Out of Character Chat I

[Otaku Chi-Pu]

I have decided I know too much about gaming to enjoy Catan (without expansions) as much as all the people I play it with do.

It really is the modern Monopoly.

Sure, it is a wonderful game when that is all you know,

But...the fact you can sit for 5 turns and literally have nothing to do because no dice are rolled, or that in a high player game you can be boxed in to the point you physically cannot expand...

And I get the appeal, it is very easy to learn and the trade aspect is fun to most people. But ugh.

Sadly, I am afraid to introduce games I really like such as Empire: Age of Discovery, Power Grid, Twilight Imperium, or Fury of Dracula because of the complexity of rules or game length.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

Try Carcassone for a relatively simple gameplay with surprising amounts of tactical depths? Small World is also pretty light on rules... but exploitable by a savvy player.

[Seppun Hideo]

*nicknames Hideo Twilight Sparkle*

...Thank you?

Put your list of lists into an Excel spreadsheet!

For the absolute corporate experience, put in a meaningless macro that will break when you use it.

[Shinjo Liu Yue]

Ah yes, Settlers of Catan. It has become the most prolific board game among people who are only sort of delving into board games. I don't really care for it myself but I play it socially ^^

[Moto al-Kalb]

I find Catan has the right balance to make a good game for casual drinking. Just enough thought to still be interesting but not enough that you really have to worry about it. But, yeah, if sober and settling in to really play tabletop I'd pick something else.

[Ide Samai]

Put your list of lists into an Excel spreadsheet!

For the absolute corporate experience, put in a meaningless macro that will break when you use it.

And then you develop a tool to replace the Excel, only it's all freefillable fields with meaningless titles, so you can pull an Excel report from the list. Which you then need to format to make it 'dashboard-like' because colors trump values.

[Usagi Tomoe]

The best boardgame to combine with alcohol is RoboRally.

[Ichiro Daisuke]

I don't play enough board games >.>

Also list almost complete

Only 3 more ladies to go!

[Moto al-Kalb]

I never really had the right playgroup to get into Roborally. Too many people who were too hard on themselves when they mess up instead of finding the fun in failure.

[Otaku Chi-Pu]

I LOVE RoboRally!

SO fun.

I would have to try it when drinking.

[Usagi Tomoe]

That's a shame, as half the fun of RoboRally is to see how horribly wrong things can go when different plans collide.

I can second the recommendation of Carcassone as a replacement to Catan. I hate playing Catan, but Carcassone is always great fun.

[Otaku Chi-Pu]

The other problem I have is number of players.

I have some AWESOME 4-5 player games.

Once we hit 6-8 the options become SERIOUSLY limited.

I'd love to play Castles of the Mad King with people, or New York 1901. But 6 players be too many.

[Usagi Tomoe]

Axis & Allies with expansions works for that number.

[Shinjo Taichi]

I can go as far as 6 with Vivarium, Infiltration, Eclipse and Cutthroat Caverns, but more than that and I've got basically nothing except party type games and Arkham Horror, which I can't convince people to play anymore due to setup time.

At 5, Sentinels of the Multiverse (probably my favourite game, as long as people don't always play the same people) and Royals

And at 4 - Tragedy Looper, which is the new hotness with my group.

[Otaku Imane]

I'm a fan of Talisman and Eldritch Horror for larger groups (though with Talisman you really need the players to know the game so as to keep it moving).

I've been wanting to try Eclipse and Twilight Imperium for a while.