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Re: Board Games

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 4:23 am
by Arroyos
Harpoon wrote: And Bob, surely the list of games suggested by bottom of the ninth is missing one? How about "The Five Minute Warning" where players once they hear the nuclear sirens go off try to commit the most good deeds or crimes in the time allowed lol
I think you've got a winner, Nigel!

Re: Board Games

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:08 pm
by Fishermen
John wrote:
Speaking of baseball simulation games, here's a couple to keep an eye out for. History Maker Baseball (2013) might be the modern torchbearer for APBA and Strat-O-Matic. There'll be bookkeeping, just like in those older games, but the game seems very robust.
Thanks to John’s recommendation for this game, I have managed to source a copy from an English seller on eBay (for what seemed a very reasonable £32 including postage. Now to figure out what league to do? I fancy a small six-team league with a 40-60 game schedule so I can play out every game without being committed to a thousand odd games lol.

Re: Board Games

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:36 am
by Vic
So, Nigel. Have you received the game yet? Just wondering what you thought - looks interesting.

Re: Board Games

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 1:56 pm
by Fishermen
Yes, I've just received it on Monday, but I'm still chasing my tail catching up on all the writing etc I missed while I was away for the week. It does look better and better the more I look into it with websites and You-Tube but my original hopes of games using real baseball cards appears to be remote as I failed to réalise that with my fading eyesight most cards print the stats too small on the back for me to read lol.

So on the game's website www.plaay.com there is a raft of free stuff that you can print out including the World Series teams from 2018, 17 & 16 so I might try a six-team small league with them to see how feasible bigger leagues are with the timewise. I hope to start that up next week and will probably put a few posts up here to see if anyone's interested in reading about it.

Re: Board Games

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 7:11 pm
by Vic
Excellent! I, for one, would definitely be interested in reading about it!

Re: Board Games

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:10 pm
by Fishermen
That’s great to know Vic, I’ve now lined it up as a six-team league which will feature the Red Sox (2018), LA Dodgers (2018), Houston (2017), Cleveland (2016), Cubs (2016) and the Cincinnati Reds (1975) for no other reason than those are the teams I have. They will probably play a sixty game schedule just to test how long it takes.

I’m slowly settling it up in amongst everything else and I reckon the Opening Day will Monday if all goes well. I’ll set up another thread here in the off-topic to set it all out and publish updates.

Re: Board Games

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 11:57 am
by Lions
I recently picked up a cheap copy of Village. It's an older game with an unusual approach to worker placement. Your workers will die through the course of the game.. and that can be a good thing. I've only played it twice, but do like it quite a bit. My 7 year old son insisted on playing it... he loves games and wants to play everything I have no matter how complicated it is. While I did help him and didn't intentionally try to take things I knew he'd be looking to do, I really didn't expect him to win... :shake:

Re: Board Games

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:15 pm
by Leones
Stumbled into a gem of a game; Wingspan

It has the best written set of rules I have ever seen in a boardgame. Clear concise and error free.

The mechanic is an engine building card game where players play cards representing many different species of birds and use their special abilities and placement in a simple 3-part ecosystem to generate resources for more birds and eventually points.

We've been playing it as a 2 player game and it plays fast. Typically games run 30-45 minutes. You don't have to be a bird lover or expert to enjoy it. Easy to play and challenging to master. The scoring works out nicely to. Scores seem to end up just like school grades. Most games are in the 70-80 pt range but once in a while you get a really good one and get a 90+ It can play solo; and with as many as 5 players.

Teaser, after you play it several times you'll never look at a crow the same way again. :)

Re: Board Games

Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 1:52 am
by Denny
Leones wrote:Stumbled into a gem of a game; Wingspan

It has the best written set of rules I have ever seen in a boardgame. Clear concise and error free.

The mechanic is an engine building card game where players play cards representing many different species of birds and use their special abilities and placement in a simple 3-part ecosystem to generate resources for more birds and eventually points.

We've been playing it as a 2 player game and it plays fast. Typically games run 30-45 minutes. You don't have to be a bird lover or expert to enjoy it. Easy to play and challenging to master. The scoring works out nicely to. Scores seem to end up just like school grades. Most games are in the 70-80 pt range but once in a while you get a really good one and get a 90+ It can play solo; and with as many as 5 players.

Teaser, after you play it several times you'll never look at a crow the same way again. :)
I have played it a couple times now and it is very fun! Our group's house rule is that, when playing a bird card, you must read the little informational blurb about said bird out loud :angelic-green:

Re: Board Games

Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 12:07 pm
by Lions
My daughter got a gift card to a local board game store and after much debating, decided to rent a copy of Wingspan to try it out. She loved it, so we went back to the store to buy it and they told us they had just sold out. We're waiting for a new printing as the store will honor the amount paid to rent (in this case, $10) as part of purchasing that game.

We got to play it three times, and I did like it. It's a great game for her because player interaction is fairly passive, as far as I can tell. There isn't much chance to block, but you do care about what others are doing as it may impact your choice of cards. You can play off of what others are doing, but they can't really do a ton to stop you from doing that if you want to.

This weekend I got to play Concordia again. It was the second time for my friend and first for his wife. I was a bit nervous about her because while she's a very capable gamer, she doesn't really like learning new games and while I think the game is simple to play once you know it, it throws a bunch of things at you when learning it. Once you've got them, it kind of falls into place. We didn't have time for a full game, but things started to click and she ended up liking it. I think it surprised her in that way. I really like this one... it generally gives you tough choices, but they're tough because you usually have several options of things that look equally good. It's not a punishing game, it's generous.

Re: Board Games

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:17 pm
by Lions
There's a new post over at Board Game Geek, BGG for short and which is like Baseball Reference for board games, about the top 100 games of all time based on the number of unique players who've recorded playing those games. They don't include any newer games yet, so it's basically a list of the most popular games. BGG also has a list of the top 100 games based on player ratings, but these tend to get skewed toward newer games people are excited about and more complex games that smaller numbers of people rate very highly. Both are useful approaches to the concept, but if you're new to board gaming, this new list is probably more in line with where you should start than the traditional BGG rankings. Of course, the best way to find good games is to have a friend who can recommend things based on knowing what you like.

Anyway, here's a link to this new list:
BGG Top 100 Based on Popularity Over Time

Personally, I've played 42 of the games on the list, and while I can't say I liked all of them, many are ones I've played over and over.

Re: Board Games

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:39 pm
by Arroyos
Badgers wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:17 pm There's a new post over at Board Game Geek, BGG for short and which is like Baseball Reference for board games, about the top 100 games of all time based on the number of unique players who've recorded playing those games. They don't include any newer games yet, so it's basically a list of the most popular games. BGG also has a list of the top 100 games based on player ratings, but these tend to get skewed toward newer games people are excited about and more complex games that smaller numbers of people rate very highly. Both are useful approaches to the concept, but if you're new to board gaming, this new list is probably more in line with where you should start than the traditional BGG rankings. Of course, the best way to find good games is to have a friend who can recommend things based on knowing what you like.

Anyway, here's a link to this new list:
BGG Top 100 Based on Popularity Over Time

Personally, I've played 42 of the games on the list, and while I can't say I liked all of them, many are ones I've played over and over.
But they left out Scrabble! I start every day with a game of scrabble and a cup of hot tea!

Re: Board Games

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 8:36 pm
by John
Badgers wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:17 pm There's a new post over at Board Game Geek, BGG for short and which is like Baseball Reference for board games, about the top 100 games of all time based on the number of unique players who've recorded playing those games. They don't include any newer games yet, so it's basically a list of the most popular games. BGG also has a list of the top 100 games based on player ratings, but these tend to get skewed toward newer games people are excited about and more complex games that smaller numbers of people rate very highly. Both are useful approaches to the concept, but if you're new to board gaming, this new list is probably more in line with where you should start than the traditional BGG rankings. Of course, the best way to find good games is to have a friend who can recommend things based on knowing what you like.

Anyway, here's a link to this new list:
BGG Top 100 Based on Popularity Over Time

Personally, I've played 42 of the games on the list, and while I can't say I liked all of them, many are ones I've played over and over.
26 played for me. That's a really interesting list, a different way to look at board game popularity. It's not terribly representative of my favorite games, which mostly hail from the 2010s. But I cannot argue that it includes some of the pioneers of board gaming's Golden Age.

If you're just getting started with board gaming, may I make the following suggestions (culled from the list Frank linked to) for top-level gateway games:
  • Carcassonne - Great introduction to tile-laying genre, which make up some of the more superlative lighter board games around.
  • 7 Wonders - A perfect intro to engine-building (which is great prep for tougher games). This was my personal gateway into board gaming!
  • Small World - Our intro to area control. For the more competitive/combative players among us.
  • Istanbul - Your prep for "Euro" games, where luck is marginalized and winning is all about your efficiency of play.
  • Pandemic - Intro to co-op games. For those who prefer to work together toward a common goal.
And when you've gained some more experience and feel ready to take the leap to the next level, try these games (also culled from Frank's list):
  • The Castles of Burgundy - Still one of BGG's highest-rated games after all these years. A step up from Carcassonne.
  • Concordia - One of the cleanest and most accessible examples of a "Euro" game. A step up from Istanbul.
  • Orléans - Combining bag-building elements with classic worker placement, this game is a gem. A step up from Lords of Waterdeep.
  • Twilight Struggle - Two players, playing as the United States and Russia, contest with one another during the Cold War. A step up from Small World.
Bulldozers wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:39 pmBut they left out Scrabble! I start every day with a game of scrabble and a cup of hot tea!
Scrabble is great fun! And if you like word games, may I recommend Paperback as a Scrabble step up? It's representative of the deck-building genre, and it tasks you with forming words from a set of ever-changing cards you draw each round. A real blast!