Board Games!

[Thesp]

Ooh, King of Tokyo is worth pondering as well.

[BipolarChemist]

We've played Dominion, we actually have a copy lying about! We kinda lost it though and we can't find it. It's a huge frikken box too.

Suburbia seems cool, definitely a possibility! Indigo seems cool, but I'd be skeptical to spend money on it, as it seems too similar to Tsuro maybe! I'd like that play that one somewhere else first.

p-edit: We have king of tokyo! That one is awesome. Haven't played for a while though.

[xRECKONERx]

If it's just four of you, Suburbia is probably the way to go for medium length games (under two hours), considering you said you already played KoT & Betrayal.

Alternatively, you can get in a few rounds of Love Letter in that amount of time, and it's only like a $10 pick up.

[sthar8]

Suburbia is awaiting restock from the manufacturer jsyk. Doesn't mean your store won't have a copy, but it might take a while to order if it's out.

Anybody played the Shadows over Camelot card game?

[xRECKONERx]

oh btw

IF ANYBODY FINDS THE MARVEL DICE MASTERS CORE SET AT THEIR LGS PLEASE PICK UP A COPY AND I WILL PAY YOU BACK

I've been calling every game store once a week in my area waiting for copies to come back into stock. Please. Please help.

[sthar8]

Reck, Wizkids was supposed to get a shipment like a week ago. Assuming it wasn't held up in customs, starters should be back on the shelves within a month. Boosters might not be until August sometime.

[xRECKONERx]

I just want a starter. That's all I want.

[sthar8]

We all do.

Between the Marvel dice screwup, the War of Light chase dickery, and the CIYS hucksterism, somebody at Wizkids has gotta be chasing the horse.

[BipolarChemist]

Didn't catch sthar's posts before I left!

I actually did get a copy of Suburbia! Then we played it like immediately. It's awesome!

[xtopherusD]

Found the game store near my new place today, and it's

amazing

. Stood there for 20 minutes just looking at the shelves and spotting games I've heard of before. Plus so many more, and if my brother's to be believed I only saw half of the place.

It puts me in the same boat as BPC. We've got similar game interests (I've played and enjoyed all the ones he mentioned, plus like Robo Rally and some other stuff) but I'd be buying to play with my family. Are there any good

5+

player games that don't involve too much direct attack on each other? Playing Risk Legacy was a nightmare when my mum and sister wouldn't fight each other for anything, but that

could

be a result of the "everything is permanent" format. Since it's for the family, though, looking for anything from ten-minute to hours-long games.

Considering looking at Shadows Over Camelot because it's one of very few that go for more than 4 people. Would that fit? I might need to rewatch the Table Top episode on it.


Also, they have the Star Trek edition of Settlers of Catan. I didn't even know that was a thing. Why is that a thing?

[Fenchurch]

I hated avalon due to the whole merlin thing, found it super unfun.

Yeah the roles seemed to be balanced primarily around cancelling each other out, so it adds a ton of time-consuming complexity for no gain. Plus IIRC a couple seemed very abusable. One of my game guys told me I was being too picky and that "not everybody's gonna try breaking the game," but I maintain that

someone

will, and in that game it'll ruin it for everybody.

Which of the roles do you think are broken, sthar? I can't think of any opportunities for 'abuse', although I've only ever played with [Merlin; Percival; Assassin; Morgana; Mordred].

I really like Avalon, even more than The Resistance, although I think Merlin is only actually balanced in a group of at least 8, so that there are 5+ Resistance players for Merlin to hide amongst, otherwise it's too easy for the Spies to shoot Merlin at the end. (But I still enjoy it enough to play it even in a smaller group where it is less balanced.)

Ironically, even though I love hidden role games and think that discussion is key part of what makes them fun, I actually like the fact that Merlin changes the dynamic of The Resistance in favour of less discussion, for me. I tend to hold back and play a little cagey in order to not give away how much/little I know. But there is still enough discussion to keep it fun and interesting. I also think the Lady of the Lake mechanic is good and offers protection to Merlin - after 2 or 3 ladies, everyone has some information to go by.

Edit: Also I've just remembered a nice moment from a game we played recently. At the start of the game I had an early gut-read on one girl as prob-scum. She got frustrated at my vocal insistence that she shouldn't be included on missions, and lack of explanation, eventually commenting that 'if you're Merlin you're playing it really badly!'

I should have taken this as a rock-solid scumclaim but, embarrassingly, I later went back on my gut-read and decided later that she might be town after all. But we still won the game, and it confused the scum in early game which probably helped.

[zoraster]

Here's kind of my objection to Dominion: the more expansions I bought, the less I played it. Not because the expansions weren't fun -- they add a lot! -- but because every time we discussed playing Dominion it became more and more "well, we have to bring like 8 boxes" and even when I consolidated them into a box it meant rooting around to find the right cards.

[Thesp]

My 4" binder contains everything except Dark Ages (which I don't yet own):


Consequently, it's seen a lot more play.

[zoraster]

i'll buy you dark ages if you put all mine into a binder like that

[BipolarChemist]

It puts me in the same boat as BPC. We've got similar game interests (I've played and enjoyed all the ones he mentioned, plus like Robo Rally and some other stuff) but I'd be buying to play with my family. Are there any good

5+

player games that don't involve too much direct attack on each other? Playing Risk Legacy was a nightmare when my mum and sister wouldn't fight each other for anything, but that

could

be a result of the "everything is permanent" format. Since it's for the family, though, looking for anything from ten-minute to hours-long games.

Well first, fuck yeah robo rally. Second, 7 Wonders has worked for me in a bit of a larger crowd. I've found that it's less of a fuck people over game, but there can still be that element when someone constantly builds their damn army.

[zoraster]

i like 7 wonders for larger groups because the amount of time is only marginally increased over smaller ones (since the time it takes is entirely based on the slowest player). Although tallying up points takes a bit.

[Chevre]

7 wonders was what I was going to recommend. I haven't played it, but from what I've heard it sounds like a good fit for your group.

...man, I need to get it.

[xRECKONERx]

We bought Robo Rally, then immediately traded it away. :\

For 5+ people, it's a really weird number. It's hard to get a game that'll suit everybody, since most of the games I like cap out at 4. We had that same problem with our group because there were always 5-6 of us. Ended up going with Terra Mystica, but that's probably way too heavy for your family.

If you want something that's happy go lucky forever and nobody ever steps on each other's toes, try out a co-op game like Forbidden Island.

If you don't mind "one winner" and some competition, check out Small World.

Shadows Over Camelot is good if you're not playing with kids. Ticket to Ride was the "intro" game that I used to get everyone into board games, even though I can't stand the damn game now.

[Thesp]

Found the game store near my new place today, and it's

amazing

. Stood there for 20 minutes just looking at the shelves and spotting games I've heard of before. Plus so many more, and if my brother's to be believed I only saw half of the place.

It puts me in the same boat as BPC. We've got similar game interests (I've played and enjoyed all the ones he mentioned, plus like Robo Rally and some other stuff) but I'd be buying to play with my family. Are there any good

5+

player games that don't involve too much direct attack on each other? Playing Risk Legacy was a nightmare when my mum and sister wouldn't fight each other for anything, but that

could

be a result of the "everything is permanent" format. Since it's for the family, though, looking for anything from ten-minute to hours-long games.

Considering looking at Shadows Over Camelot because it's one of very few that go for more than 4 people. Would that fit? I might need to rewatch the Table Top episode on it.


Also, they have the Star Trek edition of Settlers of Catan. I didn't even know that was a thing. Why is that a thing?

Games for 5-6 are tough. Shadows Over Camelot is good (and pretty), but hard to know if the family will like it or not. Other than Ticket to Ride (which can only play up to 5 players), every game I'm going to recommend here will play 5 or 6 players optimally, are medium-weight-ish games, and suited to families comfortable with Settlers of Catan rules complexity.

My top two recommendations are these: Ticket to Ride for 5 players (route-building) or Show Manager for 6 players (set collection with minor economic considerations).

Also worth consideration: Alhambra (card drafting and tile-laying), Power Grid (auctions and route-building), Nefarious (though it is out of print right now, a reprint is in the works), Elfenland (route-building), Git Bit! (fun filler), 6 Takes! (filler that can handle up to 10 players), Hoity Toity (

the

game of WIFOM), Union Pacific/Airlines Europe (same concepts, intro to stock games).

All of these are solid, thinky-but-not-too-complicated games, and feature competition without direct conflict.

[Axxle]

i like 7 wonders for larger groups because the amount of time is only marginally increased over smaller ones (since the time it takes is entirely based on the slowest player). Although tallying up points takes a bit.

There are a few phone aps that make adding up the score a lot easier for 7 wonders.

[zoraster]

my family uses the ipad app to keep track, which is nice because it keeps stats across all games and you can see trends and stuff. It makes it faster, but there's no getting around 7 people saying "18 gold, 3 minus 1s, a three, a five. Blues: a 2, two 4s..." etc

[Axxle]

7 people, 7 ipads!

[hasdgfas]

I wouldn't say that Munchkin is that terrible, but it's not a game with much replayability. My group played it a lot when we first got it, and then put it away and never really was tempted to pick it up again.

I heard u liek RNG

See, I think randomness in board games is a fascinating subject. There are plenty of ways to do it badly, but if done correctly, I think randomness really adds a lot to a game(See: Ascension [as I consider it far superior to Dominion])

[Sudo_Nym]

I do like some randomness in board games; one of my favorite mechanics is that of risk management, which is part of why I like Blood Bowl so much. There's stuff beyond your control, and the most effective way to win is to reduce the impact it can have in your strategy.

With Munchkin, the randomness is an issue, though- that's why it never really caught on in our group. The names and illustrations were kind of humorous, but once the novelty wore off, so did the fun.

[Grand Rapids MI]

I disagree that munchkin has limited replayability, especially if you consider the existence of expansions etc.