Recommendation for boardgame for x4000? :)

[zespri]

Guys, you mentioned betrayal at house on the hill. A number of years ago I bought it, played once and then realized that once you know the "secret" books by heart there is no point in playing, so re-playability of the game must be really bad. This put me off so profoundly I never tried playing the game again.

There were a few very high opinions of this game in this thread, so could you tell me is it still fun, once you know all the "secret" stuff?

[x4000]

Well, I've had a chance to look at the games more, and talk to my group some about them... basically, we're looking for something more along the lines of Princes of Florence or maybe Shadows Over Camelot (both of which we have), moreso than something with a lot of diplomacy or a focus on combat.  We've already got a ton of combat-focused games, and only about half our group (including me) really enjoys those it turns out.  And in terms of diplomacy, the dynamics of the group are such that that just always falls flat.

Agricola looks really interesting, but also really long and it's only 5 players.  And the thing that bugs me a bit about Princes of Florence is that it's basically just a bidding game, because the actual choices you make per turn are pretty slight, and so dependent on the chance of what you're able to get against other players.  While I enjoy bidding games, I'd like something with a little more substance.

It's always SO hard finding a new game, bleh.  Thanks again for the help.

[Regdren]

I realize this would leave one person out but I've played the LOTR board game and enjoyed it a lot. The game doesn't take as long as you might think; the whole point is to get through the various events as fast as possible, after all. If you spend a lot of time talking about what to do next it might be dragged out a bit but a lot of the decisions are up to the individual anyway. I like the dynamic of the game a lot and recommend it if you can stomach the limit of 5 people.

[x4000]

Actually, looks like with the sauron expansion that could work really well. The game notes a time of 60 minutes. How much setup time does there tend to be with this?

[x4000]

Well, I found my game -- in the end I went with the LOTR game plus the Sauron expansion.  That will support 6 players, looks like it has a good amount of decision-making from having read the rules for the base game, and has some interesting randomness without seeming like too much.  And looks like it can take 1-2 hours for real for my group, which is a good thing.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions and advice, folks!  I'm sure I'll come back around to some of the others in the future, when time isn't so limited.

[keith.lamothe]

Well, I found my game -- in the end I went with the LOTR game plus the Sauron expansion.

Ooh, didn't know about the expansion, will have to look into that one.

I enjoyed that one quite a lot though I didn't play more than a few times.  Iirc it was really kick-in-the-pants _hard_, but it may be due to my being inexperienced, or the story warranting it

[x4000]

After playing DungeonQuest, I think this will seem like a lark, honestly -- in DungeonQuest, 6/10 things that happen to you are bad, 3/10, things that happen to you are neutral, and 1/10 things that happen to you are good.  And out of those bad things, it seems like 1/10 of those are lethal.

My wife and I played it a while back, and she literally walked in, explored around a few tiles, got attacked by three or four different classes of things, fell down a hole, got lost, got trapped, got an incredibly small piece of treasure, and staggered back out the door with almost no health.  And "won" by doing this.  Meanwhile I walked in, explored a few tiles, fell down a hole, got attacked by a really large monster, got lost in the basement, surfaced in the middle of the dungeon, and got attacked by things repeatedly as I fruitlessly tried to get remotely nearer to any exit to escape with the 0 treasures I'd collected.  But I died before getting remotely close.

That game, like golf, is about shared misery.  And I guess the humor of it.  We had a good time with that, but looking through the cards it was ridiculous the percentages of good things versus bad.

LOTR really seems more like it's about avoiding Bad Things in a more classic sense.  Seems more to my taste.

[keith.lamothe]

Haha, ouch, yea.  Sounds like a meat grinder

LOTR really seems more like it's about avoiding Bad Things in a more classic sense.  Seems more to my taste.

In my experience it was largely about hoping you didn't get too many event cards in a row in the deck, or you could get rolled by the Balrog in Moria (for example) just because you didn't get enough turns to get out normally.  Of course, you don't necessarily lose if that happens, it's just _far_ more costly to fight the Balrog than to get out before that event happens.

... Which, of course, is very true to the story

[x4000]

Ah.  Yeah, it's not always clear card percentages based on the rulebook alone, that's for sure.  Still should be interesting, I figure!  And I imagine I'll be Sauron, so that's all good news to me anyhow.

[Regdren]

I didn't even know about the Sauron expansion before you mentioned it, sounds like fun! The boards themselves are pretty simple so setting up shouldn't be too time-consuming. I've just played with the base rules and those already make pulling off a win pretty tough.

Does the game give the hobbits any compensation for contending with an active Sauron, or is that just another boost to the difficulty of the whole thing?

[x4000]

Does the game give the hobbits any compensation for contending with an active Sauron, or is that just another boost to the difficulty of the whole thing?

I haven't been able to read the rulebook yet because it isn't posted online (and my order is still en route, it's not in my local game store sadly), but there is a good synopsis on boardgamegeek that's meant to be kind of a reminder sheet if you already know how to play.  Based on that, and the reviews and comments on BGG, it looks like essentially the hobbits get some new stuff, but the bad stuff that Sauron gets can outweigh it.  Specifically, there are some evil story tiles that you can mix in that are particularly nasty, and a lot of folks play without them (I certainly plan to at first).

But the Black Rider sounds like a great mechanic, having read about that in good detail, and it also sounds like the "things that Sauron does to each Hobbit on their turn" is balanced by the fact that there are 3(?) options on each card he plays on you, and you get to choose which of those three things happens.  So that seems to be a vector for more Hobbit choice, too.  Those Sauron cards get played on each Hobbit at the start of their turn, I think, and it's something that replaces... something else that was more automated in the base game.  I think that the Threat Die is also basically unused in the expansion, but I could be wrong; my impression was that the Sauron player makes those choices instead, though.  And he's got some Nazgul cards that he can play, kind of like the Gandalf cards from the best I can tell.

Anyway, once I have it and get a chance to read the rules (and/or play it), I'll post more details.  I'm excited about it, though.

[Mánagarmr]

DungeonQuest sounds an awful lot like the swedish game "Drakborgen" (Dragon's Castle). It's terrifyingly unforgiving.

[Faulty Logic]

Both criteria:

Bohnanza is the best bean-trading game you will ever play.

Acsension: Chronicles of the Godslayer with expansion (think Dominion + drafting)

Medici (auction game)

Seven Wonders (drafting game with meat on the bones)

The Adventurers (push-your luck filler)

First criterion only (6 players):

Eclipse (space civ-building+fleet combat) would work, and it should only take 2 or so hours, but with the group you described you could be looking at up to four.

If you have an extra table try playing Here I Stand (asymmetric diplomacy game with some luck) in sessions. Be ready to devote 4 to 8 total hours to it though

The Rail game series (Eurorails, Empire Builder, etc. (pick up and deliver+hexmap) depends on the individual game, mabye 4 hours.

...My signature is somewhat less applicable outside the AI war forums.