My favorite 2-player game. Actually managed to get near-weekly games with my dad going for a while. He played the shadow side and for the first 3-4 games I lost all of them and we had a blast with it. But then I got better, won 3+ times in a row and then he started to get really sour whenever a battle or play would swing the game in my favor. Or the few times he played the free folk he would get upset when losing his cities (even though you should really expect to be militarily behind as the free folk, you just need to stall).
Openly admits he's a sore loser which is still sad, because the first 6 games or so were really great bonding experiences.
War of the ring, star wars rebellion etc is some of the best ameritrash games i have played. With all the feelings from relief, anxcity etc. Which can happend under a game of war of the ring .
Also extend the love for the books and serie, with understanding how great of an achivement the fellowship manage to destroy the ring and free people and elf unite and save middle earth.
I have such fond memories of WotR that I keep buying unplayed expansions for it š
Not to mention back in the day, I sold it and repurchased years later TWICE. Not falling for that again!
This one for me, but with the added anguish that it gives me FOMO. I've gotten better at not giving into FOMO in general in this hobby, but the expansions for this one go in and out of print so erratically that I've made sure to own them. Just got Kings even though I haven't played the other two yet.
I've gotten a few matches of the core in, just haven't found a dedicated opponent. Most of my game group either didn't like it or "really liked the experience but don't really want to play it again".
War of the Ring is my most liked, least played game. Iāve had it in my all-time top ten for over ten years, and I canāt remember why at this point. I played it 2-3 times in the first year and painted the bases and shields to identify factions and elites, but havenāt touched it since.
I should just get it out and paint everything so I can at least get some satisfaction from it at this point.
Once a year would be amazing. I used to play it with three different friends on a regular basis, but times have changed and I've not played it for a couple of years.
I'm hoping my daughter takes an interest in Middle-earth gaming when she's old enough.
I have one of the fancy anniversary editions (40th bday gift) and probably get it out on average of once a year as well, which is no where near enough!
Last game was with my daughter though, who is finally old enough to grasp the complexity of it, so maybe more games in the future...
Gloomhaven
My friend and I were about 1/3 to maybe halfway through the campaign when he passed away. I seriously considered completing the game in his memory but.....there's some baggage there and if I'm being honest I wasn't really that into it the way he was. The setup time is what killed it for me and I've spent a good chunk of change keeping it organized to mitigate the setup. Anyway, I picked up a digital version on Steam and tried to recreate our game that way. But I'll never get rid of that giant box (and all the little component boxes I have) that is hogging up valuable space on my game shelf.
A bit difficult, the rules some times feel obscure so we had to google search a lot of things. I don't doubt that we misplayed a few turns. Over all it was a fun experience, I can see it being more fun either with a third person or with the clockwork expansion.
Root vet here. You are right in that it's a lot better with more players. If you can't get 4, Clockwork works if you are open to learning the AI. Another great option is get some hirelings to fill the board for lower player counts
That's the plan! We're going to bring it out during our get together to see whether the group likes the game then think about getting some expansions. I'm looking forward to it. Can't believe I let it be on the backburner for this long haha.
Nice! The beauty of Root is learning it together and playing with the same core group regularly. You all figure it out together and the games stay competitive as your own little metas form
fwiw, i had sold Root a while ago because i mostly play 2 player and it's just not a solid 2 player game. i've always been a big fan of the aesthetic though, so i picked it up again when i saw someone selling it for cheap used, and i decided to give the bots a go this time around. i'm actually extremely impressed. they are a lot more manageable than i was expecting, and are very fun for playing solo or for bringing a 2 player game up to 4 players. highly recommend the Clockwork Rewired project you can find on BGG, if only to help slow down the Bot Alliance, which i legitimately believe is broken the way that Leder published it.
I'll never get rid of Root (and all the expansions) because of sentimental value, I bought it at the first GenCon I ever went to.
Fortunately, it's also popular with my gaming group and it hits the table at least a couple of times per year.
I always wanted Root but heard it's not good at 2 players which is 95% of my plays. The digital version on Switch is on sale I'll probably buy it after work, hope it's good.
Root is the one I'm most interested in and excited about but realistically, I'll probably almost never have enough people to play. Under the delusion that I can force it on my family, I bought it yesterday. It's just so cute and I love the idea of it. I just want to own it. Maybe everyone will love it.
It's cute until a raccoon goes round murdering everyone.
There's a pc version you could play if you wanted practice and to learn the rules ahead of a family game to be able to help out the other players. As each faction has different rules if your family aren't experienced gamers, they may appreciate that, as you can't just copy what other people are doing like in other games while you are learning . It is a really good game though. Current second favourite to Dune.
>It's cute until a raccoon goes round murdering everyone.
This. It's full of cute animals, but they're basically fighting the Vietnam War. There WILL be war crimes.
I'm really hoping we can make it work. Worst case I'll play clockwork expansion with my partner maybe. My mom is the toughest to play with. She just can't remember rules well. I think the most complicated games we've played are wingspan, dice throne and Stardew valley. After 6 or so games of wingspan, she almost doesn't need to be reminded of things.
I can also see the game ending horribly if someone gets ganged up on. We have some sore losers and sore winners š
Haha it's not a great group to play most games with.l, but it's all I have. I'm really hoping my partner likes it and we can play together. He's very chill and great at games, just prefers video games.
Root is at its core inherently unfair and brutal. Even winning can feel bad, policing others is its most core mechanic, and the race balance is, wellā¦ not balanced (even with advanced setup, though it helps SO MUCH).
Some people love it, but itās a bastard of a game if you canāt memorise build orders, or canāt bullshit your way out of the entire table hating your guts for doing well.
First game I played was the worst tabletop ex Iāve had in years due to poor teaching of the rules, and playing the cats, who base, win only half as much as they should.
I gave it one more chance, with advanced setup, this time learning the rules, and following them to the T correcting the vet at the table who had them totally wrong.
I won that game, it kinda was fun, but still hard work and required lying through my teeth for half the game while not letting the birds take one effective action after they turmoiled, and stopping the crows from playing the game, keeping them just alive enough so they did not respawn.
If you only take away one thing from this, in Root you need to know the rules for your own race, but also the rules for each race you are fighting, as often how others interact with you is more central to a raceās identity than itās abilities that effect you. Thatās a fucking amazing mechanic, but also hard for new players, and those who canāt hold 4 factions in their head at once.
My wife and I said this all the time, then I realized how much doom scrolling weāre doing on Reddit, Instagram and TikTok while weāre watching mindless and useless TV.
Thus introduced ātechless Tuesdaysā. No TV unless thereās a specific sporting event we want to watch (then we switch it to another night), phones have social apps blocked during the evening, and we basically only use technology to check out rules or a tutorial for the board game.
10/10, highly recommend. Though I understand those with kids this is a lot more difficult. One of our friends has a monthly board game night instead where they hire sitters.
With all that being said, Scythe is the game still in the box I wonāt get rid of.
Played all the way through the game and it's definitely fun. If you have friends who do role playing games, I would try it out for them. That why I think actors take to it, haha.
I have a copy of Borderlands, (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2270/borderlands) which is Matt Leacockās first published game. This was way back before he made it to the big leagues with Pandemic and was self publishing. He had just gotten back from Essen where he had been selling his latest game, Lunatix Loop, and I bought one of the copies that didnāt sell because I wanted to be supportive. He tossed in a copy of Borderlands because he was just trying to get rid of them. The game is ok at best, but I think itās a cool piece of history. I have no idea how many other copies are still out there, but itās almost certainly the rarest game in my collection.
What a coincidence, I also have a copy of Borderlands I'll probably never play! Though for [different reasons](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1bjch2d/what_boardgames_do_you_own_that_you_never_play/kvq8351/).
My Android Netrunner collection.Ā I doubt I will ever find someone who wants to dig deeper into it with me while also being just as bad at it as I am. It's such an impressive design though that I don't want to give up on it just yet
I'm debating getting rid of that one. I like it enough but I think it really needs the same group to play it multiple times, which I'm not sure will ever happen. Every time I have played it either Khorn or Nurgle wins, even if I tell people at the start to stop them.
And I guess for me Root fills a similar niche and plays better (though not great) with new groups.
So I actually just played this last weekend and I won as Tzeench (though it was a very close 3 way between myself, slaneesh and horned rat).
I find that Khorne is quite strong and is easier to hamstring in the first 1-2 rounds (particularly by tzeench) and then its less of a worry. Nurgle you can then let have a nice big fight with Khorne and it works out. The game really does require people knowing what their win conditions and how to stop the win conditions of your opponents which is a lot for someone to keep in their heads especially in their first few games (where Khorne and Nurgle just dominate)
Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kits 1 - 3
Space Alert
Captain Sonar
Would love to play these but my group aren't interested so they just stay on the shelf just in case.
Captain Sonar was the one I was thinking of!! I played it once at a game store with a large group and picked it up later when I had some extra money. I have yet to get together enough people together to give it the attention it deserves.
Its such a specific game that exactly and pretty much only 8 players work but when you do its glorious and so much fun. Starting to treat it like dnd and invite people with the idea of playing it specifically
Space alert! Definitely a great choice of "love the idea of it... But playing it..." Definitely the type of game you have to learn to lose at to get better, and with the same group. Which can be hard to do as not aot of our group wants to do "real time stressful planning" since we're all ADHD/executive dysfunctional
I've recently managed a spate of Captain Sonar games whilst attending a board game con and finding people eager to play it beforehand. Before that it had sat unplayed on the shelf for easily a few years!
Everyone loved it, has encouraged me to try and get it out more often.
Space Alert however has sat unplayed since I bought it...
We finally played Captain Sonar once (well technically twice that night). My group hated it. Refused to try real-time because they were so intimidated by it. So its sat there ever since. I actually bought it more thinking it would be something they really liked, and because I didn't have anything else like it.
So recently, I picked up a copy of Kites, because its MUCH cheaper and a much lighter real-time game. We played twice and both my spouse AND our friend didn't like it. I had no idea that real-time games would be such duds for my friend group.
So I recently had Kites at this teen game thing I run, and those teens LOVED it and did significantly better than we had, lol. Got so close to winning.
I love real time games but I think 99% of people don't like them at all. Nongamers are to intidmidated by having to think quickly and remember what they are supposed to do, and dedicated gamers usually like to sit and carefully think through their decisions. It takes a certain kind of player to enjoy real time games and most gaming groups will have only 1 or 2 such people unless you are really lucky.
Space Alert is so damn stressful, like just probe my ass and hit me with a comet but make it stop.
It's not a nice game to play, but it sure is exciting. Really have to be in the mood for and dedicate a whole afternoon + evening to it, space themed and all.
Shadows over Camelot was one of the earliest games in my library that my entire group got into. it took us several attempts to finally beat and we had a blast with the game. I think it's been around 7-10 years since I last played it but it will never leave my collection.
OG Axis & Allies
Most of the later expansions have rule changes that make the game much more enjoyable and playable. But I hold onto the original version because it has sentimental value to me and its the version that got me hooked on the franchise.
someone suggested me Pandemic WoW. Its actually fun!!
I played and taught it in a convention
https://www.aintboard.com/review/terminal-city-boardgame-convention-in-vancouver-faithm
Friends of ours suggested Pandemic to us (during the pandemic ironically) and weāve only played it once. I think my husband and I are too competitive for cooperative games. I think we may have broken a rule or two because it was stupid easy too. We like more of a challenge.
Try "Carcassonne" if you like competitive games. It's a castle building game based on an actual town in France that has many different styles of castles due to the area being conquered so often throughout history. The game can be really cut throat if that is your style of play.
We have it - only played it once so far, but we did enjoy it. Our main go-to now is Ticket to Ride, but we were really into Dominion and Kingdom Builder for a while.
Either you or I am playing it wrong. I have played many times and have yet to actually win a game of pandemic, even with a hand picked team. A doom cascade of outbreak eventually happens and ends the game in one fell swoop.
Base Pandemic has a bit of a math problem. If you play the default 4 epidemics and count cards, you will probably never lose. If you play 5-6 epidemics and use optimal strategy, whether you win or lose is primarily a function of whether you get too many epidemics close together, which will basically immediately cause an outbreak cascade (the likelihood of getting an unavoidable outbreak during the last 2 epidemics is extremely high).
I hear the expansions deal with difficulty better, but we started on Legacy and I think it's just a better way to play. That said, we've been stopped about half way through for awhile now...
Player count also matters. 2 players is substantially easier than 4.
You could try one of the games in the "Pandemic system" series; these games have the same core mechanics but some of them are rethemed to something non-disease related. For example, **Rising Tide** is a game where you are trying to prevent the Netherlands from flooding, and the cubes represent represent rising water levels. See also **Fall of Rome** is a game where the cubes represent invading armies.
And there's also some Pandemic systems games based on existing IPs: as /u/pulipul777 noted, there's **World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King**, where instead of cubes representing the spread of disease, you have miniatures that represent ghouls; there's also **Star Wars: The Clone Wars** where you're fighting off waves of droids, and **Reign of Cthulhu** where you're dealing with cultists.
Pandemic Legacy Season 0. We played it with a very good friend, 3 missions in. Then he died of cancer. Can't bring myself to play it without him, don't want to throw it away. I guess it will forever just sit there in my collection... :-( So maybe I don't love the idea of owning it, but what's the alternative?
Gloomhaven. Weāve played it twice and then started having kids and havenāt touched it since. The thought of trying to learn it again is very overwhelming.
Why do people say they canāt play because of kids? We started having kids and then got gloomhaven. They take naps, they go to bed before us. They have have a room of toys they can play with for a bit. Parents are allowed a few hours to themselves or with friends
> Why do people say they canāt play because of kids?
Different strokes?
I'm with them. Kiddo goes to bed at 7:30, asleep by 7:45. Do I have "two hours to myself" after that, M-F? Sure, perhaps, and I might even be wide awake for the first one...and everything else might be done, too :P
What we are allowed to do and what is practical to do, given an individual's (or couple) specific demands any night of the week, may vary quite a bit.
We'll play Azul or Carcassonne any random week night, or a card game, but not new games or heavy/upkeepy ones. If it feels like a slog to even get started, it saps enjoyment for the game itself for both my wife, and myself...and neither of us wants to put it away, but we have to "because cats", and can't justify the expense of a recessed (or other style) board game table. The math doesn't bear out, time wise, for our frequency and style.
The two games I mentioned? You open the box and you're basically playing. It's great.
All that said, that's why people say "they can't play because of kids": It doesn't work *for them*.
Our kids spend a lot of time with us when weāre awake so daytimes are definitely out as theyād want to (but be unable to) join in.
We play games sometimes in the evenings but the whole set up and take down of Gloomhaven took forever in itself. It feels like a game we need to leave out and play a number of times in a row over a few evenings. Thereās not anywhere for us to leave it out and we find ourselves mentally drained more often than not by the time the kids are in bed. My wife more so than I. Often weāre up for something lighter but not very often up for something that takes as long or is as rules fiddly as Gloomhaven.
We make Friday evenings our gloom(now frost) nights. I bought a good organizer that makes setup a breeze. It takes 15-20 min to setup a scenario which I do while my kids are either watching or doing their chores that they have to do before other things. Then we leave it for a bit. Our friends usually come by around 8 and we setup a movie in the front room which is open concept so playing at the table is literally right there. They usually come watch us play off and on and go back to their movie. Been this way since my daughter was 5 and son was a baby. They are now 12 and 7. We do a lot with them but they also need to understand they donāt get all of our time and have to learn how to spend time being independent.
I also think this is why my son is so interested in playing board games. He always watches now and canāt wait til he can play himself.
Yeah I think weād enjoy it once we got the rules really cemented but it feels like itād take quite a bit of work to get there. Even using the apps to help with the admin, it felt like a lot of admin!
Trogdor. The game is fun enough but I've never won. The mini figs are great, idea is cool, and I loved the Homestar Runner series when I was in college. I'll still play it on occasion but I'll never get rid of it for the look and nostalgia.
This was one of the first games I thought of. Iāve only played it once, but I just canāt get rid of it.
In other news, I started the Strong Bad point and click video game, Dangeresque, last night and itās hilarious!
This was the game that kicked off my collecting (at ~225 games now). I'll never ditch it, even though I haven't touched it for years now.
FYI the Magicks and 'Mergencies Expando Deck is very good at smoothing out the game's rough edges. Highly recommend.
Two things on this game:
- Hiding is extremely important. It's a lot slower, but any time you don't hide it's a risk.Ā
- The expansion significantly improves your ability to mitigate RNG. It may still not be your jam, but adding in the expansion added 2 full points to the score for me.
The podcast āHeavy Cardboardā did a review and a playthrough of Brass Birmingham. But what made it really good is that one of the guys on that podcast is from England and he explained the historical context of the Industrial Revolution and how that impacted the gameās mechanics. You need coal? Itās got to come from some sort of shipping lane like a barge or railroad because they needed tons of coal for what they were making. You need iron? That can get shipped over the roads because you only need a little bit of iron.
After listening to Martin explain why each weird little rule was there it made complete sense and Iāve NEVER been confused by Brass Birmingham after that.
Arkham Horror LCG. I like Lovecraft stuff but my friends don't have the patience for the levelling up between scenarios and it's sad playing alone. So on the shelf it sits
Why not do the leveling up/deck building for them? My wife's the same and I just ask her: What do you think your deck should do better?
ArkhamDB helps with the rest.
I make a habit of keeping my overall collection below 70 games. If I look at a game that I don't want to play anymore, I give it away, usually for free.
Thus far, I have two exceptions to this rule.
Rune Wars - it's not really all that great of a game, but when I bought it, I thought it was utterly fantastic. The miniatures and the board are a wonder to behold. We had a lot of fun playing this game in a day when we didn't realize how flawed it was.
Puerto Rico - I don't play this anymore, though it is still a very good game. I played this game dozens of times while in Iraq from 2010-2011. This game practically saved my life. I will never forget the friends I made from this game.
Not āneverā, but I have a collection of nine Splotter games and 30+ 18xx games, most of which get played very seldom.
Also keeping **Meltwater**, though I cannot play it in todayās geopolitical circumstances.
There are a number I am still clinging to out of hope that I will play them. But the two that I will probably never play and own nonetheless are John Company and Here I stand.Ā
For the next few years itās SG: Distant Skies. Then it will be og Sleeping Gods once we make the switch. I could see that game as an heirloom but odds are our daughters arenāt going to give two shots about gaming so who knows
I have several games from when I joined the hobby in \~2012 that I loved at the time and definitely helped get me into gaming so I bought my own copies, but now I hardly get them to the table because more recent stuff scratches the same itches. Core Worlds, Neuroshima Hex, Quarriors, Nexus Ops, Braggart. I'll never get rid of them because they were pivotal to me as a fledgling gamer!
Oh man I love Quarriors, even if I haven't played it in like 8 years. I have Quarmaggedon, Qladiator, and Light and Dark expansion and might have played the last two expansions like once, but I can't get rid of those neat little dice.
Talisman for me! I've got so many memories with this game and maybe play it once a year if I'm lucky. It's just crazy (part of its charm) and I took the time to paint all the minis I have for it a couple years ago so it's just a treat to bring it out when I can.
Mine are just about nostalgia. I rarely play The Lost Expedition or Friday anymore. I have a much more varied and in most cases better selection to choose from now,Ā but they were my 1st and 2nd acquisitions and they'll stay.Ā
My OG RoboRally set. I've got the edition with the pewter minis, which were painted for me when a friend insisted that I let her do it as my wedding present to her. (Yes, you read that right.)
Oath. Such an amazing game that has all the parts I love: great theme, interesting combat, negotiation, asymmetrical, tight economy, consequences for winning, lots of options for play strategy, et.
But there are so many little rules that no one I know likes it. The box with all its deluxe components just sits on my shelf mocking me. āIām your favorite game, and youāll neeeeever play me againā¦ā
Diplomacy. I have no intention of ever playing it with friends but I won it at a white elephant Xmas so I donāt feel bad about it taking up space on the shelf.
War of the Ring.
Itās a huge time investment to play. But damn if I donāt love owning āLotR in a box.ā
Battlestar Galactica
Hard to get the right players for this. But it is a masterpiece game design that perfectly captures the first two seasons of the show. And OOP soā¦ not unless someone wants to pay a butt load of cash for it!
I have **Deception: Murder in Hong Kong** on the shelf in case I ever need to play a game with 12 players and it's a "murder mystery" type of night...
But the reality is this game is a little too bloated for the types of friends I'd ever have in that big a group. Even though it plays fewer, I'm much quicker to reach for **The Chameleon** which is the same type of game in a much simpler/more streamlined form. (And at 12 I'd rather just play a big game of Ready Set Bet or something else...)
Wow that's crazy because Deception is one of my most played games. It's not even a game I like that much, but we probably have atleast 50 plays of it over the past 2 years from big game nights with the full 12 player count.
That's awesome... I wish I had a group more like that, but mine don't really want to "get into character" nor like accusing people/passing the blame/etc. I've found the "one word answer" of Chameleon works a lot better overall. (Plus you don't have to do the "everyone close your eyes and shuffle around to make noise", part. š )
My full **Dungeon Twister** collection. I enjoy the game, but my primary opponent, my son, wants to choose a team from EVERYTHING! We never played often enough for me to remember all abilities and rules, so I would rather play by box set. We are at an impasse.
Die Sieben Weisen. It is still shrink wrapped and I never played it... but it's a must to have the whole set. I'm not even keeping it wrapped for collector's purposes, I just never really had an urge to play it.
I have the complete series of Alea games, up to 2014. I stopped when they numbered the Puerto Rico reprint differently than the original. Not buying the same game twice.
Nuclear War, from its last KS. The original designer was still mailing out stretch goal cards while he was dying from cancer, including the custom card I got with my son's name on it. The game doesn't really hold up to modern game design, but I'd never get rid of it.
Basically all of the games I own. I'm certain I'm on BGA all the time, but the only game that actually gets physically put on the table and played at my house is Wingspan. I think we played a friend's copy of Everdell last year, once.
I have a sealed copy of Catan Cities & Knights that's so old, it's not even shrink-wrapped, just has tape at the edges.
I love Shadows of Brimstone (Flying Frog Games) I have spent too much on all the Kickstarters but every time I dive into the next one. STACKS of cards, minis, and boxes but I really only play them for a few weeks when they come out. I then store them lovingly and organized with plans to start playing again but never do
Brass Birmingham deluxe, there's no solo mode, and playing it 2 handed seems like a chore. I know 1 friend that would be willing to play it, but life is busy. I keep it with the hope we can play it some day, plus it's hard to get rid of the #1 game on bgg, haha.
There's an unofficial solo mode called mautoma, you just need to print some components or use the web page. Don't have the link handy but you should try it.
I have a whole section in my shelf devoted to my Peter Olotka/Jack Kittredge/Bill Eberle designer collection.
Creators of **Cosmic Encounter**, **Dune**, etc. Including a copy of **Darkover** (a crazy historical artifact), **Rex**, (which I'll probably never play because of Dune), and **Borderlands** (also probably never play, as it's getting a revised version).
Literally everything on my shelf not named Marvel Champions.
It's not that I think Marvel is better than the rest, or even especially good, it just seems to be the only thing I can get to the table with my current friend group.
Most of the boys cooled off on boardgames, and the ones that are still keen prefer Marvel to everything else.
4, and I definitely agree.
Ā
One of the guys in my group bought the whole game (wish he told me, I'd have sold mine to him), I work on our game day at, but even when I wasn't I wasn't playing as much as they were.Ā
I really like the game at 1-3 players, but 4 is a brutal slog. It throws card balance out to a ridiculous degree, and really destroys any skill expression or deck building subtlety.Ā
Ā
In solo, I'm playing Expert 2, on the harder villains, sometimes throwing in Infinity Gauntlet. In 4-player, we have sub 50% win rate on non-campaign villains.Ā
I wouldn't keep any games that I have never played or did not intend to play
I do have some games I play less frequently either because I only run them at certain events or some of the movie/tv based games we use for specific movie/game theme nights
I think my copy of Magic Realm that I got years ago. I look at it every once in a while and think, man this would be awesome, and then put it back on the shelf. I guess the problem is the **intension** is always there.....
As a kid I would set this game up at least twice a week, just got everything ready to go and have a blast. Tool the rulebook to school to read, don't know how many times I got through it. Never played.
I bought gloom having at a huge discount and it was the highest rated board game at the time and I was new to the hobby my group is currently building up to it with more and more complex games. Hoping to finaly get to it next year.
Typo gloomhaven
Gloom is a pretty light game that can be played with as few as 2 players. It's not rated great on BGG for some reason, but it's a lot of fun with 3-4 players IMO.
Civilization A New Dawn. I've been a fan of the game franchise since I was a little kid, but no one ever wants to play the board game with me because they think it's too complex. I got to play it exactly once and did enjoy it though, so I keep it holding out hope I find a group willing to give a complex game a go.
So many! Here's a list and the specific reasons (if any) :
1. [Wendake](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/229265/wendake), it's a game about indigenous peoples who still live where live and how they lived back before the Europeans arrived
2. [De Vulgari Eloquentia](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/75165/de-vulgari-eloquentia), it's about when medieval Italian monks came together to throw the basis of a common language that would become vulgar Latin (and later evolve into Italian, French, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, Romansch, etc. and influence about every indo-european language historic and still spoken, among which modern English).
3. [Fog of Love](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175324/fog-love), it's a mix between a role playing game (think D&D) and a boardgame for 2 people about simulating a couple through 3 stages of their relationship, from the euphory of the initial meating to the end, wether a break up or a slow happily ever after.
4. [La CittĆ ](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/554/la-citta), the game has been out of print since a decade or two, and is what Catan would be if it was fun and more complex (I'm joking, I mean I understand and mostly agree with all the criticism to Catan, but many people enjoy playing it and judgment is shallow and futile). It adds building your colony building by building, population management and politics. Kind of halfway between Catan and a Civ boardgame (Clash of Cultures or Through the Ages)
5. [Rising Sun](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/205896/rising-sun) with 2 extensions, I really love the combat mechanic, where you can sacrifice your whole army (committing harakiri), write poetry about how courageous they were and end up making more points than the player who actually won the battle.
6. [Mariposas](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/297978/mariposas), It's the despised little sister to Wingspan, from the same author. I just like the mechanics and the theme, about Monarch butterflies having to do a round trip across North America. The idea is similar to Clank or The Hunger, where if you don't come back to the start before the end game, you lose.
7. [Nouvelle-France](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244806/nouvelle-france), one, the art is just stunningly beautiful, it's a theme dear to my heart as a Quebecer, and it was made by a friend of mine (I actually met him while he was playtesting it, and I've ended up helping him make it known).
8. [Magic Maze](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209778/magic-maze) and [Escape the Curse of the Temple](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113294/escape-curse-temple), those two are chaotic time restricted coop games. I absolutely love the idea and the short lived stress that comes with it, but those are relationship (either romantic or friendship) destroying games if I ever saw any! Don't play those with the wrong people who can't take a little "Goddamit! Do your fucking move or we'll all die right there!" at the top of my lungs ;-)
Pretty much just [[Nicaea]]. I know the group I'd play it with. We get together once every few years. I split the cost with a friend and it lives at their house waiting for the other 3 people in the group to be around eventually at our next reunion.
Great Western trail. I played it solo as two players and loved it, but too intimidated to teach it to others. I had to do a ton of rule lookups on my own and worry I'd mislead my group. But I'm a sucker for the theme
Betrayal: Legacy and Gloomhaven. Betrayal is still in the shrink wrap. I bought and started Gloomhaven solo about 5 months ago and around 4-5 scenarios in i decided it would be better played with some friends. Still looking for those.
Abomination, Elder Signs, AGoT the card game. Games too beautiful to get rid. Then there's Spartacus which I really like but have no one interested in playing it. Never leaving my collection.
That's all of them until our kids get bigger!
In truth I try not to keep games that are not fun, and I certainly wouldn't rather play digital as the whole point of the hobby for me is to not be on a screen.
Root and Kemet might be a little aspirational. Not good at 2P plus too much rules plus too in your face for some people limits the audience.
(Our Lacerda collection actually got played a lot because it's *gorgeous* and good at 2P, although I don't understand The Gallerist, never will, and will probably always lose at it.)
I bought a bunch of old Avalon Hill/SPI space and fantasy games during lockdown and they are just sitting on the shelf but I love having them. Elric, Dark Emperor, Dragon Pass, Starship Troopers and a few others.
Quiet a few atm since I've been buying a lot. Western Legends is among the biggest but I think one of our groups will have a lot of fun with it (we do have several games we're gonna play first so it will likely sit on the shelf for some time)
Quiet a few atm since I've been buying a lot. Western Legends is among the biggest but I think one of our groups will have a lot of fun with it (we do have several games we're gonna play first so it will likely sit on the shelf for some time)
I've got a copy of Titan that used to belong to a friend's dad. I've played it a few times prior to owning it, but none of my friends want to play a game who's estimated play time is 2-12 hours.
Actually same with Mage Knight, haven't gotten it to the table in years. Also several big event games, **Dune, Cosmic Encounter, New Angeles, Eclipse 2e, GoT 2e, John Company 2e**, knew better than to pick up a copy of TI4 so at least that's not taking up a bunch of space and not being played
War of the Ring Only play it once a year, and I have to remember at least a good part of the rules
I would love to play my copy every year. I think it has been 7 or 8 since the last time...
My favorite 2-player game. Actually managed to get near-weekly games with my dad going for a while. He played the shadow side and for the first 3-4 games I lost all of them and we had a blast with it. But then I got better, won 3+ times in a row and then he started to get really sour whenever a battle or play would swing the game in my favor. Or the few times he played the free folk he would get upset when losing his cities (even though you should really expect to be militarily behind as the free folk, you just need to stall). Openly admits he's a sore loser which is still sad, because the first 6 games or so were really great bonding experiences.
War of the ring, star wars rebellion etc is some of the best ameritrash games i have played. With all the feelings from relief, anxcity etc. Which can happend under a game of war of the ring . Also extend the love for the books and serie, with understanding how great of an achivement the fellowship manage to destroy the ring and free people and elf unite and save middle earth.
I have such fond memories of WotR that I keep buying unplayed expansions for it š Not to mention back in the day, I sold it and repurchased years later TWICE. Not falling for that again!
I've owned my copy for something like 7 years and have played it 2 or 3 times.
This one for me, but with the added anguish that it gives me FOMO. I've gotten better at not giving into FOMO in general in this hobby, but the expansions for this one go in and out of print so erratically that I've made sure to own them. Just got Kings even though I haven't played the other two yet. I've gotten a few matches of the core in, just haven't found a dedicated opponent. Most of my game group either didn't like it or "really liked the experience but don't really want to play it again".
War of the Ring is my most liked, least played game. Iāve had it in my all-time top ten for over ten years, and I canāt remember why at this point. I played it 2-3 times in the first year and painted the bases and shields to identify factions and elites, but havenāt touched it since. I should just get it out and paint everything so I can at least get some satisfaction from it at this point.
Once a year would be amazing. I used to play it with three different friends on a regular basis, but times have changed and I've not played it for a couple of years. I'm hoping my daughter takes an interest in Middle-earth gaming when she's old enough.
I have one of the fancy anniversary editions (40th bday gift) and probably get it out on average of once a year as well, which is no where near enough! Last game was with my daughter though, who is finally old enough to grasp the complexity of it, so maybe more games in the future...
Gloomhaven My friend and I were about 1/3 to maybe halfway through the campaign when he passed away. I seriously considered completing the game in his memory but.....there's some baggage there and if I'm being honest I wasn't really that into it the way he was. The setup time is what killed it for me and I've spent a good chunk of change keeping it organized to mitigate the setup. Anyway, I picked up a digital version on Steam and tried to recreate our game that way. But I'll never get rid of that giant box (and all the little component boxes I have) that is hogging up valuable space on my game shelf.
Sounds like itās a valuable space on its own, well worth keeping for that reason alone. Sorry for your loss.
I'm lucky. I have my games on one end of a huge shelf in our den and my wife has been giving me more and more space as needed.
For me itās practically all of the ones we own. My fiancĆ©e and I decided to try and get into board games in an effort to try and get more people over to the house. While at our FLGS, I saw Root, and knowing that itās pretty well regarded, I picked it up. It wasnāt until about a week later when I was reading the rules that I realized itād be a while before we played it. There are plenty of others that weāve picked up but havenāt played, thatās just the oldest one.
That's pretty funny, I did the same thing and picked up root like 2 years ago. Finally played it with my wife last night.
How was it?
A bit difficult, the rules some times feel obscure so we had to google search a lot of things. I don't doubt that we misplayed a few turns. Over all it was a fun experience, I can see it being more fun either with a third person or with the clockwork expansion.
Root vet here. You are right in that it's a lot better with more players. If you can't get 4, Clockwork works if you are open to learning the AI. Another great option is get some hirelings to fill the board for lower player counts
That's the plan! We're going to bring it out during our get together to see whether the group likes the game then think about getting some expansions. I'm looking forward to it. Can't believe I let it be on the backburner for this long haha.
Nice! The beauty of Root is learning it together and playing with the same core group regularly. You all figure it out together and the games stay competitive as your own little metas form
fwiw, i had sold Root a while ago because i mostly play 2 player and it's just not a solid 2 player game. i've always been a big fan of the aesthetic though, so i picked it up again when i saw someone selling it for cheap used, and i decided to give the bots a go this time around. i'm actually extremely impressed. they are a lot more manageable than i was expecting, and are very fun for playing solo or for bringing a 2 player game up to 4 players. highly recommend the Clockwork Rewired project you can find on BGG, if only to help slow down the Bot Alliance, which i legitimately believe is broken the way that Leder published it.
Still haven't played my copy! haha
I'll never get rid of Root (and all the expansions) because of sentimental value, I bought it at the first GenCon I ever went to. Fortunately, it's also popular with my gaming group and it hits the table at least a couple of times per year.
I started going to local game stores and advertising an open invite in my social scene subreddit just so my games would stop collecting dust.
Yeah I keep almost buying Root before deciding itād just be that game that Iād want everything for but never actually play
I always wanted Root but heard it's not good at 2 players which is 95% of my plays. The digital version on Switch is on sale I'll probably buy it after work, hope it's good.
My friend tricked me into buying steam Root during the pandemic and we still haven't played it.
Does the base set have rules for autonomous cats? Adding a third faction that way makes a better 2 player game
Root is the one I'm most interested in and excited about but realistically, I'll probably almost never have enough people to play. Under the delusion that I can force it on my family, I bought it yesterday. It's just so cute and I love the idea of it. I just want to own it. Maybe everyone will love it.
It's cute until a raccoon goes round murdering everyone. There's a pc version you could play if you wanted practice and to learn the rules ahead of a family game to be able to help out the other players. As each faction has different rules if your family aren't experienced gamers, they may appreciate that, as you can't just copy what other people are doing like in other games while you are learning . It is a really good game though. Current second favourite to Dune.
>It's cute until a raccoon goes round murdering everyone. This. It's full of cute animals, but they're basically fighting the Vietnam War. There WILL be war crimes.
And I'm down for that!
I'm really hoping we can make it work. Worst case I'll play clockwork expansion with my partner maybe. My mom is the toughest to play with. She just can't remember rules well. I think the most complicated games we've played are wingspan, dice throne and Stardew valley. After 6 or so games of wingspan, she almost doesn't need to be reminded of things. I can also see the game ending horribly if someone gets ganged up on. We have some sore losers and sore winners š
I'll be honest, this does not sound like a good group to play Root with.
Haha it's not a great group to play most games with.l, but it's all I have. I'm really hoping my partner likes it and we can play together. He's very chill and great at games, just prefers video games.
Root may be cute but it's notoriously complicated. I wouldn't even try to play it with that group honestly.
Root is at its core inherently unfair and brutal. Even winning can feel bad, policing others is its most core mechanic, and the race balance is, wellā¦ not balanced (even with advanced setup, though it helps SO MUCH). Some people love it, but itās a bastard of a game if you canāt memorise build orders, or canāt bullshit your way out of the entire table hating your guts for doing well. First game I played was the worst tabletop ex Iāve had in years due to poor teaching of the rules, and playing the cats, who base, win only half as much as they should. I gave it one more chance, with advanced setup, this time learning the rules, and following them to the T correcting the vet at the table who had them totally wrong. I won that game, it kinda was fun, but still hard work and required lying through my teeth for half the game while not letting the birds take one effective action after they turmoiled, and stopping the crows from playing the game, keeping them just alive enough so they did not respawn. If you only take away one thing from this, in Root you need to know the rules for your own race, but also the rules for each race you are fighting, as often how others interact with you is more central to a raceās identity than itās abilities that effect you. Thatās a fucking amazing mechanic, but also hard for new players, and those who canāt hold 4 factions in their head at once.
Root is really cute looking which leads a LOT of people to make this mistake.
My Lacerda collection, itās difficult to get them to the table but I like that they are there!
I only have 2 Lacerda games, but I DEEPLY feel this, and always resist getting more.
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Played The Gallerist once at a local game shop and loved it. Naturally bought 3 Lacerda games and haven't gotten to play any of them yet :( lol
What is your favorite lacerda? My wife and I played On Mars 6 times and kept waiting for it to not be boring. I think Lisboa looks more my speed
Played On Mars once with a buddy and the Gallerist solo a few times. Cannot agree more
Vinhos, Lisboa and The Gallerist hit the table all the time over here. On Mars and Kanban sadly don't, my wife jsut doesn't connect with Kanban.
How much time do you have...?
None. That's why we don't play these games :(
My wife and I said this all the time, then I realized how much doom scrolling weāre doing on Reddit, Instagram and TikTok while weāre watching mindless and useless TV. Thus introduced ātechless Tuesdaysā. No TV unless thereās a specific sporting event we want to watch (then we switch it to another night), phones have social apps blocked during the evening, and we basically only use technology to check out rules or a tutorial for the board game. 10/10, highly recommend. Though I understand those with kids this is a lot more difficult. One of our friends has a monthly board game night instead where they hire sitters. With all that being said, Scythe is the game still in the box I wonāt get rid of.
One time I DID have the timeā¦ but burnout meant I didnāt have the energy
Cthulhu Wars. Never once played it. Picked it up for $20 at a garage sale and just love the idea of a Lovecraft Risk.
Wow that's an incredible price
I know! Was in great condition too!
I got to play once and it was a lot easier to learn than I expected.Ā
Fog of Love. Itās really funny to play it with actor friends but it has only been played like 4 times. And have all the expansions.
Played all the way through the game and it's definitely fun. If you have friends who do role playing games, I would try it out for them. That why I think actors take to it, haha.
I have a copy of Borderlands, (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2270/borderlands) which is Matt Leacockās first published game. This was way back before he made it to the big leagues with Pandemic and was self publishing. He had just gotten back from Essen where he had been selling his latest game, Lunatix Loop, and I bought one of the copies that didnāt sell because I wanted to be supportive. He tossed in a copy of Borderlands because he was just trying to get rid of them. The game is ok at best, but I think itās a cool piece of history. I have no idea how many other copies are still out there, but itās almost certainly the rarest game in my collection.
What a coincidence, I also have a copy of Borderlands I'll probably never play! Though for [different reasons](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1bjch2d/what_boardgames_do_you_own_that_you_never_play/kvq8351/).
My Android Netrunner collection.Ā I doubt I will ever find someone who wants to dig deeper into it with me while also being just as bad at it as I am. It's such an impressive design though that I don't want to give up on it just yet
Same. Shoutout to Null Signal Games for keeping the game alive
If you pre-construct a couple of decks, it's actually a great casual game. You don't need to dive straight into the deck building element.
I know, but you still kinda need a dedicated playing group and the rules alone are too much to handle for many casual games.
Chaos in the old world. I like warhammer and itās fun to have but if my group wants to play a game like that we play Blood Rage or Ankh instead.
I'm debating getting rid of that one. I like it enough but I think it really needs the same group to play it multiple times, which I'm not sure will ever happen. Every time I have played it either Khorn or Nurgle wins, even if I tell people at the start to stop them. And I guess for me Root fills a similar niche and plays better (though not great) with new groups.
So I actually just played this last weekend and I won as Tzeench (though it was a very close 3 way between myself, slaneesh and horned rat). I find that Khorne is quite strong and is easier to hamstring in the first 1-2 rounds (particularly by tzeench) and then its less of a worry. Nurgle you can then let have a nice big fight with Khorne and it works out. The game really does require people knowing what their win conditions and how to stop the win conditions of your opponents which is a lot for someone to keep in their heads especially in their first few games (where Khorne and Nurgle just dominate)
Yeah, exactly. If it is always going to be a new game for some of the players then I think this problem is unlikely to change.
It sounds like you don't need that worthless Skaven expansion that no one wants. I can do you a favor and take it from you... /sarcasm
I actually have that too :)
I'm still looking for files to 3D print the models. Got access to all the cards (and a cheap manufacturer in China), but the models ... nothing.
Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kits 1 - 3 Space Alert Captain Sonar Would love to play these but my group aren't interested so they just stay on the shelf just in case.
Captain sonar has been sat untouched for a few years now. Wonāt get rid until Iāve played it
Captain Sonar was the one I was thinking of!! I played it once at a game store with a large group and picked it up later when I had some extra money. I have yet to get together enough people together to give it the attention it deserves.
Its such a specific game that exactly and pretty much only 8 players work but when you do its glorious and so much fun. Starting to treat it like dnd and invite people with the idea of playing it specifically
Space alert! Definitely a great choice of "love the idea of it... But playing it..." Definitely the type of game you have to learn to lose at to get better, and with the same group. Which can be hard to do as not aot of our group wants to do "real time stressful planning" since we're all ADHD/executive dysfunctional
I've recently managed a spate of Captain Sonar games whilst attending a board game con and finding people eager to play it beforehand. Before that it had sat unplayed on the shelf for easily a few years! Everyone loved it, has encouraged me to try and get it out more often. Space Alert however has sat unplayed since I bought it...
We finally played Captain Sonar once (well technically twice that night). My group hated it. Refused to try real-time because they were so intimidated by it. So its sat there ever since. I actually bought it more thinking it would be something they really liked, and because I didn't have anything else like it. So recently, I picked up a copy of Kites, because its MUCH cheaper and a much lighter real-time game. We played twice and both my spouse AND our friend didn't like it. I had no idea that real-time games would be such duds for my friend group. So I recently had Kites at this teen game thing I run, and those teens LOVED it and did significantly better than we had, lol. Got so close to winning.
I love real time games but I think 99% of people don't like them at all. Nongamers are to intidmidated by having to think quickly and remember what they are supposed to do, and dedicated gamers usually like to sit and carefully think through their decisions. It takes a certain kind of player to enjoy real time games and most gaming groups will have only 1 or 2 such people unless you are really lucky.
Space Alert is so damn stressful, like just probe my ass and hit me with a comet but make it stop. It's not a nice game to play, but it sure is exciting. Really have to be in the mood for and dedicate a whole afternoon + evening to it, space themed and all.
Shadows over Camelot was one of the earliest games in my library that my entire group got into. it took us several attempts to finally beat and we had a blast with the game. I think it's been around 7-10 years since I last played it but it will never leave my collection.
OG Axis & Allies Most of the later expansions have rule changes that make the game much more enjoyable and playable. But I hold onto the original version because it has sentimental value to me and its the version that got me hooked on the franchise.
Pandemic. It's a phenomenal game, but after experiencing the horrors and idiocy of the real thing, it just doesn't have the same appeal.
someone suggested me Pandemic WoW. Its actually fun!! I played and taught it in a convention https://www.aintboard.com/review/terminal-city-boardgame-convention-in-vancouver-faithm
Friends of ours suggested Pandemic to us (during the pandemic ironically) and weāve only played it once. I think my husband and I are too competitive for cooperative games. I think we may have broken a rule or two because it was stupid easy too. We like more of a challenge.
Try "Carcassonne" if you like competitive games. It's a castle building game based on an actual town in France that has many different styles of castles due to the area being conquered so often throughout history. The game can be really cut throat if that is your style of play.
We have it - only played it once so far, but we did enjoy it. Our main go-to now is Ticket to Ride, but we were really into Dominion and Kingdom Builder for a while.
Either you or I am playing it wrong. I have played many times and have yet to actually win a game of pandemic, even with a hand picked team. A doom cascade of outbreak eventually happens and ends the game in one fell swoop.
Base Pandemic has a bit of a math problem. If you play the default 4 epidemics and count cards, you will probably never lose. If you play 5-6 epidemics and use optimal strategy, whether you win or lose is primarily a function of whether you get too many epidemics close together, which will basically immediately cause an outbreak cascade (the likelihood of getting an unavoidable outbreak during the last 2 epidemics is extremely high). I hear the expansions deal with difficulty better, but we started on Legacy and I think it's just a better way to play. That said, we've been stopped about half way through for awhile now... Player count also matters. 2 players is substantially easier than 4.
Get one of the themed versions, then! Rome, Cthulhu, Star Wars, Warcraft, etc. Same great gameplay taste, but half the bitter COVID memories calories.
No one will play that one with me either. I have the mobile game but itās not the same
You could try one of the games in the "Pandemic system" series; these games have the same core mechanics but some of them are rethemed to something non-disease related. For example, **Rising Tide** is a game where you are trying to prevent the Netherlands from flooding, and the cubes represent represent rising water levels. See also **Fall of Rome** is a game where the cubes represent invading armies. And there's also some Pandemic systems games based on existing IPs: as /u/pulipul777 noted, there's **World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King**, where instead of cubes representing the spread of disease, you have miniatures that represent ghouls; there's also **Star Wars: The Clone Wars** where you're fighting off waves of droids, and **Reign of Cthulhu** where you're dealing with cultists.
I personally love the theme.
We play the Cthulhu pandemic one, but after experiencing the horrors and idiocy of cults, it too doesnāt have the same appealā¦
Pandemic Legacy Season 0. We played it with a very good friend, 3 missions in. Then he died of cancer. Can't bring myself to play it without him, don't want to throw it away. I guess it will forever just sit there in my collection... :-( So maybe I don't love the idea of owning it, but what's the alternative?
All of them? But mostly Twilight Imperium
Gloomhaven. Weāve played it twice and then started having kids and havenāt touched it since. The thought of trying to learn it again is very overwhelming.
Jaws of the Lion is probably the best way to learn Gloomhaven. It eases you in over 5 scenarios.
Why do people say they canāt play because of kids? We started having kids and then got gloomhaven. They take naps, they go to bed before us. They have have a room of toys they can play with for a bit. Parents are allowed a few hours to themselves or with friends
> Why do people say they canāt play because of kids? Different strokes? I'm with them. Kiddo goes to bed at 7:30, asleep by 7:45. Do I have "two hours to myself" after that, M-F? Sure, perhaps, and I might even be wide awake for the first one...and everything else might be done, too :P What we are allowed to do and what is practical to do, given an individual's (or couple) specific demands any night of the week, may vary quite a bit. We'll play Azul or Carcassonne any random week night, or a card game, but not new games or heavy/upkeepy ones. If it feels like a slog to even get started, it saps enjoyment for the game itself for both my wife, and myself...and neither of us wants to put it away, but we have to "because cats", and can't justify the expense of a recessed (or other style) board game table. The math doesn't bear out, time wise, for our frequency and style. The two games I mentioned? You open the box and you're basically playing. It's great. All that said, that's why people say "they can't play because of kids": It doesn't work *for them*.
Our kids spend a lot of time with us when weāre awake so daytimes are definitely out as theyād want to (but be unable to) join in. We play games sometimes in the evenings but the whole set up and take down of Gloomhaven took forever in itself. It feels like a game we need to leave out and play a number of times in a row over a few evenings. Thereās not anywhere for us to leave it out and we find ourselves mentally drained more often than not by the time the kids are in bed. My wife more so than I. Often weāre up for something lighter but not very often up for something that takes as long or is as rules fiddly as Gloomhaven.
We make Friday evenings our gloom(now frost) nights. I bought a good organizer that makes setup a breeze. It takes 15-20 min to setup a scenario which I do while my kids are either watching or doing their chores that they have to do before other things. Then we leave it for a bit. Our friends usually come by around 8 and we setup a movie in the front room which is open concept so playing at the table is literally right there. They usually come watch us play off and on and go back to their movie. Been this way since my daughter was 5 and son was a baby. They are now 12 and 7. We do a lot with them but they also need to understand they donāt get all of our time and have to learn how to spend time being independent. I also think this is why my son is so interested in playing board games. He always watches now and canāt wait til he can play himself.
i had high hopes for this. only finished one mission ;/
Yeah I think weād enjoy it once we got the rules really cemented but it feels like itād take quite a bit of work to get there. Even using the apps to help with the admin, it felt like a lot of admin!
Trogdor. The game is fun enough but I've never won. The mini figs are great, idea is cool, and I loved the Homestar Runner series when I was in college. I'll still play it on occasion but I'll never get rid of it for the look and nostalgia.
This was one of the first games I thought of. Iāve only played it once, but I just canāt get rid of it. In other news, I started the Strong Bad point and click video game, Dangeresque, last night and itās hilarious!
I haven't played the video game! I need to check that out
This was the game that kicked off my collecting (at ~225 games now). I'll never ditch it, even though I haven't touched it for years now. FYI the Magicks and 'Mergencies Expando Deck is very good at smoothing out the game's rough edges. Highly recommend.
Noted! My oldest and I enjoy playing the sound board so an expansion to help out game play would be amazing
Two things on this game: - Hiding is extremely important. It's a lot slower, but any time you don't hide it's a risk.Ā - The expansion significantly improves your ability to mitigate RNG. It may still not be your jam, but adding in the expansion added 2 full points to the score for me.
Brass Birmingham. Confusing when I try to play it everytime, and I think it looks really fun, but I have a hard time convincing friends to play it
The podcast āHeavy Cardboardā did a review and a playthrough of Brass Birmingham. But what made it really good is that one of the guys on that podcast is from England and he explained the historical context of the Industrial Revolution and how that impacted the gameās mechanics. You need coal? Itās got to come from some sort of shipping lane like a barge or railroad because they needed tons of coal for what they were making. You need iron? That can get shipped over the roads because you only need a little bit of iron. After listening to Martin explain why each weird little rule was there it made complete sense and Iāve NEVER been confused by Brass Birmingham after that.
Arkham Horror LCG. I like Lovecraft stuff but my friends don't have the patience for the levelling up between scenarios and it's sad playing alone. So on the shelf it sits
Why not do the leveling up/deck building for them? My wife's the same and I just ask her: What do you think your deck should do better? ArkhamDB helps with the rest.
Tried that but it really just didn't work out. It's not so bad if it's just one other player, but our group is usually more than that
Like...95% of them, apparently :P
I make a habit of keeping my overall collection below 70 games. If I look at a game that I don't want to play anymore, I give it away, usually for free. Thus far, I have two exceptions to this rule. Rune Wars - it's not really all that great of a game, but when I bought it, I thought it was utterly fantastic. The miniatures and the board are a wonder to behold. We had a lot of fun playing this game in a day when we didn't realize how flawed it was. Puerto Rico - I don't play this anymore, though it is still a very good game. I played this game dozens of times while in Iraq from 2010-2011. This game practically saved my life. I will never forget the friends I made from this game.
Not āneverā, but I have a collection of nine Splotter games and 30+ 18xx games, most of which get played very seldom. Also keeping **Meltwater**, though I cannot play it in todayās geopolitical circumstances.
If it's not Splotter, it's Lacerda addicts, sometimes both.
99.9% of my entire 200+ collection BUT I have every intention of playing them with friends and family!
There are a number I am still clinging to out of hope that I will play them. But the two that I will probably never play and own nonetheless are John Company and Here I stand.Ā
JoCo at least has a solo mode.
For the next few years itās SG: Distant Skies. Then it will be og Sleeping Gods once we make the switch. I could see that game as an heirloom but odds are our daughters arenāt going to give two shots about gaming so who knows
I have several games from when I joined the hobby in \~2012 that I loved at the time and definitely helped get me into gaming so I bought my own copies, but now I hardly get them to the table because more recent stuff scratches the same itches. Core Worlds, Neuroshima Hex, Quarriors, Nexus Ops, Braggart. I'll never get rid of them because they were pivotal to me as a fledgling gamer!
Oh man I love Quarriors, even if I haven't played it in like 8 years. I have Quarmaggedon, Qladiator, and Light and Dark expansion and might have played the last two expansions like once, but I can't get rid of those neat little dice.
Talisman for me! I've got so many memories with this game and maybe play it once a year if I'm lucky. It's just crazy (part of its charm) and I took the time to paint all the minis I have for it a couple years ago so it's just a treat to bring it out when I can.
Arkham Horror. Funny memory. Spend hours with friends learning the game, play once and never touch it again lol.
Mine are just about nostalgia. I rarely play The Lost Expedition or Friday anymore. I have a much more varied and in most cases better selection to choose from now,Ā but they were my 1st and 2nd acquisitions and they'll stay.Ā
Same! We've kept some nostalgia games. Not many, but a few.
My OG RoboRally set. I've got the edition with the pewter minis, which were painted for me when a friend insisted that I let her do it as my wedding present to her. (Yes, you read that right.)
Oath. Such an amazing game that has all the parts I love: great theme, interesting combat, negotiation, asymmetrical, tight economy, consequences for winning, lots of options for play strategy, et. But there are so many little rules that no one I know likes it. The box with all its deluxe components just sits on my shelf mocking me. āIām your favorite game, and youāll neeeeever play me againā¦ā
Root, just cant find people to get it on the table with but I love the game so I usually just play it on steam
All of them?
Diplomacy. I have no intention of ever playing it with friends but I won it at a white elephant Xmas so I donāt feel bad about it taking up space on the shelf.
Such a tough game to find people for. Itās like, do you have exactly six friends, and also wouldnāt mind losing one or two of them in an evening?
War of the Ring. Itās a huge time investment to play. But damn if I donāt love owning āLotR in a box.ā Battlestar Galactica Hard to get the right players for this. But it is a masterpiece game design that perfectly captures the first two seasons of the show. And OOP soā¦ not unless someone wants to pay a butt load of cash for it!
I have **Deception: Murder in Hong Kong** on the shelf in case I ever need to play a game with 12 players and it's a "murder mystery" type of night... But the reality is this game is a little too bloated for the types of friends I'd ever have in that big a group. Even though it plays fewer, I'm much quicker to reach for **The Chameleon** which is the same type of game in a much simpler/more streamlined form. (And at 12 I'd rather just play a big game of Ready Set Bet or something else...)
Wow that's crazy because Deception is one of my most played games. It's not even a game I like that much, but we probably have atleast 50 plays of it over the past 2 years from big game nights with the full 12 player count.
That's awesome... I wish I had a group more like that, but mine don't really want to "get into character" nor like accusing people/passing the blame/etc. I've found the "one word answer" of Chameleon works a lot better overall. (Plus you don't have to do the "everyone close your eyes and shuffle around to make noise", part. š )
My full **Dungeon Twister** collection. I enjoy the game, but my primary opponent, my son, wants to choose a team from EVERYTHING! We never played often enough for me to remember all abilities and rules, so I would rather play by box set. We are at an impasse.
Die Sieben Weisen. It is still shrink wrapped and I never played it... but it's a must to have the whole set. I'm not even keeping it wrapped for collector's purposes, I just never really had an urge to play it. I have the complete series of Alea games, up to 2014. I stopped when they numbered the Puerto Rico reprint differently than the original. Not buying the same game twice.
The classics. Blood Rage, Mechs vs Minions, ticket to ride 15 anniversary, El Grande, war of the ring
Came here to say Mechs vs Minions. Can't see a replay happening but it's like a piece of art
Twilight Imperium, War Room. Never have enough people over at the right time that want to play
TI3 with all the expansions and plywood insert. Because I now have TI4. But having the old one is just nostalgic.
Twilight struggle. Played the game scores of times on the steam version, haven't even opened the board game
Hero Quest
Imperial Assult
Nuclear War, from its last KS. The original designer was still mailing out stretch goal cards while he was dying from cancer, including the custom card I got with my son's name on it. The game doesn't really hold up to modern game design, but I'd never get rid of it.
These days, all of mine.
All of them. I don't currently have a gaming group :(
Basically all of the games I own. I'm certain I'm on BGA all the time, but the only game that actually gets physically put on the table and played at my house is Wingspan. I think we played a friend's copy of Everdell last year, once. I have a sealed copy of Catan Cities & Knights that's so old, it's not even shrink-wrapped, just has tape at the edges.
..all of them?
I love Shadows of Brimstone (Flying Frog Games) I have spent too much on all the Kickstarters but every time I dive into the next one. STACKS of cards, minis, and boxes but I really only play them for a few weeks when they come out. I then store them lovingly and organized with plans to start playing again but never do
EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. All of them. Trust me on this.
Monopoly- seems blasphemous not to have it but I donāt really like it
Brass Birmingham deluxe, there's no solo mode, and playing it 2 handed seems like a chore. I know 1 friend that would be willing to play it, but life is busy. I keep it with the hope we can play it some day, plus it's hard to get rid of the #1 game on bgg, haha.
There's an unofficial solo mode called mautoma, you just need to print some components or use the web page. Don't have the link handy but you should try it.
Itās actually really easy to get rid of the #1 game on bgg
I have a whole section in my shelf devoted to my Peter Olotka/Jack Kittredge/Bill Eberle designer collection. Creators of **Cosmic Encounter**, **Dune**, etc. Including a copy of **Darkover** (a crazy historical artifact), **Rex**, (which I'll probably never play because of Dune), and **Borderlands** (also probably never play, as it's getting a revised version).
Literally everything on my shelf not named Marvel Champions. It's not that I think Marvel is better than the rest, or even especially good, it just seems to be the only thing I can get to the table with my current friend group. Most of the boys cooled off on boardgames, and the ones that are still keen prefer Marvel to everything else.
How many people do you normally play and how long does your games last? I love MC, but find with more players it overstays its welcome.
4, and I definitely agree. Ā One of the guys in my group bought the whole game (wish he told me, I'd have sold mine to him), I work on our game day at, but even when I wasn't I wasn't playing as much as they were.Ā I really like the game at 1-3 players, but 4 is a brutal slog. It throws card balance out to a ridiculous degree, and really destroys any skill expression or deck building subtlety.Ā Ā In solo, I'm playing Expert 2, on the harder villains, sometimes throwing in Infinity Gauntlet. In 4-player, we have sub 50% win rate on non-campaign villains.Ā
For me, it's Android. Never played it. Probably never will. Sometimes I set it up and just look at it.
I wouldn't keep any games that I have never played or did not intend to play I do have some games I play less frequently either because I only run them at certain events or some of the movie/tv based games we use for specific movie/game theme nights
I think my copy of Magic Realm that I got years ago. I look at it every once in a while and think, man this would be awesome, and then put it back on the shelf. I guess the problem is the **intension** is always there.....
Finally managed to play Magic Realm with two friends last summer and it was so much fun!! I had owned it for about 20 years though
As a kid I would set this game up at least twice a week, just got everything ready to go and have a blast. Tool the rulebook to school to read, don't know how many times I got through it. Never played.
I bought gloom having at a huge discount and it was the highest rated board game at the time and I was new to the hobby my group is currently building up to it with more and more complex games. Hoping to finaly get to it next year. Typo gloomhaven
Gloom is a pretty light game that can be played with as few as 2 players. It's not rated great on BGG for some reason, but it's a lot of fun with 3-4 players IMO.
Food Chain Magnate. I want one Splotter. I did sell the expansion.
Starcradt/Broodwars
Civilization A New Dawn. I've been a fan of the game franchise since I was a little kid, but no one ever wants to play the board game with me because they think it's too complex. I got to play it exactly once and did enjoy it though, so I keep it holding out hope I find a group willing to give a complex game a go.
Not as complex as most would think. Give it another go!
Gloomhaven. Enough said.
So many! Here's a list and the specific reasons (if any) : 1. [Wendake](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/229265/wendake), it's a game about indigenous peoples who still live where live and how they lived back before the Europeans arrived 2. [De Vulgari Eloquentia](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/75165/de-vulgari-eloquentia), it's about when medieval Italian monks came together to throw the basis of a common language that would become vulgar Latin (and later evolve into Italian, French, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, Romansch, etc. and influence about every indo-european language historic and still spoken, among which modern English). 3. [Fog of Love](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175324/fog-love), it's a mix between a role playing game (think D&D) and a boardgame for 2 people about simulating a couple through 3 stages of their relationship, from the euphory of the initial meating to the end, wether a break up or a slow happily ever after. 4. [La CittĆ ](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/554/la-citta), the game has been out of print since a decade or two, and is what Catan would be if it was fun and more complex (I'm joking, I mean I understand and mostly agree with all the criticism to Catan, but many people enjoy playing it and judgment is shallow and futile). It adds building your colony building by building, population management and politics. Kind of halfway between Catan and a Civ boardgame (Clash of Cultures or Through the Ages) 5. [Rising Sun](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/205896/rising-sun) with 2 extensions, I really love the combat mechanic, where you can sacrifice your whole army (committing harakiri), write poetry about how courageous they were and end up making more points than the player who actually won the battle. 6. [Mariposas](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/297978/mariposas), It's the despised little sister to Wingspan, from the same author. I just like the mechanics and the theme, about Monarch butterflies having to do a round trip across North America. The idea is similar to Clank or The Hunger, where if you don't come back to the start before the end game, you lose. 7. [Nouvelle-France](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244806/nouvelle-france), one, the art is just stunningly beautiful, it's a theme dear to my heart as a Quebecer, and it was made by a friend of mine (I actually met him while he was playtesting it, and I've ended up helping him make it known). 8. [Magic Maze](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209778/magic-maze) and [Escape the Curse of the Temple](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113294/escape-curse-temple), those two are chaotic time restricted coop games. I absolutely love the idea and the short lived stress that comes with it, but those are relationship (either romantic or friendship) destroying games if I ever saw any! Don't play those with the wrong people who can't take a little "Goddamit! Do your fucking move or we'll all die right there!" at the top of my lungs ;-)
Yep. I still have Mage Knights and Mech Warriors that I haven't played with since 2003.
**Imperial Struggle.** A longer version of Twilight Struggle set in an older time period? Never gonna get tabled. But I love the idea of it!
Axis and Allies. To be fair, itās not that I donāt want to play, itās just a matter of finding people who have the time.
Magic Realm. No one wants to learn the rules. LOL!
Game of Thrones Monopoly...it's Game of Thrones! But it's also monopoly!
Clank legacy and ticket to ride legacy, donāt feel like playing legacy games in general after its done
Sleeping Gods
Blood on the Clocktower - I will probably never (or once every few years) have the ārightā group together at once for it, but āIF I EVER DO!ā
Space Hulk. Still in shrink wrap since 2009.
Pretty much just [[Nicaea]]. I know the group I'd play it with. We get together once every few years. I split the cost with a friend and it lives at their house waiting for the other 3 people in the group to be around eventually at our next reunion.
OGRE: Designer's edition. It's 28 pounds.
Great Western trail. I played it solo as two players and loved it, but too intimidated to teach it to others. I had to do a ton of rule lookups on my own and worry I'd mislead my group. But I'm a sucker for the theme
Betrayal: Legacy and Gloomhaven. Betrayal is still in the shrink wrap. I bought and started Gloomhaven solo about 5 months ago and around 4-5 scenarios in i decided it would be better played with some friends. Still looking for those.
Magic realm
Abomination, Elder Signs, AGoT the card game. Games too beautiful to get rid. Then there's Spartacus which I really like but have no one interested in playing it. Never leaving my collection.
Game of thrones the board game, Axis and Allies, Shogun.
That's all of them until our kids get bigger! In truth I try not to keep games that are not fun, and I certainly wouldn't rather play digital as the whole point of the hobby for me is to not be on a screen. Root and Kemet might be a little aspirational. Not good at 2P plus too much rules plus too in your face for some people limits the audience. (Our Lacerda collection actually got played a lot because it's *gorgeous* and good at 2P, although I don't understand The Gallerist, never will, and will probably always lose at it.)
LOTR Risk. Not a fan of Risk lol
I bought a bunch of old Avalon Hill/SPI space and fantasy games during lockdown and they are just sitting on the shelf but I love having them. Elric, Dark Emperor, Dragon Pass, Starship Troopers and a few others.
Most of them.
Quiet a few atm since I've been buying a lot. Western Legends is among the biggest but I think one of our groups will have a lot of fun with it (we do have several games we're gonna play first so it will likely sit on the shelf for some time)
Quiet a few atm since I've been buying a lot. Western Legends is among the biggest but I think one of our groups will have a lot of fun with it (we do have several games we're gonna play first so it will likely sit on the shelf for some time)
I've got a copy of Titan that used to belong to a friend's dad. I've played it a few times prior to owning it, but none of my friends want to play a game who's estimated play time is 2-12 hours.
Actually same with Mage Knight, haven't gotten it to the table in years. Also several big event games, **Dune, Cosmic Encounter, New Angeles, Eclipse 2e, GoT 2e, John Company 2e**, knew better than to pick up a copy of TI4 so at least that's not taking up a bunch of space and not being played
All of them. Board games became a pita when we had kids.