Which is a better Beer and Pretzels Game?

Which game is better for a Saturday Night game with friends?

  • Axis and Allies

    Votes: 23 33.8%
  • Risk

    Votes: 27 39.7%
  • Other (Add game below)

    Votes: 18 26.5%

  • Total voters
    68

Fenrir

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Originally posted by jguritza
Which game is better for a Saturday Night game with friends?
I've found that smaller games do better. OGRE/GEV or a small Panzerblitz scenario are good.

GW's Space Hulk is good, too. Everybody likes to drink some beers and play with a big box of toys....and who doesn't love pitting the very shooty but vastly outnumbered Imperial Space Marines against the horrific alien Genestealers? Who?

Short games work well for that sort of thing...and people love to drink my beer and beat me at my own games. Nothing makes a person like a game more than learning it and beating the teacher all in one sitting.
 
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No offense to more sophisticated board games, but for the uninitiated Risk is the one to play. Its easy enough to learn and short enough to play that a variety of skill levels can enjoy the same game.
 

Pete G

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The thing with both "classic" editions of Risk and Axis & Allies is that play can wend into the wee hours of the morning ... at least when my buddies and I get together. Of course, we usually work 'em into a bbq or a chili feed. We'll start at four and it's after midnight before we knock off, which is by design.

I've not played any of the newer Risk offerings that have the turn limits built in, and I'd be interested to check those out over the course of an evening.

Gotta agree with Fenrir that Ogre/GEV is a great pick for some head-to-head action. Two or three hours sees a lot of action with those games. Memoir '44 is also of that ilk, and a short evening with that is pretty satisfying.

-Pete
 

freightshaker

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I played both during 3, 4 month rotations in Kuwait. In otherwords, ALOT. Would have to say Axis and Allies is the better due to wider variety of play, even though both games have their "set moves". After awhile we combined the 2 games and made Axis & Allies Risk which is supremely the best.
 

PanzerElite

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I'd pass on both Axis and Allies or Risk. A&A is a broken game, and risk is a non-historical die-rolling exercise. I'd go with Avalon Hill stuff "Hitler's War", "Battle of the Bulge", or "D-Day".
 

ericmwalters

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My Picks

Can't go with either game for various reasons. Here's my picks:

2 player game: The "old" AH NAPOLEON (wooden blocks) or a shorter scenario of Columbia's ROMMEL IN THE DESERT (wooden blocks).

3-4 player game: Either SPI/DG's BATTLE FOR GERMANY ( a LOT of fun!) or a home-made scenario for SQUAD LEADER/ASLSK#1, "Capture the Beer Keg."

As as aside, here's thumbnail rules for "Capture the Beer Keg." Take city board, place blank counter (the beer keg in a building in the center of the board. 10 Germans squads and 2 leaders defending, 12 Soviet squads and 1 leader entering from the east, 8 Yank squads and 2 leaders from the west...one of the Allies win by capturing the keg and portaging it (4 portage points) off their side of the board), otherwise the Germans win. You can play where the Allies are able to shoot/CC each other or not...or make it variable on the coin flip whenever one side wants to do it to the other. Great fun.

5-7 players: "Sudden Death" DIPLOMACY. Four turns minimum; play continues per additional year until one nation has at least one more supply center than any other in the game. Diplomacy periods last no more than 15 minutes, orders writing 5 minutes.

I love A&A, RISK, SHOGUN/SAMURAI SWORDS, etc., but they take a long time or have players sitting around waiting for something to happen for too long.

--emw
 

jguritza

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Re: My Picks

Originally posted by ericmwalters
Can't go with either game for various reasons. Here's my picks:

2 player game: The "old" AH NAPOLEON (wooden blocks) or a shorter scenario of Columbia's ROMMEL IN THE DESERT (wooden blocks).

3-4 player game: Either SPI/DG's BATTLE FOR GERMANY ( a LOT of fun!) or a home-made scenario for SQUAD LEADER/ASLSK#1, "Capture the Beer Keg."

As as aside, here's thumbnail rules for "Capture the Beer Keg." Take city board, place blank counter (the beer keg in a building in the center of the board. 10 Germans squads and 2 leaders defending, 12 Soviet squads and 1 leader entering from the east, 8 Yank squads and 2 leaders from the west...one of the Allies win by capturing the keg and portaging it (4 portage points) off their side of the board), otherwise the Germans win. You can play where the Allies are able to shoot/CC each other or not...or make it variable on the coin flip whenever one side wants to do it to the other. Great fun.

5-7 players: "Sudden Death" DIPLOMACY. Four turns minimum; play continues per additional year until one nation has at least one more supply center than any other in the game. Diplomacy periods last no more than 15 minutes, orders writing 5 minutes.

I love A&A, RISK, SHOGUN/SAMURAI SWORDS, etc., but they take a long time or have players sitting around waiting for something to happen for too long.

--emw

Now this sounds like a great game!
 

jguritza

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Originally posted by freightshaker
I played both during 3, 4 month rotations in Kuwait. In otherwords, ALOT. Would have to say Axis and Allies is the better due to wider variety of play, even though both games have their "set moves". After awhile we combined the 2 games and made Axis & Allies Risk which is supremely the best.
How did you mix the two games?
 

Overseer

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Originally posted by chrisvalla
Shogun... all against all...
Shogun's awesome. When I used to play with my friends it tended to look more like a diplomacy game though... but then again that's what I loved about it. :D
 

jguritza

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Originally posted by freightshaker
For the most part we used the A&A rules/pieces on the Risk board, with a healthy dose of house rules of course.
Sweet!

We always added some house rules and some more pieces to Risk. We found a ton of variants out there. Our favorite was the Alien Landing variant. Nice random events to add to Risk!

I think a good part of game tweaking is a lost art!
 

Targetboy

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Cheapass!

For beer and pretzels, nothing beats Cheapass Games!

If we're talking wargames, I'll put in a vote for "Battleball". The rules are super simple, even the 'advanced' rules, and it plays quickly with no obvious 'winning strategy'. And the production values rock for a $20 game.

I recomend getting a sharpie and numbering the figures when you take them out of the molded plastic holder, or you'll never get them back in.
 

jguritza

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Re: Cheapass!

Originally posted by Targetboy
For beer and pretzels, nothing beats Cheapass Games!

If we're talking wargames, I'll put in a vote for "Battleball". The rules are super simple, even the 'advanced' rules, and it plays quickly with no obvious 'winning strategy'. And the production values rock for a $20 game.

I recomend getting a sharpie and numbering the figures when you take them out of the molded plastic holder, or you'll never get them back in.
Witch Trial from Cheap Ass games is a group favorite. The Kill Dr. Lucky and Save Dr. Lucky is also a favorite...
 

The Doctor

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Avalon Hill's Victory in the Pacific. Easy, can be modified for more than 2 players, cool ship counters. If I remember correctly there is a short scenario. Avalon Hill's Tobruk (armor-only scenarios). No terrain factors (all flat desert), short scenarios, simple armor rules. Avalon Hill's Luftwaffe ain't a bad choice either.

What do these games run on eBay these days. Mine date from the late '70's.
 

jguritza

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Originally posted by The Doctor
Avalon Hill's Victory in the Pacific. Easy, can be modified for more than 2 players, cool ship counters. If I remember correctly there is a short scenario. Avalon Hill's Tobruk (armor-only scenarios). No terrain factors (all flat desert), short scenarios, simple armor rules. Avalon Hill's Luftwaffe ain't a bad choice either.

What do these games run on eBay these days. Mine date from the late '70's.
Some of the more popular ones can get up there in price. You can also find some good deals though!
 

Fenrir

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Originally posted by The Doctor
Avalon Hill's Victory in the Pacific. Easy, can be modified for more than 2 players, cool ship counters. If I remember correctly there is a short scenario. Avalon Hill's Tobruk (armor-only scenarios). No terrain factors (all flat desert), short scenarios, simple armor rules. Avalon Hill's Luftwaffe ain't a bad choice either.

What do these games run on eBay these days. Mine date from the late '70's.
my local gaming store has a used copy of tobruk for $79.99. I laugh at that.
 
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