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[Flynn]

Just ordered:

Agricola
Arkham Horror
DOMINION!

Nice.

I forgot to mention the best part of our Galaxy Trucker game. My opponent flipped the saboteur card in the third round. You roll twice to determine which segment of your ship is blown up. He rolled 7/7 which took out his command module. His only two crew members were there. His ship broke up into four pieces and drifted off into space. It was beautiful.

 

[Shoogoo]

Nice.

I forgot to mention the best part of our Galaxy Trucker game. My opponent flipped the saboteur card in the third round. You roll twice to determine which segment of your ship is blown up. He rolled 7/7 which took out his command module. His only two crew members were there. His ship broke up into four pieces and drifted off into space. It was beautiful.

:lol lucky roll!

 

[Vinci]

You're not really missing anything.

Gold is just like a wildcard. You can trade 3 of anything for 1 of something else. So it's just a buffer to get that one extra resource you're short on. The other two gold related buildings just make the trade more efficient.

I <3 the mint.

Hmm. We actually changed the rules to make gold more worthwhile. We made the rule that the only way you could pick up an expansion stack and look through it for a replacement card was if you paid with gold. No other resource could do it.

Basically, we thought it was stupid that it had no actual function outside of the Mint. And yes, the Mint = love.

 

[vertopci]

What do you guys think is a good game for 2 players?

Preferably things that are not wargames like risk or twillight struggle

 

[Vinci]

What do you guys think is a good game for 2 players?

Preferably things that are not wargames like risk or twillight struggle

Catan Card Game.

 

[AstroLad]

Got back from a business trip to a nice motherlode of games I had ordered. Think I'm ready for my three-day gaming orgy now.

 

[vertopci]

Catan Card Game.

Alright, I'll check that out.

Any other recommendations? Robo Rally and Arkham Horror look cool, but are they any good with only 2 players?

 

[AstroLad]

Alright, I'll check that out.

Any other recommendations? Robo Rally and Arkham Horror look cool, but are they any good with only 2 players?

Not really, and sorta as long as you use two investigators each.

Also look at 1960, Race for the Galaxy, and Mr. Jack.

 

[vertopci]

Not really, and sorta as long as you use two investigators each.

Also look at 1960, Race for the Galaxy, and Mr. Jack.

Thanks. Mr. Jack seems quite interesting

 

[Neverfade]

Seconding 1960, Race and Catan Cards. All fantastic.

 

[Shoogoo]

Thanks. Mr. Jack seems quite interesting

Mr. Jack is good! But I didn't really like the expansion.

 

[platypotamus]

Thanks. Mr. Jack seems quite interesting

Both Agricola and Caylus work pretty well for two player games, though both are intended for more players.

 

[platypotamus]

I'm now a double posting jerk, but more importantly, I'm a double posting jerk who owns The Catan Card Game.

Almost picked up an expansion with it, but the wife was having none of my super spendy ways.

 

[FnordChan]

Today a friend of mine organized a game I hadn't played in fifteen years: Advanced Civilization, the revised version of the original Civ game. We played for nine solid hours and while everyone had fun the entire time it was also kinda painful. We didn't quite reach the end game, but a few rounds before things were due to wrap up I was declared the runaway leader, which was very gratifying. Unfortunately the game is out of print and would run at least $100 or so to get used copies of both Civilization and Advanced Civilization off eBay. Pity, as it's a lot of fun and is the sort of thing I reckon a lot of folks here would enjoy...though admittedly I'm not in a hurry to play again for the next, oh, six months or so.

FnordChan, ruler of the mighty Assyrian empire

 

[AstroLad]

Played a bunch of new games tonight, but the real standout was Citadels. Anyone who likes San Juan/RftG but wishes they had more interaction needs to play this game. Really underappreciated afaict. It's basically San Juan but you can kill and steal from others.

 

[platypotamus]

Love Citadels. Back in print too, so pretty findable. I think there's actually an expansion with 9 alternate roles (or do those come with the main game?). A couple of the alternate roles are a bit out there, but they help change the game up (the rules recommend subbing in a couple alt roles each game, either randomly or specifically choosing).


I play the Catan card game with the wife twice. She won both :\ It IS an awesome game though. The last game ended pretty epic-ly. I was ahead 10-9. She played the black knight, taking the Knight VP, then Arson, taking the Windmill VP, then built a building worth a VP.

Damn it.

 

[AstroLad]

Love Citadels. Back in print too, so pretty findable. I think there's actually an expansion with 9 alternate roles (or do those come with the main game?). A couple of the alternate roles are a bit out there, but they help change the game up (the rules recommend subbing in a couple alt roles each game, either randomly or specifically choosing).

Yep, the expansion now comes with the main game, which is just $17. One of the best deals out there, especially considering how amazingly scalable it is (we played with 3 and with 6, and it is very cleverly done). It doesn't have the depth of RftG or the simple elegance of San Juan, but imo it sort of combines the best of both while injecting some great player interaction.

lol@your Catan card experience, the late game can have some really brutal back and forth.

edit: just picked up small world and winner's circle today

 

[Neverfade]

Maybe I'm missing something. I've read a few reviews of Small World, and watched the Scott Nicholson video featuring it, but I can't get hyped for it.

 

[AstroLad]

Hurry up Z-Man; I am super stoked about pandemics right now!

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Hurry up Z-Man; I am super stoked about pandemics right now!

Isn't that still a few months out?

I'll be picking it up of course, but I'll probably snag Red November first.

 

[sonatinas]

Is Pandemic fun with 2 players? Looking into getting another card based game but I hope it isn't too random.

 

[killdatninja]

'Cause of the thread i purchased Arkham Horror, and what a worthwhile purchase that was. So far I got to play 2 games during these past 2 weekends, and while the rules were not complicated there was a ton of them (especially for someone who doesn't normally play boardgames), even then it was still a lot of fun. The first night was not so fun as it took us about 2 1/2 hours to go through the rules and setting up the board.

The game overall was fun but we got so many things mixed up that's not clarified very well in the booklet, we probably played the game 67% correctly. The second game was much funner since it took like 10 minutes to setup up, i re-read the rules the day before and went on BGG to clarify other rules (as well as print cheat sheets), we played the game about 92% correctly. We had all the core rules right, we even remembered our character special abilities, the only problem was remembering the ancient ones card that adds special abilities to the fucking monsters!

 

[XiaNaphryz]

'Cause of the thread i purchased Arkham Horror, and what a worthwhile purchase that was. So far I got to play 2 games during these past 2 weekends, and while the rules were not complicated there was a ton of them (especially for someone who doesn't normally play boardgames), even then it was still a lot of fun. The first night was not so fun as it took us about 2 1/2 hours to go through the rules and setting up the board.

The game overall was fun but we got so many things mixed up that's not clarified very well in the booklet, we probably played the game 67% correctly. The second game was much funner since it took like 10 minutes to setup up, i re-read the rules the day before and went on BGG to clarify other rules (as well as print cheat sheets), we played the game about 92% correctly. We had all the core rules right, we even remembered our character special abilities, the only problem was remembering the ancient ones card that adds special abilities to the fucking monsters!

Yeah, AH takes about 2 or 3 playthroughs before you can get 95%+ of all the rules correct.

 

[HappyBivouac]

Picked up Zombies!!! against the reccommendation of a GAFfer last weekend. Wanted a new boardgame to play that night and it was there and honestly looked fun. I wasn't disappointed at all. The board/card game veteran might find it lame and too luck-based but it is all around an enjoyable game with a fun premise and very easy for anyone to pick up on. Most of my friends like to play boardgames but none of us are really hardcore strategy nerds. It's more of just a good way to hang out.

Biggest complain is that they don't include enough zombies in the core package and they friggin' know it. And a bag of more zombies costs like 20 friggin' bucks. We're going to improvise next time. Use little plastic cowboys and indians as zombies or something.

 

[Flynn]

Hurry up Z-Man; I am super stoked about pandemics right now!

My friend joked this morning that somebody must have gotten five yellow cards to Atlanta.

 

[Vinci]

lol@your Catan card experience, the late game can have some really brutal back and forth.

What's interesting about the card game is that for the first several turns, there's not a helluva lot going on. Once you get your first city and an additional town or two, from that point on it's basically DIE MO-FO DIE till it's over. It gets pretty crazy. And I will recommend people try playing it with our house rule about gold: It's the only resource that can be traded in to look inside an expansion stack and draw a card you want.

It makes gold far more worthwhile in the early part of the game than it otherwise would be, as anyone stuck with lots of gold at least has the ability to snag cards they really want for both their immediate needs and long-term goals.

 

[AstroLad]

Is Pandemic fun with 2 players? Looking into getting another card based game but I hope it isn't too random.

It's ok. I prefer >2 though, gets across the whole teamwork theme better and just makes the game more fun.

What's interesting about the card game is that for the first several turns, there's not a helluva lot going on. Once you get your first city and an additional town or two, from that point on it's basically DIE MO-FO DIE till it's over. It gets pretty crazy. And I will recommend people try playing it with our house rule about gold: It's the only resource that can be traded in to look inside an expansion stack and draw a card you want.

I don't mind gold being the weak resource, but I like this house rule as I always thought looking through stacks was a bit on the cheap side.

Yeah, AH takes about 2 or 3 playthroughs before you can get 95%+ of all the rules correct.

AH was where my addiction to the BGG Rules forums began. Now whenever I get a new game the process goes: Read rules-->set up game and play a few rounds solo-->read at least the first 1-2 pages of threads on the BGG Rules forum for the game-->play full game(s)-->read BGG rules forum again. I'll even do it for simple games like Bohnanza, just to make sure I have everything right. I'm a real rules stickler.

 

[biggyfries]

Got back from a business trip to a nice motherlode of games I had ordered. Think I'm ready for my three-day gaming orgy now.

Astro, how is/was For Sale? Been eyeballing that for a while, so just wondering how you like it.

I spotted Ingenious travel edition at a local comic shop this week, and decided to pick it up. this is a pretty fun game. My 9-yo didnt like it, but my 6-yo did (probably because daddy liked it). I mainly picked it up because it has solitaire rules, which is how I play most of my games, thanks to my non-gaming family.

 

[AstroLad]

Astro, how is/was For Sale? Been eyeballing that for a while, so just wondering how you like it.

We played with four and had a ton of fun with it. Between first-timing Citadels, For Sale, and Bohnanza it was one of our best game nights yet. The game is super simple and fast: You start out with a set amount of money (which is supposed to be hidden) and bid on cards numbered x-y (I forget the series, maybe 2-32 or something) after flipping random property cards for the # of players you have. Interestingly, you're not bidding on a specific property per se, you're bidding to "stay in" the bidding (this is the only even arguably tricky part of the rules), and once you stop bidding you take the lowest property on the board and get to take half your bid back. The winner gets the highest property of course but also has to pay his full bid, so that adds an interesting twist. Then in Phase 2 you take your properties into your hand and flip currency cards just like you did property cards and you blind bid on those using your property cards--whoever bids the highest property gets the highest currency on the board. Takes even casuals maybe five minutes to learn. Quite fun.

 

[Flynn]

We played with four and had a ton of fun with it. Between first-timing Citadels, For Sale, and Bohnanza it was one of our best game nights yet. The game is super simple and fast: You start out with a set amount of money (which is supposed to be hidden) and bid on cards numbered x-y (I forget the series, maybe 2-32 or something) after flipping random property cards for the # of players you have. Interestingly, you're not bidding on a specific property per se, you're bidding to "stay in" the bidding (this is the only even arguably tricky part of the rules), and once you stop bidding you take the lowest property on the board and get to take half your bid back. The winner gets the highest property of course but also has to pay his full bid, so that adds an interesting twist. Then in Phase 2 you take your properties into your hand and flip currency cards just like you did property cards and you blind bid on those using your property cards--whoever bids the highest property gets the highest currency on the board. Takes even casuals maybe five minutes to learn. Quite fun.

It's a great palate cleanser between big games.

 

[platypotamus]

I'm a real rules stickler.

I notice you didn't use the word "lawyer" there

Playing the Catan card game has reignited my wife's love of Catan. Our group does a thing where we rotate who gets to pick the game for the night (this person also cooks/buys dinner for the night too). It's her night to pick tonight, and she's trying to fit it into her schedule to stop by the game shop and pick up the newish regular Catan expansion (Barbarians and Traders, I think?) so we can play that tonight. Even if we don't get the expansion, I think she plans on choosing Cities and Knights as the game tonight.

 

[Slacker]

Anyone know where a friendly gaffer can pick up a copy of Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition? I've been looking around and it's sold out everywhere, and I'm now sure I can justify spending more than 100 bucks. Thanks!

 

[AstroLad]

Wow Small World is a chitty game. Might even be worse than Arkham Horror. Don't think I'm going to be able to take it with me on my trip because I just don't have time to sort through all the chits and learn the game. Box is quite big and heavy too.

 

[borghe]

Wow Small World is a chitty game. Might even be worst than Arkham Horror. Don't think I'm going to be able to take it with me on my trip because I just don't have time to sort through all the chits and learn the game. Box is quite big and heavy too.

you got it already?????? bah... where's my damn copy Diamond... :\

 

[Neverfade]

Been loving Dominion.

Also, got my Puerto Rico to the table.

Good times!

 

[Shoogoo]

Wow Small World is a chitty game. Might even be worse than Arkham Horror. Don't think I'm going to be able to take it with me on my trip because I just don't have time to sort through all the chits and learn the game. Box is quite big and heavy too.

I don't understand the word 'chitty', checked urbandictionnary but it didn't help either. Care to explain?

My brother told me about loads of expansion for Zombies!!! What are the good/sucky ones? Military Base seems cool.

 

[Flynn]

I don't understand the word 'chitty', checked urbandictionnary but it didn't help either. Care to explain?

My brother told me about loads of expansion for Zombies!!! What are the good/sucky ones? Military Base seems cool.

He's talking about all the little bits, markers, chits, etc., you have to punch out, sort and distribute to play the game.

Some people say such games are "fiddly."

 

[biggyfries]

my local comic shop got a new copy of RoboRally in. $50.

should i bite?

 

[AstroLad]

He's talking about all the little bits, markers, chits, etc., you have to punch out, sort and distribute to play the game.

Some people say such games are "fiddly."

Correct. I have no substantive comment on the game itself as I haven't had the chance to even get all the chit out.

my local comic shop got a new copy of RoboRally in. $50.

should i bite?

If you think the game might appeal to you (check out BGG for super-detailed info as always), it's not a bad idea. I love the game, of course, especially for 4+ players. It's out of print and the other big out-of-print WotC game, Betrayal at House on the Hill, goes for $150+ now (and RoboRally is way better imo).

 

[Shoogoo]

He's talking about all the little bits, markers, chits, etc., you have to punch out, sort and distribute to play the game.

Some people say such games are "fiddly."

Oh thanks. I really had no idea there was even a word for that in english. What a wonderful language

 

[XiaNaphryz]

He's talking about all the little bits, markers, chits, etc., you have to punch out, sort and distribute to play the game.

Some people say such games are "fiddly."

 

[platypotamus]

So the Catan Card game Expansion Set has proven to be a ridiculously good buy. It was 18 bucks, and comes with 6 different expansions. We've played 2 so far, and they were both pretty good, and changed the game just enough to make it seem "new"ish again, but also familiar enough that even with the really out there one (Wizards and Dragons) we didn't feel extremely lost.

There's also rules for "Tournament Play", in which you can build your own custom decks as if it were a CCG. Looking forward to giving that a shot, but we need to learn the cards a bit more thoroughly first, of course.

I had a ridiculous build-the-Tournament-Deck-around-it combo yesterday:

Pirate Fleet - +1 free gold every time a year of plenty comes up
Toll Booth - +2 free gold every time a year of plenty comes up
Mint - 1:1 gold trading.

Unfortunately, my wife destroyed me with attack cards kind of early, so that was forming my big COMEBACK, but it wasn't big enough.

(I went from down 10 - 4 to losing 13-10 or 11).

 

[Gildor]

Wow Small World is a chitty game. Might even be worse than Arkham Horror. Don't think I'm going to be able to take it with me on my trip because I just don't have time to sort through all the chits and learn the game. Box is quite big and heavy too.

I got to play Small World a couple days ago and I really enjoyed it. The random combinations of races and special powers can be quite funny. I played a 4-player game and jumped out to a nice lead about halfway through. Of course, the other 3 players knew it so they all attacked me and I ended in 2nd. Small World isn't very complicated and doesn't take a long time. It's a light game that was just a lot of fun to play.

 

[Justin]

Hurry up Z-Man; I am super stoked about pandemics right now!

Did you see the manual was posted a few days ago.

http://files.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/4oxrake2yn/PandemicOTB_rules.pdf

Looks really awesome

 

[AstroLad]

Yeah, it looks really cool. Tons of gameplay added. Interested to try out the bio-terrorist variant. Hope it's not "tacked on."

Also, yeah platy the Catan card expansion is awesome. I haven't even played every one yet.

 

[platypotamus]

Yeah, it looks really cool. Tons of gameplay added. Interested to try out the bio-terrorist variant. Hope it's not "tacked on."

Also, yeah platy the Catan card expansion is awesome. I haven't even played every one yet.

The rate my wife and I are going, we'll have played them all by the end of the week, haha. We've been playing practically every day since we got the original card game last week.

 

[Neverfade]

my local comic shop got a new copy of RoboRally in. $50.

should i bite?

Do it.

The copy I got is in "ok" shape. If you don't like it, I might buy it off of you!

 

[AstroLad]

Do it.

The copy I got is in "ok" shape. If you don't like it, I might buy it off of you!

Yeah, the box gets messed up pretty fast too. It's probably the shittiest-quality box I own. Oh how I wish someone like Days of Wonder would get the rights to Robo Rally (not only for quality, but also because they'd probably release the expansions too).

 

[AstroLad]

Had just the time for a couple games this weekend:

Winner's Circle aka Royal Turf. A Knizia title, so you know love him or hate him I suppose. This game was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. A nice opener/closer for sure. Bet on horses (we used secret betting, which made the game more fun) then move them based on their attributes (i.e., a horse moves X spaces if a horseshoe comes up). Takes five minutes to learn and maybe 30 to play. Good light game.

Small World. Gah this game and I have had it rough. Brought this out at the end of the night, and even though it's fairly light it was still way too heavy for that point in the evening. I can see where the fun is but I haven't had the chance to get to it. Cleanup is a bitch too, a byproduct of its fiddliness. I love the art and overall aesthetic though. Definitely going to try it some other time (won't be bringing it on my trip with me though for the "not quite light enough" reason cited above).

Also Start Player. Yes. Start Player is fun.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Had just the time for a couple games this weekend:

Winner's Circle aka Royal Turf. A Knizia title, so you know love him or hate him I suppose. This game was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. A nice opener/closer for sure. Bet on horses (we used secret betting, which made the game more fun) then move them based on their attributes (i.e., a horse moves X spaces if a horseshoe comes up). Takes five minutes to learn and maybe 30 to play. Good light game.

Small World. Gah this game and I have had it rough. Brought this out at the end of the night, and even though it's fairly light it was still way too heavy for that point in the evening. I can see where the fun is but I haven't had the chance to get to it. Cleanup is a bitch too, a byproduct of its fiddliness. I love the art and overall aesthetic though. Definitely going to try it some other time (won't be bringing it on my trip with me though for the "not quite light enough" reason cited above).

Also Start Player. Yes. Start Player is fun.

To make Winner's Circle even more interesting with Secret Betting, don't allow people to check back on their bets if they forget what they bet on. No note taking either.