Tabletop Games

[King Flevance]

I know many of us here are heavy video gamers but I have always preferred gathering around a dining room table with friends or family and playing turn based games in a more social environment. Board Games have recently had a new Golden Age, which has been very refreshing for me personally. While at the same time Dungeons and Dragons catapulted into mainstream popularity and experienced a new kind of Golden Age for it as well. I currently have the new Players Handbook and am excited to start weaving the new mechanics into our current game. Now, Civ 7 is coming out - its an exciting time to be alive for me. If only I had more time to play everything. I know this forum is usually used to discuss our other gaming ventures into the video game scene but I wanted to have a thread to see if any other Civ fans also enjoy sitting around the table and what do you play?

I used to play Magic:The Gathering before it became what it is today. (I stopped around the 8th Core Set.) I also used to play Warhammer 40K but time has became an issue and it just no longer is a viable option. Now I mostly play board games with my wife and a couple friends and have a D&D campaign that crawls along every month or two. I actually used to have an old Civilization board game that I never could get anyone to play with me. (It had a 4-10 hour play time) I have recently played a game called "Mosaic: A Story of Civilization" that plays similar to Civ *kind of* and also has a 4-6 hour play time. It does not see much play time and is honestly only mediocre. I think if I had to pick my top 3 board games right now, they would be Kutna Hora, Blood Rage, and Lizard Wizard.

Do any of you have any tabletop games you enjoy?

 

[Patine]

I know many of us here are heavy video gamers but I have always preferred gathering around a dining room table with friends or family and playing turn based games in a more social environment. Board Games have recently had a new Golden Age, which has been very refreshing for me personally. While at the same time Dungeons and Dragons catapulted into mainstream popularity and experienced a new kind of Golden Age for it as well. I currently have the new Players Handbook and am excited to start weaving the new mechanics into our current game. Now, Civ 7 is coming out - its an exciting time to be alive for me. If only I had more time to play everything. I know this forum is usually used to discuss our other gaming ventures into the video game scene but I wanted to have a thread to see if any other Civ fans also enjoy sitting around the table and what do you play?

I used to play Magic:The Gathering before it became what it is today. (I stopped around the 8th Core Set.) I also used to play Warhammer 40K but time has became an issue and it just no longer is a viable option. Now I mostly play board games with my wife and a couple friends and have a D&D campaign that crawls along every month or two. I actually used to have an old Civilization board game that I never could get anyone to play with me. (It had a 4-10 hour play time) I have recently played a game called "Mosaic: A Story of Civilization" that plays similar to Civ *kind of* and also has a 4-6 hour play time. It does not see much play time and is honestly only mediocre. I think if I had to pick my top 3 board games right now, they would be Kutna Hora, Blood Rage, and Lizard Wizard.

Do any of you have any tabletop games you enjoy?

Although, indeed D&D is definitely a classic, I fondly remember the games by White Wolf and West End games. They both had a lot of innovative ideas - in subject matter and mechanics. Last Unicorn Games also had some good mechanics ideas until their tragic demise. Matt DeMille's games, while highly idiosyncratic and fringe, were fun and lacked any heavy pretense. I was never a fan of any of Games Workshop's products, though.

 

[King Flevance]

I used to play Vampire: The Masquerade back in the 90's to early 2000's and I did like its system. I would still be willing to play it but its atmosphere is very specific for my group and thus it falls into a niche flavor. That reminds me of Shadowrun which I think also has a cool system - although I am only assuming that as I have never gotten to play Shadowrun yet despite a couple attempts. It is a game hard to get off the ground with no experience due its complexity so I have only learned the basic rules and created a couple characters. I also want to play Pathfinder but if I do, I plan to reskin it as sci-fi. I have heard of West End Games but have not played any of their stuff. I am actually not familiar with Last Unicorn Games or Matt Demille unfortunately.

 

[Garabaldi]

I've been into boardgames for years now, there's lots of good ones. The Civ 6 designer Ed Beach is actually well known in the boardgame world for Here I Stand and Virgin Queen. Civ 1 was actually inspired by a Civilization boardgame made by Francis Tresham, and Railroad Tycoon by Francis' 1830. I believe Bryan Renolds who was a Civ 2 dev worked on 1830 as well. 1830 and the games it inspired are pretty long ro play but they are very interesting games if you can find the time for them.

 

[Quintillus]

I played board games frequently from 2007 - 2017, and a bit less so a couple years on either end of that. By the time the pandemic hit, I'd played enough for a while, and other than one weekend in 2022, the only games I played during the pandemic years were a couple games of Pandemic (what other games was more thematically appropriate for the times?) and a few rounds of Catan and King of Tokyo.

I'd describe myself as a medium-core board gamer who gravitates towards German games of low-mid to medium complexity. Along with the above, Dominion, Alhambra, The Last Night on Earth, and Castles of the Mad King are a few favorites from my collection, but there were lots of games I played one to four times with friends or at group events. Never tried D&D, largely because of the perceived time commitment, or Magic because of the ongoing new-deck-purchasing pseudo-requirement. Yeah, Dominion has 17 expansions now (approximately), but you don't need any of them to have a good time, and can just pick them up at your own pace when you're ready for some more variety.

I may get back into board games though, I've played twice in the past five weeks, and the annual 24-hour board game marathon is coming up in about five weeks, which is always a good time. The social aspect is certainly a big part of the appeal.

Most recently I played 7 Ronin, which was a fun game; I lost both times, but particularly enjoyed playing as the ninjas.

The campaign I'd like to do again is with Diplomacy. I played a few campaigns of it in college, and it's a great game. But it does have a lengthy time commitment - it worked in college because we could meet up in the evening and just leave the game on the table until we resumed a day or two later - and benefits greatly from having a surplus of space for secret negotiations.

 

[King Flevance]

I have been considering having my wife try Dominion as she enjoys card games and I feel it would give me a bit of that Magic: The Gathering experience but without all the investment in collecting. I have never played it yet though - just heard people talk about it. It seems very popular. We both enjoyed Alhambra. I have only played Diplomacy a few times and I do like it but in the couple games I have played, I was a novice against a very skilled person and he crushed me 1v1 easily despite my confidence to hold my own. It is a much better version of Risk and I would love to play it with some form of secret negotiations. My wife has bad anxiety so Pandemic was the only game she refused to play during the pandemic as she used the board games as a distraction. I did play with my daughters a couple times though. I am Catan'd out currently. Although I don't mind playing with the card deck from Traders & Barbarians expansion instead of the dice as it prevents resource stagnation pockets in the game. Everyone tells me I need to get the Cities & Knights expansion as well.
I have heard of a few of the others you guys have mentioned as well but have very little reference. I have heard Castles of the Mad King is very good. I am searching for a game that might give my wife a good "Walking Dead" experience as she loved that show. So now you have me wanting to look closer at Last Night on Earth. That 7 Ronin looks cool, I have never heard of it. I have no idea what I am looking at in these pics, but it looks like a lot of deception takes place on the board.

My current endeavors are to try and get a friend to come over with his copy of Fury of Dracula so we can all try it out together as I have heard it is an amazing 1 vs. 3-4 game. As well, Him and I came across a game called Court of the Dead I have been learning the rules to so we can play a proper game of it. It had a very big production with medal coins and miniatures. I just hope the game is as good as the production. Both very Halloween themed with Dracula and the Underworld.

 

[Thrasybulos]

Quite enjoying Concordia at the moment.

My latest acquisition is Yuan but it might not be available in English yet (I believe that version is planned for the last quarter of this year?). Haven't played it yet, though. But the mechanisms looked interesting enough that I bought it semi-"blind".

 

[RalofTyr]

When I think of table-top games, I think of games like Battletech, not necessarily an RPG-game.

I like Renegade-Legion's Centurion and Interceptor games, because of their diagrams and complexity. I don't care much for space-Romans though.

RPGs; so, D&D on like 5.5 edition? That's way too many books for me to buy; I picked up 4e in SLC and I got 2e (Dark-Sun), and I'm good.

White-Wolfs a great gaming-system; I always thought Vampires were lame, until I read Ann Rice and got into Vampire: the Masquerade and immortality, though, I prefer Requiem, because it makes vampires a bit more mysterious. I liked WW: the Apocalypse, but now, I play Werewolf: the Foresaken.

But, I have to say, as far as the WoD system goes, Mage: the Ascension, is my favorite, especially when we play it as a fantasy or historical-game rather than set in modern-times.

We've also played ASoI&F, the RPG, which, is a different-system, but, every time we play it, I often think of how much cooler it would be in AD&D2e or in Mage:tA. And what would happen if Smaug showed up!

For futuristic games, Battletech for one, and Mechwarror, but, very especially, Cyberpunk: 2020, which is an awesome game. I've got Blue Planet, and Babylon 5, the RPG, which, are cool in their own rights: We tried Heavy Gear, but, I just don't like the system, but the world-building is cool.


And I've never actually played Civilization III; my whole interest in the game was the fact they had files in Bitmap format, that I could use to make RPG-maps!

Right now, I'm converting Pounder's Railroads, to be used with City-View graphics, because the rails are bigger and I don't like the original Civ. III railroads for use in a modern-city map.

 

[Patine]

But, I have to say, as far as the WoD system goes, Mage: the Ascension, is my favorite, especially when we play it as a fantasy or historical-game rather than set in modern-times.

Definitely agreed. That was my favourite too, at the time.

 

[Patine]

For futuristic games, Battletech for one, and Mechwarror, but, very especially, Cyberpunk: 2020, which is an awesome game. I've got Blue Planet, and Babylon 5, the RPG, which, are cool in their own rights: We tried Heavy Gear, but, I just don't like the system, but the world-building is cool.

I often struggled (and still do) to find a decent sci-fi tabletop RPG. Traveller had some good ideas, but their character creation system was utterly annoying crap.

 

[King Flevance]

When I think of table-top games, I think of games like Battletech, not necessarily an RPG-game.

-snip-

I gotta admit I am a bit jealous of the goodies at your table. Unfortunately, my game groups do not support much complexity above medium weight. There is also a slight resistance to trying new systems and mechanics at my table. It is really cool you get to stomp around on that playground though.
I have heard the latest Battletech is awesome. I would like to try Mage:tA but if I got to try a new system out, I would try a sci-fi reskin of Pathfinder 2e with X-Men + Star Trek flavor or pseudo Mass Effect that I have been playing around with.

 

[Civinator]

My absolute favorite tabletop game when I was a little boy was "The Methauro´s Battle" or "Romans against Carthagiens". We had many additional handpainted figures, including Vikings, Huns and others. I think I would play it even nowadays from time to time, but the figures were stolen some decades ago.

 

[RalofTyr]

My absolute favorite tabletop game when I was a little boy was "The Methauro´s Battle" or "Romans against Carthagiens". We had many additional handpainted figures, including Vikings, Huns and others. I think I would play it even nowadays from time to time, but the figures were stolen some decades ago.

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How often does Carthage win?

I often struggled (and still do) to find a decent sci-fi tabletop RPG. Traveller had some good ideas, but their character creation system was utterly annoying crap.

Cyberpunk: 2020, is pretty easy and straight-forward; I'd stay away from Mekton or Fuzion; Maximum-Mike was all over the place; Chameleon Electrics' Babylon 5 is also easy and well laid-out. Blue Planet, is odd. I haven't got it fully yet.

I gotta admit I am a bit jealous of the goodies at your table. Unfortunately, my game groups do not support much complexity above medium weight. There is also a slight resistance to trying new systems and mechanics at my table. It is really cool you get to stomp around on that playground though.
I have heard the latest Battletech is awesome. I would like to try Mage:tA but if I got to try a new system out, I would try a sci-fi reskin of Pathfinder 2e with X-Men + Star Trek flavor or pseudo Mass Effect that I have been playing around with.

Most groups are like that; one group, they would play anything fantasy but AD&D, and would play WoD ("All you do is roll a bunch of dice"); once they get comfortable with a system, they tend to want to play it.

Anything d20, I stay away from; it's not that I don't like d20, but, I think of it as, D&D; I tried, but don't really like to play Palladium's Robotech, because it's too much like D&D; I'd rather play a different gaming-system, like A Song of Ice & Fire, RPG; that's different!

The new Battletech is awesome, but I am a Grognard and like my old-school Battletech and Renegade-Legion.

I've also played New World of Darkness, which, is like a completely different version of Vampire and the older World of Darkness series.

 

[Civinator]

How often does Carthage win?

This was rather balanced. The Elephant had two bonus points while the horses both had one bonus point. Here the Roman horses frequently had a sllght advantage that one horseman can survive while the elephant is destroyed. On the other side Carthage had the better terrain in additional terrain bonus points in the defense and to reach both Roman field signs for victory through more open terrain. And there were a lot of additional figures added to the game by many children in the neighbourhood. You can see the "points of advantage" in the white stripe at the end of the map (where the second Roman horse is placed).