Ameritrash for 2-players

I haven't tried them yet but the official rules variant for 2-player Battlestar Galactica seems like it keeps everything in that makes it such a phenomenal 3-6 player game.

I'll also echo the recommendations for War of the Ring. Amazing game.

Duel in the Dark's another one you should look into. Very cool game.

the barefoot killer wrote:

I haven't tried them yet but the official rules variant for 2-player Battlestar Galactica seems like it keeps everything in that makes it such a phenomenal 3-6 player game.

I have to disagree strongly. It throws out the most instresting part (false/true accusations about who is the toaster) of finding traitors and just keeps the boring euro optimization of surviving bad events.

I have to disagree strongly. It throws out the most instresting part (false/true accusations about who is the toaster) of finding traitors and just keeps the boring euro optimization of surviving bad events.

It keeps that in, to as much of an extent as it can, in that there may or may not be a Cylon. It might not play as well (haven't tried it yet) but the suspicion is there in theory.

Risk: Star Wars Clone Wars - The OT version does need 3 or 5 to keep in theme.

Huh?

To each his own, I think OT works fine with 2. But I can hardly see how playing with 3 is more in theme. Can you imagine if Return of the Jedi ended with.....the Hutts winning and the Empire and Republic just going home?

dan daly wrote:

Risk: Star Wars Clone Wars - The OT version does need 3 or 5 to keep in theme.

Huh?

To each his own, I think OT works fine with 2. But I can hardly see how playing with 3 is more in theme. Can you imagine if Return of the Jedi ended with.....the Hutts winning and the Empire and Republic just going home?

It's just a winning point for the Huts - similar to the Free Peoples winning in WotR with just 4 VPs. Just think of it as the Huts getting enough support and influence to be a player in the Galaxy.
I think I was probably referring to playing it 2-sided when it was designed for 3 - nothing personal meant to anyone out there.

What about Wizard Kings? That games has been on my mind for a while too.

Ken B. wrote:

War of the Ring is . . . . . . .

So...yeah. Get that. Then you can worry about a shorter playing 2p AT game, that's kind of a grail...a short 2p AT game that doesn't lose its theme in the process. A Touch of Evil comes close but needs more players than 2, I think, for the best experience.

War of the ring is the #1 pick in this category, but look at neuroshima hex. Its a weird little scifi wargame, with semi-abstract mechanics, that is a lot of fun. Plays with 2p and is fast. Its maybe not pure ameritrash, but its as close to the "grail" Ken mentions as you are going to get.

Everyone in my group loves Tide of Iron as their favorite 2 player AT game (I call it AT instead of War personally). I know it's not as popular for others on this site but our group loves this game and it gets the most play out of my whole collection.

Tide of Iron is a great game. It has the same visual appeal and great components of Memoir '44, but I enjoy the gameplay a whole lot more. I am not a fan of the Command & Colors system. I'm also not a Grognard, so ToI is about as wargamey as I want to get.

It's not the most popular game with my group, but I think that's because of the theme mostly. My group has a real preference for sci-fi themed games.

I second Tom's recommendation of Neuroshima Hex. I have the base game and the Babel 13 expansion and I am very happy with them. It plays well from 2-4. Since it's a tile-laying fight game, sometimes you pull a few less than useful tiles and I've seen folks grumble a bit about that. But since the board dynamics change a lot and are focused on short term or immediate objectives, swings of luck don't ruin anything but add nice variability to the games and force you to adapt constantly. The armies are very different but fare well against each other (in my experience so far). The expansion adds terrain variation which is surprisingly fun (the terrain variation bring out different aspects of each force). My only gripe about the expansion is that it comes with a small handful of scenarios. I wish there was more support from publishers.

While it's pricey, I very much recommend Viktory II. I've been getting into the 2-player game a lot recently. I play 2-player games on the 3-player board (the board is modular and expandable to support 2-8 players), and it is a blast. There are so many battles, so many twists and turns to each game that when it's over (2-3 hours) I feel totally satisfied. I play with the quick ending rule (first person to start a turn with 20 points wins), and the tile laying variant in the exploration stage. Easy to learn and teach (esp if you use the player aid I uploaded to BGG). EDIT: While it's a wargame, it's light enough to add to this thread of recommendations methinks.

Did I miss a memo or something? Are we not supposed to mention Space Hulk?

Space Hulk ( bare in mind that I have not had a chance to play War of the Ring yet) the greatest 2 player AT game ever made.

When played with the timer, a few bad rolls can get the ol' anxiety levels humming quickfast in a hurry. Barring when learning the game, no one should ever do themselves the disservice of playing Space Hulk without the timer.

I seem to be doing this today but how about Risk: Balance of Power? Damn shame it isn't available in the US yet.

-Will

metalface13 wrote:

What about Wizard Kings? That games has been on my mind for a while too.

late reply...but I was not impressed with Wizards Kings. its really a wargame, with fantasy units. and there's not much to differentiate the units. the 'wizards' in the game are really all that separates the armies (the units have different focuses...but really its another B2 unit with a sticker).

I felt like the system was too static, even after trying some of the different scenarios. Its a good game, but ultimately I'd rather play Hammer of the Scots.

I'm surprised I didn't post on this thread sooner. 2-player games are awesome, the hardest thing about this hobby is actually getting a live body to sit down across the table. I don't know how many times I must have suffered through Ticket to Ride and Pirates' Cove so I could get my sister to game with me.

Whatever.

War of the Ring with or without the expansion is awesome. I think the expansion adds a lot to the big game, and it comes with 2 zoomed in games too. Get it.

Battlelore is mediocre. Still, it's what brought me into AT, and FFG looks like it's serious about turning my favorite euro-wargame-AT hybrid into something much more fun, so I'm still holding out for it.

I'm still waiting on my Tide of Iron, but I've read the rules and it seems promising. I picked it over Memoir44 because Command and Colors games are pretty much the same banana. I don't care what people say, they'll probably feel all the same.

I've also been waiting for Space Hulk for 2 years now. I hit up some geeklists on TOS when I started the hobby, and it was always at the top of AT games, and it being 2 player is a bonus.