Best Boardgame you've played recently....

Which is the best Commands & Colors game?

My take:

BattleCry: I own it and really enjoy it. I think the Civil War fits the game system better than WWII.

Memoir '44: I own it and enjoy it. One of my wife's favorite games.

C&C: Ancients: I was all excited about it, and borrowed a friend's copy just to give it a test drive before buying my own. I'm glad I did- I really didn't like it. Too many different unit types combined with tiny little colored symbols to tell them apart means it's difficult to see what is going on during the game, and a pain in the rear to set up. Finally, the C&C games are something I play for a "lite" game, generally with an opponent who isn't into heavier games. C&C is heavy enough that someone is going to have a hard time if they don't make some effort to learn the game, but still light enough that it doesn't statisfy the hardcore wargame hunger.

BattleLore: Never played it, don't really have any desire to.

So as far as which one is "best", I think it basically comes down to: would you rather have a civil war game or a WWII game? Other than that Memoir '44 and Battle Cry are both good bets. Of course Battle Cry is bit harder to find a copy of being out of print.

Yep. To be quite honest it doesn't look like something I would play off the shelf at a store - I like fantasy themes better than reality stuff, however. I would rather have better balanced gameplay and units than some grog telling people that such and such tank was not in use at the same time as such and such gun, and blah f'ing blah.

I like how quick you can get up to speed on it though...

Jack Hooligan wrote:

I liked BattleCry and wish I still had it. I hear C&C: Ancients is the best though. Still I think I'd prefer BattleCry. The C&C system is 'ok' and BattleCry does without all the expansions the other three have. Besides that it's got some great minis and I prefer the theme over the others. Great, light game for what it is.

It's #2 on my list of games I wish I hadn't sold.

I have a copy of Battlecry I'd be willing to part for a trade or $35. I also have a copy of Battlelore if anyone wants it. I also may be willing to part with my C&C ancients and expansion 1.

C+C: Ancients is by far the best game IMHO. Evade and leadership cards make the game *so* much more tactical. I wouldn't worry about the realism part, it's pretty unrealistic.

dan daly wrote:

Close Action. It's a game about sailing warships in Napoleonic times. I liked the simultaneous movement and combat aspect of Wings of War, but was looking for something more complex and thematic. I found it here. The rules while overwhelming at first are all really make sense and are surprisingly exception-free. Moreover it completely suffices if only one play knows all the rules, the others basically only need to know how to plot movement. Most importantly the game is very fun, so it's satisfying to me as a grognard and to my friends who are AT fans.

Who makes this game? Is it in print?

Clash of Arms. Yes.

http://www.clashofarms.com/close-act.html

Battlelores biggest flaw was that it didn't push the system enough, or really make itself stand far enough apart from the other C&C games. It's wasted potential.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Battlelores biggest flaw was that it didn't push the system enough, or really make itself stand far enough apart from the other C&C games. It's wasted potential.

I would also agree. When I bought it, I was thrilled with the potential for added depth from the lore cards, but sorely disappointed when I discovered how thinned out the units were. Not enough variety to keep me interested. I was expecting later expansions to bring in whole new armies with whole new rules sets to make the game interesting, but all we got were some stupid gimmick units. Certainly didn't help that the game couldn't make up it's mind whether it would be historic or fantasy.

I must have accidentally woken up on Bizarro Earth yesterday morning, because the best boardgame that I played recently wasn't Arkham Horror, it was Humans!!!

When we played Arkham Horror yesterday, the experience was diminished because people weren't reading their cards out loud. My friend Chris was mumbling his way through the cards until we mocked him for it. And the married couple, two of our most loyal AT gamers in the group, abruptly stopped playing well. The wife was wasting valuable turns exploring the boarding house, just because she had never tried that before. The husband was skimming his way through his cards, and became very defeatist about halfway through the game.

Specifically, it was that really obnoxious form of defeatism, where the defeatist loudly proclaims the impossibility of a relatively normal situation, then proceeds to play stupidly and recklessly to ensure that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. His wife followed his lead, causing the Doom Factor to go up by four in just two turns, leading to a Final Battle without adequate prep. And then they both objected to the Epic Battle cards (objection overruled) because they "make the game harder." While that may be true, the final battle in Arkham Horror is utterly unthematic and fairly boring without the Epic Battle cards. And since when do people play Arkham Horror in hopes of an easy win? Seriously, WTF?

So Humans!!! was the surprise hit yesterday. Easy to learn, interesting to play, and just fun enough to edge out AH as the best boardgame that I've played recently.

After beating the base game and then each expansion once recently in solo AH, I'm a bit burned out. I was going to try beating the heralds next, but I think I'll put it away for a bit and start soloing runebound again, which I havn't done in fucking ages.

Also getting burned out with descent. The Well of Darkness quests are such a grind, been houseruling them to help the heroes and they are still getting their ass kicked. Im convinced they are impossible.

Lately i've played some great stuff:

War of the Ring
Conflict of Heroes
Twilight Struggle

It was my first play of Conflict of Heroes and Twilight Struggle. Both were awesome games.

As Barnes noted earlier CoH may be "the one" - the definitive low-medium complexity tactical squad game. It's great for those who don't want more complex systems yet retains enough chrome/historical flavor.

The Action/Reaction system is interesting.

Look forward to playing this again.

Twilight Struggle was cool. My first CDG (event/ops game). Really fun and the time flew by. Can't wait to play again though I don't see it coming out for a bit (need more enthusiastic opponents!)

War of the Ring is, and always will be, badass. I lost as the Shadow player, but damn if it wasn't a good, close, game.

I'm dying to get some sort of multiplayer conflict game going though.

Hell i'd settle for 3p Nexu Ops. I really want to play some Acquire though (and yes, it's not a conflict game i know, but still multiplayer).

I might kidnap some people and force them to play Diplomacy with me.