What game is hitting your table?

[Bixby]

The game "Hanabi" is one of the nominees for the award "Spiel des Jahres 2013".

Mo, 08.07.2013   
Press conference with publication of the award winner "Spiel des Jahres 2013" and "Kennerspiel des Jahres 2013" in Berlin

Homepage (German / English)
Spiel des Jahres eV

Thanks.

I have a subscription to the English version of SpielBox Magazine. When I read about Hanabi I knew that I simply must get a copy.

[kettlefish]

"Kennerspiel des Jahres 2013"

Our special ViP member "Hans-im-Glueck" is happy:
HiG has this year two nominees for this award.
I say get the fingers crossed, that HiG get the award.

"Bruegge"
"Die Palaeste von Carcarra"
---------------------------------------
Z-man Games is the licence partner from HiG for the English version.

[Scott]

My family was heavily into Mexican Train a few years ago. Haven't played in a while, but I found it very enjoyable.

[AlbinoAsian]

This year I've really been trying to play & buy more games outside of the Carcassonne family (although the money I've spent on Carc is still several times the amount of spent on other games.

I have to say the most loved game between my friends, my family, and myself is Samurai. At this stage I can't play it enough =)

[Bixby]

This year I've really been trying to play & buy more games outside of the Carcassonne family (although the money I've spent on Carc is still several times the amount of spent on other games.

I have to say the most loved game between my friends, my family, and myself is Samurai. At this stage I can't play it enough =)

Which version of Samurai? This one by Reiner Knizia?

[AlbinoAsian]

This year I've really been trying to play & buy more games outside of the Carcassonne family (although the money I've spent on Carc is still several times the amount of spent on other games.

I have to say the most loved game between my friends, my family, and myself is Samurai. At this stage I can't play it enough =)

Which version of Samurai? This one by Reiner Knizia?

Aah yes that's the one. It might not be complex enough for some. But though its easy to learn, it feels different each game

[Bixby]

I think it is a brilliant game. Reminds me that I need to play it more.

[AlbinoAsian]

When I was back in Australia for 3 months Resistance definitely was the most played.

Other games that got some love were
-Tsuro (super quick and easy to teach my relatives)
-Ticket to Ride (Europe and Nordic, Nordic being my favorite yet
-Keyflower was my favorite new game... Just takes a while to explain to others

Now 2 games that I've just recently played but really enjoyed were
-Callisto (abstract game which plays quick)
-Saboteur (another great hidden baddies game)

[Bixby]

I have not posted in this thread for awhile, it is time to rectify that. Here is what I have played so far this November...

Troyes x3 @ Home
Kathy and I have played three 2 player games of this. I quite enjoy the game and think that the dice mechanic is very clever and well balanced. This game has re-playability and staying power. I look forward to trying this with four players.

Castles of Burgundy x1 @ Home / x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
This is one of our favourite games. Stephan Feld has really proven himself as a designer. I can see getting years of enjoyment out of this game.

Tobago x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
It has been a long time since I had played this, so it was time to bring it out to ChewsDay Challenge. I enjoy the game and can see playing this occasionally (Say once or twice a year). Beautiful components and interesting mechanics. 

Bruges x2 @ Home
Having visited the city of Bruges in Belgium last May, I became interested in this game. The fact that it is a Stephan Feld design made it an auto-buy for me. I enjoy the game and see many plays in the future. It is not my favourite Feld design though. I am left feeling like the game ends just when I am starting to ramp up my plans. Bloody Feld games make you feel inadequate.

Antics! x1 @ Home
This is a Fragor game designed by the Lamont Brothers. I quite enjoy this game. The mechanism of building your anthill to give you more options or more powerful options is a very cool mechanic. I need to play this more often.

River Dragons x1 @ Home
I think this game has some fun "screw you" elements that makes it fun and engaging. The player interaction is hilarious. The trouble with the game is the fiddly bits. Perhaps picking up some mactac to keep the bridges from sliding and falling apart all of the time would cure that. Other than that, this is a fun light filler game.

Diamant x1 @ Home
This is the German version of Incan Gold. Another fun light filler that is generally a hit with everyone when it gets played. I generally suck at push your luck games and this is no exception. Still, I very much enjoy it. The pieces in this game are nicer than the Incan Gold version.

Acquire x1 @ Home
A Sid Sackson classic. Glad I played this, I was overdue. This needs to hit the table a couple of times a year. We played a full 6 player game. Fun times. I am glad I have the 1999 version with the cool bits.

Shogun x 1 @ Home
Jeepers. I am getting all sorts of awesome games to the table lately. We played a five player version of this. Rocky start to the game as we had to separate all of Tenno's Court expansion components from the game prior to starting. Once we started though, game was fun, engaging, and very interactive. A three way tie for first place.

Crokinole x3 @ Home
Always enjoyable. We sometimes just set the board up on the dining room table and leave it there for a couple of weeks. Random games just seem to break out. Always glad when they do.

Mega-Carcassonne x1 @Home
We played a 4 player game of this in two teams of two. Lots of expansions in play. We made sure the "screw you" expansions (Tower, Dragon, Plague) were in play. Fun game and the scores were very close at the end. Always up for 1 or two marathon Mega-Carcassonne games every year.

Stone Age x1 @ Home
I now consider this a classic. It is one of the first worker placement games that caught my attention. It is a good example of a simple worker placement game and it can be easily taught and quickly played.

Star Trek: Fleet Captains x1 @ Home
Very thematic game and since I am a trekkie at heart, this is a keep for me. I played the Klingons and got my butt handed to me by the Federation (Bryce). I would really like to try a three player game of this with the added Romulan expansion.

Galaxy Trucker x1 @ Home
Chaos in a box. I enjoy the game for what it is, a light chaotic experience. I would like to play it with all of the expansion options added in to see how they alter game play.

Atlantis x1 @ Home
I think this is a great filler game. After getting this game, I sold my copy of Cartagena. This is a more robust game and has more meaningful decisions.

Himalaya x1 @ Home
One of my favourite games. Again, I need to get this to the table more often. I think my efforts to greatly shrink the size of my game collection will really help me to focus on games I truly enjoy a lot. This game really shines.

Castellan x1 @ Home
Played a four player version of this. After a few plays, I am not convinced this game has much to offer. I like the concept and the bits are wonderful. I think this has limited play for me. Perhaps some variants will get published to enhance game play.

Neuroshima Hex! x2 @ Home
I am so glad I bought version 3.0 of the game, even though I have version 2.5. I also have a whole pile of armies that I bought from Print & Play Productions. This game is quite enjoyable and even more so in team play. We played two games with four players in two teams of two. Another game that will continue to see game play at our house.

Poker x1 @ Home
I have been running a Texas Hold'em league for many years. Some games, I do very well, some games, not so well. Let's just say on this particular night, I spent most of the evening in the Loser's Lounge playing Rockband.

Fluxx The Boardgame x3 @ Home
I wanted to like this... but I don't. Seems too easy to win. My games were all with 2 players, perhaps a 4 player game would be very different. On to the sale pile.

Takenoko x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
This wins the award for coolest bits in a game. Very nice looking game. I enjoyed the game and would like to play it again to determine if it is one I would like to add to my collection or not. I am slowing down my game purchases and now only want to purchase titles that will see a fair bit of repeat play.

Tokaido x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
Another game that looks wonderful. I like the game play in this, but again this is a game I want to play once or twice more to really form an opinion and to determine whether I would want to buy my own copy.

Kakerlaken Poker  x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
This game is a great filler. It functions well as an ice-breaker for getting players who do not know each other to start interacting. We use this at ChewsDay Challenge to ease people into the game group and add a bit of levity to a game night. Probably doesn't hurt that I am an absolute goof when I play this.

Mexican Train Dominoes x1 @ Friend's House
This is a fun game for a group to sit around a dining room table, enjoy a glass of wine, and play. My wife and I both enjoy this. This generally comes with us on our camping trips as well.

Extreme Aggravation x1 @ Friend's House
Playing Aggravation with cards instead of dice adds a lot more meaningful decisions to the game. Especially when you have a hand of cards and some of the cards have special uses. Play in teams and the game is perfect of a a glass of wine and some levity around the dining room table.

[Bixby]

Time to post another batch of board game plays...

Bora Bora x1 @Home
Another home run by Stefan Feld. A lot of decisions in this game. Another example of how Feld makes very innovative use of dice. This game was the straw on the camel's back that convinced me I need to track down the rest of Feld's designs and add them to my collection. I think I am a fan boy.

Shogun x1 @Home
Got another play of this in. It is great to get a game to the table a couple times in a row. It means you are not struggling to remember the mechanics and can immerse yourself in the gameplay. This is a solid design and is worthy of any praise it gets.

Clash of Cultures x1 @Home
This was my first play of this game. I really enjoyed it. I have discovered that I quite enjoy boardgames with a civilization building element involving Tech Trees. I would be most interested in playing this again. At some point, I will likely add a Civ game to my collection. Just not sure if it will be this one or Sid Meier's Civilization. Would like to play them both again.

Troyes x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
Finally got a four player game of this to the table. This has sticking power and will be climbing the charts with me. Plays well with 2 and plays well with 4. Bonus is that Kathy really enjoys it as well.

Timeline x 1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
A fun fast filler game that is great for non-gamers. I think I will always keep this in the bag for family gatherings.

Las Vegas x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
Another fast fun filler that is popular with non gamers. This one has some sticking power and will always be in the gaming travel bag.

Thurn & Taxis x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
This is a pretty solid gateway game. I rate it up there with Carcassonne & Ticket to Ride for ease of learning and depth of gameplay. Good one to get to the table periodically.

Creationary x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
If Lego and Pictionary had a love child, this would be it. You have to build things out of lego and have others guess what you are building. Did I mention LEGO!!!

Friedrich x 1 @ Home
Wow. I played this on Wednesday night and I am still thinking about the game. This is a very brilliant design and has the potential to be a top ten game for me, easily. I am thinking about trying to schedule another game very soon. I would like to introduce Kathy to this and I really hopes she likes it. It is a long and epic game that would go very well with a pot of tea and a Sunday afternoon.

Castles of Burgundy x1 @ Home
Do not need to repeat what I have repeatedly said before, this is a great game.

Tigris & Euphrates x1 @ Home
I had my first play of this last week. At the start of the game I was quiet underwhelmed by the game, then around the midpoint of the game I started to see patterns of play emerge and I gained a new found respect for the game.

Dice Town x1 @ Home
This is a fun gateway game. Not sure why it does not hit the table more. Perhaps by thinning out my game collection, titles like this can see more attention.

Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear (second edition) x1 @ Home
The components are beautiful; counters and maps. The game play is simple and elegant, the historical notes and background information is very interesting. I am glad to finally get this on the table. Colin quite enjoyed it so I think there will be an opportunity to dig into some of the deeper scenarios. This is much more accessible than Squad Leader and delivers the goods for small scale WWII battles.

Poker x1 @ Home
Played the eight and final game of the 2013 BSOP (Bixbys Series of Poker). My highlight was slow playing quad 7's and getting another player to push all in on that hand. Fun times. Unfortunately, I could not hold on to my chip lead, and was eliminated on the bubble (4th spot). Another successful year of running the poker league. 7 years into the league and still loving the game. Sure helps that we have an amazing group of friends that play. Makes the games very enjoyable.

[Scott]

Yesterday my brothers finally decided to play a board game with me, and the youngest brother who dislikes games the most thought that he would enjoy playing Ground Floor because it had a business theme. According to the outside of the box, it takes between 1.5 and 2 hours to play the game. We had never played the game before, so we knew it would take longer, but I didn't expect it would take 9 hours. I've never seen so much analysis paralysis in my entire life. The average turn length was somewhere around 10 to 15 minutes.

Although I'm not a fan of worker placement games, I thought Ground Floor would be better because in most cases there is ample opportunity for all players to take the same or similar actions. The problem of analysis paralysis seems to stem from the fact that each of the nine rounds is divided into five phases. How you divide up your workers' time affects not only subsequent rounds, but also subsequent phases in the current round. You would expect the amount of analysis to go down as the number of workers increased, but that was not the case. Expanding your company becomes increasingly expensive. Towards the end of the game, the market became over-saturated with more products than customers. Putting any more product on the market was completely pointless, other than to earn a measly $3 each from liquidation. We ran out of things to do which would have any meaningful impact, so I dumped everything I could into marketing. (This could have been beneficial for me at game end, but I didn't have the appropriate building upgrade to take advantage of it.)

The whole game ended up being a series of mostly bad decisions, or poorly-timed ones. At the outset, I was concerned that nine rounds would be too short, but in the end it was too long. The upgrades also seemed a little unbalanced. In most cases, there is only two of each upgrade, so everybody competes for the same ones while the majority go unused. I like the idea of the game, but I don't know if I can bring myself to play it again.

[Bixby]

Here area  couple of recent plays:

Tammany Hall
Five of us all played our first game of Tammany Hall a week or so ago. I like the concept of the game and it has lots of player interaction. The early game was relatively gentle, but as the years rolled by, the game got more vicious. I really felt like I was doing poorly, but ended up with a surprise victory at the end. With our concentration on the points leader(s) in the mid-game, it made it so I was able to sneak in from behind. I doubt the group will allow that to happen again. I cannot say I even saw it myself. The game is light on rules and heavy on strategy. A perfect combo. It will see repeated plays at my game table.

Eclipse
Last night I played a three player game of eclipse. We have almost all of the promos and expansions. I played Eridani, and the other two players were Planta and Orion Hegemony. I was worried about the Orion player at the start of the game and was keeping a cautious eye in his direction. In the meantime, the Planta expanded quickly and got a strong resource engine going. My own resource engine was coming a long, but not fast enough. Unfortunately, the Orion player got boxed in behind a bunch of bad tile draws with kickin' ancients on them. My plan was to build tiles to prevent Orion from getting me and having them attack the Planta. That never happened and by the time the two of them clashed, the Planta had a very strong force to be reckoned with. Orion was almost obliterated. We conceded the game to Planta at Turn 6. I really like this game and want to play more this year. My concern is that with fewer than four players, it may be best to play symmetrical races, (Terran or Magellan). With 2-3 players, the racial powers combines with tile draws can create an imbalance. Not sure how others feel about this. Not to take anything away from Planta, they played a very strong game. Looking back at last night's game, Orion and I should have made a move earlier, but hindsight offers more clarity than was evident at the time. Look to see more entries about this game in 2014. PS. The Ship Pack #1 sculpts are awesome!!!

[Carcking]

@ Everyone - I could use your advise for what to look for at GenCon this year. There is so much there that it's impossible to see it all, catch it all. Every year, after it's over, I wonder what I missed - if maybe I missed what would be our game of the year in my group.

So if I named the games we are already into, would you give me your recommended list of what to look for? I know as a community we have a very wide experience with board games.

Here's what we like in our group in any particular order, already own, and get cycled through just about at least once a month:
Carcassonne
Settlers of Catan
Dominion
Snowdonia
Puerto Rico
Monuments
Glen More
Agricola
A Touch of Evil
Last Night on Earth
Tasnia
Flashpoint Fire Rescue
Pandemic
Urbania
The Downfall of Pompeii
Sid Meier's Civilization

And all available expansions of the above.

The two that I will likely look for this year are Helios and Bruges.

What else should I be looking for?

[kettlefish]

Carcking,
you like Snowdonia?

Perhaps than Russian Railroads is also a good game...

[Tacita]

Eclipse
Last night I played a three player game of eclipse. We have almost all of the promos and expansions. I played Eridani, and the other two players were Planta and Orion Hegemony. I was worried about the Orion player at the start of the game and was keeping a cautious eye in his direction. In the meantime, the Planta expanded quickly and got a strong resource engine going. My own resource engine was coming a long, but not fast enough. Unfortunately, the Orion player got boxed in behind a bunch of bad tile draws with kickin' ancients on them. My plan was to build tiles to prevent Orion from getting me and having them attack the Planta. That never happened and by the time the two of them clashed, the Planta had a very strong force to be reckoned with. Orion was almost obliterated. We conceded the game to Planta at Turn 6. I really like this game and want to play more this year. My concern is that with fewer than four players, it may be best to play symmetrical races, (Terran or Magellan). With 2-3 players, the racial powers combines with tile draws can create an imbalance. Not sure how others feel about this. Not to take anything away from Planta, they played a very strong game. Looking back at last night's game, Orion and I should have made a move earlier, but hindsight offers more clarity than was evident at the time. Look to see more entries about this game in 2014. PS. The Ship Pack #1 sculpts are awesome!!!

Planta is rather special and I have been putting them aside in the games I have played so far. I would not use them in a three player game until all three players are familliar with the rest of the races.

Games with less than four players usually result in a stand-off. Last game I managed to draw no economic tiles at all, so I got my first extra money income in turn five (bah!). I still won, but that was only because the others left me alone. In the end my ships kicked arse!  The result from getting a lot of research done.

The only advice I can give you is to be more aggressive. Eclipse is really a better game when there are fights going on.