Poll: Board Games

[sinsfire]

While I'm not sure this is the right forum I thought I would at least start this here. Technically board games are gaming so I figure I might have the right place.

That being said...

I have just started getting into board games such as Settlers of Catan and Kingdom Builder. I find that I am better at card based games though (Poison, Citadels, Glory to Rome(Black Box)). There is a regular group that meets most Fridays and I have been trying to pick up different games without a lot of success.

I am wondering if anyone out there in Escapist land has any experience and can recommend anything. I have just ordered a copy of Citadels and Glory to Rome since they are both card based and I seem to get the hang of them pretty fast.

Anyone else have any recommendations for games to look into?

Edit: poll added to see if there is a board game community here on escapist.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I play settlers of catan with some friends, and it's tons of fun.

I'd recommend the starcraft brood war board game if you're at all interested in strategy games (and have played starcraft). It's very complex, has tons of really interesting and subtle gameplay styles, and actual starcraft strategies work in the game.

Tons of fun.

 

[K84]

Love boardgames, Battlestar Galactica, Betrayal at house on the hill, The Walking Dead Board Game, and whatever new stuff friends bring over.

I always check out http://boardgamegeek.com/ for infodump on boardgames.

 

[DugMachine]

I love me a good game of Battleship or scrabble.

Monopoly can go suck it though, i'm so bad at that game and tears families apart.

 

[Padwolf]

I don't play many, only Monopoly and Scrabble if they count. I would love to get into more though.

 

[Weaver]

I strongly recommend Arkham Horror, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, and Ghost Stories.

These are favorites among my board game group.

 

[Launcelot111]

Big big board game fan.

Alien Frontiers, Castles of Burgundy, Mage Knight, Merchants and Mauraders, Game of Thrones, Junta, Invasion from Outer Space, Pandemic are all personal favorites

Good games for starters are Alien Frontiers (I love that game so so much), Pandemic, Nefarious, Agricola, Stone Age, and Carcassonne.

If you're really into the card part, some other good ones are Dominion (the reigning card champion), Netrunner (not sure if it's out for widespread release yet), Sentinels of the Multiverse, San Juan, and Condotierre.

 

[Llil]

I play quite a lot of board games. I have a group that I play with for around 6 to 12 hours once per week.

As for recommendations, I'm not sure what kind of games you're looking for so I'll just list some of my favourites.

Ghost Stories (co-op)
Space Alert (real time co-op)
Eclipse (a mix between an economic game and a space combat strategy game)
Glen More (an economic engine building game)
Automobile, Le Havre and Age of Steam (heavier economic games)
Cosmic Encounter (negotiation and fighting other players)
Star Craft: The Boardgame, with the expansion (combat focused strategy game)
Space Hulk (2-player tactical skirmish type game)
Manoeuvre (light 2-player card driven wargame)
The Resistance (social deduction game)
Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game (fairly heavy strategy game, but less focused on combat than Starcraft)
Cutthroat Caverns (kind of co-op card game basically about kill-stealing)
And finally, the best dexterity game, Animal Upon Animal, which is a great filler.

 

[daveman247]

snip

man space hulk is great I wish games workshop made more things like that. Easy to learn, but still has plenty of depth.

OT: I dont play that many... but a good one myself and bro play every now and then is "last night on earth" Its a mixture of a card game and miniture/ adventure board game. Oh and its about zombies. The cards/ random board/ character placement make sure each game never plays out the same way twice. The basic rules are quite simple, so can run quite fast once players get the hang of it I think about six can play at once.

 

[Llil]

snip

man space hulk is great I wish games workshop made more things like that. Easy to learn, but still has plenty of depth.

Yep. It's probably my favourite 2-player game.

Too bad the game is pretty difficult to get a hold of. 1st edition is long out of print, and so is the 2nd (which isn't as good anyway). And the 3rd edition sold out almost immediately too. I managed to get a copy, but if you want one now, you'll probably have to spend a whole lot of money. I'm sure they could keep selling the game if they just printed more, but for some reason Games Workshop decided to do a limited print run.

 

[daveman247]

snip

Yeah, the old man bought the first aaaaages ago, when it first came out i think. Back when games workshop was still good :L

I guess they didnt think it would sell well...

I prefer NOT to have to refer to a bible sized book to take a damn turn :L

 

[Signa]

Betrayal at house on the hill,

I came to post that one. That is one of the best board games ever made. Every expereince is so dynamic you never play the same game twice. I love how the turn-length is so short so the game always is moving, and then there's the RPG stat mechanics to deal with to keep thinks interesting. I bet they could even make a sequel or expansion to it with how it's designed.

Then there is Catan, which I don't like as much (I still like it a lot), but is probably a better designed game.

 

[Vivi22]

I do enjoy board and card games and the like, though it's tough since I don't know a ton of people who are into them around here. Aside from the usual suspects I'm quite a big fan of David Sirlin's stuff: Puzzle Strike, Yomi, etc.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I own the first edition of Betrayal at House on the Hill. You know, where you have to download the separate Eratta. Yes, I'm that Old Skool.

Also, Descent: Journeys in the Dark is awesome. I don't own it, but a friend does, and we play sometimes. It's like D&D Lite.

Oh, and Apples to Apples is fun at parties.

 

[omglazorspewpew]

I just recently started to get into board games again. I have been paying Zombies!!! regularly with my friends. The game never feels like its the same.

I want to play Settlers of Catan and Ticket To Ride. I've only played them online and I have enjoyed them quite a bit but I am not sure how my friends will react to it

 

[Daveman]

Scrabble is bitchin', it's my family sport. We play it every Christmas and Easter.

 

[Agent Monocle]

Got 8 hours to waste? Twilight Imperium anyone?

 

[Basement Cat]

I can't believe no one's mentioned Risk.

It's the original board game of world conquest.

And even though it's surprisingly simple it's addictive. If you get at least three players going you can start at twilight then notice that the sun's just coming up and suddenly realize you'd been playing all night without noticing the time.

Addictive stuff.

 

[RJ 17]

There's a really fun board game called simply "ZOMBIES!" The way it works is there are square tiles that you shuffle up that form a city. There's street tiles, building tiles (hospital, etc), and then the goal: a helipad tile. Each tile is divided into 9 spaces to be crossed, and each tile comes with a certain number of Zombies on it. The winner is the first person to reach the helipad or to kill 30 zombies. If you die, you loose all your zombie kills and go back to the starting tile. There's cards that either help you, for instance by adding to your attack in dice-based combat rolls or allowing you to move extra spaces. Then there's cards that SEVERELY fuck-over your opponents. Making them skip turns, move backwards, or straight up allow you to place a zombie horde surrounding someone.

It's really pretty fun, I gotta say. It actually has the pacing of a good zombie movie. Starts out with just a few zombies here and there, but the longer the game goes, the more zombies start showing up. Soon it becomes a full-blown zombie apocalypse and a mad-dash for the finish line.

Obviously, having a taste for zombie stuff is a definitely plus for this game.