Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Last board game you have played + rating

lukaszek

the determinator
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
12,617
totally not equivalent of movie thread.

I'll start:

Terraforming Mars
terraformingmars.jpg

Gameplay is child of Settlers of Catan and Power Grid. While I like both of those games, this combination is even better. While in both settlers and power grid your opponents points are known(more or less), this game is too complex to know where you are standing. As opposed to power grid core of the game is not about predicting when will it end as its quite clear. It is not just about blocking your opponents on the board, but also using their strategy to your advantage as tokens interact cross-players ownership wise.
I suggest playing with draw rules.
Contrary to most titles, optimal number of players is 3 - very important for my regular setup.


Sherlock Holmes
pic3238299.jpg


Its like playing CYOA where... you dont know which page to read next. You gather clues and make a guess which page/action to read next.
I havent red so much aloud since primary school. Each scenario introduction is 2 pages. Out of boredom people automatically start doing voices which is great!
Its supposed to be about competing against Sherlock but its stupid: he is not completionist and side quests/missions are not worth points wise. Its best to just forget about that part of game and explore until you have no loose ends.
Strong alcohol dries your throat which makes reading out loud harder. Its not for competitive people with short attention span.
 

Forest Dweller

Smoking Dicks
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
12,196
I haven't gotten to play good board games recently because I'm in a shitty board game group.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
Patron
Developer
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
4,346
Location
Middle Empire
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
We have only played Space Empires 4X for the last 20 games, so I cannot really rate it less than 10 despite its shortcomings:

pic1064389.jpg

It makes great use of hidden information, the game is really deep, and it features a lot of play mode (FFA, 2 vs 2, coop, solo), but we only play 2 vs 2.
It can be quite long (as long as TI3 if no team manages to knock an opponent out early on).
Almost everything you do is hidden from your opponent until contact: the technologies you researched, the ships you built (the opponents only see the groups, but they can range from a lone decoy to 6 death stars), which makes the game play a lot like a RTS when it comes to the strategic aspects: scout a lot, hide your hand until you can levergae it, and try to guess what your opponent is doing.

Before that, we played a lot of Quartermaster General:
quartermaster-general-test-05.jpg


Card driven WW2 in 2hours or less, with a strong focus on maintaining your supply lines. It is also played with teams obviously.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,869
JAWS. It's a brilliant little game based on Spielberg's movie that plays out in two phases. One player plays as the shark and up to 3 others play as Brody/Quint/Hooper. In the first phase in Amity Island, the shark's movements are hidden (the player records them in a paper pad) as it goes around trying to eat as many hapless bathers as possible. The 3 hunters have a special skill each , and they go around trying to predict the shark's next movement and pin it down with tracking devices/barrels. Phase 2 is triggered whenever the shark eats 9 bathers or the hunters manage to peg 2 barrels on it. The board is then flipped to represent Quint's boat (the Orca) as the 3 bold hunters try to take the beast down. The shark gets more special cards the more victims he's eaten, while the hunters can prepare better with weapons and items if they've managed to pin it down before it's made too many victims.
It's a very good design, the secret movement element of the shark reminded me of Fury of Dracula. The game is tense all the way through and the theme is very strong. The artwork is great (very 70s style), but I thought the board was way too small and the playing pieces are wooden meeples, which was disappointing to me. But these are very minor details which don't really detract from the experience. This is a licensed game and there's no information about the author anywhere on the box or manual, so it's really surprising that it's this good.

Incredibly fun game and plays very fast (45 min-1 hour), with the added bonus of working well even with 2 players (1 player plays as all the hunters). Definitely recommended.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
136
INIS

A visually stunning area majority/"world" domination game, with historical/mythical irish celtic inspiration for art and the limited theme (it's an euro, despite good components and visual style), well designed mechanics, one of the most original boards I ever seen, clans and settlement miniatures and card driven actions in which the objective is to be declared the "great king" of the "Inis" (=island) players explore, probably an allegory to smaller irish islands occupation, as the Aran (wich all three are named Inis-something), with several win conditions tied to different strategies (explore, build, expand) and a crown postulation phase before winning, with at least (usually more) an entire turn to resist other players trying to tie winning conditions or destroy theirs. Plays in 1-2 hours.

U78AFLZ.jpg

The big cards with the colorful (probably a bit too much, but still great) irish history and mithology illustrations:

4kp3UDC.jpg


Clan personifications (every warrior/bard/woman is a clan), settlements and temples miniatures:

a5Zll5i.jpg

The curious irregular triangles board tiles wich match in different ways each other:
iaTOK3o.jpg


We played only 2 players version, wich works perfectly. I think objectives and mechanics makes the game much better suited for two for my tastes as adding more players could transform late game in an one vs all with way too many possibilities in the "final" check turn to make the 1st player lose his wining conditions and artificially prolong the game. The red cards (mythic ones) can add some surprise and spice, but in our experience nothing really spectacular, players strategy (open and short-mid term mostly) continue to be the king in this game. Very good game in regard mechanics, components quality and art style. With a little more substance in regard theme the game could be even better.
 
Last edited:

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom