The Board Game Thread

[radiator]

No, Machi Koro Harbor expansion.

[radiator]

We've been playing a few rounds of Coup. It's fun but always over a little too quickly, and a fatal flaw with the game so far is, at least with my group, hardly anyone ever tries to bluff, so the vast majority of the time challenges fail and winning or losing ultimately just comes down to how lucky you were with the original cards you were dealt.

Looking forward to playing again though, this time with four or five players instead of just three.

Yes, that would be a problem - I can't imagine playing Coup and not having most or all of the people trying to bluff.

I tended to find that Captains and Dukes dominated, and those who drew them (especially when they had one of each) would just sit pretty and quickly accumulate enough money to launch a coup while simultaneously able to leech away enough money from rival players to prevent most potential assassination attempts. And as 99% of the time no one but me bluffed, challenging was futile. One player in our group in particular seemed to always draw these cards and I couldn't find a workable strategy to counter it.

But yeah, its an addictive little game. Very much looking forward to playing it with 4 or more (and hopefully some more reckless people!).

[radiator]

Tonight's Coup session was a lot more interesting. I think you reach a point where you realise that people who never bluff unwittingly telegraph what cards they are actually holding, so you can use this to your advantage and keep them on their toes by bluffing (or even double-bluffing by deliberately looking shifty).

Going back to my previous criticisms of the game, in retrospect I imagine that most people start out playing very conservatively (and honestly), then eventually reach the same conclusion, and the game suddenly opens up as more people start pushing their luck.

Awesome game. We're well and truly addicted now.

[Timothy]

Coup Rebellion got picked up here today. That's Coup with knobs on. I will report back.

[TordelBack]

Zombie Dice expansions 2 and 3 secretly purchased for the missus - it's her favourite game, and she doesn't even k ow there's a third one!.Can't decide whether I should hold onto them for Christmas presents, or just present them as a romantic gesture and get my leg over now.

[ThryllSeekyr]

Is that the game Zombie about the little green translucent figurines.

Kind of been around for a while.

[Keef Monkey]

Been playing Legendary Encounters occasionally, but mainly solo, and finally beat the first movie set-up the other night! Quite excited to swap out the cards and set it up for Aliens. Great game, spotted there's now a Predator edition that's reviewed really well and is fully compatible with the Aliens decks. Nice.

[Timothy]

Only a Cooke of games in, but Coip Rebellion is shaping up to be very good indeed. There are 25 different roles in all, and 5 are chosen for play in each game, balance being maintained by having the roles in distinct groups dependent on what they do and one role from each group (two for special interest) forming the five. Each is subtly different and keeping track of what all the powers are and how they interact makes it play very differently to vanilla Coup. So far I've found it slower to accumulate money, but that may just be inexperience.

[Timothy]

Sorry for the typos; sausage fingers and a phone screen.

[Ancient Otter]

Got a taste of 7 Wonders today, zipped along pretty quick and that game included two of us who had it never played it before.

[sheridan]

Got a taste of 7 Wonders today, zipped along pretty quick and that game included two of us who had it never played it before.

How many of you played?  There's a (pretty rubbish) two-person variant, but I think it works best with four or five players.

[Ancient Otter]

Got a taste of 7 Wonders today, zipped along pretty quick and that game included two of us who had it never played it before.

How many of you played?  There's a (pretty rubbish) two-person variant, but I think it works best with four or five players.

Just three. They have a version for two players now called 7 Wonders: Duel.

[sheridan]

Just three. They have a version for two players now called 7 Wonders: Duel.

The two-player game I played was with the usual 7 Wonders cards but a few different rules.

Have to keep an eye out for that - I meet up with a group of boardgamers who bring all sorts of delights once a month.  Last game played was Waggle Dance, which was Kickstarted/crowd-funded by a friend of the person who brought it.

[JamesC]

I just bought Labyrinth as a family game to play at Xmas (along with the now obligatory Qwirkle and Boggle).
I've not played it before but it has all 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon so it should be fun.

[radiator]

Only a Cooke of games in, but Coip Rebellion is shaping up to be very good indeed. There are 25 different roles in all, and 5 are chosen for play in each game, balance being maintained by having the roles in distinct groups dependent on what they do and one role from each group (two for special interest) forming the five. Each is subtly different and keeping track of what all the powers are and how they interact makes it play very differently to vanilla Coup. So far I've found it slower to accumulate money, but that may just be inexperience.

I've longingly fondled the Coup: Rebellion box in my local gaming store a few times and am always sorely tempted to buy it, but I can't shake the suspicion that it will just dilute everything that is great about the original game - ie that its really simple to learn because there are only 5 roles, and every player having a watertight grasp on those roles is what allows the game to become interesting and dynamic. I don't really see what adding more roles to the game would add other than obfuscation and confusion.

I actually bought Coup: Reformation yesterday, but even with that I have doubts that adding complexity to the base game will improve and not impair it - in fact I only really bought it on the (pretty remote) off-chance that I'll have the opportunity to play some 6+ player games of Coup with pals over Christmas.

Other recent purchases:

Sushi Go! This one was my girfriend's choice. Decent-ish - though very light - card-passing filler game.

Roll For It! Deluxe Picked this up on a whim after seeing it on an episode of Tabletop. Have to say, it's really not as much fun as it looked on the show. It's essentially a dice-rolling game thats a bit like Yahtzee. It seems to me that there's a pretty gaping flaw in the design because every single game of it we've played has devolved into the same tedious pattern of every player sitting round trying to roll the same number on a single die for what feels like an eternity. A shame.

Patchwork. I really liked this - it's a two player game that really works and recreates the feeling of playing a more complex 4 player type game (in my experience most 2 player games lack energy and feel a bit hollow).

Codenames. I've heard so many great things about it this game - can't wait to have an opportunity to play it (I'm saving it until I've got a group of at least 6 together for a game).

Ultimate One Night Werewolf. As above. This seems fantastic, but you need a decent size group and ideally a quiet environment so you can hear the companion app (which narrates the game). So not really a pub game!

It's gotten a bit out of hand, really. My girlfriend has made me promise not to buy 'any more bloody board games' until after Christmas. I agreed, mentally trying to work out the logistics of smuggling in the in-transit package on its way to me containing copies of The Grizzled and Broom Service (both of which are supposed to be ace) when it arrives. I'm also eyeing up Dead of Winter and Colt Express... 

Speaking of The Grizzled and Dead of Winter, what's everyone's thoughts on cooperative board games? I'm curious to give one a try, but wonder if playing one can really capture that same excitement and sense of urgency of a traditional competitive game?