Advanced board games I recommend
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 8:50 am
I'm a fan of board games, especially the more advanced ones. This thread is to discuss the less-common ones we recommend. This thread is NOT for simple games like Aggravation, Risk, Battleship, or Stratego. Nor is it for Chess or Go, regardless of any strategic depth they may have. RULE OF THUMB: If everyone has played it, it doesn't belong in this thread.
The simplest one I recommend is The Settlers of Catan. It involves, uh, settlers building up their colonies on the fictional Island of Catan. In my opinion, it's the ultimate family game. The board is modular, meaning it has a different set-up every time. The great thing about it is that any player, regardless of age or experience, can win on his or her first game. It's okay with three players, but you'll need the full four players for maximum effect. WARNING: It's very addictive! Nearly everyone to whom I've taught the game has ran out and bought a copy posthaste.
An all-but-unknown one I highly recommend is Quo Vadis? It's a Roman senate game with no dice, and therefore no luck, involved. Players move their senators into various committees, trying to advance to higher ones by being voted into them. The most utterly brilliant aspect of this game is that in order to win, all players must convince all other players to act against their own self-interest! Although it barely works with four players, you really need all five for it to shine. It's long out-of-print, but I'm sure you can get a copy from Amazon.com.
The game that has held my fascination the longest is the Axis & Allies series of games, which as the name implies allows you to re-fight World War II. Think of it as Risk but a few quantum leaps higher on the fun and realism scale. I started playing the original mass-produced version back in 1985, less than a year after it came out, and it still captures my imagination. I even created an advanced rule book to bring it more closely in line with actual history (which you can purchase here if you really want to). Although I recommend starting with "Axis & Allies 1942," the most recent version of the base game, my favorite is its most advanced version, which is actually two games that can be combined into one: Axis & Allies Pacific 1940 2nd Edition, along with (of course) Axis & Allies Europe 1940 2nd Edition. If you lay both of those boards together and play it as one game, then the board, at 5'10" in width, is literally wider than I am tall! Although the base game allows for up to five players, it's best played with just two players so the others don't get too bored waiting for their turns.
Along those lines, a group of Axis & Allies fans created their own company to sell expansions and upgrades for that game. They invented Amerika, an alternate-history game similar to Axis & Allies but with an entirely different premise: The Axis powers won the war in Europe and Asia. Reacting to intelligence that the United States is developing an atomic bomb, Germany and Japan invade the U.S.A. from both coasts and drive inland, fighting city-by-city to force a peace treaty before the U.S.A. finishes creating the bomb. It works with three players--Germany, Japan, and the United States--but it also works wonderfully with only two.
Finally, one with which I've been fascinated for a long time but haven't actually owned until just this last year is Scythe. The setting is an alternate history that takes place in the early 1920s in Europe, where a mysterious factory supplied large "mechs" to the various warring factions of World War I. With the war over, the factory has closed its doors, and two or more of those factions converge on the rich lands around the factory to develop (exploit?) them and, with any luck, occupy the factory to learn its secrets. Think of it as The Settlers of Catan on extreme steroids. It is to The Settlers of Catan as Axis & Allies is to Risk. This game allows many paths to victory. Peaceful farming and industrial development might win you the game just as easily as open conflict with your neighbors. Another unique--and welcome!--aspect of this game is that it's just as fun with only two players as it is with all five.
So, what are some lesser-known--but advanced--board games that you've played and also recommend? REMEMBER: If everyone has played it, it doesn't belong in this thread.
(Threads about card games and miniatures games will come later, so please stick to board games here.)
The simplest one I recommend is The Settlers of Catan. It involves, uh, settlers building up their colonies on the fictional Island of Catan. In my opinion, it's the ultimate family game. The board is modular, meaning it has a different set-up every time. The great thing about it is that any player, regardless of age or experience, can win on his or her first game. It's okay with three players, but you'll need the full four players for maximum effect. WARNING: It's very addictive! Nearly everyone to whom I've taught the game has ran out and bought a copy posthaste.
An all-but-unknown one I highly recommend is Quo Vadis? It's a Roman senate game with no dice, and therefore no luck, involved. Players move their senators into various committees, trying to advance to higher ones by being voted into them. The most utterly brilliant aspect of this game is that in order to win, all players must convince all other players to act against their own self-interest! Although it barely works with four players, you really need all five for it to shine. It's long out-of-print, but I'm sure you can get a copy from Amazon.com.
The game that has held my fascination the longest is the Axis & Allies series of games, which as the name implies allows you to re-fight World War II. Think of it as Risk but a few quantum leaps higher on the fun and realism scale. I started playing the original mass-produced version back in 1985, less than a year after it came out, and it still captures my imagination. I even created an advanced rule book to bring it more closely in line with actual history (which you can purchase here if you really want to). Although I recommend starting with "Axis & Allies 1942," the most recent version of the base game, my favorite is its most advanced version, which is actually two games that can be combined into one: Axis & Allies Pacific 1940 2nd Edition, along with (of course) Axis & Allies Europe 1940 2nd Edition. If you lay both of those boards together and play it as one game, then the board, at 5'10" in width, is literally wider than I am tall! Although the base game allows for up to five players, it's best played with just two players so the others don't get too bored waiting for their turns.
Along those lines, a group of Axis & Allies fans created their own company to sell expansions and upgrades for that game. They invented Amerika, an alternate-history game similar to Axis & Allies but with an entirely different premise: The Axis powers won the war in Europe and Asia. Reacting to intelligence that the United States is developing an atomic bomb, Germany and Japan invade the U.S.A. from both coasts and drive inland, fighting city-by-city to force a peace treaty before the U.S.A. finishes creating the bomb. It works with three players--Germany, Japan, and the United States--but it also works wonderfully with only two.
Finally, one with which I've been fascinated for a long time but haven't actually owned until just this last year is Scythe. The setting is an alternate history that takes place in the early 1920s in Europe, where a mysterious factory supplied large "mechs" to the various warring factions of World War I. With the war over, the factory has closed its doors, and two or more of those factions converge on the rich lands around the factory to develop (exploit?) them and, with any luck, occupy the factory to learn its secrets. Think of it as The Settlers of Catan on extreme steroids. It is to The Settlers of Catan as Axis & Allies is to Risk. This game allows many paths to victory. Peaceful farming and industrial development might win you the game just as easily as open conflict with your neighbors. Another unique--and welcome!--aspect of this game is that it's just as fun with only two players as it is with all five.
So, what are some lesser-known--but advanced--board games that you've played and also recommend? REMEMBER: If everyone has played it, it doesn't belong in this thread.
(Threads about card games and miniatures games will come later, so please stick to board games here.)