Board Games

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Seananigans

Honorary Shit-PhD
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Gotcha. 6' width sounds fucking ginormous and unlikely though. I would be interested in seeing the plans if you get hold of them.
 

Vaclav

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Gotcha. 6' width sounds fucking ginormous and unlikely though. I would be interested in seeing the plans if you get hold of them.

Dunno, just running off memories - I know it was uncomfortable for me to reach across as a small man (5'2" but I do have long arms for my height - can reach my knees without bending). Keep in mind that's after losing about an foot or so to the "ledge" on each side.
 

Vaclav

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Just in comparison from that reviewed one - at least 1.5x wider and twice as long, FWIW. But again, we'll see actual dimensions in a week if he'll supply it.
 

Hateyou

Not Great, Not Terrible
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Man those tables are cool but so expensive. Hopefully vaclavs plans come through and it's not too difficult and can be scaled down in size. I may start looking at IKEA tables and maybe hack something starting with it. I really like the luxury tables of course but I just can't justify the price.
 

Seananigans

Honorary Shit-PhD
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You justify it by knowing it will last decades, and is solid enough such that if you lean on it it doesn't budge. Kudos to anyone who can make something like that themselves. I know I could build a functional gaming table with plans, but I question my ability to procure the right/best wood, and construct it in such a way that it will last as long as I want it to, and be as durable as these (GC, GnS, etc).
 

Fippy Darkpaw

Molten Core Raider
75
38
I have a regular board game night with my son once a week (he'll be 11 in a month), and I'm looking at branching out. Currently we really only play Quarto, Stratego, and Reversi. I have plenty of other board games that I play with friends, but nothing else that would really work with 2 people.

Looking through lists of good 2 player games, and I really don't know which ones to invest in. There are so many options, and these games get expensive when you want variety. Someone local has copies of Small World and Summoner Wars (Master Set), and Castle Panic (it might be nice to have a co-op game) for a decent price used. Reddit is pushing Mage Wars Arena and Mice and Mystics. I was looking for some kind of structured Pathfinder/DnD type thing we could play together, because I think the idea of a persistent character that powers up and acquires loot would really appeal to him but I don't know where to start on that front.

Anyone else play with kids and have any advice or recommendations?
 
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Hateyou

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Probably warhammer silver tower or descent with the free app that makes it co-op. Those are probably your best two options for somewhat simpler games with character progression that you can buy today.

And of course there's Gloomhaven you should be able to find in August/September.

If you don't mind the character progression being missing, zombicide is pretty easy to learn. I've only played Black Plague version, it's easy but fun and has lots of good "oh crap!" Moments your kid would probably like.

All of these suggestions are assuming you are ok with you kid killing monsters with swords and spells of course.

If you want to try a great deck builder, Aeons End, but again no progression. If you want a cool looking dice/card game with progression and advancement, I'd look for diceborn heroes this fall.
 
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Vaclav

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Before Hateyou's list - I'd suggest Forbidden Desert/Island. It's a really good, light thematic to get the idea of Co-op rolling that works well as an intro game for younger folks.
 
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Hateyou

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Thanks, I don't be have much experience with introducing kids. Started my nephews with the magic the gathering board game. I started with battle masters and hero quest as a kid, which aren't available anymore.
 

Vaclav

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Thanks, I don't be have much experience with introducing kids. Started my nephews with the magic the gathering board game. I started with battle masters and hero quest as a kid, which aren't available anymore.

Yea, fortunately I've got nieces and nephews being introduced on one side, which gave me the ammo on the 1/5 difficulty range stuff (Castle Panic is another 1/5 IMO and on his original list), since you had lots of 2/5's. Of course the other 1/5's I can think of are all competitive however (Five Tribes, Catan, Ticket to Ride)

Depending on what games he likes himself, Forbidden's are a great intro to Pandemic style gaming. (And has similar "exponential issues" but on an easier to understand level - thus the 1/5 vs. Pandemic's 3/5 I'd give it for learning level)
 
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Fippy Darkpaw

Molten Core Raider
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Thank you both so much for the help! I'll look into the suggestions and maybe watch a youtube play-through with him and see what might peak his interest.

If you were to pick one between Forbidden Desert/Island, which would you pick?
 

Rush

Silver Knight of the Realm
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I find desert to be easier to win than island. Island, even on the lowest difficulty is tough. Desert starting at drawing 3 storm cards isn't too bad.

Mechanically speaking theyre so close that you cant go wrong with either one.

My wife likes desert better, if that means anything!
 

Vaclav

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Yea, I agree I feel like Desert is a better polished one of the two - personally my experience with the nieces and nephews being introduced to gaming is technically all Island though - but I don't see any substantive difficulty jumps between the two logically. Desert is SLIGHTLY more advanced but just slightly. (And at the same time due to the nature of the time mechanic in Desert just "turning back the clock" versus destroying hunks of the island it's a little less prone to bad luck potentially screwing you - as long as you still have "water" [effectively the end game timer - but there's recharge mechanics] Desert can fundamentally go on forever, Island just keeps shrinking)

I enjoy Desert more, but they're quite similar to each other, so if the concept of one appeals more I'd go for that one. [Island is more "Indiana Jones" collect stuff and get the heck out, Desert is Steampunk explorers needing to repair their airship to not get lost/die]

Honestly, depending how fast their move through stuff towards more advanced stuff, I could even see both being a good purchase - but you'll know better than us on that front. They're similar enough to translate well to each other mechanically, but at the same time - they feel completely different in actual play so if you end up wanting two of their "type" of game in the library they don't overlap in feel much at all.
 

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Cool. I like that system, but the games are annoying to setup so we never play them.

Signed up w/ your link, looks like a friend did too. That jumped me like 6400 people in line, lol.
 

Ao-

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Dwarves is shipping monday or so. Looking forward to that. Bought two to give one to a buddy.
 

Vaclav

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Where are these table plans Vaclav Vaclav ??

Still coming, apparently he doesn't show on Wednesdays reliably anymore since my hiatus - emailed him yesterday instead.

Taking a day off, so I might poke around the open source sites with his online nick to see if I have any luck though - wouldn't be shocked if he's already onlined it - I know he githubs all his project software.