Octopus Overlords

I'm curious what people's top 5 board games look like. I think mine would go something like this, in a rough order:

1) Battlestar Galactica
2) Chaos in the Old World
3) Twilight Struggle
4) Britannia
5) Railroad Tycoon

Honorable mentions: War of the Ring, Wallenstein, Kremlin.

Hmmm....

1) Twilight Struggle
2) Tide of Iron
3) Arkham Horror or Battlestar Galactica (mostly due to fond memories of holiday gaming get togethers)

...gaaahhh, I can't do it! This is like Sophie's Choice...but with meaningful options!

Hmmm...

1) Through the Ages
2) Twilight Struggle
3) Hanabi and Ikebana
4) Eclipse
5) Space Empires 4X

Alright. Today they are:

1) Defenders of the Realm
2) Crokinole
3) Memoir '44
4) Empire Builder/North American Rails
5) Lords of Waterdeep (I know, it hasn't been released yet, and I only have one game in, but I've been obsessing about it since I played it at DDXP.)

1) Chess
2) Formula D
3) n-way tie for last place
3) Khet
4) Ticket To Ride
5) uhhh... Monopoly?

Of the people that have posted so far I have played NONE of those games. That'd be the main reason my list is so short (edited to make 5, had to think of more that I actually played). Saddest part: I think I own 50 or so board games.

coopasonic wrote: Of the people that have posted so far I have played NONE of those games. That'd be the main reason my list is so short (edited to make 5, had to think of more that I actually played). Saddest part: I think I own 50 or so board games.

TtA is a masterpiece. I believe I'm the only boardgamer on here who's played it...

SpaceLord wrote:

coopasonic wrote: Of the people that have posted so far I have played NONE of those games. That'd be the main reason my list is so short (edited to make 5, had to think of more that I actually played). Saddest part: I think I own 50 or so board games.

TtA is a masterpiece. I believe I'm the only boardgamer on here who's played it...

I just got Roll Through the Ages. Does that count?

Asking me to pick my top 5 boardgames is the equivilent of asking Hepcat to pick his favorite 5 boys from the neighborhood. All of them are great and I'll play whichever you put in front of me.

Hopefully someone will bring through the ages to octocon so i can try it...

p.s. Hey Issie, the Coldest War expansion for Nightfall just came out. It includes new starter minions. I just ordered a copy for myself.

It's tough to choose but at the moment I'd say

1) Chaos in the Old World
2) Arkham Horror
3) Summoner Wars
4) Neuroshima Hex
5) Battlelore

Fishbelly wrote:4) Neuroshima Hex

I have this on my phone and play it all the time.

Damn you, Hep for suggesting game apps. you have no idea how many hours of my life these things have absorbed at this point.

Remus West wrote:

Fishbelly wrote:4) Neuroshima Hex

I have this on my phone and play it all the time.

Damn you, Hep for suggesting game apps. you have no idea how many hours of my life these things have absorbed at this point.

Get an iPad so you can play Titan.

...there...now you can hate me even more.

1) Race for the Galaxy (maximum combos)
2) Battlestar Galactica (theme/traitor mechanic)
3) Twilight Struggle (theme/strategic decisions)
4) Eclipse (economic/tech combat)
5) Alien Frontiers (territory control/die placement)

Unfortunately, the release date for the Alien Frontiers expansion has slipped to GenCon.

I have a lot of nostalgia for Arkham Horror, Pandemic, Carcassone and Cosmic Encounter. Only a while ago, my list might have included Ascension and 7 Wonders. Eminent Domain replaces Race for the Galaxy in my play list only because it's easier to teach.

To the dismay of most of the Chicago group, I remain steadfast in my enjoyment of Wealth of Nations. That's largely because the mechanics remind me of M.U.L.E. and I love economics engines. It's not included on the list mainly because no one else will give it another chance. Our cult-of-the-new hasn't embraced an economics game for a while.

If we really want to make hepcat squirm, let's make him list his top 5 deck building games.

Easy.

Nightfall
Eminent domain
Star Trek dbg
Ascension
Quarriors
Arcana
Thunderstone

...crap

hepcat wrote:

Remus West wrote:

Fishbelly wrote:4) Neuroshima Hex

I have this on my phone and play it all the time.

Damn you, Hep for suggesting game apps. you have no idea how many hours of my life these things have absorbed at this point.

Get an iPad so you can play Titan.

...there...now you can hate me even more.

If I remember to check and see if the iphone will run this tomorrow I will be so very angry with you. I may not even speak to you during Octocon. and it won't be because I'm too busy playing games on my phone. Honest. It'll be because I'm angry. Seriously.

Nobody ever believes me.

I think you're safe as I believe it's iPad only.

...but Summoner Wars is coming out soon....

My top 5:

1. Twilight Imperium 3rd
2. Wiz-war reprint (with wife)
3. BSG
4. Cosmic Encounter
5. Descent

But that is all really arbitrary. I love all my games, really. I only downlisted Legend of Drizzt et al because I only get to play them solo.

This weekend I get to play Rex (the FFG Dune reskin) and I am very excited! The rules look super easy and I can see the potential for tons of fun!

Hep, Wiz-war needs to be played with the mentality that everything is insane chaos. I think of it like Cosmic Encounters, without allies and mixed with Magic: the Gathering. My wife actually loves it!

No way I could pick an overall Top 5, there are too many different situations and groups to factor in. Short game? Long game? Family? Geek friends? At a house? At a con? Limited space? Plenty of space? Euro crowd? AT crowd? Too many choices.

If I went by games that have gotten the most plays in the last couple of years, it would probably be:

1. Twilight Struggle
2. War of the Ring
3. Fury of Dracula
4. Middle Earth Quest
5. Bootleggers

Actually, now that I look at it that's not a bad top 5 list.

WizWar should be better now that I've played and know a few rules errors were made. You DO have to toss a card to amp a spell's power over 1. And we needed to pay more attention to the pernanent/temporary spell effects. Sigh.

I enjoyed letting seppe get to my treasure then teleporting it away. There should be lots of screw your opponent moments in WizWar.

Assuming I feel up to it, I'm going to attempt to reacquire the local boardgaming group that runs Tuesday nights in my area. It's where I started to get into the old Formula De with the 10-race yearly league. There's a 1/4 chance that they'll be there tonight, but I'll certainly ask around.

Maybe coop can get him some weeknight passes in the future and join up there, and we can play some advanced rules that doesn't involve people deliberately wrecking their cars.

Zarathud wrote:WizWar should be better now that I've played and know a few rules errors were made. You DO have to toss a card to amp a spell's power over 1. And we needed to pay more attention to the pernanent/temporary spell effects. Sigh.

I enjoyed letting seppe get to my treasure then teleporting it away. There should be lots of screw your opponent moments in WizWar.

Yeah, the energy at the bottom of the card is sacrifice value and has nothing to do with spell energy when you cast the card. Default is 1 energy.

Other things - you can counter a counter - and you can play counters on your turn (the rulebook makes it sound like you can only play counters on your opponent's turn).

Hepcat, regarding Glory to Rome, you do know the "Golden Rule" right?

You will come up with many different "can I do that" or "how exactly is than interpreted," and "exactly how does that work" type questions with certain combos and cards played. The answer to all of these is: pick the most over-powered answer and go with that one. I'm not joking, this is the official ruling for Glory to Rome conflicts. If it could be interpreted that you will, for example, draw 2 patrons or 7 patrons - draw 7. The OP answer is the best answer!

Wait a minute. Glory to Rome is based on overpowered, game breaking combos? The Chicago crew has been holding out on me....

Zarathud wrote:Wait a minute. Glory to Rome is based on overpowered, game breaking combos? The Chicago crew has been holding out on me....

They don't break the game, because the game is based on those over-powered combos...

GtR is a fan-fave with my friends. The first few games are a little rough, and you won't likely see the "crazy" right away. It is the third game, when you send all of your opponent's hard-gathered patrons to the Colosseum to become resources for your building projects, while your opponents fires up a combo that allows him to have 12 cards in hand and draw 6 cards even when he passes that you scratch your head and say WTF!

My favorite moment - telling my friends when I was teaching them the game that a Senate (or whatever the name of the card is) special victory (have to build this expensive Marble building and have one of every patron) was almost impossible and then winning that way despite being firmly in last-place during our first game.

hepcat wrote:I think you're safe as I believe it's iPad only.

...but Summoner Wars is coming out soon....

I had forgotten to check. Then I returned to this thread........luckily I'm at work and not going to whip out the phone to check in front of the kids.
"Hey teach, what cha doin?"
"Downloading a game for my phone, but if you use yours I have to take it away."
Nope, not going to happen. Thankfully.

I'm sure I'll get Glory to Rome on the table at least once this weekend for those interested in trying it.

I found the Tuesday night gathering that I was looking for and played a game of CitOW. I posted my thoughts in the forum game here.

coop, the guys said that the Formula De group still showed up, but none of the guys I talked to know the schedule. I'll keep going until I get the read on it and pass it on. If you can get a weeknight hall pass once a month, we could play some advanced rules Formula De. The location is Ziggy's Tavern, which is at Campbell and N Plano Rd.

OK, let's see (all at Octo-Con)...

Forbidden Island
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Formula De - my one win for the weekend
Risk Express
Nefarious
Defenders of the Realm
Risk Express - again
Sergeant's Miniatures Game - hope everyone enjoyed it!
Wings of War - ripped my own top wing off. AGAIN!

I'm amazed I was able to remember (or figure out with the help of google) all the names!

Risk Express
Crokinole
The Resistance
Cutthroat Caverns
Glory to Rome
Sergeants - Yes, it was fun even while getting slaughtered. For a little while anyway.
Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age

I think that is everything. Thanks to Joe for teaching me all the games!

Edit: Forgot Castle Panic where we were down to the last monster move when we won. Panic indeed!

If you would have to choose between Arkham Horror and Mansion of Madness, which would you pick?

EzeKieL wrote:If you would have to choose between Arkham Horror and Mansion of Madness, which would you pick?

At one point I would've said Mansions of Madness, but after playing it a half dozen times and with the utterly horrible release of the latest boxed expansion for the game (misprintings out the wazoo from what I've heard...to the point of being practically unplayable), I would go with Arkham. I love the idea of MoM, but in execution I found it to not have the legs I'd hoped for.

Tommy20 wrote:Wings of War - ripped my own top wing off. AGAIN!

I got my second kill ever though - even if I got blown to little bits in the process.

Isgrimnur wrote:coop, the guys said that the Formula De group still showed up, but none of the guys I talked to know the schedule. I'll keep going until I get the read on it and pass it on. If you can get a weeknight hall pass once a month, we could play some advanced rules Formula De. The location is Ziggy's Tavern, which is at Campbell and N Plano Rd.

Dare to dream. Looking at the map I am impressed at how far away Richardson is from my house. I really do live in the boonies (ignoring the fact that I am in one of the largest HOAs in the DFW area and there's a continuous stream of strip malls between where I live and Dallas).

I watched Henzau and company play Formula D this weekend and it looked pretty good. Only I would just absolutely suck at it. The key and the pleasure of good strategic gaming is to see three or four moves in advance and that's what Formula D is all about. Taking odds and then looking at that odds those will generate and so on and so on and then establishing acceptable risk taking. I just could never see myself seeing enough "If I succeed then I plan for this. If I fail I plan for that. So this thing is my best move" going on to be any good at it but it still looks like fun.

coopasonic wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:coop, the guys said that the Formula De group still showed up, but none of the guys I talked to know the schedule. I'll keep going until I get the read on it and pass it on. If you can get a weeknight hall pass once a month, we could play some advanced rules Formula De. The location is Ziggy's Tavern, which is at Campbell and N Plano Rd.

Dare to dream. Looking at the map I am impressed at how far away Richardson is from my house. I really do live in the boonies (ignoring the fact that I am in one of the largest HOAs in the DFW area and there's a continuous stream of strip malls between where I live and Dallas).

I figure if I can give you months of notice, the odds rise from impossible to merely improbable.

LordMortis wrote:I watched Henzau and company play Formula D this weekend and it looked pretty good. Only I would just absolutely suck at it. The key and the pleasure of good strategic gaming is to see three or four moves in advance and that's what Formula D is all about. Taking odds and then looking at that odds those will generate and so on and so on and then establishing acceptable risk taking. I just could never see myself seeing enough "If I succeed then I plan for this. If I fail I plan for that. So this thing is my best move" going on to be any good at it but it still looks like fun.

I really enjoyed that game, even though my car blew up in a fiery pile of fiberglass and metal about 1/3 of the way though lap #2. First time I've ever crashed and burned in that game. Curse you, Black Die that kept rolling 1's!

Beginning or power gamer rules?

Isgrimnur wrote:Beginning or power gamer rules?

They had the Advanced rules sitting on the table, so I assume it was power gamer.

I may have to look into getting a copy and see if it's something the local gamers would be willing kick my ass in or not. I fear that not having guns on the cars may be lost on every single gamer I know.

Advanced rule. SO much more fun than beginner rules. I still have a dream of running a 6 player, 3 team scored race on 3 different tracks some day.

LordMortis wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:Beginning or power gamer rules?

They had the Advanced rules sitting on the table, so I assume it was power gamer.

I may have to look into getting a copy and see if it's something the local gamers would be willing kick my ass in or not. I fear that not having guns on the cars may be lost on every single gamer I know.

Wha?! Why would they do that? Do they not want us to play?