Board/Card Game Recommendations

edited in Questions and Answers
Hey dudes, so after briefly speaking about where to get these locally after today's class I was wondering which board/card games you would recommend?

Some really great ones seem to be coming out especially with kickstarter becoming so popular. I was following this for a time Agents of Smersh and it seemed really interesting.

I'm not a huge fan of role playing and fantasy type stuff, much prefer spy, sci-fi, tech based and the like but any good recommendations are welcome.

Comments

  • Gears of war is really cool (playing it this evening with a mate)
  • Thunderstone - awesome deck-building game with loads of variation, tactics and brilliance. When people tell you that Dominion is amazing, it's because they haven't played Thunderstone yet ;)

    Infiltration - Card-based secret facility breaking and entering game. Been hearing people rave about it for ages.

    Panic Station - Build your own board card trading and sneakery game of being infested and not telling your friends. Very cool, very smart mechanics.

    Battlestar Galactica - BE A FUCKING CYLON AND WIN THE GAME 1 TURN FROM ALL THE PUNY HUMANS ESCAPING FOREVER! Seriously amazing game of treachery and intrigue. Set on the Galactica (and other ships for expansions). Random Cylons. Frakking toasters.

    Carcassonne - Brilliantly strategic tile-laying game. The archetype of the german school of boardgame design.

    All of the above are personal favorites that I can spend hours playing. Really keen on getting hold of Smallworld and a few others, but really, Thunderstone is amazing.
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    I have my roots in ipad board gaming (lol), and I can echo awesomeness of Carcassonne from above. Gotta check out some of the above suggestions myself!

    Infiltration I've played and is a lot of fun.

    Other cool games are:

    Citadels - LOTS of fun, political intrigue, social game, good strategy, and I think pretty well balanced.

    Ticket To Ride - very cool, simple mechanics. Much better than monopoly :)

    Catan - complex yet simple, and very strategic. Much better than monopoly :)

    Elder Signs - Could be argued as too random, but pretty fun.

    Chaos in the Old World - Massive, complicated, convoluted, can barely be attempted if you don't have an experienced player with you. Edit: BUT SO MUCH FUN - having all players play with completely asymmetrical rules is like Starcraft x5 :)
  • Mansions of Madness! It's Cthulu mythos based. So kind of detectivy, uncovering mysteries, kind of OH MY GOD WHAT WAS THAT SOUND WHO AM I NOW I'M AN ONION!
  • I can also recommend Ticket to Ride & Carcassonne and I love Puerto Rico.
  • Dominion is amazing.

    I haven't played Thunderstone yet.

    :P

    Played Elder Signs for the first time yesterday. Amanda Sharpe is freaking amazing.
  • Awesome stuff everyone, will do some more research on these.

    @BlackShipsFilltheSky - R899 for Mansion of Madness from Digital Sushi.. ouch!
  • Agricola <- the theme (farming in Germany circa 1600) belies how awesome this game is (it is without a doubt my favorite game). A bit complicated, but always rewards :)

    Smallworld - What risk should be, but in a fantasy setting

    Dungeon Lords - Basically Dungeon Keeper the boardgame, horribly complicated, so you'll need someone who has played it to teach, but ultimately a very rewarding game. I would recommend anything by the guy who made this (Vlaada Chvatil) He really likes to push what a "boardgame" is and comes up with some amazing mechanics (see Bunny Bunny Moose Moose and Space Alert for examples)

    Hive - By a french designer, very awesome "Nature" Chess, where you build the board as you play.

    Power Grid - A classic

    7 Wonders - a fast game that has an interesting "hand management" mechanic

    And much more, I'll update this with links to BGG when I've got a bit more time :)
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    I really enjoyed playing Chaos in the Old World recently.

    All the players have different advancement conditions, and totally asymmetrical play styles.
  • ooh I must check out Dungeon Lords. Who's it by?
  • @aodendaal Vlaada Chvatil is the author, Czech Games Edition (CGE) is the publisher :)
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    [CAST RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD (thread)]

    So I've finally played Thunderstone and am thoroughly hooked :) It's Diablo with cards! How much better can you get!

    And Netrunner. The only downside is finding opponents to run with! The asymmetry is awesome. So insanely deep. Not having to buy boosters is definitely a big plus. Anyone playing Netrunner?

    And I read this thing about City of Horror on RPS, I'm not usually for zombies, but it looks incredibly fun, with lots of ways to screw each other :)
    http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/21/cardboard-children-city-of-horror/

    image
  • If you're in for a bit of horror try YOU are the Maniac http://youarethemaniac.com/ which is print-and-play (and there's a kickstarter too).
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    Wow that looks good :) I'm neither here nor there about horror, but the art looks really great and I'm almost always down for a good card game. Did you Kickstart it? :) I'm contemplating... Well, probably should read the rules first :P

    edit: Don't particularly like their hidden tiers unlocking... or their actual unlocks... extra $5k for 3 new already designed cards? Come on now.
  • I would also recommend Netrunner. Really awesome game and well worth the out-of-box experience (without buying any other cards). There are so many other awesome board games around, the best is just to play them and see if you like them.

    If you are interested in print and play, I recommend http://www.sirlingames.com/

    I host a board game day in Stellenbosch on occasion. If anyone would like to join the next one, they are most welcome.
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    Does anyone here(besides me of course) play tabletop wargames like Warhammer? I love me some tabletop strategy. I was wondering because apart from the recent Necron I don't think it's been mentioned here before.

    Also, @Tuism, do I need to buy my own "stuff" for Netrunner or can many people play with one set(like monopoly). If many people can play maybe you can bring it to the next meet and the people that are there a bit earilier can have a go with you?
  • @Rigormortis: I don't play wargames personally, but I know some people in the Somerset West area that do. Let me know if you want me to put you in touch.

    A single Netrunner box support one 1v1 game at a time (without modifying the rules). There are separate faction cards, but only one one set of neutral cards for each player.
  • The new Netrunner is really interesting: as a Living Card Game, you're supposed to build decks, like magic. But I stead of random booster diving for random cards, you get a core box that gives you most of the cards you need. Therefore you can play it out of the box with anyone :)

    Sure I'll bring it to the next meet, just gotta make some time for it :) earlier sounds great :)

    Ultimately, you wanna get your own box to facilitate deck building and playing against others (but you don't need to),

    Even more ultimately, get 2 or even 3 core sets to get a full playsets of 3 of everything. Still better than random diving from boosters like in typical CCGs.

    Even much more ultimately get expansions when they come out: they're completely complete by themselves (3 copies of every card, 3 is the max of any card in netrunner).
  • @francoisvn, hmmm thanks for the offer. But I'm pretty sure I'll be late for every meeting :P (from Pretoria).

    But we actually have a decent sized group that play. We don't play that regular any more but it's still fun when we do. :) I was just wondering if there were more people here that actually play. And if not, why not?
  • @Tuism, cool man. I'm usually early at the meetups...bring it along and we'll have a play. I love card games as well. Though admittedly I have only played Magic really(which is a taboo here apparently :P ).
  • At the risk of over punting and sounding fanboyish, netrunner was designed by the same guy that made magic: Richard Garfield. Which is all the more incredible as it has no similarities to magic in a world full of magic clones (tapping, power/toughness, land resource, player life, etc).

    Is magic taboo here? Didn't know that :) I liked it until I realized it changed from a game of strategies to a game of expansion cash cow milking. Bah.
  • Hehe, it's not really taboo. It's just that most people complain about the expansions and having to spend so much. Personnaly I love magic still because I only play the sealed events like Pre-Release and booster draft.

    And I don't mind sounding fanboyish, Richard Garfield is awesome! :D I don't know much about him, but just looking at magic I know he's someone I'd like to meet. :)
  • Well, I played (and still play) Magic, I love it. The current "Standard" block is particularly cool too, but everything is a cash cow so how is that a deciding factor?

    There is still a lot of strategy involved, and a lot of cool mechanics coming out of WotC in Magic.
  • I wouldn't say that everything's a cash cow, but then everyone has a different threshold and perspective, so that's just my own :) I prefer the way LCG is set up, no random booster diving, no fluctuating singles prices.

    I definitely have seen some cool new mechanics in magic, most of them has me saying "damn that's imba", but in a world where expansions must be sold, power creep is thet norm.

    But again, my opinion :)

    I still love me my Assassin's Creed Recollection on iPad, but haven't played for a long time cos support for the game is sucking. Damn you Ubisoft.
  • Do you (or anyone) have LCG decks? I would like to give it a try.
  • @Edge, there are 2 main reasons for me why I think magic is a cash cow. I don't know how to fix it, but here they are:

    1) The "Standard" block. When you limit the amount of cards that can be used in tournaments it automatically forces people to buy new cards. I know that they do this to keep the power creep managable in a competitive setting. But it does become expensive.

    2) Relative value of cards. Some cards are just obviously better than other cards. A classic example is Shock vs Thunder bolt. And most of the times you actually need the best cards to play competitively. This forces you to either buy boxes and boxes of boosters or go to the more expensive singles market.

    That being said...it's still an awesome game. I love the complex rules and interactions and I love the fact that there is hidden information :). No better feeling than defending an attack with a bluff hand of 5 lands :D. But playing the sealed events is the most fun for me at this stage because you are on equal ground with everyone else. Sure some guys can open better cards, but it's how you build your deck that decides how far you get on the day, not any one card. :)
  • I have the Netrunner game, will be early to the next meet if I can so we can play then :)

    And rigormortis you don't know what bluffing is until you've played Netrunner :) ask anyone ;) the corporation side plays with his cards face down while the runner sweats his ass off trying to figure out what his play is... It's asymmetrical and fantastic :) you'll see :)
  • What about having a monthly card/boardgaming meet? Preferably on the weekend. Trying to cram some games in before the monthly meet seems like a bit of a crush to me.
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    I'm usually an hour or more early for the meet because I drive directly from work. But I'm for a monthly board game meet :) Who would want to do this? Show of hearts?
  • I just had a few games of Mystery Rummy: Jack The Ripper, while I was sceptical at first (Rummy? why would I want to play a traditional poker game with variant themes?), it turned out to be pretty cool, with basic Rummy mechanics being adapted into a manhunt, with players gathering evidence to produce suspects, and everyone also trying to kill everyone and become Jack the Ripper, all at the same time. It was pretty brilliant :)
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