Boardgaming 2021: minis are back, baby!

Same. I think it’s a must. At least if you don’t have the $20k collector’s edition.

I used my sticker dots. It completely frosts my wheaties I have to do this on an expensive game, for non-color blind reasons. I’m color blind so some games I have to make marks on pieces, but not this one. I will likely paint the bases at some point.

As a friend said, “I have no idea how this passed play testing other than for cost reasons”

Minis people assume of course everyone wants minis and why should it matter that they’re much harder to visually distinguish when unpainted than standees or tokens, don’t be silly, everyone paints their minis. It’s the bane of my boardgaming existence.

I gave a non-zero amount of thought to getting something like Pandemic cubes, with small size for regular and a larger one for Elite.

2 posts were split to a new topic: Need help getting back into D&D after years of not playing

Hi everyone!
I need some help coming up with a board game gift for my brother-in-law. All advice is appreciated!

According to the intel gathered in a top-secret espionage mission, my brother-in-law has the following games on his shelf:

  • Fallout – Wasteland Warfare
  • Talisman: Batman – Super Villains Edition
  • Boss Monster
  • Star Trek Catan
  • Star Wars Rebellion
  • Warhammer Quest: Shadows over Hammerhal
  • Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower
  • Relic

In addition to playing board games, he also plays the Warhammer miniature wargame. He loves painting the figures and even paints other peoples’ figure armies to make some extra money (he’s really good at it).

It’s important to note that he’s on the autism spectrum, so any kind of games relying on social subtleties are out of the question.

What do you guys think would be in line with these preferences? I asked some friends of mine and received the following suggestions:

  • Forbidden Stars (which might be out of print?)
  • Eclipse (second edition)
  • Mission: Red Planet
  • Descent (second edition)
  • Imperial Assault
  • Other Warhammer Quest games

This seems like a very solid option given the below

But I might also point out that there is a Star Wars miniatures game in a similar vein, Star Wars Legion. Always tough to gauge if two miniatures games would be welcome, but in the abstract I suspect he would like it.

Now there are some other things that might tickle some of the same places. Unmatched, basically a reimplementation of Star Wars Epic Duels (I loved that game as a high schooler) might be a good fit.

Perhaps the Firefly board game could be an enjoyable one for him.

The trick is that the collection you name doesn’t have a specific unifying theme other than general nerdy sci fi properties. Mechanically they are all over the place. Who knows what other interests he has, or what specific types of games he likes. Is Terraforming Mars a good call or bad? Would Star Wars Outer Rim be embraced? Maybe Twilight Imperium 4th edition would be an instant favorite.

I hope this helps, even though I had to be a bit vague.

Sounds like a heavy emphasis on minis and licensed properties. Other Warhammer Quest games seem like a decent bet if you can find them. There’s a couple different Batman minis games that might be up his alley. Uh…Marvel United maybe? Shadows of Brimstone is not licensed but is in the general vein of your Warhammer Quest type things and I think people like those minis. Imperial Assault probably.

I don’t think Eclipse or Mission: Red Planet seem relevant.

Thanks for help! I do realize that my request was a bit unfair in its vagueness, so I’m really grateful for all input.

I forgot to mention that my brother-in-law has, at some point, played and enjoyed the X-Wing Miniatures Game.

I’ll look into all those games you mentioned. I don’t know if his gaming group focuses on tactical combat games instead of space epics like Twilight Imperium – unfortunately, he lives on the other side of the world and I don’t see him as often as I would like.

Thanks malkav11. I think my friends might have been biased in favor of Eclipse and Red Planet. It’s easy to recommed one’s favourite games instead of doing a deep profile analysis. :P

Well this automatically makes him a-ok in my book! (this is my specific hobby game). If he hasn’t played 2.0, then I can deep dive into suggestions for that!

If so, and since he likes painting minis, Legion is a rock solid lock. If he is interested in adding that to his collection.

Which, you know, may not be a completely valid assumption.

It has great minis, is paintable, and is a solid system to boot. But for a more stand alone experience Imperial Assault is absolutely guaranteed to work. Of the recommendations you came in with, that is the one I am most confident would be a success.

Honestly if you can find an old copy of Epic Duels, man, that is a nostalgia tickler for me. I recently found out a neighbor is into boardgaming and has a copy (mine went missing ~15 years ago) and so a gaming day has been planned.

That’s what terrifies me about buying gifts for hobbyists whose tastes are very specific. I myself am known to read comic books, but my tastes are so narrow that nobody knows what kind of comics to buy for me.

Like here’s the thing. If he likes Star Wars (which is clear already) and he likes Warhammer style miniatures games, Legion is 100% up his alley. If he disliked it this would not because it does not fit his taste.

And since he played both X-wing and Warhammer, my confidence he would like Legion is nearly 100%.

the only hesitation is that miniatures games can be intensive in both time and money, and he may have a limited bandwith for a new one. And it does depend on the local community. So the issue isn’t ‘would he like it’ and more ‘would he have the time and a group to play it with’.

Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress is generally regarded as the best of the modern Warhammer Quest games. (I have not played any of them, just longingly gazed at them and watched YouTube reviews.)

Catching up on new games from the last 2 weeks:





MarvelLCG-Drax




Ooh, Tapple is right up my alley. I love Scattergories-type games.

edit: I am wrong. I thought Tapple was Out of the Box before, but apparently not. Stupid memory. In any case it’s a new edition. :)

So they reprinted Spartacus to detach it from licensing the show, and renamed it from “Blood and Sand” to “Blood and Treachery” ?

In this case where the reprint sucks over the original

They changed the graphic on the game box to remove the late Andy Whitfield (and anything else from the TV show), but per this 9-year old video it looks like it was always subtitled Blood and Treachery. Or at least was on first print in 2012.

The rules for the 2nd edition are apparently the same as those for the first edition, along with similar components that have just been reskinned without the TV tie-in.