What boardgames have you played recently?

DukeofLazy

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Been playing Game Of Life Adventure Edition with the kids, plus Wings Of War with my boy and marathon games of Carcasonne with everyone. Tried Niagara and I'm hugely disappointed, waste of money. What next for the family?
Not sure of ages for your kids Ian, but my boys are 8 & 13 and we played Smallworld this weekend. The kids grokked the game quickly and it can be played in about a hour {helps with shorter attention spans} and its lots of fun. Since you mentioned Carcasonne, it may be interesting to them. I'm just glad I can get them away from the videogames, at least a little bit.
 

Robin Reeve

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Playing Talisman solo (having two heroes facing one another)... and Thunderstone vs bots on the Facebook application.
 

Paul_RS

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Just Played 'Hungarian Nightmare' (Seige of Budapest) from ATO. Area movement with a few different mechanics to normal area movement games. Overall a good game, 12 pages of rules so nothing too onerous.
 
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Paths of Glory, GMT Games

Really really well thought out and reasonably balanced WW1 Grand Strategic game.
 

mgmasl

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Just finished a 1689 Campaign of Remeber Limerick!, and looking to start the full CG.
 

'Ol Fezziwig

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Paths of Glory, GMT Games

Really really well thought out and reasonably balanced WW1 Grand Strategic game.
Fun game, yes....rather heavy handed script and some real issues regarding actual semblance to WWI. Still, it being a game, it's a fun one, though one has to watch out for sharks in the surf.

On topic, playing Budapest '45, a Panzer Campaign from HPS.
 

wrongway149

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This morning played " "Ticket to Ride Europe" Lagged behind most of the game, but while the other four players were knocking each out other trying to get 'longest track', I was punching tickets. Pulled into second, almost won.
Then played some Sequence and a new one : 'Rattus". Pretty solid , might even buy that one if I get the chance .
 

JMcL63

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In the last few days I've played another couple of games of Up Front, a game of Commands & Colors: Ancients, and a game of CC: Resistance. They were some of the closest and most eventful games I've played in a while. :D
 

MrP

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Just been surfing for something new to play with the kids after the suggestion of Smallworld - to be fair I just looked at a kiwi online boardgame shop and clicked on games I liked the look of so no heavy research was involved! What are the thoughts on..
Jamaica - a pirate racing game, looks like it'd appeal to my youngest (7yo)
Pandemic - I like the look of that one to be honest, looks like something my 11yo would like
Or any others?

Ian
 

Count_Zero

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Just been surfing for something new to play with the kids after the suggestion of Smallworld - to be fair I just looked at a kiwi online boardgame shop and clicked on games I liked the look of so no heavy research was involved! What are the thoughts on..
Jamaica - a pirate racing game, looks like it'd appeal to my youngest (7yo)
Pandemic - I like the look of that one to be honest, looks like something my 11yo would like
Or any others?

Ian
I can vouch for Pandemic (and it's expansion, On the Brink). My family and I play it all the time. It's cooperative and team-building in that either you all win and wipe out the 4 diseases or you all lose. It requires a decent amount of planning because it can get REALLY nasty REALLY fast. Extremely fun game.

Bang! and Dominion (with Intrigue and Hinterlands expansions) are also some fun ones I've played recently. My wife likes Bang! better and I'm more of a Dominion guy. Different strokes and all...
 

larth

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Warhammer 40K (with my kids)
Amoeba (w/ family)
Bridge (w/ relatives)
Settlers of Catan: Aufbruch der Händler (map depicts Europe) (w/ friends)
Those Pesky Humans (w/ family)
 

Bill Cirillo

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Spent last evening playing a 6-player game of Dominant Species. The "Birds" flew away with the final victory after successfully migrating to enough hexes to avoid a pesky late game "Insect" surge. I've played this game 4 times now and have enjoyed each playing as they have all had fairly different "feels" to them given the large number of variables involved in the game. Plus, while the artwork and game components are individually quite "simple," the game play combines them together in both a highly functional and really enjoyable to look at collage of colors.

So, for those into a truly "dog eat dog," take no prisoner, mother nature is there to screw you over type of gaming experience, I would highly recommend this game.
 

JMcL63

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Spent last evening playing a 6-player game of Dominant Species. The "Birds" flew away with the final victory after successfully migrating to enough hexes to avoid a pesky late game "Insect" surge. I've played this game 4 times now and have enjoyed each playing as they have all had fairly different "feels" to them given the large number of variables involved in the game. Plus, while the artwork and game components are individually quite "simple," the game play combines them together in both a highly functional and really enjoyable to look at collage of colors.

So, for those into a truly "dog eat dog," take no prisoner, mother nature is there to screw you over type of gaming experience, I would highly recommend this game.
OK Bill, I've just got to ask to satisfy my curiosity: have you ever tried the game which made Chad Jensen as a game designer, namely Combat Commander? Or have you just been too busy designing, developing and playtesting Festung Budapest? :)
 

Bill Cirillo

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Nope, I've never tried Combat Commander. With two kids into sports, a house with a yard, and a full-time job, my gaming hours are somewhat limited, so since ASL meets all of my WWII tactical gaming needs I tend to spend the remainder of my gaming time playing other types and/or period of games.

My regular gaming opponent and prime FB playtest partner in crime, Sean Deller, noted a few years back that he had a mancave filling up with games that weren't getting played, so Sean and I and a few of the more regular gamers in the area made a commitment to start picking off a new game every month or so. Since then we have played a variety of styles (CDG, block, Euro, etc.) and periods (WWI, WWII, Russian Civil War, ACW, etc.), but still (IMO) haven't even scratched the surface of what we own.

So, I doubt I will ever get around to playing Combat Commander any time soon more from a "I have too many other games that I haven't played that are higher on my list" perspective than for any other reason.





OK Bill, I've just got to ask to satisfy my curiosity: have you ever tried the game which made Chad Jensen as a game designer, namely Combat Commander? Or have you just been too busy designing, developing and playtesting Festung Budapest? :)
 

JMcL63

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Thanks for your reply Bill. I don't have problems with time. My main issue as a recent returnee to ASL is finding local opponents for FtF play (I'll get into VASSAL soon enough I guess, but there's still nothing quite like pushing counters around on the boards). I've got several pals with whom I play various tactical and strategy games- military/historical or Euro-style, but none of them have interest in WW2 sufficient to take on ASL. One of them is a big fan of Combat Commander though and we've been playing it regularly for 5 years now. It's a lot of fun, and has several features which show the advances in games design since the original days of SL/ASL. But: there are no tanks; and it lacks the all-encompassing breath of coverage and sheer depth of detail which is ASL's hallmark. And that's why I was drawn back to ASL in then end. :)
 

RobZagnut

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Played more Puerto Rico and Ticket to Ride: Europe. Going to Seattle for 4 days to visit Rich Jenulis and Janice. They're going to teach me how to play Homesteaders, Ora et Labora, Castles of Burgandy and Vinhos. Plus, Rich and I are going to play a couple of games of ASL in preparation of the Enfilade ASL tourney the following weekend in Olympia.
 

Bill Cirillo

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One of the nice things about living in an area rich in career military personnel and technology "geeks" is a higher number of potential FtF opponents. I work at a NASA facility with a fair number of gamers (I'm in a systems analysis department which helps) that play mostly Euro-type games, while the majority of the ASL players in the area are current or retired military. In fact, I've never played (or even downloaded) a VAASL game as I already turn down opportunities to game FtF due to lack of gaming time.

Things should change a bit in the next couple of years as my oldest finishes up his college swimming and my youngest leaves for college in the fall. This new found freedom may be offset somewhat with a number of my regular opponents starting families of their own. My dream is to start travelling to more ASL tourneys while increasing my weekly FtF gaming as I too really enjoy the experience of pushing the old school analogue pieces around a board much more than any type of computer based gaming. This is especially true given that many more new and/or recent games are really graphically rich and their components are simply beautiful. I'm especially drawn to some of the artistry used in the Clash of Arms products as well several other games/publishers.


Thanks for your reply Bill. I don't have problems with time. My main issue as a recent returnee to ASL is finding local opponents for FtF play (I'll get into VASSAL soon enough I guess, but there's still nothing quite like pushing counters around on the boards). I've got several pals with whom I play various tactical and strategy games- military/historical or Euro-style, but none of them have interest in WW2 sufficient to take on ASL. One of them is a big fan of Combat Commander though and we've been playing it regularly for 5 years now. It's a lot of fun, and has several features which show the advances in games design since the original days of SL/ASL. But: there are no tanks; and it lacks the all-encompassing breath of coverage and sheer depth of detail which is ASL's hallmark. And that's why I was drawn back to ASL in then end. :)
 

rdw5150

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Hello!

Played 1989 over the weekend, GMTs new CDG covering the end of the cold war. It was fun, though I like the narrative of Twilight Struggle better.

Peace

Roger
 

wrongway149

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Played more Puerto Rico and Ticket to Ride: Europe. Going to Seattle for 4 days to visit Rich Jenulis and Janice. They're going to teach me how to play Homesteaders, Ora et Labora, Castles of Burgandy and Vinhos. Plus, Rich and I are going to play a couple of games of ASL in preparation of the Enfilade ASL tourney the following weekend in Olympia.
I kinda liked Homesteaders the one time I've played it. Nice and quick once you get it down.
 
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