The Board Game Thread

[Andrew_J]

Why am I only seeing this thread now? I'm a boardgamer & RPGer who was really lucky enough to find a weekly local gaming group with really eclectic tastes and have gotten to play a huge variety of games over the past 5 years.

When I started reading the thread the first recommendation that sprang to mind was Ticket to Ride so I'm delighted to see that you've just ordered it. Its a great all-rounder game that is easy to introduce first timers yet complex enough to make repeat play enjoyable. I'd say that every friend and relative I've introduced that game to has gone on to buy their own copy. Good choice! Ditto Turso.

You've obviously been doing your research too as the "for consideration" list you've posted is a really good selection. Of those my absolute favourite is Pandemic. Its such a brilliant, thrilling game to play with real tension as the stakes increase particularly as you're working together against the game. Dominion is fun too but is essentially a solo game you play with other people. King of Tokyo as someone mentioned is a great trash game; fast and fun without a massive amount of in depth analysis required. I'd highly recommend it.

Any of the above games you've highlighted are suitable for two players but just as easily accommodate 4-6 when you have visitors. I'd hold off on 7 Wonders until you have a gang of experienced gamers to play with. It can wreck your head first time out if you're trying to explain it to absolute beginners.

[Dark Jimbo]

I could have sworn I'd already done a post about this, but it seems not. I have to give a shout-out to Discworld: Ankh Morpork - having got it for Christmas, I've already lost count of the number of games we've played in my house since then. It's very much a firm favourite.

(I have to stress first off, you do not need to have read the books. Obviously you'll get a lot more from the game if you have, but the Discworld connection is window-dressing, really - the various characters could just as easily have been created for the game and it wouldn't change anything. Of the six or seven people I've played with, only two have read any of the books, but everyone loves the game.)



You play as one of seven possible different factions vying for control of the city. It's all about gaining control of city areas, collecting revenues, constructing buildings and infiltrating your minions as far throughout the city as possible, while muscling out (or assasinating) the opposition. Like all the best games the actual turns are very simple - from a hand of five cards, you pick one to play, and do what it says on it. Then draw back up to five cards. The only thing that initially takes a bit of time is learning the symbols on the cards (may take you a few games) - nothing else is particularly complicated.

The genius comes from the fact that your victory aims are different every time, depending on who you pick to play as. One of the characters is trying to collect a certain amount of money; another is trying to run down the card deck; one needs to gain majority control of a certain number of areas; one simply needs to cause as much chaos as possible. So as well as trying to achieve this, you're also trying to guess who the other players are and throw a spanner in their plans if possible. It also means you're never quite sure when the game's going to end, as you're never sure how close everyone is to achieving their aims. I now know the game so well that I have great fun subtly pretending to play as another character to draw the attention away from what I'm really trying to do.

It's really well paced, too - the latter cards begin to allow for more assassinations and sabotage, and there's a huge increase in the number of random events (can be anything from earthquakes, fires, demon infestations, riots or dragon attacks). So the longer the games lasts, the crazier and more chaotic it gets. And it looks absolutely beautiful - the cards, the board and even the box are really well designed.

[Andrew_J]

I've just ordered some games for an event we're putting on at work.
One that came highly recommended was Love Letter. It's a card game for 2 or more players and is apparently brilliant, strategic and easy to learn. Only takes 20-30 minutes to play too.

I also ordered an X-Wing core set for some quick dog fights, Carcassonne, Munchkin and a few other bits that I can't remember.

JamesC just beat me to it! I was going to add Love Letter and some other card and dice games as cheap and portable 2 player games, Zombie Dice, Gloom and Tessen being three that are great craic.

And if you can convince your missus to play, Memoir 44 is made for two players and allows you to play with toy soldiers without going Full Warhammer 40K.

Don't buy Cards Against Humanity if you want to stay in a relationship with your other half though...

[radiator]

I also ordered an X-Wing core set for some quick dog fights, Carcassonne, Munchkin and a few other bits that I can't remember.

Ah, yes - someone was telling me about Munchkin the other day - must check it out, Love Letter too.

Carcassonne is just endlessly brilliant. We had an epic all dayer in the pub just before we left England and it was awesome. The two expansions I have shake things up just enough to make for interesting games - in particular Inns and Cathedrals, which make for a much nastier, more competitive game - leading a friend to dub the game 'Carcasshole'.

Don't buy Cards Against Humanity if you want to stay in a relationship with your other half though...

Yeah, I've seen that game around - probably not for me.

[TordelBack]

...Inns and Cathedrals, which make for a much nastier, more competitive game - leading a friend to dub the game 'Carcasshole'.

Inns & Cathedrals really does add a bit of savagery to the game, a great expansion: the tension of playing for a Cathedral!  The pack-in River expansion does my head in, though: I'm this close to amending the source-tile with a sharpie so that it's impossible to claim a mega-farm if you go first. We seldom use it as things stand.

What I love about Carcasonne (and indeed Cataan) is the all-ages appeal. We can have properly competitive games of both with my 7-yr old, and have for more than a year.  Although I must admit to a Carcasonne house rule, whereby players are expected to make decisions with an eye to the aesthetics of the end game - if your drawn tile is no earthly use to you, but would finish off a magnificent sprawling city belonging to an opponent, you are obliged to make the right choice for the sake of the final board.  Failure to do so will result in tutting and punitive tile placement by your opponents.  No-one wants to leave an ugly board after all.

[Emp]

Ah, never mind - I misremembered, it was James Stacey!

Would really appreciate if anyone has any suggestions for games along the lines of Carcassonne - ie easy to pick up and quick to play - looking to expand my collection a bit.

I've listed a few at the start of the thread that meet the "pick up and play" part.

[radiator]

Inns & Cathedrals really does add a bit of savagery to the game, a great expansion: the tension of playing for a Cathedral!  The pack-in River expansion does my head in, though: I'm this close to amending the source-tile with a sharpie so that it's impossible to claim a mega-farm if you go first. We seldom use it as things stand.

Also how the Cathedral tile basically becomes a means of nuking a rival's city towards the end of the game. It can get quite bitter.

We haven't encountered the river/farmer problem as we're only just now getting our heads round how farmers actually work. I just like the river because it makes for a more interesting start to the game and makes for a more pleasing board. I've also only just realised that I've been playing with the wrong rules all along - giving the full score for an unfinished city - oops.

Also, if anyone can explain to me how the 'builder' meeple from the 'Traders and Builders' expansion works I'd be very grateful - I've read and reread the instructions several times and can't make head nor tail of it.

What I love about Carcasonne (and indeed Cataan) is the all-ages appeal. We can have properly competitive games of both with my 7-yr old, and have for more than a year.

Yep - we had my sister and her family visiting recently, and they all loved Carcassonne - my sister said that when they went to bed after playing for the first time, their nine year old (who is usually surgically attached to his iPad and headphones) was already asking if we could play again the following night. Great stuff!

[shaolin_monkey]

Anyone remember this?




Freaking awesome game! Work your way up the sail barge knocking Gamorrean Guards into the gaping maw below!  Me and the kids had fun with it until a chance elbow knocked the barge and caused everyone to be slowly digested over a thousand years.

[Andrew_J]

Freaking awesome game! Work your way up the sail barge knocking Gamorrean Guards into the gaping maw below!  Me and the kids had fun with it until a chance elbow knocked the barge and caused everyone to be slowly digested over a thousand years.

Vintage! Looks brilliant.

[Andrew_J]

Moving slightly tangentially from boardgames to role playing games I reckon its about 23 years since I last played this. It was one of my favourite RPGs in college. Must dust it off and see if the lads in my gaming group are interested in giving it a spin.

[Emp]

Currently playing through "Judgement Day" for the old GW Dredd RPG with my group. Still fun after all these years, even if it does need tweaking a little.

[TordelBack]

Yeah that was a really great scenario for what is a pretty clunky system - so good that I've often thought it'd make for a nice Dredd story.  As I recall, the group I ran it for a lifetime ago became obsessed about the war-droid red herring and went around in fear of running into the ABC Warriors - especially when they went off world. Ironic, when at least one of them was killed by a robot tyrannosaur...  Still, it was nice to see some payback for all those *Item!* handouts I meticulously typed out.   Personally I think Rob missed a trick not including those robo-mules in Titan.

[Pyroxian]

We haven't encountered the river/farmer problem as we're only just now getting our heads round how farmers actually work. I just like the river because it makes for a more interesting start to the game and makes for a more pleasing board. I've also only just realised that I've been playing with the wrong rules all along - giving the full score for an unfinished city - oops.

Also, if anyone can explain to me how the 'builder' meeple from the 'Traders and Builders' expansion works I'd be very grateful - I've read and reread the instructions several times and can't make head nor tail of it.

Stopping the mega farm isn't too hard - just place river pieces that have roads on them to block them, and don't add any cities to it.

The builder rules are:
1) After adding new tile to a road or city you already have a meeple in, you can place the builder on the new tile (So e.g. your city, would now have a knight meeple and a builder meeple in it)
2) When you add a new tile to a road or city that you have a builder meeple in, you can then take another tile and place it as normal. You can only do this once during your turn (So you can't have infinite gos )

so e.g.
Turn 1. Place a city tile and place a meeple on the city
Turn 2. Place a second city tile connected to the first one, and place your builder on it.
Turn 3. Place a third tile connected to your builder's city (and optionally place a meeple on that tile). Your builder then triggers and you draw and place another tile. If this tile is also connected to your builder's city, you don't get an extra tile again though.

[radiator]

That's pretty much how I understand it, but it seems quite overpowered to me.

So as long as the player is able to add their first tile to the road or city with the builder on, they can play an extra tile and do the same every turn until that structure is complete (and the builder is returned to them to play again?).

[radiator]

Are any of the other expansions any good? I've heard the two I have are the only really worthwhile ones, and that anything else alters the game too much. I looked into Princess and the Dragon and it looks bonkers. A game with river, inns, cathedrals, traders and builders is already quite epic.