Octopus Overlords

I've been eyeing Midgard since watching that episode of Tabletop - it looks exactly like the type of game my group goes for...

We played Dead of Winter for the first time in probably a year on Wednesday and, for the first time, someone (actually two of us) won! It helped that there wasn't a betrayer in our group and that we picked an easier scenario (2 medicine for each player).

We were feeling pretty good about everything with only a two rounds to go and then my dog Sparky threw everything into disarray. He got bit while traveling to the police station and infected my other survivor. I rolled to try to stop the infection rather than sacrificing myself, missed, and then infected and killed another survivor at the station. So within one turn we went from close to winning with 5 moral to 2 moral with a crisis we wouldn't be able to fix that round. The game actually came down to one roll for noise on the last round - if we rolled badly, zombies would overrun the hospital and bring our moral to zero. Fortunately, we survived and were able to complete the mission that round. It felt great to not end a game of Dead of Winter in despair!

I've been in a bit of gaming slump, only played a few games the last 2 weeks. I still need to finish up Seafall, probably only a handful of games left.

Yesterday we met with our group and played Caylus for the first time. For those who have not played it, it is a worker placement game where you build buildings, score points however possible, and have to pay for every worker you place (as players pass the cost of placing a worker increases). I managed tog eta win by creating an engine by creating estates to the point where money was just never an issue for me. This allowed me to place all of my workers even very late into the rounds, meaning lots of actions every turn. The game was still close, but one thing our group never really got into was using the disc (can't remember that the piece is actually called) to deny actions to certain players etc. That ended up really benefiting me, so in the future I think we would be more aggressive with it.

Good game, not sure I really ever need it as it doesn't do that much that special that I don't get out of other worker placement games such as Lords of Waterdeep.

Pandemic!!

My wife, 13 year old son, and myself played for several hours Saturday and Sunday.

Colony- Nothing I ever would have picked to play. I guess you would call it an engine building game, but with dice rolling and drafting to screw you over. I liked it and would play it again, but I wouldn't buy it.

Captain Sonar - I played this three times, all turn based because we had people learning. I played every role except captain. I really like the game and can see how it would be pretty great in real time, but I don't know that I would ever play it... though maybe with a group at work... maybe.

Shadowrift - It's a Legendary game with demons and townsfolk. The loss mechanic is kind of cool and allows for some interesting enemy mechanics that helps differentiate it a bit from all the Legendary games, but not a lot.

Last Friday - If you've paid attention to my posts, I was looking forward to this one. Letters from Whitechapel is one of my top three games and Last Friday is in the same vein (along with Fury of Dracula, Specter Ops, Scotland Yard, etc). I liked it quite a bit, but it needs more play to decide just how much. I'm not sure it could replace the beautiful simplicity of Letters but it is nowhere near the complexity of Fury.

Clank! - It's a deck builder crossed with a push your luck mechanic. You are delving a dungeon for treasure using your deck to generate movement and attack (and noise). The more noise you make the more likely the dragon is going to come after you when it wakes up. The loot with more VPs is harder to get to, and when the first person leaves there is a timer with things getting more dangerous until you are just dead. I think it may be my favorite twist on a deckbuilder.

Black Orchestra - Co-op kill Hitler game that is very interesting, though not very complicated. You have to manage suspicion and motivation and collect items to power plots and successfully execute the plot with dice.

Ponzi Scheme - It does an admirable job of recreating the mechanics of a Ponzi Scheme or at least how I imagine it. You are constantly getting a hamburger today and promising to pay for it on Tuesday. The longer you delay payment the more it will cost you. You just need to last until someone else goes bust. It is both interesting mathematically and tense socially.

Tyrants of the Underdark - Hey look another deckbuilder. This one adds an area control mechanic using skullduggery to assassinate everything in your way and to extend your reach throughout the underdark. I was less enamored of this one. It is more complex and interactive than Clank! but I just wasn't into it as much.

Escape from Colditz - Colditz is a German castle turned WWII POW camp. The German security officers are just trying to keep the peace, but the Allied officers insist on trying to escape. The good guys are trying to keep everytyhing nice and cordial, while the bad guys are plotting their escape. It's a roll and move game (!!!). You use your movement to either collect parts for escape tools or to chase down POWs who don't toe the line... and if they go far enough, shoot them. I need to play this more to see how it feels from the POW side and with more POW players. I found it very interesting. Isgrimnur will tell you the dice can screw you harder than a Nazi prison guard.

Dice Masters - This was a tournament. It is still Dice Masters. It was fun to play 3 games against actual adults, and I managed to run the cycle, 1 win, 1 loss and 1 tie... which was good enough for the third place prize.

Legendary Encounters: Firefly - It's a Legendary Encounters game... so like the other two.

This weekend I set down with my unopened copy of XCOM, determined to figure it out.

XCOM was one of those games I put on my Christmas wishlist last year as filler when it was the hotness. I received it, but at the time I had no solid gaming group and it looked completely intimidating solo, so I never opened it. After watching a couple of brief how to play videos, I felt even more indifferent to it - the timing aspect seemed stressful, the app integration an annoying inconvenience, etc. I decided to just sell it and move on, but I never could convince myself to pull the trigger and get rid of it.

Cut to recently - the gaming group has been going strong for nearly a year now, and we've almost exhausted our collection of co-op games. Perhaps it was time to give ol' XCOM a second chance. While we took this week off for the holiday, I decided to learn everything I could about the game so that we could try it next week.

After a pretty disastrous solo session, I felt I had a fairly good grasp of the game but there were some things that were still a little unclear. I sought out some more gameplay videos, and stumbled across the Game Night playthrough from boardgamegeektv. I don't know what it is about that group, but I was totally enthralled. I think it might be because they remind me a lot of my existing game group. We also have a tubby middle-aged geek, a hippy, and though we don't have a female, Nikki's demeanor reminds me a lot of our fourth. I've never watched a nearly two hour playthrough before, but they had me hooked. I came away from it with an entirely new appreciation for the game, and I've gone from indifference to being really excited to bring this one to the table.

I'm still a little scared of even attempting a solo game, but I may try one on easy with unlimited pauses tonight just for grins.

coopasonic wrote:Ponzi Scheme - It does an admirable job of recreating the mechanics of a Ponzi Scheme or at least how I imagine it. You are constantly getting a hamburger today and promising to pay for it on Tuesday. The longer you delay payment the more it will cost you. You just need to last until someone else goes bust. It is both interesting mathematically and tense socially.

Sounds intriguing.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180899/ponzi-scheme

After all players have taken their Fund cards, they may choose to initiate an "inside trade" with one other player in order to buy the Industry you want with a price they can't refuse, or sell your own Industry to them with a good price.

That sounds like a play style that I fail at persistently and quickly come to not enjoy but I'd still like to try a game as the rest of the description sounds really fun.

LordMortis wrote:

coopasonic wrote:Ponzi Scheme - It does an admirable job of recreating the mechanics of a Ponzi Scheme or at least how I imagine it. You are constantly getting a hamburger today and promising to pay for it on Tuesday. The longer you delay payment the more it will cost you. You just need to last until someone else goes bust. It is both interesting mathematically and tense socially.

Sounds intriguing.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180899/ponzi-scheme

After all players have taken their Fund cards, they may choose to initiate an "inside trade" with one other player in order to buy the Industry you want with a price they can't refuse, or sell your own Industry to them with a good price.

That sounds like a play style that I fail at persistently and quickly come to not enjoy but I'd still like to try a game as the rest of the description sounds really fun.

I *hate* negotiations and trading in games. The way it works in Ponzi Scheme is very cool and avoids the Coop-hate. You have a wallet that you put some money in, you hand it to another player that has a stock in common with you and say, "An offer for your Blue stock." He has a private look at your offer and has a choice. He can either accept your money and give you a Blue stock or he can counter by doubling the money in the wallet and taking one of YOUR blue stock.

It is a very interesting mechanic. If you lowball him, he's likely to take your stock so you have to be careful what you offer. Nobody else gets to judge your offer because it is in secret.

Xcom is an awesome frantic cooperative. I'm not sure I could even manage playing it alone. I love the game though. There's an expansion on the way I can't wait to try. I've played it six times, I think I've actually managed two or three wins. It's one of those games where due to the timed nature once people learn their jobs it's hard to want to switch.

The research job is I think the most important actually. They really set you up for failure or success. I dump tons of resources into it early in the game even going through emergency funding of necessary in order to have good items and technology later. Fun game.

Chrisoc13 wrote:Xcom is an awesome frantic cooperative. I'm not sure I could even manage playing it alone. I love the game though. There's an expansion on the way I can't wait to try. I've played it six times, I think I've actually managed two or three wins. It's one of those games where due to the timed nature once people learn their jobs it's hard to want to switch.

The research job is I think the most important actually. They really set you up for failure or success. I dump tons of resources into it early in the game even going through emergency funding of necessary in order to have good items and technology later. Fun game.

Amen.

The real-time phase also works magnificently at negating the "Alpha Gamer" problem many cooperative games give rise to. It's so incredibly tense, there's no way other players have time to boss around another role. I also admire the way they designed the companion app, so that the Central Officer (i.e. one of the players) becomes the voice of the game, which helps create a much more captivating narrative vs. just having the app dictate everything.

Yeah the timing really kills the alpha player problem quite nicely. Forgot to mention that. Excellent point.

YellowKing wrote:After a pretty disastrous solo session, I felt I had a fairly good grasp of the game but there were some things that were still a little unclear. I sought out some more gameplay videos, and stumbled across the Game Night playthrough from boardgamegeektv. I don't know what it is about that group, but I was totally enthralled. I think it might be because they remind me a lot of my existing game group. We also have a tubby middle-aged geek, a hippy, and though we don't have a female, Nikki's demeanor reminds me a lot of our fourth. I've never watched a nearly two hour playthrough before, but they had me hooked. I came away from it with an entirely new appreciation for the game, and I've gone from indifference to being really excited to bring this one to the table.

I hate Game Night. When I go to BGGCON, they are all there and it throws me off because I recognize them and it always takes me a minute to remember it's from a video and not from playing games with them... also their rules explanations and playthroughs take a LONG time. I should really just play games with them one year so I can resolve that confusion.

Tripping around looking for a LfW: Dear Boss release date (4Q '16 ... sure), I came across a reference to a new game, Whitehall.

From a translated October Facebook post:

The Project Whitehall Mystery is in the production phase of the location, currently with five different international publishers. Not to superimpose the projects, the publishers have preferred to wait for the release of dear boss, now imminent, and then devote themselves fully to the production of this other title. We also believe that this was a correct choice, even thinking to players, so that they will have the time to enjoy the new expansion, before further widening the "world" of Whitechapel.

Lots 'o gaming over Thanksgiving.

Wednesday night - Played the 2nd scenario of the new Mansions of Madness edition with Redwarlord. Was pleasantly surprised to discover it takes place
I didn't realize the game would have that large of a scope in some stories. Of course, we lost horribly. So I need to try it again.

Friday - Seppe and Zarathud joined us for a full day of drinkin' and gamin'. Started off with Ashes with Seppe and Redwarlord. The latter won. Ashes still remains one of my favorite head to head card games.

Then we broke out Mechs vs. Minions after Zarathud arrived. We failed our first attempt at mission 3, but succeeded on our second try. Such a fun, silly coop. I look forward to finishing the rest of the missions.

Zarathud then broke out one of my favorites, Blood Rage. I started off strong, but then slipped to third place at the end. I believe Seppe took first place after all the scores were in.

We finished up with a game of the new 51st State. I always enjoy this one. I was pretty toasted by this point though, so I have no idea who won.

Saturday - Another friend joined us for a game of Big Book of Madness. It's a silly little set collection/deck builder/coop. But I enjoy it. It's tough though.

We then played the first scenario of the Arkham Horror LCG...and lost. It came down to the final big bad and we just couldn't muster the damage we needed to win.

Seppe arrived and our other friend had to leave, so three of us broke out Star Trek: Ascendancy. Such a great strategy game with a unique map building mechanic. I played Feds, Seppe was Klingons and Redwarlord grabbed the Romulans. I took the lead about an hour into the game through ascendancy (culture) accumulation. But just as I was about to get the 5th and final winning ascendancy, the Klingons swept in from the northeast quadrant with a huge battle group and proceeded to dismantle my empire piece by piece. I put up a struggle and I did eventually win, but it was a tainted win as we called it due to the late hour and I truly think that if Seppe's heart was in it, he could have proceeded further into my empire and cut off my culture production centers before I could get enough to win during the clean up phase.

Of course, the Romulans could also have swept in from the northwest quadrant and taken out my less defended areas...or gone into Klingon territory as Seppe left most of his production centers undefended while attacking me. But at the end of the day, it was just plain fun.

Should have the new Mistfall expansion this week, plus Aeon's End. Hopefully I'll get those on the table soon.

Played Blood Rage for the first time in quite awhile. My boys and I played a 3 player game Saturday afternoon, which I won. We then played a 5 player game later that evening. My wife won that one, with me coming in 2nd place, 15 points behind.

I am thinking I will be setting Star Trek Fleet Captains up this afternoon. My oldest boy has been asking to set up Rebellion, so that will hapoen sonetime this week.

I ordered Inis last week (from Cardhaus.com). Still only shows "payment received". So who knows when that will actually process, much less ship. This is my first time ordering through them, so I have no idea how long it normally takes them to ship an order, then add to that the holiday weekend sales.

Has anyone played Grind before? I spur-of-the-moment bought it (only 12 bucks). Haven't done much with it yet, but it does kinda look cool.

MythicalMino wrote:Has anyone played Grind before? I spur-of-the-moment bought it (only 12 bucks). Haven't done much with it yet, but it does kinda look cool.

In case anyone is as clueless as I am:
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34152/grind

hepcat wrote:
Seppe arrived and our other friend had to leave, so three of us broke out Star Trek: Ascendancy. Such a great strategy game with a unique map building mechanic.

Is there expansions that add more players to Ascendancy?

I looked on Amazon and saw two, one for Ferengi and one for Cardassian. They are 40/each and I could not determine if they were just extra races to play, or if they were actually extra players that you could play with. For 40 bucks, I want something more than just extra races to choose from I guess.

Anyway, any info would be grateful.

Thanks.

coopasonic wrote:

MythicalMino wrote:Has anyone played Grind before? I spur-of-the-moment bought it (only 12 bucks). Haven't done much with it yet, but it does kinda look cool.

In case anyone is as clueless as I am:
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34152/grind

Hmmm... might be interesting. But I'm put off by the marketing. Over 30 arm options for customizing your team? FALSE! Two teams. 32 arm pieces. That's only 16 options per team. It really irritates me that they lie like that. There is no reason to. What's wrong with 16 options? That's still quite a few. Grrr.... (Yes, I'm aware that this is a personal pet peeve. But any time I feel like someone is twisting the truth, it makes me suspicious.)

RMC wrote:

hepcat wrote:
Seppe arrived and our other friend had to leave, so three of us broke out Star Trek: Ascendancy. Such a great strategy game with a unique map building mechanic.

Is there expansions that add more players to Ascendancy?

I looked on Amazon and saw two, one for Ferengi and one for Cardassian. They are 40/each and I could not determine if they were just extra races to play, or if they were actually extra players that you could play with. For 40 bucks, I want something more than just extra races to choose from I guess.

Anyway, any info would be grateful.

Thanks.

The game right now is 3 players and 3 players only. That's the only downside to what is arguably the finest Star Trek strategy game ever made. However, the Ferengi and the Cardassians are coming out soon (within a week or two, I hope.). The plan is to release race packs, which in turn add more players. The race packs will include all that race's ships, its research cards, its dashboard, its tokens and (hopefully) some new map tiles and exploration cards for the game as a whole. So you'll be able to play 4 or 5 soon. However, I'd highly recommend not going over 4 as a 3 player game now can take 4 to 5 hours if folks battle to the last ship.

I still get excited when I pull that one exploration card that announces the Tholian player can ignore it...which means the Tholians are on their way.

If I get the new races before Christmas, I'll bring the game back to Ohio so you can see it. The only thing that would prevent us from playing is that the other guys who'll be joining us aren't really that big into the heavier games though.

Oh, and you can get the race expansions for less than 25 bucks online. The MSRP is 35 bucks.

I'm glad hepcat doesn't remember that Seppe edged me out by 1 point in Blood Rage and 51st State.

We also fit in a game of Roll Player on Friday. It was a very solid and quick game, but I felt like I could get a pretty good grip on the dice engine right away. I only missed on one stat (forgetting the -2 modifier) and ended up missing out on a nearly full chain armor set because hepcat trashed it. I really didn't have a good grip on the skills/feats in the game, but they were only the backup when armor wasn't available.

I'm very sad that I missed out on Star Trek:Ascendancy, but it needs the extra players. The Ferengi and Cardassians will be much used. The race packs will have a new player dashboard, techs, ships, tiles and exploration missions themed on the episodes relating to that race. They're also planning to go back to the Original Series so fanatics like hepcat can have their desired Trek flavor. I'm convinced the more often we play Ascendancy, the faster a game will run.

The latest Phil Eklund entry in the Pax series is out. Pax Renaissance appears to focus on bankers during the Italian Renaissance. I ordered a copy off Amazon late yesterday and it's already on a truck for delivery today.

Meanwhile, my Mistfall expansion had a printing label created on November 23rd, and I've had 3 shipping notices in the last 3 days. And it STILL has not been dropped off by funagaingames (they're doing the shipping fulfillment) at UPS.

hepcat wrote:Should have the new Mistfall expansion this week

I just received my 3rd or 4th notification it has shipped, and according to UPS, that actually seems to be the case. I'm not sure if they jumped the gun when my first shipping notice arrived on 11/25, but it's currently tracking to have it here on 12/8. UPS pack mule, I'd assume. I think I'm all loaded up for the winter now and if I'm snowed in, I have more solo games than I know what to do with. Life is good.

I wasn't aware there was another Mistfall player on OO. Do you have the base game too?

It really is one of my favorite games. It has its warts, but once you get going it's like Mage Knight meets Pathfinder ACG. I even went out of my way to purchase all the promo material off the boardgamegeek store.

hepcat wrote:I even went out of my way to purchase all the promo material off the boardgamegeek store.

Because the BGG store is so far out of your way.

hepcat wrote:I wasn't aware there was another Mistfall player on OO. Do you have the base game too?

It really is one of my favorite games. It has its warts, but once you get going it's like Mage Knight meets Pathfinder ACG. I even went out of my way to purchase all the promo material off the boardgamegeek store.

I had a friend pick up a copy. So I grabbed the TTS DLC to see how it worked. It didn't grab me, but that was probably because I didn't know what I was doing. If you ever want to play on TTS, let me know. I'd be interested in learning it - since I'll likely need to teach my friend how to play.

I missed out on the original KS but became interested after reading about it long after the release..might have been close to my obsession with finding solo focused games. I followed the second KS and after seeing the tweaks and updates, figured it was a good time to jump in and get the updated original and the expansion. I like the Pathfinder card game, but at the end of the day it is still rather simplistic (to me). This seems like a much deeper experience and one that I could truly solo (unlike Pathfinder game which requires multiple characters regardless of player count).

On topic: I did manage to play 4 or 5 rounds of Hostage Negotiator over the holiday weekend...and lost every time. Plays very quickly and it's quite punishing. I haven't quite yet figured out the best strategy, but it's a bit deeper than I think people give it credit for. It's not just a matter of picking up cards and rolling dice. You really need to think carefully over whether or not to play a card or build up resources - it's not a mindless dice chucker.

TheMix wrote:
I had a friend pick up a copy. So I grabbed the TTS DLC to see how it worked. It didn't grab me, but that was probably because I didn't know what I was doing. If you ever want to play on TTS, let me know. I'd be interested in learning it - since I'll likely need to teach my friend how to play.

I bought the TTS module for it. But my fear of committing to any scheduled events makes it difficult to get me to do anything. But I'll try to get past that sometime soon.

The new time charter that replaces the time cards is a great little simplification of the game that doesn't take away from its depth in any meaningful manner. I can't see myself going back to using those cards. There are also a few other updates to the mechanics that I think provide a better play experience overall.

Smoove_B wrote: I did manage to play 4 or 5 rounds of Hostage Negotiator over the holiday weekend

I picked up Hostage Negotiator and all its expansions at Gencon this year after reading Anonymous B rave about it. It really is a great little game. I introduced Seppe to it one night after some multiplayer gaming, and he told me the next day he woke up thinking about strategies for it. So it gets into your head pretty quickly.

Smoove_B wrote:..might have been close to my obsession with finding solo focused games.

Avoid any reviews for Aeon's End then. It's a fantastic solo (capable) game that's getting great reviews. I played a game after getting my kickstarter and it was a blast.

Smoove_B wrote:On topic: I did manage to play 4 or 5 rounds of Hostage Negotiator over the holiday weekend...and lost every time. Plays very quickly and it's quite punishing. I haven't quite yet figured out the best strategy, but it's a bit deeper than I think people give it credit for. It's not just a matter of picking up cards and rolling dice. You really need to think carefully over whether or not to play a card or build up resources - it's not a mindless dice chucker.

If you're struggling, the creator of the game posted some useful strategic tips and advice here.

hepcat wrote:The latest Phil Eklund entry in the Pax series is out. Pax Renaissance appears to focus on bankers during the Italian Renaissance. I ordered a copy off Amazon late yesterday and it's already on a truck for delivery today.

Meanwhile, my Mistfall expansion had a printing label created on November 23rd, and I've had 3 shipping notices in the last 3 days. And it STILL has not been dropped off by funagaingames (they're doing the shipping fulfillment) at UPS.

Given this is my time period of expertise, I am very interested in your impressions of this.

I hadn't seen that thread, so thanks. Some of his tips I figured out (after loss #4 or 5), so that makes me feel better.

hepcat wrote:Avoid any reviews for Aeon's End then. It's a fantastic solo (capable) game that's getting great reviews. I played a game after getting my kickstarter and it was a blast.

Will do. No Aeon's End for me. No sir, I won't go and check it out. Thanks.

baelthazar wrote:

hepcat wrote:The latest Phil Eklund entry in the Pax series is out. Pax Renaissance appears to focus on bankers during the Italian Renaissance. I ordered a copy off Amazon late yesterday and it's already on a truck for delivery today.

Meanwhile, my Mistfall expansion had a printing label created on November 23rd, and I've had 3 shipping notices in the last 3 days. And it STILL has not been dropped off by funagaingames (they're doing the shipping fulfillment) at UPS.

Given this is my time period of expertise, I am very interested in your impressions of this.

It may be a while. The Pax games are liked by only a few here in the Chicago area. Well, me and maybe one other.

update: just got it. first thoughts? jeebus is this game deep. this tiny little box contains enough mechanics to dwarf even the beefiest GMT game.

Yikes, in that case I am likely out. I can barely grok GMT games with my tired post-teaching and grading mind.

That said, the really awesome looking new GMT P500 game SpaceCorp still needs 30 more orders to reach its 500 status. C'mon guys... don't let me down!

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-613-spacecorp.aspx

Finally put seafall back on the table. I have to say... I'm getting very bored with it. At this point I have to finish, but it has overstayed it's welcome.

baelthazar wrote:That said, the really awesome looking new GMT P500 game SpaceCorp still needs 30 more orders to reach its 500 status. C'mon guys... don't let me down!

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-613-spacecorp.aspx

In!

baelthazar wrote:Yikes, in that case I am likely out. I can barely grok GMT games with my tired post-teaching and grading mind.

Eklund games are never lite fare. But if you're willing to put in the effort, they often result in a fascinating and thematic experience.

But yeah, they're brain burners.

I was looking at SpaceCorp, but quickly jumped on the Talon expansion when I saw it on the P500 list. Hopefully they'll have their new facilities up and running when it ships and I won't be forced to pay ridiculous shipping rates.

In case anyone cares, the GIPF games have been reprinted and the online stores have them back in stock (Buy YINSH).

Got in another 3 player game of Champions of Midgard. I got crushed. I don't think my strategy was horrible, I just couldn't get any traction. Plus the character that I got (the swordmaiden) had an advantage on damage with swordsmen, but swordsmen also have the worst odds of getting a hit, so I had a couple of combats that I completely whiffed on. So, don't lean on the swordsmaiden ability solely. Diversify your warriors, and then use the extra hit when it comes up. Lessons learned.

I picked up Claustrophobia in the Asmodee holiday sale, and it hit the table for the first time last night. I played as the humans, and things were going swimmingly until we ran into a couple of dead ends, had to backtrack, and were overcome by filthy troglodytes in just a few turns. Ouch.

I really like how clean and streamlined the mechanics are. My wife was expecting something longer and heavier, and was pleasantly surprised when we managed to bang out a complete game in a little more than an hour. Given our schedules these days, I suspect that this will get more regular play than some other games that we love, but require a longer time commitment.

We got Dead of Winter and Mansions of Madness and we've played a couple rounds of Dead of Winter. Really had a good time with it Dead of Winter.

I'm off this weekend and we plan on giving Mansion's a go.

My kids have been playing Ticket to Ride on my Ipad, so I think I am going to pick that up for a Christmas present for them, and then play it with them.

They are not really too much into games, but I will try to get them at least a little interested if I can.

I would recommend a Ticket to Ride Europe over the original version; it has some additional features (e.g. tunnels, train stations) that add some additional strategy.