Merchants and Marauders.

wow. Quite a slow first game as we got up to speed with all the various mechanics within the game – trade/combat/NPC movement. next games were reasonably fast and furious – but still took >3hours for a 4player game but it didnt feel like it. good fun with the obligatory bad pirate accents.

I assume the poster developing their own pirate themed game has played it – the combat mechanics do use dice with various modifications so there is an element of chance – I quite enjoy the elemnyt of chance in the various interations.

definitely worth the money in terms of £/hour of fun.

Has anyone played Villagers?

Not personally, but I believe there’s a sequel recently released (Kickstartered?)

Currently I’m enjoying playing Aeon’s End : War Eternal, which is a great deck builder… possibly beating Spirit Island as my favourite game.
And reading the rules for Fire in the Lake as I hope this is the next new title to hit my table… a bit heavier, but I’m hoping it proves to be a good for a brain workout.

Recent acquisitions:

Ticket to Ride
Exploding Kitten

…and I’ve just bought Citadels as I suspect that we’ll be playing a lot of games over Christmas.

Carcassonne, Bananagrams and Port Royal still the favourites. Our Port Royal cards are getting a bit tatty after so much use.

As per the other thread we’ve been playing Dungeon Drop, it’s really rather good!

book marking for later

One-man chess

I keep losing though 😕

( Must learn to search before starting a thread )
The wife and I currently have:-

Wingspan. Our favourite, Great artwork and fun to play, definitely gets better the more you play it, might be a bit dry for the younger generation.

Everdell. A bit more complicated than the above but with similar elements of gathering materials and card placement. Would be fun with more than two people

Sherlock Holmes consulting detective. We really love this, cooperative play, a bit unfair at times until you get to know the game. We will definitely be getting the two further games.

On order for my birthday is Mansions of madness, another co-op game with a horror theme and an app to help setup.
We haven’t gone full RPG yet but we did briefly eye up Gloomhaven, but the £100 price tag put us off, also I see there’s a new version of Descent on the horizon that will now utilize an app, £135….ouch

It’s probably already on this thread but Pandemic is consistently in the top 10 lists, the wife refuses to even consider it though, can’t blame her

If you want to play Pandemic but find the theme a bit uncomfortable, have a look at Forbidden Island. They’re both from the same designer and Matt himself describes FI as “Pandemic Lite”.

Some of the favourites in my family (wife and 10 y/o twin girls) include:

Mission Red planet second edition
The Quest for Eldorado
Camel Up
Skull
Hanabi
The Crew, the quest for planet nine
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Biblios

Further to Cougars Forbidden Island recommendation I would also consider Forbidden Desert which again is by the same designer and shares similar mechanics but has a little more going on, it sits between island and Pandemic in terms of depth.

We’ve taken a good few recommendations from this thread over the Xmas break. Port Royal has probably been the favourite closely followed by carcassone (got the big box and working up through the expansions). Enjoyed Kingdomino and exploding kittens too.

Not seen Ingenious mentioned so far and that’s a big favourite of ours. Simple concept but can get very tactical towards the end of the game.

This will either inspire you, or put you right of board games 🙂
Link to a vid..
heroquest

Wow. Lasted 4 seconds before he got switched off!

Anyhow, we got Citadels over Christmas. Only played it once but it has potential.

Not sure if it has been suggested before (have only skim-read the thread), but if anyone likes the TV show Taskmaster I can highly recommend the game. Not quick to play, and can get quite messy, but lots of fun (especially after a few drinks)

@bigh If you are interested in Gloomhaven, but put off by the cost then Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is probably for you as it is roughly half the price, but still sounds like it is awesome!

Disclaimer; I have not bought or played either, but would love to…..

Thanks, another added to the list 😀

Played Just One last night. I really rate this, it’s a dead simple game which works well with a high player count and perfect for getting non-gamers gaming.

On the strength of that advice… I bought Just One yesterday in an attempt to lure my 8 and 10 year olds away from the Xbox…

Result! What a great little game. Whole family just spent a very happy couple of hours gaming. 7 to beat…. 🙂

Thanks @cougar

(-:

Right? First time I played it was with like 14 people over a big table, I came away frobbing the Internet for prices.

My absolute favourite genre of game is one that you can teach inside of a minute but then keeps folk scratching their head for ages. Beyond a four-player head count for families / casual gamers, Just One is a no-brainer here.

Your reply makes me happy, thank you.

Not sure if 7 Wonders has been mentioned yet. On the face of it the gameplay is complex but once learned, it is actually very simple. We are now at the stage of experimenting with different strategies to win…this is from someone who normally avoids board games…

Link to a vid..
heroquest

hard to argue with that tbh 🤣

I haven’t played the actual board game, but the computer version of Root is quite interesting, I’m playing on iPad, against computer and multiplayer.

It’s complicated, each faction has its own rules.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/237182/root

https://store.steampowered.com/app/965580/Root/

HTRBM!

Anyway, Terraforming Mars.

Wow.

Quite complex, just played through for the first time and only really ‘got’ the scoring system toward the end.

Very nicely presented, good balance between several different elements – card management, allocation of funds, various side ‘quests’ that can swing the final outcome.

Biggest challenge for me was realising the extent to which the game can be closed down by those with an a decent advantage.

Very impressed.

The most complex game I’ve enjoyed so far, but not overwhelming by any means.
It all makes perfect sense and I’m looking forward to another bash.

Highly recommended.

Supposedly a fantastic game let down by poor quality components. I’ve never actually played it.

Did you get Catan to the table yet?

In related news,

If anyone’s looking for a really light, family friendly / non-gamer friendly game, Tesco are kicking out a thing called Tension cheaper than anywhere else I’ve seen it. If you’ve ever seen the game show Tenable on TV it’s basically that. You get a card with a subject which might be “car manufacturers” or “countries beginning with A” and ten answers, the other team then has an egg-timer minute to name as many as they can.

It’s fluff, but it’s fun accessible fluff and it’s gone down a storm here. There’s several spin-off games too like Tenable Food or Tenable TV. I’ve hoovered them up, stuck them all in the base box and house-ruled the addition a roll of a die to select which question category you get.

☝☝ typo, “Tension Food or Tension TV”

If anyone wants a used once Terraforming Mars game, send me a PM.
We’re currently enjoying Catan with C&K expansion for when we don’t want to think too much.
Brass Lancashire and It’s a Wonderful World for when our brains are fresh.

Zombie Kidz.

Eldest’s favourite.

Monopoly is a bit of a running joke within board game communities, but its single biggest problem is that everyone thinks they know how to play when in actual fact someone read the rules once back in 1927 and it’s been handed down by word-of-mouth ever since. Not playing by the actual rules is one of the reasons a game can last for a week

Our youngest loves monopoly. Good for his maths (he’s six). It’s pretty good for encouraging a bit of forward planning as well.

Standard rules – game done within an hour, usually.

The only minor mod we make is that auctions start at the ticket price. Prevents silliness (“nobody buys, everybody auctions, everything sells for £1”)

We have got the Monopoly Deal card game for when we are in the camper, its good fun and doesn’t take up much room

Supposedly a fantastic game let down by poor quality components. I’ve never actually played it.

Did you get Catan to the table yet?

Err, possibly a bit flimsy, but nothing outrageous. It belongs to a mate – there’s talk of laminators and 3D printed pieces.

In Wales atm, also had a go at Potion Explosion, pretty good, nicely presented.
I’d have to have a few more goes before committing to it though.

Managed a quick go of Catan – love the sheep picture on the replacement tile!

I’ve really got into Star Realms. Deckbuilding that’s simple yet complicated enough to hit the right notes for me. If anyone’s up for some digital games give me a shout.

A mate bought Flamme Rouge, really good fun. Need to try it out with a couple more players.

I’ve got Star Realms on that Steam I think? Can’t remember if it’s just the free starter or the full thing. Like most of my extensive Steam library, I’ve never played it.

Managed a quick go of Catan – love the sheep picture on the replacement tile!

I don’t remember that at all now. You’ll have to send me a pic. If it’s even remotely arty then it’s almost certainly not my doing, might’ve been someone I lent it to. It’s been round the block a few times has that set.

Thread Bump!

Is Cards Against Humanity any good?

If you enjoy Pandemic or any of the Forbidden Series, have a look at Burgle Bros.

The designer was inspired by Matt Leacock’s games and acknowledges him in the game rulebook.

I think it’s a better game.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172081/burgle-bros

A bit of Googling would suggest that Cards Against Humanity may not be particularly family friendly.

Any suggestions for a family game? We like Port Royal, Carcassonne, King/Queen Domino, Ticket to Ride, Citadels etc.

Something simple that you can play for an hour would be ideal.

Edit

Anyone played this?

Any suggestions for a family game?

Downforce – a great fun racing game and you can be very sneaky.
Burgle Bros as the link above.
Forbidden Island/Desert/Sky

Is Cards Against Humanity any good?

CAH’s USP is that it’s just Wrong. The idea is that you get a question, everyone submits an answer from their hand and the winner is voted on. I’ve just pulled three answer cards at random from my set and they were “used knickers”, “foetuses” and “the Jews.”

It can be hilarious with the right audience (and lots of alcohol). It can fall very, very flat. It is absolutely not a family game.

Apples to Apples is essentially the same game only kid-friendly.

Any suggestions for a family game?

What ages, player count?

12, 14 and adults. 4 of us.

I haven’t played Jaws but I believe it’s half-decent for what it is. The Works often boots it out for little money IIRC.

Exploding Kittens is quite family safe, although not with the NSFW pack added in.

My problem with CAH is that the game takes too long. It needs to be shorter so that it’s finishing before you start to sober up.

Have got already Exploding Kittens 🙂