Our first game of Eclipse, Aug. 15, Photo: Chronotope.
Like many American children who grew up in the '90s, I was exposed early to the random, frustrating slog of Monopoly and Risk. The exciting flavor of building an empire or waging global war quickly lost its sheen after the mechanics led to a board state of static, repetitive game play. Chess was better, but I wasn't motivated to plunge into the depths of real strategy.
The game that seized my childhood was Magic: The Gathering, the gigantic fantasy card game that combines flavor and gameplay in a truly evocative way. (I'm proud to say that I ended up picking up some pretty solid high school investments in Dark Confidant and Onslaught fetch lands, which have grown exponentially in price since they were first printed.) But the sheer scale of the game - and the price of each pack of cards - is also a big deterrent for more casual gamers.
When I left for college, I pretty much stopped playing paper and plastic games. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time in Azeroth instead, and flirted with Warhammer, but my Magic cards sat in storage. But I definitely felt a thrill when I saw this video at the start of my sophomore year. The spark was still there.
The one exception to the gaming drought was when I would go back to my hometown on college break. Our old group of high school friends would gather, and we'd play some Magic with our retro cards. Then one time, a friend brought a curious box. Instead were hex tiles and little plastic bits. It was called the Settlers of Catan. I enjoyed playing quite a bit, although I was pretty mediocre at it, but I would return to college and forget about it.
After I graduated, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. I finally picked up a Playstation 2 and beat Final Fantasy X. I dabbled in Warhammer some more, but didn't have any friends who were willing to go there. The turning point happened last December, when I moved nearby to Twenty Sided Store in Brooklyn. Suddenly, I could play Magic multiple times a week, and in an irresistible coincidence, Wizards had just released Return to Ravnica: the sequel to the last set that I played with in high school. I devoured the nostalgia.
Although I considered it a card store, Twenty Sided also had a hefty amount of shelf space dedicated to a slew of strange board games with both bland (Puerto Rico, Mage Knight) and exotic titles (Tzol'kin, Ora et Labora, Dixit). I usually glazed over the boxes as I hurried to sign up for the weekly draft. But one day in April, I ended up at a different card store and hung out at a new friend's apartment. He had a whole stack of those board games, and we ended up breaking out Ascension.
Suddenly, I was intrigued. The game felt like Magic in flavor and the use of numbers to represent the toughness of various monsters (indeed, the designers of the game are mostly Magic pros). But anyone could join in, without spending hundreds of dollars on cards. And the often-tense atmosphere of a Magic match, where prizes and reputation are at stake, was far more relaxed and comfortable. I was hooked.
In the past four months, I've had an amazing time exploring the board gaming hobby. It is a golden age, with innovative mechanics and incredible recommendations and information thanks to the Internet. The range of experiences is diverse, from a 10-minute session of Love Letter to an hour-long battle of Netrunner to an eight-hour marathon of Twilight Imperium. And perhaps most incredibly, you're not spending this time starting at pixels in a glowing rectangle. You're facing off, literally, with your friends, or with strangers who are now friends.
It's amazing.
My goal is to chronicle my journey from board game neophyte towards deeper, richer experiences with the hobby, while providing a good overview of various genre "pillars," I also want to cover the culture and design principles of having a great time. I hope everyone gives the experience a try. You can start off by perusing BoardGameGeek's list of top games and seeing if something catches your eye.
Catan is a great gateway game, and I still enjoy it, especially with expansions. Dominion, which I'm going to write about next, is excellent but some people may be turned off by the relative lack of interaction. I also wonder if it plays best online, because you can avoid constant shuffling, but I need to play more in-person games.
On August 17 2013 05:45 UberDrive wrote: Catan is a great gateway game, and I still enjoy it, especially with expansions. Dominion, which I'm going to write about next, is excellent but some people may be turned off by the relative lack of interaction. I also wonder if it plays best online, because you can avoid constant shuffling, but I need to play more in-person games.
Yes, lack of interactivity is an issue with dominion. However, it's fun for a long time and compared to other games' enjoyable playtime per buck surely worth the money. Shuffling isn't too big of an issue usually, as long as you don't shuffle like in a professional TCG match. Bad shuffling can be a big advantage for you though.
@ Chairman Ray: Yes, TTR is another great intro game! Agricola is amazing, definitely my favorite right now. It's the perfect mix of thinking through the most efficient move, balancing greediness and survival, and having nearly infinite replayability because of the cards. You should check out Caylus if you haven't, too. I still need to play Bang! and Galaxy Trucker, hopefully soon.
@ spinesheath: It's excellent (I'll be writing a bunch about it next post), but I could see some people disliking it. I do feel that the base set gets a bit dull, at least compared to Intrigue or Prosperity, my two favorites (so far).
As someone who basically never has played board games outside of the really common family ones, are there any games that have no to very little luck that are as deep as chess? I like chess but I don't want to put in the time to remember more opening lines, since that seems to be the part where I most often trip up.
On August 17 2013 06:56 Chocolate wrote: As someone who basically never has played board games outside of the really common family ones, are there any games that have no to very little luck that are as deep as chess? I like chess but I don't want to put in the time to remember more opening lines, since that seems to be the part where I most often trip up.
I would recommend Agricola with the World Championship deck.
On August 17 2013 05:45 UberDrive wrote: Catan is a great gateway game, and I still enjoy it, especially with expansions. Dominion, which I'm going to write about next, is excellent but some people may be turned off by the relative lack of interaction. I also wonder if it plays best online, because you can avoid constant shuffling, but I need to play more in-person games.
Yes, lack of interactivity is an issue with dominion. However, it's fun for a long time and compared to other games' enjoyable playtime per buck surely worth the money. Shuffling isn't too big of an issue usually, as long as you don't shuffle like in a professional TCG match. Bad shuffling can be a big advantage for you though.
What do you mean by "shuffling like in a professional TCG match"?
Oh man, your paragraph about Magic made me look up some old card prices for fun. It's crazy which cards skyrocketed in value and which formerly expensive cards dropped. I certainly never would have guessed that the most expensive card from 4th Edition would end up being Land Tax, or the third most expensive from Antiquities is Transmute Artifact. Also I'm really sad that all my good Legends cards are in Italian, except for a banged up Mirror Universe that has actually lost value in the last 15 years. Also, you can sell Forces of Will for $60? Wtf how do I only own 2 of those.
I played a lot of WoW after I quit Magic too, and funny enough, the guy in the video you just posted was one of my guild members.
Yeah, I was the leader of Lost Anarchy from Ner'zhul. We're in the special thanks section of the WoW:TCG rulebook (the original ones at least, no idea about later editions) since Kibler was the lead designer on it. Half the heroes and lots of other cards were named after guild members, the ones that weren't named after Kibler's own characters at least. I'm a mod on his twitch stream too, but he doesn't stream that often.
On August 17 2013 05:45 UberDrive wrote: Catan is a great gateway game, and I still enjoy it, especially with expansions. Dominion, which I'm going to write about next, is excellent but some people may be turned off by the relative lack of interaction. I also wonder if it plays best online, because you can avoid constant shuffling, but I need to play more in-person games.
A lot of the expansions add a ton of interactivity, and i think thats not really an issue at any rate, me and friends have a ton of fun playing with randomized card sets that change by one or two cards every few rounds, and just coming up with strats leads to a ton of discussion.
The shuffling is hands down the most obnoxious part of the game, and all i have to say to that is sleeve the cards. It makes it a million times more pleasant and keeps the cards from getting all shitted up.
I have to say that when you say "board games", most people thinks about monopoly and risk, and it's sad because it's games that are boring when you like to think a bit (and way too random). Even Catan is a bit too random for me (when you're close to a 12, it can never occurs once in the game or occur 5 times, and it can change things too drastically).
I always like economical games, so my personal favorite is "race for the galaxy" (you better buy sleeves for thoses cards btw, because you shuffle them often), but there are many good board game around.I like things like seasons and 7 wonders too.
I confess I never got many chances to play more complicated games in my childhood, so my board gaming experience is somewhat limited. However by far my favorite board game when is Axis and Allies, at least when I can find people who actually know how to and are willing to play it.
On August 17 2013 19:30 kubiks wrote: I have to say that when you say "board games", most people thinks about monopoly and risk, and it's sad because it's games that are boring when you like to think a bit (and way too random). Even Catan is a bit too random for me (when you're close to a 12, it can never occurs once in the game or occur 5 times, and it can change things too drastically).
I always like economical games, so my personal favorite is "race for the galaxy" (you better buy sleeves for thoses cards btw, because you shuffle them often), but there are many good board game around.I like things like seasons and 7 wonders too.
I really enjoy Race for the Galaxy but found it better as a 2 player game than multiplayer. It has great depth once you get past the complexities of the rules. Development wins are the most fun/snowball.
EPT
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