Ugh, I can't believe how so many of you guys still enjoy playing dominion. Don't you find that normally the best strategy is just to buy silver when you have less than six, gold when you have less than 8, and if you have 2 just get cellars (of course they would have to be in the game to buy them). I hate goofing around "trying out" different strategies like stacking villages and witches, when I know I could just be using a better strategy. Try Thunderstone if you like dominion, it's also a deck building game.
I haven't read through all 8 pages but here are some games I found always interesting:
-Union Pacific -Ticket to Ride -Kremlin -Stone Age -Notre Dame -7 Wonders -Power Grid: Factory Manager -Neuroshima Hex -Ingenious
On July 01 2011 10:42 Picklesicle wrote: Well, I'm actually going to preface by saying that if I could, I would likely trade one of my Space Hulk sets for Twilight Struggle. I am watching the GMT posts like a hawk for when they reprint it.
From what I hear, Twilight Struggle is due for its reprint this August (at least that's what I recall reading on BGG recently). And of course it's a game I'd highly recommend, as long as you have a second player often enough to play it with.
Also much thanks regarding the Space Hulk additions, very informative/helpful!
I absolutely LOVE TS, my copy is pretty banged up, if they reprint in August I'm gonna have to pick it up and see if I can trade my current copy for Cash 'n Guns, or Robo Rally or something. There's a game like TS called Labyrinth: War on Terror. It's made by the same people, but I found it to just be a worse version of TS. However, some of my friends who like TS, swear by it, so it might be worth checking it out.
On July 03 2011 01:14 Picklesicle wrote: I'm curious as to your opinion on 3 games you own:
Smallworld
Power Grid
Merchants & Marauders
I have played none of the above, although I have watched a game of Smallworld.
I also made a post in reply in Iranon re. Hive and would be curious as your thoughts on that game as well. Unlike the previous 3, I do have preconceived notions on it but I'd like to compare notes, as it were.
I tried my best to keep the descriptions short while still getting across the basic game elements and what I enjoy. The very, very short of it is that I like them all and would rate them each somewhere in the top half of my collection.
Smallword is essentially a wargame that doesn't really feel like a wargame. Though I say this about several games I own and ones I like, so maybe I'm more of a wargamer at heart than I realize (ex: I love Dominant Species, but it's really a war game in Eurogame clothes). But now I'm trailing from the point.
Anyway, I really liked Small World when we got it, and like it a little bit less now, though still enjoy it. You having watched a game I'm going to skip over some of the basics. It's very tactical in how you deploy your units and when to send one race into decline and take charge with a new race. Each race/special ability combination allows for different strategies and tactics throughout the game and from game to game. Looking at the race/ability combos coming up should give an idea of areas that may be less or more safe and for planning where you intend to go or select next.
It's a game of area control where it is difficult to develop a very safe or secure position, there is plenty of opportunity for player politics, alliances (then backstabbing), etc. Controlling more spaces and the successful use of any special abilities is how you get points and after a predetermined amount of turns the game ends.
Power Grid has gone through phases with me. There are times when I really like it and times when I don't. And burnout isn't really the issue, though I couldn't pinpoint what is. The game is centered around the auction mechanic in bidding for power plants, though jockeying for player position, both on the map and for turn order, is central to the game as well.
It's very mathy, in that calculating the maximum amount you can spend in each phase to still have enough money to do everything else you need to do later that turn and leading into the next as not having enough money during a phase of a turn will set you back a lot. Knowing who you need to make purchases before and after during each turn is very important as well.
We've found it hard to come back in the game from too far behind, but most people enjoy it. High strategy level, though with gamers this is less of a concern, and the better management and development of you cash flow is what the game is about.
This is one of my favorites at the moment. Luck can play a larger factor in this game than many I own, but there is still strategy and while the game system is balanced, each individual game might not be depending on what happens (I don't know how to better explain that). The components are beautiful and the game is what I would essentially describe as a role playing adaption to a board game where each player is a captain doing something in the Caribbean.
You can be a pirate, merchant, or some mix between the two and with slight variations on each. It's very open-ended as to how you want to play which is why we really like it. There are so many options of what you can do (though like in Arkham Horror, a lot of those things you can do are distractions from what the best things to do are). It's less a game about winning or finding the best strategy and more about the experience of playing the game.
It plays best with three or four players and games often last around 2-3 hours. The replayabiliy has been high for us, with most games being quite different from one another. Two players games of it are fun as well, but just a different experience than having more player-ships out in the sea.
You also get some cool stories out of it that make certain games memorable. For example, in one game there was a storm on the seas for the turn and one of my opponents who had a Galleon (the largest purchasable ship) decided he could weather the storm and continue toward his current mission. I was nearby to his heading, and in my Sloop (the smallest ship, but also highly maneuverable) I decided to go attack him and take over his Galleon. From the storm damage and my captain's skill I managed to Board his ship and enter crew to crew combat where I killed his captain and took over his ship. So I had taken over his ship which he had spent so much gold on with my ship which was worth very little.
I like Hive a lot. It's one of my favorite abstracts. Though I like it less with the Mosquito and Ladybug. I wish I knew others who liked it and could play it well. Knowing when to place a piece and when to move an existing piece is important and which one. Finding which of your opponents placement areas and pieces are the largest threats, sometime this is very easy to determine, but other times less so, and it's difficult to keep him from doing anything at all since each piece moves so differently. You might be able to stop him using his ant, but often he might be able to use a grasshopper to similar result and both plays likely can't be stopped by the same play.
Hive is kind of like Chess in a way where you have perfect information and need to be able to plan a few steps ahead taking into consideration the possibility of your opponent's options.
I tried my best to keep the descriptions short while still getting across the basic game elements and what I enjoy. The very, very short of it is that I like them all and would rate them each somewhere in the top half of my collection.
Smallword is essentially a wargame that doesn't really feel like a wargame. Though I say this about several games I own and ones I like, so maybe I'm more of a wargamer at heart than I realize (ex: I love Dominant Species, but it's really a war game in Eurogame clothes). But now I'm trailing from the point.
Anyway, I really liked Small World when we got it, and like it a little bit less now, though still enjoy it. You having watched a game I'm going to skip over some of the basics. It's very tactical in how you deploy your units and when to send one race into decline and take charge with a new race. Each race/special ability combination allows for different strategies and tactics throughout the game and from game to game. Looking at the race/ability combos coming up should give an idea of areas that may be less or more safe and for planning where you intend to go or select next.
It's a game of area control where it is difficult to develop a very safe or secure position, there is plenty of opportunity for player politics, alliances (then backstabbing), etc. Controlling more spaces and the successful use of any special abilities is how you get points and after a predetermined amount of turns the game ends.
Power Grid has gone through phases with me. There are times when I really like it and times when I don't. And burnout isn't really the issue, though I couldn't pinpoint what is. The game is centered around the auction mechanic in bidding for power plants, though jockeying for player position, both on the map and for turn order, is central to the game as well.
It's very mathy, in that calculating the maximum amount you can spend in each phase to still have enough money to do everything else you need to do later that turn and leading into the next as not having enough money during a phase of a turn will set you back a lot. Knowing who you need to make purchases before and after during each turn is very important as well.
We've found it hard to come back in the game from too far behind, but most people enjoy it. High strategy level, though with gamers this is less of a concern, and the better management and development of you cash flow is what the game is about.
This is one of my favorites at the moment. Luck can play a larger factor in this game than many I own, but there is still strategy and while the game system is balanced, each individual game might not be depending on what happens (I don't know how to better explain that). The components are beautiful and the game is what I would essentially describe as a role playing adaption to a board game where each player is a captain doing something in the Caribbean.
You can be a pirate, merchant, or some mix between the two and with slight variations on each. It's very open-ended as to how you want to play which is why we really like it. There are so many options of what you can do (though like in Arkham Horror, a lot of those things you can do are distractions from what the best things to do are). It's less a game about winning or finding the best strategy and more about the experience of playing the game.
It plays best with three or four players and games often last around 2-3 hours. The replayabiliy has been high for us, with most games being quite different from one another. Two players games of it are fun as well, but just a different experience than having more player-ships out in the sea.
You also get some cool stories out of it that make certain games memorable. For example, in one game there was a storm on the seas for the turn and one of my opponents who had a Galleon (the largest purchasable ship) decided he could weather the storm and continue toward his current mission. I was nearby to his heading, and in my Sloop (the smallest ship, but also highly maneuverable) I decided to go attack him and take over his Galleon. From the storm damage and my captain's skill I managed to Board his ship and enter crew to crew combat where I killed his captain and took over his ship. So I had taken over his ship which he had spent so much gold on with my ship which was worth very little.
I like Hive a lot. It's one of my favorite abstracts. Though I like it less with the Mosquito and Ladybug. I wish I knew others who liked it and could play it well. Knowing when to place a piece and when to move an existing piece is important and which one. Finding which of your opponents placement areas and pieces are the largest threats, sometime this is very easy to determine, but other times less so, and it's difficult to keep him from doing anything at all since each piece moves so differently. You might be able to stop him using his ant, but often he might be able to use a grasshopper to similar result and both plays likely can't be stopped by the same play.
Hive is kind of like Chess in a way where you have perfect information and need to be able to plan a few steps ahead taking into consideration the possibility of your opponent's options.
Thanks. That was very helpful. I've been teetering re. Merchants & Marauders based on the reviews, similarly with Power Grid.
As for Hive, I've actually put in some 30-40 games of Hive. Would you say that the initial tempo of the first player is extremely significant? Specifically, it seems to me (although I might be wrong) that the assuming the first player does not blunder, the second player can at best play for a draw? Thoughts?
I am a huge Dominion fan. We had a local tournament here in Canberra back in February and a few friends and I actually spent some time studying the game competitively (buy a lot of silver!). Been playing the Cornucopia expansion a ton lately and its a really fun take on the game, everything is just really well designed.
Friend of mine has a massive board game collection that we play on a weekly basis, just from what I can remember:
Dominion, Ascension, Settlers, Puerto Rico, Agricola, Race for the Galaxy, Carcassonne, Seven Wonders, Colisseum, Stone Age, Shadows of Camelot, Killer Rabbits from Space, Smallworld, Hey Thats My Fish, Alhambra, Shogun, Civilization (original and new versions), House on Haunted Hill, Ticket to Ride, Power Grid, Robo Rally, Thurn and Taxes and at least a dozen more. Not counting the mini card games like Guillotine, Colouretto and Burn in Hell.
I also have the starcraft board game and its great fun, incredibly deep. Just takes 6 hours to play the damn thing and the brood war expansion costs $90 .
On July 03 2011 04:33 Fumanchu wrote: Ugh, I can't believe how so many of you guys still enjoy playing dominion. Don't you find that normally the best strategy is just to buy silver when you have less than six, gold when you have less than 8, and if you have 2 just get cellars (of course they would have to be in the game to buy them). I hate goofing around "trying out" different strategies like stacking villages and witches, when I know I could just be using a better strategy. Try Thunderstone if you like dominion, it's also a deck building game.
I haven't read through all 8 pages but here are some games I found always interesting:
-Union Pacific -Ticket to Ride -Kremlin -Stone Age -Notre Dame -7 Wonders -Power Grid: Factory Manager -Neuroshima Hex -Ingenious
On July 01 2011 10:42 Picklesicle wrote: Well, I'm actually going to preface by saying that if I could, I would likely trade one of my Space Hulk sets for Twilight Struggle. I am watching the GMT posts like a hawk for when they reprint it.
From what I hear, Twilight Struggle is due for its reprint this August (at least that's what I recall reading on BGG recently). And of course it's a game I'd highly recommend, as long as you have a second player often enough to play it with.
Also much thanks regarding the Space Hulk additions, very informative/helpful!
I absolutely LOVE TS, my copy is pretty banged up, if they reprint in August I'm gonna have to pick it up and see if I can trade my current copy for Cash 'n Guns, or Robo Rally or something. There's a game like TS called Labyrinth: War on Terror. It's made by the same people, but I found it to just be a worse version of TS. However, some of my friends who like TS, swear by it, so it might be worth checking it out.
P.S. Am I the only one who hates Imperial?
The typical "big money" strategy (only silver, gold, provinces or dutchies) in Dominion isn't so much the best strategy as it is the standard that other decks are compared to because it works well and you can do it with every set of kingdom cards. However, most well-executed other strategies beat it.
It's like the 4gate of Dominion. If a strat can't beat 4gate even when you know it's coming, it's a bad strat - opponents can consistently beat it using an easy strategy that's always available. However, there are builds out there that thoroughly beat a 4gater once it is held off. Finding those is what Dominion is really about.
Even if you stick largely with the standard Big Money strategy, in most cases one or two well picked action cards can already give you an edge. Then there's cards like Witch, Saboteur, Thief, etc that royally mess up a deck made up of only money and with no way to cycle cards. In my opinion, if the 'standard' strategy always wins when you play, it's because you/others let it win. It takes a bit of a shift in mindset, but what did it for me was when I realized that there was a possibility between "only money" and "huge +action/+card chain deck" (Villages, etc) / "gimmick deck"(Gardens deck, Dukes, etc) - and that in many cases, the middle ground was stronger than either of those.
Basically, to come back to Starcraft again, if you're gonna do a DT opening, you don't ONLY build council, shrine and non-stop DT's - first you make sure you have the necessary economy to progress after the harass does or doesn't do damage. The same goes for Dominion. Silvers/Golds/trashing Coppers is your economy and regardless of what else you do, you are going to need it (barring a few decks that can only be pulled off in very specific circumstances). The action cards would be your tech, if it were. They decide how you are going to play largely, but the basis is still your money.
One definite downside to Dominion, however, is that individual player's playstyles can break the game a bit. If there are two players in a group of four that just love getting +action/+buy string up, chances are 3 piles of cards will run out before any other strategy is possible. They're like 6 pools in this regard: the game pretty much ends after 4 minutes when someone does this, regarless of what your plan was.
Anyone have any recommendation for a good 2 player board game? It doesnt have to specifically cater to 2 players but I find games that are tailored for it to be more advanced.
Im looking for something that is mostly skill based but can still have a luck factor. Like im aware that a lot of board games deal with dice rolling or card drawing so its unavoidable and im fine with games such as mahjong where luck is a factor. But I want a game also like mahjong where decision making and skill can impact the outcome of the game and an experienced/better player will win majority of the time.
I've been looking at Carcassonne. It sounds like an interesting game and I can see the strategic elements. But I guess im looking for something more advanced. I noticed the Starcraft board game, wondering if thats actually a good game or if teamliquid members are just biased towards it.
Im never been a big board game player. I've only played the most mainstream ones like monopoly or risk. This thread kind of got me curious about trying other board games out but I dont want to invest like 100 dollars into a board game already. Which is why board games like starcraft might not be ideal for me.
Thanks if anyone can make any recommendations for me.
This is the column that will see me looking at Arkham Horror, the board game based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. It’s a column I only feel prepared to write after spending a few years with the game. You’ve been asking for it, and I live to serve.
I get asked about Arkham Horror all the time. When someone starts taking an interest in board games, it seems that Arkham Horror is a game that draws their eye more than most. I think I know why. People who like board games are probably a bit more likely to be geeky and into reading books than people who don’t. And many of those people will have read Lovecraft. A board game based on Lovecraft’s work is a very attractive prospect, partly because you ask yourself just how a board game could possibly capture the crawling horror and hopelessness of that world.
When I get asked that question – “Hey, man. How is Arkham Horror?” – I know now what to say. This column is that answer in long form.
Arkham Horror is a game for 1-8 players. Each player takes control of an investigator who is tasked with exploring Arkham, collecting clues, and closing the terrible gates that will call forth a Great Old One. No, wait. Let me go again at this. Each player takes control of a set of statistics, has the job of moving around a board picking up tokens that represent “clues”, and must visit spaces on the board that become important as and when a very mechanical card-based AI system decides. Both of these descriptions are simultaneously accurate.
As you visit locations in Arkham, your investigator will have Lovecraftian encounters, as the great scheme unfolds around you. Some of these encounters will test your investigator’s mettle. No, wait. Let me try that again. As you hit spaces on the board, you will draw cards that will describe loose and disconnected events, written by game designers in a “Lovecraft style”. These will sometimes ask you to consult your set of statistics in order to make a dice roll that will decide your fate. All of this is correct.
As the gates open, terrible creatures emerge from the worlds beyond. These creatures, these eldritch impossibilities, start to crawl and leap and bound around Arkham. Their goal is clear – they will send the investigators to the hospital, or the asylum. Actually, wait. Another go-over. As the game progresses, cards will decide when and where cardboard tokens featuring illustrations of monsters appear. These tokens also feature some statistics. Your set of statistics will battle against these statistics through the process of rolling some dice. Occasionally the dice will show unsatisfactory results, and will move your set of statistics to a space on the board that will increase one of those statistics so your game can continue.
Your investigators will stop the Great Old One from rising from its sleep if they manage to close all the gates, but if they fail in their task, if things in Arkham get out of control, the Great Old One will rise and either destroy the universe or engage the investigators in an almost hopeless final battle. No, actually, hold. One more time. Your set of statistics will share in a victory if you visit the mechanically chosen locations in an efficient manner, and stay lucky with a decent amount of dice rolls. However, if some poor rolls are made and you fail to visit the board’s spaces in an optimal way, you will most likely see out the game with a final bout of dice rolling against a set of statistics that is a far greater set of bastards than your set. And that’s the game. All of this.
I would never recommend Arkham Horror to anybody.
There’s a myth that circulates about this game. It’s a massive fucking lie. People say that “IF YOU LOVE LOVECRAFT, YOU WILL ADORE THIS GAME.” It is a crock of shit. Loving Lovecraft is no indicator of whether or not you’ll like this game. Hell, no. So I wouldn’t even recommend it to a Lovecraft fan. If a new gamer ever asks me for a list of games they might like, Arkham Horror wouldn’t pop up on that list even if that list was so long it could fill a Necronomicon. Is this game recommended? No. Let’s get that straight. Let’s give that its own line in the column, and underline it, and put it in bold.
Is Arkham Horror recommended? No.
So Arkham Horror is a bad game, then. We’ve established that. Right? We’re all on board with that now. Arkham Horror, the game that spawned a million expansions, is a bad game. We’ve nailed that down, right? Wrong. Wrong. Arkham Horror is a gaming treasure, a work of dark genius, a terrible unapproachable unfriendly beautiful bastard of a game. Arkham Horror is quite, quite brilliant, and I’m quite in love with it.
How can all of this be simultaneously true?
WHY BOARD GAMES ARE DIFFERENT
We’re on a PC gaming site here. We’re all guys who play computer games. Board games aren’t computer games, and not only because we play them on a table, and worry about someone spilling a drink on them. We often love board games for different reasons than we love computer games.
Sometimes, you’ll read a review of a computer game that might read something like this:
“I thought this game would be ACE! But, I was bummed (Always knew you were a bum! – Ed) out when I realised that there was no sense of immersion! Immersion means when you’re totally into something, and there was no sense of that! Immersion, I mean! I always felt like I was playing a game, because all that gamey stuff like life points and stuff were all so in your face! And the only thing I want in my face is Megan Fox’s bo**bs, know what I mean lads?! The mechanics of the game were so distracting! Mechanics means, like, the way the game works! (I wish you’d get some work done! – Ed (SNIP! – Senior Ed))”
Board games are different. Sure, while you might love a board game for the sense of immersion it provides, or the way the game lifts off the table and fills the room, you also might love it for how beautiful the mechanics are. It’s like looking inside a clockwork watch. That fascination, as you see how all the pieces fit together, how everything is timed to perfection, how balanced it all is. With a beautiful board game design, you can love it for that craftsmanship you can feel with every turn. Take Scotland Yard, with its beautiful hidden movement system. Or Pandemic, with its clever and thematic “shuffle and place back on TOP” mechanic.
Or Arkham Horror, with its million moving parts coming together to simulate a terrible alien intelligence.
THE GAME KNOWS
That’s what we often say when we play Arkham Horror.
“The Game Knows.”
In our last game, Joanne’s investigator was sent to hospital after an attack by a Gug. Suddenly, monsters who had stubbornly refused to move for the entire game started to head south, gathering outside the hospital gates, blocking Joanne in.
“The Game Knows.”
My character, a private eye, found a unique item. “Hey,” I said, foolishly. “If I take this unique item to the Silver Twilight Lodge, I can complete my plot!” The very next card we picked up told us that a gate was to open on Silver Twilight Lodge. Monsters spilled out.
“The Game Knows.”
The joy, strangely, is not in the theme. It’s not really about that. The joy is in how the game’s mechanics make the theme work. The joy is in seeing the cogs and wheels turning, spitting out monsters, making you believe that there must be some intelligence at work. How can the game know when the game doesn’t know? How have the designers made this game know? How have the designers made us know this game can’t know, but think it does? That’s where the beauty of Arkham Horror lies. That’s what you need to love, before you can love it.
You see, all that stuff I explained earlier, about what’s happening thematically and what’s actually happening mechanically, is the reason why you can’t recommend Arkham Horror to anyone who is new to board games. AH doesn’t deliver theme up front – it delivers heavy mechanics, and then those mechanics start to build the feel of the theme. It’s a weird dynamic. I hated the game when I first played it. I was chugging these pieces around, doing all this administration work for the game AI. Move this here, then put that there, then these monsters move down here, and these monsters move up here… The theme was nowhere. It was all rules and headaches and consulting flowcharts. But now, a long time later, with the rules down pat and the mechanics flowing quickly, I can admire that AI. I can listen to the hum of the engine. I can see how it delivers that Lovecraftian hopelessness not through flavour text on the cards, but through the elaborate tick-tocking of a clockwork terror machine, designed to break you the fuck down.
Some people, though, will never see past the surface of the bookkeeping and will just feel the clumsy clunk-clunking of an overly complex boredom machine. And that is perfectly understandable. Not everyone enjoys geeking out over the inner workings of something. It’s possible that some of these people love Lovecraft, and are looking for some instant horror, but only find the maddening dancing of Chekaroolz, the Mad God of How The Fuck Do You Close A Gate? Believe me, loving Lovecraft has nothing to do with whether this game works for you or not. Arkham Horror is a game for people who love board games. Its a game for people who love how board games work. The Lovecraft stuff comes later, much later, but then it comes hard and comes right. The game is alive, and thinks impossible thoughts.
So, that question…
“Hey, man. How is Arkham Horror?”
My answer?
“Ask it yourself.”
Also great fun (I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet), especially if you can get the maximum number of players (though you can also have one person control more than one piece):
On July 05 2011 22:58 Fumble wrote: Anyone have any recommendation for a good 2 player board game? It doesnt have to specifically cater to 2 players but I find games that are tailored for it to be more advanced.
Im looking for something that is mostly skill based but can still have a luck factor. Like im aware that a lot of board games deal with dice rolling or card drawing so its unavoidable and im fine with games such as mahjong where luck is a factor. But I want a game also like mahjong where decision making and skill can impact the outcome of the game and an experienced/better player will win majority of the time.
I've been looking at Carcassonne. It sounds like an interesting game and I can see the strategic elements. But I guess im looking for something more advanced. I noticed the Starcraft board game, wondering if thats actually a good game or if teamliquid members are just biased towards it.
Im never been a big board game player. I've only played the most mainstream ones like monopoly or risk. This thread kind of got me curious about trying other board games out but I dont want to invest like 100 dollars into a board game already. Which is why board games like starcraft might not be ideal for me.
Thanks if anyone can make any recommendations for me.
Well, if you want a challenge you could always try Advanced Squad Leader. It's one of the best boardgames since 1985. The rulebook costs $80 but you don't need it as starter packs come with the rules you need for certain engagements. Only after you tried them out and liked them you should go for a rulebook which contains all the advanced rules etc. (rulebook has over 200 pages)
This is the column that will see me looking at Arkham Horror, the board game based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. It’s a column I only feel prepared to write after spending a few years with the game. You’ve been asking for it, and I live to serve.
I get asked about Arkham Horror all the time. When someone starts taking an interest in board games, it seems that Arkham Horror is a game that draws their eye more than most. I think I know why. People who like board games are probably a bit more likely to be geeky and into reading books than people who don’t. And many of those people will have read Lovecraft. A board game based on Lovecraft’s work is a very attractive prospect, partly because you ask yourself just how a board game could possibly capture the crawling horror and hopelessness of that world.
When I get asked that question – “Hey, man. How is Arkham Horror?” – I know now what to say. This column is that answer in long form.
Arkham Horror is a game for 1-8 players. Each player takes control of an investigator who is tasked with exploring Arkham, collecting clues, and closing the terrible gates that will call forth a Great Old One. No, wait. Let me go again at this. Each player takes control of a set of statistics, has the job of moving around a board picking up tokens that represent “clues”, and must visit spaces on the board that become important as and when a very mechanical card-based AI system decides. Both of these descriptions are simultaneously accurate.
As you visit locations in Arkham, your investigator will have Lovecraftian encounters, as the great scheme unfolds around you. Some of these encounters will test your investigator’s mettle. No, wait. Let me try that again. As you hit spaces on the board, you will draw cards that will describe loose and disconnected events, written by game designers in a “Lovecraft style”. These will sometimes ask you to consult your set of statistics in order to make a dice roll that will decide your fate. All of this is correct.
As the gates open, terrible creatures emerge from the worlds beyond. These creatures, these eldritch impossibilities, start to crawl and leap and bound around Arkham. Their goal is clear – they will send the investigators to the hospital, or the asylum. Actually, wait. Another go-over. As the game progresses, cards will decide when and where cardboard tokens featuring illustrations of monsters appear. These tokens also feature some statistics. Your set of statistics will battle against these statistics through the process of rolling some dice. Occasionally the dice will show unsatisfactory results, and will move your set of statistics to a space on the board that will increase one of those statistics so your game can continue.
Your investigators will stop the Great Old One from rising from its sleep if they manage to close all the gates, but if they fail in their task, if things in Arkham get out of control, the Great Old One will rise and either destroy the universe or engage the investigators in an almost hopeless final battle. No, actually, hold. One more time. Your set of statistics will share in a victory if you visit the mechanically chosen locations in an efficient manner, and stay lucky with a decent amount of dice rolls. However, if some poor rolls are made and you fail to visit the board’s spaces in an optimal way, you will most likely see out the game with a final bout of dice rolling against a set of statistics that is a far greater set of bastards than your set. And that’s the game. All of this.
I would never recommend Arkham Horror to anybody.
There’s a myth that circulates about this game. It’s a massive fucking lie. People say that “IF YOU LOVE LOVECRAFT, YOU WILL ADORE THIS GAME.” It is a crock of shit. Loving Lovecraft is no indicator of whether or not you’ll like this game. Hell, no. So I wouldn’t even recommend it to a Lovecraft fan. If a new gamer ever asks me for a list of games they might like, Arkham Horror wouldn’t pop up on that list even if that list was so long it could fill a Necronomicon. Is this game recommended? No. Let’s get that straight. Let’s give that its own line in the column, and underline it, and put it in bold.
Is Arkham Horror recommended? No.
So Arkham Horror is a bad game, then. We’ve established that. Right? We’re all on board with that now. Arkham Horror, the game that spawned a million expansions, is a bad game. We’ve nailed that down, right? Wrong. Wrong. Arkham Horror is a gaming treasure, a work of dark genius, a terrible unapproachable unfriendly beautiful bastard of a game. Arkham Horror is quite, quite brilliant, and I’m quite in love with it.
How can all of this be simultaneously true?
WHY BOARD GAMES ARE DIFFERENT
We’re on a PC gaming site here. We’re all guys who play computer games. Board games aren’t computer games, and not only because we play them on a table, and worry about someone spilling a drink on them. We often love board games for different reasons than we love computer games.
Sometimes, you’ll read a review of a computer game that might read something like this:
“I thought this game would be ACE! But, I was bummed (Always knew you were a bum! – Ed) out when I realised that there was no sense of immersion! Immersion means when you’re totally into something, and there was no sense of that! Immersion, I mean! I always felt like I was playing a game, because all that gamey stuff like life points and stuff were all so in your face! And the only thing I want in my face is Megan Fox’s bo**bs, know what I mean lads?! The mechanics of the game were so distracting! Mechanics means, like, the way the game works! (I wish you’d get some work done! – Ed (SNIP! – Senior Ed))”
Board games are different. Sure, while you might love a board game for the sense of immersion it provides, or the way the game lifts off the table and fills the room, you also might love it for how beautiful the mechanics are. It’s like looking inside a clockwork watch. That fascination, as you see how all the pieces fit together, how everything is timed to perfection, how balanced it all is. With a beautiful board game design, you can love it for that craftsmanship you can feel with every turn. Take Scotland Yard, with its beautiful hidden movement system. Or Pandemic, with its clever and thematic “shuffle and place back on TOP” mechanic.
Or Arkham Horror, with its million moving parts coming together to simulate a terrible alien intelligence.
THE GAME KNOWS
That’s what we often say when we play Arkham Horror.
“The Game Knows.”
In our last game, Joanne’s investigator was sent to hospital after an attack by a Gug. Suddenly, monsters who had stubbornly refused to move for the entire game started to head south, gathering outside the hospital gates, blocking Joanne in.
“The Game Knows.”
My character, a private eye, found a unique item. “Hey,” I said, foolishly. “If I take this unique item to the Silver Twilight Lodge, I can complete my plot!” The very next card we picked up told us that a gate was to open on Silver Twilight Lodge. Monsters spilled out.
“The Game Knows.”
The joy, strangely, is not in the theme. It’s not really about that. The joy is in how the game’s mechanics make the theme work. The joy is in seeing the cogs and wheels turning, spitting out monsters, making you believe that there must be some intelligence at work. How can the game know when the game doesn’t know? How have the designers made this game know? How have the designers made us know this game can’t know, but think it does? That’s where the beauty of Arkham Horror lies. That’s what you need to love, before you can love it.
You see, all that stuff I explained earlier, about what’s happening thematically and what’s actually happening mechanically, is the reason why you can’t recommend Arkham Horror to anyone who is new to board games. AH doesn’t deliver theme up front – it delivers heavy mechanics, and then those mechanics start to build the feel of the theme. It’s a weird dynamic. I hated the game when I first played it. I was chugging these pieces around, doing all this administration work for the game AI. Move this here, then put that there, then these monsters move down here, and these monsters move up here… The theme was nowhere. It was all rules and headaches and consulting flowcharts. But now, a long time later, with the rules down pat and the mechanics flowing quickly, I can admire that AI. I can listen to the hum of the engine. I can see how it delivers that Lovecraftian hopelessness not through flavour text on the cards, but through the elaborate tick-tocking of a clockwork terror machine, designed to break you the fuck down.
Some people, though, will never see past the surface of the bookkeeping and will just feel the clumsy clunk-clunking of an overly complex boredom machine. And that is perfectly understandable. Not everyone enjoys geeking out over the inner workings of something. It’s possible that some of these people love Lovecraft, and are looking for some instant horror, but only find the maddening dancing of Chekaroolz, the Mad God of How The Fuck Do You Close A Gate? Believe me, loving Lovecraft has nothing to do with whether this game works for you or not. Arkham Horror is a game for people who love board games. Its a game for people who love how board games work. The Lovecraft stuff comes later, much later, but then it comes hard and comes right. The game is alive, and thinks impossible thoughts.
So, that question…
“Hey, man. How is Arkham Horror?”
My answer?
“Ask it yourself.”
Also great fun (I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet), especially if you can get the maximum number of players (though you can also have one person control more than one piece):
Also, Risk is a terrible game.
I love Arkham Do you play it online?
AH is great. If you like it you could also check out the Call of Cthulhu LCG, awesome fun.
On July 05 2011 22:58 Fumble wrote: Anyone have any recommendation for a good 2 player board game? It doesnt have to specifically cater to 2 players but I find games that are tailored for it to be more advanced.
Im looking for something that is mostly skill based but can still have a luck factor. Like im aware that a lot of board games deal with dice rolling or card drawing so its unavoidable and im fine with games such as mahjong where luck is a factor. But I want a game also like mahjong where decision making and skill can impact the outcome of the game and an experienced/better player will win majority of the time.
I've been looking at Carcassonne. It sounds like an interesting game and I can see the strategic elements. But I guess im looking for something more advanced. I noticed the Starcraft board game, wondering if thats actually a good game or if teamliquid members are just biased towards it.
Im never been a big board game player. I've only played the most mainstream ones like monopoly or risk. This thread kind of got me curious about trying other board games out but I dont want to invest like 100 dollars into a board game already. Which is why board games like starcraft might not be ideal for me.
Thanks if anyone can make any recommendations for me.
Perhaps "Summoner Wars" would be something for you.
To sum it up it is essentially a 2 player card game without the expectation of buying tons and tons of booster packs to play it or be good at it.
You buy the basic game (or the master set to wich i linked) and that sets you back either 12 dollar or 30 dollar (basic and master respective). In these sets are race decks. Think the basic fantasy staple. Tundra orcs, phoenix elves, goblins, but even a few more unique decks like the cloaks, a deck of thieves.
Anyway, in this card game both players pick a different race filled with a summoner (the leader of a race) commons (cannon fodder but each has a unique ability) and champions (in the middle between the summoner and commons).
Players draw from their deck and place units on the field. Units on the field can be moved and used to atack. Some units are ranged, others are melee and yet some others are casters but those are more rare.
Combined with some magic cards players attempt to fight their way through to the other side and kill the enemy summoner. Whoever kills the other summoner first wins the game.
The game has often been summed up as a mix between collectable card games (minus the collectable) and chess. There is a bit of luck involved with the drawing of cards but the player who uses his cards in a more effective way will end up taking the win most of the time. The luck of cards is diminished by the fact that in your average game, you will go through the entire deck.
The biggest selling point of the game is it's excellent balance but also how incredibly unique each race is.
Some races blitz across the board and are hyper agressive. Some races are more defensive and prefer to build a huge line of walls and wait till the enemy has wasted most of his cards. Some races try to win the game with a handfull of strong units. Other races flood the board with cheap. Some races never move their summoner, other races focus almost exclusively on properly using the summoner. Some races don't even care if they lose their units as they can bring them back just as easily whilst for other races, every lost unit is crippeling.
It's an intresting 1v1 game wich doesn't take long to play, has a mix of luck and skill but leaning more towards skill and perhaps most importantly, doesn't cost a lot of money to play. For as little as 12 dollar you will be ready to play the game.
Best of all i suppose is that this game lets you sink as much money into it as you want, or as little. 12 dollars is hardly a big investment so if it's not your thing then it won't leave you begging for money as most boardgames tend to do. If you love the game there are more then a dozen completly unique races that you can buy whenever you feel like it, all expanding on the game.
A pretty good video review if you are left with any doubts or questions:
Im at work right now so cant see the video but i've been reading reviews about the game and it sounds awesome. Might be exactly what im looking for. I have a question though. Is this a card game where you have to constantly buy booster packs like pokemon or magic the gathering. Or is this more where you just have to buy the next expansion pack to keep up like killer bunnies (not sure if u've heard of the card game)? In killer bunnies, you buy the starter pack then they come out with new expansion packs here and there. So you just purchase the next expansion pack to get ALL the cards. In pokemon lets say, you would be forced to buy booster pack after booster pack just to get even a fraction of cards available.
Edit: Thanks for the recommendation, really appreciate it. Nice thread btw. Been looking for something to do with my gf while just hanging out at my place and this thread made me realize that a board game would be perfect to fill in that time.
On July 06 2011 03:00 Fumble wrote: Im at work right now so cant see the video but i've been reading reviews about the game and it sounds awesome. Might be exactly what im looking for. I have a question though. Is this a card game where you have to constantly buy booster packs like pokemon or magic the gathering. Or is this more where you just have to buy the next expansion pack to keep up like killer bunnies (not sure if u've heard of the card game)? In killer bunnies, you buy the starter pack then they come out with new expansion packs here and there. So you just purchase the next expansion pack to get ALL the cards. In pokemon lets say, you would be forced to buy booster pack after booster pack just to get even a fraction of cards available. Also where would you get this game? Seems like you can only order it online and after looking at their official site, the master set costs 50 dollars.
Edit: Thanks for the recommendation, really appreciate it. Nice thread btw. Been looking for something to do with my gf while just hanging out at my place and this thread made me realize that a board game would be perfect to fill in that time.
Could be that the price is higher, i just went off what it said on the link to boardgamegeek but i suppose those prices might be a bit lower.
If you want to get this game you can either order it from somewhere or you can find your local gameshop give them a call or drop by in person and ask them to order the game for you. The closest gameshop to my home isn't all that big but they are often more then happy to order games for me and give me a call when they get them in, i think most game shops would be nice enough to do that.
As for your question on wether it's boosters or killer bunnies (don't know the game but going off your description) it is definitly more like killer bunnies. You don't have to buy a ton of boosters and then still not get all the cards.
Every so often they release one of two things:
1) A new race, this includes all the cards for that race, there are no others, nothing random. What you see is what you get, no having million doubles.
2) A race expansion.
A new race pretty much explains itself but a race expansion might need some clarification. A race expansion contains a set of cards in the theme of that race and allows you the option to tweak the deck of that race.
If you only have the phoenix elves then when you play them you don't have to tweak or change anything, you just play with the entire phoenix elf deck. If you have the phoenix elf expansion then you have extra cards wich allow you to tweak the deck, like swap a certain group of common cards out for another type of common.
These expansion decks should be considered side-grades. They are not an improvement for a race, they just offer more options. The cards aren't better or worse, they are just equall but different. Like i said, a side-grade. You can play the game perfectly with just the basic race decks.
So no need to waste a billion dollars on boosters because when you buy a deck you know exactly what it contains. Never opening a pack of cards and not having a clue what's in it or finding that you allready have all the cards in them and just wasted money. If you buy an undead deck you have all the undead cards, if you buy a cloak deck then you have all the cloak cards.
The master set contains 6 different races, the original basic set comes in 2 versions, one having the Tundra orcs and Phoenix elves and another having the Cave goblins and the Guild dwarves.
Not really sure what would be the better option for you. Just buying one of the original versions is probably cheaper and if you really like it you can always get the master set later since it has noone of the same races in it.
On July 05 2011 22:58 Fumble wrote: Anyone have any recommendation for a good 2 player board game? It doesnt have to specifically cater to 2 players but I find games that are tailored for it to be more advanced.
Im looking for something that is mostly skill based but can still have a luck factor. Like im aware that a lot of board games deal with dice rolling or card drawing so its unavoidable and im fine with games such as mahjong where luck is a factor. But I want a game also like mahjong where decision making and skill can impact the outcome of the game and an experienced/better player will win majority of the time.
I've been looking at Carcassonne. It sounds like an interesting game and I can see the strategic elements. But I guess im looking for something more advanced. I noticed the Starcraft board game, wondering if thats actually a good game or if teamliquid members are just biased towards it.
Im never been a big board game player. I've only played the most mainstream ones like monopoly or risk. This thread kind of got me curious about trying other board games out but I dont want to invest like 100 dollars into a board game already. Which is why board games like starcraft might not be ideal for me.
Thanks if anyone can make any recommendations for me.
As said by Manitou and Zalz, both Advanced Squad Leader and Summoner Wars are good games that might be what you want. Zalz has any discussion of Summoner Wars well in hand and I don't know enough about ASL to say anything meaningful (I've only played it twice).
But 2-player games being my specialty, I will also jump in here and these are my recommendations:
Hive Hive is an elegant game with simple, clear rules and an incredibly easy set-up. It also travels very very well. Strategically, it has some considerable depth. Just how deep, I am still exploring but at ~USD25 it's hard to go wrong here. There's been some discussion of Hive right here and the BGG forums are always an incredible resource. Ultimately, to quote another poster, it is like a game of chess in that you are trying to checkmate your opponent but thematically it is a lot more accessible and fairly easy to get to a point that you can feel like you basically know what you are doing. There is no luck here, although I maintain that once you both know the basics of strategy for the game the second player is at a disadvantage. Despite that, this is a fun and engaging game that can be played at the game table, on a picnic or even in bed.
Dominion. Dominion has been discussed at length in this thread, and it is a popular game for good reason. It can accommodate up to 4 players with one of the full sets (Base Set or Intrigue) or up to 6 with both. But it also plays very well with 2 and as has been repeated multiple times here, it is accessible, easy to learn, strategically interesting and most importantly, fun! I'll readily admit that some cards simply don't play that well with two but I don't think that detracts from the game at all. Only one set is really needed though the expansions really do add to the game. Some here would recommend the base set over Intrigue to start and some the other way. You can try the game out with (or without) some of us here at BSW. There is some luck involved in card draws from your deck but since the only person responsible for building that deck is you, you manage the probabilities involved! The cost of either the base set of Intrigue is ~USD40. You'll need at least one.
You've already mentioned Carcassonne, which is an excellent choice and plays very well with 2. I wouldn't dismiss it as too simple: there's a lot going on there and the very cheap expansions add a lot to the game as you delve its depths. The core game itself is only ~USD20.
If you're looking to get even more complex, though, then try out Memoir 44. I'm going to steal from semioldguy and say that games like Dominant Species (an outstanding game, by the way) and Leaping Lemmings are wargames dressed up like Eurogames. Memoir 44 is an eurogame dressed up like a wargame. Multiple scenarios can be played on a blank (and therefore customizable) board. The game is driven by cards and dice, giving it an element of [player-managed] luck. Games play fast and the rules are not that difficult... additionally, people who often swear to not be into wargames seem to have a tendency to enjoy it. I'm not a huge fan myself but I can appreciate a good game design. This is a very brief writeup of the system used for it and the next game I am going to mention. Look to the BGG reviews for more info; I've only played about 6 real games of it. At ~USD50 for the base set (which is substantial) the game is something you may want to research but isn't so expensive [relatively speaking: boardgames aren't cheap, but they're comparable to video games] that you'll always have a bitter taste in your mouth about the cost.
Also from the designer of Memoir 44 is Commands and Colors! There's a whole host of these games; I've just linked to one of them. These are simple, fast strategy games.
I talked about Space Hulk at length in an earlier post. Set-up takes an annoyingly long time and this can easily be a deal-breaker when looking for a fun game for you and your gf. If you do go for it, hunt down a copy of the older version for USD50 or so. I paid a ridiculous USD100 for the new edition because I bought it as soon as it came out but it is now even more exorbitantly expensive and only of interest to collectors and Games Workshops enthusiasts.
If you want to start to get even more hardcore, look to one of two great options: Washington's War is one of my absolute favorite games. I talked about it a bit earlier in the thread. This is a Card-Driven Game, making it incredibly replayable. There are many games like it, but the beauty of this one is that it is simple (very few exceptions to the basic rules), set-up is fast and it is strategically very deep. Battles are decided by die roll so in coordination with the cards there is luck involved. Ultimately, this is a game of territory control (not dissimilar from Go!), with the armies as tools to that territory control. And once you know the game, it'll play in under 2 hours. It costs ~USD60.
and then there's Hammer of the Scots or Richard 3, both excellent entryways into block games. They both set up fast, are easy to grasp and play pretty quickly. Hammer of the Scots is older and considered a classic. Richard 3 has many very similar mechanics and plays faster. Lots of die rolling but tactical and strategic acumen are of paramount importance. Although there are those on BGG that would crucify me as a heretic, I think the newer Richard 3 is easier to learn. Both cost ~USD60 from the publisher (Columbia Games) but you often find them for ~USD40 elsewhere.
I ordered Space Empires 4X through the P500 system but unfortunately shipping was delayed through unavoidable circumstances outside of GMT's control and I have not yet received it. Supposedly it is pretty good with 2 players in testing but I don't know. I'll post my thoughts when I have something worthwhile to say on it.
I'd suggest going to your local games club (many games stores will double as this) and finding out when their games nights are and just playing some of these games there. You'll find some great people who'll be more than happy to help. You'll also find some... less helpful people, but that's par for the course. You play Starcraft. You understand.
Note: I'm bumping this thread rather than starting a new one because, to my mind, my post isn't worth a new thread; moreover the target audience would be the readers and contributors of this thread anyway. Oh, and I would be referencing it to boot.
That superb games company, GMT, is having their fall sale.
In short, GMT is offering 20% off all their games (not games by other companies sold through their website). This is in addition to any ongoing sales or specials that may be in effect for the games (e.g. from their specials page). For frequent customers such as myself, they're offering 50% off on a number of games equal to the number of P500 purchases + Show Spoiler +
(P500 games are GMT's clever pre-sale system. In essence, it allows them to check for interest, gives a discount for pre-orders to overly excited customers like myself and permits gamers to preview a game in development before deciding to buy it)
this year +1.
They're also reinstituting their unemployment offer, where, should you have lost your job recently, they will send you 2 games for free. There is also a 50% off offer for people who have been out of work for a long time.
Based on what people have said in thread before, I thought I'd post some quick thoughts on some of the games, except Urban Sprawl that I have yet to play. However, board game night soon!
Dominant Species might just be my new favorite multi-player (i.e. 3+) game. A startlingly clever game that appears complicated on the surface but actually plays very easily. Not simply, mind you. Strategically this game is vast and challenging; an ever-changing board makes it tactically interesting too. Thematically, each player guides one type of creature (Mammal, Insect, Reptile, Amphibian, Bird or Arachnid) to dominance as the ever-encroaching ice age squeezes the available territory and resources. Mechanically, you try to gather up VPs through controlling territory and resources. Each player has a limited number of Action Points that they allocate in a planning phase to decide all their actions the subsequent action phase. You can increase the number of pieces you have in play (possibly allowing you to dominate an area), move or add resources on the board, add territory to the board, attack each other and so on. Some people complain that the pieces are too utilitarian, but I actually really like their simple elegance. They communicate their purpose clearly and well. My only two complaints are their choice of terminology when describing who has control on a particular piece of territory ("Dominance" vs "Dominant"? Really?) and that the RAW mean the game is just a bit too long.+ Show Spoiler +
Please be aware that I don't mind games that are appropriately long. I play hardcore historical war simulations after all. But there's a difference between a long game and a game that plays too long. The RAW on this are the latter.
For Zocat, I'd highly recommend this as an option for that 5-6 player game you were looking for.
Space Empires was... well, let's just say I have mixed feelings about. It's a good game, but with just slightly too many details and pieces are just a bit too difficult to handle easily for all they need to do. It's much better suited to a computer game. I'm not saying don't get it. I know a good many people who love it. I'm just saying get a playtest in first. There's a lot of "hidden" information, but with chits instead of blocks (as popularized by the Block Game series of wargames), it can be really finicky to move units around and keep values hidden. It's a popular game at clubs, so finding someone to play it with shouldn't be too hard. The rules are excellent and while there are a few too many major random factors for a solid competitive game (oh crap! I unleashed a doomsday machine near my core worlds!), it still is a ton of fun. Setting up takes a while, and more frequently than one would like there's a snafu in moving pieces without revealing something (oop! you didn't see those cloaked units under there, did you?) or keeping track of what tech has been revealed on what units and which unit has what tech etc. For me, it's a game I play on occasion with good friends but it rarely hits the table. Rarely enough that with 20/20 hindsight, I probably wouldn't have bought the game and would have stuck to playing it at clubs. In fact, 5 of my 7 plays have been at the club.
And then there's Twilight Struggle. At long, long last I own this simply outstanding game. A 2-player card-driven game modeling the Cold War, it is nothing short of brilliant. The reprint's rules have an annoying number of typos and the section on scoring is poorly written, with some serious omissions (I had to look up a community-created player aid to actually have a chance of getting it right) but the game itself is superlative. It plays smoothly and quickly (though the game itself seems to sit in the 2-4 hour range), and is really challenging and fun. While not as overwhelming as Paths of Glory, there are sufficient options open to each player that is becomes much harder to easily predict your opponent's plans and movements and creating multiple threats and coercing your opponent to play into your hands is much more subtle than many other games of its type.
i suddenly remembered this thread today! its because of the OP that i bought my first boardgames (outside of monopoly and risk)! im slowly expanding my collection and plan to get more of the games mentioned here!
its just a really simple trivia slash gambling game, it can be taught and learned in less than 5 minutes. its great fun and can be played by by 3 to 20 (or more) players (you can play in teams)! i bring this out during family gatherings and even some house parties, people just love it! its the gambling (betting) aspect that excites people hehe there's an expansion pack that provides more trivia questions but i think its already out of print. there's a new version of this game recently released its called Wits and Wagers Party! definitely getting it the second its available here.
Settlers of Catan
an extremely popular game thats been thorougly discussed many times in this thread! i got introduced to this via this thread and bought my own copy still playing it every now and then, fun, simple and and friendly! thanks to the OP!
and this is shocking, i cant believe nobody mentioned this yet...
the first edition of this came out in the 1980s. the current incarnation is being produced by Fantasy Flight Games. they already have a lot of expansions packs (3 "big box" expansions and 4 "small box" expansions) the most recent one coming out just this year. my friends and i have been playing this game and its expansions everytime we can for the past few weeks, we cant get enough of it! this game rocks! the way i would describe it is that its an RPG slash RACING game. You get a random character, power him/her up by getting spells, fighting monsters and getting items (like in an RPG) and when you're strong enough you try to get to the center of the board and reach the "Crown of Command!" while the other players will be trying to get ahead of you (this is the "racing" aspect) by slowing you down and trying killing you >_< every expansion adds more characters and sometimes a whole new board that contains a new area (such as a dungeon!) that attaches to the main gameboard, how cool is that!?
my other friends describe at as a cross between DnD and Snakes and Ladders (lol?) but we all agree its very fun to play if you're into fantasy and adventure and if you enjoy RPGs and Player v. Player then you'll this
also the gameboard comes with miniatures (that represent the characters) and im starting to want to get into minipainting just to paint them and make them look awesome! tl;dr im really addicted to this game right now coz its really good, get it too! :D
one genius game that wasent mentioned yet is Innovation, a card game where you rise trough the epochs of mankinds development from stoneage to computerization, you build your civilization with the cards you get (each one represents one invention) which makes for near infinite replayability because your cards interact with each other.
One culture might make lots of points by starting out with the wheel, working its way up trough algebra , astronomy into bioengineering , while anotehr player might try to destroy the board with fire , archery , steam engines and nuclear fission.
best played with 3-4 players, i recommend you check it out.
On August 20 2012 17:56 Irratonalys wrote: one genius game that wasent mentioned yet is Innovation, a card game where you rise trough the epochs of mankinds development from stoneage to computerization, you build your civilization with the cards you get (each one represents one invention) which makes for near infinite replayability because your cards interact with each other.
One culture might make lots of points by starting out with the wheel, working its way up trough algebra , astronomy into bioengineering , while anotehr player might try to destroy the board with fire , archery , steam engines and nuclear fission.
best played with 3-4 players, i recommend you check it out.
On July 05 2011 22:58 Fumble wrote: Anyone have any recommendation for a good 2 player board game? It doesnt have to specifically cater to 2 players but I find games that are tailored for it to be more advanced.
Im looking for something that is mostly skill based but can still have a luck factor. Like im aware that a lot of board games deal with dice rolling or card drawing so its unavoidable and im fine with games such as mahjong where luck is a factor. But I want a game also like mahjong where decision making and skill can impact the outcome of the game and an experienced/better player will win majority of the time.
I've been looking at Carcassonne. It sounds like an interesting game and I can see the strategic elements. But I guess im looking for something more advanced. I noticed the Starcraft board game, wondering if thats actually a good game or if teamliquid members are just biased towards it.
Im never been a big board game player. I've only played the most mainstream ones like monopoly or risk. This thread kind of got me curious about trying other board games out but I dont want to invest like 100 dollars into a board game already. Which is why board games like starcraft might not be ideal for me.
Thanks if anyone can make any recommendations for me.
Paths of Glory is the single best boardgame I have played, hands down. It is highly complex, but still a 'casual' wargame (if such a term exists). It is basically a very complex version of Risk. You don't have to be an armchar general to appreciate its grand strategy.
It is about world war 1. One player is Central Powers and one is the Allies (the Entente). It is a card-driven game (CDG) which is very good since it has all the deck-building elements and strategies of games like Dominion, but that is only one part of the game, then there is all the movement and combat of armies.
The full game scenario takes about 8 hours for new players, once you've played some 10+ games you can usualy nail it around 4-5 hours, and then even less.
It is highly historical, but of course alot of "what-ifs" and you are free to pursue the war in any way you want. For example, you can aim to bring down the Tsar early or bring in America as early as possible, delay the entry of Italy, send serbians into germany, etc.. since it is so epic-spanning, the strategies are endless and you can truly never master it, yet it is perfectly balanced (esp. with the official Historical Variant) so that while there are dice rolls, truly the most strategic player wins.
I've had some epic games where the germans had conquered everything in france except paris, and they sieged paris for about a whole year untill it eventually was grinded down, only to be reconquered by combined forces of british and americans when they arrived in late 1917. In another game the germans hardly touched france, they only occupied a few spaces in france but rather sent nearly all their focus on Russia to bring the Tsar down as quickly as possible to avoid the dreaded two-front war.
Once you've played it, any other boardgame feels boring. (Except maybe twilight struggle, another ace)
EPT
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Do you play it online?![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/AQGdT.jpg)
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