# Board Games 2015



## SRoper (Dec 14, 2015)

It's been a while since our last board game thread! What games have you been enjoying lately? I'll go first.

Some old favorites:

Dominion
Dominion is still my favorite game. It has some vague medieval theme about expanding a kingdom, but it is really like a cooking game show where each contestant has to make the most excellent dish from ten random ingredients. Sometimes two players will go for a variation on a theme, and those games come down to the one who has the deftest hand with the spice, but the most fun is when the approaches are completely different. If you have the game and enjoy it, I recommend picking up one of the many expansions. They really open up the possibilities.

Pandemic
This is a game that always seems popular with new gamers. Players team up to stop the spread of disease across the world. For many it is their first time playing a cooperative game where everyone plays as a team against the board. It is not all rainbows and unicorns, though--the game is extremely brutal. We lose about half the time on the medium difficulty and are too afraid to try it on hard.

And a new favorite:

Galaxy Trucker
Most board games are turned-based affairs--you do something and play passes to the next player. Others have simultaneous turns where all players act at once. Galaxy Trucker has players frantically grabbing tiles (with one hand) from a pile in the middle of the table and desperately adding them as parts to their pathetic space ship. The second phase of the game is really a scoring round where players see if their ships that are held together with duct tape and baling wire can survive the hazards of space. It is bonkers and requires players to hold on to their precious ships (and its crew and cargo) rather lightly. I find it a blast, but at least one person I regularly game with will not play this with me.


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## kodos (Dec 14, 2015)

I've been itching to try Pandemic, but since it is so brutally hard - I figured I'd wait until the kids are a little older (my oldest is 11, but my youngest is 5). So far our fare has been the typical kinds of games for that age range: Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride. On occasion to satisfy the boys' desire to kill bad guys, we have been playing the Tower Defense board game: Castle Panic, which is also a coop game so it is nice being able to plan our moves together as a family.

I'll definitely have to check out Galaxy Trucker and Dominion - those sound like fun!


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## KMK (Dec 14, 2015)

SRoper said:


> It's been a while since our last board game thread! What games have you been enjoying lately? I'll go first.
> 
> Some old favorites:
> 
> ...



We love Dominion and Pandemic. I am very interested in Galaxy Trucker.

During 2015, we have been hooked on...

Splendor
Acuity
Tigris and Euphrates
Morels (2 Player)
Coup
Lost Cities
Five Tribes
7 Wonders
Hive (2 Player)
Wasabi!

My son and I own and are dying to play Here I Stand, but are having trouble finding the four other people, and the twelve hours we need to play it.


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## Hamalas (Dec 14, 2015)

Ticket to Ride - Europe has become one of our favorites!


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## jambo (Dec 14, 2015)

You can't beat Monopoly. In fact I think that's the only board game I've played in the last 30 years. (actually I've also played chess and Trivia Pursuit)


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## KMK (Dec 14, 2015)

SRoper said:


> Dominion
> Dominion is still my favorite game. It has some vague medieval theme about expanding a kingdom, but it is really like a cooking game show where each contestant has to make the most excellent dish from ten random ingredients. Sometimes two players will go for a variation on a theme, and those games come down to the one who has the deftest hand with the spice, but the most fun is when the approaches are completely different. If you have the game and enjoy it, I recommend picking up one of the many expansions. They really open up the possibilities.



The best expansion is Intrigue. The expansion to avoid is Alchemy.


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## KMK (Dec 14, 2015)

jambo said:


> You can't beat Monopoly.



Monopoly has a great beginning, but the ending is brutal because everyone already knows who is going to win and he always insists you play it out. You might try For Sale just to mix things up.


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## Clark-Tillian (Dec 14, 2015)

The Duke is very intriguing. Apples to Apples is also much fun--as Head Of Household I altered the rules! I made it more of a critical thinking game; the players must "argue" to the judge as to why their card/answer is best, and point out the weaknesses of the other's card/answers and their faulty reasoning in their "defenses". Though it sounds like a killjoy, we actually enjoy it more.


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## Miss Marple (Dec 14, 2015)

Monopoly bores me to tears. But I enthusiastically second Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, Carcassone, and I love Cataan! Will look forward to trying some of the others mentioned above.

Apples to Apples is a great game but always becomes a power struggle in our house as one or the other is always accused of FAVORITISM in their decisions. . . we have too many alphas in this pack.


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## earl40 (Dec 14, 2015)

I personally an thrilled I no longer have to play Candyland now that my sons are older. Ticket to Ride is a good one I enjoy also.


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## Douglas P. (Dec 14, 2015)

My wife and I enjoy the iOS version of ticket to ride. However in the Padgett household Chess is King.

My 7 yr old teaching my 4 yr old the finer intricacies of opening play 



I love this picture, because all other toys are pushed to the side to make room for the Chess board.


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## Paul1976 (Dec 14, 2015)

Dominion is consistently my favorite. My two favorite features are 1) the game is very different each time, depending on card availability and 2) no dice, so there is less luck involved than in many games.

Another one to consider is Race for the Galaxy.


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## KMK (Dec 14, 2015)

My son informed me this afternoon that there are two new Dominion expansions I haven't played. 'Guilds' and 'Dark Matter', or something like that. Apparently, they are very popular.


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## Frosty (Dec 14, 2015)

I played Flash Point: Fire Rescue for the first time the other night. We didn't get to play nearly as long as I would have liked, as it was very enjoyable. I'm not a big board game player and it was fun playing a game where we all worked together as a team.

Has anyone played Flash Point: Fire Rescue?

Ticket to Ride always looks interesting to me, as I'm a geography/history nut. Am I correct in saying that the game involves those two things? It's quite expensive so I've passed on it thus far. Also, how long does it take to play?


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## KMK (Dec 15, 2015)

Frosty said:


> Ticket to Ride always looks interesting to me, as I'm a geography/history nut. Am I correct in saying that the game involves those two things? It's quite expensive so I've passed on it thus far. Also, how long does it take to play?



TTR is easy to learn and about 30 min to play. However, from what I have heard, TTR: Europe is even better than the original.


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## Captain Picard (Dec 15, 2015)

Frosty said:


> I played Flash Point: Fire Rescue for the first time the other night. We didn't get to play nearly as long as I would have liked, as it was very enjoyable. I'm not a big board game player and it was fun playing a game where we all worked together as a team.
> 
> Has anyone played Flash Point: Fire Rescue?
> 
> Ticket to Ride always looks interesting to me, as I'm a geography/history nut. Am I correct in saying that the game involves those two things? It's quite expensive so I've passed on it thus far. Also, how long does it take to play?



Flash Point is great.

I play a lot of Arkham Horror. Some pandemic. I also have several of the releases from GMT games. The latest is "Churchill", which is a three-way "coopetitive" abstraction of the conferences held between Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt during WWII.


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## KMK (Dec 15, 2015)

Captain Picard said:


> Frosty said:
> 
> 
> > I played Flash Point: Fire Rescue for the first time the other night. We didn't get to play nearly as long as I would have liked, as it was very enjoyable. I'm not a big board game player and it was fun playing a game where we all worked together as a team.
> ...



I noticed this recently. Have you played it yet?

--------------------------

Also, I forgot about another game my family has been into during 2015: 

Mr. Jack (2 player)


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## SRoper (Dec 15, 2015)

Rom,
Forbidden Island is by the same designer as Pandemic and might be a bit easier to pick up. I'm really bad at estimating the abilities of kids though. I recently played Formula D with an 8-year-old and he just wanted to shift up into the highest gear and wreck on the curve.

Ken,
Here I Stand looks like an absolute monster! Have you gotten it to the table?

Yes, Dark Ages and Guilds are more recent expansion. You also missed Dominion: Adventures which just came out this year. I haven't played any of them, but Dark Ages looks to be very well received. It is the largest expansion to date with something like 35 base cards and a bunch of other cards like curses that do something besides just taking up space. Very cool looking. Seems to be a more advanced card set.

I can recommend the expansions I own--Prosperity and Hinterlands. Seaside and Cornucopia look great, too. Before the new expansions came out I would just say, "get any expansion that looks cool--except Alchemy."

Ben,
I often hear Ticket to Ride: Europe is better than the original. We certainly enjoy the North America version.

Randy,
Flash Point looks fun! Another cooperative game. I think one advantage of these games is it helps getting children or new player up to speed when you are all on the same team.

Ticket to Ride doesn't try to be a simulator or anything--there are other games that deal with the economics of building railroads. TTR is a light game about making connections between cities. The manual has some nonsense about a contest between wealthy individuals to visit the most cities by rail, but that doesn't really feel like what you are doing. And if you are a real stickler for geography, you might notice that the cities were placed with an aim to make the board look nice rather than their exact locations. It's really fun, though!

Miss M.,
I love the accusation of favoritism when you aren't supposed to know who played what! Are you sure you aren't playing by Kevin's house rules?

Paul,
Race for the Galaxy was on my short list, but my post was already getting long! Love it! Bear to teach, though.

James,
The only GMT game I have is Commands and Colors: Ancients. It looks like it will be on my recommended games list once I get enough plays under my belt. First few games have been quite fun!

Stuart,
As you can see there is a whole world beyond Monopoly! Although Monopoly is sometimes unfairly derided for the numerous bad house rules (money never goes on Free Parking!), roll-to-move is still a problematic game mechanism. Chess is great, though (and Trivial Pursuit is fine if you throw out the board--pointless roll-to-move again!).


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## Timmay (Dec 15, 2015)

I really like Stratego. It's a 2 person capture the flag game with bombs and soldiers. I also play Mancala, which is a two player get more points than the other by placing rocks or marbles in certain holes on the board. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tangleword (Dec 15, 2015)

Newer Games that I have been playing that I like: Concordia, Orleans, Terra Mystica, Castles of Burgandy, Camel Cup. With the kids, there favorites are Forbidden Island and Dessert, and Doodlequest.


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## AThornquist (Dec 15, 2015)

Chess. All day e'er day.

Then Settlers of Catan.


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## toddpedlar (Dec 15, 2015)

Among our family favorites:

Settlers of Catan
Ticket to Ride (especially the iOS version, since it's possible to play many games in an evening instead of just one or perhaps two
Carcassonne 

(of course to the above three, right?) 

add to this:

Killer Bunnies - very silly, but very fun
Bohnanza - a quick and fun German card game

and the best: Agricola. Takes a while to learn, but man is it fun!

For my birthday (Dec 28) this year I expect I'll be receiving Empire Builder, which a former student and friend very strongly recommended, and I'm looking forward to that very different type of train game

One can't miss the card games too - 500 and Euchre (but we live in the midwest and can't help it) and, finally, I play go (or weiqi, or baduk) but can only get the youngest of our girls to play, apart from those I play with online. (anyone play? Look me up as DrQuantum on the usual internet go servers)


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## Captain Picard (Dec 15, 2015)

KMK said:


> Captain Picard said:
> 
> 
> > Frosty said:
> ...



Churchill is great, but on the complex side, e.g., recommended to read the whole rulebook before playing, and then you'll probably take a whole run-through before "getting it".

Scott R: Command and Colors is fun, but I don't own it. A strange quirk of mine is that I tend to dislike hex-based movement.


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## KMK (Dec 16, 2015)

toddpedlar said:


> Killer Bunnies - very silly, but very fun
> Bohnanza - a quick and fun German card game
> 
> and the best: Agricola. Takes a while to learn, but man is it fun!



We have had Killer Bunnies on the shelf for years and have never played it. I am now determined.

Agricola and Twilight Struggle are the two best board games I have played. However, I have heard amazing things about the game Jason mentioned above: Terra Mystica.

-----------------

As for Here I Stand, I am hoping to get some of my son's History major friends to join us for a Saturday.


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## Miss Marple (Dec 16, 2015)

"Miss M.,
I love the accusation of favoritism when you aren't supposed to know who played what! Are you sure you aren't playing by Kevin's house rules?"

No, it's like this:

"You chose that answer because you knew it was Joe's!!!"

"I wasn't sure. Anyway, I thought his answer was best."

"No, you are just choosing his because he chose your stupid answer the last round."

"Now you're mad at me so you didn't choose mine on purpose."

"I did not know it was yours."

"Yes you did, you knew I'd be the only one. . ."

etc.


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## Nate (Dec 16, 2015)

We have a monthly game night with people from church. The group usually ranges from 30-60 people, so we have lots of games going. One of our members has a collection of ~500 games, so LOTS of choices.

My favorites so far:
Camel Up - easy to learn and lots to cheer for as the (short) game progresses.

Colt Express - mild strategy and also an easy learner.

Libertalia - A bit more strategy and short enough to get a few games in in an hour.

Pandemic Legacy - In the legacy edition you have to play a minimum of 12 games (max 24) and each game builds upon the last. Much more strategy built in. We just started our first few games last month. Love the other stand-alone Pandemics too.

Viticulture - Build a wine empire!

Two Rooms and a Boom - not a board game but a great interactive game if you have enough people... the more people you have the more complex it gets. Great collective strategy game pitting two teams against each other. Only takes 10-30 minutes depending on how many people are playing.

Ultimate Werewolf - same as two rooms and a boom

7 Wonders

Alien Frontiers, 7 Wonders, Splendor... all similar types of fun strategy games.

Also ditto to Killer Bunnies... so silly but really fun!


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## SRoper (Dec 16, 2015)

Captain Picard said:


> Scott R: Command and Colors is fun, but I don't own it. A strange quirk of mine is that I tend to dislike hex-based movement.



Isn't that wargaming heresy?



Miss Marple said:


> "Miss M.,
> I love the accusation of favoritism when you aren't supposed to know who played what! Are you sure you aren't playing by Kevin's house rules?"
> 
> No, it's like this:
> ...



Oh, I know exactly how it goes. Still doesn't make any sense!



Nate said:


> Libertalia - A bit more strategy and short enough to get a few games in in an hour.



Wow, I'd like to know how you do that. I traded Libertalia away (for Small World) because I thought it would be a quick game, but it ended up going too long for us.



> Pandemic Legacy - In the legacy edition you have to play a minimum of 12 games (max 24) and each game builds upon the last. Much more strategy built in. We just started our first few games last month. Love the other stand-alone Pandemics too.



Yes! This is one I am hoping to get for Christmas. That and Codenames. For those who have played Pandemic but haven't heard of Pandemic Legacy, it is basically campaign-mode Pandemic. Instead of a game in isolation, each game session can permanently change the board or the way the game is played. The sessions will have you open sealed packets to reveal new rules and components. When you are done with the campaign, you can mount the board on your wall or something. It is one of the few games that has spoilers, so I've tried to avoid reading specifics about it. It is by the designers of Pandemic and Risk Legacy; the latter applies the same design to Risk (my favorite story about Risk Legacy is underneath the box insert is a secret packet that says something like "DO NOT OPEN. EVER.")


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## jwithnell (Dec 16, 2015)

Backgammon. Pente. Hex.
However, as soon as my husband really learns a game he becomes unbeatable


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## Captain Picard (Dec 16, 2015)

I would consider myself a "boardgamer", but maybe not a "wargamer".


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