I highly recommend Knizia’s auction games.
I think you just described what I meant. There was a time not very long ago when a few board games just stood out as far ahead of the competition. Catan, Dominion, Pandemic, et al. Well, there is a lot more competition now, and games have also been copying themselves a lot. That once great distinction between Euro and Ameri-trash has eroded. A strict optimization game like Scythe also features large plastic miniatures and some combat.
Gamers themselves have been refining their different palates, as it were. A past game that might have received wide acclaim in the past will now probably have several games similar to it differed by length, weight, and “take that.” Do I play Sidereal Confluence, or Empires? Skull, or Battlestar Galactica?
Mind you, none of this is bad. Probably quite the opposite. It just means I would struggle to recommend games as being “must plays.” The current number 1 board game, Gloomhaven, has plenty of detractors, and I can’t comment since I haven’t played it yet. Did you like Quarter Master General? Then of course play 1914! Dislike conflict? Oh, not for you. One of my pet peeves tends to be point salad, for example.
So, a better tact might be what are some games this group would like based on their preferences, and then ask what are just novel game experiences.
I agree. It’s why I was giving @Brooski guff before when he asked for games for four players. That’s pretty much all of them! The questions you get to ask now are “what’s a game with lots of player interaction?” or “what’s a game about Vikings?” or “what’s a game without direct conflict?” or “what’s a good game if I don’t like worker placement?” or “what’s a game that’s really unique?”
There are so many games, so many of them solid, that a question like “what’s a good game?” is just going to result in people listing their favorites. The hobby is broad and intricate enough now that you can’t just ask “what should I play?” any more than you’d ask “hey, what book should I read?”
All that said, if we’re just listing our favorites, I think you guys should play A Study in Emerald, Archipelago, and Troyes.
-Tom
But only the first edition.
There is no Second Edition. It doesn’t exist. It’s as fictional – and sanity blasting – as the Necronomicon by the mad Arab Adbul Alhazred.
-Tom
Arioch
1804
Aww, I have the second edition :(. Is it at least enjoyable if one does not know the first edition?
Malkav11,
Man I wish you were in my game group. Completely agree. Have you play CO2 (1st ed)? I’m curious how much better CO2 (2nd ed) is now.
Brooski,
Are you looking for a mid weight Euro? Have you played Gugong, Pillars of Earth etc.
If you want something heavier but still fairly easy, Great Western Trail and Mombassa are both great. I also like the guys at What’s your Game. They make Nippon, Zhanguo, Maddera, Railroad Revolution, Asgard. These are border line heavy games but still playable in a reasonable amount of time. I can keep going. Panamax, Dungeon Petz, Dungeon Lords,Alchemists…
I still believe there are must play games. Games that revolutionize in some fashion whether its unique mechanics, or taking a mechanic that has been done to death and flipping it on its head or even a unique theme.
I have not played the first edition. I didn’t get into Lacerda until the Lisboa Kickstarter and things like CO2 and Kanban were solidly out of print by then.
If we are doing that, then holy crap this list is exactly the same for me (except add Trajan and don’t tell Tom).
AWS260
1808
I heard a fairly prominent board game designer - maybe Cole Wehrle? - say on a podcast that he preferred the second edition of A Study in Emerald. (I haven’t played either one.)
So I’ve been seeing tons of negative reviews forUboot. Anyone experience to the contrary?
Because crap. I had my on to gift it to my father, who had been lamenting that they haven’t made any decent sub sims since the Silent Hunter days.
No, because I’m willing to buy any game we ultimately decide to play.
Neither one, but I’ll check them out.
I’ll look at Mombasa, but it it’s like Great Western Trail … here’s what I think of Great Western Trail:
Please name!
Tom_Mc
1813
Well, this fourth, the answer is clearly:
AWS260
1814
Hansa Teutonica is a stone-cold Euro classic, in my opinion. I mean, it has incredibly ugly graphics and the theme is trading in the Hanseatic League. You can’t get more Euro than that.
Also, the mechanics are simultaneously crunchy and smooth, like the good kind of peanut butter.
He got me, too. Technically my copy of Valley + Expansion is coming in later because the company CEO decided to be really nice and let me buy one, even though I didn’t KS at that level, at the Kickstarter price, just a couple of hours before he declared all shipping completed.
But I got Forest, and will be trying to break it out at my buddy James’s annual 4th of July boardgames bash. Hoping the relatively short playtime with the doubling modification can get people onboard.
ShivaX
1816
Hexplore It seems cool to me, even if the name is God-awful.
I even don’t mind that, given the classic “hexcrawl” style of TTRPG campaign design I’m still searching for the time to play. It kinda recalls that to me in a weird kind of nostalgia for something I’ve never actually done, hah
I enjoy GWT but I think Mombasa is a better game.
Let’s see
Deckbuding until dominion hadn’t been a mechanic used and ushered in an era of them. Introducing app integration, legacy systems,
