looking for some board games

[hoverdog]

We're starting to play board games with my bros, but currently I only own one talisman-like game, so I want more. What I'm searching for:

- good to play with several (like 4-6) people, additional points if it's playable with lower numbers
- rules shouldn't be too complex, but at the same time not popamole newfaggotry
- more adventure than strategic; that's not a hard requirement, but not games like AGoT or risk-likes
- preferably not purely card-based (as in with a board)
- with semi-short play time (2, 3, max 4-5 hours)
- could be cooperative or pvp, doesn't matter
- but should feature lots of player interaction either way
- not ridiculously expensive (we potatoes is poor)

now I know that a whole lot of requirements, but I'm sure such estemeed gentlemen as you can find many games that will fit

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Talisman, also known as "Magia i Miecz" in our glorious homeland would fill the bill. The Eve Online board game is also quite fun and last time I was in PL it was still available in geek stores at some malls in Cracow.

I've played WoW board game recently + expansion, 6 people, took almost 12h to finish.

 

[hoverdog]

Talisman, also known as "Magia i Miecz" in our glorious homeland would fill the bill.

I only own one talisman-like game

I'm looking for something different.

 

[Father Walker]

I've played Runebound recently and liked it. It doesn't have much player interaction, though. The game is basically a competitive D&D clone. You move your guy around the world map and do quests which involve beating the shit out of various monsters. You can fight and trade with other players, but we've found this element to be pretty neglible. Perhaps it's more important when there are 4+ people playing.

Also, Warrior Knights, which I've mentioned in some other thread. It's the board game I've played the most lately and it's really decent imo.

 

[CappenVarra]

Cosmic Encounter. Short play time, simple core rules, a bajillion optional variations and exceptions (in individual race design), lots of player interaction. A great party game.

 

[Garm]

Go look on BGG and read up on some of the highest rated titles in the styles you're looking for.

 

[Astral Rag]

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/699/heroquest

 

[Darth Roxor]

http://www.rebel.pl/product.php/1,1010/6387/Wiochmen-Rejser.html

I only own one talisman-like game

Magiczny Miecz?

 

[Ulminati]

Hmmm... Not too expensive + not too long + not too complex + more than 4 players + not a card game is a pretty tall order. These are the most likely candidates I can think of.


(3-7 Players, adventure, medium-long length, medium complexity, cooperative) Shadows over Camelot
is pretty neat. It has you completing various quests cooperatively, but one of the players is secretly a traiter that tries to screw everyone else over. -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15062/shadows-over-camelot

(2-4 players, adventure/strategy, short length, low complexity, competitive) Cave Troll.
Go into the dungeon, secure the rooms with the best loot. Try to get the nasty monsters to kill the other players off. -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4491/cave-troll

(2-5 players, adventure, medium length, low complexity, cooperative) Fury of Dracula.
Is basically a kind of hide and seek. One player is dracula and lays down a track of cards that generate a trail across europe. The other players play vampire hunters and try to follow the trail to track him down. You also need to coordinate so more people corner him, since going 1v1 with the Count is usually not going to go your way -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20963/fury-of-dracula

(3-6 players, adventure, medium-long length, medium-high complexity, cooperative) Battlestar Galactica
is best if you watched the first season or two and like the setting. You try to survive a number of events without losing too many resources (Morale, Fuel, Population, Food) or getting blown up by the attacking cylon fleet until you can jump to the next system. After a set number of jumps you make it to New Caprica. Of course, one or more players may suddenly turn out to be Cylon agents that have been sabotaging you all along. -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37111/battlestar-galactica

(2-5 players, strategy, medium length, medium-low complexity, competitive) Smallworld Underground
is not an adventure game, but it's cheapish and ridiculously fun. Lots of player interaction as you kill each others dudes off and try to convince people to gang up on someone else. Highly reccomended. -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/97786/small-world-underground



(2-4 players, strategy/adventure, medium-long (very long) length, medium complexity, cooperative)
If your bros are 40K fags, you could try tracking down an old copy of Space Crusade.
It's not as well-designed as Space Hulk, but easier to play with 3-4 people. It's been out of print for a while, but occasionally turns up at fleamarkets for next to nothing. Can be played in single missions oer as a longish campaign. -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1568/space-crusade

(2-5 players, strategy/adventure, medium-long (very long) length, medium complexity, cooperative)
Mutant chronicles is similar to Space Crusade. Except the players are competing against each other a little more and will frequently be tempted to sacrifice each other for a bigger share of glory for themselves -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1621/mutant-chronicles-siege-of-the-citadel

Speaking of warhammer faggotry...
(2-4 players (5 with expansion), strategy, medium length, medium-high complexity, competitive)
Chaos in the old world. I haven't played this myself, but I keep meaning to pick it up. It's strategy, the rules are a bit heavy (but flow pretty quickly once you get the gist of them) and oh, the fluff. It's also received pretty positive reviews. The players are playing as Chaos Gods, trying to turn the old world into a black stain of corruption that nothing will ever cleanse... A bit like Liverpool. The cool part is that each god has a threat dial that get increased when they play in character. So nurgle gets points for spreading corruption to populous areas, slaanesh for seducing nobles, khorne for BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOOD etc. As a chaos gods threat dial increases they get new abilities, so a balance has to be struck between securing your own objectives and keeping the other guys from getting too stronk. -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43111/chaos-in-the-old-world


If I were allowed to break the requirements (say, picking some expensive FFG box games or allowing for ridiculously long or complex games) I could probably drum up more.

 

[spectre]

I remember a bro bought Descent a few years back. It probably won't be up your alley because it costs a sackful of potato, however the price is justifiable with the stuff you get inside - tiles for customizable dungeon layout, unpainted plastic figurines of the various monsters and players, there's also treasure cards, monster cards and all that.

The bro who bought it speaks highly of it, personally, I think the rules are a mess when it comes to balancing. However, if you play it like the "baby's first D&D" with a bunch of house rules and a competent dungeon master it can be decent.

In a similar vein, you can try Doom the Boardgame, which is quite similar game (apart from the theme) and can be got for cheaper. If any of you played DoomRL you should love it long time.

 

[Ulminati]

Descent is ridiculously easy for the players to win every single game without a single death. Not much fun. DooM is better balanced. But again, it's pretty expensive and the rules are kinda popamole. Space Crusade/Mutant Chronicles/Hero Quest do the same thing Descent/DooM are trying to pull in a cheaper and more entertaining manner.

 

[Phelot]

http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG1210.php

Cults Across America was fun back in the day for me. Pretty simple yet crazy and entertaining. Good for 3+

Surprised they still sell it. $45 which I have no idea if that's expensive these days for a board game.

 

[Gord]

Pretty cheap, but fun: Citadels (german "Ohne Furcht und Adel", dutch "Machiavelli", don't know if there's a potato-friendly version)

The goal is to build a city that is worth more points than the city of the other players. The interesting things about it are:
1) There are 8 characters with different "powers". Each round, players get to choose one of them and can then use the special powers of the character for this round. E.g. the assassin can murder another character, meaning the player with that character has to pause for the round, or the Architect can build more buildings than other characters.
2) Estimating which character other players choose and acting accordingly.
3) Some buildings give you special abilities that you can use as long as you own the building. E.g. converting surplus cards to gold.

Game is competitive, no corporation (except for collectively screwing up players that try to win).
Technically it's a card game, but it plays more like a board game.

 

[Destroid]

Chaos in the Old World is a very good game, highly recommended (haven't played with the expansion though).

 

[hoverdog]

Thanks guys, lots of good recs.

I only own one talisman-like game

Magiczny Miecz?

I had one when I was a wee lad, but lost it somewhere No, I've bought this one.

Pretty cheap, but fun: Citadels (german "Ohne Furcht und Adel", dutch "Machiavelli", don't know if there's a potato-friendly version)

I remember I played it a few years back. Thanks for reminding.

I remember a bro bought Descent a few years back. It probably won't be up your alley because it costs a sackful of potato, however the price is justifiable with the stuff you get inside - tiles for customizable dungeon layout, unpainted plastic figurines of the various monsters and players, there's also treasure cards, monster cards and all that.

The bro who bought it speaks highly of it, personally, I think the rules are a mess when it comes to balancing. However, if you play it like the "baby's first D&D" with a bunch of house rules and a competent dungeon master it can be decent.

In a similar vein, you can try Doom the Boardgame, which is quite similar game (apart from the theme) and can be got for cheaper. If any of you played DoomRL you should love it long time.

There's one copy on sale on potato auction portal now, I'll see if it's affordable when the auction ends.

 

[Ulminati]

Citadels is quality entertainment, cheap and scales well to many players. I thought about mentioning it, but it's a card game and has very little setting/adventure gameplay.

An all-time classic for 2-7 players you may want to consider is Junta: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/242/junta
Rules aren't *too* complex, but game can drag on a bit if you have a revolution every year. Players tryi to squirrel away as much money as possible from the "banana harvest" in their swiss bank accounts. El Presidente must balance giving himself the largest cut with keeping his generals happy or risk revolution. Definately best if players LARP a little.

It had a 3-5 player remake subtitled "VIVA EL PRESIDENTE!" where moving armies around a map of Republica De Los Bananas is substituted with everyone having their private luxury villa and hired PMCs. It lost some of its charm but it's fairly cheap and plays a lot faster. http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/84159/junta-viva-el-presidente

Another all-time classic (but now we're getting far into difficult rules territory for the popamole generation) is Kremlin (3-6 players), in which you must exile your competitors to Siberia, manage your glorious communist leaders and maintain them in good enough health to wave at the May Day parade. This one can be a bit hard to track down and learn, but well worth it in my opinion-> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/196/kremlin

And since I'm 'sperging about true classics, much in the vein of junta/kremlin, Republic of Rome has you backstabbing senators as you control one of the major families in ancient italy. It is similar to Junta/Kremlin in many way, but the twist is that your republic also faces wars and threats from without. Excessive backstabbing may lead to rome falling and everyone losing. The rules in RoR are slightly more clearly written than Junta/Kremlin (the old Avalon hill games had rules written for neckbeards, by neckbeards). rome is playable for 1-6 players. Yes, it comes with a solitaire mode if you want to sit down and learn the rules by your foreveralonesome before relaying them to your BROs. -> http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1513/the-republic-of-rome

Bear in mind that the above games are more about strategy/political maneuvering with a heavy dash of LARP.

 

[Ulminati]

hoverdog -- DON'T BUY DESCENT IT'S A TRAP!

It's horribly, horribly balanced in that the second players pick up their firs tloot chest, they become unstoppable juggernauts that completely steamroll everything. The rules aren't too clearly written. The adventures take forever to set up/pack away and the setting/fluff is meh.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Forget about Doom the boardgame if you're looking for 4-6. The max amount of players is 4 (3 marines + 1 "gamemaster"). Although it's pretty fun to play.

I had one when I was a wee lad, but lost it somewhere

The same fucking thing actually happened to me

 

[SinVraal]

A board game that is co-op (or with expansions 1 vs everyone else)

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/823/lord-of-the-rings

Seems complex at first but it isn't.