What Board Game Are You Currently Playing?

[1Mmirg]

I really enjoy T2R: Swiss, G-O, but the same thing you like about it (the fact that it caps at 2-3) means it just rarely gets played in my family (where T2R tends to bring all 5 of us to the table).

If you like 2-3 player T2R, I can also recommend the Nordic Countries--also just about the most perfect Christmas theme T2R gift. Plus, now you'll have purple and white trains, too.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Originally Posted by MegaSilver

It should be shortly after the Batman one, if I recall correctly.

And when is the Batman one coming out? :3

I played a 3 player game of Card Wars. All you have to do is number each person's landscapes, and then when a creature in a certain lane attacks it can choose to attack either opponent in their corresponding lane. Many of the cards have wording on them like, "opponents can't do ______." so it can be played well with more than 2 players. It adds more strategy because now you have a choice who to attack. Attack opponent #1's weak creature to save health on my attacking creature, or go for opponent #2's dangerous creature and make them less of a powerhouse, but sacrifice my powerful creature to do so.

[Gurei-Ornery]

Originally Posted by 1Mmirg

I really enjoy T2R: Swiss, G-O, but the same thing you like about it (the fact that it caps at 2-3) means it just rarely gets played in my family (where T2R tends to bring all 5 of us to the table).

If you like 2-3 player T2R, I can also recommend the Nordic Countries--also just about the most perfect Christmas theme T2R gift. Plus, now you'll have purple and white trains, too.

I have purple and white trains from Marklin, another good low player count map, but I do like the look of the Nordic map. All this talk of TtR has made me want to play it, but Myth is already on the table at work, so I will suffer through.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Forgot, also played my first game of Munchkin. It was fun but way too short with only 10 levels. And what's the point of the hand size limit of 5 cards if you can just put all of your cards on the table in a non-equipped state?

[Dad_Scaper]

(a) Not all of them - you can't put down unequipped monsters, or one-time use items, or Go Up A Level cards, etc. - (b) ten levels is plenty, let me tell you, and (c) next time my kids want to play, you are welcome to come over and take the chair that is normally mine.

First time I ever heard someone complain Munchkin was too short.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

First time I ever heard someone complain Munchkin was too short.

This. A thousand times this.

[Gurei-Ornery]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

(a) Not all of them - you can't put down unequipped monsters, or one-time use items, or Go Up A Level cards, etc. - (b) ten levels is plenty, let me tell you, and (c) next time my kids want to play, you are welcome to come over and take the chair that is normally mine.

First time I ever heard someone complain Munchkin was too short.

Another clue of your closeted love of Munchkin! You know way too many of the "squishy" rules to dislike it as much as you would have us believe.

[1Mmirg]

Originally Posted by ParaGoomba Slayer

Forgot, also played my first game of Munchkin. It was fun but way too short with only 10 levels. And what's the point of the hand size limit of 5 cards if you can just put all of your cards on the table in a non-equipped state?

Too short? How long did it take? It always far exceeded its welcome in our house--we starting creating rules to jump up levels faster or only playing to level 5 or 6.

(I can't recall the specifics of how we tweaked it before we finally got rid of it--I actually hate it enough to forget all the details, unlike @Dad_Scaper ...)

[Dad_Scaper]

It doesn't come to the table that often, but the kids like it very much and they probably have a better chance to beat me at that than in most of our other games in regular circulation. Well, except Sheriff of Nottingham. It used to be I was hopeless in Star Realms against KidScaper, but that worm has turned pretty fiercely since I got the app.

I confess I don't mind Munchkin Cthulu as much as regular Munchkin, maybe because it seems more like a game. Or maybe because I've only had to play it once or twice.

[davidlhsl]

Speaking of Flash Point: Fire Rescue!

My parents and I finally won our first game! Sure, it was the easier floor level and the easier level (not the "family rules," but the regular), but we'll take our victory nonetheless. We only had one casualty, who was playing Hot Tub Hanabi.

We really lucked on our dice rolls. In fact, one of the rooms was filling with smoke, which is unusual. In this game, if you roll a space where smoke already exists, you ignite the smoke into fire and extend this ignition in a chain reaction as long as there's a smoke counter adjacent to a fire counter. So to fill a room with smoke, you basically have to roll different squares each time.

Up Front
Moving to Scenario B, which is a battle in the city. I still miss various rules in playing. This is a game where the rules are filled with special cases and exceptions. They make perfect thematic sense, but it's a lot to keep track of. Still, playing this regularly improves this.

I had introduced this to my dad, but have switched to playing solo. This really doesn't suit his temperament, because this is one of those games where the card draw can really screw you over. That's part of the tension. I felt this myself when I was on the receiving end of a whoopin', so I understand this perfectly.

Playing solo does mitigate this, as I can enjoy the back and forth battle playing both sides.

Astra Titanus
I've played a couple games of the introductory scenario during my lunch break. I've lost one and won three, so I'm ready to move to the next, and more difficult, scenario. There are a total of nine, plus a tenth that can be downloaded from BGG.

This is a solitaire game that's essentially Ogre in outer space. You have a Titan (= space Ogre), which is this kick-butt monster ship intent on heading towards and wiping our your star bases/planets/colonies (scenario dependent). It's armed with lots of weapons that can go Ka-Blooey. The game's A.I. controls this beast.

The player is equipped with a force of star ships that must meet this threat. As with Ogre, they are weaker than the Big Bad but more plentiful. As with Ogre, you face the agonizing decision on whether to target the drive system to slow down movement, or whether to target the weapons. If you go for the weapons first, it'll keep marching towards its destination, which you don't want. Focus exclusively on its drive system to slow it down, and its weapons will wipe out your ships. Slowing it down does seem to be the better priority, but you must try knocking out some of its weapons along the way.

The A.I. for the Titan (Ogre) is handled with a deck of cards determining movement and targeting priority. If the Titan passes over any of your ships, there's a 5/6 chance of wiping it out. Your ships can't move and attack on the same turn, so deciding whether to move your ships or hold position is one of the interesting game decisions. You'd have to see the game in action to see just how interesting this movement dynamic is, because you pretty much have to anticipate the Titan's position about two moves ahead while trying to avoid getting into its path.

I wouldn't consider this an Ogre replacement, despite the fact that it does scratch the same itch. First, this is solo, while Ogre is designed for two players. Second, Ogre allows drafting your forces, allowing you to experiment with various force combinations. Finally, Ogre has more different terrain types to interact with your forces when you play the GEV type scenarios.

[akden]

Originally Posted by davidlhsl

Astra Titanus
I've played a couple games of the introductory scenario during my lunch break. I've lost one and won three, so I'm ready to move to the next, and more difficult, scenario. There are a total of nine, plus a tenth that can be downloaded from BGG.

This is a solitaire game that's essentially Ogre in outer space. You have a Titan (= space Ogre), which is this kick-butt monster ship intent on heading towards and wiping our your star bases/planets/colonies (scenario dependent). It's armed with lots of weapons that can go Ka-Blooey. The game's A.I. controls this beast.

The player is equipped with a force of star ships that must meet this threat. As with Ogre, they are weaker than the Big Bad but more plentiful. As with Ogre, you face the agonizing decision on whether to target the drive system to slow down movement, or whether to target the weapons. If you go for the weapons first, it'll keep marching towards its destination, which you don't want. Focus exclusively on its drive system to slow it down, and its weapons will wipe out your ships. Slowing it down does seem to be the better priority, but you must try knocking out some of its weapons along the way.

The A.I. for the Titan (Ogre) is handled with a deck of cards determining movement and targeting priority. If the Titan passes over any of your ships, there's a 5/6 chance of wiping it out. Your ships can't move and attack on the same turn, so deciding whether to move your ships or hold position is one of the interesting game decisions. You'd have to see the game in action to see just how interesting this movement dynamic is, because you pretty much have to anticipate the Titan's position about two moves ahead while trying to avoid getting into its path.

I wouldn't consider this an Ogre replacement, despite the fact that it does scratch the same itch. First, this is solo, while Ogre is designed for two players. Second, Ogre allows drafting your forces, allowing you to experiment with various force combinations. Finally, Ogre has more different terrain types to interact with your forces when you play the GEV type scenarios.

I really like Victory Point Games for their solo games, and I've waffled over whether or not to get this game on multiple occasions. At some point I will likely pick it up, along with Nemo's War, which I hear is another excellent solo game from that company. An interesting fact (at least to me ): the designer of both of those games, as well as several others by VPG, is Chris
Taylor, who was also the lead designer of a PC game called Fallout back in the 90's. Fallout was awesome and ended up being a pretty successful franchise on PC and consoles. I think that is a neat bit of trivia.

[Matt Helm]

I'm not really gamer myself and will definitely admit that Heroscape is by far the game of choice whenever I get a chance to play anything. I'm really more of a card player who will dabble in poker, black jack, pinnacle or hearts (its been a while) and sometimes play games with my extended family such as The Great Dahlmuti or Sequence.

As for Board Games, a year or two ago Santa picked up Scotland Yard since it was a great game I enjoyed a few times in my youth. Other than that, a rare silly game of Hulk Smash or Loopin Louie gets played around here.

Recently though, I was lucky enough to find a base set of Dice Masters Avengers vs X-men. We've only played two games thus far and it is fun in the fact that it is superhero themed with very little set up. I don't know yet if it is going to get traction because my kids seem more interested in the collectible aspect rather than playing and I don't want to get suckered into useless expenses.

My question however, is with regard to a few other games I decided to "request" from Santa for this year. If I know him as well as I think I do, he'll be bringing the boys Marvel Legendary and King of Tokyo. He is not planning on bringing any of the expansions for either at this time because I'd like to see if either takes hold.

So knowing that we are not real gamers, but absolutely love some Heroscape and all things superheroes... do you think Santa is going to be thanked for those two choices or do you think I have two future dust collectors in shiny wrapping paper? I know they are rated very well but so are games like Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Cataan and I don't see any of us actually choosing to play one of those games.