This ain’t about your Monopoly or Life, this about those $45 monstrosities that come with 800 cardboard counters or a few hundred plastic game pieces and take a few hours to play. Our usual RPG session fell through this past week due to a couple of no-shows, so our host offered his ample board game collection and we killed about five hours with a game called Ticket to Ride. You basically try to finish train routes between cities, all the while trying to block others from finishing theirs while they try to do the same to you. The first game we played, we were still learning the ins and outs and were fairly good-humored, but the second game got tense and cutthroat as all hell.
So the next day I wandered down to our local game/comic shop and just browsed everything they had, and it’s amazing the depth and breadth of product out there. Want a game where you’re building an Egytptian palace? Got it. Want to recreate every obscure Civil War or WWI battle? Check. Want 5000 variations of Settlers of Catan? It’s out there. The production value on many of these games is absolutely beautiful, and it’s remarkable how many have such seemingly simple rules yet have nearly infinite strategies and permutations. Their prices may seem high, but so is the return on the investment. And I’ve always been a sucker for little cardboard tiles and hexboards.
Rambling aside, anyone have any recommendations? Or just any good stories/memories of these games?
Formula De (Racing), Arkham Horror (Horror, duh), Runebound (Fantasy), Get Out (General Fun), Age Of Steam (Trains), Power Grid (power plants), Bohnanza ("the bean game"
, Bang! (Cowboys), Chrononauts (space)… all favorites of mine. There are a ton of others that my group plays on a weekly basis, but I’ll let that be for another post. There is literally about 50-75 games within our disposal. It’s insane the collection my two friends have aquired in the past year and a half.
You’ll also waste tons of hours at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/
If there’s a particular genre you’re looking for, let me know. I’ve played a number of decent games (and bad ones) in most genres out there.
We actually had a Formula De league going at our game shop (before the owner sold the place and it turned into this heartless warehouse that doesn’t want gamers who aren’t playing MageKnight or Magic). We kept rankings while playing on multiple tracks and it was an absolute blast. Clever dice mechanic too.
Someone there that night mentioned a few sites where you could play these games online, but their names escape me. Any ideas?
Perhaps it’s not considered a “serious” title, but I’ve always loved Axis & Allies. Lots of fun and the rulebook is fairly brief. Plus I appreciate all the detailed plastic pieces. Never liked the cardboard squares.
There is a PC version of the game, so presumably you could play it online.
Formula De is in my top 3, at least. Love that game. Dice mechanic is near perfection. You can think you are out of a race, then get a perfect roll and get back in it. Makes for some really fun moments.
If you look around Board Game Geek (BBG), I’m sure you’ll find the links. I usually don’t play the games online, but my one friend frequently directs me towards sites where you can demo games before you buy them. Of course, I don’t archive those links. If I find any, I’ll throw them up here.
This weekend we played some new games he got; Diamant (light mining game), Samauri and Winner’s Circle (a horse racing game; very cutthroat if you make it that way). Good stuff.
We also pulled out the War Of The Ring game he got for $30 at Barnes and Noble during one of their clearance sales. It was just him and I, and we got through it in about 5 hours, which was a surprise. (We thought it would take at least 8, considering the pieces, gameplay, and the fact we had never played it before.)
I try to explain to people that these aren’t regular board games, but they just don’t get it. I usually just say we play games and they are content with that.
I had an older War of the Ring game put out by SPI back around the time the Bakshi film was out. Came with a beautiful three-piece hard-mounted map of Middle-Earth and lots and lots of counters. You could play a character-based game that pitted a Fellowship player against a Sauron player and focused mostly on the Fellowship trying to get to Mt. Doom (they won if a Fellowship character finished the turn on the Mt. Doom hex). That version took about three hours to play. Then, for some real fun, you could throw all the armies on both sides in and not only play the quest but also the war itself. That took about six hours. And then you could use the optional rules and add a third player playing the Saruman side of things (he was folded into Sauron’s group in the two-player game). I think I only ever played two full games of it, but I would constantly set it up and just look at it.
Attrition and time ate away at the counters, and after a while all I had left was a tattered rule book and the game board.
I like the time-consuming nature of these games, although some of them can be a little ridiculous. I have a couple of friends who were playing a game of Advance Squad Leader and said they were making good progress – they’d played four hours and reached turn four.
Yeah, that’s the same version of War of the Ring that we played. We played the full blown version, sans the third person. We figured if we were going to dedicate time to the game that we go all out on it. I liked it a lot, taking into account that I’m not the biggest fan of the LOTR trilogy and what not.
Saturdays are set for some of the longer games, like Twilight Imperium. Fun game, but it simply takes HOURS to get through. I’m more of a light game individual, as you can see from my list above.
Glad I’m not the only other Chewer out there that has played some of these other type of games.
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True, but after a while I feel that the mechanic becomes a little old and predictable. It’s definitely a game you pull out once or twice a year, if even that. It’s one of the games we first started with, so it’s stayed around for a while.
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| Originally Posted by Jason P. Thompson True, but after a while I feel that the mechanic becomes a little old and predictable. It’s definitely a game you pull out once or twice a year, if even that. It’s one of the games we first started with, so it’s stayed around for a while. |
Its a good game, but not played “out of box”. In order to get the full effect and understand the rules you need to download the errata and revised boklets on the AH web site. The original rulebook and peripherals are needlessly vague.
Another good game is Twilight Imperium. It’s difficulty falls somewhere between Risk and Warhammer.
Zombies is always a blast, as is Heroscape, but right now Arhkham Horror is my fave.
Even with the updated errata and revised text… it just okay. A good introduction game for newbies, though.
Zombies is fun, but I’ve only played it once. It’s not a popular game amongst my group. I might pull it out the next time I choose games.
My group just got introduced to Heroscape. I fall about in the middle in terms of the overall group feeling for it.
Have you played the new Arkham Horror expansion? We played it on Saturday and I really enjoyed it. Enhances the game ten fold.
A local hobby store has a cool-looking zombie game; can’t remember the title of it though. It’s going to bug me until I get down that way again. ![]( "Wink")
I have a group of friends who are fairly hardcore boardgame people. Our big favorites these days are Puerto Rico and Tigris & Euphrates. We’re also pretty fond of Acquire and History of the World. Puerto Rico is particularly interesting in that it has almost no random element; no dice, no cards, just out-thinking your opponents.
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| Originally Posted by Jason P. Thompson Even with the updated errata and revised text… it just okay. A good introduction game for newbies, though. Zombies is fun, but I’ve only played it once. It’s not a popular game amongst my group. I might pull it out the next time I choose games. My group just got introduced to Heroscape. I fall about in the middle in terms of the overall group feeling for it. Have you played the new Arkham Horror expansion? We played it on Saturday and I really enjoyed it. Enhances the game ten fold. |
I haven’t had a chance to buy the expansion yet. Plan on doing that fairly soon. Right now I am trying to learn classic D20 D&D (I’m looking for something new to try, and D&D is the last avenue of geekdom that I haven’t explored).
The beer and pretzels miniature games like D&D minis and Star Wars are fun but only for a short time (especially if your group of friends is small and you quickly learn how they play).
I’m a complete Fantasy Flight Games whore. I own Game of thrones and the expansion, War of the Ring, and World of Warcraft (the production values on this one are insane, and it is a real good representation of the MMORPG mechanics)
Cosmic Encounter – please tell me there’s other junkies for this. I’m talking the “original” box set and expansion (as seen here at one the lower prices you’ll ever find em). “Original” in quotes because the boxes themselves are compilations of 8 or 9 expansions.
Sadly, the incarnation on the shelves now by whoever the new publishers are, that came out years after the original was out of print, absolutely blows. Pointless plastic geegaws, reduced number of players, less alien races, and in general far less potential for total insanity. We were crushed, Highlander 2 type crushed.
But the original boxed incarnation, and “More Cosmic Encounter” expansion, oh Lord. The friend who owns the whole set is on the wrong coast now, but when we all get together on vacation once or twice a year, one night at least is blown on 5- or 6-player Cosmic Encounter. The tagline “The game that breaks its own rules” is right on it. Half the fun is the drunken bickering.
I’ve played a number of the other big ones, like Tigris and Euphrates, Settlers of Catan (and its many version), and put some serious time into a few Squad Leader scraps. But nothing has ever equaled the fun of a game of CE that’s gone completely out of control. (Play with a Rules Wonk that tends to get pissy – neverending joy!)
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| Originally Posted by Trav McGee Cosmic Encounter – please tell me there’s other junkies for this. I’m talking the “original” box set and expansion (as seen here at one the lower prices you’ll ever find em). “Original” in quotes because the boxes themselves are compilations of 8 or 9 expansions. Sadly, the incarnation on the shelves now by whoever the new publishers are, that came out years after the original was out of print, absolutely blows. Pointless plastic geegaws, reduced number of players, less alien races, and in general far less potential for total insanity. We were crushed, Highlander 2 type crushed. But the original boxed incarnation, and “More Cosmic Encounter” expansion, oh Lord. The friend who owns the whole set is on the wrong coast now, but when we all get together on vacation once or twice a year, one night at least is blown on 5- or 6-player Cosmic Encounter. The tagline “The game that breaks its own rules” is right on it. Half the fun is the drunken bickering. |
Damn that brings back memories. We used to steal beer and play that in a friends garage back in the early 80’s. Fantastic game with endless rule debates. After playing “Magic the Gathering” with my nephews a few years ago, I realized it was Cosmic Encounter’s illegimate child.
I’m not a huge fan of Cosmic Encounter. It’s such a seething revenge game… tables always seem to turn on me (and I’m usually never the aggressor). Definitely a game that is set in it’s ways socially.