tectactoe: Board Games I’ve Been Enjoying Lately

tectactoe 03.07.23	Let's talk board games. What have you been playing lately? What are your classics, favorites, all-timers? Any recommendations welcome - I'll tell you if I've played 'em or not (and if not, will surely add them to my ever-growing queue).
IsisScript80 03.07.23	This is... interesting. Didn't see this coming as a thread, but conversely no reason why it wouldn't either. This is a realm I have very little familiarity with... my only current interaction is turning my little one (who's 5) into a greedy capitalist with Junior Monopoly (which is great... excellent streamlining of the adult game), and that's it currently. Although, on a whim, my partner and I got a co-op, borderline RPG thing called 'Forbidden Desert' as our buddy recommended it, but we've yet to crack it open. It looks somewhat intriguing...
dedex 03.07.23	7 Wonders Duel is GOAT duo board game me and the lads been tearing Terraforming Mars for over a year now, we just can't get enough of that one also Dune is pretty cool will peep Ark Nova, seems like our alley
tectactoe 03.07.23	Haven't played DUNE yet but it's on my list. Love TERRAFORMING MARS, though the trouble is finding people to play with me haha. My wife will play some stuff like PATCHWORK and AZUL but anything heavier than that and she's out. What's nice about ARK NOVA is that its solo-mode is quite fun (more so than that of TERRAFORMING MARS, imo) and a few community users have created a "solo bot" to play against that emulates multiplayer more closely and is awesome. So I end up playing ARK NOVA by myself a lot because I only know one person who's willing to play with me and I see him maybe once a month (if that). ARK NOVA has a lot of overhead information that can make the first play-through seem overwhelming, but honestly it's all very intuitive and easy to pickup once you play a couple games. @Isis: Haven't heard of FORBIDDEN DESERT - looks interesting, though! I'll have to check it out, too...
Cimnele 03.07.23	i love boxed games like this. feel like Space Hulk's never been bettered but I like reading about new games!!! i guess i ended up in more of a ccg/tcg niche though, weird dead card games on my shelves
tectactoe 03.07.23	OBSESSION is another one that I just started playing. Seems fun so far. Have only played it online (BGA) because it looks like physical copies are currently out of print and, like, $80+ on eBay and secondary-sale sites.
tectactoe 03.07.23	@Cim: I used to play the digital version of MtG when I was younger. I loved it because I loved the game and its mechanics but could never be arsed to spend money on new card packs, or "hunt" for cards I needed, or keep up to date on which cards are now banned or acceptable, etc. Not to mention scorekeeping and keeping track of all the various spells can become a headache - the digital versions alleviate all of that haha.
dedex 03.07.23	im fortunate enough to be part of a solid group of 6-7 friends who all like board games, so playing a big one isn't too difficult The OG 7 Wonders is great too - its biggest advantage is that the number of players doesn't impact the game length, as everyone is supposed to play "at the same time"
DadKungFu 03.07.23	Been having a lot of fun with Machi Koro lately, imagine Monopoly of it wasn't broken and you're building a neat little town and collecting coins and cards, great time
MarsKid 03.07.23	Haven't heard of these, will check back in when I read through 'em. I don't get around to board games as much as I used to, but my friends and I fell in love with a game called ADRENALINE that's basically an FPS put into a board game format, but actually it's a fast-paced resource management game in disguise. Pretty entertaining with a lot of different ways to win and do damage.
bc013 03.07.23	I'll have to check out Ark Nova, it sounds like it's my type of game. My family and I have really enjoyed Sagrada (including all expansions) and Red Rising, which I picked up on sale for less than $10. However, 7 Wonders with all expansions (Cities, Leaders, Armada) is hands down our personal favorite. I'm really excited to try out the newest Edifice expansion for 7 Wonders. Has anyone played it yet?
tectactoe 03.07.23	I've actually never played the "non-DUEL" version of 7 WONDERS (again, mostly because I have a difficult time finding more than one other person to play games with me lol). I do like the PANTHEON expansion of DUEL, though. @Mars - ADRENELINE looks interesting...
GhandhiLion 03.07.23	4 rules
tectactoe 03.07.23	Agreed. One of the only games my wife will play with me, too.
GhandhiLion 03.07.23	Oh I meant the album
tectactoe 03.07.23	:o( but also agreed
anode 03.07.23	Catan is the goat for me. Haven’t heard of any of these though
Minortimbo12 03.07.23	Dominion Ticket to Ride Risk Love Letter
Minortimbo12 03.07.23	Dungeons and Dragons
dedex 03.07.23	i don't like to play Catan these days tbh, the randomness of dices make it really a chance-based game. quite infuriating when you just need a 10 on that sheep to win but that mf doesn't come up and nobody wanna give you sheep
dedex 03.07.23	Dominion [∞] hell yeah
Zig 03.07.23	Dixit
MarsKid 03.07.23	"ADRENELINE looks interesting..." I'd recommend it! It takes a game or two to grasp fully, but after that, it proceeds smoothly, is easy to set up, and has some entertaining strategy to it.
SchoolboyQAnon 03.07.23	Been painting my 2009 copy of Space Hulk and some Sicarians for 40k KillTeam and having a blast. Haven’t played much other than Escape The Dark Sector with my girlfriend, she’s been super into it lately.
tectactoe 03.07.23	Once I started playing the CITIES & KNIGHTS expansion of CATAN, it was tough to go back to the "base" game, even with SEAFARERS added. And I agree that the dice roll mechanism is off-putting. There are turns where you literally can't do shit unless e.g. a 5 or a 9 is rolled and that's frustrating. Still have a soft spot for the game tho. Need to look up DOMINION. See so many people praise it but I've never actually tried to learn it myself... TICKET TO RIDE is a good one.
anode 03.07.23	I mean you gotta set yourself up in a way that you have the consistent resources you need. If you relying on anything below a 9 or 5 then you in for a tough time normally. There’s always gunna be dice luck and placement luck but I feel like there’s luck in almost all board games
tectactoe 03.07.23	I mean, of course you can't set up shop on a bunch of tiles with 4s and 11s and expect to do well but the randomization element of dice is still quite high, and you can still be on great numbers like 6/8 and go plenty of turns without getting any of the resources you need which can total stalemate you in that game. Sure there is almost always some element of luck unless we're talking about, like, CHESS or GO or whatever, but some games do a much better job of mitigating that luck from being a complete hamstring to simply forcing you to adapt or change your strategy. For example, in both ARK NOVA and WINGSPAN, there is a luck element in which cards are drawn. Maybe in your head you're wanting to set up a specific engine or plan and you need a certain type of card to make that happen. You draw some cards and don't get the one(s) you need. But even though those cards don't dovetail with your original plans, they aren't useless and won't leave you totally stranded either- you'll still be able to utilize them to some extent in almost every case, you just might have to adjust or adapt your original strategy a bit. In CATAN's case, cold dice can quite literally lose (or win) you the game, and if you're not getting the resources you need, there isn't much you can do to circumvent the crappy rolls.
anode 03.07.23	True, pretty much my only other board game experiences are clue and monopoly and risk and scrabble and chess. All the basic bitch board games haha
tectactoe 03.07.23	I wish I was better at chess. But watching people who are really good is so discouraging. Feels fruitless.
anode 03.07.23	Yeah easily my favorite game none of the others really compare. But yeah I could see that at the lower levels. I was fortunate cause my dad is really good and taught me at a young age and I went to a bunch of tournaments and took a bunch of lessons and stuff as a kid
bc013 03.07.23	@tectactoe We like 7 Wonders Duel as well, especially while traveling. It took a while to find a group of friends willing to give 7 Wonders a shot (most people see the rulebook and instantly get scared). At first, many of our friends were hesitant to play, but now we regularly play with seven people and often have to rotate which friends get to join. Funny enough, it took several of my friends seeing my kids play the game to convince them it's not too challenging to learn...Adults seem to dislike being outsmarted by kids so they tend to be more willing to learn new games. Also, Catan, including its numerous expansions served as our introduction to the world of non-standard (monopoly, clue, etc.) games. It holds a special place in my heart, but I agree that the randomness of the dice became too infuriating over time. I reached the point, where it felt like strategy was often outclassed by luck.
bc013 03.07.23	@anode, I recommend you check out Splendor and Ticket to Ride. They are both great games with plenty of replay value. They also strike a good balance between skill and chance which makes them enjoyable.
Storm In A Teacup 03.07.23	I played like 200 games of chess in January and burned out rather quick
KnewUser 03.07.23	Personally, I like Catan, but I have extremely good luck when I play 🙃 Also, had the chance to play Sorry at work & it really made me feel like a kid, but in a good way.
Dreamflight 03.07.23	I love Sushi Go!!! It's so addictive. If you like Seven Wonders I highly recommend Stone Age.
Minortimbo12 03.08.23	Oh yeah Catan, Splendor, and Sheriff
Purpl3Spartan 03.08.23	Secret Hitler is a very fun game
tectactoe 03.08.23	Only played SECRET HITLER once, remember it being pretty fun. The problem is that I so rarely have enough people (1) together in the same place, and (2) willing to play a board game lol. There was a kickstarter for a game called HOLLYWOOD 1947 that finished a little while ago and it looks like a fresh riff/spin on SECRET HITLER, with the added element of having a "neutral" side.
anode 03.08.23	Oh I forgot about secret hitler. Love that game because it gives you an opportunity to lie with no consequences. Yeah the fact that you need exactly 5 people makes it tough to play haha
Zig 03.08.23	CITADELS is also pretty good.
Lichtbringer 03.08.23	i love board games and it's been a while since i've tried a new one. which one of the ones you mentioned would you recommend in terms of being the most easily accessible?
tectactoe 03.08.23	@Licht - Depends slightly on what board games you're already used to or comfortable with. But at the very least, SUSHI GO PARTY and PATCHWORK are accessible and easy for just about anyone to pick up. (If I can teach my wife & mother how to play in less than ten minutes, I'm convinced anyone can learn lol.) AZUL and TICKET TO RIDE are two other really fun, easy, and accessible games that anyone can learn quickly. (Didn't list them here because I only chose games I've discovered recently.) I'd put 7 WONDERS DUEL and WINGSPAN around the same category - a bit more complex/involved than the previously mentioned games, but nothing too hard to learn, especially if you've played board games before. For the former, the scorekeeping can be a tiny bit cumbersome, and for the latter, you'll find that people often get decision paralysis. But really neither of them are difficult to learn, however, the implications of your actions on future turns has a greater depth imo. ARK NOVA is the only one of those five that I'd not recommend to someone unless they were already familiar with "heavier" board games (like TERRAFORMING MARS, DUNE, TWILIGHT IMPERIUM, BRASS BIRMINGHAM, SCYTHE, things along those lines). In all actuality, the decisions in that game aren't particularly convoluted or complex, but there are a lot of downstream effects and small minutiae to keep track of, which can be overwhelming for someone who is only used to simpler games. There are lots of moving pieces, and lots of various things of which you need to remain cognizant. But once you play it a few times and get the hang of it, it really does become much simpler. For reference, what games have/do you play?
Lichtbringer 03.09.23	i don't get to play much these days, but used to nerd out on catan mainly. others i've played are monopoly (duh), stratego, risk. basic, entry level stuff, i guess. thank you for the thorough response, i'll probably end up ordering one of these from amazon!
combustion07 03.09.23	I'm not familiar with any of these. I play some board games with my nieces and nephew when I spend time with them. For the most part we play Clue (I have a Simpsons edition and they tend to go for that), Payday, Frustration, Sequence and Monopoly. We also play chicken foot with the dominie's and Yahtzee and Bones with dice. Card games wise it's all Uno, Black Jack and a fun one I've never seen anyone mention called Mile Bornes which is a card game involving cars where you can give opponents flat tires and whatnot. Might be spelling the last one incorrectly. I believe it's a German game. I'll have to check some of the ones mentioned here to try out. Bookmarked
Egarran 03.09.23	Hi good friend tec! I have played a lot of RUNEBOUND. It's a classic gameplay. Players move around the map based on dice rolls, fight monsters, do missions, and gaining XP, money and weapons. Just how I like it. The best party board game for me is ROBORALLY. Just a genius game. A close second is MUNCHKIN. Perfect blend of D&D silliness and card game. Of course above all this is MAGIC THE GATHERING. Playing Commander with 3 friends is one of my favourite things, but it takes a lot of preparation and rules knowledge. The great thing is, you don't have to use a cent on it - you can print all the cards for free.
tectactoe 03.09.23	I've never played MUNCHKIN myself but I do know that in the uber-nerdy board-gaming community, it's often considered a game that lasts way longer than its complexity would dictate. (See also: MONOPOLY.) And that's kinda always put me off of playing or even learning it. Maybe I will give it a shot, though. The XBOX Live Arcade version of MAGIC THE GATHERING was so amazing. Could earn fake in-game money to buy booster packs or take them to the trading market and trade/buy specific cards from other people. It really does seem like the type of game that lends itself perfectly to the digital world. I just can't imaging buying physical booster packs these days in search of specific cards to build a deck. The thrill of the 'unknown' was there when I was a kid (esp. with POKEMON), but that was also coupled with the carelessness of youth - no real bills or responsibilities viz., a lot of disposable income. If I started coming home with packs and packs of MTG cards everyday, my wife would probably divorce me.
Donchivo 03.09.23	I love ROBORALLY too.. it just has one flaw to me: if one player is just better at planning than the others and has and advantage, it might be clear who will win very early on in the game.. there is no balancing system. Even worse: if one robot is ahead of the pack, chances are its lead will even increase with all other robots shooting and shoving each other, slowing each other down.
Donchivo 03.09.23	I do love PUERTO RICO, a build up game with some semblances to CATAN, but way more depth and more strategic, which allows you to employ different strategies to win. Really great game!
tectactoe 03.09.23	Ooooh, PUERTO RICO is one I've been meaning to check out for a while now.
Vinnymcscoop 03.09.23	Has anyone play Killer Rabbits and the Magic Carrot. It's like Munchkin, but I guess with rabbits. It's a fun game, but it's hard to follow the directions.
MarsKid 03.09.23	lol Munchkin is so seriously but it's the one my friends and I take very seriously for some reason. Munchkin night often turns to bloodshed if we aren't careful lmao, it gets competitive as hell. Secret Hitler is basically like mafia, right? I've played a ton of mafia back in my day and have hosting experience.
Egarran 03.09.23	We banned Kneepads of Allure from Munchkin. They generated too much salt. > if one robot is ahead of the pack, chances are its lead will even increase with all other robots shooting and shoving each other, slowing each other down. Well tradition is you gang up on the leader.
MarsKid 03.09.23	Nothing is worse than losing a game to the Cleric auto-win card. I forget the name. Divine Intervention, maybe? It's the only card that can just win the game if used to get to level 10. There was one time I could have used the wand card to bring it back from the deck and win that way, but decided that was just too janky lol My favorite game though was when I was actually pretty behind (level 5/6 area) while everyone else was knocking on the door of either 9 or 10. My one friend had reached a point where everyone had exhausted their resources trying to stop him, so the win was basically a formality. Me being a low-leveled dude, I decided to jokingly suggest, "Hey, can I help you fight the monster? For old time's sake." He shrugged, smiled, and said, "Sure, you can help!" Which then allowed me to play the monster vanishing card. The monster was taken away, and he didn't get the next level. He just stared blankly for a moment before it started he started to realize what exactly I pulled. Best part was I somehow came back and won that game, too.
Sinternet 03.09.23	i love board games but prefer quick pickup ones not a board, but fuck honestly the saltiest i have ever been has been playing monopoly deal, def recommend
MarsKid 03.09.23	Yeah tbh I've never played a game that required a long set-up, my friend group almost always gravitates towards games that we can dive into on the fly but have a level of depth that you can appreciate over time. Also, we like even simpler shit like Jenga, we play the SHIT out of Jenga.
tectactoe 03.09.23	SUSHI GO PARTY is a perfect one for lots of people + quick set-up time. Easy to teach/learn, too.
tectactoe 03.16.23	Played PANDEMIC for the first time, surprisingly. Fun game and it makes for a neat cooperative experience.
Donchivo 03.16.23	Any of you guys into TWILIGHT STRUGGLE? That one has me quite hooked lately. Amazing game, transferring perfectly the cold war paranoia, instable stability and being on the edge vibe to a board game...
tectactoe 03.16.23	I've heard nothing but good things about it but have always been afraid to try it out due to the daunting play time and weight. How long did it take you to learn and how long do games typically last? It does look awesome, though. I love the cold war vibes.
Donchivo 03.17.23	Yeah, playing time is crazy. I don't think we ever finished a game below 4 hours... But it doesn't feel long at all. The many possibilities make every round exciting. The variety of events that can occur (all real events from Cuban missile crisis over Muslim revolution, chernobyl to creation of Nato and waaay beyond that) are interesting and well translated into the game mechanics to make the experience highly immersive. Also the game is not that hard to learn but definitely hard to master. So that it doesn't get old but is fun from the first match.
tectactoe 03.21.23	This sounds like something I wish I would've learned years ago. Between work and two kids, finding a four-hour slot of free time is nearly impossible haha, but man it does sound fun. Do you know if there are any online or digital permutations of the game? Some games that take longer, like TERRAFORMING MARS, I haven't played the physical version in years. But I do play on the iOS app regularly. Or OBSESSION, I can play on BoardGameArena. The digital aspect helps with automatic setup, scoring, and bookkeeping, making games go by much faster.
Donchivo 03.24.23	Hey! No, I am not aware about a digital version of the game. But that doesn't have to say that there isn't as I am a kinda offline guy regarding board games...
Egarran 04.02.23	Played CAMEL UP yesterday. Fun party game about racing camels. Easy to learn.
tectactoe 04.03.23	I dunno Ega, looks pretty sus. I will watch a YouTube video on it. OBSESSION is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Great game with a cool theme; worker placement and kinda-sorta deck and tableaux building. There's really nothing else quite like it, nothing I've played anyway. Finally started learning A FEAST FOR ODIN, too. Goddamn there's a lot of stuff to do in that game.
Egarran 04.03.23	I should have given a trigger warning. It does feature some troubling colonial aesthetics.
Donchivo 04.04.23	Haha PUERTO RICO has the most sus colonial aesthetics that I know from boardgames. The so-called 'colonialists' that work on the plantations are brown for no game-internal reason... For CAMEL UP I feel these are caricaturizing clichee depictions of all kind of people expected at an early 20th camel race. I wouldn't see it that much as troubling as Puerto Rico, as everyone gets mocked the same way... Both great games beside their aesthetics btw.
Egarran 04.04.23	Haha fair enough, I shall stay away from PUERTO RICO. My biggest complaint about CAMEL UP is that the camels don't have any personality. I was tempted to draw faces on them.
MiloRuggles 04.04.23	Chipping in on Secret Hitler: it's absolutely god-tier when you have 8+ people and it gets easier for the fascists to win. Easily the funniest boardgame arguments I've ever experienced. Big fan of Code Names atm. Super simple, but really challenging at the same time.
Get Low 04.21.23	I've been loving deckbuilding games lately. I'm waiting patiently for the official release of Dominion and its expansions on Steam. Also, Wingspan is an absolute mess of a game and pretty overrated.
unclereich 04.21.23	did you know lil ugly mane made a board game?
Donchivo 04.22.23	I just got KING'S DILEMMA pretty stoked to try it soon!
tectactoe 05.09.23	Okay, so I recently (finally) decided to learn GREAT WESTERN TRAIL and...omg, it's one of the best games I've ever played. Like, I know I'm still in the honeymoon phase with it, still very new (to me) and I'm still on just the surface of discovering all the depth it has to offer. But my first five or six play-throughs have been so much fun. I immediately went online and bought a physical copy.
tectactoe 03.20.24	Some updates made from the last list nearly a year ago! What other games you been playing, Sput?
Scheumke 03.20.24	Owh nice never seen this thread, but big boardgamer here so love it! - Twilight Imperium remains the GOAT for me, especially with Prophecy of Kings cutting some of the extreme runtime. Have done 25 games now and played every faction once, took me about 6 years but I did it haha. what a game! - My current favorite is Spirit Island. Got the game last september and I'm hooked to the point where I've just bought everything except for the newest big board expansion. It's deep without being over complicated. By far the best co-op game I own (yes better than Gloomhaven for me), and the only boardgame I will play solo. - Root remains a staple. Always fun to throw on the table. - Been playing quite a lot of Mansions of Madness with my group. Easy to just set up and get going, even when there are some new players joining. - One of my absolute favorites right now is Veiled Fate. I don't own it but a buddy of mine does. The hidden movement and subterfuse aspects of it are really inventive and make me second guess myself every round.
tectactoe 03.20.24	Nice shout to SPIRIT ISLAND, lovely game. I have the Steam implementation of it and it's great, helps with a lot of the bookkeeping stuff that I'd surely forget if I were playing physical. Though I'm admittedly pretty bad at the game, it's a lot of fun. I think just about all my victories have come from cycling through the entire Fear deck, I don't think I've ever actually eradicated all the colonists / towns required at the lower Fear levels. I also find that I underutilize the little hut guys (Dohan?) and typically struggle to work them into my gameplan. But when I see experts play, they are constantly moving them around and battling with them lol so I need to work on that, too. Only one other guy in our core game group (besides me) knows how to play TI, we've been nagging the others to learn it so we can have a "TI Day" one of these times but they keep putting it off. I've heard very good things about MASIONS OF MADNESS - need to check that one out!
tectactoe 03.20.24	Just looked up VEILED FATE and that looks pretty cool too. I've never been too big on hidden movement games, but maybe it's because I just haven't found "the one" yet.
Scheumke 03.20.24	The Dahan are absolutely vital to most spirits' succes. There are a couple of great youtube channels that explain things very well. RedRevenge has some great strategy guides for spirits that I would really recommend. Mansions and veiled fate are honestly overpriced but both are great games to just throw on the table with people who aren't that much into boardgames. They take 10 minutes to explain but are a lot of fun to see in motion.
tectactoe 03.21.24	Nice, I'll check some of those videos out, thanks for the heads up. 80% of my free time when the kids are in bed is watching board gamers on YT already anyway so this'll fit right in 😂
tectactoe 03.27.24	Man, SPIRIT ISLAND is even deeper than I originally thought lol.
MeatSalad 03.27.24	Spirit Island is absolute tops for me, got all the expansions and the digital version on my phone too. Just recently got good enough to tackle level 6 adversaries with my partner, absolutely brutal level of challenge sometimes but extremely satisfying to crack Anyone into Ark Nova? Kinda love it, it's like Zoo Tycoon in competitive board game form. I'll have to check out Great Western Trail, been seeing a lot of love for that game
WretchedCacophony 03.27.24	bruh Twilight Imperium is a 4.3 complexity and 4-8 hours according to BoardGameGeek holy crap what Scythe, Root and Brass Birmingham are excellent upper tier complexity games with run times of 2-3 hours
Scheumke 03.27.24	@Meat nice! I've bought everything except Nature Incarnate and am loving every second of it. Playing around lvl 3/4 adversaries and they prove good enough of a challange that I win around 60% with it in solo (with the group we play round level 2/3). It's such a crazy satisfying game to crack with replayability that is next level. @Wretched 4 to 8 hours is underplaying it hard. If you have a 5 or 6 player game where at least one person plays it for the first time, expect more around the 10 to 12 hour range. It's an experience as much as a boardgame. Going to have a 4 player game on Saturday which takes us about 6 to 8 hours with all experienced players.
Scheumke 03.27.24	About the complexity though, I kinda understand but I think it's not as high as it's sold. Like, it is a lot, but it's also pretty streamlined and as a medium to experienced boardgamer its fairly intuitive. I've played this with my mother in law and she had a good time with it. I've honestly never introduced the game to someone who didn't love it.
WretchedCacophony 03.27.24	I certainly don't have the play group to do something like that with. Maybe when I have kids and they have friends that want to do it I'd get in but at this point I'd say 4 hours is already beyond my max lol. I've played some games of Eldritch Horror and Betrayal at the House on the Hill that have pushed into 4 and my group is practically scarred by those experiences lol
tectactoe 03.27.24	@Meat - fell in love with ARK NOVA when it first came out, played the hell out of it, and have cooled on it a bit (but still really enjoy it and regularly play on BGA). Maybe just a little too much variance for my tastes in a game of that weight/length, but yeah it's a cool-ass game. Agreed that TWILIGHT IMPERIUM is a long game (the very few times I've been able to play, it was basically an all-day event) but isn't nearly as "complex" as you might think for a game that literally takes six to eight hours to play. I mean, it's definitely complex/heavy, but as Scheumke said, the mechanics of the game are (mostly) intuitive and the round structure / action selection isn't anything out of the ordinary for people who play heavier board games. You'd have an easier time successfully teaching someone to play TI compared to something like, say, LISBOA or ON MARS imo, and those games only take a third of the time to complete.