Board Games Anyone?

[RWBladewing]

As the title suggests, curious if anyone else here is interested in board games, what your favorites are, etc. Non-collectible card games like Dominion or Ascension can also apply.

My friends and I play Arkham Horror 1-2 times a month. It's a cooperative game based on the Cthulhu mythos, in which the players work together to prevent one of several Ancient Ones from awakening and destroying the world. It's pretty complicated with tons of pieces and cards, and in true Cthulhu mythos fashion, the odds are very heavily stacked against the players, but that's what makes it so amazing. Monsters that are nigh-unkillable, event cards that can seriously screw over or even kill a player outright, and ridiculous descriptions like "You find something horrible about your family history, lose 1 sanity" are all part of the fun. It feels pretty great overcoming all this and winning. Anyone else a fan of this or any similar games?

(Also I wasn't entirely sure where to put this thread, if a mod feels it's more appropriate in General Discussion please feel free to move it there.)

[Duo Maxwell]

Occasionally we gathered to play "Coach ride to the devil's castle", which is a really fun team game about tricking or working with each other to archive the goal, but the problem is you don't know who's your ally, and who's your enemy, so half of the game's time will be spending on gathering information.

Second would be Cutthroat Cavern, which I absolutely love. The game is about 3 - 6 players that has to cooperate with each other to go through the dungeon, and that's where the fun begins. There is only one person that can win the game, but if you go alone, there is no way to win the game, so you'll have to cooperate with other players to beat the boss of each floor, yet you still want to keep them in check to prevent them from winning. It's fun to see people screwing each other . However, to prevent petty attitude, we always play with the rule "One must act on the goal of archiving winning, not to bring everyone down together so there won't be the winner".

I haven't played much the last one, Shadow Hunters, but I think it's also a fun game. Ideally you would want to have at least 6 people, or the game will be extremely boring.

[Kyuu]

Several times into the year, I gather up with friends to play board games, card games, or any other non-video game. Sure, video games are still played; but that's not the emphasis of these game nights.

If there's one thing video games take away from the gaming aspect, it is this: rule enforcement and understanding. In video games, certain rules can be programmed right into the game. So, what concern would any of that be to the player?

Oh, and I challenge anyone here to Blockus.

[Proto]

I normally try to get together with my PhD friends to play some of the more common German board game like Settlers, Phoenixia, Carcassone and the like. It's normally tons of fun but we have some people in our group who get a little too much in the competitive side. XD

[RWBladewing]

Originally Posted by Proto

I normally try to get together with my PhD friends to play some of the more common German board game like Settlers, Phoenixia, Carcassone and the like. It's normally tons of fun but we have some people in our group who get a little too much in the competitive side. XD

Ah, I love Settlers. Have you tried Agricola? It has a similar premise but less random chance and more opportunity to directly screw with opponents; your more competitive friends might enjoy that, haha.

I played Carcassone only once, when it was really late and I was half asleep. I somehow managed to win by a significant margin despite not really even listening to my friend's explanation of how to play. I'd say it was fun but I don't remember much.

[Shikimori Kazuki]

During game nights, just a get together with my friends for the social aspect, we often played:

- Risk
- Monopoly (different versions of the Monopoly, Monopoly City, Monopoly Tropical Tycoon)
- Pictionary (a fun game to see how your friends take their creativity to the max)

We often play Monopoly since i bought the Monopoly City, Monopoly Tropical Tycoon, gameplay in itself is interesting, and differs from Monopoly Original, but the fundamental in paying ppl $ is still there :P

[zzeroparticle]

Once a week, my friends get together for a game of Agricola, which has been my group's favorite game in quite some time since there's just so much replayability to be had through figuring out combos with occupations and improvements.

For nights where we can't get more than two people, the game of choice tends to float to Twilight Struggle. Nothing like re-enacting the Cold War using the same general mindset that pervaded the time period. Especially when the important skill to learn there is hand management so that even if you have a bad hand, you can still make life hard for the other side. Needless to say, it's my favorite wargame at the moment.

We've also done Catan, Puerto Rico, and a bit of Power Grid. Yeah, we are a bit biased towards Eurogames...

[Rias]

Ever since about a year ago, I started to going to weekly meetups for board games. The group tends to play Eurogames, but I also like other games. I've been playing all sorts of games, and some of my favourites are:

7 Wonders
Twilight Struggle
Arkham Horror (which might soon get replaced by Mansions of Madness after I play it more)
Navegador

Once in a while I get together with my friends and play boardgames with more anime theme, such as Tanto Cuore or Tohou Dominion. It's kinda hard to bring those games to regular boardgame groups

[Duo Maxwell]

Originally Posted by Rias

Once in a while I get together with my friends and play boardgames with more anime theme, such as Tanto Cuore or Tohou Dominion. It's kinda hard to bring those games to regular boardgame groups

Is there an english version of Tanto Cuore? It looks interesting.

[RWBladewing]

Originally Posted by zzeroparticle

Once a week, my friends get together for a game of Agricola, which has been my group's favorite game in quite some time since there's just so much replayability to be had through figuring out combos with occupations and improvements.

For nights where we can't get more than two people, the game of choice tends to float to Twilight Struggle. Nothing like re-enacting the Cold War using the same general mindset that pervaded the time period. Especially when the important skill to learn there is hand management so that even if you have a bad hand, you can still make life hard for the other side. Needless to say, it's my favorite wargame at the moment.

We've also done Catan, Puerto Rico, and a bit of Power Grid. Yeah, we are a bit biased towards Eurogames...

I'm very interested in hearing your opinion of Power Grid. My friends and I tried playing that a few times and we felt that it was kind of a broken game, with excessive "rubber-banding" mechanics that seemed to reward turtling, sandbagging, and otherwise not doing what the supposed premise of the game was, and just waiting for one explosive turn in which you win with nobody being able to react. And if everyone follows that strategy it turns into a giant game of chicken with the first person to actually try making a move being severely punished. We thought maybe we were playing wrong but we've looked around the net quite a bit and it seems we were playing correctly and what I mentioned is a common complaint. Am I missing something or do your games end up this way also?

Originally Posted by Rias

Ever since about a year ago, I started to going to weekly meetups for board games. The group tends to play Eurogames, but I also like other games. I've been playing all sorts of games, and some of my favourites are:

7 Wonders
Twilight Struggle
Arkham Horror (which might soon get replaced by Mansions of Madness after I play it more)
Navegador

Once in a while I get together with my friends and play boardgames with more anime theme, such as Tanto Cuore or Tohou Dominion. It's kinda hard to bring those games to regular boardgame groups

Do you have any funny stories from Arkham? The game seems to generate a ton of them and I love hearing them. My favorite from my playgroup was a game where a particular series of events left my friend's character so gimped that he ended up in an unwinnable fight with a cultist. He then decided his goal for the rest of the game was to get himself devoured. And on one of the final turns of the game, he succeeded, dying to a maniac in another dimension with Yog-Sothoth as the ancient one. Ever since then Dexter Drake has been known among us as the ultimate memetic loser and the worst character in the game (even though he clearly isn't.)

[HayashiTakara]

I'll be honest, I didn't think people still played board games.

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by HayashiTakara

I'll be honest, I didn't think people still played board games.

Video games really aren't the best for social situations. Plus, video games nowadays are rather bland and uninspired these days.

[HayashiTakara]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

Video games really aren't the best for social situations. Plus, video games nowadays are rather bland and uninspired these days.

So true, but nowadays you don't really have people whipping out Checkers or Monopoly when guests come over. I have a many fond memory of growing up with board games, but it is rather archaic and I notice that only hobbyists are into them these days.

Although, I do enjoy a game of Chess every so often.

[Rias]

Originally Posted by Duo Maxwell

Is there an english version of Tanto Cuore? It looks interesting.

They are actually publishing an English version of it, with all the art intact. It's on BGG news:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpos...lish-glenn-dro

Or if not, you can always get the Japanese version, sleeve and put the English inserts in to cover up the Japanese text. Most Arclight card games has their rule book and inserts translated.

Originally Posted by RWBladewing

Do you have any funny stories from Arkham? The game seems to generate a ton of them and I love hearing them. My favorite from my playgroup was a game where a particular series of events left my friend's character so gimped that he ended up in an unwinnable fight with a cultist. He then decided his goal for the rest of the game was to get himself devoured. And on one of the final turns of the game, he succeeded, dying to a maniac in another dimension with Yog-Sothoth as the ancient one. Ever since then Dexter Drake has been known among us as the ultimate memetic loser and the worst character in the game (even though he clearly isn't.)

One time I was using William Yorick. For some reason the game was really long, as we weren't making much progress with the gate seals since Ghantanothoa was the AO, and people were scared of taking too many clue tokens. I decided to just load up on weapons and go around hunting monsters. Thanks to his ability, we ended up with like 5-10 monsters remaining in the cup at the end, and most of them were like weak monsters like cultist. Mind you, I only have the base game and Innsmouth expansion, so I don't have that many monsters to begin with.

[NoLongerSane]

I on occasion will play chess with my brother when he visits. For a time, I used to play with WizKids games such as Pirates, Star Wars, and Rocketmen. Used to play with Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Minis.

[Vexx]

My family plays the Call of Cthulhu mythos that Bladewing mentions (though not that specific one. Now roll for sanity...). We also play a little gem called "Kobolds Ate My Baby" wherein everyone roleplays kobolds on a quest to steal babies from the local village for King Torg's feast (All Hail King Torg!)... its hilarious and of course, don't get too attached to any of your characters because they have the approximate lifespan of.. a kobold.

Otherwise these days, we play the kind of games you see in the "eclectic section"... like Shogun, Settlers of Catan, Blokus, Scrabble, Red Dragon Inn, Mah Jong, Munchkin, and a pile of other oddball games (Dorktower, Order of the Stick, Unspeakable Words, etc).

Oh... and we keep a selection of actual LAN games handy and have the occasional LAN party.... the kind where no one has to dial up the mothership to play. Some good classic FPS and RPG stuff.

[zzeroparticle]

Originally Posted by RWBladewing

I'm very interested in hearing your opinion of Power Grid. My friends and I tried playing that a few times and we felt that it was kind of a broken game, with excessive "rubber-banding" mechanics that seemed to reward turtling, sandbagging, and otherwise not doing what the supposed premise of the game was, and just waiting for one explosive turn in which you win with nobody being able to react. And if everyone follows that strategy it turns into a giant game of chicken with the first person to actually try making a move being severely punished. We thought maybe we were playing wrong but we've looked around the net quite a bit and it seems we were playing correctly and what I mentioned is a common complaint. Am I missing something or do your games end up this way also?

It's hard to say. On one level, yeah, it's kind of like that, since we all seem to advance at a snail's pace in the beginning until someone feels like they have an advantage in which case, an explosion of activity occurs as people seek to punish the first-mover. In short, it's all a battle for turn order and the key looks to be paying the right price for the power plants.

That said, I've only played it like.. three times ever, so I'm hardly the expert on it. :P

[evil|plushie]

Originally Posted by HayashiTakara

So true, but nowadays you don't really have people whipping out Checkers or Monopoly when guests come over. I have a many fond memory of growing up with board games, but it is rather archaic and I notice that only hobbyists are into them these days.

Although, I do enjoy a game of Chess every so often.

Um...there's a lot more variety to boardgames than checkers/monopoly or risk. -_-

Anyway, I tend to enjoy boardgames and try to have friends over once every 2 weeks to play.

Right now, we're playing mostly Dungeonquest (everyone dies -_-), Arkham Horror (why are there so many frigging expansion packs >_<), I'm the Boss (great fun, simple rules and lots of opportunities to backstab). Also, check out Betrayal at House on the Hill for a pretty fun game with a lot of differing scenarios.

[Duo Maxwell]

I may consider buying Arkham Horror, but before that anyone mind telling me, does this game work great with only 3 people?

[Kyero Fox]

I wish I lived in a more nicer place, if I asked any one in my area i'd be laughed at...