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[antiquegamer]

It's coming out on iOS soon, so maybe it will shine on that platform.

Can anyone comment on any of the following? Mainly looking for a game for 2-4 and ages 7+

- Pirates Cove
- Talisman
- Cave Troll
- Death Angel
- Bridge Troll
- Dragonheart

We have Talisman, Cave Troll and Death Angel. We played a few game of Talisman with my kids and their cousins (my kids are however a little older they are 10+). Talisman, as someone mention, ran really long and the kids eventually got bore and we ended up cutting it short.

Cave Troll is fun from what I remember and they did enjoy it. If I remember correctly it play a bit like Risk. (It has been awhile since I played it).

I just pick up Death Angel, and my son and I love it. My daughter however doesn't want anything to do with it. It's very brutal game and you tend to loose more than winning.

Do you have Forbidden Island? I think that would be very fun for younger kids, and it's a nice change to play co-op type game. My kids also enjoy Ticket to Rides and Dominions.

 

[platypotamus]

It's coming out on iOS soon, so maybe it will shine on that platform.

Can anyone comment on any of the following? Mainly looking for a game for 2-4 and ages 7+

- Pirates Cove

I didn't enjoy it at all, but it might be ok for kids? It's a lot of direct conflict and dice as I recall.

- Dragonheart

I like this one on yucata. Card driven, play X cards to Y pile with each type of card/pile having various effects on scoring. Only 2 player, no more, but pretty good for that.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Another $100 from your wallet to their open hands ...

That really doesn't answer the question. Really nothing can stop them from simply adding in a new set of race cards and ships from what I see. The only issue really is that outside of the Federation and Klingons, none of the other races really have a wide selection of ships to use and they are using stuff directly from the shows and movies. Romulans for example would basically give them 4 ship models to work with, and other races even less. For the game they had to even pull out Klingon ship from the Enterprise era to fill in space and still theres repeats unlike the Fed side.

 

[Gaming Truth]

That really doesn't answer the question. Really nothing can stop them from simply adding in a new set of race cards and ships from what I see. The only issue really is that outside of the Federation and Klingons, none of the other races really have a wide selection of ships to use and they are using stuff directly from the shows and movies. Romulans for example would basically give them 4 ship models to work with, and other races even less. For the game they had to even pull out Klingon ship from the Enterprise era to fill in space and still theres repeats unlike the Fed side.

Missed the fact that you asked a rhetorical question. Yeah, they're gonna release more, my strike from my Gencon preview was that it's painfully obvious. The DT review showed great deck customization though, which is a plus over what was previewed then.

The Romulans should have enough types. They'll have to dip into the past, but the current two races have classic ships too. The only two other races for which multiple ship types have been the Ferengi and the Borg ...

 

[Flynn]

Funny BGG thread: These Games Are Broken.

 

[antiquegamer]

Any Gaffers, played Horus Heresy boardgame ? How is it? My son wants to get into Warhammer but I told him until he get his own jobs and earn decent living it's probably a bad idea. I was thinking getting boardgame for Christmas present. (He's 14)

 

[TwiztidElf]

I like Nightfall, but it took a good few games for it to start shining. It is very clumsy setup and slow early game. Once it gets it's momentum and rhythm up, and all players know what's going on, it is a lot of fun.
Hard to recommend it over Dominion.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Any Gaffers, played Horus Heresy boardgame ? How is it? My son wants to get into Warhammer but I told him until he get his own jobs and earn decent living it's probably a bad idea. I was thinking getting boardgame for Christmas present. (He's 14)

Well it's a pretty heavy board game, not sure if it's too complex or not for a kid that age, it's not the simplest of games. It's a wargame pretty much probably more so than a board game, the combat is nice as it's diceless so you use cards in your hand to determine victory. It's the same battle you play over and over again, but the scenarios basically alter starting conditions and such to mix things up. The game is heavy fan service as well being that you are playing a major event in the 40K universe, while at the same time it's not set in the normal 40K setting that most are familiar with.

 

[Fewr]

I just bought Carcassonne.

They had the normal and the 10th anniversary version at the same price, so I went for the latter. I'll play it this weekend.

What expansions do people recommend?

 

[jason10mm]

Pirates Cove is a decent game. Not a whole lot of decision making, you basically have everyone blind pick where they will go for the turn, if 2 or more folks go to the same place then they fight, at which point the bigger ship typically wins and sinks the smaller ship since the "run away" penalties are kinda steep. There is a big runaway leader problem so the other players really have to gang up on the winner. But there is enough theme and ship upgrade paths to keep the game fun, especially for kids who can basically just pick a spot, roll dice till someone sinks, then spend their money on repairs without having to be really conscious on long term strategy.

 

[BomberMouse]

I just bought Carcassonne.

They had the normal and the 10th anniversary version at the same price, so I went for the latter. I'll play it this weekend.

What expansions do people recommend?

The first two are the usually recommended:

- Inns and cathedrals (good one)
- Traders and Builders (meh)

You should really try to get The River II, it makes for an awesome alternative starting map.

It's coming out on iOS soon, so maybe it will shine on that platform.

Can anyone comment on any of the following? Mainly looking for a game for 2-4 and ages 7+

- Pirates Cove
- Talisman
- Cave Troll
- Death Angel
- Bridge Troll
- Dragonheart

I've yet to try any of those (although I own PC). Pirates Cove is 3-5 not 2-4 and Dragonheart only supports 2 players.

 

[Fewr]

The first two are the usually recommended:

- Inns and cathedrals (good one)
- Traders and Builders (meh)

You should really try to get The River II, it makes for an awesome alternative starting map.

THanks, I think I saw something about a river at the shop, it's a tiny box isn't it?

 

[antiquegamer]

Well it's a pretty heavy board game, not sure if it's too complex or not for a kid that age, it's not the simplest of games. It's a wargame pretty much probably more so than a board game, the combat is nice as it's diceless so you use cards in your hand to determine victory. It's the same battle you play over and over again, but the scenarios basically alter starting conditions and such to mix things up. The game is heavy fan service as well being that you are playing a major event in the 40K universe, while at the same time it's not set in the normal 40K setting that most are familiar with.

Thanks for info! I am sure he is old enough to understand rule. He loves strategy games, I am just not sure if it would be "fun" for someone his age. I saw the 40K starter set also, but I rather not getting into full blown tabletop miniature.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Thanks for info! I am sure he is old enough to understand rule. He loves strategy games, I am just not sure if it would be "fun" for someone his age. I saw the 40K starter set also, but I rather not getting into full blown tabletop miniature.

It's a long playing strategy game, so it's hard to tell really, I like the game but it's gotta be played with fans of the series I think. The miniature game is not really that bad if you take it slow. Large aspect of it is the hobby portion of building and painting stuff. It only becomes a big thing when you get into playing it hardcore with others, but know many who just play smaller games and buy new figs only once in a while as they attempt to finish putting together/painting what they have and not going nuts on buying armies and figs without knowing really whats best.

 

[Neverfade]

Played Elder Sign, and that was enjoyed all around. We played Yig who is apparently the easiest. I was relieved to read that as we didn't have a hard time actually fighting him when he awakend. Sealing away these guys can be brutal though.

 

[fenners]

Played Elder Sign, and that was enjoyed all around. We played Yig who is apparently the easiest. I was relieved to read that as we didn't have a hard time actually fighting him when he awakend. Sealing away these guys can be brutal though.

Good to hear, get my copy on Monday hopefully.

 

[MichaelBD]

I think I posted a small first look from Gencon a few pages back. Seems like a cool idea, but wish it supported more than two players and races

I just preordered it.

I'm tempted to put Battleship Galaxies up for trade on BGG since I'm thinking this Star Trek game will be a much fuller 2-player space miniature experience.

 

[Gunstarheroes]

Anybody play the Gears board game yet? I'm getting my copy tomorrow and want to know how different it is from Doom, if it is similar at all. I should get it at 3 and plan to play it at 8, so i have a few hours to get myself situated with it.

 

[BomberMouse]

Played a few rounds of Mr Jack Pocket this weekend. God these rules are awfully written. It plays really quick while still being fun. It's not the best game in the world and if it's only two players I usually like to play something heavier, but it's only $10 and takes very little shelf space so I'm hapy to add it to my collection.

 

[UpperCaseN]

Weekend report!

Had a total of 9 including me for games Sat night, everyone had a blast.
While waiting for everyone to show up, we played a quick game of Hey! That’s my fish. It’s quick and easy, plus since it is so light, even if we had to quit the game because of people showing up I wouldn’t mind. We didn’t have to but I think Hey That’s my fish found its rightful place and timeslot for game nights, lol.

Then we played King of Tokyo with the same people as last week, plus Hero and his gf; they ended up loving it as well, maybe he’ll post his own weekend recap. We played it I think 3-4 times between Sat night and Sun afternoon, too bad my promo cards haven’t come in the mail yet.

After that we split into 2 groups, 5 played Citadels and 4 played Catan: Seafarers, I was with the Catan group. This was a major flop and the only bad experience the whole time. Our group loves Catan and there’s several copies between us all; I was certain this was a safe bet especially since I read this is the expansion that doesn’t mess with the system too much. Boy was I wrong. Granted we only played 1 scenario and I’d like to play at least 1 more before making a final assessment, but the game dragged on unnecessarily long and dry. It got to the point where we were all cheering for the leader to finally win the game to end it all. I understand this can be in Catan’s natural nature, especially since we usually do random tile and number placement, but we followed the manual’s setup image this time thinking it would balance the game. Major flop but need to play again.

After this came the grand finale; we played The Resistance for the 1st time. I’m the only one who has played Werewolf out of the group (and it was only once, Gencon) but a few other members know Werewolf’s concept well enough. This was an instant smash hit. We played 3x with normal rules, the first 2 games the spies won and the 3rd game the resistance members won. We were all buzzing about the game for the rest of the night and the next day. It even kept me awake for a while as I was trying to sleep since I was thinking about it and how much fun it was.

On Sunday there was 4 of us, we played Survive: Escape from Atlantis which went really well, Wasabi, and some more King of Tokyo to round the weekend out. This was the 2nd time Survive hit the table and each time went really well. Overall thumbs up for everything minus Seafarers, dammit.

tl;dr: I love board games

 

[XShagrath]

Why not, I'll throw in my weekend gaming as well. I went to spend the weekend with family, so I had a feeling that a lot of my games probably wouldn't go over well. I decided to grab Gloom and then I borrowed Dominion from a work buddy. Ended up playing Dominion 3 times over two days, and Gloom twice. It took my mom almost a full game of Dominion to finally get it, but she was having fun the whole time. Later that night, she was already itching to play again and we stayed up till about 1:30am playing it.

Looks like I'll have to add Dominion to the permanent collection. Sleeving that mofo's gonna be fun.

 

[UpperCaseN]

^oh wow, Dominion isn't one I'd immediately consider for teaching non-gamers. My family has been introduced to Ticket to Ride, Catan, and Forbidden Island. Are you planning on getting regular Dominion or Intrigue?

 

[MrMan2k3]

After that we split into 2 groups, 5 played Citadels and 4 played Catan: Seafarers, I was with the Catan group. This was a major flop and the only bad experience the whole time. Our group loves Catan and there’s several copies between us all; I was certain this was a safe bet especially since I read this is the expansion that doesn’t mess with the system too much. Boy was I wrong. Granted we only played 1 scenario and I’d like to play at least 1 more before making a final assessment, but the game dragged on unnecessarily long and dry. It got to the point where we were all cheering for the leader to finally win the game to end it all. I understand this can be in Catan’s natural nature, especially since we usually do random tile and number placement, but we followed the manual’s setup image this time thinking it would balance the game. Major flop but need to play again.

I'm curious, which map did you play for Seafarers? If you started with "Heading for New Shores" it would basically feel like a longer game of Catan since it's just the standard Catan map plus some extra islands. My friends have enjoyed some of the other scenarios such as "The Fog Island" which has you discovering new hexes as you move along. We've also made some completely randomly-generated maps. It's possible that Seafarers just might not be your thing, but it might be worth trying out a different scenario or two because some of them do introduce some different mechanics. Side note: I haven't played Seafarers in a few years, so who knows how I'd feel about if I played it again now.

 

[XShagrath]

^oh wow, Dominion isn't one I'd immediately consider for teaching non-gamers. My family has been introduced to Ticket to Ride, Catan, and Forbidden Island. Are you planning on getting regular Dominion or Intrigue?

I haven't looked into it much. I know that Intrigue can be played as a stand-alone as well. Looking at it quickly on BGG, Intrigue might be ramping up the complexity a little bit too much at the start. I might end up getting the base game, and then adding in Intrigue once the newness starts to die down in order to breathe some life into the game. Or maybe one of the other expansions? I've heard some are good, and then others are stinkers.

 

[UpperCaseN]

I'm curious, which map did you play for Seafarers? If you started with "Heading for New Shores" it would basically feel like a longer game of Catan since it's just the standard Catan map plus some extra islands. My friends have enjoyed some of the other scenarios such as "The Fog Island" which has you discovering new hexes as you move along. We've also made some completely randomly-generated maps. It's possible that Seafarers just might not be your thing, but it might be worth trying out a different scenario or two because some of them do introduce some different mechanics. Side note: I haven't played Seafarers in a few years, so who knows how I'd feel about if I played it again now.

aye, I think that was the one. It had a main island and then just 3 small islands to sail out to. I picked it because it looked the most like regular Catan so I figured it was a good place to start. The Fog Island one is the one that I actually want to play the most out of them so maybe we'll try that next. Do you suggest using the tile and number placement listed in the scenario instructions or do random tiles and/or numbers?

 

[StoOgE]

So,

after months of uphill battle of the girlfriend and board games I decided to go to the TTR well.

Her brother owns and is addicted to Agricola and she plays that, so I assumed that she was fine with harder games.. and more or less hated everything and was turned completely off gaming.

Not only did she like TTR, she wound up trouncing everyone. Normally she gets bored halfway through games and stops paying attention. So, I have to consider this a massive win. She isn't asking to play it again or anything, but I think I might be able to get her into Tikal, Catan or some other stuff over the next few weeks.

 

[fenners]

So,

after months of uphill battle of the girlfriend and board games I decided to go to the TTR well.

Her brother owns and is addicted to Agricola and she plays that, so I assumed that she was fine with harder games.. and more or less hated everything and was turned completely off gaming.

Not only did she like TTR, she wound up trouncing everyone. Normally she gets bored halfway through games and stops paying attention. So, I have to consider this a massive win. She isn't asking to play it again or anything, but I think I might be able to get her into Tikal, Catan or some other stuff over the next few weeks.

Tikal's a big jump from TTR. Action points are deadly for noobs - they've no clue how to accurately use them with all the possible action sequences in my experience.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

So,

after months of uphill battle of the girlfriend and board games I decided to go to the TTR well.

Her brother owns and is addicted to Agricola and she plays that, so I assumed that she was fine with harder games.. and more or less hated everything and was turned completely off gaming.

Not only did she like TTR, she wound up trouncing everyone. Normally she gets bored halfway through games and stops paying attention. So, I have to consider this a massive win. She isn't asking to play it again or anything, but I think I might be able to get her into Tikal, Catan or some other stuff over the next few weeks.

Have you tried looking into Airlines Europe? It's a redesign of Moon's Union Pacific and there are a couple things in it that will remind her of Ticket to Ride. Namely route claiming and the face up draw pool. It's a pretty good game and feels like a good next step type of game.

 

[AstroLad]

Weekend report!
tl;dr: I love board games

Nice. Trying out King of Tokyo in our game group tonight. Got the BGG expansion cards too. Read the rules a few times -- seems quite fun, quick, and light.

Stooge -- given any thought to trying something a little lighter and less AP-prone? Like Carc without farmers for starters?

 

[Evlar]

I think Astro's on the right track... Analyze TTR's strengths and organize your strategy accordingly. That would be, 1) little downtime, 2) limited decisions to make in each turn, 3) it's a "building/developing your stuff" game. Find stuff with that combination and see how it goes. Carc is a good choice, I'd think. Catan could be, too, depending on how she would feel about the trading dimension.

 

[StoOgE]

Tikal's a big jump from TTR. Action points are deadly for noobs - they've no clue how to accurately use them with all the possible action sequences in my experience.

My plan of attack is to play more TTR over the next few weeks, and then maybe Carc/Catan (which she hasn't played). Tikal will be where I want to get her up to in the next few months.

The action points are the worst part for sure (I use little tokens for those though so it's easier to keep up with)... but I think the game is conceptually intuitive in a way that a lot of games are not.

I might try going to Pandemic at some point as well, perhaps before Tikal. It's more complicated but the co-op element should be helpful.

 

[platypotamus]

tl;dr: I love board games

When we need a new thread, this can be the title.

 

[narcosis219]

Why don't some people think about what their move will be when it comes to their turn? Instead, stare blankly and wake up when it is your turn and take 5 mins. =(

 

[Hero]

I haven't looked into it much. I know that Intrigue can be played as a stand-alone as well. Looking at it quickly on BGG, Intrigue might be ramping up the complexity a little bit too much at the start. I might end up getting the base game, and then adding in Intrigue once the newness starts to die down in order to breathe some life into the game. Or maybe one of the other expansions? I've heard some are good, and then others are stinkers.

If you're playing with people who aren't familiar with board/card games you should definitely start out with base Dominion though I personally feel Intrigue is a better, deeper stand alone product though at the cost of simplicity. I think base, Intrigue and Seaside are pretty much well loved. Alchemy is probably the worst of the expansions as it introduces a different type of currency that is only useful for certain cards in that set. The other small expansions each have theme, like variety or victory points or what not.

I would recommend trying the online Dominion on isotropic, it's free and you can play with every set released so far by yourself or with other people online to get a feel for it.

So,

after months of uphill battle of the girlfriend and board games I decided to go to the TTR well.

Her brother owns and is addicted to Agricola and she plays that, so I assumed that she was fine with harder games.. and more or less hated everything and was turned completely off gaming.

Not only did she like TTR, she wound up trouncing everyone. Normally she gets bored halfway through games and stops paying attention. So, I have to consider this a massive win. She isn't asking to play it again or anything, but I think I might be able to get her into Tikal, Catan or some other stuff over the next few weeks.

If she liked TTR I would definitely recommend Catan or Carcassonne as other gateway games.

 

[Flynn]

Why don't some people think about what their move will be when it comes to their turn? Instead, stare blankly and wake up when it is your turn and take 5 mins. =(

They're the same people who get to the counter at McDonald's and have no idea what they want.

 

[Neverfade]

Why don't some people think about what their move will be when it comes to their turn? Instead, stare blankly and wake up when it is your turn and take 5 mins. =(

This, fucking hell.

Maybe my brain just works different but I generally have a good idea what I want to do a turn or three in advance, with contingencies.

 

[StoOgE]

This, fucking hell.

Maybe my brain just works different but I generally have a good idea what I want to do a turn or three in advance, with contingencies.

Yeah, I have had this problem. Gric can be the worst because people might even know what they want to do.. but don't realize everyone ahead of them has the same plan

 

[MrMan2k3]

aye, I think that was the one. It had a main island and then just 3 small islands to sail out to. I picked it because it looked the most like regular Catan so I figured it was a good place to start. The Fog Island one is the one that I actually want to play the most out of them so maybe we'll try that next. Do you suggest using the tile and number placement listed in the scenario instructions or do random tiles and/or numbers?

It's been a while since we've played Seafarers, but we tended to do random tiles and numbers, and just swapped numbers at random if any 6's & 8's or 2's & 12's were touching. That seemed to work pretty well, but of course some setups can lead to a longer game, so if there's a severe shortage of anything you might want to move tiles around as well to balance things out.

 

[StoOgE]

This, fucking hell.

Maybe my brain just works different but I generally have a good idea what I want to do a turn or three in advance, with contingencies.

Also, still not as bad as the person who doesn't pay attention to the rules explenation and keeps asking how to play the game/what the point of the game is/and tries to do the same illegal move 5x in a row.

 

[narcosis219]

I just realized how good ubongo is for a quick filler.

It's great even if you ditch the scoring system. Just quick races against each other under a minute, and anyone can play it.

 

[Ubersnug]

Anybody play the Gears board game yet? I'm getting my copy tomorrow and want to know how different it is from Doom, if it is similar at all. I should get it at 3 and plan to play it at 8, so i have a few hours to get myself situated with it.

I'm getting my copy tomorrow night, but won't get a chance to play it for a couple of weeks yet (social calendar getting in the way). But I've heard nothing BUT positive reviews so far.

Let me know how you get on.

 

[Neverfade]

Likewise, I've had my copy of Gears for almost a week but no time to play it yet.

 

[UpperCaseN]

my King of Tokyo promo cards arrived! Straight into sleeves and straight into the deck

 

[AstroLad]

so king of tokyo is an AWESOME light 5-6p game. so much dice-rolling fun; can't wait to play again

 

[Doublethink]

Will you people stop saying nice things about King of Tokyo. I don't want to order it!

 

[Ogedai_Khan]

I've turned my initially non-gaming friends into gamers.

We've played 7 wonders from dinner time to around 3-4 AM once each weekend...for the past 4 weeks. They can't get enough gaming. It's awesome. I love it...(except for that one time my wife looked at all my Yellow Commercial Building cards and denies me the Lighthouse card...kaboom)

Mixed it up with Puerto Rico last weekend. A hit for them as well.

 

[narcosis219]

Will you people stop saying nice things about King of Tokyo. I don't want to order it!

BEST GAME EVER BUY IT NAO.

On a serious note, it's a great game. You should probably order it. Especially if you like GOJIRA-SAN and giant dice.

 

[Neverfade]

Been admiring the components. Here's hoping I enjoy this WAY more than Quarriors.

 

[AstroLad]

I've turned my initially non-gaming friends into gamers.

We've played 7 wonders from dinner time to around 3-4 AM once each weekend...for the past 4 weeks. They can't get enough gaming. It's awesome. I love it...(except for that one time my wife looked at all my Yellow Commercial Building cards and denies me the Lighthouse card...kaboom)

Mixed it up with Puerto Rico last weekend. A hit for them as well.

Nice. 7 Wonders is pretty great. Between that and King of Tokyo I think I'm pretty set for whenever I have a need for a 5-6p game, which used to be really tricky unless you wanted to go superheavy or superlight.

neverfade: king of tokyo and quarriors are nothing alike. quarriors is a deckbuilder and king of tokyo is just a light romp where you're all shouting about your die rolls and gunning for each other. the random cards you can buy add a bit of flavor and strategy but the game is oooooberlight and yet somehow infinitely more satisfying than most ooberlight games.

 

[Neverfade]

but the game is oooooberlight.

So is quarriors. It's just not fun.