Board Games

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Stocky Boy
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Board Games

Post by Stocky Boy »

So, I've been getting heavily into board games. Monopoly, Risk, Cluedo you say? No bitches. No.
Whilst those are fun, I mean games that get given the following terms: Eurogame, Ameritrash, Deck building, Set collecting, Area control, Worker placement, Cooperative and Semi cooperative.

Games like...

Settlers of Catan
Ticket to Ride
Carcasonne
Dominion
King of Tokyo
Hanabi
Resistance
Coup
Battlestar Galactica The Board Game (obviously)
Android Netrunner
Lords of Waterdeep
Seven Wonders
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Splendor
Dobble/Spot It

Now, if you don't recognise even one of the above games, shame on you fools!

All are very enjoyable. I'm sure if you played them all you'd all find atleast five out of the bunch you'd be happy to play once a week or so.

I guess there are two reasons why I've made a thread on this.

1) General curiosity. We all share interests in comics, video games, tv, books and film, so why not board games?

2) An observation. Like with collecting comics, boardgaming has become a collecting hobby. I've been cutting back on comics, because I think £30 a week is just too much. I think I've got it down to £20 now. But, this new hobby of mine, it's like being bitten with the collecting bug all over again and so, I've got a new finance draining activity on my hands!
I wonder if it's systematic for anyone hooked on boardgaming, or if it's more of a collector mentality issue? Or has comic collecting trained me into being someone who has to own it all?

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MGM
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Post by MGM »

While I've played Catan and Carcassonne (which really seems just a bit like Catan light) and I enjoy playing those games, I'm not a rabid player. Probably because I don't know that many people who love playing. I'd like to play more, actually. But alas, you need at least 3 other players.

Also, try to find and play Saboteur. Preferably with as many players as possible (There's also an extension pack), because it's much more fun with three saboteurs (and no fun at all with just one).

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XIII
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Post by XIII »

I've played both Catan and Carcassonne with Malorie and her mum. Usually, I'll play one game but don't have the patience for more.
I'll play occasionnally when we are on holiday at her mum's and her brother comes along cause he is a rabid player.

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XIII
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Post by XIII »

One that I enjoyed was Citadels.

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Stocky Boy
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Post by Stocky Boy »

I quite like Citadels too, but I feel it can drag on and there's a lot of time between plays. Funnily enough though, Citadels is the first of these 'niche' board and card games that I ever played.

A very recent one I'm into is Dragon's Hoard. Treasure card collecting game where you trade in different coloured sheep and quantity of sheep to get varyingly expensive treasure. It can be quite tactical for a small card game and the artwork is fantastic.

Quite delighted to hear two Europeans have played two of the pillar board games of the niche board game world. :)

Saboteur looks interesting. I'll see if one of my group has it.

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MGM
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Post by MGM »

Oh, Citadels I've played as well. Fun game!

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jedispyder
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Post by jedispyder »

My roommate has a lot of board games but I rarely get to join in. I hear him playing them a lot, though. When I was asked to join in, I really liked Ticket to Ride.

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Stocky Boy
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Post by Stocky Boy »

Have you guys heard of / played Arabian Nights or Arkham Horror?

I try and make one of the board game nights a week at a little meet-up group called London on Board. It's pretty good. I like that such a community exists.

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jedispyder
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Post by jedispyder »

A good friend of mine has Arkham Horror, it is a lot of fun! Reminds me of Mansions of Madness.

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Stocky Boy
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Post by Stocky Boy »

I want to play Ticket to Ride Europe. Haven't gotten round to it just yet.

I don't know Mansion of Madness. I've played Betrayal at House on the Hill, which is quite an items and weapon building game with story. Bit like Arkham and Arabian Nights in that respect.

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Tragic Angelus
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Post by Tragic Angelus »

My friends and I do these things quite a bit. Often we play full on board games to simple card related games.

Some of our favorites include:
Kill Doctor Lucky
Save Doctor Lucky
Firefly (so damn fun)
Settlers of Catan
Takenoko
Ticket to Ride
Zombicide
Lifeboat

There are a handful of others we play that I don't recall the names to but we play often. One is a billboard related game where you try to place ads that generate you money when people roll dice. Another my friends have played that I've yet to play actually is White Chapel, where one player is moving along the city as Jack the Ripper and the others are trying to figure out where he'll be next to catch him. I've heard it's a lot of fun.

I also loved playing Monsters Menace America, but can't find a copy of it around here anymore. Online it ranges all over in price but I loved that game.

I also do soundly love Risk, and we play that as often as we can as well.

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Stocky Boy
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Post by Stocky Boy »

Zombiecide and Firefly look fun. I've seen Firefly and it's expansion in my little meet up group. Not Zombiecide though.
I would like to play Dead of Winter, another zombie game, which looks like it plays similar to Battlestar Galactica a coop game with a likely traitor and you all have a team goal, but also selfish goals that may make you look like an untrustworthy, suspicious traitor.

I've played Takenoko once. It's a nice, friendly, fun-looking, gentle game. Haven't heard of these Doctor Lucky games though.

I've seen Whitechapel at my group. It does look like fun.

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Tragic Angelus
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Post by Tragic Angelus »

Firefly is immensely fun, especially with expansions. But you have to play it with a group where everyone knows "Someone is destined to get screwed over" otherwise you'll have players in your group who get very frustrated when they get boarded by Reavers or pirated often. I've seen it happen, and it's happened to me often.

Zombicide is fun, but I often play it with people who aren't the most fun to play. They get REALLY into it and want to complete Every. Single. Objective. I'm more the "what's the quickest way to win because I still win" kind of person, where they want to do everything and kill as much as possible. Some days, I just want to win and screw the rest of the team even in a coop haha.

Takenoko is very fun and simple, and an easy quick play, especially with kids. A simpler version of Catan really.

Kill Doctor Lucky is the opposite of Clue. Instead of who killed the man, you're all chasing him through his mansion trying to kill him without anyone seeing it. Save Doctor Lucky however, you're all on the Titanic and while you want to kill him, killing him there is pointless because everyone is about to die, so you have to try to save him with everyone watching you. Very fun, quick play games that in large groups end up as very funny, interesting times.

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Mr Wallstreet
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Post by Mr Wallstreet »

Hmmm I'm not familiar with a single board game mentioned above.

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Tragic Angelus
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Post by Tragic Angelus »

Stocky, you said you've played Seven Wonders. How is it? I've looked it over a few times, but it seems more like a civilization builder than anything else, and those often get overly complicated for me to keep up with. I was given a copy of Nations to test play and then teach people, and just opening the instructions sent my head spinning, and I'm worried Seven Wonders would do the same thing.

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Stocky Boy
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Post by Stocky Boy »

Seven Wonders is pretty easy to learn. I won't try and cover everything below, but the basics are...

Goal = Most victory points

3 x Ages (or if you will, 3 x decks)
You play through each deck, so there's three stages to the game.

Each deck or 'Age' has the following types of cards on their face side:
Brown - Resources - Wood, Brick, Ore, Plastic (kidding), Stone
Grey - Special resources - Glass, Paper, something else
Blue - Civilisation - Fountain, Senate, University, big civil places
Red - Military - Barracks, Chariots
Yellow - Commercial/Trade - discount and money generating devices
Green - Science/Technology
Purple - Guild

Pretty much all the cards/buildings cost you resources. In Age 1 there are some cheap resources. Age II, better ones, but in Age III there aren't any.
So, you balance point earning and resource building to have lots of resources for the last Age.

Shuffle the Age I deck of brown, blue etc cards. Deal 8? to each player. Pick one to play/build, pass on your other cards to your left. Play your card and then select your next card.
If you built a resource, you now have that to spend for every turn.
You can use your immediate left and right neighbours resources by paying them.
Some Blue and Green cards will become cheaper to you, if you've built other blue or green cards. You buy red cards for wars at the end of each age, which give you points if you win. You simply compare who built the most red cards between you and your immediate neighbours.
Yellow cards might earn you points of give you discounts based on your immediate neighbours' cards.
Green cards you must collect in sets to get points from them.

I don't know how simple that sounds here, but it really is simple.

Here's the Starlit Citadels review of it. These girls are a little bland sometimes, but perfectly good review format. Less than 4 minutes to watch too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o80TXKKzCw

Tom Vasel's Dice Tower / Miami Dice review. Not sure if I've seen this, but he's pretty good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFaOgIxM96c

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Tragic Angelus
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Post by Tragic Angelus »

That doesn't sound nearly as complicated as some of the others, so I may have to track it down and find a group to give it a shot. I appreciate it!

Nations was similar in that it had multiple rounds, but it seemed like there were about a dozen more steps to each round. It definitely wasn't a quick game, which we often look for.

Some of my friends actually go to a convention in the area called Joe Con (after the guy who started it) where all they do is play and learn new games. We also have a room or two at our convention where people can play or learn new games as well, but I"m so busy I never get to go in and learn since I'm working. Hopefully I'll be able to do Joe Con this next year though.

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Stocky Boy
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Post by Stocky Boy »

I tend to lean towards quicker games. Ideally, for a games evening I'd have several quick fillers, maybe a couple of medium sized fillers and then one 1 hour 1/2 to 4 hour game as the main game that the quicker games encircle.
What tends to happen for me though, since I rarely commit to a long game is that I end up playing several quicker games in succession and then call it a night.

I've never heard of Nations. Tom Vasel and his cohost on Dice Tower mention a game called FairyTale as having similar mechanics to Seven Wonders.

Joe Con sounds interesting. Where is it? And do you work at the comic store as well as teach?


Latest purchase: Machi Koro!
This was the game, surprisingly advertised all over our comics. Presumably only the IDW ones I bought, since it happens to be the case that IDW are the US/UK publishers. Even more surprising - IDW has a boardgame branch. Say whaaat?!?

IDW quick rule explanation and intro. Love the music!
http://vimeo.com/97138806

Shut Up and Sit Down revie of Machi Koro (and Splendor)
http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/ ... achi-koro/

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Tragic Angelus
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Post by Tragic Angelus »

Joe Con is held in the town my comic shop is in, where I used to live.

I both do and don't work at the comic store. Basically, I'm one of the few people that, when I walk through the door, I could be considered on the clock. I help customers, I organize shelves, I even ring people up at the register, but I'm not an "official" employee. I've just worked with the owner long enough at another store before he opened this one that I still have those skills he likes to use. During the summer and extended breaks, I'll fill in for him on days and come in to help organize folders on new book day. But I don't get paid. I usually just get a heavier discount.

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Stocky Boy
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Post by Stocky Boy »

Stocky Boy wrote:
I've never heard of Nations. Tom Vasel and his cohost on Dice Tower mention a game called FairyTale as having similar mechanics to Seven Wonders.
I've now heard of Nations.:) The guys from Shut Up & Sit Down reviewed it along with Imperial Settlers.
http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/ ... w-nations/

I would have to watch it again to see how similar it is to 7 Wonders, but I don't remember thinking that it sounded similar.

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