Board Game Night!

[jansolee66]

My buddy brought some modern card games over the holidays (I know they're not technically board games but I'll mention them). The first game we played was "Fluxx", which I found to be mediocre, but we were only playing with 2 players and I suspect having more people involved makes it better. We then enlisted my sister to join us for a game of "Saboteur" which was actually very enjoyable.

Later on in the evening, we played my all-time favourite board game called "Hotels". It's a monopoly style game where you actually add buildings to your hotel as you play. It's been my favourite game since I first played it in the late 80's (as it turns out, it's actually quite rare as Milton Bradley only produced one run of it in 1987).

[wildbil52]

Fluxx is very popular.  My wife and I have Monty Python Fluxx and it's decent enough as a warm up game but I'm with you, it's not my favorite.  Never played Hotels, I'll have to hunt it down.

[singlebanana]

I received Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catania for Xmas. Really excited about digging into both of those.

[wildbil52]

I received Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catania for Xmas. Really excited about digging into both of those.

Both excellent games.  It really helps to play Settlers with someone who has played before but it's not necessary.  Ticket to Ride is still the best gateway designer board game.

[InvadErGII]

Over the past week I've had the privilege of introducing a handful of people to the absolutely amazing (and probably NSFW) Cards Against Humanity. If you've never played this, think Apples to Apples but astonishingly inappropriate. It's not for everyone but it's some of the most fun I've ever had playing a party game.

[wildbil52]

I like how you say "probably" not safe for work.  It is an awesome party game.  Totally inappropriate, and if you don't mind printing and cutting out the cards yourself, it's free.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Girlfriend got me Space Fluxx, I've played other ones before and I guess she thought I liked it. I'm with you guys though and not crazy about it.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

"Probably" not safe for work? We could get away with it in the office.

Roommates got a ton of board games for Christmas this year. They got:

Pandemic
Cards Against Humanity (Both expansions...original doesn't come in stock until January 5th)
Smash Up
Nightfall
All expansions for Cosmic Encounters

I've yet to play the Cosmic Encounters expansion, and we haven't tried Nightfall yet (trying it after this post).

Pandemic
4-player co-op experience where you are all working together to find the cures for the 4 major diseases of the world. Even on the Novice level, it's a very intense experience that often results in failure. We often either find ourselves being overrun by outbreaks and running out of infection cubes, or focusing too much on keeping infections down that we run out of Player Cards. Since I saw that Bil got the expansion, we're looking into picking it up as well. Everyone wants me to play the Bioterrorist, since I love playing tactical games and I have no problem with everyone against me.

Smash Up
Deck-building game for up to 4 players, though you can combine 2 sets for 8 players. The basic premise is that there are 8 separate decks, each with a different theme - Aliens, Dinosaurs, Ninjas, Pirates, Sorcerers, Tricksters, Zombies, Robots. You pick two and combine them, and try to conquer the various bases. Each base has a value (VP) for the winner, runner-up, and third place person, as well as text for the action when the base is scored. Bases are scored when you exceed the power total, which is calculated based on the power of the minions placed on the base. Each turn, you can play a minion and an action card, and draw two cards at the end of your turn. I've won every game except one so far, where we tied because I failed to read the base text properly numerous times, but Zombie/Robot is utter destruction. There seem to be some errata issues with Pirates, but other than that, it's a great pick-up game.

Cards Against Humanity
Adult version of Apples to Apples. 'nough said that hasn't been said here.

CoolGames, one of our local distributors, just built their flagship store next to the office here, so I'll likely be picking up quite a few more board games now. My co-workers have also been bringing in async card and board games for the office so we can make moves between working and get a game or two completed during the day. Path of Tsuro is an interesting one we've been playing, and I'll make a write-up on that one soon. Also been playing the staples of Carcassone and Fluxx.

[wildbil52]

Pandemic
4-player co-op experience where you are all working together to find the cures for the 4 major diseases of the world. Even on the Novice level, it's a very intense experience that often results in failure. We often either find ourselves being overrun by outbreaks and running out of infection cubes, or focusing too much on keeping infections down that we run out of Player Cards. Since I saw that Bil got the expansion, we're looking into picking it up as well. Everyone wants me to play the Bioterrorist, since I love playing tactical games and I have no problem with everyone against me.

Coolest thing about the bio-terrorist is that they are mostly invisible to the rest of the group.  They have a pad where they write down their starting city and keep track of their movement.  When they fly from one city to another, they annouce "the terrorist was spotted in "whatever airport they flew from"  They also become visible when they infect cities with additional cubes. 

Also, as if the game wasn't hard enough already, the exp adds a virulent strain that can do more damage, another epidemic card for a 7 epidemic legendary game, and a 5th disease that behaves differently than the others.  It's my favorite game that I lose more often than I win.

[hXd]

I have a game called Seven Card Samurai that I haven't even gotten a chance to play with anyone. Anyone here play it?

[jansolee66]

I really, really like Pandemic... I also very much enjoy Cards Against Humanity (though some cards are a little bit topical and will be dated soon). A very similar game I played about a decade before was called Dirty Minds. I preferred that one because it required a bit more creativity on the player's part.

[jansolee66]

I just tried to buy my own copy of Hotels (the one I played over the holidays belongs to my sister). I thought I made a serious commitment (tossed out a proxy bid that put me in for $70 with shipping). I wasn't even close. It sold for $125.50 + $12.00 shipping. It was kinda depressing.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Played a card game called "The Resistance" which was pretty fun. Sort of a tricky subterfugal deductive reasoning type deal. Only suggest it if you have a 5-6+ group to play with though.

[wildbil52]

Played a card game called "The Resistance" which was pretty fun. Sort of a tricky subterfugal deductive reasoning type deal. Only suggest it if you have a 5-6+ group to play with though.

I have a few friends who are loving the Reststance lately.  I think I'm playing it on Wednesday night.

[InvadErGII]

It's funny what a $50 board game shop gift card will do to a person...

I have been completely obsessed with board gaming for the last few months and often neglecting RFG in the process. Thank god this thread exists or I'd have nothing to talk about.

Lately, I have been really into Kingsburg (a really cool dice placement game), the above-mentioned Pandemic and Galaxy Trucker, which might be the best failure simulator I know.