Official Board Game Discussion

[Space Lynx]

So, board games I have on Steam: Scythe, Moonbreaker, and Settlers of Catan VR

Board games irl: Settles of Catan, Starfarers, Wingspan, and 7 Wonders Duels + both expansions for 7 Wonders Duels

Some of my favorite gaming sessions were with all of the above, except for 7 Wonders where I played with 5 people the regular non-Duels edition. I enjoy both equally though.

I am wanting some more board games to try and play with people, what are some of your favorites and why? There are so many to choose from I find it a bit overwhelming.

 

[Fokker]

I liked Twilight Imperium. It's kind of a Civilization lite in board game format. It's a game that take a good amount of time for a playthrough, but I enjoyed it.

 

[Space Lynx]

I'd like to get Stardew Valley board game, but it is sold out at the moment.

I liked Twilight Imperium. It's kind of a Civilization lite in board game format. It's a game that take a good amount of time for a playthrough, but I enjoyed it.

I looked up an image of it just now, damn that looks massive. How long did the game you play last, and did you go start to finish or quit before game officially ended?

 

[Fokker]

I'd like to get Stardew Valley board game, but it is sold out at the moment.



I looked up an image of it just now, damn that looks massive. How long did the game you play last, and did you go start to finish or quit before game officially ended?

The first time through with a couple of people it took around 8 hours to finish when it pretty much became an obvious loss. With more players and familiarity I'd expected around 8-12 hours for a full game.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Gloomhaven.

If you go this route you may want to look into some kind of organization holders for items to make things simpler. I picked up some 3D printed ones off Etsy and it makes things so much easier to find, use and put away. I've been playing this one slowly off and on with my brother when he comes up to visit or I go out to his place. We've probably put 24 hours into so far and it's great. We're maybe a quarter of the way through the main story. You're looking at, from what I find online, maybe 70+ hours to get through the main story and upwards of 140+ hours to complete everything.

We don't follow the set game rules 100%, we have changed some rules that we felt were overly restricting. You can also get the Gloomhaven video game on Steam, EGS and GoG (got a free copy from EGS, but I have yet to try it).

If you enjoy Gloomhaven there is another one in their universe that came out about 2 years ago, Frosthaven. I haven't played it, I've read that it's just as good, if not better than Gloomhaven.

I picked my brother up Mage Knight for Christmas. He said him and his brother-in-law have spent time playing it and they like it. I can't say anything else about it personally, but my brother is into board games.

If you don't want fantasy based, you can look into Maximum Apocalypse:

My brother has it and an expansion for it. I had fun playing it. We even got my daughter, she was maybe 12 at the time, to play some with us and she thought it was pretty interesting.


Gloomhaven and Frosthaven, they will require a lot of time to get through. There are a lot of rules, you can retire characters and start up a new one in the middle of the story, so many places to visit, items to find, buy and use. It's pretty impressive the complexity of Gloomhaven and I hear Frosthaven builds upon that complexity.

Mage Knight and Maximum Apocalypse are shorter games, maybe 1 to 3 hours.

 

[Space Lynx]

The first time through with a couple of people it took around 8 hours to finish when it pretty much became an obvious loss. With more players and familiarity I'd expected around 8-12 hours for a full game.

I think I will have to pass on that one. I think max limit is around 5-6 hours honestly. Maybe when I was younger I could have done that lol

@neatfeatguy
Maximum doesn't look like it would be my style.
I think I will give Frosthaven a look and just skip Gloomhaven if it looks interesting enough. Thanks for the recommendation.

@Vayra86 I know you have to have a board game recommendation?

edit: Frosthaven is $190 ok yeah that's not happening unless I find 3 people to split the cost with and we just share it... so yeah that one will be on hold. This is why I like my current collection, Starfarers was expensive at $90, but that was more of a I love Catan way too much kind of purchase and I don't regret it.

 

[Vayra86]

I think I will have to pass on that one. I think max limit is around 5-6 hours honestly. Maybe when I was younger I could have done that lol

@neatfeatguy
Maximum doesn't look like it would be my style.
I think I will give Frosthaven a look and just skip Gloomhaven if it looks interesting enough. Thanks for the recommendation.

@Vayra86 I know you have to have a board game recommendation?

edit: Frosthaven is $190 ok yeah that's not happening unless I find 3 people to split the cost with and we just share it... so yeah that one will be on hold. This is why I like my current collection, Starfarers was expensive at $90, but that was more of a I love Catan way too much kind of purchase and I don't regret it.

Sure. This is epic stuff;

Keezen review. | Keezbord

Maybe I'm not a professional reviewer and not a good one either, but I still want to share my thoughts, so I'm going to try this. Introduction. There have been many games that are related to pachisi, a game from India which is very old. Through the years

boardgamegeek.com

Keezen. Dutch of origin but man its fun.

 

[Space Lynx]

I will look into it, thanks.

 

[Vayra86]

I will look into it, thanks.

Keezers

Keezers

www.keezers.net

Just found this Can play online apparently
Its a very simple game, but great with 4. Not as great with 3 players, unless you play two colors on a six player board; but even then, there's less of a dynamic going on.

 

[Space Lynx]

Makers of Gloomhaven have made a Steam game, free demo just came out today:

Ironmarked on Steam

Ironmarked is a 1 to 3 player co-op RPG with turn-based combat, set in a medieval fantasy world inspired by Renaissance Italy. Select your band of deadly mercenaries to take on perilous quests from the local factions, just remember the most important rule… get paid!

store.steampowered.com

@neatfeatguy

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Catan (w/ Seafarers expansion), Wh40K Risk, Pandemic, Clue (and Simpsons Clue) are on the heavist rotation round these parts.

As much as I'd love to get into some of those avant guard board games I need my board gaming to fit into a cloudy Sunday afternoon.

 

[Space Lynx]

Catan (w/ Seafarers expansion), Wh40K Risk, Pandemic, Clue (and Simpsons Clue) are on the heavist rotation round these parts.

As much as I'd love to get into some of those avant guard board games I need my board gaming to fit into a cloudy Sunday afternoon.

I would like to get one expansion for my Catan game, why did you pick Seafarers over any of the others? I def am not going to own more than one expansion for it though, as I can't even find enough players as it is for original. (Starfarers doesn't count as it was a gift and is standalone)

Def nothing wrong with the classics, I also own Clue.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I would like to get one expansion for my Catan game, why did you pick Seafarers over any of the others? I def am not going to own more than one expansion for it though, as I can't even find enough players as it is for original. (Starfarers doesn't count as it was a gift and is standalone)

Def nothing wrong with the classics, I also own Clue.

-I haven't played the other Catan expansions, but from everything I read Seafarers was the one to her first because it adds a lot of core tiles and mechanics that can supplement any other expansion you get.

When I play a Civ game, I also really enjoy any archipelago map with islands instead of one big continent and Seafarers really lends itself to that style of play as well.

 

[AusWolf]

My favourites are

Risk if you have a lot of time.

Cards Against Humanity if you just want to have some dirty-minded fun.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Risk if you have a lot of time.

Ikusa (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/221/ikusa) takes a more time but is a much better game. Try to get this done in 3 or 4 sessions, not all at once.

Axis and Allies takes a LOT more time than both Risk and Ikusa, but is probably one of the best wargames. Though at 20+ hour games in practice, this is well into the "Leave the board out and come back 5+ times" kind of game.

-------

My favorite "long" board game is 1830. Which is around ~12 hours long last time I played it, but doable in 3 or 4 sessions. But I don't think people should start with 1830.

Acquire is a game playable in ~2 hours and is perhaps the simplest good "economic game". There are a few stock-trading rules and very little randomization... instead its chaos from all the decisions all your opponents make rather than chaos caused by dice or luck. The name of the game is only to make more money than everyone else by buying stock and selling during rare "acquisition" times.

1830 is like Acquire, except every other turn you also are playing Ticket to Ride / train-building game as well. 1830 is very complex, and I suggest people to start with Acquire to see if you like economic / stock trading games to begin with.

1830 starts with stock-trading. The largest shareholder becomes the President of those companies, and then the COMPANIES take turns. Due to the quirk of rules, company presidents should be cutthroat: lying, stealing, and cheating your own companies (and your opponent's shares) to get ahead.

Acquire is more "peaceful" where alliances are formed and everyone feels like they're working together. Its a great game.

1830 is the opposite: its a cutthroat game where you try to screw people over by making well-placed trades or selling trains or changing the tracks up in unexpected ways. Everyone feels bad when you make a good move, but... that's fun too. Just in a very different way. Play 1830 against people who you enjoy screwing over (and... of course... feel good about getting screwed over yourself. Because everyone will be messing with each other the whole game).

You can see the two parts of the board. The "north part" is the stock-trading part of the board, keeping track of all the companies in play and how much their stock is worth.

The "south" part of the board is the railroads, which determine how much the companies make every turn. Building tracks often increases the amount of money companies make, but also... buying trains advances the year (often making older trains "obsolete" / "rust away", meaning a bunch of trains may disappear off the board). So you could be making a ton of money from 2-Trains , but when they go obsolete you might be on the road to bankruptcy just one turn later (!!!!).

The 8 public companies take a turn during "operating phases". Not the players, the companies take a turn, which means the player in control of the company takes a turn. If you become the President of 4 companies, you take 4-turns during the operating phase. If you have 0-companies, then you don't have any power during the operating phase.

In theory, the pile of money on the company-card is the company's money. You aren't allowed to "just" take the money. However, you can sell trains at any price (ex: sell a $120 train for $800), effectively transferring wealth around. You can also sell "private companies" one time in the early-middle game, which is another way to shuffle money around within the rules. Ultimately, you're a Robber Barron, you aren't supposed to make a good company, the goal is to make as much money as possible.

Be sure to buy enough stock to at least control one company, otherwise you might find yourself falling behind. However, there are "stock only" strategies where you can in fact win even without any company control... but it requires you to play exceptionally well during the stock-trading (Acquire-like) portion of the game.

---------

When your companies make money / dividends, you give the dividends out to all shareholders. Yes, that means you give a bit of money out to your opponents (!!!) if they own some shares. So the game becomes exceptionally complex. Making companies make more money isn't necessarily the way to win. You need to really focus on moves that screw your opponents over.

But really, Acquire is good fun and actually short enough for "typical normies" (between 1 and 2 hours). The stock trading is very simplified (buy upto 3 shares per turn, and you can only sell during mergers / acquisitions. Its a private equity market, not a public one). Companies grow the moe tiles they touch, and when two companies touch, the larger company acquires the smaller one.

Very simple, but exceptionally fun. One of the best simple board games with deep strategy. Well balanced between cooperation with impromptu allies and "screwing" opponents (ie: the ones who don't have any shared stock) with you. Shares provide rivalries (majority owner gets a bonus), but also alliances (+1 tile improves all shareholders on that company), so balancing the company's growth is mostly about trusting in the tiles your impromptu allies have received.

 

[AusWolf]

Ikusa (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/221/ikusa) takes a more time but is a much better game. Try to get this done in 3 or 4 sessions, not all at once.

Axis and Allies takes a LOT more time than both Risk and Ikusa, but is probably one of the best wargames. Though at 20+ hour games in practice, this is well into the "Leave the board out and come back 5+ times" kind of game.

-------

My favorite "long" board game is 1830. Which is around ~12 hours long last time I played it, but doable in 3 or 4 sessions. But I don't think people should start with 1830.

Acquire is a game playable in ~2 hours and is perhaps the simplest good "economic game". There are a few stock-trading rules and very little randomization... instead its chaos from all the decisions all your opponents make rather than chaos caused by dice or luck. The name of the game is only to make more money than everyone else by buying stock and selling during rare "acquisition" times.

1830 is like Acquire, except every other turn you also are playing Ticket to Ride / train-building game as well. 1830 is very complex, and I suggest people to start with Acquire to see if you like economic / stock trading games to begin with.

1830 starts with stock-trading. The largest shareholder becomes the President of those companies, and then the COMPANIES take turns. Due to the quirk of rules, company presidents should be cutthroat: lying, stealing, and cheating your own companies (and your opponent's shares) to get ahead.

Acquire is more "peaceful" where alliances are formed and everyone feels like they're working together. Its a great game.

1830 is the opposite: its a cutthroat game where you try to screw people over by making well-placed trades or selling trains or changing the tracks up in unexpected ways. Everyone feels back when you make a good move, but... that's fun too. Just in a very different way. Play 1830 against people who you enjoy screwing over (and... of course... feel good about getting screwed over yourself. Because everyone will be messing with each other the whole game).

View attachment 344939

You can see the two parts of the board. The "north part" is the stock-trading part of the board, keeping track of all the companies in play and how much their stock is worth.

The "south" part of the board is the railroads, which determine how much the companies make every turn. Building tracks often increases the amount of money companies make, but also... buying trains advances the year (often making older trains "obsolete" / "rust away", meaning a bunch of trains may disappear off the board). So you could be making a ton of money from 2-Trains , but when they go obsolete you might be on the road to bankruptcy just one turn later (!!!!).

View attachment 344941

The 8 public companies take a turn during "operating phases". Not the players, the companies take a turn, which means the player in control of the company takes a turn. If you become the President of 4 companies, you take 4-turns during the operating phase. If you have 0-companies, then you don't have any power during the operating phase.

Be sure to buy enough stock to at least control one company, otherwise you might find yourself falling behind. However, there are "stock only" strategies where you can in fact win even without any company control... but it requires you to play exceptionally well during the stock-trading (Acquire-like) portion of the game.

---------

When your companies make money / dividends, you give the dividends out to all shareholders. Yes, that means you give a bit of money out to your opponents (!!!) if they own some shares. So the game becomes exceptionally complex. Making companies make more money isn't necessarily the way to win. You need to really focus on moves that screw your opponents over.

View attachment 344942

But really, Acquire is good fun and actually short enough for "typical normies" (between 1 and 2 hours). The stock trading is very simplified (buy upto 3 shares per turn, and you can only sell during mergers / acquisitions. Its a private equity market, not a public one). Companies grow the moe tiles they touch, and when two companies touch, the larger company acquires the smaller one.

Very simple, but exceptionally fun. One of the best simple board games with deep strategy. Well balanced between cooperation with impromptu allies and "screwing" opponents (ie: the ones who don't have any shared stock) with you. Shares provide rivalries (majority owner gets a bonus), but also alliances (+1 tile improves all shareholders on that company), so balancing the company's growth is mostly about trusting in the tiles your impromptu allies have received.

I'll have to devote some time to look into these games, but rest assured, I've bookmarked your post.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Makers of Gloomhaven have made a Steam game, free demo just came out today:

Ironmarked on Steam

Ironmarked is a 1 to 3 player co-op RPG with turn-based combat, set in a medieval fantasy world inspired by Renaissance Italy. Select your band of deadly mercenaries to take on perilous quests from the local factions, just remember the most important rule… get paid!

store.steampowered.com

@neatfeatguy

That one looks interesting. I'll have to check out the demo. I don't buy anything off Steam anymore, but perhaps when it comes out other key sites (such as fanatical or humble bundle) might carry keys for it. Or my brother may buy a copy for me, he likes to buy co-op games for us to play on steam. Nice find.

 

[Fokker]

Makers of Gloomhaven have made a Steam game, free demo just came out today:

Ironmarked on Steam

Ironmarked is a 1 to 3 player co-op RPG with turn-based combat, set in a medieval fantasy world inspired by Renaissance Italy. Select your band of deadly mercenaries to take on perilous quests from the local factions, just remember the most important rule… get paid!

store.steampowered.com

@neatfeatguy

The demo was released in hopes they can generate enough interest to get investors. They don't have enough money to finish development and just laid off over half of their staff. Don't expect a finished product any time soon.

 

[wNotyarD]

I think I mentioned the Board Game Arena website to you in another thread. The beauty of it is that you DO NOT need a Premium subscription to play all games: many of them are available for free, all others you can play provided there's at least a single Premium subscriber at the virtual table.
While many could argue the mess that setting up board games is part of the fun (and I do agree to some extent), it is ridiculous how BGA streamlines games and make them fast as heck. Best example I know? 7 Wonders. While every single time I play it tabletop someone messes the draft hand rotation, BGA eliminates this issue.

If I am to list all board games I and my family have (and mark my favorites in bold):
Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition;
Flotilla;
Vossa Excelência (a Brazilian political satire card game)
Ticket to Ride Europe (with many expansions: Europe 1912, India/Switzerland, UK/Pennsylvania, Asia/Legendary Asia, Japan/Italy);
Power Grid (with the US, Germany, Brazil and Spain/Portugal maps);
7 Wonders (with the Leaders and Cities expansions)
Settlers of Catan;
Carcassonne;
Elder Sign (with the Streets of Arkham pack);
Concept;
Dixit (with many expansions);
Takenoko;
Keyflower;
Tsuro of the Seas;
Azul: Stained Glass of Cintra;
Sagrada;
Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar;
And yet many others I can't recall without help

 

[dragontamer5788]

Azul: Stained Glass of Cintra;

I have solved a subproblem in Azul, if anyone cares.

I wrote a program a few months ago that brute-forced the best placement strategies, given a particular number of placements. (Ex: best 14-placement looks different than the best 15-placement).

The "best placement" is a sequence of moves that resulted in the highest number of points possible, theoretically doable within 5 rounds, and favors more placements to the "top" of the board. I don't think 19-placement is very practical, and even 16 placement requires 3+ tiles placed per round for all 5 rounds. Still, its good to know what a "good order of moves" looks like.

There's also like, the rest of the game. Where you look at your opponents boards and try to stop them from doing high-moved scores by stealing tiles they need. So this subproblem is just that, a small problem of the game. There's a lot of other things to think about.

 

[wNotyarD]

There's also like, the rest of the game. Where you look at your opponents boards and try to stop them from doing high-moved scores by stealing tiles they need. So this subproblem is just that, a small problem of the game. There's a lot of other things to think about.

You tellin' me this ain't the main objective?