Boardgames - what you own, what you play, what you want to play

[Atreyu]

Any boardgamers here? I've been playing with a local club for a bit over a year now. We meetup weekly, so have a good chance of getting a number of games under our belts. :)

Just to start off, here's the games we played this weekend (I had to hightail early so only got 2 in):

Guillotine (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/116/guillotine) - my copy, had a 4-player game. I really enjoy it but I found our game a bit dull (2 players had never played before). I think it shines best when everyone understands all the action cards and how some of the combos work - not just for scoring themselves but more importantly when to try and attack another player who is getting ahead. I came second (the other player who knew the game won).

Last Night on Earth (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/29368/last-night-on-earth-the-zombie-game) - great zombie game, had a 6-player game (4 players as heroes with 2 players playing zombies). Once again I felt a bit letdown by the game - it seems when we have a lot of players invariably 1-2 of the players will let their heroes wander off and kinda do their own thing which kinda kills the group dynamic. Zombies won needless to say.

[Polly Smithson]

We are a household of very competitive cribbage players - the boys are becoming rather formidable!

We also dig scrabble and chess and the occasional game of Monopoly (Surf Edition!) Alex and Andy are really getting into Risk, which is thrilling. One that we`ve recently aquired and are enjoying is Apples to Apples - it`s a refreshing change from the old standby, Taboo, at parties.

Beyond that we`re mostly into cards: Mille Borne, Skat, Bridge (every Monday night we have a tourney), Oh Hell, Bloody Spoons/Bloody Spoons In Other Rooms etc. So much fun! :D

[Park Kraken]

We used to do Risk, now we've evolved into playing some of the Axis and Allies sets, like the original 5-player 1942 game, and the 3-player Pacific version as well.

Apart from that we mainly play Munchkin with friends and Shanghai with family, along with some Spades and Texas Hold'em on the side.

[Crusader]

A friend of mine has got the Axis and Allies 50th anniversary set. 7 factions for 6 players. A great experience but now one round takes even longer.

My sister in law played pandemic with us last month and it was actually pretty exciting:

Pandemic

Four diseases have broken out in the world and it is up to a team of specialists in various fields to find cures for these diseases before mankind is wiped out. Players must work together, playing to their characters' strengths and planning their strategy of eradication before the diseases overwhelm the world with ever-increasing outbreaks.

One of my favorite board games is a my still complet set of Hero Quest.

[Tom Harriman]

I used to play board games all the time when I was a kid - my sisters used to hate it, because when I was still in single figures I had an alarming ability to acquire money in games like Monopoly and Game of Life. Their favourite game was always Go For Broke, where the idea was to loose all your money gambling... never could wrap my head around that one.

Whenever I get together with my old school buddies, we always have a game of Monopoly: it's turned into a tradition, particularly now one of us has a degree in Economics - beating him is the pinnacle of our respective gaming careers! Used to play a lot of board games with the ex's siblings too (before the 'ex' bit) - they were big into Risk, and had a game which I can't remember the name of, but it had something to do with trains; getting trains of particular lengths, securing particular trade routes across the map...

...damn, that was two years ago. Blimey: didn't realise it'd been that long since I played a board game!

[Karl Valten]

I live about 3 blocks from the Fantasy Flight Games headquarters as well as their main event center so I"m usually there 2-3 nights a week to play board and card games.

Settlers of Catan
Twilight Imerium
Kingsburg
Arkham Horror
Mansions of Madness
Chaos in the Old World
Citadels
Dominion
Horus Heresy
Battlestar Galactica
Descent
Dungeonquest

Lots of stuff there to try out.

[Freight Train]

Hoo, boy. I haven't played a an actual board game in at least a year. Last one I played was called Atmosfear, and it was played with a DVD that had a "host" character on it and the game's timer. The premise was that the 2-6 players are demonic entities seeking entrance into hell by the acquisition of keys, and the "host" was the Gatekeeper to whom the keys were to be given for entry. Very weird, but fun to play with jumpy people.

If we count card games, I've played Apples to Apples and Phase 10 off and on for a while. I played the World of Warcraft TCG with some of my really, really nerdy friends, but most of them have been too busy for it, as of late.

[Anna Fernandez]

Imaginiff
Apples to Apples
Cranium <-- love it
Sorry
Scene It (movie and music but I'm terrible at the music one)
...
We own all the games. All of them.

We play none of them. :cry I love board games. :(

[Dasquian Belargic]

Hoo, boy. I haven't played a an actual board game in at least a year. Last one I played was called Atmosfear, and it was played with a DVD that had a "host" character on it and the game's timer. The premise was that the 2-6 players are demonic entities seeking entrance into hell by the acquisition of keys, and the "host" was the Gatekeeper to whom the keys were to be given for entry. Very weird, but fun to play with jumpy people.


I used to loooove Atmosfear when I was younger. My favorite was Atmosfear: The Harbingers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harbingers I loved all the mythology behind the characters you could play as. The tape that you got with the game was awesome to watch, just in and of itself. I always wanted to play as Gevaudan the werewolf or Elizabeth Bathory :swoon:

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[Carré Inirial]

I love board games!! :)

My friends and I play them frequently. Most often we play some permutation of Carcassonne (of which I own all of the expansion sets), Flux (card game; and I own the Monty Python version), Munchkin (card game, usually with the Munchkin: Bites! and/or Pirate expansion).

I love Arkham Horror, Settlers of Catan, and Zombies! (at least I think that's what it was called..it was late and there was alcohol). Just bought a gorgeous looking game called Cleopatra, but have yet to play it. It looks long and involved, but I'll let y'all know what happens :)

Also love to play some of the more traditional games like Monopoly, Life, Clue (there's nothing quite like the feeling of stupidity that comes over you when the 12 year old wins though), Trivial Pursuit (one of my all time faves - I am a repository of otherwise useless knowledge), Risk (the one I played as a kid, because I could pile every single one of my armies in the Congo and just wait until everyone else decimated themselves before I swept the board), Sorry!, oh, and I can't forget Uno! the card game :)

[Tear]

I've always wanted to play dungeons and dragons but none of my friends are nerdy enough.:(

[Dasquian Belargic]

I've always wanted to play dungeons and dragons but none of my friends are nerdy enough.:(

This pretty much sums up my current board/card gaming experience.

I posted a thread about D&D a little while back, after I managed to play for with some friends of mine who live a couple of hours away... but there is no way we can play together on a regular basis unfortunately. There is so much nerd goodness that I'm missing out on :(

[Flux]

I've had a number of groups over the years, but they all fall apart when work and school get the better of us. I've been DM more often than not. I like playing both sides of the screen, but 4e throws me for DM loops.

[Sollé Arrahk]

4e does not exist :P

I've been D&Ding for nigh on 25 years now and it's my uber favorite game - which, in all of my elder glory I forgot to mention earlier :D

[Hawkins Grime]

I used to play:
- D&D 3.5 and then dabbled in 4e and then went to Pathfinder but with the wrong group of people so it left a bad taste
- The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, very much similar to 3.5ish, kinda
- Shadowrun, only dabbled honestly
- Rogue Trader/ Dark Heresy, excellent RPG renditions of Warhammer 40k

I still play:

Warhammer 40k
Warhammer Fantasy
Battle Fleet Gothic
Mordheim (the expanded version)

I love em all and wish I could play them so much more but alas I find myself often just painting my pieces sporadically... And reading blogs on what kind of cheese people are coming up with.

[Peter McCoy]

Used to play Warhammer Quest with Droo and a few friends. We used to have such a great laugh playing that! Still got it all in the box. My dwarf was a proper tank - I even wore the armour that caused you to lose a movement point. I remember when a random event caused me to get struck by lighrtning, destroying my breastplate. So as soon as we returned to a city, I had so much gold I just bought another one straight away :)

[Karl Valten]

I used to play:
- D&D 3.5 and then dabbled in 4e and then went to Pathfinder but with the wrong group of people so it left a bad taste
- The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, very much similar to 3.5ish, kinda
- Shadowrun, only dabbled honestly
- Rogue Trader/ Dark Heresy, excellent RPG renditions of Warhammer 40k

I still play:

Warhammer 40k
Warhammer Fantasy
Battle Fleet Gothic
Mordheim (the expanded version)

I love em all and wish I could play them so much more but alas I find myself often just painting my pieces sporadically... And reading blogs on what kind of cheese people are coming up with.


Dude, you and I have got to get a game of 40k, Fantasy, or BFG in when I'm out in Colorado.

[Crusader]

We could do a P&P night at salty nerdy. I could prepare a old "the dark eye" campaign if we don't find a native speaker as a game master.

[Atreyu]

Wow, look at all the responses! :) I had no idea that boardgames were that popular amongst us. :dance

Some quick replies:



Pandemic

Four diseases have broken out in the world and it is up to a team of specialists in various fields to find cures for these diseases before mankind is wiped out. Players must work together, playing to their characters' strengths and planning their strategy of eradication before the diseases overwhelm the world with ever-increasing outbreaks.
Pandemic is a good game, but I prefer to play it's younger sibling Defenders of the Realm (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/65532/defenders-of-the-realm), which takes a similar concept except sets it in a fantasy realm and you're trying to defeat 4 generals from laying waste to the country (which mechanically functions the same as 'outbreaks' in Pandemic). Lot of fun, even if we keep losing (I think we've won only a single game out of 5 or 6 games).


I live about 3 blocks from the Fantasy Flight Games headquarters as well as their main event center so I"m usually there 2-3 nights a week to play board and card games.

Settlers of Catan
Twilight Imerium
Kingsburg
Arkham Horror
Mansions of Madness
Chaos in the Old World
Citadels
Dominion
Horus Heresy
Battlestar Galactica
Descent
Dungeonquest
Practically living on FFG's doorstep would be so awesome. :) Out of those games:

Settlers of Catan - classic, but rarely play these days.
Twilight Imperium - never played
Kingsburg - great game, we played it a heap last year. Hasn't seen much action this year though (probably because we got a bit burnt out on it). I've heard there's an excellent 2-player variant to it which I wouldn't mind trying out.
Arkham Horror - never played (but want to :()
Mansions of Madness - never played
Chaos in the Old World - I have this on order. :D
Citadels - never played
Dominion - played once last year; I liked it however my 2 opponents were veterans which meant I got completely swamped. I need to have a few more games to get a handle on the different combos to aim for etc.
Horus Heresy - never played
Battlestar Galactica - love love LOVE this game (and I've only played it once - natch!). In the single game I played I ended up being the cylon so had great amusement as the humans basically got annihilated. :lol I've been trying to get my club to play this again but no luck so far.
Descent - I had a Friday night group play this regularly last year where we played most of the original dungeons. I like it though some games can really drag out.
Dungeonquest - never played

[Karl Valten]

[QUOTE=Atreyu;364557]
Settlers of Catan - Definitely, actually a bunch of my fraternity brothers play this as well and we've made up many a drinking games to it.


Twilight Imperium: Combine Axis and Allies, Risk, Civilization, and Starcraft and you start getting close to how this game plays. Very convoluted and very long game. But a ton of fun if you have a long afternoon and a bunch of people to play. Warfare, commerce, politics are all part of the game. That and there is a ton of fan-created content that FFG endorses as well.


Kingsburg - Haven't played the two player variant yet. Almost have to use the expansion as it add so much to the game. Ton of fun and goes by fairly quickly and is usually very neck-and-neck.


Arkham Horror: Fun teamwork game fighting against eldritch horrors and cultists. I have never won yet, though. We always get killed off when the Elder gods wake up.


Mansions of Madness - Like Arkham horror but in story mode. Pretty much a GM vs. the players. GM gets cards and abilities that mess with players or summon monsters/cultists to the board. Kind of cool in that the story is always different even for the same story-arc and neither the players nor the GM know what the win-conditions are until late into the game. Force the players to be adventurous and explore.

Chaos in the Old World: Very fun game and always better with four players. It's fun playing the forces of chaos and messing around with the poor 'good guys' while also trying to screw over your fellow chaos gods.


Citadels - Kingsburg in card game form.

Dominion Not my favorite but a fun one.

Horus Heresy: Two-player game that reenacts the Battle for Terra in the Warhammer 40k universe. One plays the Traitor Legions and takes control of Horus and the rogue Primarchs laying siege to the Imperial Palace The other plays the Loyalists taking command of the Emperor, loyalist primarchs, and the fabricator general to try to hold off the invading fleet and legions. Very fun, adrenaline fueled board game for two people.

Battlestar Galactica: Very fun game. Love being the cylon. It's worse when no one starts out as a cylon as you want to do well, but not too well or you may end up screwing yourself over if you end up finding out you're the cylon in the long run. The expansions for this are fantastic as well.


Descent - Pretty much agree 100% with you on this one.

Dungeonquest -: Build-your-own-dungeon adventure game. Same realm and mythos as Descent. Very brutal and masochistic game. If you survive longer than 10 turns you should consider yourself lucky. If you actually escape the dungeon with your loot all the other player should probably buy you dinner and drinks. I have never survived this game. Actually I have never seen anyone survive.

[Andrew Murphy]

Valten, we'll definitely have to get a game in.

I've only got one army painted for 40k, but I've got three others assembled... how sad. For BFG, I've got an alright sized Space Marine Fleet, and Fantasy is one assembled army and one still on their sprues for the most part.

I've wanted to try Horus Heresy and Chaos in the Old World, but I've never had anyone that I could find to play with.

Mordheim is actually tons of fun. Last time I played, my two newblood recruits ended up with one being an amputee and the other losing an eye. Such an interesting game for it supposedly being 'outdated'.

(Doh, this is Hawkins/Y'roth)

[Atreyu]

Kingsburg - Haven't played the two player variant yet. Almost have to use the expansion as it add so much to the game. Ton of fun and goes by fairly quickly and is usually very neck-and-neck.
I agree about the expansion - I've never actually played the base game itself; everyone I know that owns it got the expansion as well because of the improvements it made.


Chaos in the Old World: Very fun game and always better with four players. It's fun playing the forces of chaos and messing around with the poor 'good guys' while also trying to screw over your fellow chaos gods.
I was nervous about ordering it initially because I saw it needed 3-4 players; normally I get games that require at least 2 to be ensure they get played. But the theme and idea behind the game seemed terrific and I read a lot of good reviews about it so decided to order it (though it's taking a while - nearly 4 weeks wait so far). Plus I used to play Warhammer way way back in the day so seemed like a cool game to recapture the mythos a bit. :)


Descent - Pretty much agree 100% with you on this one.
Our biggest problem was the time between games - we play one session, then have 3-4 weeks gap before the next one, but which time we'd half forgotten the rules and some of the more nuanced ways of playing which often meant we were constantly relearning the game every single time. Add in that we had at least 2 players who would pretty much always debate what to do on any given turn and yeah, dragged out way too long. There's been talk in our group of resurrecting Descent again in a couple of months but we'll see.

This week, I'm really really hoping we get a chance to play Through The Ages (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25613/through-the-ages-a-story-of-civilization), which my mate assures me "is Civilization in boardgame format - done right". I'm looking forward to it. :)