What boardgames have you played recently?

esprcorn

Member
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
875
Reaction score
194
Location
Blacksburg, VA
Country
llUnited States
How is Pathfinder as a solo game? I find that Mage Knight is the best solo game I've EVER run across... any comparison?
 

rdw5150

it's just a game
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
8,288
Reaction score
941
Location
Erie, PA
First name
Roger
Country
llUnited States
by solo do you mean one player or one character in the game? PF would be tough with only one character.

I do not mind PF solo, I just make all the decisions. I have not decided what my final party will be (how many characters and which ones) for my campaign when I start it.

I probably like PF better as I am a DnD guy. Mage Knight is probably more complicated and deeper though.

I need to dig Mage Knight out again soon.

Peace

Roger
 

Sully

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2003
Messages
1,156
Reaction score
244
Location
Mpls, MN
Country
llUnited States
Just bought a copy of Red Winter - my first non-ASL board game in over 30 years. It has company-sized units and appears to have a very elegant combat system. Looking forward to playing some scenarios solo to start.
 

RobZagnut

Elder Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2003
Messages
8,814
Reaction score
1,378
Location
USA
Country
llUnited States
How is Pathfinder as a solo game? I find that Mage Knight is the best solo game I've EVER run across... any comparison?
Mage Knight is a better solo game as it is longer and more encompassing, especially if you have the awesome expansion. Pathfinder is a fun co-op that takes 90 minutes tops. It's strictly a card game where you explore a card at a location and see what happens. Rinse and repeat. This is fun when you're working together with 2-3 others, but I don't see it being as fun solo.
 

Victor

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2003
Messages
989
Reaction score
104
Location
Bolshoy Dom
Country
llUnited States
Mice and Mystics with the family. Daughter has made it an official obsession. Now, if my eyes were still good enough to paint those dang mice...sigh...
 

RobZagnut

Elder Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2003
Messages
8,814
Reaction score
1,378
Location
USA
Country
llUnited States
Been thinking about this one - now I'll have to pick it up!
I have Forbidden Island and consider it a children's game or an introductory game to those who haven't tried a euro. But, if your group is more seasoned than you would be better served to go with Pandemic. It's the same game, but better and deeper with more strategy options. Plus, it has the Into the Brink expansion if you want to add more players and different roles.

FI got stale after a couple of plays. But I still use it to introduce games to children or 'those' adults who assume all games are roll & move like Monopoly, Clue or Sorry. The other intro games I use are Settlers, Alhambra and Citadels.

* I hate Carcassonne and Dominion with a burning passion, but some use them as intro games.
 
Last edited:

rdw5150

it's just a game
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
8,288
Reaction score
941
Location
Erie, PA
First name
Roger
Country
llUnited States
I have Forbidden Island and consider it a children's game or an introductory game to those who haven't tried a euro. But, if your group is more seasoned than you would be better served to go with Pandemic. It's the same game, but better and deeper with more strategy options. Plus, it has the Into the Brink expansion if you want to add more players and different roles.

FI got stale after a couple of plays. But I still use it to introduce games to children or 'those' adults who assume all games are roll & move like Monopoly, Clue or Sorry. The other intro games I use are Settlers, Alhambra and Citadels.

* I hate Carcassonne and Dominion with a burning passion, but some use them as intro games.
Is Pandemic Co-Op?

Peace

Roger
 

Cpt Homp

Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2012
Messages
133
Reaction score
18
Location
Newark, DE
Country
llUnited States
I have Forbidden Island and consider it a children's game or an introductory game to those who haven't tried a euro. But, if your group is more seasoned than you would be better served to go with Pandemic. It's the same game, but better and deeper with more strategy options. Plus, it has the Into the Brink expansion if you want to add more players and different roles.

FI got stale after a couple of plays. But I still use it to introduce games to children or 'those' adults who assume all games are roll & move like Monopoly, Clue or Sorry. The other intro games I use are Settlers, Alhambra and Citadels.

* I hate Carcassonne and Dominion with a burning passion, but some use them as intro games.
If you like Pandemic, try picking up Forbiden Desert. It's MUCH harder than FI, and has a much better feel of survival and exploration. It's a very cool game. It really forces the players to work together and get creative about staying alive.
 

Bill Cirillo

Elder Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2005
Messages
1,715
Reaction score
815
Location
Newport News, VA
Country
llUnited States
After spending two days playing and sucking at ASL at Winter Offensive, I decided to branch out on Saturday and Sunday (plus six of us stayed Sunday night into Monday this year for a little extra gaming).

On Saturday morning, I finally gave in after five years of pressure from my buddy Ryan Schultz to give the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War (GCACW) a try. It wasn't that I had never been interested, but ASL was always a higher priority for me to play. To say that I had been missing a great game system is an understatement as I had a total blast running around the Virginia countryside for a total of three games, two from the new Stonewall Jackson's Way (reprint) and one from the new All Green Alike that is contained in the Stonewall Jackson's Way II module. Good times and great opponents in Ryan (who was running the Saturday mini-tourney), Chris Anthony, and Will Weissner. I wanted to congratulate Ryan on running two full days of GCACW at this years WO!

Given that I had so much fun on Saturday, I played a another game of GCACW on Sunday morning in a re-match against Will Weissner in a scenario from Stonewall In the Valley. Another great and fun game.

Also, somewhere along the way between Saturday and Sunday, I managed to get in games of Railroad Tycoon, Pax Porfiriana, Ra (twice), 1775: Rebellion, and maybe the funnest, silliest game I have ever played: Rampage with Dan Dolan, Pat Deller and Jeremy Maciejewski.

Worst played game of the weekend: Ra (I have just come to suck at this game!)

Below: Rampage "the video" :D (and yes, that is a Humvee sitting on the monsters head, about to be "flicked")

[video=youtube;fBnq-FRESho]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBnq-FRESho&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
Last edited:

Robin Reeve

The Swiss Moron
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
19,593
Reaction score
5,557
Location
St-Légier
First name
Robin
Country
llSwitzerland
I would not compare Pandemic and FD.
The latter is a nice, tense and light game. Pandemic is heavier.
FD is a good gateway to coop games.
I like it for that, precisely.
I played Pademic some years ago and liked it too, but did not purchase it.
When it comes to "serious", rules heavy coop, I prefer the Arkham Horror, desperating, theme.
 

RobZagnut

Elder Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2003
Messages
8,814
Reaction score
1,378
Location
USA
Country
llUnited States
I would not compare Pandemic and FD.
The latter is a nice, tense and light game. Pandemic is heavier.
FD is a good gateway to coop games.
I like it for that, precisely.
I played Pademic some years ago and liked it too, but did not purchase it.
When it comes to "serious", rules heavy coop, I prefer the Arkham Horror, desperating, theme.
???

Not sure how you CAN'T compare them.

They're by the same designer, both are co-ops and use the EXACT same mechanism; turn over cards to see what locations get affected and pull cards and when certain bad things happen, shuffle those same cards back into the deck, so bad things happen to the same locations sooner and over again.

By the way, on bggeek's Top Games, Pandemic is rated #49 while Forbidden Desert is #211. But, back to my original statement to Pete; if you're playing with children or introducing games to new gamers than FI or FD would probably be better, but if your group is into heavier games than Pandemic is the much better choice.
 
Last edited:

Robin Reeve

The Swiss Moron
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
19,593
Reaction score
5,557
Location
St-Légier
First name
Robin
Country
llSwitzerland
I should have been more explicit.
I would not compare them on the light/heavy perspective : a gateway, light game is different from a more elaborated one.
If I just have an hour to spend playing, I will bring FD on the table.
That's all that I was trying to say,
 
Last edited:

wrongway149

Forum Guru
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Messages
9,403
Reaction score
2,099
Location
Willoughby, Ohio
Country
llUnited States
Yes, and there's a lot of replayability.
I have Pandemic, have played it several times and agree. Great game for game players. But I always like to have a few games for those friends in my 'other ' circles, who find Mille Bornes a bit of a brain strain.
 

wrongway149

Forum Guru
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Messages
9,403
Reaction score
2,099
Location
Willoughby, Ohio
Country
llUnited States
Today at the Cleveland Boardgamer's Club meeting, I played:
D & D - Lords of Water Deep- I agree this is a great 'worker placement' game. I had not played before, but felt comfortable with my Grok level after just a couple of turns (We even played with two expansions). Just misreading an intrigue card on the last turn messed up my entire plan for the end game-but I was in it up until then. :(

I would definitely play this one again any time. The game flowed nicely even in the later turns (where some of these types of games seem to bog down)

The played 'Alhambra'. It was OK for a quick filler. A tile placement dealio, typical of Queen games

Finished with 'Terra Mystica', which was a bit more complex and hard to really understand the interplay of the different paths to points and strategies the first time through. Does look like a lot of replay value, though.
 

wrongway149

Forum Guru
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
Messages
9,403
Reaction score
2,099
Location
Willoughby, Ohio
Country
llUnited States
My buddy Eric was up visiting from Salt Lake and we played a 4 player game of Tzolkin: The Mayan Calendar. Excellent worker placement game where you must either place or pull them on you turn, not both. It has 6 gears that spin your workers and place them on areas that give you stronger or better resources the longer you stay on the gears. Tough decisions and various avenues to victory. Great game!

.
Had a chance to get in that one at another table, but chose ' Terra Mystica' instead. I'll try Tzolkin next time .
 

dlazov

Elder Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Messages
7,991
Reaction score
1,377
Location
Toledo, Ohio
First name
Don
Country
llUnited States
Jon (witchesbottles) and I played AH Turning Point Stalingrad for a couple of hours last week. We will try to play more this next week. Its a fun old game and a blast to play, we suck at the rules compared to ASL but we still had a blast.
 

Jazz

Inactive
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Messages
12,188
Reaction score
2,739
Location
The Empty Quarter
Country
llLithuania
Got a chance to have a gaming binge a couple of weekends ago when Steve Pleva and Pharm Bouy showed up for a long weekend. Multiple games of Pax Porforiano, Rise of Empires (Martin Wallace), and Polis were played. All games new to us here in the Intermountain West. We also got in a good game of Power Grid on a new map (Korea) and a game (or two?) of Eclipse.
 

iamspamus

Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2007
Messages
689
Reaction score
20
Location
Sawtry, UK
Country
llUnited States
It's all by PBEM, but I'm playing Here I Stand, Empires in Arms and will soon be starting up Europa Universalis. This is why I like ASL campaigns. (Starting up Ozerekya Breakout on Wednesday, with my setup on Monday.)
 
Top