What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

I'm telling you, Robinson Crusoe is one of these built to last new classics IMHO. Looks like we've all been playing it, it is years since its release and the hotness has almost completely worn off. I bought it and played the shit out of it then put it down for a year. Then I got it out on a lark and was hooked again. SO good.

I just wish my wife wanted to play other scenarios besides castaways. She's obsessed with that one and just wants to keep hitting at it. And since the game is hard enough, sometimes we still lose at it, so...

Rafael Silva wrote: I would say less than 1% of the games available in the US are available here. In the last year however things started to improve Galápagos jogos www.galapagosjogos.com.br/ , Devir www.devir.com.br/estrategia/ , Conclave conclaveweb.com.br/editora2/ and others have brought around 20-30 translated games and they are available online or in major cities specialized stores, it is mostly extremely low print runs but with equivalent quality.

If you know English you could import game pretty much hassle free until about two years ago, with the dollar and US shipping raises it is not worth anymore, unfortunately most translated games are expensive too, I won’t buy games anymore until the dollar goes down or the local market discount their prices.

I live in São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, there are at least a dozen places I can go to meet gamers, there are multiple game nights, game shops, game renting stores (yes, like blockbuster but smaller, FunBox is an example www.funbox.com.br/ ).

The mainstream games (monopoly, clue, game of life, risk, etc.) all have their brazillian versions and everyone has played them. Modern board games are well accepted when you introduce someone, I would say people are eager for novelty and it is pretty easy to get a group going, at least in Sâo Paulo.

TLDR: If you have money you can mimic the US experience almost exactly, without the cons.
The most famous Brazilian designers I think is Sergio Halaban co-designer of Hart an der Grenze.

Here is the link for a series of articles I was going to write about growing up gaming in Brazil, I don't know if it'll have a Part II, I hope you will enjoy it: fortressat.com/blogs-by-members/4981

I always hoped for some sort of "ride sharing" system to emerge on BGG so that gamers who are traveling to places like Brazil from some place that is awash in boardgames could throw a few games into their luggage and give them to someone local, in exchange for couch surfing or a local meal or something.

Gary Sax wrote: I'm telling you, Robinson Crusoe is one of these built to last new classics IMHO. Looks like we've all been playing it, it is years since its release and the hotness has almost completely worn off. I bought it and played the shit out of it then put it down for a year. Then I got it out on a lark and was hooked again. SO good.

I just wish my wife wanted to play other scenarios besides castaways. She's obsessed with that one and just wants to keep hitting at it. And since the game is hard enough, sometimes we still lose at it, so...

Pretty sure this will be one of the defining games of this decade.

Hosted a games day at my house:

A Game of Thrones: 1st edition - Six players. We played with ports and the Clash of Kings house cards (because it turns out I'm missing a few house cards from the base game -- good thing it didn't move in a recent math trade or I'd have had some 'splainin' to do). House Greyjoy won with 6 cities/strongholds in turn... 7, I think. (I wasn't House Greyjoy.)

No Thanks! - One person left so we played two five-player games of this fun filler. I won the second game with a positive score!

Mage Knight - Two others left, so us leftovers finished the day with a 3-player Full Conquest. Shoulda chosen Blitz Conquest, though, because we had to call it for time after the second night. I was well on my way to finishing last as Krang (my favourite character but I sometimes just do lousy with him).

Tonight was the last of a three part Attack Wing event. Six people showed and was better than the four from last month. I tried out something new with the fleet and took the Mirror Universe Defiant captained by Picard and carrying Admiral Worf. The second ship was an assimilated Bird of Prey upgraded with some extra Borg Armor and piloted by Gul Dukat.

Going in I wasn't too sure about the fleet, I knew it was solid, but it'd been a while since I flew something other than big Borg Cubes. Overall thought it did very well and I only lost one ship the entire night. That earned me an assimilated Cardassian ship and another big Borg Cube. So it was a good night.

But it was a night that wasn't without drama. During the first game the Tournament Organizer and the person who is my stiffest competition got into a spat during their game. One was calling the other a liar and the other responded by calling him a cheat. The one guy was ready to just walk out on the tourney but he stuck around (and I think that spat mentally put him elsewhere which gave me an advantage when I played him in the next game). This might have been the last event for this guy which would be a shame because he's my toughest competition and honestly without the prior spat that put him elsewhere mentally I don't think the game would have turned out the same way.

Kind of funny what happens at these Organized Play events when there's some prizes on the line and competition is high though. If this guy does quit he'd be the second one to rage quit after getting into it with the regulars at the shop. People getting caught up in a dumb moment over what amounts to a dumb game played for fun.

Jenny still needs help. The Cook seems really lame so far. The morale hits are the number one reason we're tanking this one and the Cook's damage track isn't helpful. I switched back to the explorer and we're doing a lot better. Achieved weapon level 5 which is our record so far. We've played like 9 games and still haven't found any non-perishables though. The main thing standing between us and victory is my 2 hit points.

Played my first full game of Battlelore Second Edition with my nearly nine year-old daughter last night. I stepped her through the learning scenario the night before and she picked it up quick enough that I thought she could handle the full game with a little help.

Playing the Daqan Lords against my Uthuk Y'llan, my daughter held her own for quite a while and about two thirds into the game, we were at 11 victory points each. It was at this point that I was able to push her from her strategic positions while holding onto my own and I slipped ahead for just a couple of rounds to win the game.

The only part of the game she needed help with was the timing of the Lore cards and remembering to use them. Actually, I think if she had played her Lore cards even just a little better I would have lost. Which is a sobering thought and I fully expect a whooping in my near future.

My two young daughters have also become addicted to Machi Koro, Love Letter and Splendor and I have been enjoying the step up/sideways to more hobby-oriented fare. I subscribe to the school of making my children earn their wins and my six year-old has beaten me fair and square at Machi Koro twice. Proud moments for us both.

I played the copy of 1775: Rebellion from Academy games yesterday. It was my first time playing the game, so I cracked out the introductory scenario to get a feel for it. I was the Americans and my friend the British. We screwed up the rules at first about colony control right off the bat, so the game started off completely wrong, but we didn't care and kept going. In the end the Americans strong armed the British by taking away colony control and taking over some key states. I was lucky to have lucked out taking the last two turns in the round, so I turned the tide when I was down 6 colonies to 3.

I really enjoyed the game despite some initial hiccups. The map is absolutely gorgeous and the gameplay is pretty easy to grasp after the intro scenario. Next time it's full conquest!

Played Fief: France 1429. Tough to say exactly why I wasn't impressed with it. Components were amazing. The gameplay made sense and the alliances were cool. But at the end of the game I would've rather played something else. More logistical movements and battle decisions I'd go with Maria. More alliances and betrayals I'd go with Game of Thrones. More economic building and battles City of Remnants. The game also had a fair amount of random beatdowns through the event cards and a bad dice roll. For instance, one player was hit by bad weather the first two turns of the game and could not move from his start location. On his second turn he randomly drew a card that negated the weather, but still being fucked the first two games by a random dice roll sucks. I would play it again yes. I would not buy it though nor would I ask for someone to bring it to an event.

Hex Sinister wrote: Jenny still needs help. The Cook seems really lame so far. The morale hits are the number one reason we're tanking this one and the Cook's damage track isn't helpful. I switched back to the explorer and we're doing a lot better. Achieved weapon level 5 which is our record so far. We've played like 9 games and still haven't found any non-perishables though. The main thing standing between us and victory is my 2 hit points.

Non-perishables are very rare. The dam and like a few other event cards (including one of the opener cards from the wrecked ship). I always use the cook and my wife the explorer... you have to change the way you assign the cook as a worker because of his shitty (morale depleting) life bar. He can't go hunting and should be gathering if that is something that is at all necessary (not dangerous and he's good at it). Camp shit. The rough one is the building action, which is the most dangerous and he will be doing just like everyone does...

My wife and I played Robinson Crusoe again tonight. What a game! Now knocking on becoming one of my tens (along with Arkham Horror and Clash of Cultures). We even played Castaways again this time, because my wife was annoyed we lost on Friday 3 player. Came down to the final turn to light the fire and we had JUST enough wood to leave the island.

I love the way that the game has these inventions that are sometimes available which alter the whole way you think in a particular game. In this game, we won because we managed to get the cellar (all food non-perishable! Combined with the Cook's power it means you have tons of health) and the furnace (cancels out a snow!). Completely changed our approach, which was predicated now on getting those two key inventions.

I played Advanced Civilization this weekend for the first time. What a game!

I usually get bored in any game that's two hours or more. I love card games like Summoner Wars, Magic, Race for the Galaxy, 7 Wonders, Dominion, Red 7, etc. I often tell people that Avalon is my favorite game. There are a few solid longer games that I can stomach. I like Power Grid and didn't hate Brew Crafters, but our 7-player game of Civ kept me engaged for 10-11 hours. The trading mechanic (complete with the big F-you Calamities) is excellent, and the whole question of whether to cash it all in now for something that might help you or hold out another turn for something bigger is an interesting one. I knew I was out of the running a few turns before the end but it was one heck of a ride. With the shorter card games, I like that I can learn from my mistakes by playing repeatedly, but I learned Adv Civ during the game. Everything made sense too- the rulebook is long, but I didn't walk away from it with many questions and the scoring comes organically from doing the things you want to do in the game.

I was 6 or 7 when I first played Sid Meier's Civ on the computer, but I'm glad I went back and played this historic game. Prices on it are kind of nuts though, and even though I think it'll be worth playing in another 35 years, I have no idea who I'd wrangle into wasting their Saturday playing a board game in 2050. Luckily the owner makes this a yearly occurrence, so I should get more chances to play it. I used to think BGGers were silly when they talked about grail games or setting aside an entire day for one play of one game, but now I get it.

Gary Sax wrote: Non-perishables are very rare. The dam and like a few other event cards (including one of the opener cards from the wrecked ship). I always use the cook and my wife the explorer... you have to change the way you assign the cook as a worker because of his shitty (morale depleting) life bar. He can't go hunting and should be gathering if that is something that is at all necessary (not dangerous and he's good at it). Camp shit. The rough one is the building action, which is the most dangerous and he will be doing just like everyone does...

My wife and I played Robinson Crusoe again tonight. What a game! Now knocking on becoming one of my tens (along with Arkham Horror and Clash of Cultures). We even played Castaways again this time, because my wife was annoyed we lost on Friday 3 player. Came down to the final turn to light the fire and we had JUST enough wood to leave the island.

I love the way that the game has these inventions that are sometimes available which alter the whole way you think in a particular game. In this game, we won because we managed to get the cellar (all food non-perishable! Combined with the Cook's power it means you have tons of health) and the furnace (cancels out a snow!). Completely changed our approach, which was predicated now on getting those two key inventions.

Good advice for the Cook. We definitely have to change up our style with that character.

We finally got the cellar tonight as well. Man, it helps so much. That, plus the shortcut and snare going and another thing was giving extra wood. Never been so resource rich. But that last damn hide, that's all we needed to escape. No problem, we've got one pistol shot and a knife. Then a night predator made us waste the ammo for the next day hunt so it was game over. Killed chasing down a goat.

We were light on people this weekend due to Gamefest going on. I think a bunch of people who I know don't go to it stayed away, maybe thinking the crowd wouldn't be there this week. Still, we had about 12-15.

First was Splendor which was a good, cut-throat game this time. I lost by a bunch and the other two tied for first, but I felt good about my strategy. A new guy showed up, and we played a couple of rounds of Tsuro, which is what I'd call a "nice little game," it doesn't take too long and you get some choices to make, possibly an hilarious move if the tiles are right.

I got to play Zeppelin Attack as the four player game. I think it's a really interesting take on deck building, but I also think that it's one of those games like Valley of the Kings, where the strategy isn't immediately obvious and so I don't know that the others enjoyed it so much. I much prefer it to Star Realms right now.

Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers was another good game. If it were still in print, I'd say this is the best stand-alone Carcassonne game. It worked well with five players, and I'd probably not turn down a game.

Two of the group (a couple) really wanted to play Eclipse again, so we did that with a four player game. I got screwed like last time, penned in by ancients on my first explores with no way to gain resources. We were also playing with a kitchen-sink of promos and expansions, which do nothing to help the game. We had rockets, which are cheap, basically nuclear missiles that you can use once if you get them. I had to use mine to clear out the ancients and get my engine started. Two of the other players made an alliance (with some new rules that let them fly around each other's systems) and the other was Planta, sealed off in the corner. When I got to the point of tackling another ancient with actual ships, the alliance guys swooped in and nuked all my ships with their own cheese rockets. I think Eclipse is possibly a load of bullshit.

Eclipse - You should consider discarding a tile instead of keeping it. I know discarding seems like you wasted an action but it's an often overlooked strategy.

Any game is a load of bullshit when you throw in multiple promos and include lopsided expansion material with players that aren't ready for it. The Alliance expansion module isn't very good and is especially horrible with 5 players.

The only expansion module I'd really recommend is the starting ancient hexes that fill in the board as if you had 6 players.

JEM wrote: I got to play Zeppelin Attack as the four player game. I think it's a really interesting take on deck building, but I also think that it's one of those games like Valley of the Kings, where the strategy isn't immediately obvious and so I don't know that the others enjoyed it so much. I much prefer it to Star Realms right now.

I like Zeppelin Attack a lot. Only played it 2p so far, where it's fine.

I haven't played the new Star Realms stuff but that's a game that just burned itself out for me. Played a bunch of games on the iPad and then quit completely. I just don't think there's anything there in the base game.