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[StoOgE]

Any opinions on Ticket to Ride Europe?

My friend played TTR at my house the other day and now wants to buy it and she asked me about the Europe version. I bought the US one since we would be most familiar with city locations (was worried the Euro version might have some minor cities we would have to look for).

Is the Euro version better? Harder? Just different? Worse?

I think ideally her getting a different version would be ideal.

 

[FnordChan]

As a first time player, is the base game a good starting point? If not, what are the needed expansions? If the expansions are necessarily needed at the start, should I (assuming I enjoy Arkham Horror) just pick them up in the order they were released or are some now obsolete compared to other ones?

The Arkham base game is an absolutely fine starting point and none of the expansions are necessary to enjoy it. What the expansions do offer is a way to increase the variety of cards available in the game (so you aren't seeing the same old encounters all the time and have some new characters to play with), introduce new play mechanics (many of which increase the difficulty level of the game), and in three cases provide expansions to the game board itself. The expansions all stand alone and you can use as many or as few of them with the base game as you like, or even simply pick and choose the new bits you like from within each expansion.

So, if you pick up Arkham Horror, get into it, and then find that you're defeating the GOO pretty easily or that you'd like to add some new material to the game, there are a slew of great expansions waiting for you that can be picked up in any order you like. For a quick injection of new cards into the game, I'd recommend Curse of the Dark Pharaoh as a basic expansion that can just be shuffled in. For a more extensive expansion, Dunwich Horror is probably the winner, with all sorts of stuff - a new board, plenty of characters, and several new mechanics - that expand upon base Arkham. However, you don't really need to worry about either one just yet. Start with the base game, see how you like it, and rest assured that if you do get into it Fantasy Flight is just itching to sell you a half dozen expansions whenever you're ready.

FnordChan

 

[Flynn]

hoooolly shit how long is this weekend?

It is Thursday through Sunday. We have enough, usually for two games happening at once. This year we're trying to do some more planning for maximum efficiency.

 

[AstroLad]

Pretty much concur with with Fnord says about Arkham, including the recommendations.

What I've always said about AH is that it's hard to learn (or at least to learn correctly) but easy to teach. This is why I've managed to play it with casuals despite the long playtime. You'll be saving you and your friends a lot of trouble though if you read the rules all the way through at least once and play a practice game or two by yourself (use two investigators though) first. I'd also recommend browsing a few pages of the BGG Rules forum as they do a great job of clearing up issues everyone has even after reading the rules and playing a few times. There's a dude there with a Colts avatar who I pretty much consider the final word on all AH rules questions. He really knows his stuff.

 

[Wickerbasket]

I would take a look through this thread or on boardgamegeek.com for a better description of games, but I was successful with introducing people to board gaming with:
Catan (Cities and Knights is really where the game gets good but the base game will work to get people interested)
Robo Rally
Last Night on Earth
Pandemic
Vegas Showdown
Colosseum

Thanks, I'll definately take a look at those.

As said, Last Night on Earth. Another expansion recently came out, and it's fantastic. We own pretty much all the expansions/additions. It's a really, really, really great zombie game. Get the base game and Growing Hunger. It's sort of expensive, but the new rules and cards add a lot to the game. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I'll definately get Last Night on Earth and I'll buy the expansions if my friends seem to dig it.

I appreciate all the suggestions and help.

 

[Whifflebat]

I just picked up Dominion based on all the glowing reviews on BGG and will be playing it for the first time tomorrow in a 3 person game. Looking forward to it! Which is the better expansion to get between Intrigue and Seaside?

Couple of possible future game purchase questions.
- Anyone played Runewars yet? Is it worth the money? Look interesting, plus 3D mountains!
- I found a copy of Robo Rally at a local game store for $42. My regular game group is only 3 people strong most sessions. My understanding is RR is best with 4+ people and can be a little boring with fewer people. True or not?

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

- I found a copy of Robo Rally at a local game store for $42. My regular game group is only 3 people strong most sessions. My understanding is RR is best with 4+ people and can be a little boring with fewer people. True or not?

You can try limiting the game area to two boards and have the flags criss cross on the boards. This will cause more contact between players which is where Robo-Rally really shines. Either way pick the game up because it's awesome and they only now reprinted it after being OOP for a couple of years.

EDIT: I'm sure Astro Lad will have more input on Robo Rally than I would.

 

[GDJustin]

Just ordered Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders. Amazon ended up being cheaper (and faster) than CoolStuffInc and other similar stores.

A lot of people complain that the carcassonne base game is too simple, but we dig it. So hopefully introducing the expansions goes well

 

[AstroLad]

You can try limiting the game area to two boards and have the flags criss cross on the boards. This will cause more contact between players which is where Robo-Rally really shines. Either way pick the game up because it's awesome and they only now reprinted it after being OOP for a couple of years.

That's definitely good advice. Most of the recommended maps are made for 4+, but as long as you can find a way to cause chaos you will have fun. It's a great starter game. Before my wife and I were super into board games, we even used to play 2-player RR (not ideal at all, but still fun). Another way to handle the issue is to give each player a "team" of two robots and play with team rules instead. As long as you use the timer analysis paralysis shouldn't be much fo an issue and chaos should be plentiful (a la Galaxy Trucker really).

 

[iapetus]

For Robo Rally definitely consider playing the variant where you deal a number of upgrades equal to the number of players out for each checkpoint, then when you reach the checkpoint your robot is upgraded with an upgrade selected from that pile by the player to your left. Causes more mayhem (always good) and provides a catch-up mechanism as the last player to reach each checkpoint gets the best upgrade at each point.

Oh, and dump the helicopter thing upgrade from the upgrades deck (the one that lets you set a movement card to be applied with each phase and ignore ground scenery). It's the most ridiculously overpowered thing in the game (which is otherwise reasonably well balanced).

The advice to cut the game down to a small area with crossing routes to checkpoints is very good indeed. The game can be killed by one player jumping out to a lead that puts them out of reach of the others.

 

[Neverfade]

I just picked up Dominion based on all the glowing reviews on BGG and will be playing it for the first time tomorrow in a 3 person game. Looking forward to it! Which is the better expansion to get between Intrigue and Seaside?

Couple of possible future game purchase questions.
- Anyone played Runewars yet? Is it worth the money? Look interesting, plus 3D mountains!
- I found a copy of Robo Rally at a local game store for $42. My regular game group is only 3 people strong most sessions. My understanding is RR is best with 4+ people and can be a little boring with fewer people. True or not?

If you had to pick just one... Seaside. But get both.

Also, Runewars, is pretty epic. Do get.

 

[Ferrio]

Picked up Dominion tonight, and played it with 3 friends.

Unlike Agricola which took awhile for people to appreciate, they all instantly liked Dominion. I attribute it to us all being magic players, to which Dominion has a few similarities. Though I got my ass handed to me, I really enjoyed it a lot myself too. It might even replace Puerto Rico as my favorite game.

 

[Magicked]

I just picked up the vanilla Carcassonne and I'm running through a game on my own to try to learn the rules. I'm in the round where I have been placing walls around the city, but I just ran into a situation. What happens if you cannot legally place a tile?

 

[biggyfries]

Any opinions on Ticket to Ride Europe?

My friend played TTR at my house the other day and now wants to buy it and she asked me about the Europe version. I bought the US one since we would be most familiar with city locations (was worried the Euro version might have some minor cities we would have to look for).

Is the Euro version better? Harder? Just different? Worse?

I think ideally her getting a different version would be ideal.

No opinion from me, as I just picked up the original TTR for my family, but havent had a chance to play it yet. Im hoping tomorrow, but we'll see.

I was (still am) surprised by the small cards in the box, so Im thinking about getting the US expansion already for the bigger cards.

Im really worried about my wife though, as she is *not* a gaming person. Sure, she likes Fluxx and Sequence, but I think that might be the extent of it for her.

 

[StoOgE]

Yeah, I have to agree. For a 50 dollar game TTR has pretty chintzy cards in it. The plastic bits are pretty nice though.

On top of that, mine came with two red point markers and no blue.. I called the makers and have yet to hear back from them

 

[mrklaw]

I just picked up the vanilla Carcassonne and I'm running through a game on my own to try to learn the rules. I'm in the round where I have been placing walls around the city, but I just ran into a situation. What happens if you cannot legally place a tile?

?

There isn't a round where you place walls around a city. Every round is the same. Pick tile, put it somewhere appropriate to you.

I don't think I've ever had a situation where a tile is impossible to place. I would think you'd just return the tile to the bottom of the pack (or bag, whatever) and re-draw. Or skip a turn. Whatever you prefer.

 

[Magicked]

?

There isn't a round where you place walls around a city. Every round is the same. Pick tile, put it somewhere appropriate to you.

I don't think I've ever had a situation where a tile is impossible to place. I would think you'd just return the tile to the bottom of the pack (or bag, whatever) and re-draw. Or skip a turn. Whatever you prefer.

Weird. The rules I have say to split the tiles into 3 stacks. When you get to the 2nd stack, you begin placing walls around the city after someone scores. So after each tile is played where someone scores, every player places a wall.

I ended up in a position where I drew a tile with two streets like this:

I couldn't connect it with any other street without one of the edges running into a market or residential area. I ended up discarding it and continuing so I could finish the game.

 

[StoOgE]

Weird. The rules I have say to split the tiles into 3 stacks. When you get to the 2nd stack, you begin placing walls around the city after someone scores. So after each tile is played where someone scores, every player places a wall.

I ended up in a position where I drew a tile with two streets like this:

I couldn't connect it with any other street without one of the edges running into a market or residential area. I ended up discarding it and continuing so I could finish the game.

Not sure what rules you are playing by. I play with one giant stack of upside down pieces and you just play them as you draw them.

 

[AstroLad]

You need 1910 anyway. Better routes and better cards of course. Also, you could just house-rule this in any event, but most trips is waaaaaaayy better than longest route. Longest route is flat lame.

 

[platypotamus]

You need 1910 anyway. Better routes and better cards of course. Also, you could just house-rule this in any event, but most trips is waaaaaaayy better than longest route. Longest route is flat lame.

Only guys with short routes say that the length of the route doesn't matter.

(joking aside, I do kind of like the longest route, it makes me gamble quite a bit on which tickets I try to fulfill).

 

[iapetus]

Any opinions on Ticket to Ride Europe?

[...]

Is the Euro version better? Harder? Just different? Worse?

Worse. If you want one of the other versions, go for Marklin - it's one of the best designed maps and has some genuinely interesting new mechanics (the passengers add a whole load to the mid-game).

 

[AstroLad]

Only guys with short routes say that the length of the route doesn't matter.

(joking aside, I do kind of like the longest route, it makes me gamble quite a bit on which tickets I try to fulfill).

The way we play it just makes it so that whoever didn't have to take even the slightest detour wins. Crafting your route around taking no detours can be fun a few times, but it gets old pretty fast, and it also severely limits your choices in most cases. Makes the game feel like math after a few plays. Most trips arguably has more of a gambling element but I welcome that in a light game like TTR.

 

[StoOgE]

Ok, I just ordered 1910.

Which rule set do you play with in 1910?

Just use the 1910 destination cards and not the original ones?

 

[AstroLad]

Yes, there are three different ways to play I believe but basically you use the 1910 destinations only + globetrotter instead of longest route.

 

[platypotamus]

So suddenly I'm hosting a board game party tonight, due to someone drunkenly mentioning board games last night and my contract work wrapping up so I had time. Just comes together nicely there don't it?

I know we're going to play some Dominion, but I'm also really hoping to get some Kachina, Citadels, and/or Puerto Rico in. Actually, after these last few posts, I kind of want TTR in there too. We're starting early (5 PM), and I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow until late, so we might get a lot of gaming in!

Going to be a mix of brand new players, and at least a few super hardcore types, so hopefully some of the newbs have a good enough time to want to play again sometime.

 

[Drey1082]

Weird. The rules I have say to split the tiles into 3 stacks. When you get to the 2nd stack, you begin placing walls around the city after someone scores. So after each tile is played where someone scores, every player places a wall.

I ended up in a position where I drew a tile with two streets like this:

I couldn't connect it with any other street without one of the edges running into a market or residential area. I ended up discarding it and continuing so I could finish the game.

I think the official rule is to discard the tile and draw a new tile. I think the tile you can't use is out of the game. I'm fairly sure that's what the rulebook says.

 

[platypotamus]

Post Party report:

Ticket to Ride - 2nd place finish for me. I completed my routes pretty early, but since they were both west coast, I was too scared to draw any new routes, and instead, just started plunking down on 5 and 6 length spots wherever I could. Blocked my wife entirely from connecting her stuff, but she wasn't a contender anyway. Probably could have won if I had been a bit more cuthroat and did a bit more blocking people rather than just going for the big points, but with a few newbs, I didn't want to play too mean and put them off gaming

Scattergories - I still love this game. It's one of the only party games that I'd play willingly over some of the more serious strategy games we like. I won too, despite a terrible showing when we rolled an "F". Freaking "F".

Citadels - This went a lot longer than I remember it going (took over 90 mins?), but we were socializing a lot while playing, so that probably slowed us down more than the game itself. We played with expansion buildings, but no expansion roles (A few them are a bit too confusing for newbs, I feel like. So are some of the expansion buildings really, but I forgot to take them out). There was a pretty epic turn: 1 player played the Bell Tower (ends the game at 7 buildings, rather than 8). I then acted to play my seventh building (unexpectedly for that player, I imagine). Then the warlord comes up, uses the Armory (sacrifice to destroy a building) and his warlord ability to wreck one of my buildings and one of my wife's buildings. Unfortunately, this left me broke AND cardless, and let the belltower player get the win a turn or two later.

I think the new players had fun...

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Weird. The rules I have say to split the tiles into 3 stacks. When you get to the 2nd stack, you begin placing walls around the city after someone scores. So after each tile is played where someone scores, every player places a wall.

I ended up in a position where I drew a tile with two streets like this:

I couldn't connect it with any other street without one of the edges running into a market or residential area. I ended up discarding it and continuing so I could finish the game.

Are you sure you're playing vanilla Carcassonne and not Carcassonne the City?

 

[Magicked]

Are you sure you're playing vanilla Carcassonne and not Carcassonne the City?

Ah shit. You're right. :lol

Can the City work with the vanilla game or any of the expansions? If not, I guess I'll enjoy it for what it is and then pick up the actual game later.

 

[Mercury Fred]

Hey Boardgame-GAF, I need some suggestions.

A friend of mine hosts a monthly game night and it's usually a group of 10+. We always end up playing the same stuff-- Celebrity, Werewolves, Cranium, etc. Any ideas of games for a larger group?

I noticed Eat Poop You Cat mentioned and that sounds like fun, but the rules seem semi-blurry. Is there a "winner"? Do multiple sentences get worked on at once? It seems like it could be sort of boring with just one person drawing at a time...

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Hey Boardgame-GAF, I need some suggestions.

A friend of mine hosts a monthly game night and it's usually a group of 10+. We always end up playing the same stuff-- Celebrity, Werewolves, Cranium, etc. Any ideas of games for a larger group?

I noticed Eat Poop You Cat mentioned and that sounds like fun, but the rules seem semi-blurry. Is there a "winner"? Do multiple sentences get worked on at once? It seems like it could be sort of boring with just one person drawing at a time...

Eat Poop You Cat is the pen and paper version of the web game Broken Picture Telephone. Basically one person comes up with a sentance and hands it to a person. That person then draws what the sentance describes. That person then takes there drawing and hands it to someone else who writes down a description of that drawing. This goes on until everybody participates then you put it together and laugh at the madness. There was a thread here about the web version of the game if you need to see examples.

 

[ultron87]

So in attempting to get an order of $100 on coolstuffinc for free shipping a friend and I need one more game that is around 35 bucks. (The other two games are Chaos in the Old World and Dominion.

We are considering Seafarers of Catan. Thoughts on this expansion? We already have Cities and Knights and enjoy it quite a bit. From what I've read it seems like Seafarers does not dramatically change the gameplay like Cities and Knights does. Is it worth the money or does it not change the game enough for it to be worth it?

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Hey Boardgame-GAF, I need some suggestions.

A friend of mine hosts a monthly game night and it's usually a group of 10+. We always end up playing the same stuff-- Celebrity, Werewolves, Cranium, etc. Any ideas of games for a larger group?

Not too many games out there that support 10 or more players. Apples to Apples and Wits & Wagers are the obvious suggestions for that large a group. But if you're looking for non-party games, you have very few options - Saboteur, Slide 5, and Formula D all go up to 10 players. That's about it.

The vast majority of boardgames support 4-6 players max on average.

 

[AstroLad]

Why not split up do some tournaments? My head starts to spin once we get >6.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

So in attempting to get an order of $100 on coolstuffinc for free shipping a friend and I need one more game that is around 35 bucks. (The other two games are Chaos in the Old World and Dominion.

We are considering Seafarers of Catan. Thoughts on this expansion? We already have Cities and Knights and enjoy it quite a bit. From what I've read it seems like Seafarers does not dramatically change the gameplay like Cities and Knights does. Is it worth the money or does it not change the game enough for it to be worth it?

Seafarers is ok. It's not as good as Cities and Knights but it has it's merits. The best thing about Seafarers is it opens up the board. It gives you a way out if you get cornered it also makes getting the longest road easier to get. Other than that it doesn't add too much more. I feel we always play with Cities and Knights but we can either take or leave Seafarers.

 

[FnordChan]

We are considering Seafarers of Catan. Thoughts on this expansion?

I like Seafarers quite a bit, myself. It's a fairly straightforward expansion for Catan, with the new aspects integrating easily with the base game while expanding it in interesting ways. As mentioned, it helps open up play and it introduces new challenges when going for, say, Longest Road. Also, everyone loves the gold tiles (one resource of your choice), so there's something else new to fight over. If you play Cities and Knights on a regular basis, you might find that playing with just Seafarers isn't as complex as you're used to. However, incorporating Seafarers with C&K will mix things up very nicely and provide variety if you're finding the standard board is getting old. If you play Catan on a regular basis, I'd say it's well worth looking into.

FnordChan

 

[Flynn]

I visited some family in Phoenix this weekend. I bought the kids a copy of vanilla Catan and thought them to play. I hope they pick it up again.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Why not split up do some tournaments? My head starts to spin once we get >6.

Or as an alternative to splitting up and doing different games, you can have people pair up and play a 4-6 player game that way. You get the added bonus of additional people learning a game without having to play multiple sessions. Might be tricky to pull off correctly depending on people's personalities and who they pair up with, but we've had success with this format before.

 

[Chris R]

I like Seafarers quite a bit, myself. It's a fairly straightforward expansion for Catan, with the new aspects integrating easily with the base game while expanding it in interesting ways. As mentioned, it helps open up play and it introduces new challenges when going for, say, Longest Road. Also, everyone loves the gold tiles (one resource of your choice), so there's something else new to fight over. If you play Cities and Knights on a regular basis, you might find that playing with just Seafarers isn't as complex as you're used to. However, incorporating Seafarers with C&K will mix things up very nicely and provide variety if you're finding the standard board is getting old. If you play Catan on a regular basis, I'd say it's well worth looking into.

FnordChan

I might have to get C&K to play, as whenever we play Catan with Seafarers (5/6 expansion of course!!!) we have a blast. Sucks that I can't find a local store that has C&K/C&K 5/6 so I'd have to buy them online and they seem quite pricey

 

[Neverfade]

I might have to get C&K to play, as whenever we play Catan with Seafarers (5/6 expansion of course!!!) we have a blast. Sucks that I can't find a local store that has C&K/C&K 5/6 so I'd have to buy them online and they seem quite pricey

If you can't find boardgames cheaper online than in some local joint, you're doing it way wrong.

 

[platypotamus]

Hey Boardgame-GAF, I need some suggestions.

A friend of mine hosts a monthly game night and it's usually a group of 10+. We always end up playing the same stuff-- Celebrity, Werewolves, Cranium, etc. Any ideas of games for a larger group?

Poker?

Dominion in tournament form?

You've already got Werewolves, and that's my favorite for groups that big. Do you have the most recent version that adds more roles beyond the Werewolves/Seer/Villagers? Some of them are kinda hokey, but some are pretty good.

 

[StoOgE]

I might have to get C&K to play, as whenever we play Catan with Seafarers (5/6 expansion of course!!!) we have a blast. Sucks that I can't find a local store that has C&K/C&K 5/6 so I'd have to buy them online and they seem quite pricey

Um.. online stores are all a good 20-30% cheaper than my local game store.

With the added bonus of the D&D players in the corner not making snide remarks under their breath about how stupid the game I'm buying is.

 

[Ferrio]

Played another game of dominion last night, I think I'm addicted. This time (instead of the suggested first game) we had each player pick a type of card until we got 10 stacks. We had witch and thief which made the game quite a bit different.

 

[Cyan]

If you can't find boardgames cheaper online than in some local joint, you're doing it way wrong.

Where do you usually shop online?

 

[Neverfade]

Where do you usually shop online?

Coolstuffinc.com the vast majority of the time. I've never once been in "FLGS" that regularly sells games less than MSRP.

 

[StoOgE]

Coolstuffinc.com the vast majority of the time. I've never once been in "FLGS" that regularly sells games less than MSRP.

Both of the local shops here sell everything at MSRP.

One of them has a "sale" table that is 20% off, but it is nothing but expansions to games they stopped selling or games that are clearly knock-offs of more popular games.

I've been using amazon, but this thread turned me onto a couple of sites that seem pretty cheap even compared to amazon.

 

[OneEightZero]

Both of the local shops here sell everything at MSRP.

One of them has a "sale" table that is 20% off, but it is nothing but expansions to games they stopped selling or games that are clearly knock-offs of more popular games.

I've been using amazon, but this thread turned me onto a couple of sites that seem pretty cheap even compared to amazon.

CoolStuffInc is one site, what were the others?

 

[XiaNaphryz]

CoolStuffInc is one site, what were the others?

Thoughthammer's the other big one.

 

[Chris R]

If you can't find boardgames cheaper online than in some local joint, you're doing it way wrong.

I found my set of Catan, 5/6, Seafarers, and SF 5/6 for like 50$ total since the store was going out of business And I prefer to get things local because only Amazon ships for free to Alaska (but some of their prices are high) where other boardgame sites charge 20+ for shipping

 

[jason10mm]

My FLGS is pretty close to online, especially since he gives military discounts, and for some stuff he is WAY better. Things like Anniversary A&A for $200 or A&A 1940acific for $45, a lot less than what I see elsewhere.

BTW, looks like the third FFG "mystery box" is a Game of Thrones themed "Battles of Westeros" expansion to their BattleLore line. Since I just got into Command and Colors:Ancients, which uses a more mature version of the BattleLore card driven command mechanic, this interests me quite a bit. But I notice that the game is called a "starter Set", which fills me with fear that they are going to put out monthly blister packs of army units. Not a fan of this, as it requires a big investment to get a usable amount of stuff.

Was hoping for the Gears of War game, but since they have announced 2-3 other big titles as well (small box AH expansion, Napoleonic tactical battle game), that whole mystery box thing was kinda silly.