Board Game General /bgg/

People enjoy the pure deduction game in regular Werewolf/Mafia, but the downside is you need a moderator, a larger-ish group, and it runs a while. ONUW is the game condensed and app moderated so it scratches 90% the itch for those who like the full game.

I've never been a fan of the one night games, but I'll play if that's what everyone else wants. A single, not calculated, slip usually ends with an instant win for the other team, whereas other games make single mistakes more forgiving This is the essence of the game though, that tension is great when it works, but sucks for less experienced players. Codenames is cool, but suffers for not being a real party game. If you don't chose to be engaged, you won't be. This is fine if everyone is in it, but nobody seems to talk about how it's a bad gateway game, which I think isn't good for any party game.

It's a microcosm of bluffing games, with all the best bits thrown in.

- No generic characters, unless you really want to add them in. The default state of gameplay is for everyone to have some special ability. This means you're never "just a lame generic good guy" who has nothing to contribute other than balancing the game.

- You can't run into a situation where you fucked all the shit up forever with a bad play, because the gameplay lasts five minutes, so the most you can do is sillily botch that one round. Compare to games like Avalon where evil can accidentally turn the next half hour into an exercise in futility if they fumble.

- It mostly explains itself via the individual role rules, so no need to explain anything more to newbies other than how to vote and which team is which.

- With Daybreak added in, it's probably the most modular bluffing game there is. You can mix it up however you want, adding fun things like the Curator and P.I. for maximum "who's who" nonsense, or keeping it rather vanilla to make the puzzle more solvable. This also means it's probably exactly the sort of game you, personally, want... in some version of role setups

- Again, it's short, which leads to a million great things, like being able to rope people into at least a couple games of it.

I'm not saying it's the best bluffing game, I'd actually personally put it in third place on that metric. But it's small, clever, variable and resilient to basically infinite replay. That's pretty neat.

Played the old Space Crusade for the first time recently. The translation was weird.

Hey guys, are there any games about politics itself? Like building a government, holding votes and backstabbing your opponents?

Odin's Ravens
yeah I know it's a pasted theme card game, it's still better than a lot of the flavor of the month bullshit that's been coming out

Tammany Hall is reasonably popular for that.
Wheeling and dealing in the immigration boom of the early 1900's.

Secret Hitler is based entirely around this concept - elections are held, sometimes bad policies get enacted just because the rest of the invisible government pushed for them, even if the President and Chancellor are both innocent, which leads to them wrongly being ostracized from future elections, etc.

It is, however, a primarily bluffing based game with an "evil team" (the fascists) and everything, which I don't know if you're necessarily looking for.

Yeah, I don't think you can call secret hitler truly political outside of theme.

What's the appeal of this game to you? Legitimately curious, I'm not a hater of it, but I did find the race was basically entirely chance based and always led to being neck and neck the entire time til the moment one person gets a slightly better draw, and just wins. Where's the deeper levels of it?

I actually have that game. Its a hit at parties, even with people who would normally be ashamed of playing a board game. Its great fun but I was thinking of something a bit less deductive based or at least maybe not as important.

Much obliged!

>tfw starting a game night in a couple of weeks time

What games are you playing?

I'm going to buy a board game for the first time ever should I buy Catan or Carcasonne?

No. Both are enormously outdated.

Well I know I like catan but what would you suggest for an entry level strategy game? something that's not to complicated and has a medieval theme?

How many players do you want?
Medieval europe specific or just historical?
What do you like about catan?

2-4 players is fine
medieval europe or fantasy
I like catan because of its simplicity, trading, and strategy.

>how many games is too many Veeky Forums?

I've got like 40 or so, but I'm big on big complicated ones, so those 40 take up a bunch of space. Got a few that I need to get rid of, but man selling/trading board games is a pain in the arse. Shipping costs generally being the issue.

Mare Nostrum, but you'll need the expansion for two players.

Would Eldritch Horror be a good step up from Betrayal?
I love playing betrayal but I wanna get something meatier than it and preferably without such a random element like haunts

Catan is, but I think Carcassonne is worth a purchase. Then again, I dont know anything about tile placement games, so if somebody could recommend games that do it better, I'd appreciate it

Carcasonne is really good. Introduced my gfs family to it and now they won't stop playing.

>finally tired of betrayal
youtube.com/watch?v=535Zy_rf4NU

And yeah, eldritch horror would probably be fine if you're still interested in a co-op.

Schotten Totten just came in the mail. Really surprised that my FLGS only keeps the Battle Line version of this in stock. I live in a one room apartment so the much, much smaller box was a must.

Word of caution to future generations -

This game does not have a damn insert. Not even a little one. And it's half cards. Which will just fly around unbound. Ugh. Why. Iello has inserts for this box type, they use them in Welcome to the Dungeon. Tuhfgjddf.

Anyway.

Any opinions on the game?

It seems to have three different gameplay modes. Is this the sort of thing where I start right at expert, or is expert actually a lame variant and intermediate makes for a better lubricated game, etc.?

Oi Steev. Look up genital jousting. Introduce it to your gaming parties. It's...interesting, also 5 bucks and supports 8 players

Unsure. Got probably about 5 people coming who have never played a modern boardgames so i'll probably go codenames>avalon/coup>avalon/coup>One night ultimate

>Boardgames can be outdated meme

Codenames has a broader appeal, so those unfamiliar with board games would be more pliable to playing it.

Also: One Night Ultimate Werewolf has no player elimination and a larger amount of quantifiable information. Fuck getting eliminated early and sitting out for the rest of an hour long game.

Already installed.
I'm expecting entertaining reactions from the more conservative and/or insecure attendees.

They're no more immune to being replaced with better things than any other invention, though I'll agree calling them outdated is a little inaccurate.

You watched the All The Games You Like are Bad video, didn't you.

Of course they can be replaced but I dont see why catan or carcassonne are considered outdated.

Especially carcassonne

>Hurr durr Monopoly isn't dated

I hate games that eliminate players with a passion. Who the fuck wants to sit around and watch everyone else play a game?

>dated
Actually, Monopoly is not dated because there's basically very few games that are as horrible. It's a monument of mediocrity and just for that, it's not dated.

Yeah, I don't really like carcasonne because I'm a filthy ameritrash plebian and have trouble discerning the difference between carcasonne and a box of stale wheat thins, but Catan I have an involuntary reflex to pitch into open flames.

Have you considered Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition?

Catan is casual crap but not bad for a gateway.
Dunno how you couldnt love caracsonne though, even my brother who only likes ameritrash loves it but maybe its because you can be a huge fucking dick to anyone else playing if you get the right tiles

Probably just haven't spent enough time with it, and I've got way too damn many filler-length games as-is. Still probably ought to pick up a copy sometime, no one else in my group has it afaik.

>still waiting for Eldritch Horror to be re-edited in my country

One night ultimate werewolf or deception Hong Kong?

I heard ffg games are going out of print, is Eldritch in danger of that? I really should save up before buying any new games right now

I've looked into it but the whole using an external app thing just turns me off of it

I think I read a comment on Leddit that FFG titles aren't going out of print, but are between print runs. I think the company waits for sufficient orders from international distributors before ordering another production run. I may just be talking shit.

I like how everyone talks about how the biggest assault on the senses isn't the visuals, but the sounds.

The idea behind player elimination is that the stakes are raised, and I can get that. In games where it's purposely engineered to only happen 10 minutes from the end, like Secret Hitler, it actually has that intended effect.

No? Never seen any of his stuff. I normally don't watch videos for games.

youtube.com/watch?v=dgTtz6enVaM

Nope, it's a godawful mechanic. How about not being a bitch ass loser, those stakes seem pretty good to me. Anyone who designs a game with player elimination should go practice what they preach and eliminate themselves from existing.

So i got an android phone that's actually quite up to day and I was thinking of playing some board games on it.

Any apps that are worth recommending beside Neuroshima: Hex? Not really interested in playing anything multiplayer just single player against AI opponents.

I only watched the first four minutes but this guy seems to be pretty decent

Hong Kong. Not even close imo

Is Terra Mystica as good as everyone says it is?

If you're a euro fan, yes.

Star Realms
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

>tfw you play games with your bf

Probably Hong Kong. It is both simpler to explain to newbies, and a bit more fun. It's also actually viable to be played at 4p, which is extremely rare for a social deduction game.

The one downside is that it's almost entirely logic and less focused on the social part. The Murderer does need to have a poker face and distract attention from his own cards, but otherwise, it doesn't contain the raw accusations and lying the ONUW does.

...

Gaaaaaaay

T-Theres nothing wrong with being a homo!

I have a bunch of good ones for that.
Patchwork
Le Havre The Inland Port
Agricola All Creatures Big and Small
Star Realms
Pandemic
Glass Road
Carcassonne
Galaxy Trucker
Twilight Struggle
Ticket to Ride
Baseball Highlights 2045
Splendor
Elder Sign
Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Tsuro
Lanterns
Camel Up
Colt Express
Avignon

What do I do if my bf likes games I don't, and feels dejected when I don't play them with him?

Follow up question: What if he overhears me mention they're "bad" at a meetup one time and goes full sadmode?

This is proving to be especially difficult as he now won't play my games, and we end up not playing any except the few we agree on. Which is very few.

help
this is legitimately hurting our relationship

Just fucking play each others games and try your best to see why the other likes it. They're just little board games, it can't be that hard to find a bit of fun in each others shit.

Just play them with him, what games are they? Sometimes you have to do things for other people you dont wanna do

Not completely board game related but, am I the only one who has an obsession with dice? Like everytime I find weird, pretty, unusual or just fun dice, I can help but buy them.
I don't have "many" of them but I have already spent a little fortune on them. Am the only one like this? I recently paid 33 euros (minus shipping, my gf took care of it for me) for 9 d6 imported from Japan.

As long as they are cute...

Yes. The dice in Seasons makes me excited from how big and clanky they are

depends. what does he like? what do you like?

also, if your relationship is on the rocks over a tiff over board games, you're fucked when it comes to actual real-life problems

I mean, I have my roleplay bag stay in my apartment even if I can't roleplay recently and I sometimes toss dices out of my dice bag just for fun. I even bought Zombie Dice and both expansions because the School Bus was a sight to behold. Even when I'm studying, I sometimes pick up dices and have some fun tossing them for the sake of tossing them.

We're talking multiple games of Hive in one sitting, in which he refuses to talk or listen to me talk, and takes 15 minutes per move. PER MOVE, guys.

The worst part is that I easily beat him every time. And don't even enjoy it, because I had to sit stock still and ponder the existential for multiple hours, unable to actually enjoy my boyfriend's company.

He says he likes to get better at the puzzle of it. I told him bga exists to play it online, but apparently it's "not the same" as ruining half my day instead.

You'd think so, but we've been through some shit, fully supporting each other the whole way. Severe injuries, hospitalization, family crises, the works. And board games is where the line finally starts being drawn, apparently.

To be fair, it's really only me. I'm the one with the problem, the one unable to bear what he does in the these situations.

I mean, I don't do anything as annoying as that myself. [citation needed]

But still.

But hive is fun, stop being mean to your boyfriend, he enjoys puzzling the game out. If you're that mad about it then leave him because he deserves someone better.

>also, if your relationship is on the rocks over a tiff over board games, you're fucked when it comes to actual real-life problems

Thisthisthis

Hive used to be one of my favorite games, but he killed it for me. My brain associates it with sensory depravation torture so much now that even when I play with a talkative opponent and a chess timer, as I prefer, I fall into a funk by pure mental association.

Fifteen minutes a move, guys. Hours. And he demands complete silence. Seriously. This is how people are driven to murder sprees. I just want to play a game where I can actually have my boyfriend exist in the same realm as me for the duration of play.

Thanks mangs. From those games I definately wanted to play Star Realms, La Havre, Twilight Struggle, Splendor, Castles of Mad King Ludwig. Might also checkout Pathfinder.

I think I saw a Dominant Species game somewhere.

I've also seen a java-script version of Terra Mystica, wonder how hard would be to get that running without wanting to kill myself.

>board games is where the line finally starts being drawn
At least he's not like my ex. She was hyper competitive, and the sorest loser ever to walk this earth. I even tried playing poorly to appease her, but then on a camping trip she flipped the table on me for the last time. I tossed the game into the campfire and never played anything with her again.

Nothing wrong with that user

Hmmm. How about just set up an ongoing game of hive on a table somewhere and play it over a couple of days. What other games does he like?

If he likes the solving the puzzle, maybe make up a puzzle like that one chess thing? Set it up, then tell him to win in a turn or two. He gets to play Hive, and you can go do something else.

>And he demands complete silence

He's normal outside of board games right? You're painting him in a sort of certain way.

How old are you? Not having the *all* the same interests is fine in a relationship.

If your bf doesn't understand this he just might be young and he has yet to learn that, or he's a man-child and you should bail.

What game was it?

Got two more expansions for Eldritch Horror arriving today, and then playing on Sunday in a group of 6 or so.
Still need Strange Remnants and Dreamlands, but I'm working on it.
After I assemble the entire thing, I'm going to have to get a permanent table set up for Gauntlet mode, where you face all Ancient Ones sequentially. But that is definitely a game to be spread over multiple days.

>tfw new bf
>tfw he's a nerd who like boardgames and nerd stuff

Jesus. Thanks for making me feel kinda better about my own situation

I can kinda understand people that competitive, I do often internally hate myself when I've failed so completely. But, you know. Internally.

Yeah, he's actually suggested that. It'll be a lot easier to do once we've moved into the new house. Currently in a shitty apartment with hardly any tablespace.

I feel like he might take that the wrong way, as he claims that we /are/ bonding when we play together, despite the lack of words. He'd probably feel as alienated as I do, doing that. But it's worth mentioning to him. Thanks.

Yeah, mostly. As normal as anyone. He just has the one or two quirks, the main one being what's at play here: he claims he can't mentally problem solve and talk to people at the same time.

Yeah, we have plenty of different interests, some of them absurdly opposite. And we're both adults. I think gaming really just hits close to home, as it's my biggest passion. Same way his strong political views, even when I agree with them, which is most of the time, create a little friction solely due to how important they are to him.

iwtktf

Well if that's a quirk just become really good at ignoring them. There are no perfect people and god knows you could have met a guy that has worse quirks.

The
> this is legitimately hurting our relationship
should be a cause of concern, though.

I never calculate odds. I always when considering odds roll my pool of dice 3 times and see how good those rolls did. Same effect, but more fun.

The problem with Catan isn't simply that it uses RNG (i.e. Random Number Generation) via dice rolls, but rather that you work out a strategy *BEFORE* rolling the dice and then hope the dice rolls don't screw you over. I've seen very strategic players lose simply because the dice hated them that game, not because they made bad choices. A game that involves building and uses dice that you might like better is 'Roll for the Galaxy'. It uses dice to determine resources / actions for a given turn, but each player rolls their dice first, and then chooses how to allocate them. This means that each player can guarantee that at least one outcome they want will happen (i.e. explore, colonize, produce, ship goods, etc) every round as long as they have dice to roll.

As for Carcassonne - I really like that game for its relative simplicity. Players randomly draw tiles and then choose where to place them following some basic placement rules (like road to road, or city edge to another city tile). Players are attempting to create large cities, long roads, and large fields. Generally, the longer / larger a road, city, or farm field is, the more victory points it's worth when completed. Because of the random tile draw, you can end up with tiles that don't directly help you / or seemingly only benefit your opponent. However a clever player can place those tiles in a way that inconveniences other players - like finishing a road, field, or city your opponent controls before it becomes even larger / worth greater victory points. (The best is placing a tile on the current turn that effectively prevents your opponent from placing a tile later needed to complete a city, etc.) If you are thinking of buying Carcassonne - see if you can find 'Big Box 5' edition somewhere. It gives you the core game and what are arguable the most desirable expansions (Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders, and Hills & Sheep - just skip the 'Meh' Wheel of Fortune) all in one box.

Give Castles of (Ron) Burgundy a look. It doesn't have trading, but it's a straight forward tile / set collection game.

>because you can be a huge fucking dick to anyone else playing if you get the right tiles

Heh! So much this! Nothing like watching your opponent build a nice big city with multiple 'shield' tiles for bonus points - only to place a tile that prevents them from actually completing that city. You strand one of their meeples and screw them out of a bunch of points they were anticipating.