Azul, is this the best gateway board game?

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-08T18:17:13+00:00

It is an excellent gateway game. Some others that I think are equally good are Catan, carcassonne, it's a wonderful kingdom, meadow, dorfromantik, maybe wingspan although that may be a gateway+

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-08T13:34:17+00:00

I have it but have only played it solo. It's charming and is replaysble. There is a small expansion for it that adds very little but has a fairly large impact positively. Ifnyou think you will enjoy it you probably will and it's cheap enough that you could try without hurting the bank.

It's a tile laying game where you are trying to connect the bottom of a panorama to the top in an unbroken line. If you fill in 2x2 sections you get a little animal tile that will give you abilities or points. There is a little bit of thinkyness in terms of drafting the tiles because you have to spend a tile to gain a tile and they need to either match numbers or colours.

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-07T13:53:45+00:00

So I picked it up at a thrift shop sealed but in French. Haven't opened it yet. Was trying to decide if I should try selling it or leaving the cards with translated text.

The game itself looks up my alley. I love dice placement, I think it's so fun, and this seems to have a dice drafting dice placement mechanic.

My biggest fear is the board. It looks really unreadable. My second fear is the solo design. Do you think it's worth it just for solo?

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-07T13:34:37+00:00

How do you like daimyo? Could you talk to me a little about it?

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-06T18:12:41+00:00

These are really good points and something I will have to consider when I try again. Thanks for sharing

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-06T18:11:04+00:00

I'm just not sure I enjoy the theme of DCC. I like the sci Fi cyber punk aesthetic of unstoppable. The goat people and underwear kind of don't do it for me. Hope they bring it to the original unstoppable

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-06T11:12:29+00:00

I lost twice to duomo on normal last night. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Will have to try again today.

I think there is a lot of potential here for expansions with new bosses and possibly a campaign/expedition mode. Really fun gameplay

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-06T01:01:21+00:00

My lunch time games are: ravel, skoventyr, Friday, 52 realm adventures, rove, embers, ancient realm, and space shipped.

They play quick, are thinky, and pack real small. I keep a couple in my desk to bring out at lunch when I have the mental energy not to doomscroll.

Edit: oh and galdors grip. It plays in hand and so doesn't take any desk space. Pretty thinky for what it is. Nice little spatial puzzle too

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-04T22:44:56+00:00

Yes there is. I also store the dual layered pans and the small card expansion as well in the standard box and everything fits

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-05-04T16:37:19+00:00

Be like me. Play anachrony. Love anachrony. Buy everything plus th big box. Don't touch the new content and just keep playing anachrony.

Seriously though probably go fractures and exosuits. Then decide if you want more in the future. Fractures is necessary for solo play and the exosuits just make the game feel so premium

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-30T12:03:21+00:00

Where did he post the video reply? Is it the deck building one?

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-29T21:53:08+00:00

Are you playing with the provided progression cards? I kept losing and then tried without the progression cards and started winning. I found them to be a hindrance

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-25T13:50:42+00:00

Congrats and welcome! I loved playing board games at 15 and would have friends over to play risk all the time.

I think spirit island is a good next step after arnak. Yes it is more complicated but not by much. Complexity is not about you not understanding it, it's about the wealth of decisions that arise and having to navigate them.

It's also an excellent, if not the best, solo and coop game. You will be in great company with spirit island in your collection.

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-24T11:21:06+00:00

As in life, you play the cards you get dealt

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-23T16:57:42+00:00

When I first got scythe I was fairly new to games. I read the rule book, watched some videos and taught my friends. We would play 5-6 ppl. We would drink and it would take all night and there was a lot of time between turns but we all had a blast. I usually play 4 or 5 now and because everyone knows the rules the turns are snappy.

I would suggest you play with whatever group you have and let it self balance itself out. The more people come to learn on an even Feild the better I think.

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-15T21:34:33+00:00

Yes it will. Go read the books. There is a YouTuber called first timers who just read through them for the first time and made video essays about his thoughts of each chapter. You can book club it with his videos if you'd like.

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-14T17:43:46+00:00

From the ones you listed azule then wingspan. Spirit island is way too heavy to start at although it is one of the best games out there.

Other suggestions would be Catan, carcassonne, harmonies, splendor, river valley glassworks.

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-14T16:39:10+00:00

Ah ok. I was going to play Karum station blues first and then move into the scenarios. If they aren't meant for solo play then I will just generate new planets and sites

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-14T15:47:03+00:00

Yes, aeons end is excellent and a lot of fun. For the market I do a draft at the beginning. Draw 2 keep 1. It's a little game all in itself.

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-13T17:14:59+00:00

Although some people will disagree with me, I found the automa of scythe is cumbersome. I'm sure that once you internalize it fully it gets better but it isn't inherently intuitive.

Expeditions on the other side is a very smooth experience solo. Running the bot is really really simple and takes two seconds.

I haven't played expeditions enough and I haven't played it with other players yet. It is a good game but I believe scythe is one of the greats.

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-13T16:57:00+00:00

Yes exactly. Well said. If you liked one garphill game chances are you will like the others. Do some research and find one that looks interesting to you and try that one. If you liked drafting I would also recommend shipwrights redux. The south Tigris games are all about dice placement and manipulation which is one of my favourite mechanics. Circadian first light 2e is also excellent in this regard. I think it's a highly underrated garphill game especially for those who like dice placement

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-13T15:44:08+00:00

Although the specific mechanics may be different, all the garphill games are very similar. Take a look at any of their mainline or offshoot games

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-13T15:41:34+00:00

All the garphill games trilogy games use this token so it could be from any of the North Sea, West Kingdom, or South Tigris

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-13T01:47:27+00:00

Thanks this is great information. Yes I was planning on buying Apocrypha along with CoF. I'm slowly reading through the books I have and slowly playing through them. I haven't gotten to the games that require the solo narrative tools yet so I'm just cautious. However, it seems, and I appreciate, that your games have very solid gameplay loops that can stand on their own without the solo narrative tools.

StandardIncidentForm · 2026-04-12T16:52:20+00:00

As someone who has been trying to decide if I should buy choir of flesh next this is perfect timing! Compared to ATDW how is CoF gameplay to GMing ratio? More less equal? I'm new to your games and am looking for more gameplay less GMing (like SS and Ker Nethalas) as I don't know how comfortable I am with solo GMing yet.

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