The Big Board-Gaming Catch-All

Team Tabletop Assemble!

Tagging for future win.

I played a fun round of Pandemic this weekend, with the purple mutation and added roles. We scraped out a win!

padriec wrote:
Miashara wrote:

I play a lot of Diplomacy, mostly online. The turns wind up running a week or so, but otherwise it's just as good as face to face.

Right now I'm waiting for Fall 1901 to resolve. That game gets to be a knuckle biter when you're waiting to see who stabs you in the back first.

Could you please post a link to where you play it online? Wisiwig and I are going to be playing our first game in a few weeks and the instructions alone are intimidating.

I'll also take this chance to pimp my board game weekend, KeithKon. I'll edit that into a link when I have something to link it to. We had the first one last year around labor day and I think we're looking to do it around the same time this year.

Do tell, fellow Jersey-ite.

Dreaded Gazebo wrote:
Gravey wrote:

I've heard a lot about Space Alert, and would love to try it out. It sounds like a hell of a trip, especially when you're figuring out how well your planning and teamwork went.

Space Alert is serious fun... with the right crowd. I've played with a couple of people that just completely shut down during the real-time part of the game. You need to be willing to speak up, give orders, make split-second decisions and not be afraid of making mistakes. If everyone is into it though, the game rocks. There's an expansion out recently I want to pick up as it adds campaign play which could be lots of fun. Certainly one of the more unique games out there.

What my buddy and I decided is that when we play it with 3 other warm bodies, it's going to be crucial for one of us to be the Captain, who is in charge of co-ordinating the rest of the crew's actions, and the other one to be the Communications Officer, who handles the grunt-work of responding to the CD, placing cards on the board and the like. You need those two roles to be done by someone who has an understanding of how the game flows.

I love Yomi. The online version is great, but I got the deluxe edition to play at my gaming group as well. Great stuff.

lostlobster wrote:
padriec wrote:
Miashara wrote:

I play a lot of Diplomacy, mostly online. The turns wind up running a week or so, but otherwise it's just as good as face to face.

Right now I'm waiting for Fall 1901 to resolve. That game gets to be a knuckle biter when you're waiting to see who stabs you in the back first.

Could you please post a link to where you play it online? Wisiwig and I are going to be playing our first game in a few weeks and the instructions alone are intimidating.

I'll also take this chance to pimp my board game weekend, KeithKon. I'll edit that into a link when I have something to link it to. We had the first one last year around labor day and I think we're looking to do it around the same time this year.

Do tell, fellow Jersey-ite.

Well, there's not that much to tell right now. When we start planning in earnest I'll post in this thread. Last year's party was basically all of our friends, a good portion of which weren't into board games and so probably won't be invited this year. Thankfully I seem to have goodjers to take their place. My house isn't that big but we had four rooms with board games and people outside playing dominoes (since they won't blow away). We started at around 10:00AM and most people left after dinner. I hope that if more board game fans show up that we can play for longer, but we'll see.

padriec wrote:
lostlobster wrote:
padriec wrote:
Miashara wrote:

I play a lot of Diplomacy, mostly online. The turns wind up running a week or so, but otherwise it's just as good as face to face.

Right now I'm waiting for Fall 1901 to resolve. That game gets to be a knuckle biter when you're waiting to see who stabs you in the back first.

Could you please post a link to where you play it online? Wisiwig and I are going to be playing our first game in a few weeks and the instructions alone are intimidating.

I'll also take this chance to pimp my board game weekend, KeithKon. I'll edit that into a link when I have something to link it to. We had the first one last year around labor day and I think we're looking to do it around the same time this year.

Do tell, fellow Jersey-ite.

Well, there's not that much to tell right now. When we start planning in earnest I'll post in this thread. Last year's party was basically all of our friends, a good portion of which weren't into board games and so probably won't be invited this year. Thankfully I seem to have goodjers to take their place. My house isn't that big but we had four rooms with board games and people outside playing dominoes (since they won't blow away). We started at around 10:00AM and most people left after dinner. I hope that if more board game fans show up that we can play for longer, but we'll see.

Sounds awesome. Whereabouts in NJ are you?

padriec wrote:
Miashara wrote:

I play a lot of Diplomacy, mostly online. The turns wind up running a week or so, but otherwise it's just as good as face to face.

Right now I'm waiting for Fall 1901 to resolve. That game gets to be a knuckle biter when you're waiting to see who stabs you in the back first.

Could you please post a link to where you play it online? Wisiwig and I are going to be playing our first game in a few weeks and the instructions alone are intimidating.

Right now I'm playing at rpg.net. There's also http://www.playdiplomacy.com/ which is exactly what it sounds like.
I'm trying to start a IRL game in Denver too.

Some linkage: rules here: http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/ru...
Starting map here: http://www.mordantorange.com/images/...
Strategy article library here: http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/res...

Diplomacy is very easy. 2 beat 1, 3 beat 2, etc. That's really all there is to it. Because there are no dice and every player is roughly equal, things tend to stagnate quite easily in terms of conflict. So you work out deals to gain numerical or positional advantage. It's one of those games that once you get started in, you'll 'get it,' and then everything is pretty simple.

Jonman wrote:
Dreaded Gazebo wrote:
Gravey wrote:

I've heard a lot about Space Alert, and would love to try it out. It sounds like a hell of a trip, especially when you're figuring out how well your planning and teamwork went.

Space Alert is serious fun... with the right crowd. I've played with a couple of people that just completely shut down during the real-time part of the game. You need to be willing to speak up, give orders, make split-second decisions and not be afraid of making mistakes. If everyone is into it though, the game rocks. There's an expansion out recently I want to pick up as it adds campaign play which could be lots of fun. Certainly one of the more unique games out there.

What my buddy and I decided is that when we play it with 3 other warm bodies, it's going to be crucial for one of us to be the Captain, who is in charge of co-ordinating the rest of the crew's actions, and the other one to be the Communications Officer, who handles the grunt-work of responding to the CD, placing cards on the board and the like. You need those two roles to be done by someone who has an understanding of how the game flows.

Yeah, that's the thing about Space Alert that's stood out most to me: it seems you need at least one experienced player and/or everyone to totally buy into the premise. Otherwise it would be like playing Werewolves with quiet people, but an order of magnitude more frustrating.

Since several of you are mentioning NJ, if you aren't too far from Philadelphia, you should consider checking out EPGS, the Eastern Pennsylvania Gaming Society. There are two main meetings each month at the Oxford Valley Mall community room on the first and third Saturdays of the month from 10:00AM - 9:30PM. We regularly get anywhere from 20-40+ people attending, so there are lots of opportunities for a variety of different games. More details can be found at EPGS.org.

Of course, there are plenty of people holding smaller game nights at their homes and so on. But those tend to be invite only. A bit farther south, GCOM, Games Club of Maryland (gamesclubofmd.org) has a large number of meetings that actually occur in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. So there is quite a bit of organized gaming in this part of the country for people who are looking for gamers and opportunities to play lots of different games.

Minarchist wrote:
booty wrote:

BTW Minarchist, if you (and/or your crew) ever want to drive 1.5 hours south for gaming, you've got an invitation.

Chattanooga?

Get a better map! Huntsville.

Massachusetts board gamers - you out there?

lostlobster wrote:
padriec wrote:
lostlobster wrote:
padriec wrote:
Miashara wrote:

I play a lot of Diplomacy, mostly online. The turns wind up running a week or so, but otherwise it's just as good as face to face.

Right now I'm waiting for Fall 1901 to resolve. That game gets to be a knuckle biter when you're waiting to see who stabs you in the back first.

Could you please post a link to where you play it online? Wisiwig and I are going to be playing our first game in a few weeks and the instructions alone are intimidating.

I'll also take this chance to pimp my board game weekend, KeithKon. I'll edit that into a link when I have something to link it to. We had the first one last year around labor day and I think we're looking to do it around the same time this year.

Do tell, fellow Jersey-ite.

Well, there's not that much to tell right now. When we start planning in earnest I'll post in this thread. Last year's party was basically all of our friends, a good portion of which weren't into board games and so probably won't be invited this year. Thankfully I seem to have goodjers to take their place. My house isn't that big but we had four rooms with board games and people outside playing dominoes (since they won't blow away). We started at around 10:00AM and most people left after dinner. I hope that if more board game fans show up that we can play for longer, but we'll see.

Sounds awesome. Whereabouts in NJ are you?

Metuchen

Miashara wrote:
padriec wrote:
Miashara wrote:

I play a lot of Diplomacy, mostly online. The turns wind up running a week or so, but otherwise it's just as good as face to face.

Right now I'm waiting for Fall 1901 to resolve. That game gets to be a knuckle biter when you're waiting to see who stabs you in the back first.

Could you please post a link to where you play it online? Wisiwig and I are going to be playing our first game in a few weeks and the instructions alone are intimidating.

Right now I'm playing at rpg.net. There's also http://www.playdiplomacy.com/ which is exactly what it sounds like.
I'm trying to start a IRL game in Denver too.

Some linkage: rules here: http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/ru...
Starting map here: http://www.mordantorange.com/images/...
Strategy article library here: http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/res...

Diplomacy is very easy. 2 beat 1, 3 beat 2, etc. That's really all there is to it. Because there are no dice and every player is roughly equal, things tend to stagnate quite easily in terms of conflict. So you work out deals to gain numerical or positional advantage. It's one of those games that once you get started in, you'll 'get it,' and then everything is pretty simple.

Awesome! Thanks for the links. I have a feeling that once we get into it we'll like it and the online option is good because the people we're playing with are expecting a baby soon and probably won't be in for game nights for a while.

Wife and I have been playing lots of games of Memoir '44 over the recent months. Until we played Pandemic, it was her favorite game. I picked up Battles of Westeros a couple weeks ago to try something new. I haven't gotten beyond gluing all the figures together yet. Hopefully one of these weekends we can sit down and go through the 30-something pages of rules with the board set up.

Really looking forward to some Stark vs. Lannister action in the near future.

lordpolish wrote:

Massachusetts board gamers - you out there?

They are. We've got a strong contingent of goodjers in and around that state.

fleabagmatt wrote:

Wife and I have been playing lots of games of Memoir '44 over the recent months. Until we played Pandemic, it was her favorite game. I picked up Battles of Westeros a couple weeks ago to try something new. I haven't gotten beyond gluing all the figures together yet. Hopefully one of these weekends we can sit down and go through the 30-something pages of rules with the board set up.

Really looking forward to some Stark vs. Lannister action in the near future.

I've enjoyed that one quite a bit, but it's tricky for me to find an opponent. Must be nice to have someone right there.

Once you read through the manual, make sure you grab the cheat sheets off BGG. They really do a nice job of breaking the rules down to a quick and easy reference, especially the universal head sheets. There's only one rule missing from that sheet that I could find: When ordering units, you may discard any two order tokens of the same type to order any unit.

Minarchist wrote:

Anybody have any others to suggest in this vein? Being fun up to six people is a plus, since most of these are only up to five (and really play best with 3-4).

Family Business! Get it! Get it now!

And if you have 8, Telestrations. Get that too! Get it now!

A friend of mine just bought something called "Cargo Noir" and he tried to get it going last night. We kind of all fell apart though. Has anyone else out there heard anything about it?

McChuck wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

Anybody have any others to suggest in this vein? Being fun up to six people is a plus, since most of these are only up to five (and really play best with 3-4).

Family Business! Get it! Get it now!

And if you have 8, Telestrations. Get that too! Get it now! :)

Telestrations is incredible. If you can find the NY/CT meet up thread from last October, there's a few descriptions of how ridiculous things got with 8 Goodjers playing together

DanyBoy wrote:

So, I promised I'd say something about Imperial.

But since the game is based around making money, not conquering Europe, and since control of any nation can be bought for the right price, it makes for some very interesting player dynamics.

Definitely a very interesting game for those wanting to play something a bit different. The turns are quick and are full of decisions, but there's a lot of turns before the end, hence the length. If you've got a group with the right mindset, I'd definitely recommend it.

Thanks for the write-up. Seems like a pretty cool game along the lines of 1830 with the investment stuff and separating players from the game's primary entities. Unfortunately, I've only been able to play 1830 through its computer implementation from SimTex. Anyone have experience with the board game version?

Huh, seems there's a re-print of 1830 coming out this year.

Shadow Hunters is a very good hidden identity game (similar to Bang) that plays well with more than 4.

Also, Telestrations looks like it's just Telephone Pictionary (aka Eat Poop You Cat), which is free.

Crouton wrote:

Also, Telestrations looks like it's just Telephone Pictionary (aka Eat Poop You Cat), which is free.

It is very similar. But the books you get (with erasable pages) are pretty great.

Also a big fan of Telestrations. Yeah, you don't need to the game to play it but the dry erase flipbooks are nice. I think the collection of words and phrases they have are good too, with a few "make up your own" tossed in for fun. It keeps you on your toes because you'll get something passed to you that you know could not have possibly been the original word, but you just gotta run with it

Not a fan of Shadow Hunters, but I've only played it once. Felt too similar to Bang which I really dislike (too random and drawn out). Saboteur fills that niche for me.

Gunner wrote:

Seems like a pretty cool game along the lines of 1830 with the investment stuff and separating players from the game's primary entities. Unfortunately, I've only been able to play 1830 through its computer implementation from SimTex. Anyone have experience with the board game version?

Imperial is far less complex than the 18xx games. We tried playing 1856 once and failed miserably I'm not sure if 1830 is more or less complex than 1856 but wow did we struggle to get through that. Unfortunately none of us had played before and it's tough to find rules online, so we ended up referencing the rules way too much. Ideally you'd have someone at the table who has played at least once to teach you as there's a lot going on.

At this point, though, I'm pretty unlike to give an 18xx game another shot. Simpler games like Railroad Tycoon and Imperial are just easier to table up and scratch that itch. I'm sure the 18xx games are great once you get into them but we rarely focus on one game enough to get to that level of familiarity.

Poppinfresh wrote:

Imperial 2030 is on my list of games to buy eventually. It sounds awesome.

I'm having a board game day on Saturday after a bit of a hiatus. I can't wait!

I bought it for Toph513 at Christmas last year (in lieu of buying it for myself). It's awesome. i was really impressed with it. If you ever want to give it a try, come to one of our game days. We get together ever 3 weeks or so and play stuff. Just 2.5 hours West!

@Crispy: Count on a Twilight Imperium game on this year's IGWJD. That's happening with both expansions (new one is coming out) and as many people as we can get to play.

Am I alone in my love for the A Game of Thrones Board Game?

oilypenguin wrote:
Poppinfresh wrote:

Imperial 2030 is on my list of games to buy eventually. It sounds awesome.

I'm having a board game day on Saturday after a bit of a hiatus. I can't wait!

I bought it for Toph513 at Christmas last year (in lieu of buying it for myself). It's awesome. i was really impressed with it. If you ever want to give it a try, come to one of our game days. We get together ever 3 weeks or so and play stuff. Just 2.5 hours West

I would absolutely love to, but with a little girl at home and an otherwise very tight schedule, I can't escape for a weekend and expect to stay married/alive. If you're still doing them in five years, I'll plan on being there!

Am I alone in my love for the A Game of Thrones Board Game?

I've heard it's a great game, but I've never had a chance to play.

Oh no weekend, just an evening, we go from 2-8 or 9 most days. But yeah, kid at home? Valid excuse.

Maq wrote:

Team Tabletop Assemble!

Tagging for future win.

Makes me feel like we should have another go at a games day. Maybe Dudley would finally get to play Junta.

@Crispy: Count on a Twilight Imperium game on this year's IGWJD. That's happening with both expansions (new one is coming out) and as many people as we can get to play.

I've been dying to play Twilight Imperium, haven't yet though! Not sure how casual pick up & play friendly it is though. Or when I can get a day to actually play.