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Board games for the young professional.
Lave II
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm not massively into board games but the GF like them, so I thought I would pick one up for her birthday for an added surprise. Anyone got any suggestions? Pref on which can be played with a small number of people. 2 - 4.
What we've got:
Risk : It's a classic right.
Monopoly : " " " "
Scrabble : " " " "
War on Terror : A gimicky take on risk that's surprisingly good once you've got past the high learning curve.
Some Lord of the Rings game from yonks back : That features "Fatty" and has nothing to do with the movies. She likes it a lot, but otherwise really geeky stuff is out.
Feel free to get some general board game talk going - I feel we forget about games that aren't on a screen...
(Also would have dug up an old thread, but search has abandoned me).
What we've got:
Risk : It's a classic right.
Monopoly : " " " "
Scrabble : " " " "
War on Terror : A gimicky take on risk that's surprisingly good once you've got past the high learning curve.
Some Lord of the Rings game from yonks back : That features "Fatty" and has nothing to do with the movies. She likes it a lot, but otherwise really geeky stuff is out.
Feel free to get some general board game talk going - I feel we forget about games that aren't on a screen...
(Also would have dug up an old thread, but search has abandoned me).
Lave II on
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And get Puerto Rico.
She remembers playing a game when she was young that was probably Settlers of Catan. I may get her that...
People ocassionaly go mad for it here I think, but seems a bit to heavy for my liking....
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
I would like to know this too.
Most board games completely fall apart with just two people.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
Two player board games? Chess, checkers, Connect Four?
Settlers isn't that heavy, but I will admit that I like the convenience of Live for not having to remember to hand out resource cards for the dice rolls every turn. There are the expansion packs that do up the content quite a bit, and that put me off the first time I tried playing with them, but it wasn't too bad once I got going.
Carcassonne is good for 2 players. Fun with more too, but it gets a little slow at 4 or 5. Either get the original with a few expansions (Inns and Cathedrals and Trader and Builder) , or grab Hunters and Gatherers or Ark of the Covenant if you want an all-in-1 package.
Settlers of Catan is always good, but doesn't play well with only 2. Expansions (The knights one specifically) can turn it into a more aggressive and longer game if you enjoy it enough already.
Lost Cities: Alot of people love this 2 player game. I'm not the biggest fan, but YRMV.
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is like Stratego, but better. Quick too. It's a good 2 player game.
I can start throwing out way more recommendations if you narrow the field a bit with what kind of stuff she'd like.
Also, give Settlers a try IRL, it's really not that bad. If it still feels complicated to you, that cuts down alot of the longer and more complicated titles (ie - the kind I love).
In the order that I would recommend them:
- Lost Cities is two players only and excellent
- Ticket to Ride (North America map) plays well with as few as 2 and as many as 5
- Settlers of Catan, but not for two players
- Puerto Rico was mentioned, but again, the two player variants are not that great
- Carcassonne is a little too random for my tastes, but decent
I hear Memoir '44 is a great two player game if you can get past the war theme, but haven't played it myself.
Carcassonne. It becomes very difficult to have any real strategy once you have more than 2 people playing, but with two people it's great.
Guillotine is also a tremendously fun and easy-to-teach card game that works decently with 2 people but seems to be optimal at 4.
Diplomacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy_%28game%29
Though you might not stay friends once done.
Margaret Thatcher
The only good part about The Omega Virus is that it remains the only game ever to call you "Human Scum". Sadly, few games have risen to this lofty goal.
Sorry, I'll elaborate. She really likes playing multiplayer games with people. Card games, board games, so stuff thats evolving and fun. Aggresiveness and hyper-competitive games are not really the aim. The main thing is when were both stuck for something to do she'ld like to play a board game so a 2 player game with depth but short would be perfect, but not one with expansions and so on. Maybe an hour to play? Complicated to play is cool - but loads of little pieces and set up time isn't what we are looking for.
Christ that is vague - sorry - but to be honest I'm not a big board game fan so I'm not really that informed, but I would like to get her something she'ld like.
Hmm, both these seem possible...
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
Insanely fun card game.
Web site: www.killerbunnies.com
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
So short, not too aggressive and not too complicated?
Ticket to Ride: Simple, fairly fun, bright colours. It's a good game. Plays well with 2+ also.
Through the Desert: I think it plays well with 2 players. It's a little on the dry side for my taste (it's sorta like Go, but simpler), but it's short AND is chock full of plastic pastel-coloured camels!
Citadels: Not a 2 player (well, technically it is, but doesn't play too well that way), but still lots of fun. Very simple, but interesting.
Memoir '44: Someone mentioned this earlier. It's like a simple, 2 player wargame played mostly with cards. Can be kind of fun (there's a fantasy medieval version called Battlelore too, that's a bit more complex). I'm not a big fan, and set up time can be longish, but it's quick and simple otherwise.
Samurai: Another dry but simple one (by the same guy as through Through the Desert). Can be lots of fun if you like this sort of thing.
Your a little outside my area of expertise, but I'll do a little digging. Don't let my comments put you off, these games are all good providing of course you enjoy that type of game. I like my games long and aggressive and not dry (I don't like Chess or games like that). But I know enough to suggest some good ones for you.
Also, if you need better descriptions, I would be happy to provide.
Board games: Cranium.
Party games: Catch Phrase.
2 player games: You got me...
I've got that. It's called Siege on my box though.
That cannon is a pirate-maker. It's a game for the parent who loves that "eyepatch" look on their kids, but can't get them to wear it voluntarily.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombies%21%21%21
Try this first. It seems fun but gets really old really fast. There are better zombie board games out there.
Last Night On Earth and Fury of Dracula could be fun for 2.
Ticket to Ride: Switzerland - Plays only with 2-3 players. It's technically an expansion, so you need some bits form one of the other games (like vanilla TtR), but you ought to have one of those anyway, for more players. If you want an all-in-one 2-player TtR game (that doesn't require bits from other games), there's "TtR: The Nordic Countries," but it's only available in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. It's a good game, too, but not too easy to get.
Battle Line - by GMT games. Awesome little logic card game. A favorite for my crew. The theme may be off-putting, but the gameplay is amazing.
Pick and Pack - by Z-Man games. Another great little game for 2-players only.
Jambo - by Rio Grande games. Shared deck, no deck-building, but feels almost MtG-ish in the combos you can build. Quite fun, and again, 2-player only.
Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper - somewhat morbid subject (shared by the also-great 2-player game "Mr. Jack"), and at first you think, "Rummy? I played that when I was 6."...but once you get in, it's an awesome game. 2-players only.
1960: The Making of the President - Now, this one is a little meatier. It'll take a couple hours to play through (most of the otehr games on this list play in 30-45 minutes max), but if your girl has an interest or appreciation for politics or history, this is a homerun. Great game, but may take some effort to get your head around. 2-player only.
Hera & Zeus - Has a bit of a Stratego-ish feel to it, but it's a ton of fun. Can get quite tense at times (in a good way). 2-player only.
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation - Even more Statego-ish, but also very cool (esp. if you guys are LOTR fans). Each side has completely unique pieces and ways to win the game, but it's not difficult to get your head around. Highly recommended. 2-player only.
...and if you want a 2-player only version of Carcassonne, check out Carc: The Castle.
It is. For a bit. Then the rules questions pop up and the repetiveness sinks in.
As of now I think there is
Zombies!!! Core Game
Zombies!!! Corpse (Military base expansion)
Zombies!!! Mall-walkers (Shopping Mall expansion)
Zombies!!! 4 (which I think was a forest with a log cabin, that had a sub-goal to collect pages of the necronomicon and destroy the curse which has caused the zombies)
then there is also a Zombies college campus expansion and a zombies sewers expansion.
The game itself is pretty much infinitely expandable, if you have enough floorspace and zombie tokens (which you can buy by the bag-full) so if you're looking for a bitching board game, Zombies!!! is it.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
I totally get the theme, and enjoy zombies as much as the next guy, but there isn't much, if any, actual gameplay there. It's largely random, and the game can drag on forever.
This may be true. I wonder if it's based on the number of players. He had about 6 people playing.
I recommend Attika as a quick paced 2-4 player board game. My wife is a Catan addict but when our friends all come over and the idea of a 4+ hour board game gets thrown down most people opt to play warhammer instead
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8051
http://www.waronthetable.com
We forge alliances, betrayal's, steal jeeps, use rocket launchers, etc. etc. etc.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
Obviously, if you are not "into" boardgames (at least as much as she is) then read up on these to make sure you will enjoy them too. If you don't enjoy them and won't play them their value to her will be quite a bit less. Look for video online of people playing them to get a good sense of how it all works in a real game (does boardgamegeek.com have video?), or possibly visit your local game shop and see if you can get a game going to try it.
4 hours for a game of Catan? The only flavor of Catan I can think that would take anywhere close to that would be 6-player Cities & Knights, which isn't a game I'd recommend playing. Vanilla Catan, 4-players, ought to be done in 60-90 minutes max.
I'll be looking through this lot and picking something good. Currently I'm thinking Vanilla Cascscococncoceeecooene looks fun. Or that 1960's president thingy.
I've a while before her birthday to work it out.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
The core game is merely average.
The military base, campus and mall expansion do nothing but make the game longer. They're ridiculously worthless.
4 would have been interesting but the board pieces are completely empty and you get chased around by dogs. It should have been much better.
The only good expansions are 3.5, which is just extra cards and 6 which actually adds some travel options to make the game shorter.
VIDEO!! http://youtube.com/watch?v=cRrwCpviuhY (most games I play 2 player don't take half as long as the 1.5 hour game in this video)
Carcassonne is a good choice. It is relatively inexpensive, easy to learn, and good game overall. Just avoid the expansions, because they turn fun and simple into real time-hog, and add rather clunky mechanics that really don't fit well (IMO, of course) into core rules. And you can't really remove expansions after you have mixed the tiles together.
SE++ Map Steam
/agreed