What boardgames have you played recently?

wrongway149

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Try Mage Wars some time. It is simply better in every facet of gaming than MTG. It's not collectable, you play on a board, so it's extremely tactical, deliciously so! You build your spell book any way you want, you even get two spell books that hold the cards in the base set, you can choose any 2 cards to play per turn, so you're never screwed by a bad draw. A base set is $39, but if you buy 2 sets you can play a 4 player game with 2 teams or a 4 player free-for- all. Each Mage has their own unique abilities and they release new Mages with great cards for each of the mages about every 3 months.

I consider it the ASL of the fantasy world, because of the level of strategy involved. The combat system is easy, but makes a lot of sense. And the creatures, conjugations and enchantments that you cast and move around on the board adds to the tactical level of play.

I cannot recommend Mage Wars highly enough.
Thanks for that, Rob. Can't make another ASL-sized commitment to something like MtG, but will definitely see if I can play this one at the club some time.
 
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Cpt Homp

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I've recently got some of my friends in my gaming group into the gamers civil war brigade series. They are mostly Euro/Ameritrash style gamers, so it's fun teaching them some hex and counter stuff. We just spent Friday evening and most of Saturday playing April's Harvest, with two guys on the Confederate side, and two on the Union. We split up the armies, and command, with one player writing the orders for units, the other carrying the orders out.

Lots of fun as you see your partner groan looking at your orders, and you are surprised as they carry them out completely differently than you would have!

Also, I got in a game of Archipelago, which was a lot of fun, I really would like to try it again soon.
 

Delirium

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Also, I got in a game of Archipelago, which was a lot of fun, I really would like to try it again soon.
Archipelago is excellent. Very inventive, semi-co-op with a (potential) traitor mechanism and hidden objectives, all overlaid on a explore, expand and exploit game. I've played it 15-20 times and like it a lot. A military themed expansion is in the works, apparently.
 

Cpt Homp

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It was funny, it was our groups first game, and despite advice, I left the seperatist card in the deck, AND I drew it. Another player was pretending to be the seperatist in a ploy to make the rest of us panic into doing all the heavy lifting saving the island. He unwittingly ended up helping me quite a bit, and by the time he figured out what was what, it was pretty much too late.

I'm going to give it another go this Tuesday, I'm really looking forward to it.

Archipelago is excellent. Very inventive, semi-co-op with a (potential) traitor mechanism and hidden objectives, all overlaid on a explore, expand and exploit game. I've played it 15-20 times and like it a lot. A military themed expansion is in the works, apparently.
 

RobZagnut

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Archipelago is excellent. Very inventive, semi-co-op with a (potential) traitor mechanism and hidden objectives, all overlaid on a explore, expand and exploit game. I've played it 15-20 times and like it a lot. A military themed expansion is in the works, apparently.
La la la la la la la la, I'm not listening!

I don't want or need another excellent game. I have too many already and haven't played many of them.
 

Cpt Homp

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La la la la la la la la, I'm not listening!

I don't want or need another excellent game. I have too many already and haven't played many of them.
You just need a board game night. I hardly ever hold onto a NON-wargame without playing it for very long, since I have a weekly game night. We typically go through 2-4 games in an evening. Things sort of rise to the top on their own. We try and set aside a weekend every month or two for bigger stuff (I want to try a game of Flat Top next!)
 

iamspamus

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As usual, I'm playing Here I Stand PBEM. I'm also in an Empires in Arms PBEM game and in a week or two will be starting Europa Universalis. As well as playing a bit of Civ V.
 

KED

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No Elst yet. May break out some old AH games like Starship Troopers or Ceasar Alesia. That or back to the Total War series.
 
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Delirium

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I've got a 3 three player online game of Through the Ages going on. It's my 5th game of TTA and I'm still not sure whether I really like it.

I played MMP's excellent Warriors of God last night. A great game, although my English totally overwhelmed the French in the Lion in Winter scenario. Afterward, my opponent, my wife and I played a three player game of card co-op Hanabi, last year's deserved Spiel des Jahr winner. We scored 21 out of 25 - middle of the road.
 

wrongway149

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Had a little 'game night' with the GF, her sister and brother-in-law. As they are not really game-players, I kept it simple with a 'dice game' theme. Starting with 'Farkle', then 'Bang:the dice game" then a little 'King of Tokyo' and closed out with a round of 'Perudo' . All around, a nice four hours.
 

chris_olden

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I think the scenario we played on Saturday turned into a
game of Diplomacy!! Complete with treachery/backstabbing
and general untrustworthy-ness by all involved!!
:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 

KED

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I found an article in an old General on how to play solitaire Starship Troopers. I have the expansion stuff too from another General. I have the game somewhere......looking.....?
 

Taschenschieber

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Just picked up a used copy of Valkyria Chronicles, which was not as easy as it sounds. I searched through six shops here at Dresden without any results and then decided to go to Leipzig on a hunch because the GameStop there might or might not have a copy (online shopping and the PlayStation Network didn't bring any useful results).

It seems to be a really fun game so far. It's about a low-fantasy version of World War II where people have spiky blue hair and have their own tanks standing around in their barns, with the gameplay being an interesting mixture of Turn Based Strategy and Third Person Shooting.

The reason I'm babbling about this game is that, for me, it connects with my ASL experience in two ways: First, it's the first game where I have the feeling my experiences with ASL help me and I can transfer what I have learned (though it is not much because, you know, I suck at ASL). And second, it matches what happens in my head during an ASL match really well. You control a squad of soldiers plus a single tank in this game, so it's essentially the level below ASL.

Funny how pseudorealistic wargames and story-focused JRPGs can mirror each other ;) So far, the game is not what I had expected but I like it.
 

wrongway149

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Played some more fluffy stuff at the Club meeting yesterday: Started with 'No Thanks' and the 'Cartagena 2" - a great multi-player game with mechanics not more complicated than Candy land + Chutes and ladders, but much more complicated strategy and planning.

EDIT: Played my first game of 'Small World' as well . Not bad.


Then did a round of Seven Wonders which I still suck at and don't care a whole lot for, but at least this time I wasn't the one holding the game up and it went quickly.

Finished with two-player games of 'Garden Dice' and ' Smash Up' both of which I bought recently but hadn't played yet. Both also seem like they would be much better games with more than than two players.

So today, a playtest of a nice meaty ASL scenario!
 
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Robin Reeve

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About a week ago, I played with my son and a friend of his at Talisman, with High Grounds, Dungeon, City (+ Reaper and Frost mini-)expansions.
A very nice time, with nasty player interactions.
Of course, no high level strategical play - but one must know his objectives.
 

Houlie

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Played Cuba Libre and Liberte! on Friday night. Loads of fun on both -- a four- and six-player games, respectively. Saw the guys play 1775: Rebellion (a four-player game) when I got there. Looked so fun that I ordered it. Light, fun and fast.
 

Robin Reeve

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I have been playing Pathfinder the Adventure Card Game for some weeks now, and I am having a blast.

Solo works very well, and my two characters (Seelah the Paladin and Ezren the Magician) are progressing from scenario to scenario.
They just have beaten the boss of the first Adventure (Burnt Offerings) and are ready to head for the next series of scenarios.
It is a RPG adapted to a card-only system and, if you let your mind wander a little, it really is fun.
http://paizo.com/products/btpy951a?Pathfinder-Adventure-Card-Game-Rise-of-the-Runelords-Base-Set
 
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clavain

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Just got Reluctant Enemies in the mail last week, and have been resisting the urge to open it and dig in, which may happen very soon. That Pathfinder card game looks interesting though. Must. Resist. Ancient. Evil. RPG.
 
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