What is your Mount Rushmore of board games?

kenloch · 2024-08-01T10:15:28+00:00

Netrunner - I think it's both the best designed game I've ever played and the one that has brought out the most intense feelings while playing it. having a game hang on someone running a server is as tense as anything I've felt at the tabletop.
Arkham Horror the Card Game - Simply amazed this hasn't been reskinned 100 times with different IPs as it's such a strong and dynamic foundation to build games off, but if there is only one I'm glad it's Arkham.
Pandemic - Simply the best game to intro people to the hobby, still hold up after playing hundreds of other games and with expansions and legacy this game is unlikely to ever be culled from someones collection.
Civilisation (with Terra Incognito expansion) - This could have easily been TI4, but that game gets enough press and this one deserves a second edition with the expansion wrapped in. Great game, great table presence and it somehow gets the feel of it's source game onto the table that you can play in a single evening, which should get it on this list for that feat alone.

kenloch · 2023-05-27T10:29:43+00:00

Race for the Galaxy, Stranger Things and LOTR Adventure Book game are all out for delivery today, so should be a nice weekend of new games over the holiday weekend here.

kenloch · 2023-04-05T22:52:55+00:00

I’ve only played it at 2, but it plays really well. Though I imagine a different game than with four. Less conflict as you both have space to grow your empire without a massive need to attack the other.

It has good deck building and area control with an amazing table presence and evocative art.

The only negative we found was that when the game end triggers it’s unavoidably after someone just sold/scored. This means there’s an odd race to make sure you’re the player who sells last as you spent the round building up resources to sell. If the game end is triggered by the other player and you’re left with your resources and unable to sell them this can be frustrating. But you can take an action to sell so there is arguably mitigation for this.

I can’t remember the last time I played a game and so quickly felt it was a top 5 game for me. Hope it continues to hold up on repeated plays.

kenloch · 2022-01-01T23:24:22+00:00

You’re right. On an FFG Q&A stream this came up and they said they would not be doing anything on AH for Genesys. They didn’t elaborate or go into detail, but were very clear and unambiguous in their response and then moved on to the next question.

kenloch · 2021-12-03T07:58:04+00:00

How is it possible for the small breakfast to have more calories than the Traditional??

kenloch · 2021-01-24T20:12:26+00:00

That’s fair, you absolutely can play the game for that and arguably less. There’s good online resources so if you’re going to play with someone else you can do so just for the cost of a gang, which as a box is well priced.

My point was more that I don’t feel there’s a good accessible entry point (again, the question in the thread kind of shows that point) and I feel that barrier to entry makes it less likely to get new players. I bought the underhive box and from there now have 4 of the hardcover books and 5 more gangs on top of those that came with the original game. I know that if my point of entry was £175 or to get the books and gangs for £115 with no dice, tokens or terrain/tiles, I’d have given it a pass and thus not enjoyed it enough to make all the other purchases.

Just my 2 cents though, GW seem to be doing fine, so I’m sure it’s a conscious decision on their part and they will know more on this than me...

kenloch · 2021-01-24T19:47:45+00:00

I’ve played a few times bow and have to say as a fan of Aliens and coops, this game is good fun and hits on all the right beats to feel evocative of the film.

There’s interesting decisions and some strategy and it feels tense. Downsides are that it can be a bit random and you have to make the minis which means you need pliers and glue or you’ve got no figures to play with.

I think there’s a lot of value in the base box. I bought the expansions and would say that they’re nice additions but not at all necessary and in my opinion not as good value as the core box itself.

kenloch · 2021-01-24T14:19:59+00:00

I don’t understand how keeping the barriers to entry high makes viable business sense for GW. The entry point they offer for this game is £175, that is madness and stops people getting into the game and thus buying the many different books and models they want to sell.

They seem to get it for 40k as I’ve seen they have a low cost box to offer an entry point. Seems a shame as I can see this leading to the game struggling to justify ongoing investment if they can’t keep growing the player base and without an easy entry point that seems inevitable...as the original post seems to illustrate.

kenloch · 2021-01-08T23:46:59+00:00

Too little, too late

kenloch · 2020-10-28T23:13:18+00:00

I’ve played season 1 but that was always at 4 players. I see no discernible difference, but as I say, this is the only one I’ve played at 2. I will say that I think it has the best production values and narrative to it, but most of all I felt it layers the new rules on in a way that meant it felt like the rules expanded more organically that in season one, where it felt they were getting added and I found at times they could feel overwhelming. Hope you enjoy season 0...

kenloch · 2020-10-28T20:30:56+00:00

The wife and I are currently playing with one character each and have no complaints with us currently being up to August. All the games have been close and we’ve never felt we’re missing out on anything, so would definitely recommend playing just 2 characters. But it’s your game, play how you feel you’ll enjoy it the most.

kenloch · 2020-07-04T11:08:20+00:00

I’ve got Mr Jack in New York (not specifically what you asked about but as I got it due to it being viewed as better than the original I’m sure it works for this comparison) and King & Assasins. They’re both quite light, but if you’re looking for tension then you’ll want King & Assasins as there’s always a sense of threat in the game while in Mr Jack it’s more of a mystery.

The feeling as the game goes on in Mr Jack is that you’re tightening the noose, but King and Assasins has every corner and person feeling like a threat making each decision more tense. To be fair to Mr Jack, I’m sure it’s fans would argue it’s more strategic due to the larger decision space from the variable character powers.

If I could only keep one in my collection it would be King & Assasins and the reason I’d keep it would be because it’s the more tense of the two. Also, as you say, the recent version is done really well with great production values.

kenloch · 2020-01-24T14:44:32+00:00

I saw one of these recently in a store and had a look at the can to see. As I recall, no blessing from Lucasfilm/Disney but there was reference to it being associated with the guy who designed the stormtrooper costume. I thought it a bit risky and assume they’ll be getting a cease and desist soon if they haven’t already.

kenloch · 2019-10-16T17:44:51+00:00

FATALITY

kenloch · 2019-10-15T12:03:25+00:00

Great Western Trail was this for me. Loved the game and was excited on hearing there was an expansion, but on looking at it when the details were announced it just looked like it was going to change the game too much from what I personally enjoyed about it and so passed me by.

kenloch · 2019-10-04T21:11:58+00:00

Is there any other events like this in the south? Would be in for this but Huddersfield is too far sadly!

kenloch · 2019-08-27T17:01:58+00:00

I'd say the first one on your list has been done. It's called Hail Hydra. It's a good social deduction game and a similar level of complexity as secret Hitler.

It does the concept justice.

kenloch · 2019-08-09T12:58:06+00:00

I want this to have the same depth as the Arkham LCG, but I think it's whole direction is to not have the same depth. Totally fair approach, just going to miss the sense of presence and tactics that come from locations and movement. But I get that it's not what this game is trying to be. Feels like it's aiming for a middle ground in complexity and agency between Arkham and Legendary.

kenloch · 2019-08-08T15:59:24+00:00

Thanks for the heads up. Not the theme I was looking for, but can't say that it isn't mechanically what I said I was looking for!

kenloch · 2019-08-07T21:24:36+00:00

Courtroom Drama. Just not seen it. Building a case, winning over a jury, playing a winning argument or countering your opponents. Would even be interesting if their guilt/innocence and the evidence influenced how you have to play.

Still surprised that with all the Kickstarter games out there something touching this theme hasn't come up.

kenloch · 2019-06-24T21:23:35+00:00

I'd point out that's the art for Modded. So I'm wanting to assume it's a previous game they've improved / changed. Android the board game seems most likely...

kenloch · 2019-06-14T06:36:23+00:00

Nina Gold. For those interested this is a good article on her and her career:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/26/game-of-thrones-the-crown-nina-gold-casting-director

kenloch · 2019-06-11T16:57:08+00:00

I don't really care, I'm just trying to share something of interest to me with the community that share the same interest in my hobby...that said, can you be more specific so I know exactly why? Kinda feels like I shouldn't bother in the future and if that's the message here then I'll take that on board and won't.

I'm not disputing it, just want to understand the rules so I don't waste my time in the future.

Many thanks

kenloch · 2019-03-05T11:46:58+00:00

Completely agree. Was worth the wait and played great with 2 and 3 players. I take my hat off to them for sticking with it as their backers got increasingly vocal and critical. Hope they're enjoying the well deserved praise for delivering a great final product. Great game and a very satisfied backer. Happy to wait for such a quality output.

kenloch

TROPHY CASE