The Board Game Thread

[TordelBack]

...it's quite expensive and I don't think I'd get much opportunity to play it.

That's always the equation alright: I don't mind taking a punt on something cheap with the possibility that I won't get to play it more than once, but when you're looking at the higher price stuff I need to know that I'm going to be playing it at least several times a year, for a few years at least.  Otherwise it just becomes embarrassing, a big box sitting there on the shelf reminding you of your foolishness.

That said, on Saturday I saw copies of Carcassonne and Catan in a regular toy shop  - I've heard of such things in other lands, but never here.  Got to be good news, set against the tide of tablet-and-phone-based games.

[JamesC]

There's certainly a rising wave of popularity with these types of games. Even Waterstone's has quite a large selection at the moment.

[GrinningChimera]

Man I wish I had someone to play some board games with. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find nerds around here....

well around here as in where I live... Obviously there are plenty of em on the board

[pauljholden]

Starwars arrived yay!

Play testing with the kids tonight. Will let you know how it goes...

[TordelBack]

Hilarious game of in-house Munchkin last night, which I won.  That's a first. 

Games (with the vanilla deck) seem to take almost exactly an hour, including interruptions and rules deliberations, so they're wonderfully frantic and do-able on a school night.  There is a small issue with my dishonourable opponents not reading right to the end of their cards before playing them, which results in the odd fracas, but we've instituted a house-rule where the person in the process of defeating a monster counts out-loud to three-onethousand before declaring victory and slapping the cards to seal the deal, which allows younger folk a bit more time to make a decision about what to play.

Really a very satisfying game - particularly enjoyed playing the ostensibly harmless cards which allow a player to bypass a monster in a hostile fashion to deny my enemies their levelling.  Never seem to be enough monster cards though - not enough in our hands or in the face-up draw - so that there are parts of the game where no fighting at all takes place and everyone keeps drawing unwanted races (we're very conservative here - once people settle on a race, they like to stick to it unless they get Half-Breed).  Or are we just being unlucky with the shuffle?

EDIT: two very entertaining rules arguments centered on whether a Wannabe Vampire counts as Undead (it does not) and whether a Gazebo actually counts as a monster for the purposes of levelling, since it's more of a landscaping feature (it does).

[pauljholden]

Star wars miniatures game with Nathan(9) and Thomas(5)

Essentially, I boiled the rules down a bit to:
Move (normal rules apply) then shoot (normal rules apply)
(We skipped harder features like picking an action/barrel rolls/etc, though once I've got them firm on the basics they should be alright on the more advanced rules).

I gave them the best tie fighters (there's two tie fighters in the base set) and me the worst x-wing pilot.

Takes long to setup (getting everything out of the box, assembling the fighters, figuring out where the hell the movement rulers are underneath all the other bits) and plays very quickly (20 minutes is the longest we've played for-though it should play quicker, I drew two critical hits destroying my entire ship in two shots).

They really enjoy it, I keep bending the rules though, letting tom roll an extra defence, flying my ship (stupidly) in their line of fire.

Even at that, it's still fun to play (I just pretend I'm Porkins)

Looking forward to playing it properly with an adult though, and then I can accept ignominious defeat purely because I'm rubbish at games and not because I'm not letting the kids win...

[judgerufian]

Has anyone still got a copy of the old Games Workshop game 'Warlock'? I only played it one summer years ago and it has left an impression on me as the ultimate board game when we were in the midst of playing Talisman with its expansions, D&D and of course, the Judge Dredd board game.

Yep,its a great wee game. In fact i might have two!

Oooo, fancy selling it? I've been after a copy for years!

I'll check the condition etc...think i bought a second copy cus my original was getting tatty...if it's all there i am sure we can come to an arrangement

#Send me a PM if its in a saleable condition! Many thanks for checking!

[Judo]

Good to hear Catan is getting about. Once played Cakes of Catan and it was pretty much the best thing ever. Lands were cupcakes, roads were chocolate fingers and castles were wine gums. Mmm let me eat your army x x x

[Theblazeuk]

Genius.

[Satanist]

School hols this weekend so if its a rainy day then gonna try a game of Zombies!!! with the kids. I know before I even start its gonna end in tears but theyve been hasseling me ever since they saw the box.

[Timothy]

...it's quite expensive and I don't think I'd get much opportunity to play it.

That's always the equation alright: I don't mind taking a punt on something cheap with the possibility that I won't get to play it more than once, but when you're looking at the higher price stuff I need to know that I'm going to be playing it at least several times a year, for a few years at least.  Otherwise it just becomes embarrassing, a big box sitting there on the shelf reminding you of your foolishness.

That said, on Saturday I saw copies of Carcassonne and Catan in a regular toy shop  - I've heard of such things in other lands, but never here.  Got to be good news, set against the tide of tablet-and-phone-based games.

I find that tablet and phone games have really boosted my interest in boardgaming. There are some great conversions out there at a fraction of the price of their cardboard equivalents. I've often used ios conversions to test the water with an unknown game before buying the "proper" set for the family.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

OOOOOOhhh!

Just remembered I've a Dredd boardgame in my parents' loft. One for me and my boys this long weekend.

[TordelBack]

Good to hear Catan is getting about. Once played Cakes of Catan and it was pretty much the best thing ever. Lands were cupcakes, roads were chocolate fingers and castles were wine gums. Mmm let me eat your army x x x

Different colour icing for each terrain type!  Brilliant!  You'd have to use those mini-Fingers rather than the regular ones, I assume, otherwise the cupcakes would have to be massive (all 30 of them  )... not that that's necessarily a problem.  Oh I so want to make this happen here - great idea for a (very) small party.

[Ancient Otter]

The Book Depository sell X-Wing and other Fantasy Flight Games games, if you have no qualms about ordering from them, so free postage and a discount if you want to save as much as you can if you get sucked in.

[The Bissler]

OOOOOOhhh!

Just remembered I've a Dredd boardgame in my parents' loft. One for me and my boys this long weekend.

Yeah, I'm dusting off an old JD board game tomorrow for a game.  I haven't played it in about 20 years so it will be a real nostalgia trip.  I'll take some pics and post 'em up tomorrow night!