Talisman is my fav boardgame, what is yours?

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Charlie D

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Talisman 4E Revised is my favorite with just a couple of supplements at a time especially. I still play 2E especially Timescape but I miss Fate (and toad minis) when I do. I love the setting and the characters and the mayhem and other people turning into slimy little toads.

I also like Settlers of Catan and History of the World. I miss playing Axis and Allies and really want the double board two box set but I know I'd never play it.

What do you guys like to play?
 
I got a bit burned on boardgames (to the consternation of my boardgame-loving wife) since an old gaming associate of mine became a boardgame aficionado and an insufferable douchenozzle more or less at the same time.

I also find Eurogames in general really really tiresome. I dig Monopoly, Risk, Diplomacy, the old school stuff. Never did play A&A though a bunch of people in my old gaming group were fans.

Talisman is cool, though. I only played core, no supplements.

Catan feels like it takes forever. Carcassone feels leaner and meaner to me.

I also dig anything that plays fast and cutthroat. Bang! is a perennial favorite of mine but only really gets going with 5+ people. Dicetown is fun too.

I have a bunch of boardgames stored in a cupboard that have yet to see play, including Memoir '44 (my pick when we were in a cool game store in the UK) and Stone Age (her pick, same occasion).
 
I got a bit burned on boardgames (to the consternation of my boardgame-loving wife) since an old gaming associate of mine became a boardgame aficionado and an insufferable douchenozzle more or less at the same time.

I also find Eurogames in general really really tiresome. I dig Monopoly, Risk, Diplomacy, the old school stuff. Never did play A&A though a bunch of people in my old gaming group were fans.

Talisman is cool, though. I only played core, no supplements.

Catan feels like it takes forever. Carcassone feels leaner and meaner to me.

I also dig anything that plays fast and cutthroat. Bang! is a perennial favorite of mine but only really gets going with 5+ people. Dicetown is fun too.

I have a bunch of boardgames stored in a cupboard that have yet to see play, including Memoir '44 (my pick when we were in a cool game store in the UK) and Stone Age (her pick, same occasion).
I really like Board Games. All kinds but probably least like chess like games. The trouble with chess like games is you have to play too many times to master them.

I like Talisman it can just run long.
 
I got a bit burned on boardgames (to the consternation of my boardgame-loving wife) since an old gaming associate of mine became a boardgame aficionado and an insufferable douchenozzle more or less at the same time.

I also find Eurogames in general really really tiresome. I dig Monopoly, Risk, Diplomacy, the old school stuff. Never did play A&A though a bunch of people in my old gaming group were fans.

Talisman is cool, though. I only played core, no supplements.

Catan feels like it takes forever. Carcassone feels leaner and meaner to me.

I also dig anything that plays fast and cutthroat. Bang! is a perennial favorite of mine but only really gets going with 5+ people. Dicetown is fun too.

I have a bunch of boardgames stored in a cupboard that have yet to see play, including Memoir '44 (my pick when we were in a cool game store in the UK) and Stone Age (her pick, same occasion).
Actually thanks for bringing this up. I was trying to find a way to respond and comment without sounding like a douchebag and it made me think about what I like about games.
Thinking back to my teens and gaming. We'd play anything and love it. What's changed is back then as long as we were together doing something it was the best. Now people have less time and try to get the 'optimal' experience playing the genre/rules/length whatever. Since they can't find their old buddies who make all games awesome the game over takes the group for importance.
 
My favs are the original Mutant Chronicles: Siege of the Citadel and Warhammer Quest.

I also like deck bulders like Dominion. The most interesting one of those I've encountered is ESCHATON which combines Dominion and Risk where you play cults bringing the apocalypse.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/archongames/eschaton-a-cult-strategy-deck-building-game-0

For those who enjoy Catan, I suggest taking a look at RISE OF TRIBES when it comes out. For me, it does Catan better and faster.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/admagic/rise-of-tribes

This weekend I played a bunch of new boardgames at our game day. The most interesting was KING DOMINO - where you build out your kingdom with matching tiles to maximize points in a 5x5 grid.
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Orange-Kingdomino-Winning-Strategy/dp/B01N3A4070
 
I mostly don’t like board games. At least many of the new ones. Thus don’t give me what I want a lot of the time. I think something about the board actually reminds me of minis and roleplaying and I want that. There are exceptions, though. I’ll play Catan often enough, and I like the New Conan board game. Talisman is a tie he favorite, but it can be very long, as folks go round and round and try to optimize their chances. I have a copy of Relic, the 40k variant

I do like card games a lot. They occupy that mental space where they are fun and relaxing. Bang is a favorite, as is dominion. Pinochle more traditionally, and there is a Norse myth themed one called Gullveig that I kickstarted that’s I like (its a trick taking game, very similar to many you’ve played, just with Norse stuff).
 
Just really getting back into board and card games. I like two player games I can play with my wife.

We just played Dreamwell tonight and enjoyed it, we also like The Grizzled, Odin's Ravens and Thunder and Lightning. Onitama may be our favourite though.

We have a bunch of bigger boardgames I bought but we've yet to break them out, the shortness and ease of setting up the smaller games usually wins out. But I'm looking forward to digging into them.

I played the hell out of the digital version of Talisman, Lords of Waterdeep and one of the Cthulhu-themed board games. Enjoy the hell out of them although I'm shit at the last two.
 
I forgot about HeroQuest (and WarhammerQuest after that). That game is still great. Along with DungeonQuest (not the Fantasy Flight one, the Games Workshop one). Dungeon crawlers with minis and visuals are great. DungeonQuest is fun because everyone can die and still have a good time. And if you get trapped in the rotating room and starve to death or fill in the pit forever it is a great way to go out.
 
I liked Empire Builder a lot but a friend borrowed it and it disappeared. My son likes to best me at Star Wars Trouble and Star Wars Battleship and my daughter likes to play Protect the Pridelands and Scooby-Doo Mystery at the Amusement Park with me.
 
Camp Grizzly is my favorite pure board game. Amazing recreation of early 80s/late 70s slasher horror.

A Touch of Evil by Flying Frog Games is a Colonial American monster hunting game in which the town elders have maybe turned on you after summoning you to town (it changes game to game and Elder to Elder) and has a huge range of monsters to fight. Just a ton of fun.

The Marvel Legendary deck building game is probably my favorite game, period...certainly to play solo. I own all the expansions and there's a HUGE amount of content to play with.
 
Tommy, I would love to hear much more about all three games.
 
So, Camp Grizzly is a pure thematic, Ameritrash game (the name of the company is even Ameritrash Games). It's set in Camp Grizzly, which is stalked by a psycho in a bear mask named Otis. You zip around the board trying to get some combination of supplies that can trigger an escape, while Otis stalks you. Some cards you draw may make Otis appear out of nowhere, and every time Otis kills (either a player's character or an NPC - some cards have you finding the aftermath of his attacks, where he killed people offscreen), he gets stronger. If you don't trigger an escape before he reaches peak strength, the survivors have to face him in a head to head fight, which is usually a good way to die.

A Touch of Evil's base game has you in the little town of Shadowbrook, which is being tormented by a monster (the base game has a werewolf, a vampire, a scarecrow and a headless horseman...other expansions add ghosts, gargoyles, swamp creatures and even a Lovecraftian nightmare that you don't kill so much as you seal it in its own dimension). Again, pure Ameritrash of running around a board, fighting monsters, investigating Town Elders and their Secrets (drawn randomly at the beginning of the game...some are secretly powerful forces for good; others may be corrupted by the villain or may even BE the villain in disguise...and some are just kinda innocent bystanders in the whole affair). The monster gets stronger the longer your investigation goes...the flipside is that it gets easier to find information on its lair as its strength grows. If you don't stop it before it reaches peak strength, the entire village falls to Shadow and the monster wins. All the heroes play differently (one may be a brilliant inventor who uses science to fight evil, while another is a blind traveler who somehow senses her enemies' attacks before they happen and can strike first) and some have advantages against certain monster types (like being more suited to hunt Beasts or being uniquely suited to fighting Ghosts). Similarly, each Villain not only has unique minions that attack the board, but they themselves interact with the game differently: The werewolf may infect one or more heroes with lycanthropy, leading to heroes attacking each other. The bog creature turns more and more of the board into swamps, sometimes sinking locations before you can explore them. It is the most overlooked game in the Flying Frog catalog, in my opinion, being overshadowed by Last Night on Earth (cinematic zombie mayhem) and Shadows of Brimstone (heavily minis based western horror) both are which are incredibly inferior in gameplay, in my opinion (Shadows of Brimstone is the only Kickstarter I ever requested a refund from).

Marvel Legendary is a Deck Building Game where you have a Scheme (such as a Villain trying to flood the planet by melting glaciers, corrupt the next generation of heroes, smash two realities together, spark a major organized crime wave and so on), a Mastermind (the base game started with Magneto, Red Skull, Loki and Dr. Doom...it has grown to add everyone from Galactus - who eats the board while you play - and Thanos to Stryfe and Apocalypse to weirder selections such as Zombie Green Goblin and the Spider-Queen from a recent Spider-Man storyline). Each Mastermind has a unique ability they use whenever a Master Strike card is drawn from the Villain Deck (The Goblyn Queen captures Bystanders as Goblyns you have to fight before you can get to her, Galactus destroys part of the city, Magneto makes you discard cards unless you have X-Men heroes in your hand and so on). The Villain Deck is made up of Villains (the number of 8 card villain decks being determined by number of players, with one deck almost always determined by the Mastermind, keeping part of the opposition thematic to the story at hand) and Henchmen (a 10 card deck of villains that are weaker than the rest, some giving you benefits when you fight them and others still being punishing, at least at the start of the game). This includes stuff like Magneto's Brotherhood (which includes a couple of guys who never really worked with him, but is pretty much an iconic X-Men villains checklist, like Mystique, Juggernaut, Sabretooth and The Blob), The Masters of Evil (Baron Zemo and Ultron making an appearance, along with lower tier guys like Whirlwind) and Apocalypse's Four Horsemen (the classic original lineup, including Archangel). Henchmen groups include Doombots, Savage Land Mutates, Hand Ninjas and Sentinels. The Villan Deck also includes the aforementioned Master Strikes (which trigger Mastermind abilities), Scheme Twists (which behave differently based on the Scheme you're playing) and Bystanders (which are captured by Villains, with some offering a benefit if you save them, but all penalizing you if the Villains escape with them). The Hero Deck is made up of a number of smaller hero decks based on number of players, and there's a huge list to choose from, especially if you have all the expansions (like me!): Captain America (four versions across the expansions, including a "base" Cap, 1940s Cap, Secret Avenger Cap from Civil War and Steve Roger, Director of SHIELD...oh, five if you're just talking about Captain Americas and not Steve Rogers, as the Falcon Cap makes an appearance), Wolverine (in original, X-Force and paired with Colossus versions), The Hulk, Spider-Man (in classic, Civil War Peter Parker, Spider-Man Noir and Symbiote Spider-Man versions), The Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Cyclops, Professor X...there are TONS of options. And as of the Villains expansions, some of the recruitable characters as villains, such as Ultron, Magneto, Sabretooth, Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter and Thanos. Your deck starts with SHIELD (or Hydra, if you have Villains and you choose to use them) Agents and Soldiers, which give you Recruit and Attack respectively. You play Recruit cards to add Hero cards from the Headquarters and Attack cards to fight enemies. Different cards will key off each other in various ways, as any given card will give you Recruit and/or Attack or let you draw or discard cards, or let you KO cards from your deck (to weed out your weaker starting cards, or remove Wounds you may have gained in the course of the game), as well as having one of five "classes" which may trigger abilities from other cards or be required to prevent certain villain effects from taking place, and Team Affiliations (like Avengers, X-Men, Marvel Knights or Fantastic Four) which can trigger effects as well. I tend to play "two-handed" solo with randomized set-ups. It's my "geek solitaire" that I use to unwind from a long and shitty day.
 
I have the Alien Legendary card game and it is of course similar to what you describe with a reskin. It doesn't have the endless replay value of the Marvel game I guess but I haven't tired of it yet.
 
I have the Alien Legendary card game and it is of course similar to what you describe with a reskin. It doesn't have the endless replay value of the Marvel game I guess but I haven't tired of it yet.

That's my main gripe with the Emcounters line: more story, which is great, but it feels a little more rigid to me. It doesn't help that my favorite licenses are in the base Legendary line (Marvel and Buffy) while I'm less a fan of Predator and Alien (though I tired of Firefly Encounters as well, despite being a Firefly fan).
 
I'm a huge Alien (but not Aliens) fan so I'm content. It has left me intrigued to checkout the other sets though.
Welcome to the club. I also love Alien but none of its sequels.
 
If I had to choose a favourite, it would probably be Stratego. I could play that daily and never tire of it ( these days I have to settle for online chess). I know that’s probably a somewhat boring answer, but I haven’t played that many board games, certainly haven’t caught on to the Euro game craze at all. When I get together with friends it’s always for RPGs or wargaming.

Growing up I enjoyed HeroQuest , Axis & Allies, Shogun, Battle Masters, and Risk, Which I guess are all sort of pseudo-war games.

And Cluedo, played the heck out of that and a Sherlock Holmes themed detective game I can’t recall the name of.

I just got Rising Sun from the Kickstarter, looking forward to trying that out, looks fun. And I got the Labyrinth game, mainly for the miniatures, but I watched a play example on YouTube and it could be fun.

Only other thing I can think of is a Powerpuff Girl board game I owned circa 1999. Me and an ex played that all the time. It had combat mechanics and even advancement like a very light RPG. Wish I could find that again
 
...Cluedo, played the heck out of that and a Sherlock Holmes themed detective game I can’t recall the name of.

"Cluedo" is what British people call Clue, yes? :clown:

Was the Sherlock Holmes game 221b Baker Street? :trigger:
1821984.jpg
Oh, and is your Labyrinth the same as the one my daughter likes to play, where every board is semi-randomized and tiles and paths shift throughout the game?
61DkQssnEZL.jpg
Or the David Bowie movie game?
61-wOqL2npL._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg
 
"Cluedo" is what British people call Clue, yes? :clown:

Indeed, Colonel Mustard with the Pipe and all that.

Was the Sherlock Holmes game 221b Baker Street? :trigger:
View attachment 739

I'm not usre, I don't recognize that cover, mine was in a green box, I can't remember too well much about it as this was in my pre-teens, but there were several mysteries on cards, and each player got a little pamphlet to record clues on checklists. This would have been mid to late 80s, I think we inherited the game though, so it may have been even older.

Oh, and is your Labyrinth the same as the one my daughter likes to play, where every board is semi-randomized and tiles and paths shift throughout the game?
View attachment 740
Or the David Bowie movie game?
View attachment 741

Its the movie game, I picked up it and the Goblins expansion just to paint the miniatures, as I love me some Brian Froud designs. It was one of my favourite films growing up.

labyrinth-goblins-board-game-expansion.1498536108.png

They did a Dark Crystal game too, but year before last I already shelled out a few hundred for a complete set of the Grenadier Dark Crystal miniatures , so I wasn't up for shelling out more for those.
 
221b Baker Street has had multiple boxes with different artwork. Any of these ring a bell?
26391326.jpg 2087010.jpg 306x400.jpg pic2235991.jpg 81zkCwQCg0L._SL1001_.jpg
 
The guy who designed the game, Alessio Cavatore, incidentally was the main writer of the 7th edition of Warhammer Fantasy, and he designed Kings of War, which I didnt realize before I found a video of him showing how to play the game.



Oh, and the guy who sculpted the miniatures works for Weta studios and in his spare time he's actually sculpting the entire Labyrinth for his games...

 
So I discovered that a game I bought at Goodwill in the late 1980s is apparently going for big bucks now:1971-the-godfather-board-game-rare-family-games-inc-complete-40f45f12322e069123960329a10a9075.jpg
Mine still has all the parts and it's a pretty fun game. It's a little bit like Othello with lots of ways to strategize. I saw there's a new Godfather board game but it's not the same rules and doesn't look very appealing to me.
 
Two more games I found somewhat battered but still playable with parts all intact:
UNCLE-Boardgame-1024x536.jpg e9003b336cfff3c2ac12d66a987c8056.jpg
(Photos found online as I didn't feel like getting the games out of the hall closet.)

I haven't had a chance to play the Dynomutt game yet. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. boardgame is fun, though.
 
Oh that reminds me, I had a GI Joe board game I got at a garage sale but it didnt have the rules so we had to make up our own. See if I can find it via google...

Well, this is the board for it anyways. Had a lot of fun with made up rules and this one...

gi_joe_adventure_board_game_board.JPG
 
Apparently it was the GI Joe Adventure Board game circa 1982 so really early in the 80s Joe mythos. I think I found my copy in '89 in Pennsylvania. Found some cool pics of the components:

gijoeadventureboardgame1.jpg

gijoeadventureboardgame2.jpg

gijoeadventureboardgame3.jpg
 
Oh that reminds me, I had a GI Joe board game I got at a garage sale but it didnt have the rules so we had to make up our own. See if I can find it via google...

Well, this is the board for it anyways. Had a lot of fun with made up rules and this one...

gi_joe_adventure_board_game_board.JPG
I'll bet nowadays you could find the rules online and print them out for your box. I never knew there was a GI Joe game.

Edit: those are the old school Joes where almost all of them wore olive drab and Hawk was still their ramrod. Pre-Duke.
 
When I was a kid I had a handful of the olive-drab Joes and then suddenly they started making all those exotically attired specialists and the old guys sort of faded from the scene, replaced by sexier costumes and specialties. I always felt bad for the older Joes. They seemed more professional unlike the hot young new gloryhound fancypants Joes.
 
Yeah, I have a special place in my heart for that original lineup. Before the sci-Fi elements crept in and Cobra went from a Terrorist cult to a League of Supervillans. But the breaking point for me as a kid was the movie and the introduction of Cobra-La (shudder).
 
My neighbor moved over from England and had a fair number of the larger original GI Joes. The mini Joes were cool when they came out but I liked those big guys more.
 
My neighbor moved over from England and had a fair number of the larger original GI Joes. The mini Joes were cool when they came out but I liked those big guys more.

Well, I'm pretty chuffed with my 12" Snake -Eyes.
SS-12-10060-2.jpg
 
I'm a signed up member of the Cult of the Old, with a particular interest in heavy negotiation games.

Some of my favourites: Kingmaker, Kremlin, Republic of Rome, Junta, Shanghai Trader.
 
I'm a signed up member of the Cult of the Old, with a particular interest in heavy negotiation games.

Some of my favourites: Kingmaker, Kremlin, Republic of Rome, Junta, Shanghai Trader.
Kingmaker was a huge part of my childhood. We'd play for days.
 
I got Imperial Assault for xmas (buy spending money in January).

typical FFG in that it has a million components and compels you to spend more to get the actual figures and not the shitty chits for the big name characters :grin:

Good fun, but not well balanced IMO.

Also fuck the price of boardgames. I saw Eric Lang's Rising Sun in the shop, £100! Would love it, but these games don't justify the price for me given how often (or not) they will see play. I know the cost to produce is high and everyne wants super duper components (not shitty chits), but it's a hobby I just cannot afford anymore.
 
I suggest you join any local Facebook group dedicated to games in your area. This year's darling is often enough unloaded at half price a year or two later. Sometimes with additional nice to have like sleeved cards or inserts for storage.
 
Also fuck the price of boardgames. I saw Eric Lang's Rising Sun in the shop, £100! Would love it, but these games don't justify the price for me given how often (or not) they will see play. I know the cost to produce is high and everyne wants super duper components (not shitty chits), but it's a hobby I just cannot afford anymore.

Secondary market. Seriously, I'd generally expect at least three games for that price.
 
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