What game is hitting your table?

[Jolo]

Trains - a deck building game with a slight flavor of Dominion but with more stuff to buy and also you are required to build tracks and stations, all in all, not bad.

London - card game from Wallace, rebuilding London after the Great Fire.

[Commando Cody]

Played an all weekend game of Empire Builder with my wife and kids (ages 10 and 11).  We never did finish, as the game was too long for my boys, and it took up the whole dining table so we were eating on a little green Ikea kid's table (it was cosy).  Will have to reintroduce it to them in a few years.  I've found that their attention span has increased with age, but they are not ready for quite that long a game yet.

Other than the length, they both caught on pretty quickly and seemed to enjoy themselves.

[R Newell]

The wife and I played a couple of games to celebrate my birthday a day late. (Actually, it was more an act of penance by the wife who dragged me along to help her shop for clothes and shoes -- my most hated activities -- on my actual birthday.  Though we also went to Comic Readers and grabbed me Clash of Cultures.)

First, at her request, a game of Mage Knight using the Volkare's Return scenario from the expansion. In this scenario, the players are racing to find a city, defeat it, and then defend it from the rampaging Volkare who is wandering the countryside.  The dude was recruiting new units like crazy and had built an impressive army. I had access to some ranged and siege attacks, which take effect before I take damage myself, so I made a try to whittle him down a bit. I managed to kill two of his tougher minions (of the 12 minions he had at the time) but I took 23(!) wounds between my hand and discard pile and wounded all my units for my trouble. Volkare ended the game by reaching the city early on the third day. The wife thought the scenario was impossible, so next time I think we'll tweak it so that drawing wounds are a non-action for Volkare rather than a possible recruit action.

After preparing a delicious meal of prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, and mashed yams with maple-glazed pecans, I cajoled her into a trial game of Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit. To her detriment, she neglected Anakin's spaceflight (mainly due to her disdain for Jake Lloyd, and partly because she missed the part of the victory condition in which all droids had to be cleared from the board). I put a large focus on the Jedi battle and, after slaying Dark Man and Renton, I rushed Darth Maul to the throne room to take care of Natalie Portman, Keira Knightly, and the security guy who's apparently named Captain Panaka. She was doing an effective job of holding off the droids from retaking the throne room. Maul was almost killed by the usually inept palace guards, but I lucked out and drew two healing cards late in the game. I ended up winning when a Destroyer Droid rolled up the stairs and finished off Keira Knightly. The wife wanted to play again right after since she figured out late in the game how to properly balance the battlefields, but I opted for pumpkin pie and sleep instead.

[Jolo]

Chaos in the Old World with 5 players, if this game is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

[Jolo]

A deluge of Wallace games and a game of exoglobalization lately.

1) God's Playground, a 3 p Wallace game based in Poland
2) Moongha Invaders (twice) a Wallace games based on destroying the world
3) Shilo, a 2 p Wallace game on the battle for Shilo
4) High Frontiers, six kinds of awesome, so good, we are playing it again this weekend

[Bix Conners]

I have not posted in this thread for awhile, it is time to rectify that. Here is what I have played so far this November...

Troyes x3 @ Home
Kathy and I have played three 2 player games of this. I quite enjoy the game and think that the dice mechanic is very clever and well balanced. This game has re-playability and staying power. I look forward to trying this with four players.

Castles of Burgundy x1 @ Home / x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
This is one of our favourite games. Stephan Feld has really proven himself as a designer. I can see getting years of enjoyment out of this game.

Tobago x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
It has been a long time since I had played this, so it was time to bring it out to ChewsDay Challenge. I enjoy the game and can see playing this occasionally (Say once or twice a year). Beautiful components and interesting mechanics. 

Bruges x2 @ Home
Having visited the city of Bruges in Belgium last May, I became interested in this game. The fact that it is a Stephan Feld design made it an auto-buy for me. I enjoy the game and see many plays in the future. It is not my favourite Feld design though. I am left feeling like the game ends just when I am starting to ramp up my plans. Bloody Feld games make you feel inadequate.

Antics! x1 @ Home
This is a Fragor game designed by the Lamont Brothers. I quite enjoy this game. The mechanism of building your anthill to give you more options or more powerful options is a very cool mechanic. I need to play this more often.

River Dragons x1 @ Home
I think this game has some fun "screw you" elements that makes it fun and engaging. The player interaction is hilarious. The trouble with the game is the fiddly bits. Perhaps picking up some mactac to keep the bridges from sliding and falling apart all of the time would cure that. Other than that, this is a fun light filler game.

Diamant x1 @ Home
This is the German version of Incan Gold. Another fun light filler that is generally a hit with everyone when it gets played. I generally suck at push your luck games and this is no exception. Still, I very much enjoy it. The pieces in this game are nicer than the Incan Gold version.

Acquire x1 @ Home
A Sid Sackson classic. Glad I played this, I was overdue. This needs to hit the table a couple of times a year. We played a full 6 player game. Fun times. I am glad I have the 1999 version with the cool bits.

Shogun x 1 @ Home
Jeepers. I am getting all sorts of awesome games to the table lately. We played a five player version of this. Rocky start to the game as we had to separate all of Tenno's Court expansion components from the game prior to starting. Once we started though, game was fun, engaging, and very interactive. A three way tie for first place.

Crokinole x3 @ Home
Always enjoyable. We sometimes just set the board up on the dining room table and leave it there for a couple of weeks. Random games just seem to break out. Always glad when they do.

Mega-Carcassonne x1 @Home
We played a 4 player game of this in two teams of two. Lots of expansions in play. We made sure the "screw you" expansions (Tower, Dragon, Plague) were in play. Fun game and the scores were very close at the end. Always up for 1 or two marathon Mega-Carcassonne games every year.

Stone Age x1 @ Home
I now consider this a classic. It is one of the first worker placement games that caught my attention. It is a good example of a simple worker placement game and it can be easily taught and quickly played.

Star Trek: Fleet Captains x1 @ Home
Very thematic game and since I am a trekkie at heart, this is a keep for me. I played the Klingons and got my butt handed to me by the Federation (Bryce). I would really like to try a three player game of this with the added Romulan expansion.

Galaxy Trucker x1 @ Home
Chaos in a box. I enjoy the game for what it is, a light chaotic experience. I would like to play it with all of the expansion options added in to see how they alter game play.

Atlantis x1 @ Home
I think this is a great filler game. After getting this game, I sold my copy of Cartagena. This is a more robust game and has more meaningful decisions.

Himalaya x1 @ Home
One of my favourite games. Again, I need to get this to the table more often. I think my efforts to greatly shrink the size of my game collection will really help me to focus on games I truly enjoy a lot. This game really shines.

Castellan x1 @ Home
Played a four player version of this. After a few plays, I am not convinced this game has much to offer. I like the concept and the bits are wonderful. I think this has limited play for me. Perhaps some variants will get published to enhance game play.

Neuroshima Hex! x2 @ Home
I am so glad I bought version 3.0 of the game, even though I have version 2.5. I also have a whole pile of armies that I bought from Print & Play Productions. This game is quite enjoyable and even more so in team play. We played two games with four players in two teams of two. Another game that will continue to see game play at our house.

Poker x1 @ Home
I have been running a Texas Hold'em league for many years. Some games, I do very well, some games, not so well. Let's just say on this particular night, I spent most of the evening in the Loser's Lounge playing Rockband.

Fluxx The Boardgame x3 @ Home
I wanted to like this... but I don't. Seems too easy to win. My games were all with 2 players, perhaps a 4 player game would be very different. On to the sale pile.

Takenoko x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
This wins the award for coolest bits in a game. Very nice looking game. I enjoyed the game and would like to play it again to determine if it is one I would like to add to my collection or not. I am slowing down my game purchases and now only want to purchase titles that will see a fair bit of repeat play.

Tokaido x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
Another game that looks wonderful. I like the game play in this, but again this is a game I want to play once or twice more to really form an opinion and to determine whether I would want to buy my own copy.

Kakerlaken Poker  x1 @ ChewsDay Challenge
This game is a great filler. It functions well as an ice-breaker for getting players who do not know each other to start interacting. We use this at ChewsDay Challenge to ease people into the game group and add a bit of levity to a game night. Probably doesn't hurt that I am an absolute goof when I play this.

Mexican Train Dominoes x1 @ Friend's House
This is a fun game for a group to sit around a dining room table, enjoy a glass of wine, and play. My wife and I both enjoy this. This generally comes with us on our camping trips as well.

Extreme Aggravation x1 @ Friend's House
Playing Aggravation with cards instead of dice adds a lot more meaningful decisions to the game. Especially when you have a hand of cards and some of the cards have special uses. Play in teams and the game is perfect of a a glass of wine and some levity around the dining room table.

[R Newell]

Mage Knight Board Game

The release of the Krang character expansion has reignited the wife's obsession, so we've played this eight times since the middle of October.  Last night was an epic cooperative victory over General Volkare, with the wife slaying his final minion (a brutal fire dragon) with our last action.  I finished the game with something like 48 wound cards in my deck and all my units wounded.  (We actually ran out of wound cards.  Never came close to that before.)

Other games played recently include:

Robinson Crusoe

4-player game of Castaways (intro) scenario.  Victory in round 10.  I left Friday in the box but included the dog.  I won't be using either of them in the future for this scenario as it takes away too much of the challenge.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords - Base Set

Who names these games?  I showed up a little late, thereby missing the rules explanation, and so was playing catch-up on how to play for much of the game.  We also played with 5 players despite the game only accommodating up to 4.  I think I like the game, but that wasn't an ideal way to try it.

Cyclades

Fun and smooth amalgamation of a typical Euro auction game with a typical dudes-on-a-map conflict game.  I didn't get the value of turn order until late in the game so I didn't do so hot.

Libertalia

Fun game of role selection (kinda like Citadels), trying to create some synergistic card combinations with those roles, and a bit of bluffing so that others can't screw you over if they predict your choice.  It was a bit mind-boggling since there are so many roles to choose from, but I think this is a game that would blossom with experience.

[Cordawg]

Pathfinder can play up to 6 btw and going to recap u guys on what games I play while in Dallas should b fun

[Tempest]

I was gonna post about some of those games you posted Matt, just been lazy haha. Out of those I played: (and enjoyed)

Mega-carc, Neuroshima Hex, Diamant, Acquire, Shogun, Castellan and Himalaya. I'd definitely like to play pretty much all of them again except maybe Diamant, which I don't like as much... it's still a fine "in-between" game though.

I also recently picked up Ikusa (formerly Shogun/Samurai Swords) and played a 3 player game with my friends on Saturday. Very similar to Shogun... I always describe it as Axis and Allies in Feudal Japan. That's not the best description, but it's probably the easiest analogy to make. I discovered that going first can make a HUGE difference; me and one friend kept going first and second and ended up unintentionally eliminating the third guy from the game so the game ended in about 3 or 4 rounds, I think. The goal is to capture 35 territories, when this happens the game immediately ends; in future games, I'd play the rule to let all players finish out the round before the game ends to give everyone a chance to try and win. In our game, the guy who won had 18 territories before he eliminated the third guy, and since you get the eliminated person's territories, he immediately won when he eliminated him. I happened to have about 30 territories on that turn. All in all, I really like it as one of those strategic military games.

[Bix Conners]

Last night...

Bora Bora x1 @ Home
Well, I guess I can officially be called a fan boy for Stefan Feld and his game designs. Bora Bora is yet another solid game that uses dice in a clever manner. I very much enjoyed my first play and look forward to exploring the design further with future plays.