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[iapetus]

I'm looking to get into one, but preferably something that doesn't require my own glue and paint. I just kind of want one that I can open the box and have fun with. Any suggestions?

I played a good one recently - BattleLore. It starts out set in the Hundred Years War as a basically historical boardgame, but after the first couple of battles fantasy elements start to intrude, and you're basically playing the French vs the English but with dwarves, goblins and giant spiders. Which is nice.

It's well balanced, easy to set up and play (once you've put the stickers on the models, anyway) and has an excellent learning curve - you start with a small number of basic unit types, but as you play through the campaign you add more units to learn to use on each side. The gameplay mechanics are interesting as well - each turn you play a command card which allows you to move a certain number of units in a certain position on the board (left flank, centre, right flank) so you sometimes need to plan ahead based on what your command options are.

Although the basic set is nicely self-contained, there are also a number of expansions. I haven't played these, so can't comment on them personally, but they all seem to have been fairly well received at Board Game Geek.

Edit: If you don't mind a small amount of gluing and painting, Mordheim is worth a look, if you can find a copy. It's based on the Warhammer rules, but rather than huge armies you tend to have about a dozen models per side. I can't normally stand playing larger wargames, but the simplified game and gang development in Mordheim really appeal.

 

[Eric P]

mordheim is SOOO GOOOD but you have to build everything.

scenerey, units, etc

and it can be difficult now to find models

 

[iapetus]

mordheim is SOOO GOOOD but you have to build everything.

scenerey, units, etc

and it can be difficult now to find models

You can get all the models you'll ever need (for most gangs) from the standard Warhammer army line. Scenery can be a bit of a pain, but the box comes with enough to play with, and you can use just about anything as stand-in scenery.

 

[DeathbyVolcano]

Um

 

[XiaNaphryz]

wtf are all these obscure boardgames?
all i know is monopoly and the game of life....

Now you know how casuals/non-gamers think when they hear about video games!

 

[Kaiser Dämmerung]

here are some oldies but goodies I'll be bringing out this coming weekend for the Monthly "beer and Pretzels" retroboard-con. lots of fun if you can find them:

Man this game owned MY LIFE for several years. So badass. I think that was the game that started my obsession with stat-whoring RPG's and dungeon crawlers. I always regretted not being able to buy the expansions, and I get horribly nostalgic whenever I pictures of it. I feel like buying it again brand new and just putting it on display on a coffee table. <3

It should definitely be redone and relaunched.

Is there any other similar game to Hero Quest in the market right now? Or is that game still being sold someplace?

 

[Eric P]

i was looking through the catalog that came with arkham horror and there's agame called Descent: journeys in the dark

http://iguk.co.uk/blog/2005/12/descent-journeys-in-dark-review.html

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I recently played Heroscape-- it was decent, but setup was terrible. The appeal of having WWI paratroopers attacking a Dragon while Dr Doom comes in from nearby was pretty cool, though.

What I really play a lot of is Heroclix. Anybody here into that? I'm pretty darned hardcore about it, myself. I don't want to think about how much I've spent on it over 5 years. (Although the game can be gotten into fairly cheaply if you aren't obsessive like me.)

 

[bloodydrake]

A great resource for those that play Tide of Iron and Arkham Horror(plus many other games) is
http://www.headlesshollow.com/freebies_games.html

I find his rule summary cards for Tide of Iron and Arkham to be a god send
Check out the list hes done summarys for. It really helps to hand these out to all the players so they have some referance besides the big 44page manuals that come with most Fantasy Flight Games,boardgames.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

I just completed my collection of Heroscape. Only thing I'm missing are the promotional figures and they go for US$ Too Many, so I'll just stop here and wait for WOTC to take over the product from Hasbro. The models are a bit rough but bits-wise for what you get in the box for the price there is no better value in boardgaming. I disagree with iapetus that the rules are broken, its actually a surprisingly well balanced game given how many variables are in play between map design and army composition.

Sure if you build a map with little cover and many hard to reach high points, ranged attackers will have a field day. But you have to take that into account when building the map. That said the included maps are generally well designed and allow for a variety of tactics.

I also got this sweet little game Antler Island self-published by Fragor Games. Basically you are a stag and you fuck deer.

 

[George Claw M.D.]

I love RISK, but it suffers from the "Monolopy" effect, in that we can never actually finish the game. The game eventually gets stacked in one player's favor, so much, that further gameplay is futile and everyone else just quits.

Also, unfortunately, it's hard to get a group of people to play these strategy board games, outside of going to one of those Warhammer & MTG shops.

I've now gotten more into party-type games, like Taboo and Cranium. They're easy and fun to play for a group of strangers who've never played them, before.

 

[spikydavid]

i was looking through the catalog that came with arkham horror and there's agame called Descent: journeys in the dark

http://iguk.co.uk/blog/2005/12/descent-journeys-in-dark-review.html

I've played this (admittedly only the once) and quite liked it. Had a very Warhammer Quest feel to it (the advanced version of Heroquest). Personally, I didn't like the fact that it was a GamesMaster type figure, who controlled all the monsters, against all of the players. The GM knows the layout of the board, and where the monsters go, but is just following a scenario from the rulebook, so it's a limited set of plays (I imagine there are a lot available online, but balance is going to be an issue).

However, the rules all played pretty slickly, no major complications, and a group of (admittedly pretty experience boardgamers) were up and running in fifteen minutes of cracking the box open.

Also, the figures are pretty nice, but unpainted in the box, so it's not going to look as nice as in the pictures without a lot of work. On the whole, not a game I'm going to be adding to my collection, but if it sounds like your sort of thing, it's probably the best game of its type (outside of the out-of-print Warhammer Quest, anyway)

 

[DieH@rd]

Did anyone tried Starcraft boardgame?

Gimme some impressions...

 

[TimeKillr]

I just came back from a local game store here and I got three games.. I'm bad.

I bought

I know I'll be playing Arkham Horror this week (Tannhauser also, probably) and keep Twilight Imperium for another day. Thank god I have boardgaming friends and co-workers, I love the stuff.

 

[Eric P]

A great resource for those that play Tide of Iron and Arkham Horror(plus many other games) is
http://www.headlesshollow.com/freebies_games.html

I find his rule summary cards for Tide of Iron and Arkham to be a god send
Check out the list hes done summarys for. It really helps to hand these out to all the players so they have some referance besides the big 44page manuals that come with most Fantasy Flight Games,boardgames.

these look good but it's hard to print these out unless you have a color printer

 

[UpperCaseN]

I played a game a few weeks ago called Talisman, it was so awesome. anyone else ever play it?

 

[Xater]

Anyone else liked Space Hulk?

 

[dreadfulwater]

Man this game owned MY LIFE for several years. So badass. I think that was the game that started my obsession with stat-whoring RPG's and dungeon crawlers. I always regretted not being able to buy the expansions, and I get horribly nostalgic whenever I pictures of it. I feel like buying it again brand new and just putting it on display on a coffee table. <3

It should definitely be redone and relaunched.

Is there any other similar game to Hero Quest in the market right now? Or is that game still being sold someplace?

nope, there are several on sale at BGG, and maybe a few on E-bay, but the only thing still in print today, that I could say was similar, would be descent, which you can read about elsewhere in this thread. On a side note, I'm so glad there are several gaffer's into these types of Board games!

 

[Eric P]

Anyone else liked Space Hulk?

love it

i pretty much enjoy all the smaller off brand Games Workshop stuff like space hulk, mordheim, necromunda and the like

can't get into the HUGE army stuff

 

[Xater]

love it

i pretty much enjoy all the smaller off brand Games Workshop stuff like space hulk, mordheim, necromunda and the like

can't get into the HUGE army stuff

This game was awesome because you didn't have to buy all the extra crap. It just worked out of the box. Oh well the other games seem make GW way more money.

 

[borghe]

What I really play a lot of is Heroclix. Anybody here into that? I'm pretty darned hardcore about it, myself. I don't want to think about how much I've spent on it over 5 years. (Although the game can be gotten into fairly cheaply if you aren't obsessive like me.)

You know, I've tried. HeroClix and HorrorClix. My biggest problem is, even getting the miniatures at cost, that is WAYYY too expensive for my tastes. The other problem I have with it is that out of my friends, I am always the only one to pick up collectible games, and being I only have really one night a week to hang out, that usually means hanging with them and not like at a game store or something. So I have to pick up enough that we can all play and blah blah.... HeroClix, HorrorClix, and even Star Wars, D&D and Pirates are all excellent CMGs. It's just tough to get into with what they cost when you're the only one interested.

I did play my first two games of Arkham Horror this weekend. Wow... that's a pretty intense game. Both in mechanics and that damn GOO fight. We picked Yig, randomly, which is funny because he is BY FAR the easiest. Setting up the game for the very first time ever was pretty long. almost an hour probably. The second time was pretty damn easy. Once you get everything into plastic baggies sorted by where you put it. We have sanity, stamina, money, skill, and clue markers all in one bag. all the non-PC base chits in another bag. Mask and Spawn monsters in their own bag and the other monsters in another.. we put all the decks back together before packing up, so then it's just splitting the individual decks out and if we're so inclined giving everything a quick shuffle through. Actually not bad to shuffle if you got at least 3 guys playing.

A few things we've learned (besides the rules). Sealing gates early and often is key. DON'T PLAY CAUTIOUSLY! If there's a 50/50 chance of you defeating a monster, fight him. If there's even a 40/60 chance, fight him. letting monsters build up on the board is just bad. As soon as the GOOs doom track is over 2/3 full, start building up your character to fight him. On yig for example, I should have busted my ass to get skills (+speed) and a blessing. Especially on monsters whose final battle is "Discard x".

Anyway, very fun, and honestly once you get the game packed up right setup takes like 10 minutes tops. Will give it another shot hopefully this weekend.

I played a game a few weeks ago called Talisman, it was so awesome. anyone else ever play it?

Talisman is the game back in the 80's that got us into hardcore boardgames (well, that and Axis & Allies). We had everything at the time for it.. City, Dungeon, Timescape, Adventure(?). Now typically I think Talisman is looked kind of down on because of the randomness of the game. You could have all the stats and equipment in the world, but get that one wrong card or roll and it sets you back to near the beginning. Outside of that, it also suffers much from the "rich get richer while the poor get poorer". There seems to be a certain point in the game where a certain portion of the players just can't do anything to win at that point... unless of course someone gets wiped back to start with a random event.

Anyway, I still like it, and I think those two aspects do actually complement each other. I am waiting for the first expansion for the current version. But I can understand why it can be frustrating to spend an hour building your stats and equipment only to see it taken away in a card turn, or to watch everyone else get the luck of the draw turn after turn and see you get dumped on for the entire game with no hope of catching up.

 

[dreadfulwater]

I played a game a few weeks ago called Talisman, it was so awesome. anyone else ever play it?

I own It and like it very much. I plan on pulling it out this coming weekend. it's not without its problems, namely the rule ambiguity that pops up from time to time

I love the 4th edition, its a beautiful re-issue!

I also am pleasantly surprised at all the Boardgaming Gaffers here!

 

[Eric P]

This game was awesome because you didn't have to buy all the extra crap. It just worked out of the box. Oh well the other games seem make GW way more money.

the really annoying thing is that they allow those to go out of print

because i'd love to have onebox games from them

the bitches!

*shakes fist*

 

[JayDubya]

Anyone else liked Space Hulk?

Played the PC game, didn't know it was based on anything.

 

[dreadfulwater]

I've played this (admittedly only the once) and quite liked it. Had a very Warhammer Quest feel to it (the advanced version of Heroquest). Personally, I didn't like the fact that it was a GamesMaster type figure, who controlled all the monsters, against all of the players. The GM knows the layout of the board, and where the monsters go, but is just following a scenario from the rulebook, so it's a limited set of plays (I imagine there are a lot available online, but balance is going to be an issue).

However, the rules all played pretty slickly, no major complications, and a group of (admittedly pretty experience boardgamers) were up and running in fifteen minutes of cracking the box open.

Also, the figures are pretty nice, but unpainted in the box, so it's not going to look as nice as in the pictures without a lot of work. On the whole, not a game I'm going to be adding to my collection, but if it sounds like your sort of thing, it's probably the best game of its type (outside of the out-of-print Warhammer Quest, anyway)

Damn, sorry about my multiple troll like replies, but I see we have another Warhammer quest fan here. I simply love this game. Me and a couple of friends had a marathon session last weekend. we went throught the Catacombs of terror adventure, included many of the rules from the roleplay book as well, like travelling to settlements, and levelling up, training. after 7 hours, we managed to get the Elf and barbarian up to second level, only to get " lured and made a member of the "undead army" one by one, due to bad rolls on the travel tables while trying to get back to town.

 

[Eric P]

Played the PC game, didn't know it was based on anything.

it's a LOT of fun

one person plays the marines, another plays the genestealers

 

[Xater]

the really annoying thing is that they allow those to go out of print

because i'd love to have onebox games from them

the bitches!

*shakes fist*

Agree. I actually bought my game when it already was OOP. And Necormunda was awesome too, it actually would be the perfect SRPG...

 

[Octagon]

I love playing either Monopoly, Catan/Settlers, Go or Chess.
The game of the goose is one of my childhood favorites.
But the game does no longer hold the same magic for me for i am no longer 8 years old and my grandma is no longer able to play it with me. :|

 

[iapetus]

Damn, sorry about my multiple troll like replies, but I see we have another Warhammer quest fan here.

All right-minded people love Warhammer Quest. Those who aren't fans don't own copies of the game yet, it's that simple.

 

[op_ivy]

how complicated is RoboRally? the description on p.1 sounds awesome, but i dont want anything overly complex.

my gf broke her foot (badly) not too long ago and we love games so i was thinking of expanding outside of scrabble/monopoly/cribbage/etc, but i dont want something terrible difficult or complicated to learn or overly nerdy with knights/monsters/war

 

[JayDubya]

Oh, and my favorite boardgames are:

A Game of Thrones

and

Conquest of the Empire

 

[iapetus]

how complicated is RoboRally? the description on p.1 sounds awesome, but i dont want anything overly complex.

my gf broke her foot (badly) not too long ago and we love games so i was thinking of expanding outside of scrabble/monopoly/cribbage/etc, but i dont want something terrible difficult or complicated to learn or overly nerdy with knights/monsters/war

Moderately complex. Learning how the various board elements work can be a bit of a pain for beginners and you need to be able to plan out the five steps of your program, which requires a certain amount of visualisation skill.

It's very accessible, though - far more so than a lot of the games being discussed.

And you're worried about the nerdiness of board games when you freely admit to playing Scrabble, the game of spelling long words?

 

[Eric P]

Agree. I actually bought my game when it already was OOP. And Necormunda was awesome too, it actually would be the perfect SRPG...

i've been clamoring for one for a long time

but i agree

it would be a great srpg

 

[AstroLad]

how complicated is RoboRally? the description on p.1 sounds awesome, but i dont want anything overly complex.

my gf broke her foot (badly) not too long ago and we love games so i was thinking of expanding outside of scrabble/monopoly/cribbage/etc, but i dont want something terrible difficult or complicated to learn or overly nerdy with knights/monsters/war

It is super accessible. As long as you take the time to learn the game the first time through, it takes literally five minutes of explanation and two or three turns for non-BG people to get the hang of it. I know this from personal experience of my wife and I introducing the game to about four of our non-BG friends. And they, just like us initially, were all really surprised at how much they loved it.

The nice thing re the nerdiness is that it doesn't take itself seriously at all. The box art is goofy, the upgrade cards are funny; it basically just makes fun of itself and its robot theme a lot, but at the same time has a great play mechanic.

The game seriously needs to come to XBLA.

 

[Synth_floyd]

I have to say Arkham Horror sucks. It's so luck dependant that it's just "move your character, draw a card, roll some dice" lather, rinse repeat. Maybe you have to get into the mood or something but it was so bland and mechanical when I played it with some friends.

Talisman is another super luck dependant game. At least you have more stuff to do in it so that you keep occupied for a few hours until you realize there's no skill whatsoever and the whole game is rolling dice.

I game I really liked that I played recently I forgot the name but you have to bid on pieces of artwork. No dice, you're always bidding against the other players and it's very skill dependant. Fun.

Risk is good but over time you just reuse the same strategies over and over. There is a lot of dice rolling but that's not really why it's bad. They should come up with a new map for it. That would be interesting. I like the politics and strategy part more than the just rolling dice and stomping around the map part.

I'm not against games with luck but when the entire game mechanics are nothing but a mask to hide the fact that the whole game is a series of dice rolls, then those games get very old very fast. There are unfortunately too many of them.

Some people posted a JFK game and it reminded me of this skit from Kentucky Fried Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI7_XYOWWs0

 

[LRB1983]

This is one the games I've played most when I was younger:

My favourite one with Warhammer Fantasy and Mordheim
Other pretty good was:
Subbteo (1990 edition)

 

[Donkey Thong]

I LOOOOOOVE boardgames. A couple of years ago I caught the collecting bug and wound up with over 30 games in a very short amount of time. I've since stopped my binge buying (such an addictive hobby!) and am trying to enjoy the games I have.

A lot of the greats have been mentioned (Puerto Rico, Settlers, Robo Rally, Ticker to Ride) but here's some other great ones (all pics courtesy of boardgamegeek.com):

Game with the widest appeal: Bohnanza

A freaking great little trading game with a goofy theme (farming beans) that is just plain fun. I've gotten at least 4 different groups of friends and 2 different families completely hooked on this one. If you buy 1 game, I would recommend this one as it's awesome, cheap, easy to learn, appeals to EVERYONE and handles from 2 to 7 players well.

Best party game EVAR: Time's Up

Fuck Apples to Apples.

Most intense card game if you have exactly 4 players: Tichu

An incredibly addictive, sweat inducing, tense, strategic, wonderfull partnership game. Highly recommended.

Most surprisingly awesome game: Daytona 500

Face it, most mass market board games released in the 80s SUCK. Most Milton Bradley games SUCK. NASCAR SUCKS. And yet, against all odds, this card driven race game is GREAT. Designed by Wolfgang Kramer of El Grande fame, this one is well worth tracking down on ebay or a flea market.

 

[dreadfulwater]

All right-minded people love Warhammer Quest. Those who aren't fans don't own copies of the game yet, it's that simple.

its just the perfect amount of role playing without the overhead of D&D. and the GM-less system works very well. it's plenty hard for four people to go up against the game's sytem without a GM, though I did run one of the pre-made adventures in the back of the role-play book, and It was a lot of fun. the Warhammer universe has some very nice flavor to it.

 

[Drey1082]

I played some Stratego yesterday with my girlfriend. Now that's a solid game.

I'm also addicted to xbox live catan, playing that more than any other video games recently.

 

[FnordChan]

I have to say Arkham Horror sucks. It's so luck dependant that it's just "move your character, draw a card, roll some dice" lather, rinse repeat. Maybe you have to get into the mood or something but it was so bland and mechanical when I played it with some friends.

The thing to keep in mind while playing Arkham Horror is that it's a quasi-RPG sort of game with a lot of emphasis on atmosphere and the like. A large part of the pleasure of the game is in seeing what sort of encounters you have and rolling with the punches the game sends your way. Yes, most of that is luck based, either through card draws or dice rolls, but there are many, many strategic decisions to be made over the course of the game to the point where I wouldn't dismiss it as overly luck dependent.

So, yes, if you're looking for a game with minimal luck and pure strategic decisions to be made then you probably aren't going to get much out of Arkham Horror. Go play Puerto Rico or something instead. However, taken on it's own terms I think Arkham Horror is pretty freakin' great.

I game I really liked that I played recently I forgot the name but you have to bid on pieces of artwork. No dice, you're always bidding against the other players and it's very skill dependant. Fun.

Sounds like Modern Art.

FnordChan

 

[iapetus]

its just the perfect amount of role playing without the overhead of D&D. and the GM-less system works very well. it's plenty hard for four people to go up against the game's sytem without a GM, though I did run one of the pre-made adventures in the back of the role-play book, and It was a lot of fun. the Warhammer universe has some very nice flavor to it.

It does suffer from the same problem as all fantasy RPG systems, though - magic-using classes suck at low levels (though you need one for healing) and become obscenely powerful at high levels. "I walk into the room. Half the monsters kill the other half, then I drop the survivors into the warp. Who wants the treasure?" It gradually changes from everyone else in the party having to wedge the mage into a corner and defend him with their lives to them having to beg him to leave them some monsters.

 

[borghe]

I have to say Arkham Horror sucks. It's so luck dependant that it's just "move your character, draw a card, roll some dice" lather, rinse repeat. Maybe you have to get into the mood or something but it was so bland and mechanical when I played it with some friends.

Talisman is another super luck dependant game. At least you have more stuff to do in it so that you keep occupied for a few hours until you realize there's no skill whatsoever and the whole game is rolling dice.

I disagree with your view on AH. I mean most traditional board games have a level of luck to them, and let's face the facts... 100% skill based games quickly grow boring for EVERYONE when players are no on equal levels. That being said, there is little in AH that an outright gives you the win or outright screws you randomly, at least consistently. Sure you might lose a turn here or there, or lose like the Deputy Wagon or Blessing at a inopportune time, but I really feel the design of the game is excellent in the way that you can really use skill, through character selection and actions, to stack the odds greatly in your favor.

Talisman definitely has more to do with luck, and even worse there are many things that can happen in the game to set you back drastically from reaching the center. Hell, you are looking at players with almost 20 years of Talisman experience, and one of our recent games had gone on for 2 hours before we realized we were still at least 20 minutes away from even hoping to get to the center ring.

But not AH. I mean first off, dice rolling is restricted solely to skills and combat... both of which are controllable by you and typically only modified to detriment by a few points (except GOOs). Second, the only other random aspect, cards, in the event are detrimental, usually result in requiring, you guessed it, skill checks.

I mean really for AH, saying it is random and up to the dice is like saying a fighting game is to random and inconsequential when all you do is mash buttons. There is more strategy to AH than your thinking... and ignoring that strategy (Which you can certainly do) leads up to a game that will probably end in loss, unless you get an incredibly easy GOO like Yig or something.

 

[SCHUEY F1]

I own It and like it very much. I plan on pulling it out this coming weekend. it's not without its problems, namely the rule ambiguity that pops up from time to time

I love the 4th edition, its a beautiful re-issue!

I also am pleasantly surprised at all the Boardgaming Gaffers here!

I'm really happy at the response to the thread. Pretty good for my first thread on GAF. Keep up the boardgame talk, good stuff!

 

[SCHUEY F1]

A great resource for those that play Tide of Iron and Arkham Horror(plus many other games) is
http://www.headlesshollow.com/freebies_games.html

I find his rule summary cards for Tide of Iron and Arkham to be a god send
Check out the list hes done summarys for. It really helps to hand these out to all the players so they have some referance besides the big 44page manuals that come with most Fantasy Flight Games,boardgames.

Those reference sheets are great. I printed the Tide of Iron ones out at work. We have a kick ass colour printer so they came out great. Then I spent a couple bucks and had them laminated, nice!

 

[Wired]

Used to play a fair bit of HeroQuest when I was younger, I really liked it though the non-modular board was a bit limiting. Stumbled across two of the expansions a while back so I picked them up, although it's unlikely I'll get to play them.

 

[Eric P]

i have my first game of arkham horror set for 6 people on sunday

i can't wait!

 

[iapetus]

Used to play a fair bit of HeroQuest when I was younger, I really liked it though the non-modular board was a bit limiting.

You need to get your hands on a copy of Warhammer Quest, then. Modular board, more advanced rules, far more fun than HeroQuest.

 

[Eric P]

i'm looking for a good casual game for two girls who aren't big gamers

any suggestions to kind of ease them into the hobby?

 

[Tsubaki]

i'm looking for a good casual game for two girls who aren't big gamers

A game for a total of 3 players? I guess Settlers of Catan isn't bad. Actually, the funnest time I played it was with 3 players.

The thing about boardgames is that there's a sweet spot for how many players you have. Most games are flexible to accomodate different numbers of people, but they're only/most fun with a certain number. A really good casual game among my group is Bang!, but the hidden identities of players wouldn't make much of a game below 7 people.

 

[Synth_floyd]

I disagree with your view on AH. I mean most traditional board games have a level of luck to them, and let's face the facts... 100% skill based games quickly grow boring for EVERYONE when players are no on equal levels. That being said, there is little in AH that an outright gives you the win or outright screws you randomly, at least consistently. Sure you might lose a turn here or there, or lose like the Deputy Wagon or Blessing at a inopportune time, but I really feel the design of the game is excellent in the way that you can really use skill, through character selection and actions, to stack the odds greatly in your favor.

Maybe my group was playing it wrong but we kept getting killed by monsters and eventually the big bad monster came out and killed most of our group immediately and then the rest shortly after. It's not that the game is hard why I didn't like it, it just felt like there were absolutely no strategic decisions at all. A portal opened up so your characters had to go in and fight the monsters and close them. You pick some cards, read what it says, roll some dice and you either win or your character gets killed. You can't really build your characters up or anything, unlike Talisman. Both Arkham Horror and Talisman are essentially all luck but at least Talisman has some more "meat" to it and is not a total dice-fest like AH.