I really like board games and relish the opportunity to play them with my friends — an opportunity I get much more often now that I live in the same place as them.
One of my favourite things about board gaming as a hobby is getting a new game, punching out all the bits and learning to play it for the first time — though arguably it's your second or third game where a new title really starts to hit its stride, as you generally know the rules reasonably well by then.
The trouble with getting new games is that often if they don't prove an immediate "hit" with the group, then they can be relegated to the shelf for quite a long time, with old favourites instead hitting the table much more frequently. Our group is a little prone to this, tending to fall back on stuff like Agricola and Ticket to Ride, though my (relatively) recent acquisition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition proved to be pretty popular with everyone thanks to its excellent balance of strategic ("hmm, if I use this ability, then move here, I'll be able to win in two turns…") and thematic ("I AM A WIZARD! BOOOOOOOOM!!") gameplay.
As well as player tastes — our group is split roughly 50/50 on people who prefer strategic/mechanic-focused games and thematic-focused offerings — there's also things like player count to consider. Some games only work with three or more people — fine if you have a regular group — while some are for two players only. All of these things can conspire to ensure that something doesn't necessarily hit the table as often as you might like.
With absolutely none of that in mind, here are some board games that have caught my eye recently that I am somewhat interested in acquiring and playing with someone. If any of you, dear readers, happen to have played any of them, please feel free to tell me whether they're actually any good or not.
In no particular order…
Cadwallon: City of Thieves
(Image credit: BGG user bretteur)
I was unaware of this game prior to today, as it happens, but when I wandered into Forbidden Planet in town and saw it on the shelf, it caught my attention.
From the sound of things, it's a competitive game between up to four teams of "thieves guilds" vying for control of a small city district. A number of different scenarios challenges the 2-4 players to, in most cases, nick as much stuff as possible while attempting to ensure the other players get royally screwed over. According to reviews on Boardgamegeek, it's a relatively simple game with an element of strategy to it.
I'm actually fine with it being simple — we have plenty of complex games like Agricola and Power Grid, so it's nice to bust out something simple once in a while. That certainly explains why stuff like Ticket to Ride hit our table so often. The other nice thing about it being simple is that if everyone can remember the rules, everyone's likely to want to play it again in the future — especially if it's a relatively short game, which is sounds like this is.
So chalk this one up as a "very interesting" for me.
RuneWars
(Image credit: BGG user brainst0rm)
I'm primarily interested in this one because it's from the same team as made Descent, and Descent is a popular choice among our group for reasons already outlined above. Rather than being a small-scale strategy RPG type thing with asymmetrical competitive multiplayer like Descent, however, RuneWars is a larger-scale strategy game between up to four players vying for control of an overall world map. I don't know a great deal about how the game works but simply from reading descriptions of it, it sounds like it could potentially prove popular with our group for similar reasons to Descent. Tim and I (the players who favour theme-heavy and co-op titles) will be happy going "DRAGONS! ROOOOOAR!" while Sam and Tom (the players who favour more strategic, mechanics-focused experiences) will be happy planning out elaborate strategies to flatten everyone and declare themselves Overlord of Everything.
The only thing stopping me from immediately picking up a copy of this is the fact that a game takes about 3-4 hours, which means it probably wouldn't hit the table too often. The only other game we have of that length is Arkham Horror, which everyone seems to like, but which everyone is also reluctant to play due to the sheer amount of time it takes to do so.
Carcassonne Expansions
(Image credit: BGG user j0ran)
I like Carcassonne. It's a nice simple game that anyone can pick up the rules of very quickly. It's fun, strategic, has plenty of scope for screwing over your opponents and has the potential to be very different every time you play due to its heavily-randomised nature.
One thing I've not explored, however, is the wealth of expansions available for it. There are loads of them, and I have no idea which ones are actually any good or not. I think the thing to do will be to just pick up one or two and give them a shot to see how they are.
See also: Catan expansions.
BattleLore
(Image credit: BGG user jtspecial)
BattleLore itself is apparently out of print now, which means that new copies of it will set you back £80 or more — that's only about £20 more than it was when it was readily available, but it's still quite a lot. BattleLore is a two-player skirmish game in which two players face off against one another in an attempt to kick the snot out of each other using their armies. Apparently the game system for this works very well, with a nice combination of luck and strategy making it both accessible and deep.
A new version of BattleLore has been released, based on the Game of Thrones universe. I don't know the setting well — the limit of my knowledge is playing the surprisingly good Facebook game (seriously, try it — you'll be pleasantly surprised, especially if you like stuff like King of Dragon Pass) — but it certainly seems like the ideal setting for armies to kick the snot out of each other.
Two things have stopped me picking this up — one, it's two-player only (though the original BattleLore had an "epic" variant allowing additional players) and two, it apparently involves a bit of faffing around to get all the miniatures sorted out and ready to play. I don't have anything against that per se, but I'd need to know I'd be able to play it semi-regularly before committing to a campaign of supergluing tiny men to plastic bases.
Various "Living Card Games"
(Image credit: BGG user FortyOne)
There's a few of these that look interesting — particularly the Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer and Lord of the Rings ones. Again, I don't know a huge amount about them, but I'm assured that they're good fun, offering the enjoyment of deckbuilding without having to repeatedly shell out ridiculous amounts of money for booster packs that contain cards you've probably already got.
The main thing stopping me checking these out further is that deckbuilding games have had a relatively mixed reception at our gaming table to date — Dominion doesn't come out that often, though I like it a lot, but Ascension proved to be a lot more popular. Again, I'd need to know I'd be able to play them reasonably regularly before investing in one of these.
Elder Sign
(Image credit: BGG user ckirkman)
I'm a fan of Cthulhu-themed stuff, which partly explains why I enjoy Arkham Horror so much. From what I understand from playing the iOS version, Elder Sign has a fair amount in common with Arkham Horror in thematic terms — it even uses the same characters and artwork — but has much simpler mechanics and a playtime that doesn't extend into the days. I believe it's rather more luck-based, though, being primarily based around dice rolls, though Arkham Horror certainly isn't without its share of dice-based randomness, either.
Perhaps I'll play the iOS version a few more times before I consider looking into this one.
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As with so many things in life, there are hundreds of examples of great games that I'd love to try, but not enough time and/or opportunities to do so. If nothing else, though, building up a collection of board games certainly looks impressive — even if it is a pain in the arse to move the bloody things from one house to another!
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Is the Game of Thrones game "Battle of Westeros"? It looks pretty good. I remember Rab Florance giving it a good write up at RPS. As well as BattleLore you can pick up pretty much anything else by Richard Borg or his Command & Colors system (I want to say colour, but it's the name). Obviously Memoir 44 can be picked up anywhere, and you won't have much trouble finding BattleCry for American Civil War fun and japes.
What stops me from picking up most of these games is that I already own Memoir 44. I think the other games mentioned are meant to be a bit better and have the odd more interesting flourish….but not enough for me to require picking up what is essentially a reskinned and slightly rebalanced game.
But hey, if you get it then give me a shout…it won't take you long to explain to me the extended rules.
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There are quite a few theme-heavy games I wouldn't mind playing but can't find anyone to play. I'm pretty lucky in the fact that I live with a lady-person who is willing to dabble in my cardboard fetish …but not so much theme-fetishes. I'm also lucky that there is a local club to go and play board games, but it's pretty much pure euro-games and we only have the pub for 3 hours. Really limiting on what we can play.
Yeah, Battles for Westeros, I think it's called. It's supposed to be really good, but the miniature-gluing is putting me off a bit — I am spectacularly cack-handed when it comes to that sort of thing. Perhaps I'll check out some of the other C&C games, though those don't seem that easy to find from a casual search around.
My girlfriend likes board games, too. She's dabbled in Catan, Carcassonne, Agricola, Ticket to Ride and Hero Quest so far. It's nice to know I have an opponent on hand for some games, though she's not always in the mood. 🙂
I'd like to find a local club sometime. One of my friends in our regular group knows some other big gamers, but they spend most of their time doing tabletop role-playing (something which I'm also keen to try again after about a 15-year break). Most of them are also into board games, though, so perhaps I'll be able to expand my pool of opponents at some point.
My current favourite in the LCG category is definitely Star Wars. I fell out of love with both Star Wars a long time ago, and deckbuilding games a long time ago, but this has rekindled my love of both in a big way. As with any game in this category, your first few games will be long, because you'll have to read every single card every time you draw it. But after a few plays, once you get to the point where you draw a card, look at it, and immediately remember what it does, you can play a game of SWLCG in about 15 minutes. Brilliant.
It is also important to understand the difference between an old-style deckbuilding game (like Magic: The Gathering or Pokemon or a modern LCG) and a newfangled deckbuilding game (like Dominion or Ascension). Old school: each player owns a collection of cards and builds a deck using some but not all of them, based around a particular theme or strategy. Only after both players have built a deck do they get together and play. New school: cards are placed in the middle of the table and each player gets an identical small deck of weak cards, then the game begins and all players use their weak cards to buy better cards, which they use to buy better cards still and so on until the game is over.
Both forms have their advantages, of course. The process of building a deck as a meta-game element (something you do in between games, rather than during) can be daunting for some, but SWLCG has a brilliant and innovative system that makes it much easier for new players to build the deck they want with a minimum of fuss, while still allowing veterans the latitude to tweak and optimize. Get it, play it, love it.
And if you're looking for something to take the place of Arkham Horror in the narrative department, I'd recommend steering clear of RuneWars and heading straight for A Touch of Evil. All the narrative and fun of Arkham with half the playtime and a quarter of the complexity. Plus the theme is far more fresh and original than the usual Lovecraftian tommyguns and tentacles. Horror in colonial America! Guttering oil lamps! Flintlock pistols! Tricorn hats!
Touch of Evil! Thank you. Mark and Lynette are always telling me about that and I can never remember the name of it. I will try and remember it this time. Sounds good to me.
As I say, we've played a couple of deckbuilders recently, with mixed responses. This makes me worry a little that some of the other LCGs might not go down brilliantly with some members of the group, but I guess the only way to find out is to try! Personally, I really like the mechanic of building your deck as you play — I never really got into Magic or related games in a big way, but I like the idea of building a custom strategy through your cards.
Oh, your comments are approved now, so you should have an edit button from now on. 🙂
…Aaaaaaaand of course there's no edit button for fixing nonsensical sentence structure.
I hate the internet so much.