Board Games (Reviews, Rules, Regulations, Random)

[The Gnat]

Those seem fun, I like the idea of time magic.

 

I playe Sword & Sorcery last night, just played the prologue, which was fun. The game has something like a 52 page rule book, and a large cheat sheet for stuff, I am debating about making my own smaller one or seeing if someone on BGG has made one. We have plans to play the next scenario in two weeks, so it went over well, which I was hoping that it would. I think the dice chucking Amerithrash style works well in the game, and the video game feel works well in the game. Overall a very fun time, and I have so many characters, I can see going back and playing it solo sometime with some of the other characters to see how that goes and just to see how other characters work. It also has an app which isn't a great app, but it does a good job of allowing you to track what you have so that you can save the game easily between sessions.

[Tugboat]

I've realized upon entering this thread, that i'm an absolute board game plebian.  But it's tough, because i don't exactly know a lot of people who just want to sit down for hours and play a board game usually.  Rather do a million other things, or Karaoke.  The times i have found "board game enthusiasts", it was mostly RISK!, but like the idiotic weird variants like Hobbitland and that weird Space one where there are weird tricks that the "host" uses to advantage to just dominate the game and it's stupid and not fun.

I really enjoy basic RISK! with modified rules that bring some "realism" to it, and stop armies from sweeping across continents in a single turn.  But it brings it down to a game that takes a lot of hours to do, and people always just get bored and either suicide or ruin the game (or both).  

On 25/07/2017 at 8:20 PM, pwny said:

Asked before, but what would be some good games to play for two people?

It's not a board game, but Mille Bornes is a phenomenal way for two+ people to kill some time.  Better with 4 people.  It's a card game that plays a bit like a board game.  If you're looking for a deep, thoughtful, strategic game...that ain't it.  But it's one of my favourite games in that it's easy to just play through and keep talking about whatever, while still having fun.

 

On 28/08/2017 at 6:50 AM, The Gnat said:

Played a game of Ticket to Ride over this weekend with my family. If you haven't played it, it's a good light weight game that anyone can pick up. There's some luck involved, but fits into the weight of game that Catan is, but is better. We had the oddest score line I've ever seen. My dad won with 140 points, I came in 2nd with 116 and my wife and mother tied in 3rd with 115, my brother came in last with 38. It isn't like he's a bad player at this game, in fact he's very good, but just by the luck of it, he was going for some of the same train lines that my mother and I were, and then my father and I were so he just had is board cut down so he couldn't do a big point route that cost him at the end. It was funny because before tallying up the routes that people had completed at the end of the game, my brother and dad were tied in last place.

Ticket to Ride is one of the only games i can play with my family.  It's honestly pretty great.  It's terrible, in that there's a ton of luck involved in it and it feels like you really win or lose based on card draws in the end...but a lot of the time i'm playing board games, it's with family...and i have a sister who absolutely despises "strategic" games.  But is just fine building some trains and seeing what happens with Ticket to Ride.

As a game...it's really not compelling.  But like Mille Bornes...it's a great way to just play away at a game while you chat.  You don't have to be all cagey or anything.  You just chat, while you play the game.

 

On 04/06/2018 at 8:29 AM, theJ said:

Good decision.  This game, and all the other games that copy Apples to Apples, are terrible.  They're not funny, and get boring after about 10 minutes. /rant lol

Surprising you're getting rid of Power Grid.  Never play it?

Not as surprising to get rid of Dominion.  Especially if your friends have it.  It's not a game you can play with newbies, because there's definitely an advantage to having played it.  And newbies will hate you pretty quickly into the experience.  I hate playing it with my brother and sister-in-law because they know what card combinations to go for.  I can figure it out half way through, but at that point the game is over.  

Hey, i like Apples to Apples.  It definitely gets people engaged, and you can honestly learn a lot about a person through the stupidity of it.  You have to play it an insane amount of times to truly run out of "novel" card applications.

 

Like...it's a terrible game, but it's fun and easy.  You don't have to think about it a lot and it's always interesting as long as you have new players, who constantly make the cards "fresh".

The bad thing about Apples and similar games though, is that they completely take over the conversation.  There's not a lot of side-chat going on about other things.  It's a game where everyone has to be kinda focused on the card at hand.

I think that's the brilliance of Mille Bornes.  It's got that same ease of access...low effort thing going for it, but you can easily chat over top of the game and it doesn't matter either.

[theJ]

4 hours ago, Tugboat said:

Hey, i like Apples to Apples

Then we will never play games together.

I lose interest after about 2 cards.

[Tugboat]

37 minutes ago, theJ said:

Then we will never play games together.

I lose interest after about 2 cards.

It's obviously a moronic game...but i like what you can learn about a person through a dozen rounds of Apples.  Best part...you can just carry on drinking as normal in the meantime.  There's a lot more depth to it than i think you give it credit for.

 

 

I've just never been included in some of these serious games that've been mentioned.  Like i said, i can barely find people to play RISK without spazzing out and ruining the game.  Patience isn't a virtue everyone is blessed with.  And i'm largely stuck, playing with family.

 

 

I'd definitely be curious to try some more elaborate games.  Like...Ticket to Ride just drives me nuts inside because i know how random it is and it kinda feels like nothing i do matters.  But i play these games with family, and otherwise i'm gonna get yelled at probably.

[theJ]

4 hours ago, Tugboat said:

It's obviously a moronic game...but i like what you can learn about a person through a dozen rounds of Apples.  Best part...you can just carry on drinking as normal in the meantime.  There's a lot more depth to it than i think you give it credit for.

 

 

I've just never been included in some of these serious games that've been mentioned.  Like i said, i can barely find people to play RISK without spazzing out and ruining the game.  Patience isn't a virtue everyone is blessed with.  And i'm largely stuck, playing with family.

 

 

I'd definitely be curious to try some more elaborate games.  Like...Ticket to Ride just drives me nuts inside because i know how random it is and it kinda feels like nothing i do matters.  But i play these games with family, and otherwise i'm gonna get yelled at probably.

My family used to play simpler games.  We started expanding with some of the simpler strategy games.  Splendor is a good one.  Easy to explain, fast to play.  Dominion is another.

We've expanded now to some "middle of the road" complexity games.  Istanbul.  Smallworld.  Powergrid.

Maybe some day we'll get to Risk haha.

[The Gnat]

25 minutes ago, theJ said:

It's obviously a moronic game...but i like what you can learn about a person through a dozen rounds of Apples.  Best part...you can just carry on drinking as normal in the meantime.  There's a lot more depth to it than i think you give it credit for.

I actually like two other games better that have a bit of that feel. Instead of Apples to Apples, the games Stipulations  and Just One are both great.

 

26 minutes ago, theJ said:

My family used to play simpler games.  We started expanding with some of the simpler strategy games.  Splendor is a good one.  Easy to explain, fast to play.  Dominion is another.

I don't love Dominion personally, I find it themeless and void. If you are enjoying deck builders, I think that base Marvel Legendary is a good option and probably a more interesting for people. For something a bit more, Xenoshyft: Onslaught and Clank! In! Space! are a ton of fun. Another lighter strategy game is Century: Spice Road or the Golem Edition (Golem is cuter for family).

28 minutes ago, theJ said:

Maybe some day we'll get to Risk haha.

SKIP IT. Small World is better Risk. Risk Legacy is enjoyable though, because you don't get eliminated. For a more interesting area control game, and a step up plus it teaches so many different mechanics, Blood Rage is a great area control game.

[skywindO2]

Apples to Apples and any of its varients(CAH, What do you meme, etc.) are boring. I can't stand playing them at all. 

[The Gnat]

Got the backerkit survey for Dice Throne Adventures, and shipping was cheaper than I thought, that's always a very nice surprise.

[Woz]

On 9/13/2019 at 12:11 PM, The Gnat said:

Got the backerkit survey for Dice Throne Adventures, and shipping was cheaper than I thought, that's always a very nice surprise.

Well that's good ... of course, it would be nice for them to open it up for everyone.

[The Gnat]

18 hours ago, Woz said:

Well that's good ... of course, it would be nice for them to open it up for everyone.

Yeah, they said in their last announcement they were doing a limited opening just to confirm everything was working fine, and then it would open up to all the backers.

[The Gnat]

Had board game night on Saturday, got a few games to the table, cooperative games was the theme:

Cartographers - Not a cooperative game, but it was a fun flip and write game. Definitely one I could see adding into my collection at some point in time. I like flip/roll and write games a lot, they tend to be pretty relaxing, and the scoring on Cartographers is interesting.

Lost Expedition - First cooperative game on the list, but was a lot of fun, always enjoy running that game. We won, but just barely, which is normal.

Just One - We had a new person at game night, so I was keeping it a bit lighter, plus we had six people, so didn't want to split into two groups. Just One is such a great party game, we did pretty well with it, and the fact that it's a cooperative party game is a lot of fun.

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong - Not a cooperative game, but a hidden traitor game, so fairly cooperative. I really love this game. it's simple enough, everyone feels involved, and you have more information to work on than you do in a lot of other hidden traitor games.

Zombie Dice - Not a cooperative game, but a good light game to finish up the night, and one that one of the people enjoys. It's one that I'm pretty much done with, but it's a good huge group option.

 

[Tugboat]

On 12/09/2019 at 11:34 AM, theJ said:

My family used to play simpler games.  We started expanding with some of the simpler strategy games.  Splendor is a good one.  Easy to explain, fast to play.  Dominion is another.

We've expanded now to some "middle of the road" complexity games.  Istanbul.  Smallworld.  Powergrid.

Maybe some day we'll get to Risk haha.

I just don't think it's ever gonna happen.  My sister is so absolutely anti-strategy.  She just can't stand any game with thinking and plotting.   My father doesn't really like those type of games either...unless it's Monopoly, where he's an absolute menace in breaking the rules trying to made sleazy side deals the entire time.

 

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that basic games are all they're going to play.  And they can still be fun.  It's just...i need a lot more drinks to make them fun.  

Edited September 22, 2019 by Tugboat

[The Gnat]

On 9/22/2019 at 4:16 AM, Tugboat said:

I just don't think it's ever gonna happen.  My sister is so absolutely anti-strategy.  She just can't stand any game with thinking and plotting.   My father doesn't really like those type of games either...unless it's Monopoly, where he's an absolute menace in breaking the rules trying to made sleazy side deals the entire time.

Trick them into strategy. There are some games, King of Tokyo or Dice Throne that have a bit of strategy, but they feel very similar to something like Yahtzee. Plus, both of them look cool in the table, and while Dice Throne might be a bit too much of a step up, King of Tokyo is very simple and is a great family game, and I don't think Dice Throne is much heavier.

Or start with games that feel more familiar like Five Crowns/Qwirkle that are extremely simple in how they play, but are actually teaching you strategy.

Basically, find the games that you can say: "This is like XXXX" that they already play.

 

EDITED: And now that I'm think about it, definitely get Just One. That game has a Scattergories/Apples to Apples feel to it and you can introduce a cooperative game. That's always a good way to get people hooked, if they are up for working together, you can lead into more complex games slowly based off of the fact that you are working together and they don't need to remember everything for themselves.

[The Gnat]

Wrapped up another session of Sword and Sorcery.

I'm liking the game thus far, it's definitely a dice chucker of a dungeon crawler. I think, after a pretty easy win this past time, we're going to play two characters each, the game is pretty straight forward so we can play it that way.

 

And if people want to spend money on kickstarters, I did a Kickstarted video on Malts And Meeples.

[The Gnat]

Here are some board game questions:

What are your favorite board game mechanics?

What draws you to a game?

What makes you not like a game?

What is your favorite game?

What is a game you don't like that everyone else seems to love?

What game did you like that you thought you wouldn't like?