What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

charlest wrote: I played A Touch of Evil for the first time with some friends at GenCon. We had all three boards in play and I thought it was actually really enjoyable. A more streamlined, moody, and engaging Arkham Horror. That board is just beautiful with all three sections, particularly the coast.

I liked some of the ideas in it when I read through the rulebook -- like the townsfolk who may secretly be working with the villain... shades of Sleepy Hollow -- but when it came to playing it we both found it very UNengaging.

My wife lamented that we didn't play Arkham Horror instead.

We had some Halloween fun last night with Mansions of Madness - Season of the Witch. Season of the Witch is a great scenario but maybe a little tough on 3 investigator. The investigators followed the clues and didn't waste very much time but they still ran out of time. I would suggest adding a couple of extra turns to game if anyone is playing this scenario.

@Chaz - Imperial will play 6, and plays well with that number.

After a fairly long time, finally got Twilight Struggle to the table, only confirming that I'd been right to spend a lot of time recently thinking about this game. It's just ... phenomenal, in every way, from the way the mechanics work, the integration of the theme not just in flavour but how the game itself works, the components, artwork, everything just comes together in this tremendous 2-3 hour mindfuck.

I took the US just because I want to get to grips with the early underdog thing, and actually started pretty good, I got Europe scored at a good time, and actually was a few points ahead, actually up to about +8 but mostly just over 0, but I think I faffed about too much in the middle east and was a bit too tentative around Thailand, also probably used too many events and not OP points so didn't have as much board presence as I should, anyway, in my head I was thinking riding out the middle war at even it would be a cakewalk, I'd climed way up the space race, I had a great position in Europe, in control of the americas, and even in Asia, though USSR having Thailand was a constant thorn in the side providing him with domination level points there. I was kicked out of the Middle East early, and it took me a while to get into Africa a bit. I was surprised at the Turn 8 shuffle, I had assumed the events would be awash with white stars but I pulled a hand full of red events and i was like WTF! Anyway, he snuck a bit more control in Middle East after I'd just gotten into Israel and Jordan, scored it for domination and thus moved the score to -7, and then he dropped fucking Wargames on me. Haha, brilliant! I am not savvy with the deck at all so it was a surprise to me, but just great, despite the loss, a tremendous struggle and a brilliant narrative, totally engrossing. Can't wait to get it back on the table, we will play weekly now F2F and have installed Vassal again so if anyone is interested let me know (I only have like 3 or 4 games under my belt). I really feel for the people who give up on this or get annoyed by those kind of "cheese" wins because it's almost besides the point, the game was awesome and then a totally in theme hammer dropped on my head - I will for sure be looking out for the Wargames ending in future!


As an aside, I cleared out most of my other games, some (like Brass, Neuroshima Hex) because I'd just rather play them online, some (Caylus, Le Havre, Puerto Rico) just because I'm utterly bored with puzzles, optimisations and faffing around for VP games (keeping Agricola but thats a long standing favourite for me and the missus), I had got hold of Fields of Arle, god knows why, but when I opened it up and had a look, I just felt sick. Utter fucking tripe. So sick of that stuff now. Just an utter waste of everyones time and cardboard.


I'm down to 10 now since I realised it was stupid to keep Power Grid and Steam at home since the group I would play them with all have those games

Agricola
Tigris
El Grande
Modern Art
Twilight Struggle
Memoir 44
Carrom
Innovation
Acquire
(Street Soccer)

I dont really play Street Soccer any more but its such a neat and underrated 2P abstract that I pimped so I hang onto it for now. Acquire is great but not really played much, I've got such a pining for 4P Tigris I don't know if I would ever pick Acquire over that tbh. Looking forward to trying Modern Art properly with a group, and I WILL get a 5 man table for El Grande at some point damnit, but I think I've got enough to cope with all the player counts that might occur (mostly 2P with our gladys or my TS opponent)

1) not needed
2) Twilight Struggle, Innovation, Memoir 44, Carrom, Street Soccer
3) Agricola
4) Tigris / Acquire (Modern Art)
5 ) El Grande
6-8) Memoir 44 Overlord / Poker

actually Agricola is more our 2P game, so 3P is a bit of a hole now I've got rid of caylus, le havre and puerto rico, but agricola is good at 3, Tigris is not a disaster with 3, I dont know how Modern Art and Acquire fare at 3 but I imagine not the best, I've never tried Innovation with 3 either, maybe that would be interesting.


Not sure I will buy games again apart from just to have a faff with them and move them on again later, e.g. just ordered BIOS Megafauna to have a look at it more out of curiosity. The wife quite liked Nexus Ops but sorry I wasn't that impressed with it, not helped by the crap components of the newest version. The At style games will probably have to wait until the kids grow up a bit, I won't be forcing Milch und Gerkin on them thats for sure.

You and Black Barney are my gaming idols. I think he has _maybe_ 20 games.

I tell myself that I'm still paring down, yet new titles are finding their way onto my shelves (shogun, eurorails, risk 2210, got a bid on Acquire). Also, I fool myself into thinking of our game collection as 'my' games and 'the family' games. In all reality those are 'my' games as well. No one in the family asks for new games. They love what we have. I'm the one who brings new 'family' games in or trades for others. After nearly 30 years in this hobby the collector part is still tough for me to shake.

To make matters worse there's _a_lot_ of redundancy on my shelf:

1775 & 1812
Hammer of the Scots & Crusader Rex & Julius Caesar & Texas Glory & Napoleon
Iron Dragon & Lunar Rails & EuroRails
TITAN (AH & Valley Games)
Titan the Arena & Colossal Arena

I have a few standalones such as (Manoeuvre, BlockMania, Talisman 2nd, Railway Rivals, Condotierre) but the lion's share of my games are more systems I seem to enjoy. Do I really need 4-5 block games? 3 crayon rail games? I sure as hell don't need two TITAN games (that play exactly the same).

Hopefully, I can sort myself out in the next two months. Keep posts like this coming, brother.

Yeah, i think I have less than 20. I keep my collection updated on BGG and I'm sure it's not very many games at all. Once Emily gets older, I bet I'll start playing them all again and maybe the collection will grow again but I doubt it.

Bomber, what a great write-up on TS! I love reading people talking about game sessions, so exciting and engrossing. I could totally feel you pain when you draw into a hand full of red. I love those moments, "How am I going to get out of this mess?"

You got +8 in the early war as the USA player?? Man, was the USSR player sleeping or what? The US is in such a bad position with Asia and Africa. With Asia, I think you just need to minimize the damage. I don't think you can ever really go after it. The Middle East is what screws me up the most. It's a game of leapfrog that one. I never know when to pull out or go heavy.

Yeah, I'm not really one to hold up as a gaming beacon Jeff since you know I've had several hundred games many times, and I have sold and rebought more games than I would Wager (like, actually seriously Wager) than anyone else on the planet. I shit you not, some games I have acquired more than ten times, and not just a handful, MANY of them. Its lunacy of course, actually I Think it has gone hand in hand with some issues I've had upstairs (thats what she said!). Think I've got it under Control now, for me personally I just Think of it as such a waste of time faffing about with new rules, new games, new tweaks, I'm just not that bothered, again, for me personally, you guys do whatever floats your boat. I probably have too many games at 10 (well, 8, as Street Soccer Ive put to one side for the kid, I wouldnt miss it really, and Carrom I dont really Count as a boardgame). its not even that the ones Ive picked are the be all and end all (though I'd say several of those are best in class), its just that now I have those, and am "into" them, I really dont see the need or appeal in alternatives, variations, or sequels. And Ive stopped trying to Think about "oo Ive got a good auction game", I mean, when you Think about it, who the fuck Thinks in "mechanics". I dont know how that got pushed forward as some truth - oo, I must play some medium weight economic game with tile placement. Wtf? A good game is a good game, and its more relevant to me to class it by who will I play it with and what "sort" of game is it. optimising a fucking spreadsheet, Rolling Dice and playing Soldiers, or getting in the face of each other reacting to how the game develops, or coping with the chaos thrown at you by the game, I prefer "soft" rules that are almost generic systems where they quickly give way to getting involved with each other, and that being the game, not the other way round ("following rules"). Games where house rules and variants make a mess are red flags to me - systems should be self correcting and open for sticking your nob in where you see fit.

Anyway, as for Twilight Struggle, its just SO FUCKING GOOD, I mean even if I didnt like it or enjoy it, its JUST SO FUCKING GOOD. I do wonder if like the best Movies and Music, its one part designed and perfected and the rest just a magical coming together of stuff in a way that might have been impossible to plan for, if that makes sense, like it all fits together so well. Such an experience / narrative as well as it also being a fucking great game, rather than it being one or the other. I've played 3 times face to face, and one time I lost with the Missile Envy, We Will Bury You nuclear war trap, one time here with Wargames and Another time with a sadly misplayed rule which I later renamed "The Norad FUCKUP" where US influence was being put in EVERY US controlled country each time hahah. But none of those 3 losses have dampened the experience. Looking forward to semi competence and unravelling the deeper strategy but really a great game to enjoy by doing.

I dont actually remember how I got the early lead, I did get a Domination in Europé early on and I might even have scored Europé twice, we are both rookies so he probably made some mistakes too but I knew I was doing good and just waiting for the tide to turn. I was literally shocked to see my hand on the Late War deal, I mean it felt like I'¨d been sat in a proper political summit meeting and some proper international crisis just got whispered in my ear by one of my top advisors, I was like fuck, I thought the US would be steamrollering, and I really didnt get my head round wtf was going on when he pulled the Middle East scoring slap and Wargames hammer on me, but it was still awesome

I'll try to make some better notes for the next game and put up some session reports here or something, and you can all laugh at my incompetence as a global leader

good Point about the "my" and "family" games Jeff. I've been there. But my wife has told me many, many times, even though she's quite into games and happy to play/try pretty much anything, shes Always said "to be honest, I'd be happy even if we just had Agricola". And thats the thing, you get into this thing where you discover all these games you never knew you had, youre a bit fed up that you missed your "golden years" in terms of free time, Money and access to nerds, so you tend to go a bit mental and try to retroactively make up for it, but you can never do it. youve moved on. You have a family, kids, job, other stuff. Games are just not that important. Sure, I could sit and play a new game a week with the wife, but whats the Point, find something you both like, the important thing is we sit down and have fun together, and you get a lot more out of a game you both know DEEPLY so you are at no Point thinking about rules and wondering how this or that might work, you're really playing each other with the game as the backdrop. Sure, now and then you might want a change, but once you get your head round what your own Life is actually like, its not that hard to realise you can get by with a handful of games. Course, if you are lucky enough to have a lot of free time, access to other gamers, and want to have 1000 games, thats up to you. Doesnt work for me, even though Ive acted like it does at several Points Before now. Of the games I have now, Ive played Agricola, Tigris, memoir, Carrom, Innovation and street soccer well over 100 times F2F and several hundred times online (apart from Carrom natch). Still loving all those games. I'd like to try Acquire, Modern Art and El Grande but realistically I dont need all of those - El Grande has become more of a "damn it I WILL get a Group to give this a go with" resolution, I'm hoping the simple rules (if not simple strategy) and kitsch value of Modern Art will make it a hit with some friends of ours that have said they would play something sometime. Acquire I might get rid of because, well, Tigris, and Twilight Struggle I've now actively set up a local opponent and Schedule and also plan to hit VASSAL with it too.

I had a Quick look at the releases this year, and recently the last few years and I just find it utterly utterly naff and pointless. I'm sure there are some good games in there but I'm just not interested in the boardgame scene any more, its actually counter productive for me in terms of just enjoying the few games I have. In an ideal World, 20 years ago, sure I could have filled my boots with the lot of it, but fuck that. It does actually feel like the whole industry and Community (read: BGG) is just trolling the fuck out of everyone and each other.

Still, I'm just one dude, nobody else should give a fuck, and I'm not preaching to anyone else to take any notice of how I do it.

I like Reading about your perspectives Jeff (and Barney's Always cool even though it turns out hes NOT Richard Simmons, fuck!) so keep sharing.

ldsdbomber wrote: I'll try to make some better notes for the next game and put up some session reports here or something, and you can all laugh at my incompetence as a global leader

It wouldn't be fun if you were making perfect plays. It's a great read cuz the game is always about minimizing the damage of disasters.

Your post alone I think has removed my consumer dissonance from participating in the Twilight Struggle kickstarter for a retail digital game for consoles and PC. I've been ho-huming that decision for some time now but all of a sudden I feel glad I participated.

(this should probably be broken out into its own thread, but whatever)

Yeah, the 'family' games category is a lie. Who put Settlers and Dungeon! on our shelf? Me. With their wife really digging Ticket to Ride, who went out and bought Exp 1 and Exp 2 maps? Me. (yet, we still simply play the main game). Who watched BGG to be find when Target was gonna clearance out Zooloretto and Dixit? Me. Who brought in Detroit/Cleveland Grand Prix this past summer as part of the ERP? Me. Me, me, me.

I've fooled myself in the past, looking at the game shelf thinking, 'gee, _I_ only have about 20 games, these rest are family games'. Whatever.

My wife is fine playing BattleLine, base TtR and Zooloretto. My son is good if he and I just play Heroscape or Pokemon. Why do I have Nexus Ops again? I'm also not a super fan. It's ok, but it's never the first, or 5th, choice of games I'd pull off the shelf and I've _never_ scheduled a game night with others to play NO.

At the last BB League night, I gave away a few boardgames as 'door prizes'. I won't be surprised in the least if I do that some more over the next two months. I can see myself just giving out Shogun, Railway Rivals, Risk 2210 and others to folks in my groups. The fear is they'll disappear though. Not in that they'll get sold off, but the folks I game with already have so many damn games their collections that I doubt they'll want to pull out a game I gave them over some title they paid cash for.

That's the thing too. Too many games across too many collections. We (my circles) have hit the point of diminishing returns a long time ago...

Still, there are other games that call to me. Having a game on each mechanic never meant anything to me, but for some reason I've felt the need to own war-games based on conflicts in North America. Why? I'm never gonna choose to play Texas Glory (though a fine game) over Hammer of the Scots. I'm not a fan of Command and Colors at all, yet have a desire to re-own the original Battle Cry. I like Tammany Hall, but it's nay been out twice. If I'm going to move cubes around a map I'm likely always going to reach for Condotierre over TH (and probably even Shogun).

BlockMania and Talisman (both GW) are both in incredible, like new shape, and I've even pimped them out. Yet, neither hasn't seen the table more than once in the past year. Other games are selected over them. Why keep them? Because they are mainstays from my good old days? I fear I won't ever be able to re-buy copies in as good condition again? They're great games, but there's just so much time...(and I feel like I game plenty).