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I do like me the occasional board game. One that the wife and I usually play with friends is Settlers Of Catan. It's a terrific after-dinner game and requires lots of interaction between players, and is easy to pick up. Also, just recently played a game of Balderdash for the first time in years, and it's just as hilarious as I remembered.My favourite game, though, has to be D&D. I have a long-running campaign going with all the members of my band and my drummer's cousin, and we play old-school Advanced Dungeons&Dragons 2nd Edition, or 2.5 as the kids call it. I don't care how good a video game is, it will never be able to match the creativity and freedom of a paper-and-dice roleplaying game.
I *LOVE* Settlers of Catan, that's one of our all time favorites, and usually the first one we use to introduce new gaming recruits! We have the base game, cities & knights, Seafarers, and also the Star Trek Catan! The irregular schedules most of our group have kinda makes a regular D&D campaign sadly not practical anymore, although we've dabbled in a few quick adventures, just 2/3 sessions long. We were playing 3.5 though, mostly because the only person with books had that version.
Pandemic is also really great for interaction, because you're all trying to win together against the game. Lots of debate and strategy - easy to play, hard to win. :)
There's also a fun little game called Guillotine that we play with people who are less inclined to sit down to a game, or who have shorter attention spans. You collect "heads" of nobles, count up points, simple and fast, good for including kids, seniors or people who haven't moved beyond uno or monopoly in years. :)
There's more, but those are probably our most frequently played ones right now.
Sanasai wrote: "I *LOVE* Settlers of Catan, that's one of our all time favorites, and usually the first one we use to introduce new gaming recruits! We have the base game, cities & knights, Seafarers, and also th..."Settlers of Catan is an awesome game. I also really enjoy the variations of Risk - Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc... they add a number of strategical components over the original risk that really make the games fun. Plus, you can play as a team or sabotage your team its really awesome!
I wasn't ever too much into Risk, but my guy really likes it, and I've played the LoTR version with him. That version definitely made it more interesting for me.
Thank Goodness! December's almost over, and I can get back on some kind of schedule again. Hope you all had great holiday times, and here's to many good books to come in the new year!
Board game update! We had a mini International Tabletop Day celebration at our place, mostly to introduce a couple new friends to Catan, and much fun was had. Also we've been really enjoying playing Gloom, and Forbidden Island, a co-op similar to, but easier than Pandemic. Sojourner's Tales continues to get closer to having production finished, I should be getting my copy sometime this spring here, I'm eager to try that. Oh! and also found a lightly used copy of Acquire, the old version with the proper plastic tiles and board, which I'm really excited to introduce people to - I had tons of fun playing this with family as a teen, lots of good memories!
Sanasai wrote: "Board game update! We had a mini International Tabletop Day celebration at our place, mostly to introduce a couple new friends to Catan, and much fun was had. Also we've been really enjoying playi..."Catan is a great strategy game. Have you ever played any of the variations on risk (lord of the rings, star wars, others)? I've found those to be an exciting twist on the classic game adding new levels of strategy and more opportunities for cooperative play.
We've played LoTR Risk, but not lately, we've had trouble keeping the gaming going over the winter, because it's... a New England winter - no one wanted to go anywhere, including us :P Hopefully now that its getting nicer out, we can get more folks over and the variety of what we play will increase to what it used to be. The desperation to get enough folks to play a round of Battlestar Galactica is growing steadily. ;)
Sanasai wrote: "We've played LoTR Risk, but not lately, we've had trouble keeping the gaming going over the winter, because it's... a New England winter - no one wanted to go anywhere, including us :P Hopefully n..."Where in New England? I'm in NH and yes it has been a tough winter... though turning into a good spring
Hey I'm in NH also, I'm in Keene! :) you?
aha, so you're out on the coast. Do you like being right by the ocean? I grew up way inland, so I was always more about the mountains myself.
I like both. I'm an avid hiker so the mountains are no strangers, but I originally hail from NC so the coasts are more accessible for more of the year. There is nothing better than lounging on the beach with a good book and a volleyball or a frisbee nearby for breaks =)
Are you a big skier?
I never really got into skiing, I like winter for about a month and then I'm all done with it. Hiking is awesome though, I like to go meandering about the woods the whole rest of the year. Right now I've strained a muscle in one ankle, so I'm kinda stuck for a day or two til it settles back down. Back in the years when I was going out there alone, I would take a copy of Frost of Whitman with me out walking, but now I'm expected to at least make half an effort to keep up and not keep us out all day lol!
Where is/are your favorite places to hike in the NE? So far my favorite has been Falling Water around Franconia Ridge. I'm hoping to go to Katahdin later this summer and do Knife's Edge
Sad to say, a lack of reliable vehicles the last few years has kept me from exploring up here, so I've only been walking around the parks near Keene, no real hikes to speak of. Jim promises we'll at least make a trip up monadnock this year, it's becoming a bit of a joke that I haven't even been up the one Mt. the whole damn state has done! :P If I can get the car situation fixed I'll be able to start getting out to more interesting places around the state, I can't wait. One of the major things I wanted to do when I moved here was explore places to hike, and I've just been stuck as everything else keeps taking priority somehow. This year starts changing that though!My favorite from before I moved out here has to be Fall Creek Falls, TN. It was sooooo gorgeous, had so many trails, so many waterfalls, it was exciting, challenging, stunning, everything you could want. I stayed out all day every day of my vacation there, and I still think I missed a couple trails, there were so many! :) Hocking Hills in OH, North Bend and Hawks Nest/New River Gorge back home in WV were some other favorites I used to go to a lot.
Ooooh! Katahdin is the one at the top of the Appalachian Trail, huh? I won't be visiting that anytime soon, after a couple years of nothing challenging to keep me in shape I need some minor league mountains first. ;) Ever thought of doing the whole trail someday? I (slightly) knew someone back home who did it. Made him a local point of pride, it's such a long commitment.
Actually my brother did the trail about 17 years back. I was too young to hike any part with him but his pictures are pretty awesome - he has a nice gruffy beard by the end!I have been lucky to do day hikes on various portions of the trail but alas I enjoy hiking a few days and then taking in the modern amenities of home living :)
I hope you get the car situation fixed soon and can go explore!!
So 13 months after I first posted about it, Sojourners Tales is complete and delivered and in my hands! Haven't played yet, but I've opened it up and handled all the pieces :) They used really high quality, awesome materials, and they even included *extra plastic bags*!!!!!! (For the confining of card decks and pieces once that first plastic is removed.) Now that's a thoughtful act that only people who play a lot of board games themselves would include.The Meeples are huge, but they'll work well with the size of the game board, it just looks funny - I'm used to those being as small as people can get away with making them. 3 of the freebie stories are complete and available, but there should be more coming soon from other authors.
Hopefully I can get some people together to play soon, I'll pop back in and babble more about it once we've played!
Sanasai wrote: "So 13 months after I first posted about it, Sojourners Tales is complete and delivered and in my hands! Haven't played yet, but I've opened it up and handled all the pieces :) They used really hig..."Yeah I'm always really impressed when the game designers anticipate how the game will be played and stored. So often I find you setup only to discover the pieces can't withstand wear and tear from normal gameplay or can't be bundled neatly back together and the box lid sticks out funny! Glad they got that one right.
Tracy Hickman and his wife Laura are the ones making it, and it looks really exciting. I got in on the first day of the Kickstarter for it, and I can't wait! It's almost funded already, then it's just a long wait while all the work of producing it goes into effect. The solid product won't be complete for at least a year, but there'll be a loose prototype, DIY style after a few months. It's a mix of traditional board game and story-telling.
Last month I got my previous Kickstarter game I backed, Colossal Caverns. I knew I'd love it, and I did, but even better Jass and a friend who came over to try it out also had a lot of fun with it, so it'll get to be a fairly regular addition to board game night! :)
Anyone else in love with board games? :D