Way OT: Twilight Struggle, Epic Board Game
Someone attempted a realignment in the U.K. AND a coup in Turkey? They're playing the European Scoring Card this turn for sure.
Twilight Struggle continues to be one of the top-rated board games in existence, and after many delays and challenges the iOS app is available to purchase, a kickstarter effort I believe I actually learned from Fearless Leader Brian Cook himself. If you like board games, or if you hate board games but only because Monopoly and Sorry are terrible (and they are) you will find this of interest.
And, in the interest of not limiting this posts potential response, what are some cool non-traditional board games that you own/like to play? Bonus upvotes for games you can't find at Target.
I got several cooperative games (Forbidden Island, Pandemic, etc.) for my nephew because he needed to learn not to be so competitive. It didn't work, and his competitiveness became which pieces he started with. But they are good games.
I've played Pandemic a few times but the challenge can come when one person seems better or more assertive at devising strategy--it can get tense. And yeah, my wife griped about my trying to suggest too many moves for her, and she was right.
We never had luck playing Ticket with out-of-town friends/family members either, but the pass and play function works well. Wound up getting the physical game because our older kids can play well, exactly as advertised.
to Pandemic. Easier, but you all still share a common goal. A lot less likely for someone to take full control.
My wife and I have really enjoyed the Project Gipf games. They aren't being made anymore, so when you find them online, they can be expensive. Try looking at websites like coolstuffinc. I think Yinsh is the best of them. We have all of them (6), and apparently you can put them all together to make one super-game, but there is no way we'd ever have a whole day to commit to something like that.
Great idea for a thread, btw.
Depends on what you mean by non-traditional.
Settler of Catan is fun, but I think it's becoming too popular to meet your criteria.
Dominion is a card based game that is pretty fun, but has a bit of a learning curve.
For playing games with the kids, my wife and I really like a game called King of Tokyo. Rules are fairly simple and it's a great way to introduce kids to strategy games.
Can you give some more details in the contrast with Agricola?
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Mille Bornes! I remember playing it as a kid at my family's tiny cabin. Loved it, but haven't played in probale 15 years.
Ukraine is weak!!!
Diplomacy remains one of my all time favorites.
I've lost many good friendships as a result of that game.
Thought this post was going to involve vampires and werewolves and I was going to have to neg the shiz out of OP
We own a bunch of the games mentioned so far, but Puerto Rico is still our favorite.
I love pandemic. I like that it is coop and that the difficulty can be increased or decreased very easily. Pandemic Legacy was a lot of fun to play and added some nice challenges. I agree with the stephenrjking that the biggest challenge can be when someone is too assertive.
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I play a lot of board games especially during ski season. Most have already been mentioned but ones I like are:
Any of the Empire Builder series. Martian Rails, Iron Dragon, EuroRails ....
Dominion (as noted above) is a good one with lots of expansion sets so there can be a ton of variety.
King of New York/Tokyo is quick and fun.
All of the various Cataan games are good. They range from simple preset boards (German, Stone Age ...) to the complete set of Settlers where you can create new boards each time.
Carcassone is fun and has a number of expansions.
7 Wonders, Ticket to Ride, Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Alhambra, and Railbaron are all pretty good.
My favorite if you have 5 hours is History of the World. A little like Risk but more structured.
If you like Pandemic, you'll like Sentinels. It's a cooperative game that's a love letter to comic books. You play heroes of varying abilities who work together to defeat an arch-villain (which is auto-played via the rules). There are over 40 heroes and 20+ villains to choose from. It's a little bit fiddly if most of your friends aren't gamers (i.e., there can be a ton of temporary and permanent conditions to track, like a universal +1 fire damage per turn, this target is immune to damage this round, etc.) but it gives the game a lot of depth and fun interactions.
Settlers has just about gone mainstream at this point and that's gratifying to see. Having said that, I'm not personally fond of Settlers as I dislike both the robber mechanic and how much of the gameplay much hinges on dice rolls.
I have played Twilight Struggle once and won though I don't remember how. I remember liking it though obviously not enough to purchase the game. I'd originally parsed the topic as "OT-Twilight Imperium" Any of you sickos ever play that?
I find Twilight Imperium to be one of the more enjoyable big box games, and nowhere near as bad as Diplomacy or Game of Thrones at ending friendships.
Oh I liked Twilight Imperium but it's a serious all-day committment. Like 6 hours if your whole crew knows what it's doing.
You're right, though, that it's less dangerous to friendships that the Game of Thrones boardgame, another longstanding favorite of mine. Since the show is pretty popular here and everywhere else, what did you think of the Game of Thrones boardgame?
The X-Com board game is a great co-op game. Legendary is a really fun Marvel Comics themed deckbuilding came (half co-op, half competitive). Strat-O-Matic baseball is the best sports board game ever made (they have versions for other sports also, never tried them). 7 Wonders is a really fun sorta-deck building/drafting game.
It's a very rare game in that it plays up to 7. I think it's very good with anywhere from 4-7 players.
It has a bit of a learning curve for most people, but after that it's a pretty quick play (and isn't longer with more players)
I have a fairly extensive collection. My favorite game currently is Through the Ages. I also am a fan of Puerto Rico, Blood Rage, Arcadia Quest, Twilight Struggle, Lords of Waterdeep, Kingsburg, and Star Wars Rebellion.
I like all kinds of games. I find the more strategic ones are the ones I like the most though.
Race for the Galaxy and Seven Wonders are excellent as well. Dominion is good with the right expansions.
Carcassone is fun too. Ticket to ride is great for a party/easy game.
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Twilight Struggle is my favorite game in terms of theme married to strategy.
War Of The Ring is a GREAT interpretation of the Lord Of The Rings into a game. Really feels like one is "playing" the novels without feeling like the moves are at all scripted.
"Diplomacy" is an all-time great. But you have to be careful as it has been known to destroy friendships. You have been warned.
Ploeconomy came out in the 80's I think. It has it all. Players have the option to purchase assets as they travel around the game board. Property value is determined by the inflation rate, which fluctuates, and the properties themselves can be subject to a hostile takeover. Players improve their cash flow by taking a salary, income from players landing on property spaces they control, profit from investments in insurance, and revenue generated from being the beneficiaries of advertising (not as a direct income, but, true to real life, as a recipient of channeling other players to their properties using an advertising space.) Pay tax determaned by the goverment in power, elections for government ect. No U.S. version Canada, UK.
Surprised no one has mentioned Arkham Horror. Excellent cooperative game.
Ricochet Robots is awesome. If you've never played, play it. No turns, everyone goes at once (kind of ilke Set) trying to find the quickest path for robots to move around the board.
Mice and Mystics is good, but I'm probably just saying that because I prefer RPGs, and it's kind of an RPG masquerading as a board game.
Also, just in case anyone reading this thread isn't already aware of it, boardgamegeek is the go-to site for, well, board game geeks. Warning: site is Phil Steele-esque.
I generally expect games based on TV series or movies to suck out loud, but I really like it. It's not hard-core strategy but it's very fun. If you're a fan of the show it's even more fun.
Other favorites include Power Grid, virtually any 18xx game (but particularly 1817), Starfarers of Cataan, Dominion, Pandemic, Le Havre (but only as a 2 player game), Lords of Waterdeep.
A shoutout to a few that I haven't seen on this list:
- Trans-America; 2-6 players (better with at least 4) Super fast, super simple game that's almost surprisingly fun. You can set it up, teach someone to play, and play it in about 20 minutes. It's the game we play while deciding what we're going to play.
- Belfort: 2-5 players (better with at least 3) A great combination of worker placement / building / area dominance with a fun theme. Think "Lords of Waterdeep" meets "El Grande" meets Civilization (the computer game)
- Ghost Stories: An excellent coop game. 1-4 players (but it's harder with 4). Also a fun theme and hugely customizable regarding difficulty.
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Carcassonne is fun. Also a card game called Citadels is very solid.
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I love this topic, I've played a lot and even created a couple board games with a friend that are in the play testing phase. I am always up for a game and have dozens of games to play and a gaming/escape room store I just opened in downtown flint, $2 daily gaming fee waived for a "Go Blue!" and we built custom gaming tables to play on :) this is me, look for the block M in the window!
http://mastermindescapeflint.com
Would you like to play a game?