another game that isn't quite out yet, but looks like it could be a decent game (from what i can read up about it) as far as co-op goes is dead of winter.

everyone is playing co-operative, but each player apparently has their own personal objectives to complete in order to win with the group. it should help remove the ability to know the motivation in each players actions and prevent anyone from taking over.

another one that i've seen people either love or hate that is available now is escape, its fast paced but probably one you'd bring it out and play a couple times in a row.

4/29/2014 10:43:45 AM

^^ Yeah those are mostly light. Risk Legacy is a light/medium. If you want to just give it a try and see if you like stuff, pick up Forbidden Island. It is less than 20 bucks and can give you an idea if you'll actually like the genre. It is fairly simply but I have yet to encounter people that straight up hate it.

4/29/2014 10:55:15 AM

Word. I appreciate it.

4/29/2014 11:02:10 AM

Just ordered Shadows Over Camelot from Amazon. Hoping it will get here by Friday to play on Saturday. I've grown bored with most of the games in my collection (Settlers, Ticket to Ride, Munchkin) except Small World.

6/1/2014 11:08:32 AM

shadows is good. it was my first foray back into hobby boardgames in 2007. we played it a good bit, but (like any coop) you have to have a good group. if you find it too easy, get the expansion.

6/1/2014 12:07:33 PM

We actually beat Shadows on our first try with just 3 players. We left the possibility of a traitor but ended up not having one (3 loyal and 1 traitor) so we got lucky. Kind of meta gamed it by just getting 7 white swords and intentionally letting other quests fail so we could just focus on fighting siege engines while letting the black swords fill out the rest of the round table.

Also played Forbidden Desert for the first time, and good Lord is that an unforgiving game. Played probably 20 minutes before the first player died of thirst.

[Edited on June 7, 2014 at 8:32 PM. Reason : .]

6/7/2014 8:32:32 PM

^ yeah shadows is not insanely hard to figure out. you can get unlucky, but the puzzle is definitely solvable compared to other co-op games (like desert). like i said, add the expansion if you want a challenge.

in my world, i just got to play a few games today.
-Libertalia: played before online, but it was fun in person. If you like games like citadels then this is a next great step.
-Santiago: fun little bidding game. i didn't do so hot, but i see the appeal.
-Kaosball: buddy just got this from kickstarter. definitely wasn't a huge fan of it 4p, but i could see the appeal and it has a TON of teams (18 i think).

6/7/2014 10:00:41 PM

lost a game of terra mystica last night.

have to say that after taking a break from it, i'm finding it to be closer to being my favorite strategy game right now. lots of options that mostly seem to balance out giving a number of ways to win

7/2/2014 3:42:16 PM

Rex Twilight Imperium is my current favorite strategy game. It's a lot of fun, and lends itself very well to metagaming.

7/3/2014 3:14:26 PM

finally opened small world to play with my wife's family on Christmas Eve (it was a Christmas present to my wife a year ago). It was a lot of fun, but it took a while for everyone to understand how to play. The next game should go a lot more smoothly.

I gave my wife 7 wonders for Christmas and played with my parents last night. It was fun, and my non-board gaming parents enjoyed playing a couple games.

12/26/2014 10:48:46 AM

We got Settlers of Catan and Munchkin Panic for the kids for Christmas. Looking forward to playing both.

12/26/2014 6:14:42 PM

Wife got me King of New York and Smash Up. Both superior gaming experiences.

12/26/2014 11:31:15 PM

Thanks to some sweet Amazon sales, we got Splendor, Dominion, Catan Dice, Ticket To Ride: India, 7 Wonders and Love Letter as gifts. Never played the first three (or the TTR expansion) but have been enjoying Splendor so far (only new one we've played). Got brother-in-law Smash Up, Hanabi, Catan, and Munchkin for Christmas. Haven't played the first two but have heard good things. Interested in playing King of NY to see how it differs from King of Tokyo, which I enjoy.

Oh yeah, and thanks to whoever mentioned Quelf a while back. Looked it up and it sounds like something the in-laws would really enjoy, but still haven't bought it for them. Picked up some mini/travel version (Quelf Antics/Fun Size) to try for less than $2 at Ollie's today thanks to their post-Christmas 40% sale. Also got some Cranium mini/travel game (Brain Breaks) there for like $4. They had a few other things super cheap (<$5) that we'd never heard of (like something called Pirate Kings I think) and considered buying, but nothing sounded too promising.

12/27/2014 3:34:45 PM

Nothing from my family but i did the bgg secret santa. Got Imperial Settlers, Hanabi, and No Thanks. Bought myself the out of print WOW boardgame.

Black friday deals this year were pretty awesome though. Got my santa targrt Legendary and Sheriff of Nottingham for only 55.

12/27/2014 5:54:22 PM

In my opinion, King of New York is better than King of Tokyo. The cheesy numbers are gone and replaced with some additional mechanics. I do hope they find a good way to differentiate the monsters down the road. The evolutions from Tokyo were pretty clunky.

12/29/2014 9:53:37 AM

Got Betrayal at House on the Hill. Played it a couple times, enjoyed it a lot. Think I'll get the expansion.

12/29/2014 10:12:51 AM

I may have a problem, we started doing a biweekly game night and I've been buying games like candy... In the last 4 months I've bought the following; rampage, king of Tokyo, king of new York, cash and guns, gloom and all expansions, settlers of cataan and 5-6 player expansion, small world, takenoko, tsuro, castle panic, ticket to ride, the resistance, dixit, and qwirkle. I've also purchased as gifts for friends ticket to ride Europe, shadow hunter, and I just bought my brother twilight imperium. Shit is getting expensive....

[Edited on January 2, 2015 at 3:19 PM. Reason : .]

1/2/2015 3:18:25 PM

yeah, everyone inevitably wants to have "choices" when you have a game night. my buddy used to be the one who bought everything, but I've gotten about 35 or so games in the last year now.

1/2/2015 6:14:51 PM

I'll probably buy formula D, power grid, and the castle panic wizard expansion in the next few weeks...

1/2/2015 9:24:21 PM

In the last year I've purchased Twilight Struggle, Race for the Galaxy, Eclipse, Terra Mystica, Space Alert, Robinson Crusoe, Dominion, Love Letter, umm.. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Anyway, Terra Mystica is the favorite game in my house by far, although I do enjoy Space Alert and Robinson Crusoe solo.

5/22/2015 1:34:38 PM

Has anyone played The Gallerist, Fury of Dracula 3rd Edition, Roll Through the Ages, or Brass?

Been thinking about getting them all and they're a wide variety of styles and game lengths and wanted to get some input first on what people thought of them and games that they like as well.

12/3/2015 8:06:20 PM

I have been playing "Guess Who" with my 7 year old cousins lately.

12/3/2015 8:20:27 PM

I just picked up fury of dracula but havent been able to get it to the table yet. Also got flick em up, catacombs, alchemists, tides of time, and codenames

12/3/2015 9:15:34 PM

How is flick em up and alchemists? Do they compare to any other games?

[Edited on December 3, 2015 at 9:38 PM. Reason : .]

12/3/2015 9:37:43 PM

I like flick em up, but I really like dexterity games. The movement is the same as rampage/terror in meeple town and then shooting takes a lot of practice. Haven't gotten alchemists played yet but I like both deduction and worker placement and it seems like a good blend of both.

12/3/2015 10:11:47 PM

I'd pass on roll through the ages. It was OK but felt over way too quickly. I wasn't impressed. There are dozens of other Yahtzee mechanic games to choose from. I just got vivajava the dice game. It's supposedly p good and in that style.

12/4/2015 12:02:45 AM

^^ I also like dexterity games. I have crokinole, just not sure if the themed dexterity games are going to beat the simple design.

^ thats sad on the dice, it read as a way to avoid the length of the original game, but dice are not my friends

finished pandemic legacy last night. was an interesting game, not sure its worthy of the top 3 on BGG, but was enjoyable while we played. Board was rather boring at the end as we won the last 6 months in a row.

12/8/2015 11:00:12 AM

It's nothing like the original so...there's that. Glad to hear some hype killed on PL too. I was semi-interested, but I was never that enamored with Pandemic (it's ok, but not exciting). Glad to hear I can skip it.

I'll put more time into Kingdom Death Monster instead :p

12/8/2015 1:09:07 PM

trying to get some cool games for me and my wife to play together... we don't like card games in general. Any thoughts on some cool games? we have dominion, ticket to ride, and pandemic right now.

12/8/2015 2:47:16 PM

If that's the level of complexity you are looking for, quickly I'd say:

1. Takenoko - One of the newer gateways. A nice mix of matching your hidden roles and (subtly) messing with the other player all wrapped up in a fun panda theme. This has worked for most ppl I've played with.

2. Splendor - Tt is mostly cards, but it isn't really a card game. This is engine building stripped down to its bare essence. I'm not personally a huge fan, but this is massively popular.

3. Lords of Waterdeep - If someone was going to add another common game to your list, this would be it. This is probably the best light worker placement right now so long as you don't haterade all over the DnD theme (it is non existent in game).

All of the above work fine as 2-player games or with a full compliment of 4/5 (depending on game).

12/8/2015 2:55:08 PM

we actually enjoy lords of waterdeep a bunch, just haven't bought it yet forwhatever reason. You hinted at some more complex games? any ideas. not exactly locked into a genre.

mostly i say "not a card game" cause my wife enjoys a physical play board and shit to move like meeples and resources etc.

So cards aren't nec the problem, just only cards in her hand is something she isn't overly fond of

12/8/2015 2:59:28 PM

There's a world of game complexities. I tend to like light to medium games. The ones you listed are in the light to light-medium bucket.

Some marginally heavier ones I enjoy:
1. Alien Frontiers - Kind of like Lords of Waterdeep, but with dice as your workers. It can drag with more players, but I really like it as a light/med worker placement (a genre I normally dislike). (LOW++)

2. Imperial Settlers - Mostly cards, but played in a tableau. Get your civilization going with production buildings and find any way you can to get points. Screw the other people every now and again. (Splendor++)

3. Castles of Mad King Ludwig or Suburbia - both good city/castle building games. I prefer castles of mad king ludwig because there are more spacial elements and you get to pick how much stuff costs for your opponent. they are basically the same game though.

4. Galaxy Trucker - same spacial element of the above games, but now you are in a space ship that very likely won't make it to the end of the game. this one is definitely better with more people, but there's not much like it. I'd say grab the Android app version to get a feel for it, since not everyone likes the timed element.

5. Robinson Crusoe - a solid heavier co-op. i dig it. good job igancy (also made imperial settlers).

6. 7 Wonders - based on what you've played I have to assume you have tried this. I love drafting games so of course I would recommend this. If you play 2 player only, there is a 2 player version that came out this year.


[Edited on December 8, 2015 at 3:32 PM. Reason : alright im done editing. i just love chatting about board games.]

12/8/2015 3:28:19 PM

i'd love to try kingdom death monster, but the price is absurd if you didn't kickstart it.

played through pandemic legacy, it was definitely more challenging than the original even on the hardest levels, but if you played with several people that had played enough before it wasn't too much of a difficulty. I can see why people are so enamored with it, but at its core its still pandemic and a cooperative game. Probably plays easiest with 3 though.

12/8/2015 9:20:51 PM

well KDM does not fuck around. it is kind of like eldritch horror on steroids. my campaign just fully wiped, so im starting a new one. im going to take up miniature painting to make the cost less abusive.

12/8/2015 10:36:36 PM

Did you happen to take a picture showcasing all you get in the box? I'd be curious what $350-400 is getting if I splurge on it.

12/9/2015 7:05:09 AM

not so much, but there is plenty of info on eitehr their official site or on bgg.

12/9/2015 12:30:28 PM

I'd hope it's awesome for the price and 2+ years late in the KS campaign

12/9/2015 2:48:34 PM

it is pretty fun. i mean, those ppl waited 2 years, but they also got the game for 100 bucks. it was at least 275 for everyone that bought it this year. I'd have bought it and waited had i known more about the product at the time (there were no rules/extensive gameplay posted during the campaign). whatevs.

im going to europe 2 weeks from now. anyone got any suggestions for europe only games? Im thinking Palaces of Carrara or Ginkgopolis or Glen Moore, but am looking for other options.

12/9/2015 4:51:17 PM

yeah, cheapest i see is used for $350 now

12/11/2015 11:47:34 AM

If y'all like word games, I recently got Codenames and it's really fun. Look it up.

12/11/2015 3:14:20 PM

Just tried out Lords of Waterdeep tonight. Really liked it. Feels like Gandalf 2015: Quest Simulator (i.e. I need 1 hobbit, 10 dwarves, a wizard, etc.) I got the builder role one time and it felt a bit overpowered.

I've been looking for 2 player games for my wife and I. For Christmas I ordered Agricola All Creatures Big and Small and Carcassonne. It's frustrating because many games we have are optimal with 3-5 players. 7 wonders was especially awful because you're required to simulate a 3rd player and I hated it.

12/12/2015 7:45:39 PM

^7 wonder duel just came out and is 2 player

12/12/2015 9:30:06 PM

Played Catan and Ticket to Ride recently for the first time in the past month.

Catan I've mostly done 2-player, but it loses a lot I feel from playing 3 or 4 because resource trading you just help the person directly trying to beat you. Don't feel I've figured out best strategy yet.

Ticket to Ride I really enjoyed. Like Catan, the more people the more fun it is.

1/11/2016 9:44:34 PM

Been playing Code Names, Monsters of New York and Sheriff of Nottingham recently, good times

1/11/2016 10:22:32 PM

Picked up Forbidden Desert over Christmas, and it's pretty cool. The shifting sands don't have the same feel of urgency that a sinking island does, but the mechanic for finding the parts is more interesting than that of Forbidden Island. Basically, rather than being in a specific place, it lies at the intersection of two cards flipped on the board. You excavate until you find one, keep searching until you find another, and the piece appears at the intersection of the two cards' lines.

1/12/2016 9:07:54 AM

As an update, Kingdom Death is pretty fun still. Our first campaign wiped horribly due to a bad event, but we started our second campaign and have had some exciting moments already. If you like RPGs and tactical combat, this is pretty slick.

I've sadly not been able to go to my board game group lately though I did have 3 different events that happened to have board games last week. Yay.

1/12/2016 11:06:12 AM

I've got a glut of games to play, but my group hasn't been getting together lately. but two of the guys from the board game group and me have instead been getting together with out D&D group and having a blast

1/12/2016 3:48:57 PM

Ha, my group just added D&D into our rotation as well.

1/12/2016 4:03:46 PM

got to play a week of board games and try out some classics and some newer games.

Troyes
Viticulture/Tuscany
Orleans
Cutthroat Caverns
Niagara
Dungeons
Wombat Rescue
La Isla
Roll for the Galaxy
Ra the dice game
Above and Below
504
Cinque Terre
Paperback
Five Tribes w/ Expansion
Tiny Epic Galaxies

Wombat Rescue was the most fun to play, jokes aplenty. Troyes impressed me the most and will likely pick up a copy when they reprint this year. Orleans was a fun worker placement game, but I felt the turns went on a bit too long and if they shortened the game by about 3 more turns they'd force you to specialize down a path more.

1/13/2016 8:36:38 AM

humorously, after reading that list i said "hmmm I wonder what drew thought of troyes" and "wtf is wombat rescue." that's a pretty long ass list for 1 week.

[Edited on January 13, 2016 at 10:00 AM. Reason : also did above and below dux? i have heard some really mixed reviews.]

1/13/2016 10:00:21 AM