Anyone collect board games? Just babbling about them.

beigemore

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A few drinks into the night and am feeling board gamey...

I've been playing board games off and on for maybe the past 8 years or so. I don't have an insane wall of games like some people do. I kind of prefer to just keep games I actually like and want. I really feel that I need to downsize a little right now, trim some fat, and get some fresh games in.

I'm planning on, at some point hopefully this year, getting rid of Carcassonne, Mice & Mystics, Munchkin Quest, Tomb, Dixit, Descent 1st Edition, Small World, and *maybe* even Twilight Imperium. I may even get rid of Doom and the expansion since it kind of goes for a lot now, and Descent 2nd edition is just a modified version of Doom for the most part (minus theme, of course) anyway.

I just ordered Star Wars: Imperial Assault which looks fantastic. It's a modified rule set of Descent 2nd edition and is seemingly more thematic.

In Descent 2e, one of the problems with the game is that all heroes get to go back to back, then the overlord (the person playing the bad guy) plays all of his minions, then it goes back to the entire group of heroes. Star Wars is basically back and forth every single unit, which makes for much more interesting choices, plus the game/dice includes the ability for defensive die to nullify an attacker's surge, which are kind of like special extra attacks or abilities that can be performed if the attack rolls the right dice combinations. Tom Vasel did a really good overview/review of it here in case this game sounds even remotely interesting to you guys, I recommend checking it out.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game isn't too bad. It tries to take the Dungeons & Dragons gameplay (or Pathfinder, which is basically D&D 3.5) and put it in card format so you don't have to have a DM running your game. It's not bad, but you have to read all of the flavor text to feel the mood of the situation your character is in, otherwise the game just turns into flip a card and roll the dice. Today at Gencon they announced Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game which looks like it will be Fantasy Flight's take on the adventure card game idea that the Pathfinder ACG started. It will be interesting to see if this one feels more involved. I'm sure it will sell well, regardless.

Mage Wars is also a pretty cool game. They're renaming the base game as Mage Wars Arena, and then releasing a newer version of the game that does not use a board (so you don't move characters around) called Mage Wars Academy. Mage Wars Academy only uses cards, so it's almost closer to a typical head to head card game. Android: Netrunner is also fantastic, but if you don't have people to play with, it kind of kills it. The downside of so many competitive 1v1 card games is they will probably never be as big as Magic The Gathering, so what's the point in playing? I think the major appeal of Netrunner, for me, is the theme of hacker vs corporation, and then the game being asymmetrical where the game is played completely different depending on which role you are (hackers have equipment and try to hack servers and get around security, while the corporation sets up servers to complete their agendas and tries to defend them from the hacker).

If you're looking to get into modern board gaming, there are a few games that typically recommend for new players. They are:

Dominion - Easy to learn card game that supports about 6 players or so and can become very cut throat very quickly depending on the random cards that are chosen to play. They have an online version of this game you can play which is very good, however I think they're revamping it a bit and they're in beta on the new client right now. It's free to play the base set and the AI is really good. This type of game is called a deck builder because you start out with a small deck of cards, say enough to draw two hands of five cards, and you use those cards you draw to acquire/purchase more cards. Those cards get shuffled back into your deck and it slowly grows over the game. Do you use cards to get more money to buy more cards, or do you use your cards to buy victory points (points that make you win the game)? The victory points get put into your deck like all of the other cards, and while they are required to win, they are completely useless when you draw them from your deck as they do nothing until the very end of the game.
King of Tokyo - Fantastically themed game where you roll dice to buy power ups so you can kill all of the other monsters. It's very easy to learn and can be quick to play.
Ticket to Ride - Collect train cars and strategically place them along routes to complete your city connections. You can strategically block some routes if you think someone is going for one and completely ruin their game if you do it right. They also released this on iOS, PC, and Android. Plays very well digitally.

There's also a game called Thunderstone which just recently went out of print, but was basically a Dominion style game but with RPG elements and could be played single player or with multiple people.

Blokus is great with exactly four players, and Telestrations is an awesome telephone-meets-pictionary game that is always a hit when you've got 6-12 players. You end up with stuff like this in Telestrations:

j2c61OX.png


We mixed Cards Against Humanity with Telestrations once and ended up with something like this:

8vOVg2s.jpg


Anyhow, there are tons of games out there. Probably most of them are total crap, but there are a lot of really good ones, too.

Anyhow, here's my current collection that I hope to be cleaning up a bit.

2N81BK1.jpg
 

lithy

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There is a board game thread already but I am too lazy to search for it from my phone. I have been going to a game night at a local brewery lately so getting a chance to play a lot of new to me stuff. One in particular that stands out is Cacao which works on tile and meeple mechanics like Carcasonne but is way better. The other is Mysterium which uses the abstract card mechanic of Dixit but actually makes something of a co-op game of Clue out of it.
 

Caplet

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That is an impressive collection.

I just picked up a copy of Space Hulk and I'm in the process of painting all the little mans. I plan to play through all the missions with my roommate.

Imperial Assault looks really cool, and I'll probably pick it up at some point.
 

BerryTogart

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I have quite a few but I'm not "collecting" boardgames. Also sold some again after realizing I seldom play them. I mostly like cooperative boardgames, what I can defenitely recommend are the Pathfinder Cardgame and Arkham Horror, also Pandemic
 

NewNeoOwner

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I have a nice selection for when I just have to get away from the screen for a while. Mostly card games like Munchkin, Boss Monster, and recently purchased Pixel Tactics, or things like SkipBo, Uno, and Phase 10. Dice games are also fun, Dotzee, King of Tokyo, Farkel, etc.

Nothing that takes too long to play or needs lots of players. I'm lucky to have 1 or 2. I'm sure Cards against Humanity would be more interesting with more than 3 players. Oh well.
 

pixeljunkie

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I'm working on a new boardgame actually. I'll have to post in here when tis ready for reveal. Hope to have a kickstarter this October.
 

HDRchampion

Before you sell me something, ask how well my baby
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When i have my gathering we usually play Avalon a.k.a. The Resistance. This game usually breaks the ice for the new people that come over.
 

Jarofmayo

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I love playing board games. Only one's I go out of my way to grab are the older pokemon board games though. Anyone here ever try Boss Monsters before?
 

beigemore

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When i have my gathering we usually play Avalon a.k.a. The Resistance. This game usually breaks the ice for the new people that come over.

My game group has played a ton of Resistance but not Avalon. I agree that it's a lot of fun. We've had some amazing games where all the spies are outed except for one very early on and the spies still managed to win. Was great!
 

HDRchampion

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My game group has played a ton of Resistance but not Avalon. I agree that it's a lot of fun. We've had some amazing games where all the spies are outed except for one very early on and the spies still managed to win. Was great!

Yeah i think it helps that we are pretty hyped and animated when playing...I mean we dont sit around a table, we go straight face to face asking if they are a spy.
 

beigemore

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Haha yeah that's kind of the way we play. Everyone starts making accusations pretty quickly to see how people respond.
 

NeoSneth

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i just got back from GenCon actually. I came back with one of my biggest hauls in years. I've been going for over a decade now.
I think I slowly started to back off purchasing games because there wasn't enough time among my friends. We take about 6+ months to finish a Descent campaign. Imperial Assault is essentially Descent v2.5, so it's a better game overall. However, my friend has bought every expansion for Descent, so I would feel bad bringing up switching to it. He had a session at Gencon this year playing IA, so we'll see if he switches on his own.

This year I grabbed more focused games. I love the Ameritrash, but I look for games that take less than 2 hours now. I skipped Pathfinder Card Game because there wasn't enough in the deck. Shadowrun Crossfire is much more thematic in the way it plays, but it does have some grinding to really build characters. I'm still looking for a gateway game into the Pathfinder universe, but the card game isn't it.

I still play almost everything, but i don't buy unless I know i can get people to play. Anything Anime looking is out as well. My friends have no interest, which misses some gems like Tragedy Looper.

My favorite of Gencon so far has been Emergence Event. Megacon games has slowly been getting a fanbase, and this one hits the right spots for me. Less combat and negotiation than Eclispe, with more on exploration and technology.
mcx9001_1.jpg





we should really migrate back to the original boardgame thread though.
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?168431-NG-com-board-game-thread/page20
 

White Devil

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I love GW's board games, like Space Hulk and Warhammer Quest.

I've got approx a dozen Warhammer Fantasy & 40K armies. But that's tabletop war games.

Dreadfleet got a bad rap but I really like it.

Just getting into X-Wing.

Overall tabletop games are a definite favorite pastime of mine. Probably more so than video games.
 

opt2not

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I picked up the Ticket to Ride Märklin edition. I quite like it more than the regular Europe or USA versions, seems to have more depth in strategy than the rest. It has a slightly altered rule-set, with separate card decks for choosing long and/or short routes. This is great for strategizing right off the bat.

Here's a rules comparison pdf that shows a little of how each version is different:
http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/85888/ticket-ride-rules-comparison

I highly recommend the Märklin edition (plus it's pretty cool that the cards feature actual real trains, if you're into that kinda thing).
 

NeoSneth

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I got excited when FFG announced they were publishing Warhammer Quest at their GenCon press conference....then i saw it was a Card game. It might be good, if it is quick.

I'm deep deep into Xwing miniatures. Custom painted and all.
 

Lagduf

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I got excited when FFG announced they were publishing Warhammer Quest at their GenCon press conference....then i saw it was a Card game. It might be good, if it is quick.

I'm deep deep into Xwing miniatures. Custom painted and all.

IIRC FFG still can't produce any GW franchise games featuring miniatures that could be used in the main core games (WFB/40k).

It's bogus, I know.
 

NeoSneth

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IIRC FFG still can't produce any GW franchise games featuring miniatures that could be used in the main core games (WFB/40k).

It's bogus, I know.


They can't make any star wars miniatures either, but they are skating around that one with Imperial Assault. it's a "board game" not a miniatures game. It just so happens to also have miniature skirmish rules.
 

Lagduf

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GW's a little more zealous with their IP, I think, unfortunately for us.

I'd love to see 40K version of Descent. Not necessarily their take on Space Hulk. They could make a Deathwatch game or Rogue Trader, or the list goes on and on.
 

beigemore

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They can't make any star wars miniatures either, but they are skating around that one with Imperial Assault. it's a "board game" not a miniatures game. It just so happens to also have miniature skirmish rules.

I think it's more along the lines of Hasbro owning the rights to make Star Wars boardgames, so to get around that, Imperial Assault is a "skirmish" game that happens to have a boardgame/campaign side to it.
 

Lagduf

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I doubt they're skirting the rules. FFG is a major operation now - probably one of the largest publishers of boardgames in the world. I'm sure FFG has contractual definitions of what a "miniature" is and I bet GW's definition of a miniature is a little stricter than whoever FFG has to contract with to make Star Wars games.
 

NeoSneth

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I doubt they're skirting the rules. FFG is a major operation now - probably one of the largest publishers of boardgames in the world. I'm sure FFG has contractual definitions of what a "miniature" is and I bet GW's definition of a miniature is a little stricter than whoever FFG has to contract with to make Star Wars games.

They most definitely work closely with Disney, but the rights to Star Wars the Miniatures Game hasn't expired. They are pretty clear that they are not allowed to sell items as a Star Wars Miniatures Game. In fact, Imperial Assult wasn't even being sold by FFG at GenCon for undisclosed reasons. They dodged that question a few times during their press event. They had a different company selling it next to them.

GW and FFG go way back, so i'm not suggesting they have a bad relationship. Blood Bowl manager was good card drafting. I could really get into WH:Quest card game if it works. I've been trying to get into the Co-op LOTR game with my gf, but it's ridiculously complicated to start. 7-8 phases per round is ridiculous.

While we are on the topic of GW, how much longer can 40k support this company? They've dropped support for all speciality games over a year ago. They killed WH: Fantasy entirely. Age of Sigmar = 40k looking fantasy mini's, and a joke of a rulebook. Sigmar has been a joke of the mini community for the last month, and I dont see that changing. They make quality mini's, but I don't know anyone that is happy with GW as a company. I'm focusing entirely on Mantic, just like most of ex-GW gamers.
 
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