Packing up Arkham Horror forever -- replace with?

After playing yet another fiddly brain burning game of Arkham Horror, I've decided to pack it up forever and trade it out/sell it.

If I live for 50 years more and never have to move a million monsters after a monster surge ever again, it will be too fucking soon. (Oh, and don't forget that monsters with the star symbol don't move because the Starry Starry Night environment card is in play, and monsters with the moon symbol move white white black because of the Dancing in the Moonlight rumor)

I'm looking for something to fill the hole, and because it'll leave a large hole I'm thinking I might need a bunch of games.

I already have Tales of the Arabian Nights coming, so I think that'll be good. For the whole adventure thing, should I go with Runebound (map looks boring and dear lord there are 50 expansions), Talisman (maybe roll and move will be better since fiddly = baaaad) Middle Earth Quest (this is very high on the want list because it looks like Arkham Horror, it has a huge board, and the combat looks fun) or something else?

Oh, and please don't take away my F:AT membership card!

Tales is definitely nice. MEQ is kind of being overlooked in the Space Hulk, Chaos of the Old World orgy -- the combat system is great; however, the end-game is kind of a let down.

Maybe you should treat yourself and 2-3 your best gaming friends to a copy of Titan.

Or Mare Nostrum + Mythology expansion (both probably not too hard to track down).

I think Tales of the Arabian Nights scratches the tells-a-great-story-but-not-as-fiddly-as-Arkham-Horror itch the best. That's the closest thing to Arkham on your list, though I haven't played Middle Earth Quest.

I've heard of at least two games that are often described as Arkham Lite: A Touch of Evil and Der Hexer von Salem. Unfortunately, they seem to both be incredibly light compared to Arkham, to the detriment of repeat play value. But I'm probably the wrong guy to answer this question, since I consider Arkham Horror to be one of the finest games that I've ever played. I do sympathize with the fiddly part, because the Kingsport rifts somehow crossed the line with me, making the game just a little too much hassle during the Mythos phase.

Actually, one other possibility might be the original Arkham Horror, which I played at least 100 times back in the day, judging by the several sheets of final score listings in my box. Again, it lacks the vast replay value of the modern Arkham Horror, but it is considerably less complex.

Why did I give up admining this site? At the moment I would love nothing better than to BAN YOUR ASS FROM HERE FOREVER!
Fucking hell, what is has this place comming too? I'm waiting for one of you assholes to start a "Dominion: Play by email" thread.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Why did I give up admining this site? At the moment I would love nothing better than to BAN YOUR ASS FROM HERE FOREVER!
Fucking hell, what is has this place comming too? I'm waiting for one of you assholes to start a "Dominion: Play by email" thread.

That actually sounds like a good idea!

But first, does anybody want to play Puerto Rico with me? www.phial.com/puerto-rico/

Or maybe Agricola? banach.ucsd.edu/Agricola/Board1/Agricola.html

ALSO: Did you see that part where I said Runebound looked boring?

Hahaha.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Why did I give up admining this site? At the moment I would love nothing better than to BAN YOUR ASS FROM HERE FOREVER!
Fucking hell, what is has this place comming too? I'm waiting for one of you assholes to start a "Dominion: Play by email" thread.

AND he said that Heroscape was for cavemen....mutter...mutter...must be on drugs...grumble...grumble......

I did enjoy playing Dominion on the weekend though. Great game!

Shellhead wrote:

I've heard of at least two games that are often described as Arkham Lite: A Touch of Evil and Der Hexer von Salem.

I played my first couple of games of Witch of Salem last night. Only a couple mind so take this with a pinch of salt but on balance I thought it was pretty good, especially considering it's obviously a Euro and a co-op to boot. AH lite it's not - the whole concept of "AH lite" is just idiotic - I'd say it has more in common with Ghost Stories. But the theme just about hangs together in spite of a couple of wierd Euro-esque touches and the mechanics mesh in surprising ways to deliver more variety than was immediately apparent from the limited collection of cards and counters in the game. There may be a problem with long-term replay-ability but obviously I need some more plays to work that out.

Anyway my copy is a review copy so you'll be getting the full low-down after some more plays. But this seemed a good place to drop some initial impressions.

kookoobah wrote:

For the whole adventure thing, should I go with Runebound (map looks boring and dear lord there are 50 expansions),

I don't get it. You think the base game looks boring, but are turned off by the expansions which add variety?

Instead of just junking the whole AH game, why don't you just separate out all the expansions you're using (I assume you're using some, if you're becoming overwhelmed by complexity) and just play the base game for a while? Or base plus a small expansion?

clockwirk wrote:

kookoobah wrote:

For the whole adventure thing, should I go with Runebound (map looks boring and dear lord there are 50 expansions),

I don't get it. You think the base game looks boring, but are turned off by the expansions which add variety?

Instead of just junking the whole AH game, why don't you just separate out all the expansions you're using (I assume you're using some, if you're becoming overwhelmed by complexity) and just play the base game for a while? Or base plus a small expansion?

Yeah. I think I might do that. I remember actually enjoying it back when I was just playing the base game, and then started hating it when I got all the expansions mixed in.

When I said boring, I was talking about the map visuals, it looked boring, like a generic map or something.

You might be best off trading/selling the AH expansions. I don't know if anything out there fills this niche well. Maybe THRILLING TALES OF ADVENTURE will if that ever sees the light of day.

If I was losing AH because of the brain burning aspect, I'd probably replace with WAR OF THE RING or something like that where you can still get a big beefy game experience without as much upkeep. You could get a French DUNE for $50 or so. Maybe track down RISK: STAR WARS games?

jeb wrote:

You could get a French DUNE for $50 or so.

Off topic for a bit. Is a French Dune worth it? What parts are French?

kookoobah wrote:

Off topic for a bit. Is a French Dune worth it? What parts are French?

The game. D'oh!

Maybe Monster Quest would be more up your alley...