What is your favourite eurogame?

RobertB wrote: One of my favorites is an old one that's long out of print and isn't coming back in that form, Union Pacific..

OK, I played this a dozen or so years ago, didn't mind it because it was a relatively simple and fun 'euro'.
Interesting story - I sold my copy on BGG probably 15 years ago, he was a guy in his 60s and was a VP at San Francisco Giants. He really appreciated me shipping it over from the UK (even though he paid for it and he probably wasn't short of a dollar) and sent me and my lad SFG caps and a big club magazine, still wear the cap ... especially as thin on top these days.

Been way too long since I played it, but Taj Mahal always stood out to me.

This is my wheelhouse, you can count the number of AT games I own on one hand.

Stone Age - One of the first, and still one of the purest worker placement games. The board and components are gorgeous, and I'd happily play this with anyone, anytime. Low interaction (blocking) and easy enough to teach pretty much anyone.

Village - Took the worker placement thing and added something new with the lifecycle of your villagers. Actions cost time, and meeples die and get replaced by their descendants. Even dying off can be good though, as you can claim spots in the graveyard that are worth lots. Also, this is from Inka and Markus Brand, those names you see on the Exit games.

Lords of Waterdeep - a bit marmite this one. Lots of people credit it as their gateway worker placement game, and others hate the disconnect from theme to game (warriors, clerics etc being coloured cubes that you spend like currency). It's a solid game though, with hidden objectives, and I really like it.

Getting more up-to-date, I have a lot of time for Uwe Rosenberg's games. Nusfjord, in particular, is fantastic. A game about running a little fishing village in Norway. It's one of the few games that I prefer to puzzle out solo than with others. There's a campaign mode in the back of the rule book which is a proper challenge. Great Western Trail is probably Alex Pfister's best game, it's no wonder it's getting the reprint treatment. It's the first game I played where it really used the 'move things off your board to claim things, and upgrade your board at the same time' mechanism well.

At the moment I really like both Viscounts- and Paladins of the West Kingdom. Garphill make really good, meaty euros with lots of choice and routes to victory. Combining worker placement and deck-building is big at the moment, Lost Ruins of Arnak does it really well too, cool Indiana-Jones-esque theme.

Picking a favourite though? No chance, I love all of these, and a lot more. I'd happily play any or all of them with you

Feast for Odin is my number 1

The worst part of village was stickering all the meeples! There are two expansions - Port and Inn - that are both meant to be great, if you can get them.

Hamburgum is another great easy-going euro, from Mac Gerdts before he got famous with Concordia. Some pretty awful box art though...

I’ve been in a heavy Euro mood of late- I’m REALLY tired of the KS-style hybrids and frankly SF/Fantasy themes. I get so much of that from RPGs that I’m just not looking to board games for that stuff right now. I just punched Feast for Odin (2nd time I’ve owned it) and I played Nusfjord last night, and loved it. I have Kanban EV coming too.

My favorite Eurogames are generally Knizia or a Kramer titles...so I won’t relist them.

As for others...1995-2000 Golden Age...I would probably go with Settlers as my favorite out of that era as it really defined that time period. That said, it’s also the era of Bohnanza Silver Age is 2001-2007, which is roughly Princes of Florence to Agricola. Those two games are high points but it’s hard to not pick either Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne there. But the clear favorite for me is Power Grid with maybe Age of Steam/Railways of the World and Imperial running up. Bronze Age,I’d say that kicks off with Alien Frontiers on KS and ends...I dunno when, maybe Scythe? Not sure what I’d pick from that time frame but Lords of Waterdeep is a strong contender

I really love Giganten, that one nobody ever talks about any more. And Industrial Waste.

Puerto Rico is my wife’s favorite and it is one of mine, too. I’m not good at it, even after 15 or more years, but I still enjoy playing it.

Agricola is one of my all time favorites. I love the competition for action spaces and the need for flexibility.

We both enjoy Terraforming Mars. I actually just sold all of the expansions for it except for the alternative boards. I don’t think the expansions ended up adding much to the experience other than complexity with little payoff. We are that special breed that don’t play with the draft.

Tigris and Euphrates is phenomenal, but I don’t have it anymore because nobody else I played with enjoyed it.

Does tableau building count - If so, then it's Imperial Settlers hands down. In second, Castles of Burgundy if we are going for some point salad, and Puerto Rico if I can get 3 or 4 other peeps that know the game - Amazing with similarly skilled players, but a nightmare if the noob at the table hands the win to the person to their left.

Michael Barnes wrote: ...
I really love Giganten, that one nobody ever talks about any more. And Industrial Waste.

Oh oh - I remember Giganten . I had a copy early 2000s that we played a decent amount in my euro group, German rules with English translation printed off if I remember right, lovely plastic bits for oil derricks, trucks and oil, trying to manipulate the market to piss everyone off. OK, I'll add that to my 2nd tier but, again, from the 'German' era games with just a few mechanics and a theme that you could make sense of without burning your brain.

Yeah yeah, that’s it. It has a nice concrete sense of action- driving your little truck out to survey, building the derricks, selling the oil...FFG actually reprinted it as Black Gold a few years ago.

Giganten also has a neat "jack up the auction" mechanism, where you can bid more than you have in the hope that the other player bumps up their bid. IIRC, if they drop it on you, you have to pay half the bid as a penalty and the auction keeps going without you. I have a copy, and I might have to drag it out again when my daughter comes back home.

ETA: My mistake. You had to give up half your money cards, drawn at random from your hand. Then the auction starts over. But know everyone knows how much you have.

Yes I forgot about that! What a dirty mechanic! I think I might need to buy a new copy of it.

Michael Barnes wrote: Yes I forgot about that! What a dirty mechanic! I think I might need to buy a new copy of it.

I've already had a look over here - can get a good copy for about £15, but I have far too many games as it is and if I did buy one it may get one nostalgia play with my euro group and then it would be thrift shop material (and I wouldn't waste valuable table time on it with my AT group).