JM1
3241
They do seem to like starting long conversations with people who aren’t me. My FLGS on the other hand will talk my ear off if given the chance (and they’re good lads with a very broad knowledge of boardgame and mini gaming).
Nephrinn
3242
Yep, it’s called Rex and it’s based on the Twilight Imperium universe. Much more info about the game can be found at the link (click on the Description tab).
Once again Nephrinn has the answer. :) Since I can only assume you work in a game store or something, is Dune as good as I remember it as a kid? Or is it just the distant memory of a wide-eyed nerdling experiencing a new game that makes me think this might be worth checking out?
A little more discussion of it back here.
Are you still located near London? Where is your FLGS? I’m always happy to visit more shops.
I liked the fact that Leisure Games offered to let me use their computer if I wanted to read more on a few games they didn’t know very well on BGG. And they called the distributor to confirm I would get Ankh Morpok next week.
The human touch is what makes me happy to forego online prices.
In other news, I’ve reread the rules for Illuminati and it’s all coming back to me. I think it will be fun but extremely fraught with the chance of conflict when alliances start to shift between the kids and me. Better make sure they are in a good mood before we play. :)
Wendelius
It fits that bill. Once you have a handle on what to do, turns should be very fast. You draw dice, roll them, summon stuff you rolled, use it to attack all players, then capture a die from the field to add to your discarded dice pile. It will take longer at the start, because you won’t be familiar with the different types of dice (in every game, there will be 7 types of critters and 3 types of spells) you can choose from.
I don’t think it has the same level of gameplay as something like Ascension, but it would be good for the sort of group you described.
JM1
3247
It’s these guys. It’s not worth visiting if you’re looking for stock - they’re the kind of place that orders stuff in and keeps the essentials. Great place to do actual gaming though.
They keep bugging me to get my Warmachine stuff painted :)
That gaming store looks almost as stocked as a friend of mine’s basement.
Which is actually saying something. (And a lot of the games in his basement are things like the Alf boardgame, which are amusing conversation pieces but not exactly things you’re gonna drag out and play.)
Illuminati rules and all right-minded people should play it.
So… I’m looking at the Game of Thrones LCG and the Lord of the Rings LCG.
I like the idea of both for different reasons but I really do not want to get sucked into having to buy more cards. I play too many board games to get sucked into spending my loot on a ccg.
So the question is are the base games for both enough to warrant a purchase and are they really good?
Well, they aren’t CCGs in the sense that you won’t be spending tons of money fishing for rares, but Game of Thrones has so many expansions out now it might as well be a CCG.
IMO, Lord of the Rings LCG is NOT worth it if you’re only buying the base set. You barely get enough cards to play with two people and even then you need to buy 3 base sets to get 3 of every card (argh!)
As for Game of Thrones LCG, I don’t own it nor have I ever played it, but from what I’ve read it’s pretty good out of the box. The only caveat is that some people think the 2 player game isn’t as good as the 4 player game. Also beware that it’s VERY text heavy and can be quite complex.
If you haven’t already, check out Warhammer Invasion. It plays great out of the box and plays much more like a board game. It plays very fast too with most games taking under 20 minutes.
Reldan
3252
Regarding Game of Thrones LCG: The 2-player game is great. It’s just the rare card game design where it actually plays as good or better with 4 players. You honestly can’t go wrong playing it either way, because it isn’t like one is the “real” way the game was meant to be played and the other is some sort of consolation prize. Just don’t play it with 3 - the dynamic does not work quite right.
I’m not going to go overboard on the game as there’s a thread specifically for it where I’ve posted quite a bit already. It’s good out of the box, but exponentially better if you buy 2 core sets and use the extra cards to VASTLY improve the starting decks. Check this link for the recommended decks you can create out of just 2 core sets: http://www.cardgamedb.com/forums/index.php?/topic/207-4-decks-built-from-2x-core-set/
I picked up Warhammer Invasion about a year ago. It’s alright, but the mechanics and deckbuilding don’t interest me the way AGoT does, mostly because it’s simpler by design and intended to play fast. It also is a straight-up 2-player game.
Ravenloft is a game that seems to be popular with people playing with kids, although I found it too shallow. It just lacks interesting decisions and makes you feel like both you and the enemy are on an AI timetable, which stands out because it superficially resembles so many of the excellent 1v1 type tactical combat games out there. If you must, I would look at the more recent sequel which probably has a lot of good tweaks, and the theme difference doesn’t really matter since the Ravenloft vibe (fwiw anyway) is barely there in actual practice. I still don’t see enough simplification that I wouldn’t skip directly to stronger coops like Ghost Stories or Arkham, or coop/traitors like Galactica, but that’s a fraught discussion.
Smallworld is very popular with good reason, and has great crossover appeal with kids and adults. I would take a second look if it caught your eye. There are other games I would rank as similarly accessible and possibly better (Citadels, Guillotine, and so on) but there’s no reason not to start with that one.
M44 is the flagship of the light, non-sim war games genre for a reason, and it teaches quickly, plays well, includes enough flavor for a history lesson to be fun, and it is quick 1v1 action. Personally, I prefer other time periods in the series (Battle Cry, despite not having an affinity for the US Civil War outside of that, and C&C Ancients, because it’s awesome to refight ancient battles and unlike the others the expansions don’t feel like fluff).
I would urge you to read the reviews on Tannhauser carefully, as I would rank any number of 1v1 tactical games over it (Space Hulk, Claustrophobia, Earth Reborn, Incursion) for a variety of reasons. It’s a genre that thrives on doing a lot with simple rules and great theme, and Tannhauser seems to only get the second half of that.
I don’t know about you, but it’s as good as I remember it being when I was a kid. It remains my most favoritest game ever, so much so that I built my own copy of it. I have zero interest in the Twilight Imperium re-theme, the original game is all I need.
malkav11
3255
I don’t really get why you say that when, though it certainly only plays two player out of the initial box (simply due to card count), quite a few cards have text that specifically affects multiple enemy players. I think it’s more along the lines of, e.g., Magic the Gathering in that it may not really be designed or balanced around larger numbers of players, but it will accomodate them.
Accommodate them how? Which of the zillions of unofficial and poorly-playtested kludge rules do you use since (last time I checked) no official variant is available?
Welcome back Lizard King :)
I’ll second Game of Thrones as a very good game that plays much better with four players. Two players can prove to be brutal at the start if your opponent is lucky enough to begin with a few tough starting characters. The house-specific expansions allow you to make two playable decks but be warned- you’ll need to scavenge cards out of the core deck to complete them. Even using an LCG model they create ways to force you to spend more money.
Seconded. I don’t pay much attention to the forum goings-on and hadn’t noticed your ban. Nice to have you back on the board.
Thanks for the detailed reply Lizard King.
I think the guys at the game store showed me the sequel but were unsure of what gameplay tweaks it brought. That’s why I thought I’d rather read up on those games first.
Is the Arkham you mention “Arkham Horror”? If so, I’m totally put off that one. The impression I get is that it’s about impossible to learn and play unless you learn from someone who already plays (not an option for me) and download flow charts and rule clarifications from BGG. When I was making my selection, I was specifically looking for games that wouldn’t turn into rulebook nightmares and easy to teach to the kids.
How is Ghost Stories complexity wise?
Cool. I found the concept appealing, so I’ll probably have to give it a try soon. With 3 kids old enough to play, I tend to disregard purely 1v1 games as I don’t want to leave the others out when I play. But if it plays quickly, it might be ideal.
I vaguely remember playing Space Hulk as a teenager and enjoying it. But, as above, the 1v1 aspect kind of puts me off. I think that’s one of the reasons I hoped Tannhauser would be good. It’s got theme and it I was hoping it would be OK with 3/4 players. But I’ve read the reviews and they are not encouraging.
Are there any other games similarly easy to learn to Space Hulk and with the same kind of tactical gameplay (I think the boys would love that kind of tense mission based encounter) which would play well for 3 / 4 players?
Wendelius
