z22
5521
Game of Thrones takes several hours to play with more than 4 players and the game is only balanced with 6 players.
Eclipse Takes at least 3 hours with 4+ players until you have 4 experienced super-fast players, but even then it’ll take 2-2.5. I’ve played this game 50 times with 2-6 players. It’s not quick with 4+ players.
Suggestions:
Descent 2e Quests (2 encounters) take an hour or two and as the Overlord you can tone down or ramp up the heat if you want the party to have a challenging but fun time.
King of Tokyo simple game but boy is it fun. Most people love this game. ~45 minutes. Not a game with lots of minis, none actually.
Risk Legacy This seems like the perfect game for your family, minus maybe the wife? Games are quick and the gameplay changes over players, very cool system.
Smallworld Fun, quick, colorful, easy.
Defenders of the Realm is a solid co-op game that should be family fun.
Any of the D&D box games may fill the bill as well (Ravenloft, Driizt, Ashardalon).
The Adventurers (Temple of Chac - avoid the Pyramid of Horus) is a fast frenetic greed-filled romp.
Conquest of Planet Earth is another fun one, although the play time can get a bit long (1-2 hours).
jackieo
5523
Probably already said:
Shadows in the Woods. If it was a person, I might marry it.
This is a neat project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trammel/the-official-settlers-of-catan-gaming-board
It’s a modular game board for Settlers of Catan endorsed by Mayfair Games. It allows you to play on uneven surfaces or move the game board without the titles shifting around.
Have a look at the video and pictures on the KS page.
Wendelius
z22
5526
Odd you mentioned Cyclades. We’ve been playing it the past couple of weeks, after it had been sitting idle on my shelf, unplayed, for a long time. I really like the way the game plays but after seeing how all of our games end I think I dislike it due to how arbitrary the victor is.
In all our games, and the couple I watched, the same thing happens at the end of the game. Someone builds or can build two Metros, everyone points it out and figures out how to stop them, then either that player doesn’t build the metros or they are built and everyone haggles over who is going to win. It seems every player can win when someone builds two metros so everyone plays politics and asks others to do this and that to stop this and that and then one player can’t be stopped because of how the turn order is, or the Myth creatures out, and poof, someone random wins.
I really hate this in games and it’s very common on FFA games.
Lastly, we used the Hades expansion a couple of times this weekend. I like the Hades and alternate start modules, and hate the other two. Waaaay too fiddly and clunk and seemingly unnecessary for balance, just adding more look up heroes/divine thingies and magic items. Makes a fast but clever games into a kludge.
Got a chance to play Pandemic for the first time tonight. I really enjoyed it. The kids and I had played Forbidden island a number of times before, which made getting into this really quick (given that Forbidden island is a trimmed down version of the Pandemic mechanics). The extra loss conditions really added tension to the game (even playing at the introductory level). We didn’t manage our time well enough and ran out of player cards before curing the 4th disease. I will definitely play it again.
Hey, you’ve just perfectly described how both of my games of Cyclades went… except you didn’t mention the part where someone gets to the first part you described in 1.5 hours but no one actually wins until about 2.5 hours.
Brooski
5529
I posted this in the Andean Abyss thread but assuming most people don’t read that, I wanted to mention that Volko Ruhnke (designer of Wilderness War, Labyrinth, and Andean Abyss) has had his fourth game, A Distant Plain, make it out of Project 500 and is now scheduled for production. The game is the third in the COIN series, this time dealing with Afghanistan. Still time to grab it at the P500 discount!
serling
5530
I finally played War of the Ring over the weekend. I really liked it. And in hindsight, I’m quite surprised we took so long setting up the beast and going over the rules. It’s actually quite an elegant game once you get into the flow of things.
We played pretty aimlessly though, but I guess that will improve after more sessions. We more or less approached it as Risk, and weren’t too concerned with the whole fellowship thing. It felt like a pretty isolated part of the game, so it was hard to grasp any kind of consequence surrounding it. The political track was a bit weird too.
I’m not sure what I think of it as a co-op experience either. I usually despise games that take a one-on-one design and just distribute the resources and playing pieces between more players. It feels a bit forced, and I’d rather just have it as two-player game.
It did make the game a whole hell of a lot easier to learn though, since we got into the habit of explaining rules multiple times to different people in different ways, double checking the rule book, etc. It took quite a while, but in the end, I think we were better off that way. It’s an overwhelming game at first glance.
Anyway, can’t wait to play it again! :)
WOTR is a great narrative game.
That being said, you can’t play this as Risk. The fellowship is an absolutely integral part of the game. The fate of the fellowship is a way to win or lose the game. In fact, getting the Fellowship to Mount Doom is probably the easier of the two ways for the Free Peoples to win, because military victory is very hard. Keep in mind that FP units are permanently eliminated when killed in the game; the units of the SP can be rebuilt. The political rules also mean that the SP can “control” the scene of military action, unless the FP spends a lot of resources to activate factions.
One the surface, the game is essentially a race between the FP attempting to destroy the ring and the SP trying to subjugate those that oppose them.
My own experiences with the Coop haven’t been all that fun, but there are people on BGG who swear by it.
dogbert
5532
I’m not a fan of it as a team game as designed either, but love it as 1vs1. One of my favourite games - it tells such fantastic stories through its mechanics.
z22
5533
With the exception of playing only 1v1 my experience with WOTR is the EXACT same! I’ve had it since xmas 2011 and wasn’t able to play it until 3 weeks ago. Even though both of us read the rules about 4 months ago, it took us about 3 hours to learn the game, and another ~5 to play. We like the game a lot but felt many of the mechanisms were far too fiddly and could have been simplified or at least streamlined and easier to understand and use.
Sadly, I screwed up all of my minis by “painting” (dipping) them in a bad mixture of thinner and lacquer, and now they are all very sticky, even after spraying them with a clear coat. I need to test some clear concoctions to cover the sticky goop. No way I’m stripping 200+ minis. I painted the bases to match each factions color. This helped tremendously.
hepcat
5534
Small Box Games (one of my favorite indie game studios) just put up a kickstarter for their next 3 games.
They have all the art and assets ready to go and put this up for the 10 grand needed for production. In the first 24 hours, they made over 9 grand.
I highly recommend their games.
So would you recommend it or not? I know you can do use an alternate start setup with the just the base game.
Been playing Seasons and Trajan which has been burning my brain for the last few weeks. Viva Java is next of my list of never ending games to try.
Admittedly I haven’t played it a ton, but my games of Cyclades haven’t ever ended that way. I either play with just my wife or with her and another couple, and there’s not much in the way of negotiating or teaming up going on. I guess it just depends on your group dynamics.
Cyclades is one of my favorite games and I would unreservedly recommend it to anybody.
Edit: Actually, upon further reflection, I think every game of Cyclades I’ve played has ended that way. You can all gang up and try to stop someone from winning and hey, fair enough. If you want to trade favors with other players then fine, go ahead. I guess what he’s calling “arbitrary” and “random” are things that I see as anything but. Yes, there’s an element of luck to the game–the gods that are available on any given cycle, and what monsters pop up in the rotation. To me, that and the offering/bluffing that goes into turn order–do I have enough coins to outbid that player for the god I need and still afford the monster that I need for this plan on this turn, or can I bid on this god for turn order and then buy the monster the other player wants, and so on–is what makes the game interesting. Sure, a whole game can turn on one player’s “lucky” break, but they also have to be in a position to capitalize on that break. There’s a lot of strategizing that goes into getting to the point where you can win because you got “lucky.” I think the whole thing is anything but arbitrary.
Played an awesome game of Lords of Vegas last night. I was in a distant 2nd place and 3rd place was not doing well, but he had a 9 point casino that was easily going to score 3 times before the game ended.
Meanwhile, first place had secured three 5 tile casinos and had amassed a large amount of cash. Suddenly, 3rd place’s 9 tile casino starts scoring and he’s about to pass me. First place is still feeling pretty smug at this time and keeps winning money from my casino.
We were getting close to the end. I’m guessing another turn maybe two. So I gamble. I have two dice in one of first place’s 6 point casinos. We roll and I roll a 5 and 6 taking the control of the casino. If the game ends now I’m still not going to win. I have one last chance. It’s a long shot and I need $20 to even attempt it and I only have $10. I gamble some money and get my $20 from the guy in 1st place. The slow twist of the dagger begins.
Now I set my sights on 3rd place and his 9 point casino. I only have 2 dice to his 7 but it’s the only prayer I have. I cause a re-roll and win I now control the 9 point casino too! I end my turn out of money but feeling like I just won the high roll at the craps table.
The next card flips, the final strip card to end the game. I take the lead by 1 point to win the game.
Love this game.
Gamers seem to have a love/hate relationship with LoV, but not in the traditional duality sense of the phrase. Instead, you’ve just now described how someone like you would be in love with it and how someone like the formerly-smug-no-longer-in-first-place guy now hates it. I personally really like the game, but my gaming group hates that something like this can happen and thus tell me how LoV is a game probably better suited to be played with my family and not them.
I would completely disagree as I have been the “formerly-smug-no-longer-in-first-place guy” more than once.
It’s a game about gambling! There are risks. Some you can mitigate with planning others you can’t, but that’s why it’s a fun game.
You’re preaching to the choir and I’m with you on the reasoning…I’m simply relating the experience I had with my group. They’re wrong, of course.
