Favorite board game

[Alorael at Large]

This one's fairly simple. What's your favorite board game? If there are a few, a list is fine. Types are good, too; I'm not aware of terms for them, but games fall into definite categories, from the abstract strategy of chess and checkers and Go to the various permutations of Euro games. Do you like deck-building? Cooperative games? Games of careful resource management? Games of deception and misdirection? Let us know!

 

—Alorael, who would also be interested in seeing how many people play games on BrettspielWelt and the other online gaming sites. He's been an intermittent regular on some of them.

[Tyranicus]

Either Monopoly with stock options or Arkham Horror.

[Men are from Slars]

Although I don't play it any more, my actual favourite game is probably a boardless abstract strategy game called Waving Hands, which I played in a play-by-web implementation called Warlocks. I have tended to describe it as phonological chess with simultaneous move submission. It takes multiple turns of stringing together actions in sequence in order to do anything, but the most common completed sequences limit which actions your opponent can string together. It's the most interactive game I know, and also probably the most complex.

 

Further in the past I have played a lot of CCGs, although not so much recently. Euros are the thing these days. Egizia is my favourite, though I would also mention Race for the Galaxy and St. Petersburg. The common thread is probably that very subtle decision points can have a large impact on close games. I guess you could call these resource management games.

 

I play on Yucata. Although the site is oriented towards non-live play, I play almost entirely live games. I've had fewer interface issues there than on BSW and have found the community to be friendlier.

[keira]

Chess is awesome. Relevant: In woods last year, I made this. It still hasn't had a game of chess played on it, though

 

I've also played Settlers of Catan once and liked it, but nobody seems to play where I live.

[A less presumptuous name.]

I enjoy a good game of monopoly. I've heard of a few good strategy games that I should look into, including Catan, but I haven't had the opportunity yet.

[Triumph]

Settlers of Catan. Far and away my favorite board game.

 

Edit: Well, Settlers might tie with a game called Wise and Otherwise, which about equally awesome.

[Andraste]

Thunderstone and Dominion.

[Trenton.]

 

That or pin the tail on the pony.

[Dintiradan]

I could make a hugemassive post about the games I like and dislike, but I wanted to get some work done today, so no. Instead, here's some point form rambling:

 

- All the games I play (with the exception of AIMhack) are face-to-face. I've never tried BSW, though it strikes me as something I'd really enjoy, and would probably spend a lot of time on. Which is precisely why I've never tried it.

 

- I log my plays on BoardGameGeek, and I've got a cron job that copies BGG's image widget. So check my sig for my last ten plays.

 

- I did mini-reviews/session reports on Shadow Vale for a while. My opinions have probably changed several times since then, though.

 

- I used to attend Go Night with a bunch of other people, back when I was just starting undergrad. People came, other people dropped out (including the host), and this eventually morphed into Board Games Night, twice a month (alternates with D&D, though holy crap some of the newer D&D players in our group like to frequently cancel at short notice).

 

- I have "just" eight games in my collection, but I'm fortunate to know several people with large, eclectic libraries (and large amounts of discretionary income, presumably). So we have the luxury of being able to pull out "whatever we're in the mood for", be it anything from Tsuro to Dominion to Brass to Wiz-War.

 

- My department also has intermittent game parties, every couple of months or so. I play a lot of strange new games there, and there's a couple who always bring a Ticket to Ride game, so I can always fall back on that whenever I feel like it.

 

- One of the four 'core' members of my gaming group got us other three into Magic a few years back, and that's what we usually end up playing when we're the only ones who show up for Games Night. We pretty much play EDH exclusively now. And that's fine, I guess; EDH does a pretty good job maximizing enjoyment and replayability while minimizing cost. But I've got the Archenemy decks... and some Duel Decks... and a cube I threw together... all collecting dust. *sobs*

 

 

 

- Anyway. If I had to pick a favourite category of games, it would be one of those massive games. Y'know, the ones that never get taken out for an evening of board games, but instead you have to schedule a Saturday morning -- or even the entire day -- in order to play it. My current baby is Eclipse; we've only played two games, and we're all chomping at the bit for the next time. Another favourite is the Game of Thrones board game (I've only played the first edition; the second edition looks like it fixes all the problems the first edition had). Tentatively on the list is the third edition of Twilight Imperium; I've only played it once and thought it was alright, but there were a number of rule misinterpretations which I think degraded our enjoyment. I've heard these games described as 'Eurotrash': they combine the qualities of Ameritrash games (rich theme, direct player interaction) with some of the sensibilities of Eurogames (strong mechanics, streamlined turns, less downtime). Eclipse is more 'Euro-y' and TI3 is more 'Trash-y', for what it's worth.

 

 

 

Why is it that every time I say I'm not going to make a hugemassive post, I make a hugemassive post?

[Lilith]

my favourite board game is Diplomacy because i have too many friends and would like to have fewer

[Randomizer]

I used to play more when I was in college:

Monopoly, Risk, Diplomacy, Civilization, Twixt, Talisman, Scrabble, Knigmaker

[Alorael at Large]

I played Risk with family on vacations growing up, but it's a terrible game. Fortunately, Small World fixes most of the problems, plays faster, and is a ton of fun. (It's quite different, but the basic idea of conquering the world remains.)

 

Diplomacy is fun, but the Game of Thrones board game is similar with added complexity. I'm not totally convinced that it's balanced or better, but it is a lot of fun.

 

Pandemic is very different. It's cooperative, and you can conceivably play it fairly faithfully solitaire. But it's fun and it's hard. The Battlestar Galactica board game takes the cooperative and twists it by adding some traitors to the mix. I wouldn't want to play it constantly, but it's good to have in the mix.

 

Dominion is probably my favorite right now. I've tried Ascension, which is a similar deck-building game, but I find the additional randomness detracts from my enjoyment and I'm a little more skeptical of the balance.

 

And finally, Catan. I think I've played it almost to death. Among very skilled players, the dice have excessive effect. But somehow, even if it's become a game of rolling dice and hoping, it's still fun. And better with Cities and Knights.

 

—Alorael, who has always wanted to play one of those immense dungeon-crawl games but he's never gotten the chance. And any time he can assemble a group that might, it inevitably turns to real roleplaying. That's fun too, but he'd like to try out Descent or Runebound.

[Callie]

I guess I like Diplomacy now, when I have time for it, in addition to Monopoly, Scrabble, and chess.

[The Mystic]

My two favorites are Monopoly and Chess. Unfortunately, for the past decade or so, I've pretty much only ever been able to play against a computer, so my skills against a human opponent are probably somewhat rusty.

 

Originally Posted By: Homage

Chess is awesome. Relevant: In woods last year, I made this.

Awesome. I should post the board I made several years ago, although mine is a bit crude by comparison. I also made a box underneath the board, as well as 2 full sets of pieces.

 

EDIT: Can anyone recommend a good (preferably free) photo sharing site?

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: The Mystic

EDIT: Can anyone recommend a good (preferably free) photo sharing site?

Imgur or Tinypic are both good. The former requires you register, the latter only a captcha every time you upload.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: The Mystic

EDIT: Can anyone recommend a good (preferably free) photo sharing site?

http://imgur.com/

Originally Posted By: Dantius

Imgur or Tinypic are both good. The former requires you register

what no it doesn't, you can register an account if you want to make albums but otherwise you can just upload pictures without one

[Sudanna]

I use photobucket myself.

[keira]

My server came with a CDN, so I use that. Because having ponies mirrored on a global network of Akamai ™ ® © servers is not overkill.

[adc.]

...

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Chess, Nightwatcher

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Wait... Randomizer plays Civilization?

[Randomizer]

They way we played Civilization was to see how many disaster cards could be traded to a player. I set a record when I got 5 near the end and went back on the progress timeline.

[Dintiradan]

Originally Posted By: Alorael

Pandemic is very different. It's cooperative, and you can conceivably play it fairly faithfully solitaire. But it's fun and it's hard. The Battlestar Galactica board game takes the cooperative and twists it by adding some traitors to the mix. I wouldn't want to play it constantly, but it's good to have in the mix.

I've tried Pandemic solo, and it's a fair bit easier, and obviously less fun than playing it with a group. The coordination problem is what makes the game both more difficult and more fun.

Never played BSG, but I have played Shadows over Camelot, which is another co-op game with possible traitors.

My favourite co-op game, which probably would only be suited for certain gaming groups, is Space Alert. Glorious, glorious mayhem. And possible bitter recriminations.

EDIT: Ooh, and Forbidden Island, which is a slimmed-down, streamlined 'version' of Pandemic, and apparently you can pick it up for pretty cheap.

Quote:

—Alorael, who has always wanted to play one of those immense dungeon-crawl games but he's never gotten the chance. And any time he can assemble a group that might, it inevitably turns to real roleplaying. That's fun too, but he'd like to try out Descent or Runebound.

I've played Descent (the first edition) a few times. It's big, it's pretty, it's streamlined, and it's surprisingly capable of pulling in gamers who wouldn't touch actual roleplaying with a ten foot poll. It's also very expensive, so if your group already roleplays, and you've got capable GMs who don't mind planning sessions, maybe give it a pass.

[keira]

Originally Posted By: Dintiradan

EDIT: Ooh, and Forbidden Island, which is a slimmed-down, streamlined 'version' of Pandemic, and apparently you can pick it up for pretty cheap.

I actually own this, but have never played it

[Actaeon]

Mine's pretty obvious. Diplomacy. Since proper D&D doesn't count as a board game.

[Cpt. Charles]

Anyone ever play Riskopoly? It combines the good points of Risk and Monopoly. After that, I like Catan and Diplomacy, though I've only played the latter once.

[The Mystic]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone; I decided to go with Photobucket. Here are pictures of my board and pieces.

 

First, the board itself, and the drawers underneath that hold the pieces:

 

Now, the board with a set of standard-type pieces:

 

Finally, the board with a set of tool-shaped pieces:

The tool set may need a bit of explaining. I know it looks like the knights are in the wrong places, but the original pattern labeled those pieces as bishops. Here's what these pieces are:

• king: brace drill
• queen: saw
• bishop: hammer head hitting a nail
• knight: pliers
• rook/castle: slotted screwdriver, though I've been told it looks more like a chisel
• pawn: phillips head screw

[Men are from Slars]

Very cool. Those look great.

[The Mystic]

Thanks. It's one of the subtle joys of having a father who does woodworking as a hobby; you tend to get into it a bit, too. He usually has a stockpile of unused scrap wood lying around, so I play around with my own projects every now and again. The downside: Our basement is covered in sawdust and tiny wood scraps.

[keira]

Cool board, I was originally going to have a drawer under mine as well but I opted not to for some silly reason.

[The Mystic]

You could still do it if you like. I hadn't planned to make the drawers under my board, but decided to do it anyway because 1) I wanted to challenge myself, and 2) I didn't have anywhere to store the pieces.