@Kidfried Sounds like a familiar story; my partner loves board games, has stacks of them both at home and in an undisclosed lock-up someplace. When he told me it was his major hobby, I said "Hey, cool, I love a good game of Monopoly!" and he looked at me like I'd just admitted to clubbing baby seals. As such, I've been on a bit of a learning experience over the last couple years, joining him at a few board game meetings and playing the latest releases with him.
He's been very kind in trying to find things with a hook or licence that'll hold my interest, not that I necessarily need it, but it helps. As such, we've played things like Star Trek Catan, Star Wars: X-Wing and DC Deck-Building Rivals: Batman Vs. Joker (and Batman Love Letter, come to think of it) alongside more traditional fare, both classics that were new to me, and modern releases new to us both. I quite like things with a theme or premise I can get behind, so anything like Thebes (digging in the desert represented by having a blind rummage in a bag) and Imhotep (building Egyptian structures with little blocks... there was also Pagoda, similar goal with a different premise) has been a win.
We spent all of Christmas Day 2016 playing Star Wars: Rebellion, a sweeping epic of a thing. It took most of the day, save cooking and eating dinner, partly because of how intricate and tactical we were being, but also partly because I got all OCD with the awesome pieces.
Of course I was the Galactic Empire (they have all the best toys). We played with the soundtracks to the original trilogy on in the background and I was amazed at how much detail was packed into an otherwise-straightforward game. I was also amazed, looking at the above, how balanced everything felt; I never felt sorry for my partner being the Rebellion. I had everything at my disposal and yet tracking down and destroying the Rebel Base took quite some doing, and he managed to destroy one of my Death Stars along the way, too. Eventually, after destroying two random planets for "shock and awe", I had him cornered in two star systems and got lucky on a random 50/50 decision on which planet to blow up. He then revealed that, if I'd chosen the wrong planet, he'd have destroyed my second Death Star on the next turn and won. Incredible how a day's worth of tactical play came down to such an intense, cinematic finale.
Twilight Struggle was a similar story. I adore that game (being a student of history and having a particular interest in the Cold War) and we'd been playing it for a good four, maybe five hours. It had gotten late and so we broke for food, leaving the board preserved and thinking the game could continue for another five hours if we maintained the stalemate we'd found ourselves locked in (which was rather the point of the thing). Upon returning to the game, I drew the right cards in the right order and it was over within twenty minutes.
Finally, one of my favourite introductions has been to Jaipur. We'd take it to a local pub for breakfast every Sunday. Cracking little game and probably the first thing I'd reach for if looking for a travel-sized box to take with me someplace.
Two things I can't stand? Worker placement and special powers. The former because, no matter what game he's tried to introduce me to, I get the distinct impression that everybody's always chasing whomever goes first; the latter because it's impossible to balance unique player abilities, and it therefore never feels like a fair fight. We've also tried a few story-driven games (the first three episodes of T.I.M.E. Stories and Season One of Pandemic Legacy) and found them less-than-engaging, because there's a distinct impression of "busywork" (at one point, he turned to me and said "Why aren't we just reading the book?" which, funnily enough, effectively summed up my feelings, too).
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
I must say I'm rather pleased with how this thread is going. Well done all.
Some great suggestions for stuff I haven't played!
@RogerRoger Looks like you bagged a winner!
I love Rivals. The concept was expanded in to the Confrontations set for 2 v 2 games which you can combine the Batman vs Joker set with. There's also a Green Lantern vs Sinestro(!) Rivals set coming in October that can also be mixed in.
As well as the next Crisis set (4) and the next 'standalone' base game based on the Rebirth comic run.
At least in about 70% of the games we've played together, he is; funny how two of my fondest tabletop memories are from games where I won!
In all seriousness, I know what you meant and, trust me, I know.
Glad to hear the DC Deck-Building Rivals stuff has been successful, and continues to expand. With so much of this stuff, they try Batman first because they know he's a guaranteed universal draw; adding in things like Green Lantern and the Teen Titans and whatnot obviously shows that they've got faith in the market and that they're doing really well. I'm guessing it's an easy thing to take to comic conventions and pass the time with!
I'm not all about the licences, though. I'd seriously recommend looking at Twilight Struggle, Jaipur and Thebes if you haven't played them already. They're excellent, excellent fun.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger
Winning is often better!
I won our last game of Talisman, which for a 4+ hour investment is always sweet.
Batman vs Joker was just the first Rivals set. The DCDBG started a while before that. Its based on Cryptozoic's Cerberus Engine which is used for several other licenced deck builders. The whole range is technically cross-compatible too.
Rivals did just about enough business for them, but they evolve their set ideas as time moves on. They had a full BvS set on the cards until the film took on so much negative press. That was based on the Rivals set and was reworked in to the Confrontations set to drop the BvS theme.
That did really well so they decided to expand it with more Rivals sets. If Green Lantern vs Sinestro does well, they'll do more.
As I'm obviously really in to the theme, I tend to just buy whatever they put out 😂
I think our usual game night hosts have a copy of Jaipur.
May suggest it for next game night.
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
I got myself a copy of the New Gods Crossover Pack (7) for the DC Deck Building Game.
I love the New Gods, and The Forth World is for me a the late Jack Kirby's finest contribution to comics.
Anyway, managed a couple of games now, adding the crossover pack to the DCDBG base set. Excellent new mechanics and another worthy addition to the multitude of DCDBG titles.
The next Crisis (4) has just released in America so should show up here soon. This one based on the Teen Titans and best played with the Teen Titans version of DCDBG.
Looking forward to getting my hands on it.
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
Not really tried a deck building game. Mostly sticking to co-op board games so the group wins or loses together. Got our next game of Pandemic Legacy on Sunday, everyone loves playing that.
@LieutenantFatman I struggle with the co-op board games, shame really since my group are all seemingly obsessed with Zombicide, I find it deathly (ha!) boring.
The Crisis expansions for the DCDBG are co-op affairs and largely inspired by the Legendary deck builders - though I much prefer the game engine in the DC games.
I also like deck builders as it's relatively cheap. I've spent plenty of cash on miniatures for skirmish type games and enjoyed it - but with models getter more expensive (and admittedly, far more detailed) all the time, I'm happy with a couple of boxes full of cards.
Not sure I know anyone personally in to Star Wars: Armada, but Fantasy Flight have just announced the Executor Super Star Destroyer 'miniature'. It's 2 foot long and wont retail for less than £150 I reckon.
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
Has anyone ever heard of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective? It's a co-op detective game. About 10 cases in each game, that make for something of a short campaign. No dices, cards or points, just you and a friend or two putting clues together. Kind of RP-ish in that way, but without the stats.
Thinking about picking it up to play with my partner for some fun times this fall.
@KALofKRYPTON Yep, night and day. If it looks like the latter, I'm in.
@LieutenantFatman Which season of Pandemic Legacy are you on? My partner and I only made it through the first. We liked it, but he freaked at ripping up the cards; I had to do it for him.
@Kidfried Sherlock Holmes sounds epic! I'm gonna go looking for that, thanks!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger
Over halfway through season one. I'm not sure if I could destroy the cards either but my friend seems ok with it. I just hope we win that final mission!
@Kidfried
Highly recommended. Not heard of that no, sounds like an interesting one.
@LieutenantFatman Our game was a little touch-and-go at points (for what it's worth, we both have extensive qualifications and experience in disaster response, which a review we read someplace said would help... I wasn't convinced) but it was a pretty decent finale.
Best of luck!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Funnily enough, just as you were posting this earlier, I was on the phone with my partner who'd called to say "saw this Sonic board game and I've pre-ordered it" so great minds and all that!
We're getting the simple one first because we often take board games to my Mum's now and, being honest if not polite, she plays things at a slightly lower level, so we can't break out anything too tactical or in-depth. That being said, the Battle Racer game looks incredible and I'd just buy it for the expansion figures (Shadow! Silver! E-123 Omega!) so we'll see what the quality is like on Battle Crashers first.
Having never played Formula D, I'm deferring to my partner's extensive knowledge of board games and will rely on a briefing from him before we play.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
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Topic: What Are Your Favourite Table Top Games?
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