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The Board Game Thread

Started by radiator, 21 February, 2014, 03:13:04 PM

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radiator

Though there's a few things I have my eye on - The Iron Throne (a Game of Thrones themed reskin of Cosmic Encounter), Hero Realms and Dead Last, I'm on a moratorium of buying any new games at the moment - I buy far more than I can actually play. I did pick up the cheaper, plastic version of Flick 'Em Up! just before Christmas - looks really fun, can't wait to play it.

One that I did get to play a bit over Christmas was A Game of Thrones: Hand of the King. It's a really light, casual card-collecting game where you move Varys around a grid of 36 character cards trying to collect family sets (Stark, Targaryen, Lannister, Tyrell etc), occasionally triggering special character cards (usually characters with no particular affiliation - The Hound, Jon Snow, Brienne etc) that grant the ability to 'kill' or steal certain characters to tip the balance of the game.

The theme works really well, though the game can easily be enjoyed by non-fans, and is based on the books rather than the TV show (so features many book-only characters and House Greyjoy are featured prominently). I love the presentation and bold, stylised character artwork (which is, again, based on the character descriptions from the books rather than their TV counterparts). Best of all, its cheap (think I paid about $10 for my copy) and the box the game comes in is tiny so its easily transportable.

Strong recommend.


Timothy

I've just seen that Termight replicas are bringing out some 2000ad character meeples next month. Very tempted indeed.

The Enigmatic Dr X

I'd love a 2000ad boardgame of some kind. These things have moved on so much since the 80s, there must be space for one. Even if it was crowd-funded, to gauge support, I'd be well up for it.
Lock up your spoons!

sheridan

Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 23 January, 2017, 06:32:27 PM
I'd love a 2000ad boardgame of some kind. These things have moved on so much since the 80s, there must be space for one. Even if it was crowd-funded, to gauge support, I'd be well up for it.

Definitely a gap in the market.  I wonder how many people still play Block Mania (I'm going to guess now that Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper don't have the replayability as Block Mania and Mega Mania).

sheridan

Quote from: sheridan on 23 January, 2017, 07:57:14 PM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 23 January, 2017, 06:32:27 PM
I'd love a 2000ad boardgame of some kind. These things have moved on so much since the 80s, there must be space for one. Even if it was crowd-funded, to gauge support, I'd be well up for it.

Definitely a gap in the market.  I wonder how many people still play Block Mania (I'm going to guess now that Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper don't have the replayability as Block Mania and Mega Mania).

p.s. the last game of BM I played was about a year or two ago.

The Enigmatic Dr X

I remember making up my own Mean Team game.
Lock up your spoons!

sheridan

Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 23 January, 2017, 08:24:26 PM
I remember making up my own Mean Team game.

Ooh  - Blood Bowl-esque?

The Enigmatic Dr X

Quote from: sheridan on 24 January, 2017, 12:19:00 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 23 January, 2017, 08:24:26 PM
I remember making up my own Mean Team game.

Ooh  - Blood Bowl-esque?

Yep. And you could booby trap buildings. I sent it to Games Workshop and got a polite reply. I'd have been, ooh, 10 maybe
Lock up your spoons!

sheridan

Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 24 January, 2017, 07:19:02 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 24 January, 2017, 12:19:00 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 23 January, 2017, 08:24:26 PM
I remember making up my own Mean Team game.

Ooh  - Blood Bowl-esque?

Yep. And you could booby trap buildings. I sent it to Games Workshop and got a polite reply. I'd have been, ooh, 10 maybe

Now I'm remembering the initial set-up of Mean Team (with the block of buildings in an arena) I'm thinking of Necromunda...

I, Cosh

Played Star Wars Rebellion on Saturday.

Well. I say we played it. What actually happened was that we started setting it up around 5 o'clock. By the time dinner was ready at half eight, we'd managed to set up the board, sort out the various decks of cards, play half of the first turn and everyone was already half pissed.

The chef and game-owner made an executive decision to move on to playing poker , which wasn't as much fun, and I don't think it will ever be completed.

The game looks beautiful (I was easily able to spot my opponents trying to award themselves a starting Super Star Destroyer rather than the officially sanctioned Star Destroyer) and the later phases of the first round did start to give an indication of how it should play tactically. Make  sure you block out the whole day for a game and maybe don't start drinking until halfway through and it could be good.
We never really die.

Satanist

I REALLY like the look of that but it's the length of gameplay that's putting me off. I played Game of Thrones before which including board set up lasted about 6 hours, everyone drunk and pissed off by the end of it at about 2am.

Played Star Trek Catan at the weekend which was my first experience of any Catan game. Really enjoyed it and the wee ship pieces (roads?) are lovely.
Hmm, just pretend I wrote something witty eh?

Colin YNWA

Funny you should mention Game of Thrones board game. I'm looking for ideas.

My wife has just started reading and loving the books and isn't ready for the telly show yet (she wants to finish the novels first) and its her birthday soon. So I thought for something a bit different we could get a board game 'I bet there's a good Game of Thrones' one ... but its says for three people and since we're not big games and don't know anyone who is I'd like it to be 2 player so we can play it together at home.

So all that context can someone recommend a good game for two people for someone who likes Games of Thrones that's quite straightforward for new games...

... I know not much to ask!

Satanist

Not played these but there is Game of Thrones - Hand of the King a card game for 2-4 players by Fantasy Flight who are usually reliable.

Or Game of Thrones Cluedo? I think its the Imp, in the cludgie with the crossbow!

Or theres a Risk themed one as well.

Hmm, just pretend I wrote something witty eh?

sheridan

Well, Munchkin Apocalypse: Judge Dredd is supposed to have been released, though I checked out Orc's Nest and Forbidden Planet and there's not a sign.  May have to take a trip to Leisure Games at some point...

radiator

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 February, 2017, 08:14:11 AM
Funny you should mention Game of Thrones board game. I'm looking for ideas.

My wife has just started reading and loving the books and isn't ready for the telly show yet (she wants to finish the novels first) and its her birthday soon. So I thought for something a bit different we could get a board game 'I bet there's a good Game of Thrones' one ... but its says for three people and since we're not big games and don't know anyone who is I'd like it to be 2 player so we can play it together at home.

So all that context can someone recommend a good game for two people for someone who likes Games of Thrones that's quite straightforward for new games...

... I know not much to ask!

Hand of the King, definitely. Very compact, affordable and simple game with great artwork and a little strategy. Plays well with 2-4 players, and my girlfriend (who is a really tough sell for trying new games) likes it. See my more detailed description a few posts back.

I'd also tentatively recommend The Rose King, a simple 2 player game that plays like a cross between checkers and a card game. It isn't an official Game of Thrones product, but like the novels is based on the War of the Roses and is clearly going for a GoT vibe with it's packaging.



I'm in the same boat regarding the A Game of Thrones board game - I'd love to play it, and have been tempted to buy it in the past, but I know I'd never have the time and/or willing people to play it with me. However, I did recently pick up A Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne, a new game by the same company (Fantasy Flight). It's a slightly modified re-skin of a very long-running, highly regarded board game called Cosmic Encounter and looks like a lot of fun (I haven't played it yet). It's based on the TV show rather than the books and looks like a good middle ground between the lightness of Hand of the King and the A Game of Thrones board game in terms of complexity and game length. It seems like a very social game revolving around bargaining and backstabbing, which seems to fit the theme great, though it's minimum 3 players and apparently plays best with 5. There's an expansion coming out this summer that adds the Greyjoy and Martell houses.