Good two player board games?

Michael Zenke wrote:

To rez this back to life a bit: Lords of Waterdeep looks like it will play great with 2 players. I'm going to confirm this over the weekend, but unlike a lot of 'merican style games this is more like 'playing solitaire against each other'. If that makes sense?

Hellah fun game.

Yup, I can definitely confirm Waterderp's utility as both a 2 player game and a gateway game for non-hardcore gamers.

My wife and I enjoy Dungeon Twister.

Jason Matthews has made a bunch of great, deep 2 player games. Of note, Twilight Struggle, 1960 : The Making of the President, and 1989 : Dawn of Freedom. If you really like the theme of 1960 but want something lighter and shorter there is Campaign Manager 2008 as well.

Surprised Summoner Wars hasn't been mentioned yet either.

+1 for Lost Cities, Jambo, Lords of Waterdeep and Pandemic.

I just discovered HIVE, an great two player game. Kind of like Chess but with bugs.

Castle Panic is for 1-6 players (yes, you can play it solo!) but plays excellent with two. Get it's expansion, the Wizard's Tower for more monsters and new spell damage cards.

A recent Kick Starter game that made it into stores is Flash Point: Fire Rescue, which is my go-to gateway cooperative game right now.

I recently got my wife into hobby gaming with Pastiche, which is an abstract stategy game with an awesome theme of recretating the "great masters" paintings from history. Probably the best components in a game I've ever seen. There is a new, second edition called the "international edition" which is the one you want to pick up and then get the Expansion Pack #1 from the Eagle Games website to order some more paintings.

Someone posted in 2009 about the Settlers of Catan card game and its expansion. That game has been rereleased and renamed as the Rivals for Catan, which is strictly a 2-player Catan gard game and its expanion, Rivals For Catan: Age of Darkness (a second expansion as just annnounced BTW, Age of Enlightenment).

The Struggle for Catan is a new multiplayer card game for 2-4 players and, IMO, isn't as good as Rivals for Catan.

SixteenBlue wrote:

Surprised Summoner Wars hasn't been mentioned yet either.

Doh! My wife hates it (doesn't like the 'sacrifice your own troops' mechanic, but yes, this is a great two-player game I play at lunch wiht work friends.

Tanglebones wrote:

Yup, I can definitely confirm Waterderp's utility as both a 2 player game and a gateway game for non-hardcore gamers.

My wife loves it. I can now definitely confirm it's a great 2-player game.

We decided tonight on a house rule about keeping Larissa out of the Lords deck for the time being, though. She's gimped as hell compared to the other Lords. Screams "IMMA BE GREAT IN THE FIRST EXPANSION."

Waterderp Recommended.

Here is a picture of derpy pony:

IMAGE(http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/28700000/Derpy-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-28778361-900-815.png)

Hive and Carcassonne get a +1 from me.

Especially Hive, plenty of depth and thus replay ability. Love this game. The original colour version which I own seems better than the newer Hive: Carbon version which I bought for a friend.

Draco wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:

Surprised Summoner Wars hasn't been mentioned yet either.

Doh! My wife hates it (doesn't like the 'sacrifice your own troops' mechanic, but yes, this is a great two-player game I play at lunch wiht work friends.

My daughter and I have played a few games, and we never thought of killing off our own troops to get magic. I don't plan on playing that way with her either. Though, come the iPad release, I may not do very well against others for this reason, but my daughter and I are having fun, and that is what counts

edit: and to actually contribute to this thread - my daughter and I really enjoy Quarriors!, though that is a dice game. I am anxiously awaiting the next expansion Quarriors! Quarmageddon

Michael Zenke wrote:

We decided tonight on a house rule about keeping Larissa out of the Lords deck for the time being, though. She's gimped as hell compared to the other Lords. Screams "IMMA BE GREAT IN THE FIRST EXPANSION." :D

I think Demyx found a note in the rules indicating there's plans for expansion (adding a 6th player?) and there's that massive empty space in the middle of the board too...

Cragmyre wrote:

My daughter and I have played a few games, and we never thought of killing off our own troops to get magic. I don't plan on playing that way with her either. Though, come the iPad release, I may not do very well against others for this reason, but my daughter and I are having fun, and that is what counts :)

Huh. I never thought of that either. However, I thought they were referring to the turn phase where you cull cards from your hand to generate magic.