Board games

[Tulpa | 3,492]

BTW, I mentioned Magic the Gathering as stores that host those type of tourneys tend to be the ones that carry the more interesting games. From my experience only a fraction of newer games are purely card based like MTG.

[m308gunner | 352]

20 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Here's most of the collection

 

 

Ahh, I see X-Wing up there. Looks like the 1.0 release. I got into that a few years ago and followed it into 2.0. Then decided I had too much time and money and went into Star Wars Legion :P. How deep did you end up diving into that X-Wing? 

[Tanooki | 4,933]

Ok this is me doing a small brag invasion of this.  I'm by no means a big time or better than casual board game player.  My little girl likes them, the basics like your candy land, connect four, battleship, chutes and ladders, even my old 80s Centipede and Pac-Man games, also my moms decades old copy of Monopoly.  But this gem here I'm showing you, good luck finding anything online about it.

I'd like to introduce you to both the Official LA Dodgers Baseball Game, and also a 1 of 1, a prototype portable version of Line Drive.  I don't know all the details about everything here, but I do know enough and I have more proof in a scrapbook that I can't get at this evening (my kids closet in a dark place) that has patents, promo stuff, stages pics with actors, etc. In the later 1950s my grandparents on my mothers side created the game you see there, the board game one.  They got together to get the basic design from the already regionally on the market Lord & Ferber made Line Drive and used it as a template to make a more marketable version they pitched to the LA Dodgers and was sold locally (not sure if retail or retail at the stadium/stadium shop.)  Either way the original LD game used little red markers and had blander colors and was condensed into less than what you see above (no plastic people, less colorful cards, scoreboard in the field and got the changes from the deal made with the Dodgers to sell it.  You can find a couple copies in google image history, but none of them are complete missing the plastic people if not more.

Lord & Ferber I guess went a step further almost working with my grandparents and were going to make a travel version of the game which is the second image.  This is the only known prototype I know of that you see here and due to that I've never pulled it out until now and taken an image of it, nor have I ever played it, but I know it's complete and was stored for decades by my grandparents at their place when both were alive (I got it around 2000 after my grandpa died from my grandma along with the other stuff and that store advertisement mobile.)  I've got 2 complete copies of the big one, and the prototype.  I keep one set in a dark closet and in that box stays the mobile flat, the proto is in a plastic snap clear case to keep dust off of it entirely, and the other is on the high wall next to it on display and could be played (and that card stock was once you can see my grandma's numbers on the sheet.)  You'll also see on the prototype handheld manual some changes/fixes in their handwriting too.

[Ausden | 323]

Still have Hero’s Quest I picked up back in the day. Thought that was the greatest game ever due to all the pieces and different quest you could due with just one board.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,521]

5 hours ago, m308gunner said:

Ahh, I see X-Wing up there. Looks like the 1.0 release. I got into that a few years ago and followed it into 2.0. Then decided I had too much time and money and went into Star Wars Legion :P. How deep did you end up diving into that X-Wing? 

Just the base set plus the first 4 or so other shipsthey released.  This was right about time the kids started coming and my game nights disappeared

[mbd39 | 2,020]

Scrabble is the only board game that I need.

 

[TriHart | 88]

7 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

Scrabble is the only board game that I need.

 

If you like scrabble, I would recommend a game called Quiddler. Card based word game. Lots of fun, and pretty cheap

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

7 hours ago, Ausden said:

Still have Hero’s Quest I picked up back in the day. Thought that was the greatest game ever due to all the pieces and different quest you could due with just one board.

Heroquest is a near weekly go-to with some work buddies.

I have the Witchlord expansion from when I was a kid, and managed to trade for all of the parts for the other 3 USA expansions 14 years ago before prices blew up.

In the process of building up an all-metal proxy set.  Very close to completion, and it involved finding a lot of niche miniatures makers who had the license for casts and character styles from the old days.

Planning to marry that up with a modular board and pro printed plastic cards.

Needless to say, it is a LONG term hobby goal.

 

 

In the meantime I am whittling away at finishing painting my original minis.

Made it about 75% of the way back in college and packed it all up one busy semester.

[Ausden | 323]

52 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

Heroquest is a near weekly go-to with some work buddies.

I have the Witchlord expansion from when I was a kid, and managed to trade for all of the parts for the other 3 USA expansions 14 years ago before prices blew up.

In the process of building up an all-metal proxy set.  Very close to completion, and it involved finding a lot of niche miniatures makers who had the license for casts and character styles from the old days.

Planning to marry that up with a modular board and pro printed plastic cards.

Needless to say, it is a LONG term hobby goal.

 

 

In the meantime I am whittling away at finishing painting my original minis.

Made it about 75% of the way back in college and packed it all up one busy semester.

Any chance you will be making one of those digital tabletops to mix things up aside from the original board? I see these TVs turned board game board are a big hit 

[themisfit138 | 523]

At Thanksgiving this year, I got the games Dad had as a kid. 

Man from Uncle

Kaboom

Fame and Fortune

Parcheesi 

A few others I can’t remember the names of, and mine old games.

Crossbows and Catapults

Death Star Assault 

Ninja Turtles Pizza Power Game.

 

 

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

2 hours ago, Ausden said:

Any chance you will be making one of those digital tabletops to mix things up aside from the original board? I see these TVs turned board game board are a big hit 

I enjoy the analog aspect of it too much.

Anything I would want to do on a digital tabletop, I can do in the physical world, IMO.

 

I see the appeal for digital tabletops for DnD groups, where the focus is on the narrative.  But for me HQ is about the physical dungeon crawl and painted minis.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,521]

4 hours ago, arch_8ngel said:

Heroquest is a near weekly go-to with some work buddies.

I have the Witchlord expansion from when I was a kid, and managed to trade for all of the parts for the other 3 USA expansions 14 years ago before prices blew up.

In the process of building up an all-metal proxy set.  Very close to completion, and it involved finding a lot of niche miniatures makers who had the license for casts and character styles from the old days.

Planning to marry that up with a modular board and pro printed plastic cards.

Needless to say, it is a LONG term hobby goal.

 

 

In the meantime I am whittling away at finishing painting my original minis.

Made it about 75% of the way back in college and packed it all up one busy semester.

My wife always claims Tech had a lot of nerds

 

My dream is to find a HeroQuest in the wild

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

8 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

My wife always claims Tech had a lot of nerds

 

My dream is to find a HeroQuest in the wild

Nothing but.

 

Good luck on the hunt.  A coworker of mine snagged one at a yard sale, so it is still possible.

 

 

Different game, but did anyone else snag.the screaming deal on Mice and Mystics?

[m308gunner | 352]

16 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Just the base set plus the first 4 or so other shipsthey released.  This was right about time the kids started coming and my game nights disappeared

I've made it to two game nights in the past 6 months.

[Bighab | 58]

I'm a huge board game fan. I have a small collection myself. My one friend has a huge one and is always buying Kickstarter exclusives. I have a good group of 11 guys and we play once/twice a week depending on everyone's schedules. I've become the organizer/host and my friend with the huge collection the game bringer/teacher of the rules. Love the social aspect of getting together with friends face to face over drinks having fun playing board games. Current favs are Champions of Midguard, Tyrants of the Underdark, Marco Polo 2 and Star Wars Outer Rim. One member of my group owns/runs Elzra games(Makers of the Catacombs line) and sometimes I help in play testing and game design. It's very interesting hearing from him about the different production issues and various board game pitches he gets sent.

[Tabonga | 2,317]

IMHO this was a watershed board game when it was released in 1981.   While really simple by today's standards, it was light years ahead of anything else back then.  (There was an electonic Dungeons and Dragons board game released about the same time but it was a pretty simplistic labyrinth search game.)  Lots of many happy hours spent with that game - I still have it in storage somewhere.

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Wandering Tellurian

[Tabonga | 2,317]

Here is an early example of a miniatures heavy boardgame from 1992.   

If you had the room you could put the boards together for one massive game -  we usually had four of them strung together.  It was also very amenable to rule modifications.   I have a whole bunch of these stuck away in storage.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I didn't even know there were modern board games. I played all of the standard ones as a kid. Monopoly was always a personal favorite of mine. I even had the NES version!

[Tabonga | 2,317]

Here's an obscure (in the US at least since it was only released in the UK (and maybe Canada)) game that is actually pretty fun (with cheesy figures but that only adds to the charm) and plays out like a cheap monster/dinosaur movie (think "The Land That TIme Forgot" (1974) or "The People That Time Forgot" (1977) here).

I had a friend in the UK get me one on Ebay UK cheaply and since she charged me just what she paid for shipping (we did that sort of thing for each other frequently) it was fairly reasonable.  

[Nugfish | 652]

Current favorites are Great Western Trail, Thunderstone (Kickstarted Thunderstone Quest. Should have it this June), and Alhambra.

Wife & I play alot of Lost Cities, Patchwork, Bloody Inn, and Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries. 

Light weight games that typically get a warm reception at family gatherings are For Sale, Sushi Go! Party, Code Names, and Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra.

Also, played quite a bit of Gloomhaven solo and my favorite trivia game is Wits and Wagers.

[KokiriChild | 1,644]

I'm personally a sucker for social party games. My favorites that see constant play include The Resistance, Coup, Ultimate Werewolf/One Night Ultimate Werewolf, Codenames, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, Betrayal at House on the Hill  and Forbidden Island. 

I also love Card Against Humanity, What Do You Meme?, Scrawl, and Munchkin. The Jackbox games, a weird combo of video game and social game, are also regulars in our home. 

Don't get me wrong, I love really thought-provoking board games as much as the next guy, but if the game focuses on trying to deceive a large group of friends or make them laugh, its sure to get a ton of play. 

As far as classics go, Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue (my first board game love), and Catan all should be in most collections IMO. As far as modern gaming is concerned, I highly recommend Seasons. Its a resource collection game that requires a lot of strategy and optimization and is a ton of fun, while also simple enough that it is easy to learn fairly quickly.

[Sumez | 2,949]

 

On 11/22/2019 at 4:39 PM, Quest4Nes said:

I like elaborate Big Box Board Games. Simple and fun. More set up the better. So 90s board games are for me. Im not really into the adult card and board games. And yes, Im talking about mainstream board games that you can go to the store and buy. They are way worse today.

People have kind of been saying this already, but I'd like to underline the fact that there is a TON of that stuff coming out nowadays! Bigger and better than every before. The 80s and 90s have nothing on the now. Amazing setpieces and theme integrations, huge plastic figures that are generally much better quality than the stiff ones from the 80s that broke from touching the table.

Considering the board game genre is hundreds of years old, it's kind of amazing that it's in this modern age of electronics and the internet and stuff that we also get to experience some of the best board games ever made.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

On 12/11/2019 at 11:08 AM, Wandering Tellurian said:

Here is an early example of a miniatures heavy boardgame from 1992.   

If you had the room you could put the boards together for one massive game -  we usually had four of them strung together.  It was also very amenable to rule modifications.   I have a whole bunch of these stuck away in storage.

Definitely kick myself for the day I saw Battle Master on clearance at KB for $10 and didn't buy all of them... then again, I was probably 12 at the time, so didn't have the cash.

The miniatures were distinctly lower quality than what the company did for Heroquest, though, so other than the current-day resale value, there isn't much to regret about not owning that one.  (though the simple ruleset for a Warhammer-like game was pretty nice)

[Sumez | 2,949]

So I have a ton of board games lying around that I've been wanting to play, but as I'm sure any adult in here will recognize, finding both the time and the players to get through one game can be extremely rare.
And then there's the rules. The first time you play any game it's never gonna be anywhere as fun as it could be. The best board games get better with more experience as you start to learn what you can do and how to form a strategy. Here are my thoughts on a few of the ones I've gotten to play so far. Most of them I've sadly only played once:

 

Tales of the Arabian Nights

This one I think sets itself apart by being almost a role playing game. There aren't a lot of basic rules. Basically you move your character around and get to have encounters where you make a choice of how to react. Some times your skills will affect how they play out, and some times the result is learning or upgrading such skills, while others might give you terrible status effects. It's really all about the stories that unfold via these encounters, read from a massive textbook.
The rulebook states that even though there's a winner, it really doesn't matter who wins, and honestly that's very true for this one. It's a good game to bring up in a setting where everyone isn't big into board games, as they can still enjoy the feeling of adventure.

 

Middle Earth: Quest

One of those really American games with a ton of plastic figures, like 20-30 categories of cards, and characters with stats and equipment, and everything. It's the whole shebang.
One person plays Sauron and his forces, while the other players join up to fight him by pursuing one or more individual quests to weaken his grip on Middle Earth.
In a strange way it reminds me a lot of Arkham Horror, maybe because it's designed by the same people, but I think it has a much more tight design despite its sprawling content. Especially nice is the way combat plays out, where your abilities are defined by a small deck of cards, and each round consists of each player picking one card face-down like an off-balance game of rock-paper-scissors. The same cards also function as your life points, so the closer you are to dying, the fewer options you have in combat. It's very quick and elegant, unlike the dragging out of applying math and various external factors that these kinds of games usually suffer from.

 

Summoner Wars

My girlfriend isn't too big into rule-heavy games, which makes this game a pretty great alternative to the bigger war games, while still offering the thrill of strategic combat. You play as a faction of your choice, represented by a deck of cards, and each troop is also a card. The rules are deviously simple, with all the unique elements and things that set apart each faction being present right there on the cards that list their skills and spells you can cast. The factions function very differently and usually have a specific tactic that they work best with.

It's an easy game to check out, as you can purchase a base game of two factions with a paper playfield for very little money, and expand to the full game if you get hungry for more.
This is one of the most played games here at home due to how quick it is to set up, tear down, and play through a single session.
It is also possible to play out a bigger battle with four players, which takes a bit longer.

[Tabonga | 2,317]

2 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

Definitely kick myself for the day I saw Battle Master on clearance at KB for $10 and didn't buy all of them... then again, I was probably 12 at the time, so didn't have the cash.

The miniatures were distinctly lower quality than what the company did for Heroquest, though, so other than the current-day resale value, there isn't much to regret about not owning that one.  (though the simple ruleset for a Warhammer-like game was pretty nice)

I have 5 or 6 of them I bought when the game came out - and a few partials I have picked up at thrift stores over the years.   I also have  have six sealed copies I got for $6 each at a Walmart that was clearing them out.  

Yeah - the details are a bit fuzzy on the figures but it made for fun game (especially in a multi board set up) pushing all those figures around.

This is a pretty interesting little game - the simplicity of a board game mixed with some miniatures aspects.  You can put the boards together to make larger battlefields.  A lot smaller than battlemasters too!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/228509/travelbattle