Bobak said:
Bump.
Some guys brought a card game to work (Munchkin, some sort of Magic lite). I'm just not into anything resembling Magic (because I prefer board games).
I wonder what would be a good choice for the hour lunch break? Any of you have suggestions?
BTW, lagduf if you're reading, I checked out the new version of A&A online over at boardgeek and --wow-- those Miniatures series of games have magnificent pieces that I wished were in my version back in the day. I'm kind of tempted to try the new Axis & Allies Miniatures series with the ground and new naval series.
Munchkin is widely regarded among the boardgame elitists to be garbage. I think that is an unfair assessment, as the game actually isn't that bad (it can be too long for what it is) and it actually is not really similar to Magic: The Gathering (except maybe thematically?). Munchkin is essentially a tounge in cheek type spoof of D&D and traditional fantasy/dungeon crawling type games. The game is essentially a spoof of a Dungeon crawl. You get a character (via a card i believe) and then you get items and fight monsters, etc. I think first to reach level "10" wins. It's really a giant spoof and the cards and descriptions of the items are quite funny if you're a geek enough to get the references or cliches in the fantasy genre that the cards seek to make fun of. The game is made by Steve Jackson Games, who put out the game OGRE and then GEV many years ago. I figured you might be familiar with that, not sure though.
If you like abstract strategy games (like chess) you might want to look into getting
Hive or
Blokus (or maybe Travel Blokus which is a 2 player version) these can be played on a lunch hour I believe.
You might want to try Nexus Ops, but that might run over an hour.
On that same note if you like Chess, you should pick up a very awesome Chess variant called Proteus, which is put out by Steve Jackson games. Since proteus only uses half as many pieces as does a normal game it might be playable on a lunch hour if you aren't prone to suffering from the dreaded condition known as analysis paralysis.
You might want to check out these geek lists for games that play well in an hour or less (one is about 2 player, hour or less):
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/14820
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/5672
You might like Battle Line.
I have a feeling a lot of the short 2 player games are going to be card based though.
Something on there might peek your interest. I've actually been looking for some shorter 2 player games, but by shorter i'm looking for games that can be played in 1.5-2.5 hours.
I really dig the Axis and Allies Miniatures (land minis is what i play) but they are "collectible" just like Magic cards are and any other CCG. So it can be a money pit just buying random boosters.
If you're looking for a wargame with nice bits you could try, say Memoir '44 (or Battlelore if you prefer a fantasy theme) or Tide of Iron (a bit heavier rules wise).
I basically just surf Boardgamegeek.com when i'm bored and read about different board games. It really is a great site, even if it is lacking in more colorful members like we have here. 2007 was actually the first year in which one of the Admins banned someone! LOLZ. It was quite the drama over at BGG. Somehow I think a lot of people on that site would be shocked if they ever stumbled over onto this wonderful site.