Board Games!

[Chickadee]

Least favorite games so far have been Carcassone, Catan

I'm glad I'm not the only one who cringes whenever this thread goes on about how either of these is great.

Y'all aren't alone.




I'm super into Co-op Games, and I can say that not al of them leave you with that feeling. Honestly, Pandemic is played out. It's formulaic at this point. There are much better ones. There are some co-op games it's technically impossible to lose, like Hanabi, or The Game, or Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. As Andrius said, try some with he defector mechanic. It's super fun. another option would be 1p vs all kind of games. Betrayal at House on The Hill is great. I'm a big fan of Spector Ops, but I know a lot of people aren't.

I think this Saturday I might finally get to try Captain Sonar. Me and a few other people have been wanting to play it, the problem is being able to get 8 people together.

[PJ.]

Colosseum

Not gonna lie, pretty jealous.
Before the reprint this thing was pretty hard to find.

How'd you like it? Was there a lot of downtime between turns? Did you find you were able to build/show the attractions you wanted to with a decent amount of work, or was it more finding stuff to match what you

could

do?

I found I'm not sure I enjoy co-op games(my sister also doesn't enjoy co-ops much).

Have you played any of the Co-op with a defector games?
I have friends who aren't keen on the co-op part but will play defector games for the paranoia/tension/chance to feed someone else to the zombies.
And I gotta say, if you're after the "one person doing a dance" feeling,

betraying

a whole table of people and watching their faces as they lose is the best dance.

Least favorite games so far have been Carcassone, Catan

I'm glad I'm not the only one who cringes whenever this thread goes on about how either of these is great.


We like Sushi Go (and Sushi Go Party). Fun little card game that has a ton of replayability.
7 Wonders (and Duel) are both great games for different size crowds.

I bought Alicia Sushi Go Party as part of her birthday present. She absolutely loves it, and I like how customizable it is. There's a ton of different ways to play and it feels like a bit of a different game if you mix the menus. I would be cool with playing regular 7 wonders but Duel is the only one i'd consider buying(also with the Pantheon exp)

I forgot, I had played Shadows over Camelot at a game night, and that IS pretty fun, but the 1st time our traitor joined late, and the second time our traitor was the only new player at the table so didn't get to be particularly traitorous. I've also played Betrayal at House on the Hill and Mysterium. For whatever, reason I forgot both of these, but at least with Mysterium and Shadows, I'm just never really gonna have enough people to play those games to their full compacity(both basically need 5-7). Betrayal played pretty fine with 4, so It'd probably be more in the realm of possibility. Betrayal was neat, but obviously less serious. Mysterium I really enjoyed cause imo, it is just strictly better than dixit(which, again imo, is strictly better than every other form of that apples to apples style game). Elder Sign in another, but i'm not a big c'thulu guy, and it was mostly unmemorable, tbh(aside from me being the dog guy and I had to sacrifice poor Duke). We won pretty easy, despite it supposedly being fairly difficult, again the theme didn't really do it for me, and i've played funner Yahtzee style games.


I loved Colosseum man. I got to play on a kickstarted version of the reprint, and the production value was wonderful. I felt that the downtime was very little, because of how the game is designed. The choices for your the first phase of the a round are pretty simple, buy some shit, roll the dice, move the mans, next player. That moves directly into an auction phase, which is obviously interactive, and then the trade phase, which is again interactive. I felt that, I *mostly* was able to make actions that were at least semi-desirable, with obviously a little changes of plan based on what bigger shows other people purchased(people can't purchase the same show from the show menu). So with a large portion of the game being interactive, you're never waiting around, dick in hand, for your turn. I really REALLY like this game man. I think it's my favorite, and I'm definitely pre-ordering the non-kickstarter reprint. I think it's been pushed back until Q3 of this year for retail.

Go get a real co-op game.

Yes?

Least favorite games so far have been Carcassone, Catan

I'm glad I'm not the only one who cringes whenever this thread goes on about how either of these is great.

I'm a big fan of Spector Ops, but I know a lot of people aren't.

I think this Saturday I might finally get to try Captain Sonar. Me and a few other people have been wanting to play it, the problem is being able to get 8 people together.

I've looked into Letters at Whitechapel and there seemed to be a bit of excitement to that. Specter Ops is possibly also an easy sell. Fury of Dracula was a hard no because it takes fucking 4 hours.

Please let me know how Captain Sonor turns out. I've been dying to play it. Have you thought about just trying the 4 player varient?

[Andrius]

I forgot, I had played Shadows over Camelot at a game night, and that IS pretty fun, but the 1st time our traitor joined late, and the second time our traitor was the only new player at the table so didn't get to be particularly traitorous.

I love Shadows over Camelot.
Definitely a great game as either faction. I find that the sweet spot is somewhere in 5-6. I've played with 8 a couple times and it can take awhile to go around turns, but there's no real downtime since stuff is always happening.
I recommend the expansion too, but won't elaborate on that unnecessarily.

Dead of Winter is another good co-op with a betrayer.
Playing with the betrayer variant is a blast.
Getting exiled was actually one of my best experiences with the game.

The choices for your the first phase of the a round are pretty simple, buy some shit, roll the dice, move the mans, next player. That moves directly into an auction phase, which is obviously interactive, and then the trade phase, which is again interactive. I felt that, I *mostly* was able to make actions that were at least semi-desirable, with obviously a little changes of plan based on what bigger shows other people purchased(people can't purchase the same show from the show menu). So with a large portion of the game being interactive, you're never waiting around, dick in hand, for your turn. I really REALLY like this game man. I think it's my favorite, and I'm definitely pre-ordering the non-kickstarter reprint.

Awesome, this is great to hear.
These were some of the concerns but you addressing them was great.
I mean obviously people can be dicks to each other and get resources other players need but actually being able to do the things you want to is pretty huge.


I've heard mixed things about Specter Ops. Read a review that basically said its a mediocre hidden movement game and its cousins (Fury of Dracula, Whitechapel) do it better.

Been wanting to play Robinson Crusoe and Arcadia Quest for awhile.
Finally got around to playing Illuminati and that was a riot.

[Fenchurch]

I like Shadows over Camelot but it saddens me that I think the technically best play for a traitor is:
1. Go fight Lancelot, hang around a few turns putting cards in
2. Leave before completing to ensure tge Lancelot quest fails
3. Get accused and revealed as traitor
4. Spend rest of game sticking trebuchets on the board or stealing from people's hands.

Which is a shame because it's more fun if the traitor can be more subversive in their actions, it's just less effective.

My favourite co-op game is Space Alert... I think the best co-ops create a game situation that couldn't be solved by just one person, either by setting rules on how and what you can say (e.g. Hanabi, Witness, Mysterium) or by adding a time limit (e.g. Space Alert, Fuse).

[Chickadee]

I like Shadows over Camelot but it saddens me that I think the technically best play for a traitor is:
1. Go fight Lancelot, hang around a few turns putting cards in
2. Leave before completing to ensure tge Lancelot quest fails
3. Get accused and revealed as traitor
4. Spend rest of game sticking trebuchets on the board or stealing from people's hands.

Which is a shame because it's more fun if the traitor can be more subversive in their actions, it's just less effective.

My favourite co-op game is Space Alert... I think the best co-ops create a game situation that couldn't be solved by just one person, either by setting rules on how and what you can say (e.g. Hanabi, Witness, Mysterium) or by adding a time limit (e.g. Space Alert, Fuse).

I don't know that I've played Space Alert. I'll have to look out for that one. I haven't played Witness either, but I've been wanting to. Mysterium is one of my favorites, as is Fuse.

[Vi]

Go get a real co-op game.

Yes?

More experienced people than me have chimed in, but Sentinels of the Multiverse has never not sufficed for my game sessions. Several people I've played with have told me that they enjoyed it despite fully expecting to hate it. Outstanding flavor, huge variety (the expansions add a lot), interesting decisions to make. It is vulnerable to becoming a one-player game, but there's so much variety in all the hero/villain/environment combinations that one person isn't going to know all of the "best" moves all the time. If you try to play the complex stuff it can get a bit fiddly though.

I like co-op games for one of the same reasons I don't like Mafia - if I'm around a group of people I like enough to willingly spend hours with, I'd rather do things that capitalize on us liking each other.

[hasdgfas]

Go get a real co-op game.

Yes?

More experienced people than me have chimed in, but Sentinels of the Multiverse has never not sufficed for my game sessions. Several people I've played with have told me that they enjoyed it despite fully expecting to hate it. Outstanding flavor, huge variety (the expansions add a lot), interesting decisions to make. It is vulnerable to becoming a one-player game, but there's so much variety in all the hero/villain/environment combinations that one person isn't going to know all of the "best" moves all the time. If you try to play the complex stuff it can get a bit fiddly though.

I like co-op games for one of the same reasons I don't like Mafia - if I'm around a group of people I like enough to willingly spend hours with, I'd rather do things that capitalize on us liking each other.

My biggest problem with Sentinels is that it has so many little fiddly bits, but it's still a fun game.

[Vi]

Go get a real co-op game.

Yes?

More experienced people than me have chimed in, but Sentinels of the Multiverse has never not sufficed for my game sessions. Several people I've played with have told me that they enjoyed it despite fully expecting to hate it. Outstanding flavor, huge variety (the expansions add a lot), interesting decisions to make. It is vulnerable to becoming a one-player game, but there's so much variety in all the hero/villain/environment combinations that one person isn't going to know all of the "best" moves all the time. If you try to play the complex stuff it can get a bit fiddly though.

I like co-op games for one of the same reasons I don't like Mafia - if I'm around a group of people I like enough to willingly spend hours with, I'd rather do things that capitalize on us liking each other.

My biggest problem with Sentinels is that it has so many little fiddly bits, but it's still a fun game.

Yeah. The people I've played it with have said that without me playing sherpa for which moves are legal and when people need to dunk their life counters, it would be a lot less enjoyable for them.

It's actually kind of interesting to learn that stuff because most of it was intentionally designed (e.g. the Argent Adept being able to use weaselry drop six powers on his turn), so I don't mind it, but people who only remember the game exists when someone else pulls it out would rather delegate that to a "moderator".

[PJ.]

I like Shadows over Camelot but it saddens me that I think the technically best play for a traitor is:
1. Go fight Lancelot, hang around a few turns putting cards in
2. Leave before completing to ensure tge Lancelot quest fails
3. Get accused and revealed as traitor
4. Spend rest of game sticking trebuchets on the board or stealing from people's hands.

Which is a shame because it's more fun if the traitor can be more subversive in their actions, it's just less effective.

My favourite co-op game is Space Alert... I think the best co-ops create a game situation that couldn't be solved by just one person, either by setting rules on how and what you can say (e.g. Hanabi, Witness, Mysterium) or by adding a time limit (e.g. Space Alert, Fuse).

I think actually getting lancelot is better. Cause you can filter the black deck for cards hurt most.

[Gammagooey]

My board game group has been playing Catacombs and Codenames and Masquerade and Shadow Hunters recently and they're all great

We also do Pit as the last game of the night usually and it's almost always a <10 hilarious mess, I don't think I recommend keeping score since it means you basically never finish unless you set the total to win pretty low or play with 5 or less people, but I did get to win with the lowest scoring commodity (oranges) 5 games straight and laugh for about 20 minutes straight about joking that I'd win with oranges again and then doing it that many times in a row

[vonflare]

My group just finished our DnD story arc, and we're taking a break until September. My week will feel so empty now.

[Chickadee]

I'm like the only person I know that doesn't like Sentinels.



But on another note, tomorrow night is one of my game nights! Super excited!

[Faraday]

Dead of Winter is another good co-op with a betrayer.

I don't really see how a game where everyone wins individually is a co-op <.<. Sure you're somewhat dependant on the colony goal but given the individual win-cons Dow doesn't feel like a co-op.

Mysterium works totally fine with less than 5-7 btw. Actually 7 is maybe too many, maybe, as the ghost is just overwhelmed with choices. I like 4-5 people best but find all numbers good.

-1 to sentinels tho, I seem to be in the minority of not finding that v fun.

Pedit: lol

[implosion]

I think this Saturday I might finally get to try Captain Sonar.

I can feel jealousy coursing through my veins.

From my (not extensive) experience dead of winter played mostly like a co op game where people did shady shit and other people tried to determine if the shit was too shady to let slide. But ultimately it primarily felt like a co op game because the shared objectives were challenging enough that no one really wanted to just go off and do *entirely* their own thing.

[Andrius]

I'm like the only person I know that doesn't like Sentinels.

I've played it twice and it was a resounding 'meh' both times. I'd give it another go, though, which I wouldn't for Carcassone and Catan.

Sure you're somewhat dependant on the colony goal but given the individual win-cons Dow doesn't feel like a co-op.

Sure there's an overall goal, but the individual goals provide tension and story-telling opportunities. Sure, if we look at it from a sheer mechanical standpoint all it really does is make the game harder and provide "cover" for traitorous actions. But a good traitor won't need cover - they can tank most any game in a single round (or back-to-back turns) with some planning.

I appreciate the story-telling options that come from the extra goals.

[Nexus]

Cdb hates sentinels because he is wrong.

[PJ.]

I haven't played Dead of Winter, but I don't really like the concept of everyone having to act traitory to fulfill their side missions. And I believe that in Dead of Winter that there can also be multiple traitors? Also I don't understand there being a traitor in the first place from a thematic perspective. Why would anyone side with the zombies? That's weird. Again, haven't played it, but it just has a lot of question marks.


~~~
Why not just go with Legndary: Marvel instead of Sentinels of the multiverse? Instead of generic superhero-y stuff you get cards with the avengers on them. That has to be cooler, right?

~~~
As far as other Co-Ops I haven't played, Robinson Crusoe(and the soon-to-be released First Martians) is interesting but it seems to be on the complex side(and a lesser point of contention is Ignacy literally asking people how they died when they tell him that they played Robinson Crusoe because no one ever wins); Mech vs Minions is definitely something I want to try; I definitely would want to try Sherlock's Couch Cuddle Detectives but it's very out of print; Gloomhaven but it'd probably end up being a solo game; and Ghost Stories is by Bauza so that immediately makes me interested despite being touted as crushingly difficult.

Has anyone here played Mice and Mystics, The Grizzled, or Aeon's End?

And has anyone heard anything definitive about City of Kings? It looks dope, but I want a little more info before backing stuff, mostly cause I've never backed something on kickstarter before, so i'm nervous.

~~~

Also I had good success with Lords of Waterdeep when you guys recommended that as a good introduction to worker placement, so what would be a good intro to dungeon crawl games? Arcadia Quest? Descent? Claustrophobia?

[Nexus]

Legendary is a deckbuilder, whereas Sentinels has a pre-built deck, so they are slightly different. I prefer Legendary out of the two but I still enjoy Sentinels.

[mykonian]

Least favorite games so far have been Carcassone, Catan

I'm glad I'm not the only one who cringes whenever this thread goes on about how either of these is great.

Y'all aren't alone.

Far from. Both games are old, rather basic and to a point time has passed them by. New games are just more awesome, have better flavour, better mechanics, etc. I speak up for catan because I think it still has a lot going for it, even now that people have moved on, but I can understand that people look elsewhere now. To each their own.

I've looked into Letters at Whitechapel and there seemed to be a bit of excitement to that.

got to play this over the easter weekend, and this was awesome. As in, we could explain the rules to a non-hardcore boardgame player without too much trouble, and the excitement it creates is wonderful. Sadly in the first couple of playthroughs Jack hasn't been able to do too well, but that's a matter of learning how to play, I think.

Legendary is a deckbuilder, whereas Sentinels has a pre-built deck, so they are slightly different. I prefer Legendary out of the two but I still enjoy Sentinels.

I forgot sentinels, but for legendary, it's a bit double for me. It's a fine game, but if I were to look for something cooperative, it's probably because I just want to have a fun game with fun people without having competativeness get in the way, which could perhaps scare them off a bit. Legendary is intimidating, in terms of all that's going on, and how it is somehow trying to sit in the middle of coop and free for all. To me it's a game that's confused about what it wants to do, to what people it wants to appeal.

[Faraday]

From my (not extensive) experience dead of winter played mostly like a co op game where people did shady shit and other people tried to determine if the shit was too shady to let slide. But ultimately it primarily felt like a co op game because the shared objectives were challenging enough that no one really wanted to just go off and do *entirely* their own thing

But like you need to complete your personal goal to win. So you have to do stuff that looks weird, usually.

If my win condition isn't the same as the guy next to me I'm not playing a full co-operative game for me.

Panzer, Ghost Stories is difficult but not as hard as people make out. It is really fucking good though. I love the feeling of getting beat up and just barely surviving in a co op. Ghost stories really hits the sweet spot for this.

Robinson Crusoe is also really good, probably a bit more difficult but a fun experience. It's kind of fiddly and the old rule book was awful were the only negatives. Once you play a round it's not particularly complicated and fairly intuitive

[PJ.]

Robinson Crusoe is also really good, probably a bit more difficult but a fun experience. It's kind of fiddly and the old rule book was awful were the only negatives. Once you play a round it's not particularly complicated and fairly intuitive

This sounds like pretty good news. I'll keep an eye on more news about First Martians then, because it uses the same system as Crusoe with some updates and a few new dealies so I'm sure some of the fiddly-ness and bad rule book stuff might be worked out, and I kinda like the Mars theme better.

[Chickadee]

~~~
As far as other Co-Ops I haven't played, Robinson Crusoe(and the soon-to-be released First Martians) is interesting but it seems to be on the complex side(and a lesser point of contention is Ignacy literally asking people how they died when they tell him that they played Robinson Crusoe because no one ever wins); Mech vs Minions is definitely something I want to try; I definitely would want to try Sherlock's Couch Cuddle Detectives but it's very out of print; Gloomhaven but it'd probably end up being a solo game; and Ghost Stories is by Bauza so that immediately makes me interested despite being touted as crushingly difficult.

Has anyone here played Mice and Mystics, The Grizzled, or Aeon's End?

And has anyone heard anything definitive about City of Kings? It looks dope, but I want a little more info before backing stuff, mostly cause I've never backed something on kickstarter before, so i'm nervous.

~~~

Also I had good success with Lords of Waterdeep when you guys recommended that as a good introduction to worker placement, so what would be a good intro to dungeon crawl games? Arcadia Quest? Descent? Claustrophobia?

Mech VS Minions is super fun. I highly recommend it. It's definitely in my list of games to buy.

The Grizzled is hard, like really hard. It's definitely stacked in a way that most group will not win. I don't really mind co-ops like this, because then it becomes a matter of "How bad did we really lose?" And they tend to spark discussion about how to better utilize mechanics in games. My play group is super into co-ops though, so we tend to like games wether we win or not, based on mechanics and game play. Like, when we lose, we're just determined to play again and do better, rather than the whole group feeling down about it. If that's not your group, grizzled will not be a good fit.

[PJ.]

How is it with 2 players? I've heard a few people say they really enjoyed it with 2, but BGG has it as not recommended for 2,

[zoraster]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who cringes whenever this thread goes on about how either of these is great.

I don't recall many people who've made that argument. At best you get "Carcassone is a fine introductory game that's better with some expansions."

Anyway, 7 Wonders Duel is probably my favorite for my wife and I to play together alone as it's just really well designed for two players.

[Vi]

@P'jager - Sentinels does superheroes better than Legendary. That's as much a credit to Sentinels as it is a diss on Legendary, where it felt like a skin more than providing any sense of "playing a superhero".

The gameplay of Legendary was meh. I didn't really find anything in it I liked enough to play again.