boardgames: games involving boards

[julianREE]

discussion thread about the enjoyment of playing board games.

i'm talkin' old school board games like monopoly and life, but also newer ones like pandemic, settlers of catan, diplomacy, etc...

I'm pretty much a newbie at this stuff, i just bought my own copy of "settlers of catan" and am trying to figure some new games to check out or new ways to play old board games.

so straight off the brain, lessss go. let the boardgame chatter commence.

[hellogoodbye]

[Icarus]

Gotta get past Settlers and into the super boring Eurogame territory. Thurn und Taxis, Puerto Rico, Powergrid, Ticket to Ride. I would play boardgames every night if I could. Good foot in the door, though, also scoop up Carcassonne, great to play with friends/initiates.

[jyoni]

Eurorails is pretty fun.

Can we include strategy games? Quarto is so good it hurts.

[julianREE]

strategy games are fair game too.

i saw powergrid at the store, one of the employees was recommending it highly.

i'll check out carcassone, but any suggestions on co-op board games? seems like i'm getting competitive on occasion during some games, any coop games around to soothe the soul a little?

[panicnation]

i dont know if balderdash counts, since the board is pretty much pointless anyway, but it always always always promises a barrel load of laughs.

[jyoni]

Vintage 3M is some good shit. Facts in Five, Acquire, etc. They also made a slew of interesting games in the chess-ripoff vein. lol, I have more to say about this topic than I had anticipated.

Never played a coop game...

[MyAcademy]

Settlers, Dominion, and ZOMBIES!!! have been in pretty heavy rotation with me.

Dominion is a good one to get new folks hooked on more nerdy board/strategy games.

It plays fast and you don't need to be TOO into strategy (although it helps) to win a game or two.

[julianREE]

i've heard very good things about dominion also. I think my next purchase will be puerto rico, but i'm kind of in between either buying an expansion pack for settlers of catan or just getting a whole new game...

anyone actually try one of the expansion packs (ie. traders/barbarians, knights, the ship one...)?

i just played a pretty intense game of catan last night. it's so much more enjoyable when you mix around the pieces/numbers and just go with it.

[julianREE]

just played an epic 3 hour game of settlers...

anyway to prevent this from happening again? it's supposed to be only an hour, right?

[Icarus]

Just got El Grande and all the expansions from a friend, will update!

The only way to stop long games is to flip the board over. I once played a 7 hour long game of Zombies, which was terrible, no one could agree on calling it quits. Neat idea, but I think the system is a little bland.

[julianREE]

i definitely agree. my group of friends are taking a little break until we start up again. that game kind of sucked the life out of us.

i made up my mind to just buy puerto rico instead of going for an expansion pack for settlers. i think having more than one game will spice things up a little. hell, we might just play monopoly to be old school and jazz it up.

[broneck]

Reviving a dead thread. Who's gaming? What are your favourite games? Etc?

Heading out to go try the new 7 Wonders expansion, "Leaders" which I'm pretty excited about.

Thoughts, questions, comments, etc?

[shufon]

My roommates just put me on Ticket to Ride. Alcohol, Ticket to Ride Europe, and Settlers of Catan got us through the hurricane.

[broneck]

Oh shit dude, beer and board games is a beautiful thing. Once you've got Ticket To Ride down you gotta hit up Thurn and Taxis, kindof the next level up strategy wise.

[HAZARDkid]

the settlers of catan cities and knights + expansion is our go to game, easily lose friendships over trading and robbing LOL

[pepper davies]

Can anyone give me some Catan: Knights tips? My girlfriend and her brother constantly kick my ass.

[HAZARDkid]

^depends on your starting spaces just try to diversify your starting rolls with high prob numbers, and aim for those metrops the d-cards help alot

[noobedloser]

If you guys want a simple and strategic board game, try BLOKUS, this is more of a family-friendly type of board game but definitely still fun

[eNonsense]

I used to play Catan with a group of friends where I used to live, but then I got Carcassone in the bix box with all the expansions and that pretty much took over. It's a simple concept but strategy can go deep, especially with added expansions. If you get it I'd def. recommend getting more than the base game. The "big box" is released every few years and is usually available on ebay.

[broneck]

Carcassone is so beautiful in it's simplicity.

I never really got into Settlers, ironically enough. That seemed to be the game that gets most people, but I hated it and pretty much started with Puerto Rico (still #1 in my books.)

I just played Chaos In The Old World for the first time last night. It's fucking unreal. So much action, so many ways to screw your opponents over, and so many ways to win or lose. It's different because it's somewhat like a co-operative, in that the game is actively playing against you, and if you don't beat the game, you lose. But on the other hand, the objective of beating the game is totally obscured by your opponents, so it's not co-operative in that you're doing everything in your power to kill or hamstring your opponents as quickly as possible.

9/10, check it out on Geek

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43111/chaos-in-the-old-world

[caid]

Any recommendations on Carcasonne expansions? There seems to be a million of them and I can't make up my mind.

[broneck]

I'd be lying if I said I'd played them all. There's so many of them, I'd say just dive in and pray for the best really. They're pretty cheap anyway, aren't they?

[eNonsense]

Any recommendations on Carcasonne expansions? There seems to be a million of them and I can't make up my mind.

I haven't bought anything extra ouside of the big box, but the ones that are usually always included when I play are Inns & Cathedrals, Abbey & Mayor and Traders & Builders. I think the only one that the main box includes is The River, which I often don't use.

[Gecko]

Big box is hella expensive in the UK

[mr.invincible]

CANT BELIEVE THERE IS THIS THREAD!!!

I love euro board games. Will take a picture of my stash later.

but I got:

Settlers of Catan

Dominion

Puerto Rico

Ticket to Ride

Power Grid

Carcassonne

Like Clopek, my favorite is puerto rico]. such a fun, dynamic, sophisticated game. i would have to say dominion is my 2nd. my lazy game would be carcassonne.

Trying to pick this game up next,

http://www.amazon.com/GMT-Games-Dominant-Species/dp/B0045WCG8I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315589178&sr=8-1

Let me know if any of you guys are in LA. Sufu board game night?

[eNonsense]

Big box is hella expensive in the UK

Really? It's around $50 in most places I'm seeing. It's probably shipping costs. It is actually a pretty large box.

I tried to teach my Carcassonne friends Puerto Rico one day, but I started reading them the rules for each phase and couldn't finish. We were already too well stoned & drunk to make it though them. I've played it with other people though and it's fun. You just have to play it a few times to get it down properly.

[caid]

I'd be lying if I said I'd played them all. There's so many of them, I'd say just dive in and pray for the best really. They're pretty cheap anyway, aren't they?

I haven't bought anything extra ouside of the big box, but the ones that are usually always included in my games are Inns & Cathedrals, Abbey & Mayor and Traders & Builders. I think the only one that the main box includes is The River, which I often don't use.

I will likely end up picking up whatever is available locally, but its always nice to know if there were any consensus best packs or anything like that. They do seem pretty cheap, so I guess trial and error it is.

[mr.invincible]

i heard traders and builders or inns and cathedral is a good next up for carcassonne.

both of them can be bought for $13 on amazon

[eNonsense]

i heard traders and builders or inns and cathedral is a good next up for carcassonne.

both of them can be bought for $13 on amazon

Yeah, those 2 are probably the most essential. They should be in the game by default.