I've noticed over the eight months that I've been here that a bunch of people play board games. Seth's Gipf query made me think of this more concretely.

What board games to Forgemaniacs like?

I think that Knizia's Euphrat & Tigris is the best board game ever made. I also like: Traders of Genoa, Cosmic Encounter, Puerto Rico, Illuminati, The Settlers of Catan games (except Sternenfahrer), Wyatt Earp, The Carcassonne games, Balloon Cup, History of the World, Um Reifenbreit, Ursuppe, Stephenson's Rocket, Robo Rally, Trias, Aladdin's Dragons, Modern Art, Medici, Roads and Boats, Vernissage...

OK, I'll stop now.

Chris

Too many to list here. But check this out:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/xiombarg/369437.html

Boardgame Geek is down right now. Otherwise I'd post a link to my game collection.

Personally, I'll play just about anything by Reiner Knizia. His games tend to fit my one of my criteria for a good game: any game where I wish that I had *just one more action*. I am familiar with the criticisms that his games are too abstract, but I'm willing to accept that. In general, I find his games to be excellent primers in good game design, which is something that can carry over into RPG design as well.

As I mentioned in another thread, I've also been enjoying the GIPF games a great deal. This is primarily because of the elegance of system and the subtle trade-offs that the games require. Again, excellent studies in game design, and quite clever to boot. I am particularly proud of the fact that I managed to get my hands on Tamsk, which is currently out of print. (For those of you who don't know, in this game your playing pieces are 3-minute hourglasses that are flipped each time that you move. Run out of time on an hourglass and you can't move it anymore....)

The current games that are getting a lot of play for me recently:

Puerto Rico
Tigris & Euphrates
Yinsh
Zertz
Dvonn
Tamsk
Clans
Carcassonne: The Castle

BTW, I play Tigris online at www.boardgamegeek.com and Zertz on Richard's PBeM Server. I am GreatWolf on both servers. Drop me a challenge!

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

I think Formula De is one of the best built games ever and I love playing it. Who knew that race car driving was risk - resource management?

X-Bugs has me totally addicted, too.

Me, I've been enjoying the German Game renaissance, but I'm still fond of crunchy old American style strategy and tactics as well.

If I had to pick a few all time favorites:

SJGs Ogre/GEV (haven't check out the new Ogre minatures line though)
MBs Shogun (now Samurai Swords) -- one of the best mixes of tactics and diplomacy I've played
Junta -- el Presidente for life is a very short term of office
Starship Command -- beer and pretzels starship combat card game -- to bad it didn't do well
2038 -- Swap spaceships in for trains, and you've hooked me.
Star Fleet Battles -- although I doubt I'll ever have the time to play it again
GWs Warrior Knight -- tons of fiddly bits and fun politics
Twilight Imperium -- Like Warrior Knights in space -- looking forward to the new edition

recently I've become highly addicted to Diceland. The Diceland Space sets are the best.

I actually prefer GEV to Ogre. Maybe I'm missing something, but Ogre seemed to rely too much on dice rolling on tread attacks. I mean, you can blow off all the guns, but if it can still run over the command post, who cares? Playing with "conventional" units, though, is a lot of fun, and I even enjoy scenarios that include Ogre vs. Ogre combat.

And Ralph Mazza (Valamir) introduced our gaming group to Junta a few weeks back. I really enjoyed that game, although, admittedly, the fact that I tromped everyone else may have contributed.... ;-)

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

Lots of boardgames in my BGG profile:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewusername.php3?username=quozl

Ah, the Geek is back up!

My collection

Not much, I know, but I try to buy games that I *know* that I'll like....

Plus I still add to this list when I remember stuff that I have. :-D

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

GreatWolf wrote: My collection

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

Because I'm dumb. :-)

<Seth wanders off to rate some games>

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

Favorite Boardgames...hmmm, I have about a zillion.

I'm a big fan of Vinci. A near perfect stripped down merger of AH's Civilization and History of the World (both also near the top of my list).

I love Brittania. There should be a Brittania/Maharaja game for every geographical region in the world.

I wanted very badly to love the new Eagle Games games, but by and large they're only 60-80% playtested and thus full of holes.

Diplomacy is of course an all time classic.

I love the old Source of the Nile game, although its weakness is that it really is a bunch of people playing solo with little interaction

Columbia Games Waterloo is probably the single best (and most accessible) teaching tool on the operational challenges of that battle you're likely to find.

And of couse, Parker Brother's Bonkers with its funny twisted track that sends you backwards to go forward and forward to go back; is fun, nice, and never the same game twice.

Get Out from Cheapass Games.

Best,
Ron

GreatWolf wrote: I actually prefer GEV to Ogre.

Ron Edwards wrote: Get Out from Cheapass Games.

Best,
Ron

Go

As if I needed more things to distract me.

How about a Forge room on KGS?

[edit: in answer to my own madness, I just created "The Forge" in New Rooms on KGS]

rafial wrote:
I totally concur. The basic Ogre vs. Swarm scenario never caught my fancy, but I still get a shiver when I think of a phalanx of GEVs snarling through the grasslands on their way to take out that train.

The Iron Mountain scenario from the Ogre Book did however deliver the nail biting terror an Ogre on a suicide mission should imply. A Mark III/B chases a convoy up a winding mountain pass.

And I have the Ogre set for Diceland, but we haven't tried it out yet. I've heard several people say that it actually makes the original Ogre scenario worth playing.

GreatWolf wrote:
I actually prefer GEV to Ogre.


I totally concur. The basic Ogre vs. Swarm scenario never caught my fancy, but I still get a shiver when I think of a phalanx of GEVs snarling through the grasslands on their way to take out that train.

I like a number of games... heck, Shannon Appelcline over on RPG.net could probably sell me a bridge with her writeups.

Favorites, particularly at this moment:
Puerto Rico
Through the Desert
Tigris and Euphrates
Carcassonne (Hunters and Gatherers is slightly better than the base)
Domaine
Web of Power
La Citta
Gillotine
Empire Builder is good (but takes too much time)
Settlers of Catan is still good, but usually used just long enough to draw new people in.
I'd like to play more Victory, particularly fewer unit variations.
I want to like El Grande; I need to drag it out and expose this group to it.
Age of Renaissance, if only I had more time. History of the World, with the same wish.

I hate to agree, but yeah, I'm not fond of the Eagle game I've got and the horror stories on most other games keep me away. It's too bad-- they're beautiful, though they blow it in the strangest places. (Like: elegant horse rider units, but only supplying horses enough for 1/4 of the riders... intentionally).

(Ergh: I keep adding to the list. I'll stop, but I love more games than these...)

Umberhulk wrote:
You should try getting a copy of MetaGaming's Ice War.

ScottM wrote: I like a number of games... heck, Shannon Appelcline over on RPG.net could probably sell me a bridge with her writeups.

In my house, where the game snobs reign, we only play games that are masterpieces of design and efficiency: Diplomacy and Wei Qi (Go), mostly. Sometimes you can also catch me playing Settlers of Cataanor "Drunken Pirate" Risk (which I have to post the rules for sometime). If card games count, I mostly play Mao and Big Two ("Da Er" for my fellow Sinophiles), though I'm usually up for Spades as well, as long as we're counting points. And then there's my near obsession with Ma Jiang. What a game! Yes, most of the games I play come from China. What of it?

Jonathan Walton wrote: "Drunken Pirate" Risk

Go rocks. I wish that I could get more people to play it with me. I'm still very much a beginner at it.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

quozl wrote: Sounds like Pirate's Cove to me.

Diplomacy.

I can't imagine really playing anything else anymore.

I know there are a lot of other great games out there right now... But at the thought of playing a boardgame, all other thoughts are shunted aside by sitting around that map o' intense conflict.

Christopher

Jonathan Walton wrote:

quozl wrote: Sounds like Pirate's Cove to me.

Does Pirate's Cove involve cheap rum?

Christopher Kubasik wrote: Diplomacy.

Cool thread. Here's my list:

Sorry
Parcheesi
Settlers of Catan
Spree! (best of the Cheapass line, a frickin' blast)
Can't Stop
Monopoly
Get Out

If traditional card games are allowed:
Poker (Stud and variations, Draw and variations, Hold 'em and variations)
Give Me the Brain
Hearts (Black Lady, shoot the moon)
Euchre (no ace-no-face, no farmer's hand, no partner's best, screw the dealer)

I would rather bite off my own penis than play Diplomacy.

It's true.

Diplomacy is just the greatest board game ever invented, period.

If you can find a used/new copy of Colonial Diplomacy, it's also very nice and good when you want a break from the standard European conflicts. It's fun to be China, Japan, or French Indochina every now and again, but nothing beats the original for elegance and sheer coolness.

Someday I'll also have to write a thread that analyzes Diplomacy games using GNS. It would be really fun. Gamist players love the challenge, Simulationist players love watching the conflict unfold and experiencing the thrill of shifting alliances, and Narrativist players basically address the premise "What relationships are you willing to destroy for ultimate power and victory? Who can you trust?" I mean, it's basically a roleplaying game with a board.

Wow... I feel outta my arena here.

I have heard of only about 90% of the games listed so far (Monopoly, etc).

I'm a big fan of Scrabble. It is my all-time favorite. Although, maybe you don't consider it a board game????


As for cards: Hearts and Spades are my favs.

-Asrogoth

ethan_greer wrote: I would rather bite off my own penis than play Diplomacy.

On the subject of traditional card games, and games that are masterpieces of design economy, let me recommend Écarté, which was a popular salon game of the late nineteeth century. I learned about it from David Parlett's wonderful books, and did some popularizing of it in my local circle about a year ago. I printed up business cards with the rules on one side that I could hand out.

Here's the whole thing:

Écarté: 2 play, 32 cards KQJAT987. Cut for first deal, then alternate. Deal 5 cards each in batches of 3 and 2. Turn 11th card for trump. Non-dealer (ND) may propose exchange. Dealer (D) may accept or refuse. If accepted, first ND, then D discard up to 5 cards face down, and are dealt new ones from pack. Player may not discard more cards than remain in pack. Exchanges continue until ND plays or D refuses. Play is 5 tricks. ND leads 1st trick, winner of previous trick leads next. Players must follow suit, must try to win the trick, and must trump if unable to follow. Score 1 pt for 3 tricks won, 2 pts for 5 (vole). If no cards were exchanged and player who blocked the exchange loses, opponent always scores 2. 1 pt for K of trumps if declared before holding player plays 1st card or to D if turned card is trump K. 5 pts wins.

I guess I'd rather play Dippy than bite the penis, but I'd rather not play a game than subject myself to another game of Diplomacy. I've spent way too many hours in the agony that is called Diplomacy to ever do it again.

Chris (who wonders if this will draw more ire than calling for the president's stoning :-)

As for cards: Hearts and Spades are my favs.

Chris (who wonders if this will draw more ire than calling for the president's stoning :-)

Christopher Weeks wrote: Chris (who wonders if this will draw more ire than calling for the president's stoning :-)

Valamir wrote: Seeing as Diplomacy is just about the perfect game, where as not even his biggest fans would ever thing Bush is a perfect president.

I've heard it argued that those stalemate lines are part of what makes it perfect. The arguement was that once you've gone as far as you can with your current allies, the stalemate situation will force the seeking of new partners.

Some diplomacy games go the entire game with largely ad hoc alliances. Tactical deals that rarely extend more than a couple of turns.

Some turn into camp vs camp early on. This arguement suggests that the various stalemate positions force a break up of the camps, which mirror say Italy switching sides or Russia bowing out in WWI.

Hi Jonathan,

I'm not playing any game right now -- and only had the fantastic pleasure of playing PBEM once. (Getting to look over the board for a week at a shot really taught me to appreciate the "chess" aspect of maneuvering. It was also, no surprise here, I'm sure, obsessive for me.)

Ralph,

You summed up what I find important about the stalement line -- its simply one more test of alliances, one more test for what kind of victory a player wants (draw? absolute victory? win with an ally or alone?) I think its vital to the game's construction.

Christopher

I love how this has become the "Diplomacy" thread ;)

To all the guys who hate Dippy with a passion, I think it largely has to do with the type of people you play it with and the attitude they have. It can definitely make emotions flare high and people without strong social skills, tact, and the ability to make you feel alright about being backstabbed are probably not worth playing with. It'll just be an excercise in frustration.

Then again, part of it's a personal thing. If you're not comfortable with certain levels of player-player antagonism, it probably won't work for you. Personally, I find that these two thing go side-by-side. The more social skills people have, the more comfortable I feel with them, the more likely I'll feel comfortable being antagonistic, because I know they won't take it personally or start acting like an ass when they're winning.

And quozl, face-to-face is the ONLY way to play. Anything else is kid's stuff. Sneaking around, making speeches, conspiring to lock people in bathrooms... I mean, that's half the fun right there! ;)

I've never had issues with stalemate lines, because they haven't been a big part of any of the 15+ games I've played. None of the players I game with are obsessed enough to learn the stalemate lines. If it's not in the instruction book, we don't really care about it. Makes things more interesting, I think, since nobody's pushing towards a line that they're sure they can hold. Instead, we just give it the old college try, disorganized as it is, and watch what happens.

My favs have already been mentioned. They are:

Vinci
Traders of Genoa
Princes of Florence
Puerto Rico

I have owned Blood Royale for years, and the one time I played it the rules were obviously broken as written. It remains the single game that I most want to be cool. I may try to patch the rules someday...

coxcomb wrote: I have owned Blood Royale for years, and the one time I played it the rules were obviously broken as written. It remains the single game that I most want to be cool. I may try to patch the rules someday...

I've played Blood Royale about a dozen times (sadly never to conclusion, it's just TOO DAMN LONG for a FF game), and I've never run across any fundemental brokenness (other than the sheer length). Poorly written rules, yes.

Best game of it I ever saw featured a player who managed to write several marriage contracts that paid him a stipend in perpetuity. He eventually lost his crown and country, but his dynasty lived on in luxury in Lichtenstein, while the rest of us labored to support him.

I've often fantasized about writing an online server for it.

That would be cool, rafial. What's your KGS handle?

And, to keep the thread going, I've been playing the Game of Thrones Boardgame recently. I like it a lot.

Paganini wrote: That would be cool, rafial. What's your KGS handle?

Jonathan Walton wrote: And quozl, face-to-face is the ONLY way to play. Anything else is kid's stuff. Sneaking around, making speeches, conspiring to lock people in bathrooms... I mean, that's half the fun right there! ;)

My biggest problem with Diplomacy is that I don't think that I could get six other people to play it with me at the same time.

And, Jon, I hear you completely about PBeM games. But I want to learn how to play the game face-to-face. That tends to be my general rule; I learn better when I can touch the pieces.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

Dip's major design flaw is the same thing as Catan's -- your chance of winning diminishes or accelerates too quickly very early in the game. Too many kingmaker situations.

I have a great love of Quiddler, for precisely this reason, although it is a sillier game.

And Set. Why did no one mention Set? A great, great game.

My Favorite games:
Diplomacy
Quiddler
Set
Go
Puerto Rico
Carcasonne

Carcassone, Puerto Rico, Settlers of Catan
Tikal, Java, Mexico
J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (Reiner Knizia, to distinquish it from all the other LoTR games out there)
Mississippi Queen
Wiz-War
HeroQuest board game (house rule: players must actually say, "Oh great Zargon, open the door!" when opening doors)
Monopoly, Risk
Fast Food Franchise
Pictionary (just barely qualifies a board game, though)
Kill Dr. Lucky
Shogun (Milton Bradley)
Chess, Go, Abalone
Icehouse (qualifies as a board game on a technicality)
Gold (Ravensberger), The aMazeing Labyrinth
Kings & Things
TV-Time Touchdown (homebrewed game)
Fireball Island

Of this entire list one game that is most certain to be enjoyed by everyone no matter who I'm playing with, from 5-year-old nephews to the adults whose last board game was Trivial Pursuit in 1986 to the most hardcore hobbyists, is Fireball Island.

And Set. Why did no one mention Set? A great, great game.

Too many to name. . . Some front runners are Diplomacy, Robo-Rally, Maul of America, and . . . Clue.

What no Chess players?

Chess and Japanese Chess (Shogi) - not so fond of Chinese Chess.
Risk, and Middle Earth Risk (but why only 4 players?!)
Dungeon
Kingmaker (not so much a board game, more a simulator, but wierdly engrossing)
Monopoly (but only if you play it with lots of crazy deals - shares in houses anyone?)
Go, although I never played it enough to really understand it.
Othello
HeroQuest
Civilisation (oh how abusable your rules are!)

I had forgotten Fireball Island. After my brother and I waxed eloquent about this game, my wife tracked down two copies of it for Christmas: one for me and one for him.

My wife loves me. :-)

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

Risk, and Middle Earth Risk (but why only 4 players?!)

I'm a chess player, Jack, or at least a recovering one. I used to write a column for the Michigan Chess Bulletin. I did not lose to any non-masters in my last couple of years of tournament play, and have won two local tournaments here in the US outright and a rating-category prize on first board, going undefeated, at the US amateur teams. But I quit playing several years ago and haven't really looked back.

It's amazing what you can accomplish, procrastinating on your PhD thesis. I knew nothing about chess until I had to sit down and write my dissertation.

Chess is the only non-role-playing game that's ever obsessed me. I completely stopped all computer games about two decades ago, except a brief flirtation with Civilization, and I only play boardgames at parties as a social thing.

I've played chess since I was six or so. However, my personality is such that I like a broad variety of activities. So, for example, I really want to learn how to play shogi. I mean, I know the rules, but I'd love to see some actual strategy discussion.

Xianqi (Chinese chess) is interesting, too, but crazy. The cannon pieces change the game radically.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

I find the fact that you can't build pawn structures in either of the oriental chesses (or any of the others I know of that matter) the biggest difference.

Actually, I think my greatest chess accomplishment is that I once drank an entire bottle of tequila while playing blindfolded against two people (no tequila or blindfold for either one) at once. I managed to keep both boards in my head and win both games. Neither was that good a player of course, but it was still a fine moment.

Chess. Definitely.

Either that or Junior Monopoly. *looks around ashamed...*

orbsmatt wrote: Junior Monopoly. *looks around ashamed...*

Civilisation (oh how abusable your rules are!)

quozl wrote:

orbsmatt wrote: Junior Monopoly. *looks around ashamed...*

At least tell us why you like Junior Monopoly. Educate those of us who've never tried it because of the "Junior" in the title.

Let me take the opportunity to push a wonderful little card game called "Spank the Monkey" which not at all about ... well, you know ... Instead it is about a monkey in a junkyard. The first player to successfully spank the monkey wins. It is easy to learn, and a lot of fun!

Check out the rules at http://www.gigantoskop.se.

Cheers,

/Peter N

Peter Nordstrand wrote: game called "Spank the Monkey" which not at all about ... well, you know ... Instead it is about a monkey in a junkyard.

I'm struck by the near-total absence of wargames from this list; so I suppose I should pipe up as the designated outcast....

I'm deeply involved in helping make Attack Vector: Tactical, a 3D Newtonian-physics space combat boardgame;

and am a big fan of, among others,

The Gamers' Operational Combat Series [WW2 operations]

and

Air & Armor by West End.

Risk 2210
A Game of Thrones boardgame
Warcraft
and of course "Zombies!!!" which is a great beer 'n chips kind of game.

Civilisation is OK, except who has 8 hours to play the thing every time.

Cosmic Encounter is an old classic (but only when you play it with at least 3 alien powers each, with random power swapping and shuffling, heh)

The Lord of the Rings cooperative boardgame is pretty neat too.

Brian.

Mike Holmes wrote: How so? I find Civ to be a very tight game. I have friends involved in the map expansion projects, and we recently played an 11 player game (the map will accept up to 14, in theory) at a little con we ran. I'd put it in my top five games.