Slaying Shelf Toads: Which Next?

I'm visiting some friends for a full weekend coming up. Whenever I do this, I try to bring at least one game in my collection that hasn't been played yet to finally give it a whirl. I don't have a preference for which to bring this time, so I want to pick your brains for this. Before I list my shelf toads, one of my friends is fine with light to mid weight games and can handle meanness. There will be me and two other people with one other person potentially stopping by. So, here's the list:

Vast: The Mysterious Manor
Oath
Clockwork Wars
Impulse
TI4
Catacombs 3E
Dungeon Fighter 2E
Zimby Mojo
Cyclades
El Grande
Thunder Road: Vendetta
Chaosmos
Concordia
Clash of Cultures: Monumental Edition
Brian Boru
Castles of Burgundy

First off, I would say that a few of those on the list exceed, to one degree or another, "light to mid weight" games (TI4!) But, if those are the choices, I would vote for:

Vast: The Mysterious Manor
Oath
Zimby Mojo
Cyclades
Clash of Cultures

3 of those 5 (Vast, Oath, Clash) are beyond what I would normally consider "mid weight" for most people; in the case of Oath and Vast, mostly because of their rules density and having to come to grips with playing in a different manner, rather than their actual gameplay. If pressed down to the must-have experiences, I'd vote for Oath and Cyclades; the former being another work of genius by Cole Wehrle and the latter being my favorite of Matagot's mythology trio.

I have that problem as well. Here's a short list of mine.

Nemesis
Galactic Strike Force
[redacted]
Kemet
Nightfall
Shark Island
Level 7: Omega Protocol
Masterpiece (1970s edition)
He-Man & MOTU
Titan
V Wars
When Darkness Comes
City of Horror

EDIT: One more. The Best Thing About (blank) is the Browdsowd. BRODSWOD! Browdsword.

Take Cyclades.

I can vouch for Oath, TI4, Cyclades and El Grande being fun games. I'd say only El Grande and Cyclades are light to mid weight, though. While TI4 and Oath aren't complicated rules-wise, Oath is best when played by a dedicated group several times in a row. TI4 can go either way, depending on the players. In my experience, some people fell in love with it immediately, while others, well, my wife said "this is like being at work".
I dislike Castles of Burgundy so very much.

@Rliyen: everyone should have played Kemet (and Cyclades) at least once.

I probably should've specified which of my list you'd recommend me playing first and which I of those would work this upcoming weekend with that light-to-mid requirement. Thanks for some direction!

As for Rliyen, I can look up most of them later but I've heard great stuff with Kemet. It's a very aggressive dudes on a map that has a wide range of upgrades to pick from throughout the game. It's seems like a solid bet if you like that genre of games. Nemesis I've heard awesome things about but it definitely isn't for everyone. Highly thematic, but it has a long playtime with player elimination potentially early on. Probably one to ask your group on to see if they'd be okay with that. If they like horror movies or the Alien franchise, it'd probably make it an easier sell and teach.

My thoughts on these:

Nemesis - excellent game, has a good co-op mode too.

Nightfall - extremely in your face aggressive, can be a lot of fun

Level 7: Omega Protocol - never played but I've heard good things, one vs. many

He-Man & MOTU - looks cool! You should play this one and tell us how it is

Titan - This one is pretty time intensive, I've only played the app version

Rliyen wrote: I have that problem as well. Here's a short list of mine.

Nemesis
Galactic Strike Force
[redacted]
Kemet
Nightfall
Shark Island
Level 7: Omega Protocol
Masterpiece (1970s edition)
He-Man & MOTU
Titan
V Wars
When Darkness Comes
City of Horror

There's only one on that list (and it SHOULDN'T be on that list) that you should be considering ... and I'll fly over and slap you mightily if you don't know which one I'm talking about

The only one on that list I have experience with is IMPULSE. It’s an interesting game; like other Chudyk designs it uses cards for multiple functions and the player who can build the most game breaking engine wins. What sets it apart from say GLORY TO ROME or INNOVATION is that there is an actual map ( formed from randomly drawn cards ) and each player has rocket pieces that are used as two different types of spaceships on the board; there is also combat.

Nodens wrote: Take Cyclades.

I can vouch for Oath, TI4, Cyclades and El Grande being fun games. I'd say only El Grande and Cyclades are light to mid weight, though. While TI4 and Oath aren't complicated rules-wise, Oath is best when played by a dedicated group several times in a row. TI4 can go either way, depending on the players. In my experience, some people fell in love with it immediately, while others, well, my wife said "this is like being at work".
I dislike Castles of Burgundy so very much.

@Rliyen: everyone should have played Kemet (and Cyclades) at least once.

Oh, I LOVE Kemet. Glad I bought it.

southernman wrote:

Rliyen wrote: I have that problem as well. Here's a short list of mine.

Nemesis
Galactic Strike Force
[redacted]
Kemet
Nightfall
Shark Island
Level 7: Omega Protocol
Masterpiece (1970s edition)
He-Man & MOTU
Titan
V Wars
When Darkness Comes
City of Horror

There's only one on that list (and it SHOULDN'T be on that list) that you should be considering ... and I'll fly over and slap you mightily if you don't know which one I'm talking about

Oh, shit. I didn't know there was going to be a fucking test!

Nemesis?

*covers up*

Hammy wrote: I probably should've specified which of my list you'd recommend me playing first and which I of those would work this upcoming weekend with that light-to-mid requirement. Thanks for some direction!

As for Rliyen, I can look up most of them later but I've heard great stuff with Kemet. It's a very aggressive dudes on a map that has a wide range of upgrades to pick from throughout the game. It's seems like a solid bet if you like that genre of games. Nemesis I've heard awesome things about but it definitely isn't for everyone. Highly thematic, but it has a long playtime with player elimination potentially early on. Probably one to ask your group on to see if they'd be okay with that. If they like horror movies or the Alien franchise, it'd probably make it an easier sell and teach.

I'd recommend Cyclades, too.

So I've been in the hobby for 7 years and I've never played El Grande, having known about it for most of that time. I even bought the out of print Anniversary Edition for $150 off Ebay and had it on my shelf for over 3 years without playing it once in any form. Part of me was nervous to bring it places because its out of print, but it'll not happen for another 3 years unless I get over that. I have read the rulebook though and its rare that I get excited for a game purely from that, so...