gave me a complete and near mint Hero Quest box.

I haven't set eyes on that game since I was in grade 6.

 

[Krisken]

Did I mention I've been playing Android: Netrunner? Good gravy, this game is intense! No matter whether you are playing the Corporation or the Runner, you always think to yourself "Gah, if only I had X, I woulda won!".

Kinda nice to have a game I can play to feed my old CCG (LCG, all cards are released together without rarity disparity) for a fraction of the price.

 

[Shawn]

Wolsung: The Boardgame -
Based on a German steampunk RPG of the same name, the board game gives you the title of a master inventor who is competing in the world's fair. Every turn you designate which of three combines your allotted workers are shipped off to, and on certain turns; one, two or all three of the combines produce a static number of materials. The number of workers you assigned to a combine determines your priority in selecting materials from what that combine produced that turn. Priority basically gives you the best pick of what is available in wood, iron, coal, glass and gold. Those materials can then be used to buy/create machines from the design office which cycle through very quickly. The machines require different materials in different combinations to create, and each one has a point score allotted to it. As the game goes on the designs become more complicated and require more materials but are worth more points as a result. Each player also has a secret objective card that tells them what the judges will be awarding extra points for, such as machines of a certain type, or designs from a particular country.
It feels like a rather ineffective substitute for Power Grid.
It's okay, but in the end I found I was a little annoyed by having to count up all the worker chips from 4 players as a combine was opened. I'm sure someone who can mentally keep track of the number of workers each player has put into a combine over a certain set of turns will be very good at this game. Gold also becomes very useless during the last half of the game, as it's only ever used in upgrading your workshops. But after you've upgraded everything it's only use is to be converted into other materials, which is done 2 >1.
I did not have as much fun with this one.

 

[Covar]

I played Terra Mystica for the first time Tuesday. Wound up winning so yay me! It's a resource management game, plenty of complexity. I enjoyed it.

 

[Bowielee]

FYI, the Ipad versions of Elder Signs and Forbidden Isle are pretty damn good. They allow for solo or pass and play/group play.

 

[Shawn]

Lords of Waterdeep: I'm floored by how fun this game is and how it really challenges you to make the most of your moves. Even though it's based on D&D, I think anyone who enjoys a good resource management game will have a blast with this one. It's takes the concept of your typical D&D adventure, which usually would involve a warrior, rogue, wizard, priest, etc setting off on an adventure, and pulls outward a bit and puts you in control of the people who send the adventurers on their quests in the first place. Lords of Waterdeep challenges players by pitting them against each other in a race to take greater influence over the city of Waterdeep through the use of quest completion, troop management, building ownership, and intrigue.

I highly recommend that if you want to know more about this game you watch the Tabletop episode featuring it.

 

[AshburnerX]

Yeah, I saw that on Tabletop a few weeks back. Looked pretty great.

 

[Krisken]

Got notification the expansion for Eminent Domain is on the slow boat to the states, which means it will probably be early December when I get it. So excited for this expansion!

Also got notification A Study In Emerald has shipped, but who knows how long it will take as it's being sent on a slow boat from Europe. GAH! I so want to play these games.


I did get to play Manhattan Project, which is excellent with 3 players, though make sure the people you play with read the rules. I got screwed twice because the person playing it and another player couldn't properly read their cards or didn't know how Plutonium bombs worked. Still want to play it again and I think I'll curb stop 'em the next time we play.

 

[Krisken]

Oooh, nice! That there is one pricey game, and if it wasn't well out of my acceptable price range I would have been interested in it.

 

[Gryfter]

Been playing a lot of Descent: Journeys in the Dark V2 lately. Very fun little dungeon crawler.

 

[Krisken]

Descent is little?!? The game is HUGE!

I agree, great game

 

[Krisken]

Ok, what I meant to post here (and not the other thread), I'll be playtesting a game for Plaid Hat. Really looking forward to trying it out and giving my feedback

 

[Hailey Knight]

I went through this thread trying to find a good game for my aunts and cousins to play with us, but I feel like everything they don't already have is too complicated. Not for the kids necessarily, but the adults . I just usually get them a board game for Christmas and it feels like nothing between boring and complex has come out this year. A lot of these look fun, but I just feel like older people who never played stuff like D&D would be lost. I got the kids into Munchkin at least.

I'd get Cards Against Humanity, but the kids are only 11. That'll have to be a friend circle game.

 

[Shawn]

I went through this thread trying to find a good game for my aunts and cousins to play with us, but I feel like everything they don't already have is too complicated. Not for the kids necessarily, but the adults . I just usually get them a board game for Christmas and it feels like nothing between boring and complex has come out this year. A lot of these look fun, but I just feel like older people who never played stuff like D&D would be lost. I got the kids into Munchkin at least.

I'd get Cards Against Humanity, but the kids are only 11. That'll have to be a friend circle game.

I'd try Settlers of Catan. I've heard a lot of people use that as a "gateway drug" for board games. Its simple enough to be easy to pick up, but shows how board games can be more than just rolling dice and moving spaces.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I'd try Settlers of Catan. I've heard a lot of people use that as a "gateway drug" for board games. Its simple enough to be easy to pick up, but shows how board games can be more than just rolling dice and moving spaces.

Reading about it, it looks simpler than I realized, but with flexibility to become more complex if you want a more advanced game. I could probably convince them to give it a try by saying it's similar to Monopoly, but with less arguing. Thanks, man.

 

[Krisken]

I went through this thread trying to find a good game for my aunts and cousins to play with us, but I feel like everything they don't already have is too complicated. Not for the kids necessarily, but the adults . I just usually get them a board game for Christmas and it feels like nothing between boring and complex has come out this year. A lot of these look fun, but I just feel like older people who never played stuff like D&D would be lost. I got the kids into Munchkin at least.

I'd get Cards Against Humanity, but the kids are only 11. That'll have to be a friend circle game.

For Sale, No Thanks, Wits and Wagers. All these are great party games for adults which kids can play too.

 

[Dei]

My parents are terrible at learning complex games, but love the shit out of Ticket to Ride.

 

[Krisken]

That's a great one too.

Tsuro is very simple tile game no one ever gets mad when playing.

 

[Shawn]

Reading about it, it looks simpler than I realized, but with flexibility to become more complex if you want a more advanced game. I could probably convince them to give it a try by saying it's similar to Monopoly, but with less arguing. Thanks, man.

As mentioned above, Ticket to Ride is also a good starter game.
We tried Settlers on my parents in law who don't typically play much in the way of board games. But they did get the hang of it very quickly.
The basic game is for 4 players only. You can pick up the 6-player expansion set that gives you more tiles/cards/pieces to even it out for two additional players.
There is a Tabletop episode for Settlers as well.

 

[Bubble181]

Monopoly, but with less arguing.

I hope your parents/aunts aren't real bargainers then, as Settlers can get quite lively

 

[Hailey Knight]

As mentioned above, Ticket to Ride is also a good starter game.
We tried Settlers on my parents in law who don't typically play much in the way of board games. But they did get the hang of it very quickly.
The basic game is for 4 players only. You can pick up the 6-player expansion set that gives you more tiles/cards/pieces to even it out for two additional players.
There is a Tabletop episode for Settlers as well.

Oh, I didn't know it was 4 players. 6 players is kind of the minimum for our familial situation. Not sure I want to grab the expansion for a Christmas present either when the full game is untested on them. I'll have to think about this.

 

[Krisken]

Tsuro plays 8.

King of Tokyo is a great 2-6 player game, a push your luck dice rolling king of the hill game.

For Sale plays up to 6.

Wits and Wagers plays 3-7.

 

[Shawn]

Oh, I didn't know it was 4 players. 6 players is kind of the minimum for our familial situation. Not sure I want to grab the expansion for a Christmas present either when the full game is untested on them. I'll have to think about this.

The expansion isn't too much more. Just make sure that you note which expansion you're getting. You want the 5-6 player expansion for the standard game.
There are other expansions like the Seafarers expansion. But that only only includes the pieces for the four player game. There is a 5-6 player expansion available for each traditional expansion.
Seems like kind of money sink, but at $16 bucks for the 5-6 player expansions they aren't that unaffordable.[DOUBLEPOST=1382757363,1382757124][/DOUBLEPOST]Tabletop just finished up their 2-part Betrayal At House On The Hill video. Ended typically how most sessions of that game do. TPK.

 

[Krisken]

Betrayal is good, but woe is the person who goes into it and doesn't know to look up the rule book changes online. That book is a MESS.

Oh, and really? Almost all the games of Betrayal in my group ends with the party winning and the betrayer a broken heap of fail.

 

[AshburnerX]

Betrayal is good, but woe is the person who goes into it and doesn't know to look up the rule book changes online. That book is a MESS.

Oh, and really? Almost all the games of Betrayal in my group ends with the party winning and the betrayer a broken heap of fail.

There are two versions of Betrayal. The first edition and the second edition, which has the fixed rules. The one with the fixed rules is this box (The Green one). Don't get the red one with the crazy people on it.

 

[Krisken]

I finally won a game of Love Letter Such a fun little game, and I look forward to the re-theme which is supposedly samurai themed.

 

[Dubyamn]

I finally won a game of Love Letter Such a fun little game, and I look forward to the re-theme which is supposedly samurai themed.

My girlfriend loves love letter. We always reduce the number of tokens you need to win since their suggested ones make the game grow a little long in the tooth but it is fun.

Just played my second game of Formula De. A great racing game that I'm apparently some kind of Savant at.

 

[Krisken]

My girlfriend loves love letter. We always reduce the number of tokens you need to win since their suggested ones make the game grow a little long in the tooth but it is fun.

Just played my second game of Formula De. A great racing game that I'm apparently some kind of Savant at.

I found a re-theme on Boardgame Geek which is Adventure Time. I'm seriously thinking of printing those off and using those instead.

 

[phil]

So my best friend since 2nd grade just launched the kickstarter for his game 2 rooms and a boom! Sit down and shut up, the boardgame division of Penny Arcade, called it game of the year material! Super excited!

 

[Shawn]

There are two versions of Betrayal. The first edition and the second edition, which has the fixed rules. The one with the fixed rules is this box (The Green one). Don't get the red one with the crazy people on it.

What? Why not the red box! I think it's great to have the underground lake in the attic!

 

[Krisken]

Yup, we have the green box version, but funnily the box is red. Wow, that was annoying being on the top floor last night and ending up in the basement!

 

[Krisken]

Plaid Hat put out a podcast on the game I'm helping playtest, Dead of Winter.

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/podcast/112

 

[Hailey Knight]

Update: I ended up buying my family Dixit and Resistance for Christmas. The Tabletop video for Resistance was hilarious and I can already see it being a great time for the group. I'm glad you guys kept mentioning Tabletop; now I have a new show to watch that's both entertaining and informative.

Though for us we got Forbidden Island, and with some good thinking and a little luck, we won our first game. I don't expect things to go so well next time, but it was a lot of fun.

 

[Krisken]

Forbidden Island is a lot of fun. I think Forbidden Desert is a little better, though. Both are great games.

Dixit is a blast and is great for introducing to non-gamers. You could get parents and grandparents to play that one.