Railways of the World is one of our favorites for 6. Particularly the Western US map.
Sushi Go Party and Love Letter Deluxe also do 6 fine.
And to give Tom and Bruce aneurisms Citadels also does well with 6.
But @rowe33 the best for 6?
Captain Sonar.
Lords of Waterdeep is a good one. If you like those deception sort of games:
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong and Resistance Avalon are fun ones. Complete silly game is Cash n Guns 2nd ed.
Oh man, would love to get them to play this but it’s just not the type of game that would work with them.
Six players is a tricky count, isn’t it? You’re on the verge of plummeting into social deduction party games. And many of the games that claim to support six players might technically support six players, but they don’t do it well.
I would heartily agree with Hassan’s Quartermaster General suggestion for how it uses team play to keep everything interactive, and for how it works with varying levels of familiarity with boardgames. You don’t even necessarily have to be a WWII wonk to get into it.
Welcome To… and Cartographers are also good suggestions for how everyone is taking a turn simultaneously. Tiny Town is the same. However, they’re all three kinda/sorta math/tile puzzles, with Tiny Town being especially brutal, and especially with a higher player count. If you don’t already own a copy of Tiny Town, you can recreate the experience much more cheaply by all six of you kicking each other in the balls. I actually like the game, but hoo boy, higher player counts are an exercise in planning that will invariably get shattered.
I would venture a recommendation for the horribly named Sidereal Confluence:
It’s an economic engine building game in which the economic engines are deeply dependent on each other in various ways. The turn structure has everyone taking turns simultaneously, mainly interacting with each other to make trades and deals. The factions are all kinds of different types of in-depth asymmetry, with lots of imaginative variation in how they work. And it’s worth warning anyone who’s interested in playing that it can take up a ton of table space.
Wizkids also publishes this odd little colonial history ditty:
It supports high player counts by doing the simultaneous turn thing. It abstracts a lot of stuff, but it’s a pretty cool system for modeling economies and conquests and colonial powers. Really short, just interactive enough, and just thematic enough.
-Tom
Only two of us actually have balls so I don’t think Tiny Town will work!
I have Cartographers already so I’m hoping that will work out well. If not, it’s not a terribly long game so at least we can move on to something else.
Appreciate the recommendation but anything economy-related isn’t likely to fly! I’d be down for trying it but I’m probably unique in that quality in our group.
Unless it’s something like Empire maybe, as a few are into Civilization (PC) and could be persuaded to at least try it. Was thinking we were only going to have 4 or 5 at most but the 6th person jumped in late.
I too support the suggestion for quartermaster general. It is definitely a very streamlined wargame, and I live the emphasis on supply.
Doesn’t game of thrones work well at 6 players too(I only played the first edition)?
It is rather lengthy, but there are so many fans of the show that it is easy to get people interested.
If anyone is interested in this game (I love it, and so does everyone I’ve played it with), that might be worth grabbing. I think supplies of Vindication might be short for a while.
Orange Nebula posted an update on their upcoming game Unsettled yesterday. Beyond the board game news and an update on the effect of Covid-19 on their partners in China, there is also this bit about the Unsettled pledge manager:
Vindication Availability
Many have asked if Vindication would be available in the Unsettled pledge manager. We took a look at the stock available at that time and said, “totally.”
Well, it looks like a lot of you couldn’t wait, because that stock has been significantly diminished in the subsequent weeks.
So, while Vindication (and ALL the extras) will be available, the supply is significantly more limited than we anticipated. We’re already sold out in many regions and will be sold out world-wide in short order.
In other words, if you were hoping to get Vindication anytime this year, now is the time to do something about it. If you live in a region where it is already sold out, stay tuned, we hear the demand and don’t intend to ignore it.
So it will be back. But will likely take a while after the Unsettled pledges.
I just received this game today that seems like it will be great fun, is not yet another hidden role / party game and plays 2-8:
And a how to play video from the KS campaign a couple of years ago (game is obviously fully in English and you can use an app to get even more cases):
I’ve been totally tempted by Vindication numerous times, but the cost, absurd over-production, and too-large-box have stopped me each time. If anyone wants to sell me a stripped-down version without stupid minis and a smaller box for $50, I’m all over it.
Try Libertalia?
I have a similar feeling towards Barrage. Just played it a few nights ago and it’s fantastic. But the box is so huge and I’m used to Euro games with wood components selling for half the price. If I could get a lean version with a smaller box and less great components for less money, I’d be all over it!
That said, Barrage doesn’t feel overproduced the way Vindication does. I’ve only played Vindication once, but it felt absurd in the over-production. Half the cool looking things stayed in the box! At least we used everything in Barrage, I just wish it was all smaller when packed away (using magic or something).
Can’t argue with that. Though the only thing I’d get rid of are the minis. It would halve the height of the box.
That said, the really useful player gametrayz, the high quality boards and cards and the neat card separation system are all awesome. I wouldn’t want a copy without those.
Apart from Orange Nebula making the rookie mistake (their first game) of thinking they needed minis for KS, the really nailed what excellent production values for a game means.
SU&SD talked about it on a recent podcast and felt the mechanics and theme really didn’t connect in any way, which would be a total turnoff for me. I’d otherwise be tempted.
My 2 favorite ones are perfect at that size: Dark Moon & Blood Bound.
I heard that podcast. I see where they are coming from, but didn’t really agree with their conclusion. Sure you all start as the same wretched scumbag on the island and start building an engine. It’s a resource conversion Euro. Euros are not exactly focused on being theme heavy.
That said, we still feel that specific euro tells a story as you play. The map is different every time. Players tend to develop different strategies. Sprinkle in the treachery mini expansion to give increased player interaction and make other players fear that thing you can do when they meet you on the map. And now you’ve got an island exploration euro. it works for us. But it’s certainly not a theme focused game. If that’s a strong requirement, stay clear.
Yeah, even in my euros I like things to attach strongly to the theme, which, say, Vital Lacerda does a treat, and Reiner Knizia doesn’t care about even slightly.
Then you probably want to ignore my game recommendations, because I’ve got negative interest in Lacerda games. :)
What kind of game are you looking for? Is it something the 6 of you will play a lot? Kings dilemma might be good. Cant go wrong with 7 wonders or euphoria like others said. What about rising sun lords of hellas or other dudes on a map games?
Space Biff’s review of Vindication makes it seem like the mechanics and theme are really tightly integrated. He hates the minis too, though.
I can totally get someone not liking Vindication, because it’s a weird representation of fantasy character progression. But to me, that’s its appeal. If you like Euro economic engine building, and if you’re willing to think of your fantasy elf cleric or whatever as an economic engine, Vindication is pretty cool.
-Tom
