What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

SuperflyTNT wrote: To that point, The Fountainhead is actually entertaining and makes you think, but fuck is it hard to read. It's like Guns, Germs, and Steel in that regard - don't listen to the Audiobook while on a long drive or you WILL nod off and cause a wreck.

I liked Fountainhead far more than Atlas Shrugged. G,G&S was fascinating; I loved it. But whenever I recommend it, I tell people just to read the first half without guilt. It really drags after that.

They're both good reads or at least they were when I was a teenager reading them. At the time, they were exciting, a definite eye-opener for me, though I never became a rabid Rand fanatic because, while her philosophy has a lot of merit, as I got older I found it a little simplistic. I read the Fountainhead before I read Atlas Shrugged, which is a monster of a read. Atlas Shrugged was more about the politics of individualism while the Fountainhead is a story about the power of individualism (the human soul?) told from the perspective of a single man.

ThirstyMan wrote: Are there other books apart from Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand that are worth reading?

I would skip Rand completely and pick up anything by Murray Rothbard -- all freely available from Mises.org or elsewhere. Pick your format... mp3, pdf, html... his entire body of work from University of Nevada at Las Vegas and earlier is out there on the web.

how 'bout them board games

Michael Barnes wrote: how 'bout them board games

BTW, I'm playing Dead of Winter later today... any thoughts from those with some experience with the title?

aaxiom wrote: BTW, I'm playing Dead of Winter later today... any thoughts from those with some experience with the title?

I think it depends upon the enthusiasm of the group playing. If you're willing to roleplay a little and see the mechanics as metaphors, you can have fun. If you insist on seeing everything as card draws and die rolls, you'll be bored.

Gregarius wrote:

aaxiom wrote: BTW, I'm playing Dead of Winter later today... any thoughts from those with some experience with the title?

I think it depends upon the enthusiasm of the group playing. If you're willing to roleplay a little and see the mechanics as metaphors, you can have fun. If you insist on seeing everything as card draws and die rolls, you'll be bored.

I'm a big "What you put in is what you get out" kind of person... as is the group. That sounds great. Thanks for the info!

Yeah this one is all about what the group brings to the experience. Mechanically it's actually not all that interesting. But it can be a lot of fun with the right people.

I played Dead of Winter a couple ways and I found that it's less dependent upon the crowd (or rather, no more or less than most games) but it is very dependent upon the mode you play. Playing the pure co-op variant is fun, but isn't anything special. Playing the normal mode is really great, though. I'm not sure it lives up to the "BSG KILLER" title it's been given, but it's good.

Michael Barnes wrote: how 'bout them board games

Now, now we surely aren't banning casual talk around the table while we play games, right?

Had a 6 player game of Rex: Final Days of an Empire, took about 3 hours total. I was the cat people since they said it was the easiest race to play for a noob. Some interesting things going on, like the traitor mechanic for specific leaders and the alliance round randomly showing up and the different abilities of each faction. We didn't have an alliance round until the 6th turn of the game, which they said was pretty rare. Since I was going to win by default on turn 8 solo anyways I turned down alliances while the other four did 2 teams each and I held one fortress with something like 13 units.

Ultimately I'd rather play something else sadly. Once I got the hang of the game it didn't seem like there were that many choices each turn. Move one stack, deploy in one location, and possibly use a strategy card and thats it. For 3 hours of game it seems like it comes down to alliances at the end since a solo win is so difficult. And the board definitely doesn't draw me in - I took a look at Dune afterwards and the map itself is alot more engaging and logical rather than small spheres with lines drawn between them.

The only problem is we've had 6 people at game night almost every night for the last month or two and I can't find a 6 player game I actually like that much. Eclipse I hated. Thunder Alley is good but the randomness of the cards turns some people off. Game of Thrones I'm warming up to after 2 plays in a row, but it is a...dry game that seems to lead to predictable opening moves for each house and needs more randomness for me to enjoy and react to. Rex didn't have enough for me to get excited over. Cosmic Encounter is probably my favorite at 6. I really wish we just had 5, then I could get more plays of Kemet or Chaos in the Old World.

Scott_F wrote: The only problem is we've had 6 people at game night almost every night for the last month or two and I can't find a 6 player game I actually like that much.

You should seriously get a copy of Imperial, or Imperial 2020. No randomness, but that game is stabby and plays 6.

(Cosmic Encounter is never a bad choice either.)

Absolutely no Imperial. Never. Ever. I only played it once as a 5 player game and it is in my top 5 most hated games after that. There was alot I didn't like about it, starting with you win by investing and wars aren't really wars, they are a form of investing. We didn't even come close to finishing it in about 4 hours. Games where you collect money are just not for me.

Foolishness! Imperial is one of the best games of all time. My gang's two go-to six player games are Cosmic and Imperial 2030.

Wars really are a kind of investing, you know.

ThirstyMan wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote: how 'bout them board games

Now, now we surely aren't banning casual talk around the table while we play games, right?

Of course not. I'm banning these silly games that get in the way of good conversation.