I certainly own this game, and have enjoyed it - but honestly, in terms of the experience and mechanics it uses, I would 100% stand by the statement that Battlestar Galactica has totally one-upped it at this point. The intra-table suspicion is higher, the balance has always been edgier, and the player roles are far more distinct and allow for a lot more replayability through how different players play different characters (Gaius being a particular touchstone). I don't criticize Camelot's experience on an absolute basis - but time has marched on for it, however. (Plus the movement cards from the Merlin expansion stink on ice. They permit a rare situation where a player can be removed from play for more than 80% of the game. Fail.)


+1 on this. In fact, I'm so +1 that I'm running a demo of this lighter-than-air wargame at Fear the Con 4. If Risk without Dice with Rampaging Diplomats sounds cool to you, I highly recommend this one, and I will be teaching it live.


I've only played this one or two times, and will certainly commend it for authenticity to the material. However, it is very much a wargame with a fair amount of crunch and may not appeal to those who are not already happy with wargame titles. Only reason I would not have brought this up in the show is that it's probably not the best to use as an intro to wargaming. Given that it has strong roots in the Civil War game Battlecry, I would actually put Star Wars: Queen's Gambit as even perhaps a more basic intro to wargaming than Small World, because the limitation of two-player is a bit more classic to the wargame line.

I think probably the most succinct description of Carcasonne is that it's very similar to Dominoes. It uses are instead of dots on the tiles, but gameplay is virtually identical.

I have an obscene amount of love for this game and it's quickly become a favorite for one of my gaming groups. The really funny thing - the same player has gotten Underworld Elves twice and went on to rampage. Now we all fear the "Tra la la la DOOM" of the fungus elves.

It's amazing how many little in jokes you can get with this game. That and whoever seems to be winning in the middle almost never actually ends up winning. My wife is utterly sneaky with this game and usually ends up winning just by being quiet.

Oh, dude, thanks. I keep seeing this one bandied about, and I was too lazy to go hunting too hard to find out how much text is actually on the cards and whatnot.

Hrm, might give this one a shot. Got a Catan night coming up next week, so, I got a bit of time.

Might give Dread a try with this bunch too. That would be FUN.

The nice thing is, most boardgame companies put their rule books out for free as pdf's, so, when you're researching a new game, head to their website and read the rules first. Usually gives you a much better heads up as to whether you really want to sink the money into the game or not.

I know I'm late coming into this forum, but I own Tsuro, and my kids love it. If you are ever looking for a game to play with your kids, this is it. It's my son's favorite game after Go Fish. And he's 4. Along with this game is another one called Oshi. It's chess like, but not at all. Check it out. My 9 year old likes this one.

Small World has also become a favorite filler for my group. Its everything I wanted Risk to be, but RIsk wasn't. Fast, interesting all the time, and just plain fun.

Fortified Trolls are horrific. Once you get an infestation in your mountains, you never get them out.

We've only played a few times with the Kobolds, but they also seem overpowered. And thats just irony at a base level...

So is there a good board game recommender out there? I heard mention that Board Game Geek might be able to match similar titles, but I'm unsure of the capability.

I love "Us vs. the Board" style games, like Arkham or Pandemic. However, I don't like giant drawn out affairs with 5000 chits and little things to lose like Arkham, and I'd like to actually be able to win it, unlike Pandemic... I think it all spawns from playing Omega Virus and wanting to smash that little talky computer in it's virtual face.

You might well enjoy Forbidden Island. It's a sort of winnable Pandemic Lite. Comes in a nice tin, and costs $17.

I've owned both Omega Virus and Forbidden Island and loved them. Forbidden Island can get kinda old though it's not a very complex game and unless someone betrays you for no appellant reason it's almost impossible to lose.

I disagree. You may be making the same mistake I was at the beginning; when a tile sinks, you pull its card out of the deck too. My friends weren't doing that, and it was unloseable; when we started doing that, win rate dropped to maybe 50%.