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[Staccat0]

If you'd give the same discount for telecommuted work, it's possible I'd take you up on it in the future. My sound guy friends are both too busy with people that can afford to actually pay them

I definitely would depending on the project. I've done live sound for a while now and have dabbled in recording bands for years, but I'm trying to move into film and multi-media types stuff now because it sort of excites me more. I'm in the process of upgrading my stuff now to better help with these ends.
The only reason I'd ever say not help would be time or me thinking I would fuck shit up...
That said, I have friends far more skilled, talented and with deeper pockets who are deeper in those sides of the business and doing real good work. I can always coerce them into helping on projects that I'm too stupid/busy for.

I've actually never played it, but I've met the designer once.

I love co-op games so I'd actually really like to check it out.. but between pure co-ops and traitor mechanic games I think I own 5 out of a ~30 game collection, so I'm not sure how many more I need :lol

Yeah, I kind of wonder if I need ANY more board games. People seem pretty happy with the ones we have and we get together so rarely now that people have moved around for work.

 

[Unison]

Thanks!
See, I was worried it was TOO light so this reassures me a bit. My group is fairly casual, but I'm slowly dragging them along with me into the new age. They really like Catan and Pandemic, but Seafarers has taught me that they generally enjoy a little added complexity.

I'm sure Castle Panic isn't some ultra deep brain burner, but the reviews (my 6 year old loved it!) and art direction had me afraid it was too simple.

It's a solid design and there are some good variants on the publisher's web site that make it a bit scalable in terms of difficulty and complexity:

http://firesidegames.com/cpaltrules.html

I don't regret purchasing it at all, but you are right that it's not fundamentally complex.

A similar, more difficult, more complex game of that type would be Defenders of the Realm.

 

[Staccat0]

It's a solid design and there are some good variants on the publisher's web site that make it a bit scalable in terms of difficulty and complexity:

http://firesidegames.com/cpaltrules.html

I don't regret purchasing it at all, but you are right that it's not fundamentally complex.

A similar, more difficult, more complex game of that type would be Defenders of the Realm.

Some of those sound pretty doable and simple from what I understand. Thanks for the link!
I think that's my favorite thing about BGG and the internet in general regarding board games. You get to see variants and people's house rules.

I've been thinking about typing up a little thing on how we play Fireball Island, because I honestly think we've fixed that game:lol

 

[StoOgE]

Yeah, I kind of wonder if I need ANY more board games. People seem pretty happy with the ones we have and we get together so rarely now that people have moved around for work.

I have the same feeling. I think I also have most of my bases covered. A few good dexterity games, several party games, a lot of co-op games, a fair number of gateway games, several simpler abstract games and then 10 or so "core" games.

Doesn't stop me from wanting more though :lol

The nice thing is I've got a couple of different groups..

1) My usual friends - really casual games, but one of them hates Dominion

2) My game group - will play anything and everything and they have a collection that rivals the BGG library when it comes to rares.. play with them once a week but am starting to get invites to their games outside of the bar night.

3) girlfriends family - similarly up for almost anything. Have yet to try and spring a Wallace game on them yet, but I think they would handle it well.

 

[MichaelBD]

I played my first M44 Eastern Front scenario with a buddy tonight. What's funny is how much bigger the Russian figures are than the figures that come with the base set. The tanks and artillery seem much bigger and better designed as well. I have heard about differences between versions of the base set and I'm guessing they might have redesigned the base figures to make them smaller.

Anyway, playing as the Russians is a trip with the Commisar chip. In both games we played (we switched sides) the Russians won, but the second game was much closer. My buddy had the hot hand with rolling and he was just tearing through my troops during the first game and the beginning of the second. But luckily he got cold just when I made some big rolls and won the second play through.

For any criticism that the game might get via tactics/strategy and the luck of the draw/rolls, etc., the more I play the more I begin to appreciate its deceptive depth.

I'm looking forward to trying Overlord this weekend. I have two OL maps coming (one should definitely arrive by Saturday): Disaster at Dieppe and Tigers in the Snow.

 

[narcosis219]

Anyone try Summoner Wars? I've stopped myself from impulse buying for the last 3 days and I wanna hear what others think of it before I buy it.

 

[platypotamus]

I've been thinking about typing up a little thing on how we play Fireball Island, because I honestly think we've fixed that game:lol

I'd be interested in seeing this. Was an old favorite when I was a kid, and I played a game of it fairly recently just for nostalgia's sake.

 

[MichaelBD]

Anyone try Summoner Wars? I've stopped myself from impulse buying for the last 3 days and I wanna hear what others think of it before I buy it.

I have it but I've only played it once. I also bought one of the expansion factions.

It's basically a miniatures game without the miniatures.

It's super simple to learn and quick to play. You have character cards, wall cards, and spell cards. You pay the summoning cost of your character cards by seeding your magic pile every turn and in a nice twist, when you take out an opponent character, instead of going into a discard pile it goes into your own magic pile, thus the more you kill the stronger your magic pile and the greater characters you can summon (think Race for the Galaxy where you pay the cost of a development or a planet with cards from your hand...in Summoner Wars you seed and pay with a separate pile of cards that is your magic pile).

Movement is simple, battles are dice rolls, and the factions each have their own strengths/weaknesses.

I like it and want to play it more. Problem is if I have the time for a two-player game we usually go for something more meaty.

 

[Lasthope106]

A group of friends and I played Agricola a few days before New Years. It was by far the most complicated board game I've ever played. The description on the OP describes my exact thoughts on the game "Very Hard."

 

[r1chard]

Got together with a bunch of friends yesterday and played:

Illuminati - was fun as I'd expected (I'd previously only played INWO, and that was a good decade ago).

Endeavor - boy it's a little overwhelming when you start, and of the five of us only two had played previously but we all seemed to pick it up, even though I got creamed thanks to poor planning. I'll enjoy playing it some more

 

[platypotamus]

So this is kinda weird. I just read the instructions for Steam, and I know this is a terrible way to judge things, but the base game sounds way more fun than the standard version. Maybe that'll be less the case after playing a game or two, but that's where I stand right now.

 

[Unison]

Anyone try Summoner Wars? I've stopped myself from impulse buying for the last 3 days and I wanna hear what others think of it before I buy it.

It's easy to learn yet fairly deep due to the number of factions / the possibility for deck/army-building (I just stick to the pre-built decks myself). I've played it several times, and the obvious point of comparison for me are videogames like Fire Emblem or Shining Force. From a boardgame perspective, it's about on par with BattleLore or Memoir '44 in complexity (even though the systems are quite different). The basic system is very elegant, which keeps the games short and free of the kind of bookkeeping and stat-checking that make a lot of combat-driven games a drag.

I can't really comment on the comparison to miniatures gaming, as I haven't really played those sorts of games, but it's fun and seems to feel a little less confrontational than the average battle-driven games because it's so quick and dependent on the die to resolve combat.

Not my favorite *kind* of game, to be sure, but one that I enjoy more than most wargames.

 

[Staccat0]

I have the same feeling. I think I also have most of my bases covered. A few good dexterity games, several party games, a lot of co-op games, a fair number of gateway games, several simpler abstract games and then 10 or so "core" games.

Doesn't stop me from wanting more though :lol

The nice thing is I've got a couple of different groups..

1) My usual friends - really casual games, but one of them hates Dominion

2) My game group - will play anything and everything and they have a collection that rivals the BGG library when it comes to rares.. play with them once a week but am starting to get invites to their games outside of the bar night.

3) girlfriends family - similarly up for almost anything. Have yet to try and spring a Wallace game on them yet, but I think they would handle it well.

This isn't Tribe Comic's group is it? I've always been scared to go to that, because I hate meeting people. I wouldn't crash your party... just curious.

Got together with a bunch of friends yesterday and played:

Illuminati - was fun as I'd expected (I'd previously only played INWO, and that was a good decade ago).

Endeavor - boy it's a little overwhelming when you start, and of the five of us only two had played previously but we all seemed to pick it up, even though I got creamed thanks to poor planning. I'll enjoy playing it some more

I need to play Illuminati again. The one time I played it a guy I knew brought it to game night (he only came this once) and read the entire instruction book aloud before we could play.:lol It sort of killed the mood and I think it made me not give the game a fair shake.

 

[StoOgE]

This isn't Tribe Comic's group is it? I've always been scared to go to that, because I hate meeting people. I wouldn't crash your party... just curious.

It is Tribe's thing. Sort of. Tribe and another group both meet there... I am technically a member of the other group, but the Tribe guys show up and are super nice. I just wish their game section was better.. and their comic section for that matter.

If you are at all interested in getting into some good games, feel free and try it out. The collection these guys have is amazing. Between last week and this week I've played Princes of the Renaissance and will play Goa. The people I play with are great and the combined collection is amazing.

There is a meetup group (Board and Brews). Everyone there is super friendly. I've only been going a couple of months (late September?) and everyone already knows my name.

Meeting GAFers in real life is creepy, but I'm up to 4 of them at this point including the big boss man, so I've sort of gotten over it.

 

[echoshifting]

Dear Board Game gaf,

I'm looking for something new to add to our rotation, but with very specific requirements. I can't often sit up through a whole board game; I end up standing and moving around a lot, so we only play one once or twice a month...except card-based games like Race for the Galaxy and Dominion, because I can play them reclined without impacting the gameplay or having to crane my neck forward to keep abreast of what's happening. These come out several times most weeks.

So! I'm looking for something with a similar set-up. It does not have to be a card game...if you've played both of these games you probably know what I mean. Each player sort of has their own space; there might be a communal space but it's easy to get around. In the case of Dominion, my wife manages the purchasing area, and I keep all the blue-back cards of whatever's in play so I have a little "catalog" to purchase from.

Know kinda what I'm talking about? Bullet points:
-Can't have a big, shared space that both players have to access. CAN have a "bank" area that one player can control but that can't be too much larger than, say, the space required for a RtfG tableau or a Dominion setup.
-Needs to be good with two.
-New-ish would be better...don't want something that's hard to track down.
-Expansions/continuing support from publisher are a plus but not necessary if the base has legs.
-Minimal competitive interaction a la Dominion/RftG would be better, though not required, and definitely not co-op.

So an example of a bad game from my own collection would be Carcassonne, because it requires both players to have constant access to a large shared space.

What's the new game for me?

 

[platypotamus]

I don't have any specific suggestions off the top of my head (Jaipur, maybe???) but I know several games come in travel varieties. My wife and I have the travel edition of Ingenious (2 player only odd little game). It's light enough and small enough that you could pass it back and forth and forgo a table entirely.

Oh wait, on the slightly more casual front, Scattergories is great for this. It's one of the goto games with my family when people don't want to actually sit at thetable.

 

[Flynn]

Has anybody improved on the Battleship scenario? That format, with two people managing their own play area seems with verbal interaction seems ideal for echoshifting.

Of course we want something a tad deeper, right?

 

[echoshifting]

Holy shit, Rabble decks are fun but...I don't think my wife is going to play Dominion with me ever again. :lol I can't say I recommend them for spousal competition. The best part is when you chain three or four of them together you get to say "Rabble rabble rabble!" Given the card's function, art, and the cards with which it combos, I believe this to be be design.

Yeah we have Scattergories and you're right...that's a good casual one to bring out when I can't really move around.

Has anybody improved on the Battleship scenario? That format, with two people managing their own play area seems with verbal interaction seems ideal for echoshifting.

Of course we want something a tad deeper, right?

I would love a deeper version of Battleship. That would be really cool. One would think...

 

[StoOgE]

That's a rough one to be honest.

I think Lost Cities could work for you as both players largely do their own thing though there is a shared pool of cards where you can take one your opponent has discarded.

Dunno, it's a hard restriction.

 

[StoOgE]

Has anybody improved on the Battleship scenario? That format, with two people managing their own play area seems with verbal interaction seems ideal for echoshifting.

Of course we want something a tad deeper, right?

Actually.. you can pick this guy up for 15 dollars used and it is *amazingly* more fun than battleship.

Ignore creepy guy in this photo.

Maybe some dexterity games that encourage standing would be a good idea as well so that moving around isn't an issue?

 

[AstroLad]

Dear Board Game gaf,

I'm looking for something new to add to our rotation, but with very specific requirements. I can't often sit up through a whole board game; I end up standing and moving around a lot, so we only play one once or twice a month...except card-based games like Race for the Galaxy and Dominion, because I can play them reclined without impacting the gameplay or having to crane my neck forward to keep abreast of what's happening. These come out several times most weeks.

You've probably already played it but San Juan is another one. Yes it's RFTG-lite in some ways, but imo it still stands well on its own.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

You've probably already played it but San Juan is another one. Yes it's RFTG-lite in some ways, but imo it still stands well on its own.

I actually played San Juan for the first time this weekend, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was kind of odd, as my cousin had just picked up Race for the Galaxy and was itching to try it out, but we started before he got there and another friend had brought over San Juan -- which he never told me he had. So, we played that. Aside from digging it, it reminded me that I really need to get my loaned out copy of Puerto Rico back. Later in the night, we were about to play a game of Race for the Galaxy, but it was getting late so we vetoed it and played another game of San Juan since it didn't require any learning.

In between games of San Juan, we played another game that was brought over called Gosu. I had never heard of it before, and I'm not entirely sure what to think after. Others seemed to be enjoying it, but by the time I "got" what I was supposed to be doing, I had pretty much painted myself into a corner. So, I'm undecided about it, but kind of leaning towards "I'd rather play other card games."

 

[echoshifting]

Believe it or not, I haven't tried San Juan...it always falls off my radar, and I had no idea it fit this requirement. Thanks!

@Stooge: Yeah Lost Cities is a staple when we're on vacation. The board is just too awkward for this purpose; you really have to be able to see what the other player is doing at all times. Not that we don't improvise every once in awhile...if anything it doesn't come out too often anymore because we played the crap out of it back in the door. It was our first "modern" board game...ah, memories...

Maybe some dexterity games that encourage standing would be a good idea as well so that moving around isn't an issue?

Not really an option, unfortunately, but cool idea.

 

[StoOgE]

eco, would a smaller playing table solve your problems? You might be more limited in what games would fit, but would getting everything closer make it easier for you to see the game without having to crane your neck? Or do you specifically need something that allows you to move around without affecting the other player(s)?

I read your thread a while back but don't fully understand the limitations of your condition.

I'll also ask around my game night tommorow for games that meat your requirements.

edit: what about something like Fury of Dracula/Scotland Yard or some other hidden movement game? There is a board but you get to write down your movements in secret so while there is a central "board" the hidden character doesn't interact much with it. Could be tricky for you to be the detective, but if you don't mind playing the robber/dracula most of the time I think it might work.

 

[echoshifting]

It's okay, I don't understand them either.

Fury of Dracula is an interesting suggestion, especially since it's been lingering near the top of my want list for awhile. I imagine something like that could work, though I will need to read more about the rules, especially the requirements for the vampire player. Does it really play well with two, though?

The trick here is just having to move around, anything beyond moving my neck to the right or left while reclined at about a 120-140 degree angle is too much for a casual board game before bed. We have a recliner next to the dining room table so I can join my family for meals, and that's where I sit when we do a big game, but there's a lot of uncomfortable angles and up and down and craning of the neck and so on (these same rules for board games apply to meals; I eat off a tray in my lap instead of off the table). I've also tried sitting on the ground somewhat reclined (drawing from our ample supply of oddly-contoured pillows) in front of a coffee table, same problem. We have a shorter table that would work for something like, say, Lost Cities, but anything larger than that is out...and it's not worth it for a short game like Lost Cities because we have to move furniture around, including the recliner in the living room. My house has many recliners.

I almost feel this would be difficult to describe without a diagram...I don't want you to feel like I'm brushing off your idea, it's just difficult to explain why it wouldn't work. Does that make sense?

I realize this is a tricky question to bring before BG-gaf...so no worries if we can't generate a substantial list. RtfG and Dominion are two of the best damn games out there as far as I'm concerned, and they work fine for us (in fact I received Dominion as a birthday gift from a friend based on his knowledge of these requirements). They just get a bit stale from time to time.

 

[AstroLad]

Yeah I would definitely post your query on the BGG Recommendations forum too. They are usually pretty great for that kind of stuff.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

edit: what about something like Fury of Dracula/Scotland Yard or some other hidden movement game? There is a board but you get to write down your movements in secret so while there is a central "board" the hidden character doesn't interact much with it. Could be tricky for you to be the detective, but if you don't mind playing the robber/dracula most of the time I think it might work.

Disagree, as the hidden character will frequently look at the board to see where the other characters are even if you have your own separate map for planning. You will also be frequently glancing at other player's character sheets to see how many items they have, current health, etc. There's a number of other board elements to keep track of in FoD, such as time of day, what allies are out, and the state of your card trail.

 

[StoOgE]

Disagree, as the hidden character will frequently look at the board to see where the other characters are even if you have your own separate map for planning. You will also be frequently glancing at other player's character sheets to see how many items they have, current health, etc. There's a number of other board elements to keep track of in FoD, such as time of day, what allies are out, and the state of your card trail.

yeah, you are probably correct. Just throwing some ideas our there.

I do think 7 wonders would work with some DIY modifications. You pass cards around but build your own tableue of cards.. the only "interaction" you would need to worry about are 1) what resources the player to your right and left have that you can use and 2) what their army size is at.

I think both of those could be easily conveyed via a little made at home kits with small dry erase boards where the players could tick off how much of a given resource they are producting and their army size that you could keep up with.

Either that or you could just ask them if either of them is producing whatever resource you need if it comes up and have them tell you their army size after each card is played.

 

[StoOgE]

Yeah I would definitely post your query on the BGG Recommendations forum too. They are usually pretty great for that kind of stuff.

That is actually a brilliant idea. Those guys can probably rattle off a good 10-15 games taht would work.

 

[echoshifting]

What I really need is one of those awesome projector systems I've always wanted for D&D

...along those lines, I imagine displaying the Fury of Dracula board on a monitor via webcam would work, as long as I don't need to read a bunch of teeny tiny writing on the board. I'm on board for creative solutions to this problem!

And yes posting to bgg is a really good idea. I'll get on that tonight.

 

[ultron87]

I hate Seafarers of Catan (Scenarios 1 & 2). It turns a game with many ways to win into a game where there is pretty much only one way to win because you gets 3 points for building an island settlement.

 

[Artadius]

So I'm going to be modding a forum game of Battlestar Galactica (play by post) on my WoW guild's site. I've got three people so far and there is room for three more. If you'd like to play BSG via play by post, send me a PM and I'll get a link to the board (you'll need to register). New players welcome since most everyone will be new to the game.

If you're familiar with SomethingAwful's BSG forum games, it'll be just like that.

Here's an example

 

[AstroLad]

Anyone try Summoner Wars? I've stopped myself from impulse buying for the last 3 days and I wanna hear what others think of it before I buy it.

Not the biggest fan of this game. Part of it is my bias against fantasy. But the production values are really low imo. I'm finicky about that kind of stuff but the cards have this weird sandy cheap-feeling quality and the board is a paper foldout. Now that is all fairly understandable for the low pricepoint but I value aesthetics a lot more than cheapness so take that fwiw. I played it a couple times with my wife and neither of us really got into the gameplay that much. It is pretty standard Heroscapelike stuff except here you move cards around a board trying to get the big baddie on the other side. It just felt really uninspired to me. But then again there are tons of people on BGG that swear by it so just one man's opinion.

 

[Chorazin]

Anyone try Summoner Wars? I've stopped myself from impulse buying for the last 3 days and I wanna hear what others think of it before I buy it.

I have the first two starter sets and while I don't have ANY of the quality issues that Astrolad does (and I've never really heard anyone else say it feels cheap for a $20 game, since each starter pack is a complete 2-player game) and honestly haven't had a chance to play it. It reads like it's basically a Miniature Skirmish game without the minis, and with spells. Sort of like Magic meets Heroscape.

Which isn't suprising since it's made by the same person who designed Heroscape.

 

[AstroLad]

Not even the crappy black-and-white paper board? (though I believe you can buy a real board separately now)

 

[BattleMonkey]

The retail game comes with a black and white mat? I thought it was just the demo copies that had black and white mats and the retail game had full color.

Yes they do sell a regular hard game board separate as optional.

 

[Chorazin]

Not even the crappy black-and-white paper board? (though I believe you can buy a real board separately now)

Black and white? The spaces were cards go are white but the boarders are designed to emulate stone and the Summoner Wars logo is in full color.

The retail game comes with a black and white mat? I thought it was just the demo copies that had black and white mats and the retail game had full color.

Yes they do sell a regular hard game board separate as optional.

No, I think maybe Astro got a demo copy somehow. Mines full color.

 

[AstroLad]

i don't have my copy onhand but maybe the logo is red i dunno. this does look vaguely familiar and accurate:

still not a fan of the aesthetics at all, including the art (and i love the small world art so that's not fantasy haterism)

edit: buuuuut that doesn't mean i wouldn't recommend it if you are into fantasy vs. action. check out the dice tower review shows you pretty much everything you need to know: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnpEGxUQevA

 

[Unison]

I've never used the paper board for Summoner Wars, actually... I've only played on the premium one ($10 or so), which is nice:

It even comes in two pieces so you can transport it more easily.

I don't have any issues with the cards either...

If you don't want to spring for the nicer board, a good, cheaper alternative might be to put a clear piece of plastic or plexiglass over the top of the paper board on your table to hold it down.

 

[Mashing]

I played Power Grid for the first time this weekend Germany map with expansion cards. I totally would have won if either 1) I had won the auction for the 8 city nuclear plant or 2) failing to win that, purchase at least a 7 city power plant--however, that would have prevented me from building 17 cities, but I would had the money on the next round (nukes were at 1 and 2 cost) to buy the cities I needed (and they were all 15 point--we were in the third phase--cities too!). Oh well, for my first time I thought I played quite well (this game just clicked for me and I was able to plan my moves out ahead of time because I was able to block out and entire section with enough cities to end the game for me). Great game.

 

[StoOgE]

I played Power Grid for the first time this weekend Germany map with expansion cards. I totally would have won if either 1) I had won the auction for the 8 city nuclear plant or 2) failing to win that, purchase at least a 7 city power plant--however, that would have prevented me from building 17 cities, but I would had the money on the next round (nukes were at 1 and 2 cost) to buy the cities I needed (and they were all 15 point--we were in the third phase--cities too!). Oh well, for my first time I thought I played quite well (this game just clicked for me and I was able to plan my moves out ahead of time because I was able to block out and entire section with enough cities to end the game for me). Great game.

That is the rough part of the game and why the auctions are so important. If you know about how much money your opponent needs to do X you know how much to drive up the price of a plant or resources to prevent them from doing it. Likewise, you really need to count your dollars if you are planning a big move. I can't tell you the number of times I've fallen 1-2 dollars short on a turn :lol

Brilliant game, still my favorite by far. Great economic engine, great strategy but *real* interaction and screwage.

 

[Neverfade]

BSG full ensemble again last night and once AGAIN Galactica blows up @ distance 7. Exodus really makes it a lot more difficult for humans. Need to figure out a strategy...

 

[Yaweee]

I played Kingsburg last night and rather liked it. It took over two hours for a five person game (me being a nooby and one of the other players being horrendously slow), but I liked the general flow and strategy-- a good mix of strategy and dealing with randomness. The expansion for it sounds fantastic-- all 6 or whatever of the "modules" sound like they're worth playing, and give the game a lot more re-playability.

 

[AstroLad]

I played Kingsburg last night and rather liked it. It took over two hours for a five person game (me being a nooby and one of the other players being horrendously slow), but I liked the general flow and strategy-- a good mix of strategy and dealing with randomness. The expansion for it sounds fantastic-- all 6 or whatever of the "modules" sound like they're worth playing, and give the game a lot more re-playability.

Yep, I'm a big fan of Kingsburg and the expansion. Only warning is that if you throw in all the modules it adds about 30m and more modifiers to keep track of.

 

[Mashing]

Oh, and I got in like half a game of Caylus. I can't make any comments about this one yet, but I think I'll end up liking that game as well. But man, is that game ugly as sin. Looks like a 4th grader drew the board.

 

[BronzeWolf]

Just played a Boardgaming session and it was a blast! It was me (of videogame, Dungeons and Dragons, PC and CCG background), my buddy (same background but much more into MMO's), and two female friends (one of only RISK background and the other with a lot of VG background)

We played

Lost Cities Really nice short game. It could as easily be played with a playing card deck. The only issue is that the point tally at the end of a round can be a little bit cumbersome. It did lost the females at that point, but the concept and the rules are light enough so they could get past the negative number thing.

Settlers of Catan Nobody had played this game before. Me and my buddy had some notions of the rules of the game, but certainly weren't experts, so we kind of learned on our own as the game progressed. It was a total blast with the group. Everybody was so hooked. I think I saw one of the girls kiss the box at the end of the game. In their words "This is like monopoly but made right".

We really didn't know the strategy of the game so many of the strategic decisions we made at startup, which are really important, weren't the best for some, so it was kind of a polarized game between the two most powerful guys. But everybody is hooked and they want to play it more.

Instant favorite

Thank you BG Gaf

 

[AstroLad]

Awesome! Yeah a lot of the gateway games, including Catan, are just tons of fun when you first start to "get it" in terms of strategy (usually within the first couple playthroughs)

 

[Flynn]

Oh, and I got in like half a game of Caylus. I can't make any comments about this one yet, but I think I'll end up liking that game as well. But man, is that game ugly as sin. Looks like a 4th grader drew the board.

Check out the limited edition that Mike Doyle did. Big improvement.

 

[Chorazin]

Just played a Boardgaming session and it was a blast! It was me (of videogame, Dungeons and Dragons, PC and CCG background), my buddy (same background but much more into MMO's), and two female friends (one of only RISK background and the other with a lot of VG background)

We played

Lost Cities Really nice short game. It could as easily be played with a playing card deck. The only issue is that the point tally at the end of a round can be a little bit cumbersome. It did lost the females at that point, but the concept and the rules are light enough so they could get past the negative number thing.

Settlers of Catan Nobody had played this game before. Me and my buddy had some notions of the rules of the game, but certainly weren't experts, so we kind of learned on our own as the game progressed. It was a total blast with the group. Everybody was so hooked. I think I saw one of the girls kiss the box at the end of the game. In their words "This is like monopoly but made right".

We really didn't know the strategy of the game so many of the strategic decisions we made at startup, which are really important, weren't the best for some, so it was kind of a polarized game between the two most powerful guys. But everybody is hooked and they want to play it more.

Instant favorite

Thank you BG Gaf

Sounds like you need to move up to Dominion STAT!

 

[Yaweee]

Sounds like you need to move up to Dominion STAT!

I wouldn't even say Dominion is more complicated than Settlers. There are drastically fewer rules you need to know to get started with it, and any special rules are basically written right on the card. Settlers has some kind-of finicky rules (exact turn structure and Robber mechanics, namely).

The only complication (necessary for Seaside and Prosperity) is that anything you "play" stays in play until the end of the turn, and THEN it goes to the discard pile, and that there is a distinct PLAY THING phase, followed by the BUY phase later. Aside from that, everything is really goddamn simple.


And as for Settlers, all my friend bought was the base game. In what order should he get expansions? What is up with adding 5th and 6th players?