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[MichaelBD]

I got the first expansion too. The dice are just too cool. It's got some interesting depth to it, but it's a game that leaves almost everyone going "huh, that's it?" for the first several plays.

Yeah, and I don't know if you've noticed yet but the Demonic Overlord can be pretty overpowered. I stream rolled through a game with him the other night (I won when one guy purposefully bought a creature just to trigger the end game).

I think if you can give in to the Tao of Dice then you know sometimes the rolls are with you and sometimes they are not. I just enjoy the game for what it is to me: the opportunity to toss a nice handful of dice onto the table. If I can make some cool decisions along the way then that's great too.

I think I'm also going to start playing with the variant suggested by one of the designers and allow 2 buys per turn. I don't know if it was mentioned here (probably on the Geek) but he has another one where once you score a monster you immediately cull that monster. That sounds pretty interesting too.

 

[MichaelBD]

This. For the love of Christ, THIS! Lords of Vegas is easily one of my favorite games. Strategic, easy to play, tons of things to do on your turn, and there is nothing better than rolling a fistful of dice for control of a giant casino.

I played Blood Bowl:TM again tonight. This time with two players, and it works really well as a head to head game. I pulled out the victory at the end of the game by having a staff upgrade that gave me 2 points for every star player (non-freebooter) I had on my roster. Its just a really solid medium weight game and one I wouldn't turn down a game.

I also played Builder's Duel again. Now that's an underrated two player game. It has that feel of its full sized counter part (Pillars of the Earth) but shrunken down and playable only by two players. This was another game that came down to the last turn. Good game that's often overlooked when discussing two player games.

Lords of Vegas is awesome. Brought it to game night last night but it didn't make it to the table.

I did get a chance to play Blood Bowl: TM for the first time and I like it. It felt like it ran a little long so I hope that with repeated play it can go quicker. We had one player (4 total) who was being a whiny bitch because he had bad rolls but aside from that negative I like the idea of it.

 

[Flynn]

We had one player (4 total) who was being a whiny bitch because he had bad rolls but aside from that negative I like the idea of it.

This sounds familiar.

 

[platypotamus]

This sounds familiar.

I took it in good grace, but the other day while playing games at work, I rolled snake eyes 3 times in less than 10 rolls. Pretty ridiculous.

 

[cooljeanius]

My parents got me Carcassone for Christmas! We haven't had a chance to play it together yet though...

 

[Neverfade]

Anyone here a Le Havre veteran? I have it and have been absorbing the rules, but I'm still a little clear on a few things. First and foremost: How exactly to Special Buildings come into play? I know some of the round-end cards have the symbol -- when that comes up the top one is flipped and is built by the town?

What about the football stadium? It has a build option. Where does that go?

 

[UpperCaseN]

Board game wise, I got Telestrations, Lost Cities, Grimoire, and for my fiance she got Perfect Stride

 

[BattleMonkey]

Got Small World and a Power Grid expansion board for xmas, yay!

 

[TerminalDogma]

I got Risk Legacy and I'm pretty pumped about it. Looks really cool. Me and my friends love Risk and this seems like a really crazy way to play it. Probably end up playing it tomorrow for the first time.

 

[Fewr]

Question: Tomorrow I'll buy either Quarriors or Ticket to Ride.
Which of the two has more "action"?
Which do you recommend?

My game group likes bang!, dixit, carcassonne and 7 wonders.

 

[Neverfade]

Question: Tomorrow I'll buy either Quarriors or Ticket to Ride.
Which of the two has more "action"?
Which do you recommend?

My game group likes bang!, dixit, carcassonne and 7 wonders.

Action? Probably Quarriors.

Which one has more FUN? Ticket to Ride by a country mile.

Seeing as your group likes other lighter affairs, additional recommendations are: Wits & Wagers, King of Tokyo, Pow Wow/Coyote, Kingdom Builder, and for something similar to bang but with much less player elimination: Gloom.

 

[Fewr]

Yeh, quarriors seems exciting to me, but they'll probably prefer ticket, so I'll go with that.

I forgot to mention, my group is not very fluent in english, so I stay away from heavy stuff (mansions of madness) and go for things with tons of icons, or with a bit of text, but I print a cheat sheet in spanish for everyone.
They liked dominion, but thought it needed to be more confrontational, to have more interaction.

 

[Magnus]

Ticket to Ride is a blast. It almost seems like it's making the rounds now; tons of people I know sort of heard of it on their own over the last few months, and yeah, great fun!

Monopoly Card game is ace too, IMO.

 

[Hero]

Yeh, quarriors seems exciting to me, but they'll probably prefer ticket, so I'll go with that.

I forgot to mention, my group is not very fluent in english, so I stay away from heavy stuff (mansions of madness) and go for things with tons of icons, or with a bit of text, but I print a cheat sheet in spanish for everyone.
They liked dominion, but thought it needed to be more confrontational, to have more interaction.

Which Dominion did you play with them? The base is great but if they prefer more confrontation certain expansions have more Attack cards for disrupting your enemies.

 

[Fewr]

Ah yes, i've played monopoly card and it's good.

Two more questions:
1 what about the adventurers? Seems like it's got action, but not much replay value (i play with them about once a month so that might not be a problem)

2 are the ticket to ride monsters a fun expansion? I wont get them tomorrow Id rather start with normal stuff before expansions Im just wondering if they're worth buying

Ok one more: which ticket to ride is good to start? Ive only played the normal one with the map of the u.s. and it seems good enough

Thanks for your help and opinions, I really appreciate them.

-----------

We played the first dominion, and as far as i remember it only has one attack card

 

[xeris]

Ah yes, i've played monopoly card and it's good.

Two more questions:
1 what about the adventurers? Seems like it's got action, but not much replay value (i play with them about once a month so that might not be a problem)

2 are the ticket to ride monsters a fun expansion? I wont get them tomorrow Id rather start with normal stuff before expansions Im just wondering if they're worth buying

Ok one more: which ticket to ride is good to start? Ive only played the normal one with the map of the u.s. and it seems good enough

I usually suggest starting with the US board and picking up the 1910 card expansion. It gives you larger cards and adds several routes for a bit more variety. I own the monsters expansion but it hasn't made it to the table yet. My impression is that it'd be something fun to throw in once and awhile for the goof factor but wouldn't be a must-have.

 

[ZackieChan]

Got a couple LOTR LCG expansions, the Lost Cities card game (should be fun with the girlfriend), and the Alchemy expansion for Dominion (not the one I wanted the most, but it's nice to have anyway). Not bad for my sister; thank God for Amazon wishlists. Makes it easy!

 

[Jackson]

Any good recommendations for iPad board games? I've bought a few -- Carcassonne, The Amazeing Labyrinth and Ticket to Ride

I'm thinking of picking up Ascension tonight...

 

[Slacker]

Any good recommendations for iPad board games? I've bought a few -- Carcassonne, The Amazeing Labyrinth and Ticket to Ride

I'm thinking of picking up Ascension tonight...

You got the two I usually recommend (Carc and TTR). Carcassonne especially is the perfect iPad boardgame in my opinion. Make sure you pick up the two expansions available as well - they add a lot to the game. Ascension is great too.

I'll add that the iPad version of Forbidden Island is excellent. I like playing it 4 player quick start by myself solitaire style.

Puerto Rico's iPad implementation takes some getting used to, but PR is a good enough game to put up with it.

Greed Corp is pretty neat but don't ever expect to find someone online to play.

 

[Flynn]

Neuroshima Hex is great for iOS. Neuroshima Hex Puzzle is a glorified tutorial, but not bad.

 

[StoOgE]

So, got all the booster packs for lotr card game (the first series). Pretty happy there. Now I can deck build with eagles much better.

The other board game pick up was power grid factory manager. Got it bc someone thought it was an expansion to power grid. It is of course a standalone game. And I really like it after 2 plays. It is an economic engine game that requires careful resource balancing and planning. It may be mathier than power grid as well.

It is at its heart a worker placement game, where you have to balance the number of workers required to run your factory with the number available for you to take future actions with. Very interesting mechanic of income v future actions, bc both cash flow or workers can become limiting factors to actions. Really neat mechanic that turn order is bid on using available workers as well. So going early is going to cost you actions.

Need to play it more, but a really solid game.

 

[BattleMonkey]

So how is Kingdom Builder? It seemed to have some issues from BGG comments and was wondering if it's really worth looking into.

 

[eznark]

Has anyone played Black Gold? Thinking of getting it. My wife thought it looked interesting (saw it in the insert in Blood Bowl) and we watched a quick video of it. Seemed cool.

Also, Mystery Express will be here today. We got it for Christmas, mainly as a game to play with family. However, is there a two player variant at all? Is it even possible?

 

[besada]

I got beat by a nine year old in Ticket to Ride last night. Stings a little.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I got beat by a nine year old in Ticket to Ride last night. Stings a little.

You must break her

 

[joelseph]

Gave 7 Wonders and Dominion Intrigue this year for Christmas. Feels good to spread the love.

 

[narcosis219]

So how is Kingdom Builder? It seemed to have some issues from BGG comments and was wondering if it's really worth looking into.

It looks pretty good on paper. It seems like it would be a different game each time you play it, but the core mechanic is the same and it gets boring pretty quickly.

I was done with it after my second play. Seems lacking and I kind of don't care enough about it to figure out why it's boring.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Are there any essential Arkham Horror expansions? Finally getting my own copy since I always just played with a friends copy, but my gaming group has expanded and want my own. I don't want to go overboard with expansions though and not crazy about multiple boards.... so are there any that are considered must haves?

 

[AstroLad]

Are there any essential Arkham Horror expansions? Finally getting my own copy since I always just played with a friends copy, but my gaming group has expanded and want my own. I don't want to go overboard with expansions though and not crazy about multiple boards.... so are there any that are considered must haves?

Dunwich is essential once you have had a fair amount of run-throughs with base and it gets too easy. Innsmouth if you want to make it super difficult.

 

[Neverfade]

Has anyone played Black Gold?

I own it. It's solid, if a bit safe. I don't think anything here will blow your mind. I don't have anything else quite like it, so it stays in my collection. I'd give it a medium recommendation.

 

[SillyEskimo]

Space Hulk and Blood Bowl card games as well as the Talisman Dragon expansion will be waiting for me when I get home! I'll be getting the Mansions of Madness boxed and card expansions soon as well.

 

[outunderthestars]

I just got done playing my first game of Carnival and loved it!

This was my first Kickstarter project and I cannot get over how well the game turned out!

The quality of every single piece, including the box itself, is top notch and I cannot stress enough how awesome the game is!

 

[ZackieChan]

So, got all the booster packs for lotr card game (the first series). Pretty happy there. Now I can deck build with eagles much better.

The other board game pick up was power grid factory manager. Got it bc someone thought it was an expansion to power grid. It is of course a standalone game. And I really like it after 2 plays. It is an economic engine game that requires careful resource balancing and planning. It may be mathier than power grid as well.

It is at its heart a worker placement game, where you have to balance the number of workers required to run your factory with the number available for you to take future actions with. Very interesting mechanic of income v future actions, bc both cash flow or workers can become limiting factors to actions. Really neat mechanic that turn order is bid on using available workers as well. So going early is going to cost you actions.

Need to play it more, but a really solid game.

Which of the LOTR packs are your favorite/most useful? I got Hunt for Gollum, and Emyn Muil, but I'd like ones with cooler heroes. Any suggestions?

 

[Flynn]

I just got done playing my first game of Carnival and loved it!

This was my first Kickstarter project and I cannot get over how well the game turned out!

The quality of every single piece, including the box itself, is top notch and I cannot stress enough how awesome the game is!

Looks very handsome.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I just got done playing my first game of Carnival and loved it!

This was my first Kickstarter project and I cannot get over how well the game turned out!

The quality of every single piece, including the box itself, is top notch and I cannot stress enough how awesome the game is!

I got my copy as well. It's fun if a bit too light. I really like the kickstarter exclusive "expansion" cards and will probably use it everytime I play. It'll be a good filler/travel game and, your right, it's a beautiful game.

Now I need to figure out a way to include the wild die. Maybe, if a player rolls a natural triple they get to immedietly roll that die.

 

[UpperCaseN]

Just played Lost Cities for the 1st time with my fiance. I had an unfair advantage since I was the teacher, she caught on quick but too late; I already had a triple handshake down on 1 color and was tacking the number cards on like a fiend. We both liked it. I'm satisfied with the amount of strategy involved for such a simple game. The cards are unnecessarily larger than they need to be, though.

 

[outunderthestars]

Is it cool to list board games for sale/trade in this thread?

My unused copy of Dominion would love a new home.

 

[mentalfloss]

Gonna pick up a few games tomorrow:

Sid Meier's Civilization
Lord of the Rings the card game
Macao

I did a bit of research and they all seem like fairly well rated games.

What say you GAF?

 

[RyanDG]

Just have to share this... My wife and I have been playing Agricola pretty regularly over the last several months and it has quickly taken the place of Carcassone as our 'go to game' for a quick pick up and play session with each other. For Christmas, she decided to do some painted pieces for the game and here's what I ended up with. We've talked about eventually transitioning out the other pieces (vegetables/grains/animals) with other crafted/painted pieces, but this is definitely a good start.

Each of the pieces for the husband and wife are modeled after each other and the children are her 'hypothetical' view of what she thinks our kids will look like. Notice the glasses? Both of us have piss poor eye sight so even our Meeple children are doomed.

 

[Evlar]

Gonna pick up a few games tomorrow:

Sid Meier's Civilization
Lord of the Rings the card game
Macao

I did a bit of research and they all seem like fairly well rated games.

What say you GAF?

I would say the first two games you listed would probably rank as the best two games from 2011 I've played. I don't buy and play nearly as many titles as some of the guys here, though.

Know your audience. LOTR LCG can be played single-player but, in my humble opinion, it's vastly better as a two-player experience with co-operative deck building. Civilization is a good "building my own little kingdom" game but it's very long and works best with 3 or 4, so you need to have people available who can sustain their attention on a board game that long. Also, Civ is most emphatically NOT a wargame, despite the existence of maps, armies, and a military victory condition, so don't go in expecting that facet of the game to dominate.

I can't say anything useful about Macao.

 

[AstroLad]

Haha, that's awesome Ryan. Puts my store-bought special meeples to shame.

Been playing soooo many board games over the holidays, pretty much every single one was a hit for a different reason:

Blood Bowl Team Manager: Strictly 2P, played 3 times. Really enjoying this playing it 2P for the first time. The game goes really fast (~45m) and I feel that it's a way better way to teach than the 3-4p way I learned (which, although probably slightly more fun has way too much going on for new players to be able to soak it in properly). Can't wait for the expansion now.

Dominion Intrigue & Hinterlands: Brought Intrigue and got Hinterlands as a gift, so taught to a bunch of people and played probably 6 or 7 times. A lot of fun. I don't feel that Dominion ever really gets old if you play with at least 2-3 sets unless you just spam games on isotropic (in which case you'll probably get sick of it in about a week).

Wits & Wagers Family: Probably the best trivia game out there. Family cleans up the few small issues with the original Wits & Wagers well, and the questions are still quite challenging despite the title.

King of Tokyo: Got to play one game with 5 and a lot of casuals and everyone really loved it. Probably continues to be my most underrated game of 2011 because of how it's so easy for casuals but also still fun for pros, though it's been getting more attention recently.

A Few Acres of Snow: Love the mechanic in this game. We spent like four hours learning and slogging through a game and it was great. But it does kinda suck how overpowered Britain is. Wallace doesn't do straight expansions does he? Because this game desperately needs one both for balancing and to add a little bit of spice to any amazing core game. Someone give it to FFG!

Innovation: Quick 3P game among pros. Dominated for most of the game. See it's not all chaos, haters. Some very satisfying game-wrecking moves as always. Helps that I drew Fission late so no one could Fission my domination.

Ascension Storm of Souls: Wow does this need to come out on iOS. It makes Ascension so fiddly. So much to keep track of once you build up your deck a little. Probably needs to be thrown into the Ascension megamix rather than played alone as we did.

 

[Neverfade]

Family cleans up the few small issues with the original Wits & Wagers well,

Like?

A Few Acres of Snow: Love the mechanic in this game. We spent like four hours learning and slogging through a game and it was great. But it does kinda suck how overpowered Britain is. Wallace doesn't do straight expansions does he? Because this game desperately needs one both for balancing and to add a little bit of spice to any amazing core game. Someone give it to FFG!

Wallace is currently reviewing the game. Have you missed the dozen mega-sized "Halifax Hammer" threads at BGG? Yikes.

 

[AstroLad]

Yes just saw those but I generally stay away from anything strategy-related on BGG as I'd rather ruin games for myself. The general strategy is pretty blatantly obvious though, almost like my second turn I was like wtf I can get 6 gold per turn and just buy shit like crazy? Kind of weird that got through playtesting. Now if they did it Mr. Jack or Memoir style where you play both sides and then tally points up at the end or whatever then great but there's no good way to do that as there is in those games, without completely changing the game at least. I still think the core mechanic is really neat though, and until they rectify things I'm happy to play with new people and try to win as France.

 

[TwiztidElf]

Picked up Zooloretto and Dominion: Prosperity for Xmas.
Really happy with both.

 

[Neverfade]

If no one's HH'ing, I don't find a France win too terribly difficult, personally.

 

[Station42]

Can I post an independent board game we designed/published at the end of 2010? we just recently reprinted and we're finally distributing even in the us!

 

[AstroLad]

I will let Wallace and BGG sort it out before I do anything. I hate house ruling.

 

[Slacker]

Wits & Wagers Family: Probably the best trivia game out there. Family cleans up the few small issues with the original Wits & Wagers well, and the questions are still quite challenging despite the title.

Can you elaborate on the issues? I just picked up the original game. Hope I didn't get the wrong one.

 

[eznark]

Haha, that's awesome Ryan. Puts my store-bought special meeples to shame.

Been playing soooo many board games over the holidays, pretty much every single one was a hit for a different reason:

Blood Bowl Team Manager: Strictly 2P, played 3 times. Really enjoying this playing it 2P for the first time. The game goes really fast (~45m) and I feel that it's a way better way to teach than the 3-4p way I learned (which, although probably slightly more fun has way too much going on for new players to be able to soak it in properly). Can't wait for the expansion now.



A Few Acres of Snow: Love the mechanic in this game. We spent like four hours learning and slogging through a game and it was great. But it does kinda suck how overpowered Britain is. Wallace doesn't do straight expansions does he? Because this game desperately needs one both for balancing and to add a little bit of spice to any amazing core game. Someone give it to FFG!

Innovation: Quick 3P game among pros. Dominated for most of the game. See it's not all chaos, haters. Some very satisfying game-wrecking moves as always. Helps that I drew Fission late so no one could Fission my domination.

Glad to hear about Blood Bowl. Bill Abner kind of tempered my enthusiasm when he incredulously asked why I picked up Blood Bowl for two players. Stoked that you enjoyed it!

I need to get back to A Few Acres. It's been nuts. Christmas, New Years, and both my wife and daughters birthdays this week. Crazy town here in the eznark compound.

My wife hated Innovation. Which stinks because I thought it would be rad and kind of enjoyed it. Seems like a perfect game for iOS!

I own it. It's solid, if a bit safe. I don't think anything here will blow your mind. I don't have anything else quite like it, so it stays in my collection. I'd give it a medium recommendation.

That is pretty much perfect for what I want.

We're having a New Years/Birthday's party on Saturday. Over the 2+ days people will be at my house I am hoping to get some of them to play some games. First on my list is Mystery Express.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Which of the LOTR packs are your favorite/most useful? I got Hunt for Gollum, and Emyn Muil, but I'd like ones with cooler heroes. Any suggestions?

Not saying it's good or anything but I recently picked up A Journey To Rhosgobel. I mainly picked it up because it's only $4 on Amazon and eligible for prime shipping. I haven't opened the box yet to look at the cards, but for $4 I had to pick it up.

Glad to hear about Blood Bowl. Bill Abner kind of tempered my enthusiasm when he incredulously asked why I picked up Blood Bowl for two players. Stoked that you enjoyed it!

2 player Blood Bowl works really well. 2-3 is the sweet spot for Blood Bowl. 4 takes a bit too long but still will work if you got four people who know how to play.

We're having a New Years/Birthday's party on Saturday. Over the 2+ days people will be at my house I am hoping to get some of them to play some games. First on my list is Mystery Express.

Mystery Express is a good one. I find it's easy to get people who aren't into board gaming to give it a try because the basic premise is just a beefed up version of Clue, and everybody has played Clue. I prefer it to Clue because it takes away the roll and move aspect and it allows for people to win without being 100% correct on all the aspects of the crime.