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Outrage, Balderdash, Scrabble, Scattergories, and Risk
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zeogold: Heroscape. I sure wish they hadn't stopped making it. Everything from it is dang expensive now.
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tremere110: There's a new Magic the Gathering boardgame called Arena of the Planeswalkers that is essentially Heroscape reborn with a different skin.
For a split second, I mistook you for Djaron. I kinda liked his old avatar better.
I've heard about that game. Doesn't seem as cool as Heroscape, though. Also seems like it'll die even quicker, though I could be wrong.
During the mid to late 1990's I played a lot of,

ROBORALLY

Okay, mostly in a drunken state. That's how they are supposed to be played, right?
Mr. Jack: I love it, girlfriend not so much. She's only been able to win once, and even that was just because she took a wild guess. I really like playing both sides (cops and Jack), but I think I prefer Jack because it requires a tiny bit more strategic planning. FYI, the game is kinda like Scotland Yard: the other player must deduce who of the eight playable characters is a masquerading Jack the Ripper.

Colossal Arena: The task is to bet money on monster gladiators and trying to ensure the ones you bet on, will make it through the end. In my opinion, one of the rare examples of a game that is better with less amount of people: with 3+ players your monster might fall no matter what you do. But with 2-3 it's really good and strategic.

Catan: Everyone knows this game so no introduction necessary.

Codenames: There are two teams; one team member tries to give the others clues that will help them figure out which seemingly-random English words hide their fellow agents inside them. You may only give a one-word hint though: which word should it be so that the others can see that, for example, "Ice", "Cast" and "Sink" are their agents? Great game with six players.

Not my favorite (yet?) but I'm expecting a game called BuyWord to arrive in the next few weeks. It looks like it could be great: it's sort of like Scrabble (create words), but the words don't need to be put on any grid - instead, you buy the tiles (one pip costs a dollar squared so therefor, say, 4 tiles with 6 total pips would cost 6*6=36 dollars) and then later you sell your words using the same formula. Needless to say, longer words will bring home vast amounts of money so you can't just spam simple three- or four-letter words or you'll just lose money in the long run. You have to put thought into what you do. Use one round to buy two pips worth of tiles (4 dollars), another round to buy three pips worth of tiles (9 dollars), make a five-pip word on the 3rd round: gain 25 dollars! It sounds like it could be an awesome game.
Post edited February 02, 2016 by DProject
Cthulhu Wars.

So big (the Cthulhu 'mini' is half a foot tall), so stupidly overproduced and expensive, but it's such a great strategy game. 4 players as 4 different Lovecraftian factions, all completely asymmetric and loaded with unique powers. Normally, this type of game is loaded with rules upon rules upon rules, but this game manages to keep things simple while still offering a ton of choices.

And now I await the shipping of my Onslaught 2 Kickstarter stuff, for which I paid enough money to drive most men mad...
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DProject: Codenames: There are two teams; one team member tries to give the others clues that will help them figure out which seemingly-random English words hide their fellow agents inside them. You may only give a one-word hint though: which word should it be so that the others can see that, for example, "Ice", "Cast" and "Sink" are their agents? Great game with six players.
I've heard this is an easy one to bootleg for some reason. Since you've played it, do you know how one would easily copy it at home?
Hmmm the games I have been currently having fun with, well besides Munchkin which really is a blast, are

1. Firefly which is really fun, but games tend to be long at first as you learn the rules and in some cases decide on house adjustments and clarifications. This game is simple enough, but it has a lot of ways to adjust the play which help give it plenty of variety. Played it at a con with my bros and we were hooked and I have since been trying to get others to play.

2. Five Fingered Severance which is where everybody plays as convenience store clerks who try to steal everything not nailed down and avoid work as long as you can before the boss catches you or the game ends. It is also a lot of fun although not as complex and usually has shorter games.
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DProject: Codenames: There are two teams; one team member tries to give the others clues that will help them figure out which seemingly-random English words hide their fellow agents inside them. You may only give a one-word hint though: which word should it be so that the others can see that, for example, "Ice", "Cast" and "Sink" are their agents? Great game with six players.
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zeogold: I've heard this is an easy one to bootleg for some reason. Since you've played it, do you know how one would easily copy it at home?
First of all: I don't advocate bootlegging of any sort, nor do I encourage it. But since you asked, I suppose it wouldn't be an impossible task, although it probably would be quite time-consuming.

The game has these contents:
- Two-sided word cards (for a faster new game you can just flip them over); these are cards that have a random word, like "dog" on them. IIRC these are laid out on a 7x7 area. So at the very least you need 49 word cards, tons more if you want good replayability.
- Cards that map which words have blue agents on them, which have red, which are "neutral" (civilians) and which has an assassin that will end the game for the team that was unfortunate enough to guess it. Only one person on a team can look at this map and will refer to it when trying to give hints to their teammates. Again, you need lots, otherwise you can easily memorize the positions after just a few games.
- Blue agent cards (Team 1), red agent cards (Team 2), civilian cards an one assassin card. These are put atop the words as the team guesses them. I don't remember the exact amount, but I think it's something like 7 agents per team plus 1 for the team that starts guessing first (the outline of the map cards determine the starting color).

That is it. Now, I'm not sure what would be the fastest way, or the "best" way to "make your home-brewed version" of the game knowing that these are the elements used in it, but I guess you'd just have to print out a bunch of word cards, a bunch of map cards, and just remove the word cards from play as they are being guessed. I'm not really interested in trying to figure out better ways to make a bootleg version.
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zeogold: I've heard this is an easy one to bootleg for some reason. Since you've played it, do you know how one would easily copy it at home?
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DProject: First of all: I don't advocate bootlegging of any sort, nor do I encourage it. But since you asked, I suppose it wouldn't be an impossible task, although it probably would be quite time-consuming.

The game has these contents:
- Two-sided word cards (for a faster new game you can just flip them over); these are cards that have a random word, like "dog" on them. IIRC these are laid out on a 7x7 area. So at the very least you need 49 word cards, tons more if you want good replayability.
- Cards that map which words have blue agents on them, which have red, which are "neutral" (civilians) and which has an assassin that will end the game for the team that was unfortunate enough to guess it. Only one person on a team can look at this map and will refer to it when trying to give hints to their teammates. Again, you need lots, otherwise you can easily memorize the positions after just a few games.
- Blue agent cards (Team 1), red agent cards (Team 2), civilian cards an one assassin card. These are put atop the words as the team guesses them. I don't remember the exact amount, but I think it's something like 7 agents per team plus 1 for the team that starts guessing first (the outline of the map cards determine the starting color).

That is it. Now, I'm not sure what would be the fastest way, or the "best" way to "make your home-brewed version" of the game knowing that these are the elements used in it, but I guess you'd just have to print out a bunch of word cards, a bunch of map cards, and just remove the word cards from play as they are being guessed. I'm not really interested in trying to figure out better ways to make a bootleg version.
Well, I mean, it's not technically bootlegging. You can't exactly truly "bootleg" a board game (if I make my own Chutes and Ladders board, am I somehow breaking the law?), I was mainly joking.
But thanks for the info.
I don't really "love" board/table games anymore, I think computer games are more fun.

Anyway, back in my childhood, I recall liking "Afrikan Tähti" ("The Star of Africa"). I didn't realize earlier it was a Finnish board game, but apparently it has been ported to many other languages too. So I am not surprised if furriners have not heard about the game before.

Apparently the game is still sold at least in Finland, and it is available also for Android and iOS now.

Apart from that, I recall really liking backgammon, after my big brother taught me how to play it.
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timppu: Anyway, back in my childhood, I recall liking "Afrikan Tähti" ("The Star of Africa"). I didn't realize earlier it was a Finnish board game, but apparently it has been ported to many other languages too.
The game hasn't aged that well and it's a 100% luck-based game with nearly zero strategy... I almost wanna say it falls in the same category as Monopoly: granted, with less rage from your friends.

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zeogold: Well, I mean, it's not technically bootlegging. You can't exactly truly "bootleg" a board game (if I make my own Chutes and Ladders board, am I somehow breaking the law?), I was mainly joking.
Yeah, I guess I over-read into that: I suppose it wouldn't be against the law, especially if you have no desire to make multiple copies and sell them or anything like that. Anyway, if you really want to make your own version, just find an example image of the map cards so you'll know what they're supposed to look like, write down a list of random words, print out and cut them, and you've basically re-created the game.
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_Slaugh_: <span class="bold">Fief: France 1429</span> (1981 - 2015 ― Asyncron Games)

Fief: France 1429 is a game of dynastic ambition in which players assume the roles of nobles in the 15th century kingdom of France. Each player strives to become the most powerful ruling force in the kingdom by gaining control of Fief and Bishopric territories. In turn, they acquire Royal and Ecclesiastical (church) titles which give their families influence to elect the next Pope and King. Players strengthen their positions by negotiating marriage alliances between their families, setting the stage for love, treachery and deception!

The game board represents a portion of the Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages. Villages have square outlines that are connected by roads that allow Lord and Troop movement. The villages are grouped into eight colored background areas that represent individual Fiefs, which are domains given to Lords to preside over. Fiefs have different colored backgrounds and Bishoprics have heavy bordered outlines that include several different Fiefs. Each village also belongs to one of five church Bishoprics; each Bishopric is outlined with a heavy border line and is numbered between 1-5 along the edge of the board inside a Bishop's Mitre.

Each player controls up to four family members, comprised of male and female nobles. These family members will rise in power by gaining Royal and Ecclesiastic Titles. In Fief: France 1429, a player may attempt to gain control of all the villages in a Fief to gain the Royal Title of Baron, Earl or Duke. For each Fief a player controls, he gains 1 VP. These Titled Lords may now take part in the election for the next King. They may even be a candidate to become King, thus bringing 1 VP and more power to the family! Other members of your family may follow the calling of the Church to gain the Ecclesiastical Titles of Bishop and then Cardinal. These titles allow you to Tithe Bishoprics, taking the Church's (i.e. "your") fair share of income from other Fief Lords! The highest goal your clerical family member can attain is to be elected Pope, bringing 1 VP and special privileges to your family!

You win the game as soon as you have 3 VPs. This is easier said than done and you may need to form alliances with other players through diplomacy and marriage to obtain your goal. When one of your family members marries a noble of another family, the two of you become allied. You now win the game together with 4 VPs and cannot win alone, unless your marriage is annulled by the Pope or your spouse is "mysteriously" murdered or dies of some other foul means!

In addition to being wary of your fellow players, you may draw event cards that can quickly change your destiny. Bounty Event cards are beneficial to the Player and include "Good Harvest", "Good Weather" and "Added Taxes" cards. But some cards are Disaster Cards that can randomly effect all players in specific Bishoprics. These include "The Plague", "Heavy Rain", "Famine", and "Peasant Uprisings"!

Income can be increased by players imposing church tithes on their opponent's villages or taxing their own Fiefs. Players may purchase new Fief titles, improve their village incomes with mills, and fortify their cities.

Players will also need to protect their land and castles. Men at Arms and Knights can be purchased, as well as Siege Engines. If you feel that other players are not running their Fiefs as well as you can, you may try to invade their territories! But you must risk one of your family members to lead the troops into possible battle, where they might be killed or taken prisoner. If two opposing armies are in the same village square, a Battle may be initiated. The players assess the size and strength of their armies, which determine the number of Battle Dice each may roll. Each "f" rolled is a hit. Men at Arms are defeated with one hit, while Knights require three hits to be removed from the battle.
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Crassmaster: How long are your plays of this taking? It sounds like a fantastic game, but the last thing I need is yet another long play game that simply doesn't make it to the table much, if at all. :(
It'rs a short game, two to three hours plays for 4 and more players, and 1 to 2 hours for less than 4 players. Great game by the way.
I'm waiting on Mare Nostrum from the same guys :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617871702/mare-nostrum-empires
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timppu: I don't really "love" board/table games anymore, I think computer games are more fun.

Anyway, back in my childhood, I recall liking "Afrikan T&auml;hti" ("The Star of Africa"). I didn't realize earlier it was a Finnish board game, but apparently it has been ported to many other languages too. So I am not surprised if furriners have not heard about the game before.

Apparently the game is still sold at least in Finland, and it is available also for Android and iOS now.
Despite the correct translation being "Africa's Star" or "The Star of Africa" ("Afrikas stjärna" in Swedish), the more common Swedish title for the game translates to "The lost Diamond" ("Den försvunna diamanten").
Fresco
Civilization: The Board Game
Through the Ages: A new story of civilization
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DProject: The game hasn't aged that well and it's a 100% luck-based game with nearly zero strategy... I almost wanna say it falls in the same category as Monopoly: granted, with less rage from your friends.
Probably so, maybe that is why it felt so hilarious as a kid too because anyone could win, no one could become a seasoned veteran in it and beat others single-handedly.

Come to think of it, the element of luck seemed to be quite big in many table games I've played, as there were the dices. Like backgammon, I can't really recall for sure how much it was about real skill, and how much about being lucky with the dices.

Or when I played Texas Hold'Em with my friends for the first time in my life, I beat them pretty well. Maybe the skill part was that I was able to lure a couple of other players to the bidding contest, hiding the fact that I indeed had very good cards in my hand. They didn't realize I had a practically unwinnable hand until it was too late for them. :)

But then there is chess, that's not about luck for sure. :)