OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:18 pm

hentzau wrote:
hepcat wrote:my local gamestore just called and my copy of the new version of Betrayal at House on the Hill is in. whoo hoo!
Yeah, I saw this at Games Plus this afternoon. I made my saving throw and didn't pick it up. I'll let you take the bullet on this one.

I ordered from CoolStuffInc. I half expected to get it today, as they tend to ship early to get a game to you on release day, but it seems it shipped last night or early this morning, so I expect to see it by Friday. No real rush, it is a 3-player and I only have 2 players this week. Although, I think I am going to try the variant were each player plays 2 characters and then the Traitor gives up the additional character when the switch occurs. Has anyone every played BaHoTH that way?

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:17 pm

Dominion:Prosperity has been showing up in places. I've been playing a bunch on isotropic, but it'll be great to get the real cards.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 8:28 pm

Man, I totally should have sold off my old edition of Betrayal last year. Now I'm stuck with the old busted version that I'll likely never be able to get rid of short of giving it away. Which I'll probably do because I didn't particularly love the game anyway. My lack of love may have stemmed from the high amount of broken in the original edition.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:34 pm

Chaz wrote:Man, I totally should have sold off my old edition of Betrayal last year. Now I'm stuck with the old busted version that I'll likely never be able to get rid of short of giving it away. Which I'll probably do because I didn't particularly love the game anyway. My lack of love may have stemmed from the high amount of broken in the original edition.

Who doesn't have a flooded cellar in their attic!?

I never played the original. I love Arkham Horror, but - honestly - I usually end up as the "calculator" for all of my friends and family members who get to play. I'm the "rules guy" who makes sure what order things will go. And with AH and all the minutiae, that can be a harrowing experience. So BaHotH is to be my 1-hour (versus 4-5 hour) horror game "fix."

Right now I am looking to sell my copy of Pandemic and Pandemic: On the Brink, so that I can either get Cuba, the Game of Throne's card game, Hansa Teutonica,or pre-order Merchants and Marauders, or Merchants of the Middle Ages (remake of Die Handler). Also, after going through the rules, I think I am going to trade or sell Titan (which I traded for a shrink-wrapped copy - never got to play - but I did punch the tokens). While it looks like a really amazingly great game, I know my wife won't like it and I don't see my gaming group caring for the outright conflict of it. They even play Twilight Imperium a little like a euro-game and shy away from the warfare part (although last game was pretty brutal), so I can't imagine them eating up Titan.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:53 am

Betrayal at House on the Hill looks like it's going to be fun. The rules are easy, but incorporate some light rpg elements (stats, weapons/items). I can see elements of Arkham Horror and Battlestar Galactica in the game. I'm going to try to get it on the table this weekend.

On a side note, I love my local gamestore. The guys who run Chicagoland games are such gamers themselves that it's always a struggle to get out of there without getting pulled into a session. When I stopped in to get my copy of BHH last night, I told one of them I was going to open it up and take a look and he came running. Then, when I started to box it up to leave, he and the other owner looked over at me and asked, "You don't wanna play a game?" with an almost sad look. You gotta love that kind of enthusiasm for their product.

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:20 pm

My only day off for gaming got screwed up by a visitor from out of town. Showed up two HOURS late for dinner. StOOpid friends. Grrrrrr.

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 1:39 am

I had the original version of Betrayal at House on the Hill but had heard how broken it was in parts so I never played it - when I head about the new version I offloaded the old one while it was still a sought-after item (selling it at a profit)

I was all set to order the new version but the betrayal aspect is bugging me a little - I regularly play with first time players and I can't see how I could explain to a player how to be a secret traitor without spoiling the game. I'm never going to get all players to sit and read through the rules first.

can anyone who has played the original BaHotH comment on whether this is as big a problem and I'm imagining?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:18 am

Only a few of the 50 included haunts call fo a secret traitor. The rest of them are just openly declared a traitor after the haunt is initiated. But it's not a big deal to just explain briefly how secret traitors work anyway. Just do it as a general discussion of the rules before playing. The game itself is so easy it's not like that's going to cause the explanation of the rules to extend by more than 5 minutes.

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:53 am

Thanks. maybe I need to consider picking Betrayal at House on the Hill up again after all. its is certainly cheaper than FFG's forthcoming Mansions of Madness.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:35 am

Betrayal actually works really well for non-gamers. The first half of the game is completely co-op, and nobody can be killed, since there's a rule that prevents it from happening. Also, the basic rules are very straightforward and easy to teach. By the time you get to halftime, everyone's usually comfortable enough with the mechanics that whoever winds up as the traitor is okay on their own. The traitor's instructions are usually fairly straightforward.

The only hitch will be if they've either left rules holes unpatched or introduced new ones. You should also be aware that with the base rules, it's very possible to get one side or the other into unwinnable situations.

For example, in one game, me and another guy wound up stuck in the basement. The only way out of the basement is via one of the room tiles buried in the stack, so players in the basement before that tile shows up can wander around down there for a while.

While we were down there with no exit, halftime hit, and I wound up the traitor. The scenario was that I was causing the house to slowly flood with water. The survivors' job was to get a boat to a room on the second floor and get everyone into that room before the house flooded. My job was to prevent that by attacking people.

Of course, the problem was that I was stuck in the basement, so I couldn't actually do anything. They easily got the boat to the room, and quickly realized that "everyone" included the other survivor stuck in the basement with me, and the only way around this was to wait for that guy to drown. Since everyone was now rooting for his death, the two of us decided to draw things out and spent the rest of the game trying to keep him alive as long as possible.

This game directly resulted in a house rule where if the traitor's in the basement, he's allowed to search the tiles for the exit and place it at any time.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:53 am

Chaz wrote: This game directly resulted in a house rule where if the traitor's in the basement, he's allowed to search the tiles for the exit and place it at any time.

That's now in the rules with the second edition. I just saw it last night.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 11:29 am

Oh, thank God.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 4:25 pm

freelunch wrote:Thanks. maybe I need to consider picking Betrayal at House on the Hill up again after all. its is certainly cheaper than FFG's forthcoming Mansions of Madness.

Mansions seems to be a very different game. People are equating Mansions to a Cthulhu version of Middle Earth Quest (who has the same designer as MoM, IIRC), with a heavy dose of Cthulhu RPG thrown in. MoM will probably NOT be beginner and non-gamer friendly, like BaHotH. However, I'm looking forward to MoM more than any other game, as it looks like it will be the closest thing to CRPG without me having to write up an adventure and spend 4-5 hours while the investigators screw around and then only reach the cool stuff the last hour of play. In fact, I've already requested MoM as my Christmas gift from the family, and now I'm a tad bummed I'll have to wait until after X-mas to see it and play it. It promises to be so very very excellent, a more detailed "adventure" scenario than Arkham Horror with a deeper scenario/story.

Speaking of Middle Earth Quest, I've been checking it out but I am reticent to pick up a copy. A lot of what people say on BGG is that "I really like this game, but I doubt it will hit the table very often" and "it is complicated but not hard to play." Sounds a tad like the Arkham Horror syndrome, where you really really want to play AH, but the thought of a 4 hour game puts people off and the very act of setting up the board exhausts you. If I have AH and Twilight Imperium 3rd, should I just pass on MEQ (particularly with MoM coming down the pike and me being much more of a Lovecraft fan than a Tolkien fan)? Otherwise, I have been looking at either picking up Cuba now (anyone play this) or pre-ordering Merchants of the Middle Ages (remake of Die Handler) or Merchants and Marauders? Anyone have any comments/advice? Most my my gameplay is 2-player with the wife (who likes games like Agricola, Puerto Rico, Last Night on Earth, Kingsburg, and Age of Empires III), with the occasional group session twice a month or so. I'm a huge pirate fanboy, so M&M sounds fun and I am a medievalist who studies economy and merchants so MotMA sounds fun too. But Cuba looks quick to play with two players and a good econ sim. I had bought Constantinopolis but my wife was disappointed in it and it didn't have that "wow fun" quality and seemed light on the "production machine" aspect of the game.

Bael

Boudreaux · Post by **Boudreaux** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 4:37 pm

baelthazar wrote:Speaking of Middle Earth Quest, I've been checking it out but I am reticent to pick up a copy. A lot of what people say on BGG is that "I really like this game, but I doubt it will hit the table very often" and "it is complicated but not hard to play." Sounds a tad like the Arkham Horror syndrome, where you really really want to play AH, but the thought of a 4 hour game puts people off and the very act of setting up the board exhausts you. If I have AH and Twilight Imperium 3rd, should I just pass on MEQ (particularly with MoM coming down the pike and me being much more of a Lovecraft fan than a Tolkien fan)?

Well, I can't really speak to your ability to get it on the table, but it's an absolutely outstanding game. If MoM is described as similar in gameplay, but with a theme you like better, go with that.

Middle Earth Quest has really worked for our game group because it's a wonderfully deep, strategic, epic game that works brilliantly for three players, and there are hardly any that do that. I don't know that I've tried it with two players, but after about 15 plays with either 3 or 4 I don't see how the 2-player version would be much different, especially if the Hero player used two Heroes. It might be a tad less fun for Sauron, because half the joy there is listening to the Heroes discuss strategy and trying not to laugh maniacally when you realized you've fooled them.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 6:48 pm

What is the general play time of MEQ? 2-4 hours?

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:15 pm

I have played Cuba. We play Constantinopolis now. Cuba never really caught on with us. I think Pillars of the Earth + expansion is a better worker placement game than Cuba.

Boudreaux · Post by **Boudreaux** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 11:43 pm

baelthazar wrote:What is the general play time of MEQ? 2-4 hours?

We played a 4-player game Monday, it was just shy of 3 hours, but we were seriously doing a lot of strategizing and heavy thinking. Most 3-player games run right at 2 hours. Granted, we've played over a dozen times and everyone knows the game pretty well, so there's hardly any rulebook reading.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 11:49 pm

I will buy Mansions of Madness the moment it becomes available. I am that much of a Lovecraft dork...

The Rocketman · Post by **The Rocketman** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:30 am

Yesterday I was browsing a store that was getting rid of their Arckham miniatures, and I have been looking for a couple of specific models to complete my Hybrid-boardgame. Unfortunately, they didn't have the (long out of print) miniatures I was looking for.
But I did see another tiny little game I had been wanting to pick up... Battlestar Galactica.

So, on a whim I bought it (also because a customer saw me eying the box and said it was a bloody brilliant game), and now I've asked my friends to come over on saturday to try it out.

Now, my gaming group is usually comprised of 4 people, and I've read that that's a difficult balance in Battlestar Galactica, mainly due to a weird "sympathiser" mechanic? Can any of you elaborate if you've played this game with 4 players, and if it was any good?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:34 am

BSG has been a favorite of any group I've gamed with since it's release. I don't think I've encountered one person yet who didn't enjoy themselves while playing it. Backstabbing, lying, sacrifice...how can a game that so artfully incorporates all those things be anything BUT great?

As for your question on the sympathizer mechanic, I was going to write something up but someone on BGG put together a fantastic analysis of the sympathizer in a BSG game.

It's a good read for new and old players alike.

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:04 pm

Just got back from my local game shop... with my copy of Dominion: Prosperity

They got 2 copies in, both pre-orders.

Sadly I'm out of the 3x5 ziploc baggies I sort the kingdom cards in

Guess I need to hit the craft store this weekend.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 1:21 am

Played Ravenloft with the wife and the kiddo. (Well I just told the kiddo what to do but she loved it.) It was a bit of a mess at the start since we didn't know what we were doing but it was damn fun.

Can't wait to play it again when we know what we are doing. This game has a lot of legs with all the adventures it has.

SlapBone · Post by **SlapBone** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:28 pm

LordMortis wrote:Learned ascension this weekend. We had fun but I can't see any longevity out of the game.

It has hit the table quite a few times in my house due to the fact that it doesn't take a planning committee and 3 meetings to set up.

Punched my new copy of Awakening the Bear last night and got in a couple of games of Hold the Line. It's kind of cool seeing my 10-year-old going from a "moving the pieces" level of competency to an "understanding the strategy" level. In our first game of Hold the Line, I beat him by one roll.

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:15 pm

Saturday I was home with my seven-year-old and we played Hare & Tortoise, Magic Hill and Perry Rhodan: The Cosmic League - our first time playing the latter, a made-for-two space trading game which I liked a lot.

Sunday we played Dominant Species for the first time. it took ages, mostly because my seven-year-old wanted to play and it took him a while to get a handle on his options each turn (there are many more in this game than in Stone Age, the "worker placement" game he is most familiar with) and because he chose to play as the Birds which game him greater opportunities for Migration-related Analysis Paralysis. my wife eventually won with her Mammals, defeating the Birds, my eleven-year-old's Arachnids and my Reptiles. I'm very impressed by this game and hope to get it on the table again this coming weekend.

SpaceLord · Post by **SpaceLord** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 11:46 am

At Zaxxon's get-together(thanks for hosting!), I taught TheMix and Tao how to play Race for the Galaxy. They were just getting the hang of it when it got late.

The RFTG AI I promised to link for TheMix is here: http://keldon.net/rftg/" target="_blank

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 11:59 am

Agreed... Thanks for having us over Zax!

The game was complicated, but interesting. Thanks for the link.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 10:20 pm

Had fun in a few games of Ascension this Friday. It's a much tighter game than Thunderstone (which I don't like very much...) and I can see how it can grow over time with expansions. I still need to learn how to focus my strategy more, since I was behind quite a bit in each game.

I forced everyone to play through a game of Innovation. While hepcat didn't like it at first, he warmed up towards the end. The concept of the technology "tricks" was rather interesting, but none of us had too much idea what we were doing. It was pretty difficult to try to teach without playing, but I think everyone had some idea by the end. It's one of those games where you'll see the potential or you won't get it.

We ended with Betrayal. I was the weak Priest character, and ended up getting bitten and turned into a cannibal freak. The villians had an excellent room placement and sweet dice rolls, which led to my minions beating down the other players and our victims pretty handily. I like the variations in the possible endings.

Perhaps the only downside is that I think we were all expected to find more useful "stuff" before the betrayal. I guess we have to start thinking of the game as having a BSG-like "crisis" or Castle Ravenloft "complication" each turn. I think we messed up by playing the basement stairs and second floor landing out of the stack.

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 10:26 pm

I've played Innovation a couple of times and so far I like it a lot

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:13 am

Speaking of BSG, it was on sale for $35 on Amazon.com with free Prime shipping and I had to order it, based on impressions here and elsewhere. I realize you pretty much have to play 3+ (and I've been reading that the 3-player is actually better than one would guess), but I hope to make it a regular party game. Is it easy to teach BSG and are the mechanics pretty easy (as opposed to say, Arkham Horror on the other side of the spectrum)? How friendly is BSG for non-gamers who are fans of the show? I can't wait to break it open with my regular gaming group, many of whom watched the show and who will love the hidden traitor aspect. My only stipulation is that, since I bought the game, I get to play Baltar anytime I want!

I also pre-ordered Alien Frontiers yesterday, and got in its very limited first print run (1000 units, 900+ of which sold before it shipped today). Tom Vasel recently did a review that was practically gushing, and I like the dice mechanic borrowed and revised from Kingsburg. Since my wife loves Kingsburg, and loves doing mean things to me in games, I feel like this one is going to hit the table quite a bit!

Really wanted to play Betrayal, but I don't see it happening for a bit (maybe this Friday). I've been SUPER busy and haven't had time to do much else.

Bael

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:33 am

+1 Alien Frontiers order here - it sounds like it'll be great fun.

I haven't played BSG so can't comment, but I don't think Arkham Horror is really as tough to teach as people say - my seven-year-old plays it (with help from me to read his cards, but he understands the concepts and can make his own decisions in the game)

The Rocketman · Post by **The Rocketman** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:55 am

baelthazar wrote:Speaking of BSG, it was on sale for $35 on Amazon.com with free Prime shipping and I had to order it, based on impressions here and elsewhere. I realize you pretty much have to play 3+ (and I've been reading that the 3-player is actually better than one would guess), but I hope to make it a regular party game. Is it easy to teach BSG and are the mechanics pretty easy (as opposed to say, Arkham Horror on the other side of the spectrum)? How friendly is BSG for non-gamers who are fans of the show? I can't wait to break it open with my regular gaming group, many of whom watched the show and who will love the hidden traitor aspect. My only stipulation is that, since I bought the game, I get to play Baltar anytime I want!
Bael

Well, like you can see in my post above, I bought Battlestar last week, and had my first game last saturday. We were only with 3 players (the 4th couldn't make it), but it was just incredibly fun! Totally recommend it, even with only 3 players. I can see that it would be even more fun with more players (more possible traitors), because our cylon player had to play very secretly, and couldn't sabotage all that much.

The game had a nice ebb and flow-feeling to it. We started with a lot of bad skill checks and a big-ass cylon fleet on our tails, but then jumped a couple of times in relative safety. Sleeper phase came and activated our cylon player, but everything was looking honky-dorey until the final stretch. We had jumped 8 "distance", and had to get to Kobol. The cylon revealed himself however, and we got hit by the entire cylon armada! (Not a single cylon ship was left in the box!). Our jump steps got pushed back to the start, we couldn't order civilian ships out of the way, and our vipers were fighting on 2 fronts. Near the end, only 1 viper was left in space, 4 had been destroyed, and 3 were damaged. Our engineer kept repairing full time, and I kept sending the vipers out into the raider swarms, but the civilian fleet got butchered when our right flank got annihilated.
It was truly epic, and we lost in a big climactic way! Very, very fun.

EDIT: Oh, to answer your question: my 2 buddies had never seen the show, but that was no problem whatsoever.

edosan · Post by **edosan** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:25 am

baelthazar wrote:Speaking of BSG, it was on sale for $35 on Amazon.com with free Prime shipping and I had to order it, based on impressions here and elsewhere. I realize you pretty much have to play 3+ (and I've been reading that the 3-player is actually better than one would guess), but I hope to make it a regular party game. Is it easy to teach BSG and are the mechanics pretty easy (as opposed to say, Arkham Horror on the other side of the spectrum)? How friendly is BSG for non-gamers who are fans of the show?

It's pretty easy. All you need to know is in the basic premise ("The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan.") and you're off.

I thought it was a pretty well-designed game (if you've ever played Shadows Over Camelot, it feels as if they were trying to make a version of that that fixed a bunch of problems SoC had) but I don't enjoy the "one against many" co-op games as much as "everybody in it together" co-op games like Pandemic or Arkham Horror. Once the gaming budget allows, I'll probably pick up Castle Ravenloft because it sounds right up our alley.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:39 am

Zarathud wrote:
I forced everyone to play through a game of Innovation. While hepcat didn't like it at first, he warmed up towards the end.

My problem with the game initially was due to my own lack of research into what type of game it was. I bought it on impulse at our local gamestore a few saturdays ago because i had read a short blurb on BGG that made it sound like a light version of Civilization in card form.

When I read the rules, I realized that the teching up portion of the game relies on the actual techs purely as flavor. They could replace the symbols and the card text with pretty much anything and it wouldn't affect the game in the least.

However, once I got past that problem (which, as I said, is all my fault), I found it to be more fun than I thought it would be. It's definitely not a gateway game you bring to the table with people who don't play board games a lot, but that's true of many of the games I own.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:28 am

uh, baelthazar asked how BSG played with non-gamers who were fans of the show, not how it plays with gamers who are not familiar with the show (which is the question that people seem to be answering). I'd also like to know that - I'm curious if my wife, who doesn't game but who loved BSG - would find BSG interesting. My guess is not - it's still a game, and if you're not into gaming I'm not sure the theme would make it fun - but it's something I'm kicking around.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:46 am

If the person is open to trying a board game and is a fan of BSG, I'm sure they'd enjoy it. It's quite easy to understand strategy after a few rounds and it does a remarkable job of capturing the feel of the shows first few seasons (run, fight, run, fight, BETRAYED!).

If they don't enjoy board games, they'll probably not enjoy it. It's still a board game.

Boudreaux · Post by **Boudreaux** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:55 am

No board games this past weekend, but we are getting ready to start an old-school Battletech campaign this week, a multi-mission affair that will pit my Draconis Combine lances against a scattered Federated Suns opponent. I haven't played Battletech since high school, so I'm pretty pumped.

I also just picked up the new WotC D&D Red Box to introduce my sons to this winter. I'm hoping with the starter material there, simplified a bit for them, and some of the older AD&D resource books I still have that they'll get into it and we can do a winter-long campaign.

The Rocketman · Post by **The Rocketman** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:59 pm

El Guapo wrote:uh, baelthazar asked how BSG played with non-gamers who were fans of the show, not how it plays with gamers who are not familiar with the show (which is the question that people seem to be answering). I'd also like to know that - I'm curious if my wife, who doesn't game but who loved BSG - would find BSG interesting. My guess is not - it's still a game, and if you're not into gaming I'm not sure the theme would make it fun - but it's something I'm kicking around.

Oh, you're right, sorry! Well, to answer the actual question... I'd imagine that non-gamers wouldn't be overly enthousiastic about it. Perhaps they would, because it's pretty light on strategy and since it's (mostly) cooperative there's quite a bit of talking going on every round about what the optimum course should be. Also, the game mimics the show quite nicely.
But, and this is a big 'but'... it takes a couple of hours to play. If you're not a fan of boardgames, this won't sway you I think. If the non-gamers would be able to sit still for a couple of hours, and stay interested, then yes.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:42 pm

Seems we need to play a round of Reading Comprehension: The Boardgame.

I was thinking more about light gamers, you know, the type that play Settlers of Catan but who would find Arkham Horror to be a morass of numbers, confusing actions and minutia in the rules. It looks like I might have a group of around 6 more "casual" gamers soon and I don't have very many boardgames that can handle that number. I'm thinking BSG (which can do 6 well), or Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill (haven't played yet, but seems very casual friendly). I refuse to play Settlers (I'm very Catan'ed out and I have it for my iPhone, so I don't need to play it in RL with all the AP and the slow rolling) and most of my games max at 4. I would play Carson City, but it maxes at 5. As most of the people will be geeky academics, I'm going to assume that they have seen the new BSG.

Any other ideas?

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:46 pm

Oh, for *casual* gamers BSG would be perfect. It's not very complicated mechanics wise, and has a party-kind of atmosphere due to the constant talking about the players both about strategy to follow and about who is / is not a traitor. So I have to imagine that would go over very well.

You did ask about non-gamers, though, which is what I'm thinking about. Though it's largely theoretical in this case, as the presence of a 1 year old would tend to preclude my wife and I from both playing in any event.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 4:05 pm

baelthazar wrote:Seems we need to play a round of Reading Comprehension: The Boardgame. I was thinking more about light gamers, you know, the type that play Settlers of Catan but who would find Arkham Horror to be a morass of numbers, confusing actions and minutia in the rules. It looks like I might have a group of around 6 more "casual" gamers soon and I don't have very many boardgames that can handle that number. I'm thinking BSG (which can do 6 well), or Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill (haven't played yet, but seems very casual friendly). I refuse to play Settlers (I'm very Catan'ed out and I have it for my iPhone, so I don't need to play it in RL with all the AP and the slow rolling) and most of my games max at 4. I would play Carson City, but it maxes at 5. As most of the people will be geeky academics, I'm going to assume that they have seen the new BSG.

Any other ideas?

Cards. Cards are the best way to game with groups of more than 5. Wizard, Werewolf, 6 Nimmit, Earthquake, Great Dalmuti, Bang! come to mind. None are current but all are good.