What board games are you playing?: You've had enough screen time

[thecrazyscot]

Do card games count? I recently played Exploding Kittens, Azul, 6 Nimmt!/Take 6! and Wavelength.

I own the Dilbert board game myself, but it's difficult to get anyone to play that because it's so long and complicated. And I'm starting to design my own board game that I believe has a lot of potential.

Of course card games count!

I'm a huge fan of Azul, but haven't tried any of those other ones.

 

[aelf]

Wonder how saturated the board game market is. There are what... 99 variations of Risk alone? My gut feel is that a good theme is very important to a board game's success these days. There are those like Azul that are almost purely about the rules and mechanics, but I imagine that's not the way to go in 2020.

This isn't the game I'm currently working on, but I really liked Risk back in the day and recently I'm wondering if it can be modified to reflect the political development of successful feudal/tribalistic societies into empires (inspired by the Ottoman Empire). Imagine these mechanics:

• You have troops occupying territories much like Risk, but there are a few different types of faction-tied troops with slightly varying strengths that may add modifiers to dice throws.
• Each territory can have a number of settlements like in Monopoly. The total number of settlements you have determines how many troops your empire can collectively support (calculated based on troop strength).
• Each turn, aside from combat and moving troops like in Risk, you are allowed (at the end of your turn) to either reinforce your armies to the maximum number your empire can support or to build one settlement in any territory.
• Each territory can only support 3 settlements. Every territory starts with 1 settlement. Conquered territories retain their settlements (can't be demolished).
  
• The number of settlements in your empire also determines your level of government (e.g. 10 settlements advance you to Government Level 2) up to Level 4 (Empire)
  
• The lower your government level, the higher the chance of rebellions occurring.
• At the start of a player's turn, he rolls two dice to determine whether or not a rebellion occurs in his empire (e.g. at Government Level 1, rolling 5 or below results in a rebellion occurring; at Level 2, 4 or below; and so on).
• However, the number of territories that rebel are calculated using the formula 1+(Government Level), meaning at Government Level 4, while the chance of rebellion is low, you will have 5 territories rebelling each time.
• Rebellions always occur at the territories furthest from your pre-defined capital territory or, if all territories are equidistant, closest to either neutral territories or the map's borders.
• Rebellions steal your troops closest to the rebel territories according to how many settlements the rebelling territories have, turning them into rebel troops controlled by the game master.

This may be way too complex and geeky to have popular appeal, but I would really like to try this out some day.

 

[Takhisis]

^All that does sound too complex. The rolls at the start of a player's turn are more for a videogame engine to resolve automatically, really, because otherwise it's a guy rolling dice while everybody else just waits.

 

[H4run]

The lower your government level, the higher the chance of rebellions occurring.

Never really play a proper board game except monopoly and chess, I like your ideas though, however I imagine the early star up would be so difficult because with the little amount of troops in early game you need to suppressed a maximum amount of rebellion spam, if the rebellion is trivial that the player able to survive the star up, it also trivialized the strategy/benefit of upgrading your government level. A better fire-power, access to a better unit or better income per turn would be a more worthy alternative.

I really want to play board-game, but none of my friend here playing board-game, not even chess or monopoly not to mention a more complex board game.

 

[sendos]

Cripes. When is the last time I played a board game? Probably it was Monopoly like over a decade ago.

I do remember playing DND over an international skype call about 6 years ago, if that counts.

 

[H4run]

Do card games count? I recently played Exploding Kittens, Azul, 6 Nimmt!/Take 6! and Wavelength.

I own the Dilbert board game myself, but it's difficult to get anyone to play that because it's so long and complicated. And I'm starting to design my own board game that I believe has a lot of potential.

You can try Slay The Spire, it's on steam, I play countless of hours of that game. I think you gonna like it.

 

[Yeekim]

7 Wonders is a great game as long as you don't go overboard with expansions.
They're all good and fun individually, but if you don't watch out, you'll discover you've gone from a great fast-paced game to one that requires a setup that's almost as long as the vanilla game was.

 

[Quintillus]

I haven't been playing a lot of them lately, but did play a few with my quarantine group a couple months ago. The two new ones we tried were forgettable, but the classics - Pandemic and Dominion - delivered as always. I wasn't sure how Pandemic would go in 2020, but it turns out the mechanics are good enough for it to stand the test of time, and as we eked out a win, it was uplifting compared to real life. For Dominion, we played with cards from the Dark Ages and Hinterlands expansions.

Once normalcy returns, I'd like to start attending a board game group again. It's been a few years, and that's where I tend to discover games, and introduce them to my friends. A few of the titles already mentioned - such as 7 Wonders and Terraforming Mars - are ones that I've heard of but haven't played yet, but likely would have had I been going to a group.

 

[aelf]

Oh, I really loved Dominion. Started playing the online version with the same group of friends, but it didn't feel the same.

Never really play a proper board game except monopoly and chess, I like your ideas though, however I imagine the early star up would be so difficult because with the little amount of troops in early game you need to suppressed a maximum amount of rebellion spam, if the rebellion is trivial that the player able to survive the star up, it also trivialized the strategy/benefit of upgrading your government level. A better fire-power, access to a better unit or better income per turn would be a more worthy alternative.

Actually, yes, rebellions are meant to be a real threat at the start. If a player is unlucky, they could lose like to a barb spam in Civ, although the player could technically try to gain strength by not fighting the rebels directly and just conquer neutral territories (which have a weaker troop type).

There could be a rule that says no more rebellions when one is ongoing, though. But, yeah, this would be a complex game that's not for mainstream consumption, like Diplomacy.

You can try Slay The Spire, it's on steam, I play countless of hours of that game. I think you gonna like it.

The board game I described was somewhat along the lines of Europa Universalis. I could continue playing that game as well.

I really want to play board-game, but none of my friend here playing board-game, not even chess or monopoly not to mention a more complex board game.

It might be a cultural thing. Here, board games are pretty popular. Of course not as much as mobile games, but I have 2 different circles of friends who actively play board or card games about once a week.

I only ever had one D&D group, though, and that was 20 years ago.

 

[H4run]

Actually, yes, rebellions are meant to be a real threat at the start. If a player is unlucky, they could lose like to a barb spam in Civ, although the player could technically try to gain strength by not fighting the rebels directly and just conquer neutral territories (which have a weaker troop type).

There could be a rule that says no more rebellions when one is ongoing, though. But, yeah, this would be a complex game that's not for mainstream consumption, like Diplomacy.

The heavy rely on luck factor, especially during the beginning of the game can be quite frustrating for some people. The more natural phase of Barbarian would be low at the start of the game, then slowly crawling up and reach its peak, then goes down to finally reach zero at the end of the game. I think the Civ phase of barbarian is quite balanced.

The board game I described was somewhat along the lines of Europa Universalis. I could continue playing that game as well.

Slay the Spire is a card-game, it's a single player card-game and it's quite engaging, you can do a lot of experiment with the strategy depend on the character that you play, the route that you chose and cards that you draw.

It might be a cultural thing. Here, board games are pretty popular. Of course not as much as mobile games, but I have 2 different circles of friends who actively play board or card games about once a week.

I only ever had one D&D group, though, and that was 20 years ago.

Definitely it's a cultural thing. And also the fact that imported board game is very expensive, and if you bought that you still need to struggle to find someone you can play with.

During 90s and early 2000's at least there were still a lot of people playing card-games (using standard deck, but a lot of gameplay, either using 1 or more deck), but nowadays Moba and first also third person shooter are way more popular.

I miss playing Monopoly. I found a cheap Starwars theme monopoly (second hand) at local online shop, but there are some piece and card missing.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Boardgames have been undergoing a bit of a renaissance in recent years as have TTRPGs. The big difference is they are much more social than videogames, even MMOs. I'm playing Pathfinder 2e with friends on Roll20 but it isn't the same as meeting up.
Kickstarter has made it easier for new designers to launch a game.

 

[H4run]

They should make a digital board-game with pvp feature, so whenever you have no one to play with you can always do match up.

 

[aelf]

The heavy rely on luck factor, especially during the beginning of the game can be quite frustrating for some people. The more natural phase of Barbarian would be low at the start of the game, then slowly crawling up and reach its peak, then goes down to finally reach zero at the end of the game. I think the Civ phase of barbarian is quite balanced.

Well, have you played Civ on Immortal or Deity? :laughcry:

A barb horseman camp is very deadly and doesn't take very long to spawn.

I miss playing Monopoly. I found a cheap Starwars theme monopoly (second hand) at local online shop, but there are some piece and card missing.

Monopoly Deal is way more fun and takes much less time to play.

 

[H4run]

Well, have you played Civ on Immortal or Deity? :laughcry:

A barb horseman camp is very deadly and doesn't take very long to spawn.

Civ 5 on immortal , but below that are on King . And I hate playing with raging barbarian. So yes, I get your point.

 

[local_hero]

I rarely play board games now since the uni years. I got a friend then with lots of board games and it was fun. Hadn't really played much before. But we live in different cities now.

Anyways, I've got a small collection of my own. Tokaido, Sentinels of the Multiverse and Civilization: A new Dawn. But it mostly just gathers dust.

 

[HEF]

Saturday, 25th December ~Two Thousand & Twenty One

My Top 10 Board Games (Of All Time) by Ali Risdal


This YouTube video should be of interest.

Really like this new generation of female gamers 'cause I can remember a time when they were non-existent in the past.

Now female gamers seem be everywhere!

 

[Fippy]

My favorite (of all time) boardgame.
Uncomplicated and with outstanding, funny design.

We have an expansion which roughly doubles the field.
There might be another version by now, think we have the original.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Played Terraforming Mars, Modern Art, Castles of Burgundy, another aimed at kids, the name of which I can't remember, which was actually quite good, and various Harry Potter themed games which weren't whilst with family over Xmas.

 

[aelf]

Huh. Forgot this thread existed.

Last year, I purchased several board games. My favourite so far is Dune: Imperium, which was supposed to be released at the same time as the new film.

 

[HEF]

Sunday, 26th December ~Two Thousand & Twenty One

The cult-classic, Heroes of Might & Magic III, is coming to Kickstarter as an official board game.

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The gameplay will combine world-exploring that uses hexagonal map tiles and the chess-like battle system representing the classic battlefields the series is known for.

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Coming soon — November 2022​