Board Games!

[Thesp]

Hello! I'm still fairly new to the site, but I play a lot of boards games! I run a club where we just buy board games and play a lot. Been into Smash Up! and Carcassonne recently.

What are some good ones I probably haven't played yet? Some popular ones among this group?

There is such a variety of games out there, it's hard to say what you'll like and what you won't like. My Top Ten consists of:
#1: Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War
#2: Bridge
#3: Brass
#4: Mage Knight Board Game
#5: Le Havre
#6: Railways of the World
#7: Rolling Freight
#8: Dominion
#9: Power Grid
#10: Agricola
However, tastes will vary. I don't know what to tell you based on your like of Smash Up!, as I didn't care for that game. If you liked Carcassonne, you may want to try Alhambra, Cities, or Indigo.

(From the games listed by others here in the last few posts, I enjoy them all, but would probably wait to try Terra Mystica, as it's quite heavy. I did enjoy Tales of Arabian Nights tremendously, though it's a bit different in terms of game experience - it's more of a Choose Your Own Adventure.)

[Chevre]

Jeez Thesp, are your games heavy enough?

[sthar8]

Thesp have you played TI, Fortune and Glory, or Talisman?

[Thesp]

Thesp have you played TI, Fortune and Glory, or Talisman?

I've played Twilight Imperium (3rd edition) and enjoyed it, though I imagine it'll be hard for me to play it in lieu of Eclipse given the choice. I haven't played Fortune & Glory yet, though I've heard good things about it. What's it like? I played the original Talisman a long time ago and hated it. I don't know if the new edition is any better or not. What do you think of them?

And yes, I love me some heavy games. I'm always up for a game of Brass online, if anyone wants to play on orderofthehammer.com .

[sthar8]

New Talisman is a throwback to the original, but much more balanced. Last time we played with all of the available expansions the game took ~10 hours.

Fortune and Glory is spectacularly cool. You can play coop or competetive, simple or complex, and you can choose between like five archvillains. Just don't bother with the soundtrack.

TI gets way more balanced with the second expansion. And you should check out TI:Rex for a standalone conquest game. I hear the rules are very similar to the old Dune boardgame.

[Thesp]

TI gets way more balanced with the second expansion. And you should check out TI:Rex for a standalone conquest game. I hear the rules are very similar to the old Dune boardgame.

I hated the old Dune boardgame, so that may not be a plus for me. =P Will definitely check out Fortune & Glory, though.

Have you played Mage Knight, by chance? I think that scratches whatever itch Talisman would fill for me.

[Sudo_Nym]

Mage Knight seems like a fun game, if you don't mind spending 2 hours on set up and the whole weekend playing it.

[sthar8]

I haven't. I used to play the miniatures game and I wasn't super excited about a flavor reboot. One of my game buddies has a copy and I'll probly check it out at some point when we get back to adventure games. We're on a limited information kick right now, which obviously pleases me.

[Mr. Flay]

Bipolar, if you liked Smash Up you should definitely try Smallworld.

[quadz08]

smallworld is the shit

[Sudo_Nym]

Smallworld is pretty awesome.

[xRECKONERx]

I think we're getting a new board game today... probably Suburbia.

Does the expansion add a lot to the game? As in, is it worth buying at the outset?

We're getting Suburbia and so I'm looking for another purchase with it, preferably cheap-ish, but I don't know what to get. Was looking at Hive or Love Letter, something quick/light/cheap/easy to start the night

[Shmugen]

If you can get a copy of Coup, Reck, go for that.

[hasdgfas]

I think we're getting a new board game today... probably Suburbia.

Does the expansion add a lot to the game? As in, is it worth buying at the outset?

We're getting Suburbia and so I'm looking for another purchase with it, preferably cheap-ish, but I don't know what to get. Was looking at Hive or Love Letter, something quick/light/cheap/easy to start the night

Love Letter is my go-to for that. It actually plays very well for anywhere between 2 and 5, and I can actually play it for a good hour if I'm waiting for something or someone.

[xRECKONERx]

Coup just looks like Mascarade, and we already have that.

Some of these quick games look very similar to Mascarade, actually, which is what's making me hesitant.

[ChannelDelibird]

Love Letter and Coup are both great suggestions; I think Love Letter is the most essential purchase but neither would let you down.

Las Vegas is really growing on me, too. Easy to grasp, everyone always feels like they have a chance and the gambling is very enjoyable without being over the top.

[ChannelDelibird]

Alternatively, if you fancy something silly, Cheating Moth is a cheap and entertaining favourite of mine.

[Shmugen]

Love Letter and Coup both take around the same amount of time, main difference for me is that Love Letter is more random and Coup has more skill and bluffing. That said, if you already have Masquerade, I understand the hesitation. How many players are you shooting for?

[SocioPath]

Does the expansion add a lot to the game? As in, is it worth buying at the outset?

Yes.

[Chevre]

Las Vegas is a very simple game that is high on my wishlist.

[BipolarChemist]

I played Masquerade last Friday with 12 people. Holy crap it got insane.

[xRECKONERx]

Ended up picking up Love Letter & Shadows Over Camelot. The issue we had was that we were about to pick up Suburbia, when we found out we'd have five people for the night, not four. So we had to call an audible and Shadows Over Camelot was about the only thing they had. I nabbed Love Letter at the checkout because I wanted to see what it was all about.

I enjoyed Love Letter

immensely

, hooooooly shit. It was so good. I'm in love. It's not as "quck" as you'd think with having to play till 4-7 cubes, but it's FANTASTIC for what it is. Very interesting game, we quite enjoyed it, I think we played 5 times last night.

Shadows Over Camelot was alright. I liked it better than Battlestar Galactica, which is what it mostly reminds me of... take BSG, trim the fat and make it a little more manageable and less complex, and you've got Shadows Over Camelot. The hidden traitor mechanic is great because it keeps you paranoid the whole time. I feel like there's probably a "breaking" strategy that will make the game pretty pointless after you figure it out, which is my only issue with the game.

We usually have about five people, which makes buying new games awkward since 90% of them go up to four.

[zoraster]

even if everyone knows what they're doing, Shadows can be pretty challenging for the knights if you don't have the full 7 (or 6 probably). If you don't guess at the traitor, you have to get 9 white swords and end the game, which is quite a few. The biggest things that keeps it from being broken are (1) if you get through the major quests fast, it just means you're adding more siege engines and (2) even if you get a majority of white swords and even if you identify the traitor, you still have to end the game, which means angling to lose a quick quest, which means drawing more black cards which likely means adding more siege engines. You can fight the siege engines each turn, but that's going to be hard to keep up permanently.

[xRECKONERx]

9? I thought it was 7?

[penguin_alien]

Traitor making it to the end undiscovered turns two white swords black, IIRC.