We all have our personal favorites. My advice is look at FFG's sight and in it you will see a ton of how to videos on almost every game. Pick the one you think speaks to you. FFG is very good and you can't go wrong with any of their products

Zombicide black plague is fun. Some of the missions are harder than others and the more expansions you have the more difficulty you can add. They have an online mission builder and you can find missions others have made with it online, so you'll never run out of new ways to play.

I bought that to play whole waiting for Dark Souls and Massive Darkness to release. Otherwise look amazing. Dark Souls is completely unique. Massive Darkness fixes a lot of what's wrong with zombicide mechanics.

Exploding Kittens is fun. It's quick and a good warmup to the rest of your game night.

Carcassonne is great. Easy to learn and fast to play. It's like a good version of settlers of Caton that you can actually explain without having to play an open hand game, and isn't dice dependant for selecting your resources.

Star wars risk is fun. It's pretty quick and while not rebellion in scope, it's a similar feel on the table. 2 player only though.

Check out Joking Hazard. It's going to be amazing and you can still preorder. Similar to Cards against humanity in playstyle but there's a real mechanic to swap out your hand of bad cards... also less likely to be any bad cards in the first place.

It might help if we new what TYPE of game you are looking for.

A lamer copy of X-Wing? Then get Attack Wing. Actually, no, never get Attack Wing - get Wings of Glory or something.

Another tactical minatures game? Then get Imperial Assault.

A full blown co-operative miniatures game? Space Cadets: Away Missions

An epic strategy game? Twilight Imperium.

An epic Star Wars thematically strong game that takes a lot less time than Twilight Imperium? Star Wars Rebellion.

An easy-entry fun and fast clever game? 7 Wonders

A classic and fun euro card game that almost everyone loves? Dominion

Then there's X-COM, which looks cool but I have no idea what it is.

King of New York is fun for everyone.

The Portal board game is definitely awesome. For better or worse, that game is maximum troll. If your friends can get their feelings hurt easy, maybe stay away, but if you all love really messing with each other and know it's all in good fun then go for it!

It might help if we new what TYPE of game you are looking for.

A lamer copy of X-Wing? Then get Attack Wing. Actually, no, never get Attack Wing - get Wings of Glory or something.

Another tactical minatures game? Then get Imperial Assault.

A full blown co-operative miniatures game? Space Cadets: Away Missions

An epic strategy game? Twilight Imperium.

An epic Star Wars thematically strong game that takes a lot less time than Twilight Imperium? Star Wars Rebellion.

An easy-entry fun and fast clever game? 7 Wonders

A classic and fun euro card game that almost everyone loves? Dominion

Then there's X-COM, which looks cool but I have no idea what it is.

It's a 2-4 player coop that relies on an app that makes you do quick decisions.

Basically two phases, timed phase and resolve phase. During the time phase the app will throw things at you like aliens attacking your base, UFO spawning over continents and you have a few seconds to decide where to put your resources, all while keeping budget in mind. Each player had a role such as science officer, commander et . The resolve phase is when you will roll dice and see if what Yas done manages to hold off the invasion. It's a really fun game, and easy to play, and the app I think is great

If you have exactly 5 players I can't recommend these two games enough:

Imperial Assault (or descent if you like the other IP) - we love it as a board game group, lots of replayability and we mostly do campaign.

Risk: Legacy - seriously the most fun board game experience I've had. People REALLY get into this one, worth it even if it is "one use". For the love of god - experience the game and don't spoil anything by going online about it.

For other size groups, Dominion is always fun, so is Carcassonne with whichever expansions you like. We usually break these out if there are relatively new gamers over.

No one else plays Munchkin here? My game group started off playing that, the adventure time one specifically, and other things like King of Tokyo and Monopoly Deal.

I know this is X-wing miniatures board, but since this post does relate in some way, and I don't know of any other boards to put this on, I am putting here

So me and some friends have been getting into board games and such recently. We have enjoyed Star Wars X-wing minatures, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Bang!, Cards Against Humanity, Uno, and Game of Thrones risk

I have purchased Bang!, Cards against Humanity, and every Empire and Rebel fighter for Star Wars X-wing. I also plan on buying Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride.

I was wondering if anyone had any opinons on some other games I was wonderign about and also which version of Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan I should buy? (for ticket to ride there is the regular, Europe, and Nordic countries. Just curious which one has more tracks to build)

Here are the other games I was looking at:

Ghostbusters

Superfight

Portal

Exploding Kittens

Carcossne

Halo Risk

Risk 2210 AD

Star Wars Armada

Star Wars Rebellion

Star Trek Attack wing

Ticket To Ride - Great gateway game into board gaming. You can't go wrong with Ticket To Ride. If you get this, go for Ticket To Ride Europe rather than USA or Nordic. It has 5 player (Nordic is up to 3 player only) and the Europe 1912 expansion is far superior to the USA 1910 expansion. Europe also comes with Stations and Tunnels, which USA doesn't.

Settlers of Catan - Get the normal version and Seafarers. Then the 5-6 player expansions for each if your gaming group is big enough. Star Trek Catan, Egypt Catan etc. are just the same game but with less opportunity for purchasing more expansions in the future.

Ghostbusters - This is an ok game, but it's easy to max out your characters on the first or second scenario. I'm not sure how much replayability it would have unless you had different groups to play with.

Carcassonne - Good game but I don't see the super attraction that some people have for it. It's just not as exciting for me as a game with a few more rules and the zillion expansions don't add enough for me.

Risk - Any risk game is... risk. If you want something more in-depth then try Game of Thrones: The Board Game.

Attack Wing - Poor man's X-Wing. Don't bother if you have X-Wing already.

On to some personal recommendations, of which I'll stick to 3 + 1 coop as I imagine the number of recommendations already in this thread is probably already overwhelming.

1) 7 Wonders - A card drafting game for up to 7 players. Simple to learn but highly replayable. Large player count means it's good for some groups where otherwise there aren't really any options. You can even up the player count to 8 if you get the Cities expansion. The Babel expansion is "meh" but Cities, Leaders and the Wonders expansion are all good. 28th on BGG.

2) Terra Mystica - Very replayable. You colonise a board with Catan-style wooden buildings by first terraforming the ground into your race's terrain type. Building buildings unlocks more income but upgrading them then covers back up that income so you have to balance the low level dwellings with the higher level buildings. 14 races in the base game + 6 in the expansion. It's my gf's favourite board game and I can recommend it very highly. Ranked 4th on BGG.

3) Scythe - One of my latest purchases. A really fun mix of expansion, combat, resource gathering, building, territory control. Fantastic artwork. Single player "Automa" rules are included. If you like Risk then you should like the territory control and combat aspects. Ranked 19th on BGG.

4) Pandemic - Coop game. Save the world by curing infections. Very well made game. Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert and Thunderbirds all use the same rules concepts but Pandemic does it best in my opinion. Plenty of expansions if you decide you really love the game. Easy to pick up and teach to new players. As do all coop games, this runs the risk of an "alpha" player taking over, so won't suit all gaming groups.

Happy to chat about board games if the OP or anyone else wants to. Just drop me a PM.

Edit: You can pretty much pick anything from the Top 30 on BGG and know that it will be a great game. The danger is that it might be a great game in its genre but you personally might not enjoy that genre of board game.

Then there's X-COM, which looks cool but I have no idea what it is.

I really like xcom

It's a 2-4 player coop that relies on an app that makes you do quick decisions.

Basically two phases, timed phase and resolve phase. During the time phase the app will throw things at you like aliens attacking your base, UFO spawning over continents and you have a few seconds to decide where to put your resources, all while keeping budget in mind. Each player had a role such as science officer, commander et . The resolve phase is when you will roll dice and see if what Yas done manages to hold off the invasion. It's a really fun game, and easy to play, and the app I think is great

XCOM is a great game, but I feel that Pandemic is the better coop game.

At last! Someone mentioned Splendor! I highly recommend it- it is really easy to learn, and dispite of many games mentioned hereinabove, this game is not dice dependent. Still, there is a little element of "fate and luck", but this is a game in which you feel, that you win because of your abilities, wisdom and calculation - not because of a single lucky move. My wife unortunately hates x-wing (whaaaat?!), but Splendor is perfect for both of us. One of the few games, that is playable bor 2 players as well as for 3 or 4 people.

If you want to play with hardcore players friends - pick it up. If you want to play with your parents, grandma or boardgame noobs - pick it up. It's fun to play with everyone.

I do not entirely agree with this review, but anyway I post it so you could know better what I'm talking about. http://www.boardgamequest.com/splendor-review/

I also played Catan, Ticket to Ride (Europe, Asia, Dutch) and Carcassone. The latter I enjoy the most, Ticket to Ride is great but I have enough of it for a while, and Catan after a lot of games played became annoying - there is too much dice luck that you have to depend on and also if you play with people, who do not care about playing and stupidly give away their resources to your opponnents, you will become more and more annoyed. So I do not recommend it in long terms.

Splendor beats all of the above.

Yeah, Splendor is a great strategy game that is really really easy to learn for anyone, and the theme is collecting gems, so its a theme for female gamers to get into. I got it for christmas and played a game with my inlaws who dont really play board games and everyone had a good time. Played another game with my mother (age 65), my niece (age 9), and my brother (age 38). Everyone had their own strategy, my niece was gobbling up diamonds...cause she likes diamonds, and that was changing everyone else's game strategy. Great game where you have to adapt to your opponents and go on the defensive sometimes. Can literally play with anyone in 5 minutes, think the rulebook is like one piece of paper.

some of my favorites

Lighter games

Survive: Escape from Atlantis - simple concept and gameplay. Hex board like Catan. It is a fun time with many laughs as your build alliances and betrayals trying to have the most of your meeples survive the sinking island (with limited boats and attacking sealife waiting to eat your people)

Captain Sonar : tough to get to the table because while it plays well with 4-6 people, it is at its prime with 8 players (4 on 4). Essentially it is real time (not turn based) battleship as a team. Plays fast so you can easily get in several matches.

Medium games

Pandemic (without expansions)- A great game that is not heavy on complexity that you can play with gamers and casual gamers. Gets deeper with the expansions.

Carcassonne - Feels similar in some ways to Catan but it does play quite differently. It can get much more complex with expansions.

Pandemic Legacy - One of the best games I have ever played, love that the game has a building narrative and permanent consequences. Been playing with a regular group at lunch time. Best if you have the same recurring group. Also once you play the 12-24 games to finish the season, you have finished the game and replay-ability drops.

Heavier games

Star Wars Armada - I have both Xwing and Armada and I love both games but prefer Armada. They both really capture the theme perfectly and I love the grand strategy naval feel of Armada. It is quite something to feel your plan come together. It is slower and more methodical than Xwing and doesn't have as much excitement when dice are rolling (mostly because it is a lot less reliant on dice rolls and luck (no green dice) so both players have a general idea of the outcome before an exchange is about to happen. Definitely recommend trying it first as just because you like Xwing doesn't mean you will like Armada (or vice-versa) even though they share the same list building mechanics. You will need expansions to get what you want out of this game.

Star Wars Rebellion - This is very much the boardgame version of the PC game. A lot of the same ideas are put into this. I freaking love this game. It is amazingly balanced and always feels close. Highly strategic but there is enough luck with card draws and dice to make it exciting as well. The game really tells a story as you go and when you finish you feel like you went through the original trilogy. Star Wars in a box is what many call it. It is definitely a more complex game than any here except maybe Armada. It also will take 2-4 hours once you know the rules and 3-5 with teams (that know the rules). Most of the time comes from thinking. It can have some analysis paralysis if players overthink. I have probably 15 games in of it and it hasn't gotten stale but it still takes just as long. Typically if my usual opponent and I are debating about Rebellion or Armada for a night, they end up taking about the same length (Armada including list building will take 2-4 hours if you are starting a list fresh).

My two cents.

Looking at my own games cabinet:

SW Rebellion, it gets played,and it is awesome.

Lords of Waterdeep, worker placement, scales well up to 4 players, higher than that and it bogs down time wise.

Pandemic, great

Ticket To Ride, might be too light?

Pandemic Legacy, great but when you're starting out, you might not want to start with a game that has you ripping up cards

Smash Up, needs to get to the table more often

Machi Koro, nice dice roller, easy to grasp for all types of players

Tokaido, a zen-like trip never got so competitive

Coup Rebellion, our favourite hidden role type game as you don't get bogged down in endless analysis discussions

Dead of Winter, a game you have to be in the mood for, can get tense

Celestia, beautiful push your luck game, can be played by kids with a little help (for my 6-year old nephew)

King of New York

Marvel Legendary Deck Building game

Sherrif of Nottingham

Cutthroat Caverns

Imperial Assault

And a bunch of filler games, or lighter games for when we just want to play a game and talk

Love Letter

Welcome to the Dungeon

Oh Hell

Take 5

Exploding Kittens

Cards Against Humanity got stale real quick

There's more, but this is what gets played most often

Oh, and I just remembered we have a bunch of games we almost never play but I can't get rid off, like Diplomacy.

We did get rid of Betrayal at House on the Hill though, too random, too wonky, too fiddly.

Ask me in 6 weeks and I'll be back from Essen with a bunch more games

A bit surprised no one has mentioned Colt Express yet!

If you are like me and often have to try to get friends who aren't as in to the hobby as yourself to play games and don't want to overwhelm them, these are some really good options (some already mentioned)-

1. Colt Express. Incredibly simple. Players are "bandits" on a train, and you have cards which represent actions the bandits take. Players stack the actions on top of the last players action (sometimes face up, sometimes face down), and then the actions get "played out" after all players have played the necessary amount of cards. It's fun and a bit silly as some very unexpected things happen, like you shoot or punch the wrong person on accident. Some strategy involved, but not so much it cripples new players.

2. 7 Wonders. Been covered already plenty. Great, great game. My wife loves it even more than I do, which is really saying something since she isn't nearly as invested in the hobby.

3. Dominion. Covered a bit, but wanted to mention it as well because it's my favorite game of all time. If you do get this and enjoy it, expect to get at least a couple of expansions, as the base set can get dry after awhile. The replay value is enormous with a few expansions, one thing I really enjoy about the game.

4. Smallworld. It's getting so popular that it's not really a secret anymore, but that doesn't mean it isn't still worth picking up. I'd stick with the first version and wait to buy the newer one (which adds some mechanics that I feel really didn't work well).

Axis and Allies is one of the greatest games of all time.The old one from the 80's is the best. It's like Risk times ten in terms of complexity and fun.

If you're really into World War II, try Memoir '44. My brother loves its historical accuracy of smaller scale battles with infantry and tanks.

If your favorite thing is playing with friends, I'd really strongly suggest Star Wars Imperial Assault. It's good for three to five players, and although it's expensive (about $100), everything you need for hundreds of hours of fun is in the base game. It's a miniatures game typically played in a long campaign, with one player for the empire and all the other players controlling one rebel hero each. Super fun, and the rebel players don't have to know how to play that well to get started. The Imperial player has to know all the rules pretty well.

If you like Catan, you'll probably like Carcassone and Dominion as well. Although, my favorite in that genre right now is Puerto Rico, which combines fun parts from all three. Congratulations to you and your friends on beginning the endless hunt for the perfect game. May the force be with you.

Battlestar Galactica . Note: this is NOT an easy game to jump into for non-gamers. Totally worth it, though...

^

This! Doesn't matter if you didn't like the TV show (I didn't). The board game is gonking fantastic and you should totally put it on your wishlist!

The OP mentioned an interest in Imperial Assault. If you think you have interest in that game then you should know that you will soon be able to play it solo with the app that is coming out. FFG has already tested the waters with Descent which is a coop high fantasy setting(dragons and heroes) with an app available for solo play. Descent is an incredible game and so is Imperial Assault. With all that being said if you think you have interest in sci-fi coop games then you must check out GALAXY DEFENDERS!!! It is basically the best board game version of the tactical combat seen in X-Com. It has a very long campaign stretching out over three expansion which are all HUGE. There is also a high fantasy game coming out soon from the same company that made GD and its called Sword and Sorcery and it looks awesome as well.

Alright here are some real good ones, if you want "the best" I'd probably have to go for 7 Wonders , it has good strategy, a bit of luck, can be played with up to 7 players and only takes 40 minutes per game.

Pure Strategy: (almost no to completely no luck involved, pure mind battle against the others, usually long games because lots of planning and thinking)

• Power Grid

  Everyone plays an energy provider and tries to power as many cities as possible and gain money by doing so, spending that money to buy new power plants and the resources to run them. Really well designed game with mechanics that hinder the player that is ahead and gives bonus to the players lacking behind so it is always a tight field and not sure who wins until the last round.

• Tzolk'in

  Appraise the gods in a game about the mayan calendar, very nicely design board game with cogs that move and your workers on it and a very very simple mechanic, you can only do one of two things, either put workings on the cogs or remove them and harvest what they were doing, yet there is very much planning involved in getting the best move.

• Steam

  You play railroad moguls trying to build a train network with actual track that has to be laid on the board, very nice mechanics again. Then try to buy locomotives and move cargo so you earn money. But don't spend money too fast because ... interest. You have to be able to pay interest for your loans, so the correct amount of expansion has to be found so you don't go into the bankruptcy spiral yet claim enough good spots fast enough.

• Russian Railroads

  Try to gain as much points as possible by either building the transsiberian railway, build small railways, invest into the industry or do a combination of everything. Great worker placement game with a lot of different strategies, there is no dominant strategy, the winner is usually the one who adapts best to use that strategy noone else uses.

Everyday games: (some chance involved, yet still awesome to play, usually faster)

• Dominion

  Really good game entirely with cards but feels like a boardgame and not a card game. Everyone starts with the same deck and then tries to buy more cards for the deck. The winner is the one who has the most victory point cards in his deck but the thing is, the more of these cards you have the more clustered your deck becomes and will stall your card combos. Really good mechanism and not too long to play a round. There's also a ton of expansions and you can mix all of them together.

• Quadropolis

  Every designs a city, having to choose from a shared stack of buildings available over the course of 4 rounds. Depending on how you choose to get a tile you can only place it on certain tiles in your city. Different building types give different amounts of victory points at the end of the game depending on their neighboring buildings and other criteria. Very fun to play and also very good art design in my opinion.

• Kingdom Builder

  Players try to claim spots on the map to build the Kingdom that has the best cashout at the end of the game. Almost no game will ever be the same because the victory conditions and well as the map are built randomly (with the map tiles come bonus tiles that enable special moves), and what strategy might be efficient for one map and some victory conditions will not be efficient in the next game. It's very easy to play because you only have a single card in hand have to play that, then draw one for next turn, but it is not so easy to choose the right placement for your settlements with that single card so you don't block yourself in future moves.

• Ticket to Ride

  Good train themed game where you gain points for making connections between cities (the longer it is the more points you get) and additional points for connected cities at the end of the game. You have to collect cars of the same colour to be able to claim a route of that colour so you have to be quick (and lucky) so noone else claims it before you do. Personally I think the europe variant is better as it is very easy to win the default american map just by claiming all of the longer routes instead of connecting your cities.

• 7 Wonders

  One of the best games every designed. And the best thing is, you can play it with 3-7 players (-8 with addons) and regardless of player count it always takes the same time (~40mins) because it's everyone's turn at the same time. You build your ancient civilization (corresponding to the 7 world wonders of the antique) by choosing a card from your hand, play that card in a way, then hand the rest of your hand to the player to your left, while getting the rest from the player on your right. Do that 6 times for 1 age. After that there is war with your left and right neighbor. Then the next age starts, you play through 3 ages (and 3 wars) and buildings increase in value (and cost) throughout the ages. Very well designed game.

Party games: (more about the fun and something to play in a good group (and maybe some alcohol involved)

• Robo Rally

  Hilarious. You have to program your robot with moves under time pressure (When someone finishes their programming you only got 1 minute left). After everyone programmed his there is the resolution and the 5 steps will be executed. AFter every move/turn all robots shoot, harming other robots (which lose programming ability the more damage they take). Your goal is to visit a set of flags to be the fastest around the course while escaping other's shots and not walk off the map. Easier said than done because the board has effects that also move you around and other players will also move you. Simply hilarious in a large group. So much bumping and unexpected stuff. (Oh you thought you walk through the corridor? Let me move you one space first then you can walk 5 times into a wall ahead of you.)

• Wits and Wagers

  Not sure if something needs to be said about this. Question will be read (the answer normally can't be known) everyone guesses, everyone bets on which guess is the closest guess, most points wins.

Cooperative games: (all of you play against the game)

• XCOM The Board game

  Rescue the Earth from Alien Invaders, whoever played XCOM on PC knows what this is about, excellent adaptation, partially under time pressure (planning phase).

• Space Alert + Expansion

  Fly a spaceship to a sector and try to defend yourself from Alien attacks for 13 turns, the clue is, you will only get revealed what is coming when during a 10 minute CD-track and have to adjust your actions (create new energy, link energy to different cannons on the ship, fire cannons with your crew) during these 10 minutes. If everything goes really according to plan will be shown in the resolution phase and maybe some mis-planning or a bad 'critical hit' from an enemy will throw a spanner into your plans and having someone late with energy replenishing so a perfectly timed shot will only make the actual guy at the cannon make a hollow 'click' on the button. Amazing game, hilarious in outcome. Perfect.

• Pandemic

  4 Deseases spread over the world and you and your friends are the strike force to contain and heal the deseases, very good game, good mechanics.

• Robinson Crusoe

  You and your friends are on an island and have to try to escape. The whole island is against you, wildlife, storms and depleting morale. Comes with different scenarios that determine what you have to do to escape.

These are probably the best of each category, if someone is interested I can give a lot more options but I think that should suffice for now.

One game I haven't seen mentioned and I've had quite a bit of replay with/enjoyed it every time is Galaxy Trucker A two phase game, race against opponents to build your "space truck" and then see how it fares against a variety of situations. I would advise if you have a mix of new and seasoned players you involve some sort of handicap as you can get quite an advantage on new players knowing what things to expect and building your ship accordingly.

One game I haven't seen mentioned and I've had quite a bit of replay with/enjoyed it every time is Galaxy Trucker A two phase game, race against opponents to build your "space truck" and then see how it fares against a variety of situations. I would advise if you have a mix of new and seasoned players you involve some sort of handicap as you can get quite an advantage on new players knowing what things to expect and building your ship accordingly.

YES! I just remembered this game. It's brilliant.

It's one of the few games that's quite enjoyable to play when you're losing.

Build spaceships! Watch them fall apart hilariously until you end up with one little man in a crew compartment, an engine bolted on, screaming his way through space bwaahahahahaha.

It's...actually kind of disappointing in the rounds where not much damage happens.

The OP mentioned an interest in Imperial Assault. If you think you have interest in that game then you should know that you will soon be able to play it solo with the app that is coming out.

Did I miss something? When did they announce that?

The OP mentioned an interest in Imperial Assault. If you think you have interest in that game then you should know that you will soon be able to play it solo with the app that is coming out.

Did I miss something? When did they announce that?

Gencon at the in flight report I believe it was. I heard people at the FFG booth talking about it too.

The OP mentioned an interest in Imperial Assault. If you think you have interest in that game then you should know that you will soon be able to play it solo with the app that is coming out.

Did I miss something? When did they announce that?

Gencon at the in flight report I believe it was. I heard people at the FFG booth talking about it too.

IA solo? Where do I send all the moneys?