Carcassonne Central

Off Topic => Other Games => Topic started by: Valheru on April 21, 2016, 04:31:40 PM

Title: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Valheru on April 21, 2016, 04:31:40 PM
Hello, my fellow Carcassonians,

With the arrival of the Tunnels and Tower expansion I personally consider my Carcassonne collection functionally almost complete (1-tile Count starter tile and windroses needed). Gameplay-wise, I feel I have everything to play Carcassone with enough variant possibilities while maintaining the fun-factor. Having no intention at starting to collect spin-offs or 2.0, and loving board games more and more every day, I am now looking at other options to broaden my collection of games and enjoying others next to Carcassonne.

Now, I want to broaden this topic and not create it especially for me so the intention of this topic is to help you solve any dilemma's regarding board games in general. Should you buy something or not, ask for advice, weigh options when considering buying something new etc... Discussing the buy is half of the fun, I feel. You can even place an 'add' here for others to suggest games to you. Just mention which elements you find key in your next purchase, even add a price range.. The possibilities are endless.

I have been reading a lot of your topics on variant games but I'm definitely not sure WHAT I want (tile-laying, cardgames, classics,...). I have played a few other games and I've come to the following list of the ones I'm interested in at this moment. I would like to buy them all but financially, that's a no go since I'm still looking for my first job (graduated 'recently'). Therefore price is probably a big factor. Anything above 40 euro I find a bit much (per box, not in total)

The genre of the games I like is most of the time a very strategic approach. Come up with a masterplan, try to deal with your opponents and change your plan accordingly to seal the win. It has to be able to be played well with 3 persons at the minimum.

-Dominion: A lot of possibilities with various expansions, seems never to bore because of the variation and is tactically really interesting.

-Colt Express: It looks brilliant, plays nice according to you guys and girls and is fairly new so many more things to come. Not sure about the strategy aspect?

-Space Hulk: Death Angel -> A cooperative strategic cardgame in the Warhammer 40k universe. It looks really interesting, can be played      solo and it in one of my favorite fantasy universes. There are also a few expansions for it. Anyone any experience with this one?

- 7Wonders: Well, where to begin... Everybody here is really fond of this game, it does look interesting. Which expansions would be a must-buy as well? Is it fun playing with 3 people? How steep is the learning curve?

Other suggestions are welcome of course!

In essence: which one would you buy? ;)



Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: dirk2112 on April 21, 2016, 05:06:18 PM
Colt Express is pretty random.  Something unexpected can happen and strategy goes right out the window.

Have you tried New York 1901 yet?  That is building laying game. 
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: SRBO on April 21, 2016, 11:38:02 PM
7 ,wonders. Just buy them all. Its one of our favorite games. Sadly it takes a while to setup the game.
And with 2 players I dont like it.
Best is with 4 I think
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Decar on April 22, 2016, 01:17:31 AM
You might want to invest in the Kickstarter thread too.  :(y) :(y) Though it has been quiet of late.

I like 2-player 7 Wonders, the 3rd bot player isn't annoying, but best to give it a try if you're not sure.  If you're interested get all the things!  7 Wonders Duel is great too, for two player.

I started to play Dominion online; it's quite fun, but there is no shuffling on digital versions, so it probably plays much faster.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Clownfeet on April 22, 2016, 01:18:48 AM
7 wonders duel is excellent with 2 players and i would suggest that over 7 wonders now i think....although it's different moods for different times kind of thing.

now i know these aren;t your suggestions but here's a few that i love and play regularly:

I'm big into medium-heavy Euros. If you haven't played it before and want something that you will still be playing in 10 years from now then i cannot suggest Terra Mystica enough. There's a reason it's in the top 5 of BGG. I have a group in London where we try to play it every week and every single time i still come away thinking about the game, running back through my moves and where i went wrong and the whole game we are all chatting about strategies and moves. It has so much bang for buck. Yeah it's big, yeah it's rule book is long, but it's actually a fairly easy to follow game but just has so many possibilities.

Others that i highly recommend to people who like Euro/carc genre games:

Keyflower - similar yet very different to carc if that makes sense. an excellent game with lots of strategy, loads of variability and what we all love, several promos/expansions to try and source and collect

Bruges - A great canal/"town"/people builder with lots of different strategies and winning mechanics.

Isle of Skye - similar layout system to carcassonne (although the "roads don't need to match" thing is weird!) but the mechanic of putting a price on tiles and discarding another is really great. And also the varieable scoring tiles are great for replayability.

Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Whaleyland on April 22, 2016, 02:28:39 AM
Dominion is excellent from 3-4 players. It has a few problems at 5+ (card availability, mostly – you have to buy Intrigue or Base Cards to get it above 4 anyway, though) and it is a slightly different game with only 2 players, although that's how I usually play it. For expansions, Adventures sounds really fun, Prosperity brings in more valuable money and VP cards, and Dark Ages adds some very interesting mechanics. Empires is releasing in a month, too, so you may want to read up on that around release time.

7 Wonders is great from 3-7 players (or 8 players with Cities). No complaints at all from me. I even like the 2 player mode, although it is not quite as good. I'd recommend skipping Leaders at first and go for Cities, as an expansion. Save Babel for last, if at all.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: jungleboy on April 22, 2016, 04:22:23 AM
Cool topic, I've also been going through this process in the last few months (though doing so in various threads here!). I'll write a proper response when I have some more time later, but for now I just wanted to touch on one thing in the original post.

Having no intention at starting to collect spin-offs or 2.0, and loving board games more and more every day, I am now looking at other options to broaden my collection of games and enjoying others next to Carcassonne.

I see that you're trying to expand out of Carcassonne, but I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the spinoffs so quickly. It's true that some of them are quite similar to regular Carcassonne with just a different theme and some minor mechanical changes (e.g. Hunters and Gatherers, Ark of the Covenant), but others - specifically The City and The Castle of the ones that I've played - are quite different. They're still tile-laying, area control games of course, but you definitely don't play them and think to yourself, 'This is just like regular Carcassonne, what's the point?'
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Valheru on April 22, 2016, 04:30:49 AM
I think the main 'problem' with The City and The Castle is that they don't attract me visually for some odd reason. It just doesn't do it for me.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Decar on April 22, 2016, 04:47:28 AM
That's sad to hear - I really like the artwork for The Castle/Die Burg.  I like seeing all the individual people going about their business  inside the City. The tiles do look a tad-dated now, but there is definitely charm.  You should try South Seas, it's probably the most different after the two mentioned and Uber Stock Und Stein is surprisingly different because of the tile distributions + the artwork from Doris Matthaus is incredible!
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: jungleboy on April 22, 2016, 04:49:35 AM
I think the main 'problem' with The City and The Castle is that they don't attract me visually for some odd reason. It just doesn't do it for me.

I agree on the City but like Decar I quite like the Castle artwork. Plus the chapel tiles from the Falcon expansion add some new colour to it.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: dirk2112 on April 22, 2016, 06:25:49 AM
I am frequently tempted to acquire another version of Carcassonne, but always prevent it from happening.  The City and the Castle are dead right?  No longer being printed and no future expansions, right?   So for me, those are out.  South Seas is kind of cool and I think it is currently supported and perhaps more expansions are planned.  I have tried gold rush and it wasn't different enough from Carcassonne for me to be interested.  The winter edition is the one I really like, but they haven't done anything different (besides the Gingerbread man) to make me buy it. 

There is really a lot of Carcassonne going on right now with all of these different games.  Too be honest, I think there are too many choices and when faced with that, I frequently avoid making a choice entirely.  I have enough trouble figuring out what expansions to Carc I that I want to play with let alone which version to play.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Decar on April 22, 2016, 06:31:43 AM
Sometimes knowing there's not new expansions coming is a good thing - at least you know where you stand.  TBH, most of the Carcassonne games are good in their own merit and at least you know no expansions are coming that will break a load of the existing rules (I'm looking at you Halflings  C:-))
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Curt194 on April 22, 2016, 06:34:03 AM
Dominion is a really fun game for me and if you like strategy planning etc then it's great. I usually play with 2 or 3 people and always really enjoy it!

The fact that all players start with the same deck and then build it as you go makes for some very interesting strategic decisions and it's fun to see what strategies other people come up with. I'm not as good at this game as some of my friends but I always really enjoy it.

I have the base set and adventures and still find new and interesting strategies based on the cards that are available to buy. I would definitely recommend this one.

Colt express is good fun, but planning isn't really something you can do very well/easily. It's a really fun game but not so good if you're looking for lots of strategy!
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Decar on April 22, 2016, 08:03:43 AM
You can always throw your money at X-Wing games - plenty to collect there - I've never played it, but the mechanics look fairly solid.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: jungleboy on April 22, 2016, 08:41:29 AM
I have been reading a lot of your topics on variant games but I'm definitely not sure WHAT I want (tile-laying, cardgames, classics,...)...The genre of the games I like is most of the time a very strategic approach. Come up with a masterplan, try to deal with your opponents and change your plan accordingly to seal the win. It has to be able to be played well with 3 persons at the minimum.

You already have a few games in mind, so you're on the right track. I would delve into Carcassonne even further and think about what exactly attracts you to the game. Tile-laying? Area control? Medieval theme? Expansions? The gateway / light to medium aspect? You can go to BGG and see lists of games for each of those criteria.

Some suggestions for games based on my recent splurges and things on my wish-list (the first three are the only ones I've actually played):

Cacao
Medina
Tigris and Euphrates
Citrus
Istanbul
Isle of Skye
The Cave
Escape: Curse of the Temple
Mexica
Fresco
Alhambra
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: CKorfmann on April 22, 2016, 10:36:12 AM
Carcassonne was absolutely a gateway game for me, and while I love Carcassonne still, I rarely get to play it.  So this is the perspective of someone who started with Carcassonne and dove in deep before discovering that there was a big, beautiful world of games on the other side.  That said, here are some of the games I've discovered that I really enjoy. 

Castles of Mad King Ludwig - I was an architectural draftsman in a past life, so this one grabs my attention with the blueprint quality it has.  It is a tile laying game with a "point salad" thing going on (point salad being many ways to score lots of points, end scores in or near the 100s).  The same designer had another similar game, Suburbia, which is much neater esthetically in that it is all hexes.  Both are good.

Castles of Burgundy - Arguably the best game by Stephan Feld who has an impressive resume.  I find this one hard to categorize, and while it looks disjointed and difficult to comprehend at first, it's actually quite simple to get the hang of it and a lot of fun.  Don't hesitate. 

Glen More - Many similarities to Carcassonne.  You're building your own little tableau in front of you instead of a joint effort in the middle of the table (as are the ones listed above), but they are not really landscape tiles so to speak, more resource producing spots.  The game has a lot of unique elements that are interesting like a fluid turn order mechanism and a supply and demand type of market.  The designer, Matthias Cramer, has several other games, but the only one I've played is Lancaster which I also enjoy quite a bit. 

Alien Frontiers - This has a really neat retro future theme (think Flash Gordon) kind of pasted onto a worker placement game.  It works really well though.  In this game, your workers are dice, something that adds a random element to the game and I find rather enjoyable.  This game has several expansions which are good when added, but not necessary to enjoy the game.  Some others with the worker placement dice mechanism are Euphoria (a Stonemaier game, very popular designer), and Kingsburg.

Another tile-laying, blueprint style game that I enjoy is Vegas Showdown.  This one flies under the radar for the most part, but it is an auction game where you are bidding against other players to buy rooms to build your casino/hotel.  This game goes over pretty well with everyone I've taught it to.

Revolution - a Steve Jackson game unlike any other, by a designer I like named Phillip DuBarry.  It is a blind bidding, area control game.  I've had a lot of fun with this one.  It has two expansions, but unfortunately they are not compatible with each other.  The first is more of the same, but the second is more aggressive.  Kind of a bummer that you can't play with both. 

Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar Game - This is the one with the big wheel in the middle that turns several cogs around it on the board.  It is a worker placement game where you place your workers on the cogs.  The wheel turns once each game turn and the longer you can leave your workers on the wheels, the better the reward when you claim them again.  This one is pretty unique and also quite busy looking, but pretty easy once you get your head around it. 

Can't Stop - A straight up "press your luck" game.  How long can you roll dice and get the numbers you need.  Lots of fun.

No Thanks - A card game that has a "screw your neighbor" component.  This goes over very well with just about everyone.

Bohnanza - A good card game of managing resources.  A good one for family holidays.

Splendor - You've probably seen this one by now.  Highly replayable card game for it's simplicity and you can teach and play it with anyone.

Love Letter - A quick and simple card game that you can pull out and play with anyone as well.  I enjoy the Batman version best. 

These are the games from my collection that I enjoy the most.  I'm sure there are tons more that I could name and that will certainly be named by others.  There are lots of resources at your disposal for finding good games.  Check out the rankings on BGG.  If you don't already use BGG, it is a tremendous resource of info on every game ever invented.  It takes a while to learn to navigate it (and they just redesigned the game page format), but it has a lot to offer.  I'd also take advantage of all the reviewer videos that are available.  You'll find some that you enjoy and others you don't, but I suggest you start with the Dice Tower, just because of their sheer volume of videos, and go from there.  They have top 100s and top 10 videos in just about every category you can imagine.  They are really good at giving you a quick glimpse of the games they discuss. 

You may find that you like certain designers, themes, or types of games like worker placement, resource gathering, etc., but you might also find that one game, in particular, eliminates the need for any others in that category.  Flash Point: Fire Rescue did this for me with most other cooperative games like Pandemic, or Forbidden Island. 

I have a regular board game group now that meets every Tuesday night and has a marathon weekend about every three or four months.  I also play with family and other friends whenever I can.  The best thing you can do is find a group, start playing games.  You'll discover lots of games that you really enjoy.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Decar on April 22, 2016, 11:27:11 AM
That's quite a list CKorfmann - A merit for your extensive Efforts.  There's plenty of great games in that list to review.

One more for the list is Kingdom Builder - I got quite addicted to the Android version (which is even worse than the Carcassonne implementation); but recently picked up the Big Box on kickstarter with the newest expansions.  I've only played the base game and I really like the strategy, it takes some learning to play well and sometimes you can draw a bad hand.  Some people complain about the randomness, so it's not for everyone and there are some well respected variants.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Hounk on April 22, 2016, 12:21:34 PM
Of the games from your original post, I would really recommend 7 Wonders, though I never played Space Hulk or Colt Express. Others, I would recommend would be:

Istanbul: very easy to get in, plays in under an hour, yet with some depth and also nice looking.
5 Tribes: only played once, but definitely want to try it out more and probably will buy it at some time. A little bit like Istanbul (regarding the movements and distribution of wooden bits, in this case meeples, on a random laid map), a little bit like 7 Wonders (regarding the "point salat" rating in the end), but plays very different and is also very beautiful.
Legends of Andor: very easy to get in coop, which is very puzzley.
Agricola: classic "worker placement game", much lighter then Caylus, in which I never got really into. Tough decisions, what do do, because you always want to archive more, than what's possible in the tight calculated numbers of rounds, but that applies to all players. Also comes with a "family version" and the "standard rules", the later can be played with different, simpler or more complex, decks of cards, so you can learn the game from an easy level up to a more complex game.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Yashin-n on April 23, 2016, 02:30:53 AM
Quote
The genre of the games I like is most of the time a very strategic approach. Come up with a masterplan, try to deal with your opponents and change your plan accordingly to seal the win. It has to be able to be played well with 3 persons at the minimum.
I know such strategic game but only for 2 persons. It has simple rules, price is quite low, and there are no expansions and randomness. But "it is not for everyone". I mean chess.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Valheru on April 24, 2016, 04:49:18 AM
Thank you all very much for your contributions. I'll have to make BGG my homepage for a while  O0
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: MrNumbers on April 24, 2016, 11:57:02 PM
If you like strategy, Ticket to Ride is your best option. Many expansion maps, PC and mobile apps, online play. This is my favorite board game (after Carcassonne, of course). Medium luck factor, plenty of strategic management, great competitive play - in other words: just try it :)
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: totor66 on April 25, 2016, 12:18:57 AM
To add my share of help, I would strongly recommend Dominion, that's my favourite game (realllllllyyyyyy close with Carcasonne)

Games are fast, really statrgeic, you should even before the game starts what your strategy is gonna be and given the amount of expansions, no game looks alike and for me that's a must. Playing with 3/4/5 payers is much better than in Carcassonne, which is for me max 2/3 players. Count 40 mn per game, with more time sorting the cards than actually playing :) And buy sleeves too

Also I love agricola, the best worker placement game for me, the base game contains a family version for the first games but adding the occupations/improvements card changes the game for an unlimited amount of fun :) Long games though, count 30/35 mn per player, so not the same type
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: danisthirty on April 25, 2016, 12:41:52 AM
I really enjoy Castles of Burgundy and 7 Wonders and would recommend these to pretty much anyone. I haven't played Dominion for a while as I didn't really enjoy the theme, but I have recently discovered a deceptively simple game called Flip City which is kind of similar but with a city-building theme and far fewer expansions (so far). Zombicide is something I've been playing a lot at work, but I guess that's one that needs to be played with "the right people" (in this case my colleagues) to truly get the most out of it...
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Hounk on April 25, 2016, 03:49:36 AM
Regarding Dominion:
you should even before the game starts what your strategy is gonna be [...] Count 40 mn per game, with more time sorting the cards than actually playing :)
These are actually the two things, which turned me off from the game. Although, the later I only know from hearsay, since I only gave this game online a try. (Also, I didn't really like the inconsistent artwork, and my main concern: others of my gaming group told me, that they tried it before and disliked it, so I never really considered buying this one.)

Regarding Ticket to Ride, it is not among my favourites, either. Although some of my gaming group really loves it, so I will play it regularly and never reject it. I enjoyed most the games of 3 player Swiss map, because this is tight and the introductory phase with everybody just gathering train cards is shorter. I also had on this occasion some of my rare wins of the game. I wouldn't argue, that this game is not strategic, otherwise how comes, that I suck so bad against more experienced players, but as a "best option" for strategy I would disagree with. Sure there are other games with more strategy, e.g. Power Grid, which I really like, but it might get tough to step into that one, if everybody is a new player. (As long, as one player can handle all of the administration and monitors turn order, you could consider it gateway for all the others.)

I think, the "30 min per player" on the box of Agricola is a very accurate specification, but unlike with other games, I would rather read it like "up to 30 min". I had only 4 player games to date, but they all came close to 2 hours, but I think, none of them went above, regardless if family version or regular game. Of course, regular game takes longer, once you are familiar, but we played family version only for the first couple of games. (At least, the first I attended, the other played the game before, but it had been years since, so it was a welcomed step into after a long break for them, too.)
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Valheru on April 25, 2016, 07:19:47 AM
I really enjoy Castles of Burgundy and 7 Wonders and would recommend these to pretty much anyone. I haven't played Dominion for a while as I didn't really enjoy the theme, but I have recently discovered a deceptively simple game called Flip City which is kind of similar but with a city-building theme and far fewer expansions (so far). Zombicide is something I've been playing a lot at work, but I guess that's one that needs to be played with "the right people" (in this case my colleagues) to truly get the most out of it...

Flip City reminds me a lot of Metropolis?
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: danisthirty on April 25, 2016, 08:51:23 AM
I've never played Metropolis but it's often likened to Machi Koro.
Title: Re: What to buy next? A capitalist 'must spend now' topic
Post by: Paul on April 25, 2016, 09:38:40 AM
What to buy next? Hmm. There's already been pushing for a megaCatan game next year... x_x

But on a more serious note, not sure I am buying more games. I got 30 or so game still yet played or played only once, so I will be looking forward to that. (Bought on a whim thru bargains, mostly.)

One of them is Descent which I have the complete 2nd Edition promising months if not more than a year of game play value.

Then there's Dungeons'n'Dragons which also has great deal of play hours waiting.