Procedurally generated games are the best

[x4000]

Shadows Over Camelot is another great co-op boardgame.

[blastpop]

Shadows Over Camelot is another great co-op boardgame.

Just played a couple of Shadows Over Camelot games down my game club. The traitor certainly takes the game to a new level and really makes it shine.

The new LotR card game- from FFG is a co-operative or two player scenario driven system. There is no traitor amongst the players, but still is great fun.

Good gaming!

[Echo35]

Co-op games? Battlestar Galactica. Enough said

Ooh.

Ooooh.

The whole "some players are deceiving the others" bit is troublesome.  Partly because my gaming group is a bunch of nice guys.  Partly because I'm the kind of guy who played "BS" by always picking the truth approach

But the idea is really cool.

But the traitorous aspect is awesome. It's like playing Arkham Horror on the winning team.

[Otagan]

But the traitorous aspect is awesome. It's like playing Arkham Horror on the winning team.

And you (most of the time) don't even know what team you're actually going to be on for half the game.  Which is awesome.

[Echo35]

But the traitorous aspect is awesome. It's like playing Arkham Horror on the winning team.

And you (most of the time) don't even know what team you're actually going to be on for half the game.  Which is awesome.

Have you played with the newest expansion yet? The personal objectives are insane. They make you look like a Cylon when you're just a Human. The air lock got a lot of work that game...

[keith.lamothe]

Personal Objective: If you get thrown out the air lock before turn 4, you win.

[vordrax]

Shadows Over Camelot is another great co-op boardgame.

Have you played Betrayal at House on the Hill? It's a "build the house as you explore" survival horror game and pick up item cards, event cards, and omen cards. Each omen card has the player picking it up roll the "Haunt roll," and if you roll >= the number of omens on the table, the Haunt begins. Each one is like a B-horror movie plot, and almost always involves one of the players becoming a Traitor and playing against the survivors (complete with two books: one, the Hero book that explains the heroes' objectives, and the Traitor book for the traitor.)

An example: Dracula's Bride has the player who discovered the last omen (in this case, "The Girl") is secretly working for Dracula, and the Girl card is his bride. When the haunt begins, the Traitor is now a vampire, along with the Bridge, and both are attempting to kill the players. Dracula is also waking up, though takes a couple of turns to do so. Meanwhile, the players are trying to stay alive until day, and they can complete certain objectives to "hasten" sunrise.

A very good game.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10547/betrayal-at-house-on-the-hill

[keith.lamothe]

That does sound very interesting.  A pity my gaming group (including myself) would never go in for a horror-themed game.  But those are some interesting mechanics to keep in mind for... the future

[x4000]

Very neat!  That sounds like something my wife and I might like, if we ever get time to play board games again (we played some games last weekend for the first time since Christmas -- it's crazy how our boardgame play has dropped off thanks to a 9 month old).

[Wingflier]

Right, it works there because you've not merely reduced the importance of that symmetry, you've removed even the pretense of it

AI War is fun even if you lose, AI War is fun even if you don't finish, so razor-edge balance is simply not necessary.  The only thing that needs balancing is to make sure that there aren't any legitimate choices that are always bad ones (and, in general, only very few that are always good ones).

As I have said for a long time, if you go back and look at all the best strategy games throughout the ages, whether Turn-Based or Real-Time, the thing that they all have in common is the propensity to force tough choices upon the player.  Tough choices are what make strategies games so enjoyable, and gives them the replay value that (in my opinion) most other genres lack.  AI War succeeds because the player is always faced with tough choices, especially on the higher difficulties, which often change based on the map or the situation.  Any developer that can successfully implement this element into their game, while keeping the game play unique and fresh, will always have a good strategy game imo.

edit:  By that same train of thought, tough choices are also something I believe makes life interesting as well, though I've never really thought of it that way until now.  Most people seem to hate facing them, but how boring would life be without them?

[x4000]

That's actually... a really interesting point about life. Up to a certain point of "fun." I don't want any Sophie's Choice in my life, but regular hard choices are indeed great.

[Echo35]

Have you played Betrayal at House on the Hill? It's a "build the house as you explore" survival horror game and pick up item cards, event cards, and omen cards. Each omen card has the player picking it up roll the "Haunt roll," and if you roll >= the number of omens on the table, the Haunt begins. Each one is like a B-horror movie plot, and almost always involves one of the players becoming a Traitor and playing against the survivors (complete with two books: one, the Hero book that explains the heroes' objectives, and the Traitor book for the traitor.)

An example: Dracula's Bride has the player who discovered the last omen (in this case, "The Girl") is secretly working for Dracula, and the Girl card is his bride. When the haunt begins, the Traitor is now a vampire, along with the Bridge, and both are attempting to kill the players. Dracula is also waking up, though takes a couple of turns to do so. Meanwhile, the players are trying to stay alive until day, and they can complete certain objectives to "hasten" sunrise.

A very good game.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10547/betrayal-at-house-on-the-hill

Last game I played involved the Haunt with the flesh eating air and having to escape this alien world before we melted. It's a fun game, but I already own Arkham Horror

[vordrax]

Last game I played involved the Haunt with the flesh eating air and having to escape this alien world before we melted. It's a fun game, but I already own Arkham Horror

I've never played Arkham Horror, but I have wanted to own it. Last time I had an opportunity to buy it, I bought Runebound instead (which is fun in its own right, but I think I prefer Betrayal to Runebound for the most part.)

That Haunt sounds like a lot of fun. I haven't played it yet, though.

[Entrenched Homperson]

Ah Battlestar was good. And Puerto Rico. And catan (Though it can get old after a while.)

I really liked agricola though. That was an awesome game. And centered around such a simple concept too, lol.

[Echo35]

I really liked agricola though. That was an awesome game. And centered around such a simple concept too, lol.

I like that game, and I wouldn't mind owning it, but the expansion is crappy and the game is WAY too expensive for what it is. This saddens me.