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Which board games have you all been playing? (to 6th August)
This week has flown by, and it's Sunday again already. And I just saw a rainbow out of the window, so that's inspired me to post the weekly thread! So what have you all been playing this week?
I may be a little behind the times here, but lately my obsession has been Terraforming Mars. The advantage of getting into a board game after it's been out for a while is that there are plenty of expansions, with lots of reviews out there indicating which expansions speed the game up / slow it down, and I can play whichever one I prefer that day.
I've just spent the day playing Everdell. I really like it. It's weirdly calming to just figure out how to get cards to work together. The art is also beautiful.
We only played two times as it was our first time playing and it took a while to figure out the rules.
But our second game took 3 hours to play.
I like it though but my friends say it's too long for them.
3 hours is a bit long for Everdell. Even with my goofball friends we can manage it in 2. So I agree with your friends!
My favorite part of Everdell is that it is enjoyable just building your town and finding cool combos to do - it’s one of the only games I play that the competitive aspect is almost less fun than the town building mechanics themselves.
Yeah. I didn't feel stressed at all. I didn't care about winning, I just wanted to do cool combos!
And that sometimes results in winning. That's just a plus.
I also liked seeing what kind of town I ended up building. We'd joke around in between turns and come up with a small narrative based on the cards we had laid.
I guess that's probably why our game took so long.
We managed to squeeze in a couple more games of the Dorfromantik board game this week, which we've been enjoying for the no pressure, coop experience the game offers. I need to restrain myself from quarterbacking, which is definitely one way this game can be bad if someone tries to take over gameplay. The fact that there is no way to "lose" the game, only to get a lower score really helps to keep the game light hearted and fun, but you can absolutely get deep in the strategy trying to optimally place and pre set up for upcoming tasks before you draw them.
Overall the game will surely come back to the table for a ways to come with how it's been so far, with so much more still to unlock in the game for us.
I immediately went to look this one up as I hadn't heard of it and it's out of stock everywhere! I'll have to keep an eye out.
Yeah I ended up squeezing mine out of ebay for MSRP, so it's worth looking if you can still get it there
Yesterday my group played Oath. It's probably our seventh or eighth game and I still forget how the banners work and how the successor works. But it was a fun game with the usual upsets but – unusually– few battles due to just how many relics and battle plans the Chancellor accumulated in the first couple of rounds.
After that we played Skull King, which is a fun little trick taking game, where you bet on how many tricks you'll win. It's harder than you might think to predict, due to the several layers of trump cards. And get your bid wrong and you lose rather than win points.
Finished up with Scout, which is a great little game in a tiny box, where you have to play sets but cannot rearrange the cards in your hands. You're trying to beat each others' sets but can also draw cards from the current winning set, thus improving your own hand and reducing the strength of the set you drew from.
Sounds like a great day! Oath is a special game, it's long, overly complicated, but damn is it fun. I haven't played in a while, but when we were going through our campaign. Or group could not stop talking about it.
Also +1 for Scout. Great little game that I'll never turn down a play.
Played games with the family, so it was a dose of light games.
Dixit and 6 nimmt!
6 Nimmt is so good. Have you ever played the version where you can play to either end?
I have not! Sounds interesting. I'll have to check out that variant!
I love Dixit! I play a lot of strategy games but it's really lovely to play a game that relies on good social interactions. We like playing in teams of two each.
There's a mobile version but it's full of IAPs unfortunately
Been playing (and learning) Wingspan the last few nights. I’m really enjoying it. Something calming about birds haha
I've still not played it. I know it probably won't be my cup of tea, but I'd like to at least try it once.
Scythe was the first Kickstarter I received back in 2016, so I've even less excuse for not giving it a go.
Boop! I've been playing Boop! It's a quick abstract strategy game where you play as cats on a bed pushing each other around. The idea is to align 3 of your cats in any orientation while preventing your opponent from doing the same. It's both fun and strategic.
Also shameless plug for my brother who just published his first game with his partner called Smug Owls. It's a party game where you compose riddles and have to vote for the best answer. I'm super proud of them.
I've nearly bought this a few times now (Boop). I kept seeing it at UK Games Expo and nearly went for it. Problem I can never get the abstracts played with my family.
If you can get someone to play connect 4 you should be able to get them to play Boop. Approach it like it's fun rather than in depth. Also making the sounds makes it super fun!
This week my group played Space Base and Hive .
We generally play over boardgamearena for convenience, so it's usually games you can find there, although that excludes some of my favorites such as Lords of Waterdeep.
The main game this month has been Paleo.
It is a great little co-operative game which, thanks to its style, eliminates some of the "quarterbacking" as someone called it here, where someone is essentially playing the game for all the players.
It uses a bunch of modules you combine with the base cards of the game which changes up the game and its goals, allowing more variability. It also can be quite tough, but I have yet to figure out if that is based on some bad choices we've made or if it is more luck based as well.
We've been playing Five Tribes and have been enjoying it a lot. We learned the game 4ish days ago.
My wife doesn't usually care to much about board games (she plays and has a decent time, but doesn't usually "want" to play), but we've already finished 5 games in the last 4 days.
She actually wants to play it, so that is really nice (and I've been enjoying it as well, and even more so because she is).
All that to say, we've has been enjoying Five Tribes a lot this week.
I played some Labyrinth with my parents yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. Its rules are easy to understand and I like the simplicity of its gameplay.
We're going to try to tackle Talisman next, so that will be quite a step up in complexity. I'm really excited, but I'll have to familiarize myself with how it's played, which I find somewhat daunting as a board game novice. Let's see how it goes.
There are quite a few games called Labyrinth. I'm guessing it's the maze one?
Oh wow, I wasn't aware of that. Yup, the one where you move pieces around and collect objects. I used to play it a lot, and it was nice to revisit.
I have a copy and used to play it with the kids. I don't think we've taken it out in five years now. I'll have to have a nostalgia game myself.
Catan Histories: Rise of the Inkas
The love child of Catan and Small World. I enjoyed it a lot. The tribe decline mechanic seems to work even better in Catan than in Small World, and it works as a catch-up mechanic, which can make Catan much less frustrating. I'm looking forward to playing it more times, though I am slightly worried it might get stale after the novelty wears off.
Santorini
An impulse buy I've had on my shelf for a long time now, that I've finally learned the rules for and did a test game (against myself). What a clever little game! It's basically Connect 4, but in 3D, with rules for playing with 3 and 4 players, and cards that give you divine powers that alter how the game works (for you). And it looks gorgeous.
Santorini is so good. I've played over 750 times online.
Plane crazy on Roblox. So fun.
Planted, a cozy collection game where you are tending to up to 6 potted plants. It's not competitive unless you want it to be and it's just a fun time with little stress, but a little bit of skill if you want a challenge.
Baldur's Gate 3