board games!

[Thermofusion]

A pretty good visual tutorial:

http://ry4an.org/diptutor/

[Thermofusion]

Another idea: we could run a "tutorial" game of two or three moves. I'd post a new map after every move showing exactly what took place and breaking it down piece-by-piece. Actually I'd do this, anyway, once we started playing for real. At which point, again, I was thinking one or two moves a week to give everyone time to negotiate and scheme through their preferred channels of communication.

Also I'd prefer to stay out of the first game and just mod the thing, unless we came up short for players.

GI, have you played before? 

[elpollodiablo]

That sounds like a really good idea.

[Good Intentions]

No, I haven't.

[Greg Nog]

Hm.  I could be into this.

[Thermofusion]

Awesome! GI, pollo, jm, Greg, anyone else? dronicus, get in on this.

Here's a good resource page with links to tutorials, sites, maps, etc. The "Our Favorite Map" is the one I'll be using to show moves.

To recap: I think the best way to do this would be to set a once-or-twice weekly midnight deadline for moves, which would give everyone several days to figure out what they're going to do and to email me their moves at any point up until that midnight deadline. Then, the next day, we'd have the "reveal": I'd post the updated map showing everyone's units and positions and break down exactly what happened. Then you can save the updated map file to stare at/obsess over for the next few days while contemplating the next turn.

I'll start a separate thread later tonight or tomorrow with my own paraphrasing of the basic rules, explaining how the turns will play out, showing some examples, etc. Again, once you play through a couple turns, you'll have the hang of it.

[Good Intentions]

I quite like the 4-part YouTube introduction that the page links to. The narrator has a fitting sense of humour.

[C of heartbreak]

I've never played but have always wanted to. Once or twice a week fits my schedule, count me in.

[what whale]

Hi, all.  Been a while, etc.

RESISTANCE

Been having tons and tons of fun with this lately.  Great, great game. 

 

[mixed cats]

Oh I like that it bears a resemblance to Mafia, which we can no longer play, due to all of the yelling that happens every time. This sounds better, though. Less ire.

[Maaik]

tMO kicked my ass and the asses of her friends in Risk last night.  Good to know that she's got the will to rule the eastern hemisphere with an iron fist.

[what whale]

Oh I like that it bears a resemblance to Mafia, which we can no longer play, due to all of the yelling that happens every time. This sounds better, though. Less ire.

Yeah, like Mafia, and yeah, at least in my friend group, still a fair bit of yelling.  And then alcohol.  And then YELLING.

SPY!

[mixed cats]

The betterness seems to come with the greater equality between informed/uninformed people in this one.. In Mafia, the detective person always ends up totally frustrated because no one believes them. And then they die. haha

[Thermofusion]

Hey folks I'll be getting that Diplomacy madness set yp tonight, as I'll be ensconced in a hotel room with little else to do. Glad to see Gary on board, let's get two more! Backstabbing! Intrigue! Disinformation! The good stuff!

[elpollodiablo]

We should set some kind of timeline so I don't alternate between forgetting about it and putting it off like with everything else in my life

[Anglophile]

YEEESSSSS

Got to play this again tonight! Still an excellent, well-designed game. Made for children/teens, so the difficulty isn't quite there and the replay value is cut short by a limited number of game combinations (or so I'm told) - but man, that was fun for one night, at least.

[kyle]

I would be down to play Diplomacy if that ever happens/happened.

Also, I've been playing Risk @ conquerclub.com

It's awesome. You should join. My s/n is myfriendkyle

[Aglaya]

My cousins and I played Dutch Blitz while I was up in Wisconsin.  It's really more of a card game than a board game, but it is awesome.

[RavingLunatic]

We also have Settlers of Catan....

This summer I played Settlers of Catan several times with my brothers and some of their friends, and it's a lot of fun. We got the expansion pack so that we could play with six players, though it's probably more fun with four. One of my brother's friends actually had the Deluxe 3D edition, which is ridiculously expensive and ridiculously awesome. It comes in a freaking wooden chest. I have no idea how anybody could shell out $320 for it though.

Also, based on somebody's recommendation here I believe, I asked for and got the game Junta for Christmas about three years ago. Unfortunately, I haven't played it yet. I want to play it sometime, but I don't really know who I'd play it with.

[Ignatius]

I bought Settlers during a power outage a few weeks ago, but we only got to play one head-to-head game. We had fun, but it was obvious to both of us that resource bartering is where it gets vicious/social.

[Thermofusion]

If you guys want to kick things up a notch from Settlers, I can't recommend Traders of Genoa/Die Handler von Genoa (now reprinted in the US simply as Genoa) enough. It's a very different game than Settlers, but it has the same focus on negotiation and deal-making and thus scratches the same itch. I bought my first copy in 2001, just when my friends and family were growing tired of Settlers, and ten years later it's as fresh as ever. It's the rare game in which pretty much everything can be negotiated or bartered...not just goods.

Other games you guys might like: Silberzwerg, Adel Verpflichtet (aka Hoity Toity), Funkenschlag (aka Power Grid in the US).

[alex]

Any recommendations for a game that ideally a) has very simple rules, b) is fun to play with two as well as more players, and c) (ideally - this is negotiable) contains no in-game text? I have some friends who seem to like the idea of playing board games, but I can't spring most of my multi-player games on them because I figure if they think that Ticket to Ride: Europe is a complex game, I'd better keep them far away from, say, Caylus. So I figure my next game is going to be something fun but simple. I've started a superficial search and it looks like Thebes, Vikings, Keltis or Ra (edit: or Attika) might fulfill most of the criteria specified above, but I've never played any of them. Genoa supposedly isn't any good with less than 3 players, which is a problem for me because it's often just the two of us.

[Thermofusion]

Genoa has a two-player variant but it's not much fun; it's best with four players really. Ra is the _perfect_ 3 player game but it's completely broken for two. A lot of Reiner Knizia's games are simple and ideal for two players: I love Samurai, it's probably my favorite two-player board game, it's very simple rules-wise but fairly deep in strategy. Knizia also designed a two-player variant of Carcassonne called The Castle that's actually a lot more balanced than the original. Battle Line/Schotten Totten, Lost Cities are good card games for two players. The Kosmos two-player series is worth a look, especially the card games Hera & Zeus and Caesar & Cleopatra. There's a couple of Wolfgang Kramer games I like a lot with two players: Torres and Pueblo. Man, though, if they think Ticket to Ride Europe is complicated...(!!!)

I'll wrack the brain a little more when I get home tonight and can peek in the ol game closet. I think I've recommended most of these games before! Samurai is my takeaway "you must buy this" recommendation for now.

[alex]

I should specify that I'm not looking for 2-player games specifically, because I (and my usual gaming partner) have quite a few of those (including Lost Cities, thanks to your recommendation, and a couple of other Kosmos two-player games). I am looking for games that I would be able to play with a few other people, who easily get overwhelmed with rules, but that also work for two players, because that's the constellation which realistically speaking will get most play.

You did indeed suggest Samurai before - somehow I was under the impression that would be more complicated! Sounds like a good game for my purposes, then. Torres and Pueblo might be worth a shot as well. Thanks!

edit: Samurai has been ordered! Part of the reason I didn't already have it was that it wasn't available at my local game shop, nor at amazon.de, which is where I'd usually mailorder stuff like that. Just realised that I can actually get free shipping from amazon.co.uk, though, so that's where I ordered it from on!

[silentsigh89]

My cousins and I played Dutch Blitz while I was up in Wisconsin.  It's really more of a card game than a board game, but it is awesome.

I LOVE Dutch Blitz!!!!