The Board Game Thread

Thenomain

Baking, hockey, politics? Board Games!

Start with a tough one: Favorite board game. Pick only one, but note if there’s a specific number of players to make it so.

I’m still with Terra Mystica especially at 4 or 5 players. It’s not the kind of game I usually like playing, but there is enough going on there that I never feel without an option. And I even sometimes win, woohoo.

Jaded

@Thenomain

Damn only one? That. That is tough. I have favorite games with differing groups of friends but I think I'm going to have to go with We Didn't Play Test This with 5-6 people. Add in the expansions for extra cards and some booze and you have tons of zany fun.

Auspice

Favorite... I'll have to think about that. It can vary depending on mood. I mean, there's Betrayal at House on the Hill, but I can hit burnout on that easily.

But I also love Ticket to Ride, but you need people who understand the game and pay attention as you're playing (because someone on their phone the whole time can ruin the experience).

And though I've only gotten to play it once, I really, really loved Shadows Over Camelot and I think it could easily become a favorite, but I'd need to play it again to be sure.

Let me propose this one: favorite 6+ player game?
That'd be a toss-up between Werewolf and Resistance for me.

Kanye Qwest

Small World!

Jaded

@Auspice
A hard 6+ people? Diplomacy.

bored

Being honest, probably Robo Rally.

I can get into most of the euro-style worker/econ kind of games, although in that spirit, 7 Wonders is probably my actual favorite.

Also:

@Auspice said in The Board Game Thread:

And though I've only gotten to play it once, I really, really loved Shadows Over Camelot and I think it could easily become a favorite, but I'd need to play it again to be sure.

That'd be a toss-up between Werewolf and Resistance for me.

I really love pretty much all of the Mafia/Werewolf inheritors, and SoC and Resistance are great ways of boiling down the concept into something a little faster and more gamified. If you haven't seen it, you might also look at Salem (the kickstartered card game, not the computerized Werewolf/Mafia Town of Salem, although it obviously applies too). It takes the traitor concept but also creates a card game out of accusations etc.

Cupcake

It's really hard to narrow down a singular favorite. Generally I prefer co-op games (love love love Pandemic) and I used to just utterly hate screw-your-buddy games, but in more recent years I've realized it's not the games, it's the people. The people I learned to play Munchkin with were dicks. My boardgame group in more recent years is a much more fun, mature bunch.

I have a certain fondness for Dixit because I love games that require "thinking outside the box". I mentioned co-ops and Pandemic is my go-to for that. Takaido has some of the most beautiful art.

Having recently played Bears vs. Babies, I can attest to it being hella fun.

The fact that I am undefeated in my group at Cards Against Humanity has nothing to do with anything, as I have since retired. Too much of a good/awful thing.

TNP

I always really liked Titan.

Seraphim73

My current favorite is probably Robo Rally. At previous points in my life it would have been Stratego, Risk, or Last Night on Earth. Formula De is also the bomb (I just need to buy it so that I can play it more often so that it can become my favorite).

However, my favorite end-of-the-night boardgame is definitely Tsuro. It's so freaking easy and simple that you can play it for two-four rounds without really paying attention and without that screwing up the game for anyone else.

If we're adding in card games, then Love Letter is actually my favorite--it's just so dang clean and well-designed. The Game of Thrones LCG would also be way up there too, as would Cards Against Humanity.

Mafia/Werewolf/etc can be fun too, but I hate, hate, hate, hate Pandemic. I think that it's fundamentally broken (although I've only played it three times). I much prefer Flashpoint--similar goals/idea, but much more fun and better designed (in my opinion).

WTFE

Republic of Rome.

Auspice

I've got a copy of Robo Rally that has, sadly, never been played. I love the game, but it's been difficult in recent years to find people willing to play. I actually haven't had a chance to play since I left Ohio in 2007. I bought a copy when I got to SC and... just never found anyone since to play with.

ThatGuyThere

I have a few answers for favorite game, first as a kid, Axis and Allies, it was my gateway drug into war gaming, and it was complex without being confusing to upper elementary student me. Granted it could turn into a forever game. It was the game I was thinking of when I mentioned writing down everything to pause the game we had to do that a lot with Axis and Allies.
Favorite of my college years, Republic of Rome, love that game and the style in general of co-op and competitive mixed, you have to work together just enough to not let the system beat you while still trying to maximize your personal chances to win. I also liked that you could have multiple winners or zero winners.
Post College games I split in two, long and short for long War and Peace it is a really old game that is Napoleonic and well done but to play out the 1805 to 1815 campaign takes roughly the 10 years it did in real life. For short games Britannia which is also the newest game on my list.
As you can tell my tastes run toward traditional war games over Euro games which for the most part I have a hard time getting into.
For games that I own but have never gotten a chance to play but would love to I have the Thirty Years War (card driven version since I am sure there are multiple games with that title) and Twilight Struggle.

reimesu

Pandemic is a favorite of mine, as is Betrayal at the House on the Hill, that game is INSANELY fun and I think in several years of playing it, we've only come up on a repeat of the Bad Guy once. King of Tokyo is mindless fun, and if you don't mind sort of card games, then Bears vs. Babies is great. I'm looking forward to Unstable Unicorns, too.

Thenomain

@bored said in The Board Game Thread:

Being honest, probably Robo Rally.

The new remake or the original, more chaotic version?

bored

@Thenomain I've played both, but my fondest memories are probably the older one, as it was a favorite in my university's gaming club.

Totally insane, and we had a guy who was far more interested in deathmatching than winning the races, but still. Great game, especially for CS nerd type people with the programming angle, and pure gold for the look of sheer 'I've made a horrible mistake' when people realize it's all gone wrong.

fatefan

My #1 favorite game, which always takes some scheduling/coordination to pull off, is Twilight Imperium. That game is a blast with 4-8 players (with expansions) who are all on the same page about playing some galaxy-spanning epicness.

Ganymede

@Auspice said in The Board Game Thread:

Let me propose this one: favorite 6+ player game?

I concur with @Jaded; Diplomacy. It is best with 7.

I also like Civilization, preferably with the Advanced add-on. Avalon-Hill game, pre-Sid-Meier fucking around.

Does Battletech count? If so, then Battletech.

Robo-Rally is boss.

Tempest

You guys and all these these board games I've never heard of.

ETA : Oops. Pick one. Scrabble.

Thenomain

@Ganymede said in The Board Game Thread:

Does Battletech count? If so, then Battletech.

Sure. One guy in our gaming group has a gridless Battletech mod which, in the day of more approachable/less wargamey dogfighting sims (X-Wing and Star Trek versions, for instance) seems quaint, but apparently it was all the rage back in the day. You know, when Car Wars was doing the same thing.

--

I've only played one 6+ Player Game and that was Werewolf. It wasn't that fun. Plays of Two Rooms and a Boom and Secret Hitler look a million times more fun. I played One Night Ultimate Werewolf with 5, once. That was fun.

mietze

Redneck Life.

I love that game. Luckily my board gaming group loves ME enough to suffer playing it quite a few times now.