Board 8 > Paul ranks his top 50 board/tabletop games.

(+) Yeah! (+)

bumpo
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Yeah, Roll For the Galaxy sounds like it...

Could maybe be Cranium Dice, but I bet that's a little high for that.
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lmao, cranium dice would be such a HUGE upset, i'm rooting for that now
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I like Cranium Dice tbh. It's a fun game.
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Space Cadets: Dice Duel! I think that game is great

(although it can't actually be this because it is also a programmable-movement game)

how is SCDD? My friend who hosts has it in his collection but we've never played. Good for four?
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#8 will be posted later today
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8) BANG! The Dice Game (2013)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143741/bang-dice-game
BANG! The Dice Game is a dice rolling/hidden role game. In this game players will be randomly given a role of Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw, or Renegade. Everyone's role will remain face down, except the Sheriff who will reveal themselves. Each team has their own goal, the Sheriff and Deputy(s) want the Outlaws dead, the Outlaws want the Sheriff dead, and the Renegade wants the Outlaws dead and then the Sheriff dead. This game plays Yahtzee style dice rolling, roll 5 dice and re-roll up to two more times. If you get a shoot 1 or 2, you shoot someone who is one space or two spaces besides you, beer heals you or someone else, arrows build up and bring you a ton of damage at once, gatling gun hurts everybody if you roll 3 of them, and dynamite are dead dice that you can't re-roll. Game ends when either the Sheriff, or all 3 Outlaws and Renegade are dead.

Since only the Sheriff is revealed, people need to figure out who everybody else is based on how they act, which can lead to some really fun mind games. I've become famous in my group for my "bro pacts" which they have now learned not to trust after too many "bro pacts were meant to be broken" moves from me. My favourite role to play is Outlaw, but the Renegade is definitely a fun challenge. It's so hard to win as Renegade, I've only managed to do it once. I know this game is really simplistic, but it's definitely my favourite quick filler game to end the night with or pull out when we have lots of people and wanna play something easy.

There's an expansion for this game that adds up to 5 different modules. I've played it once, a couple times where we kept adding more modules each time and I really liked it. I definitely plan to get it once I finally find it for sale somewhere.

This game is based on a card game with similar gameplay, but I don't really like it all too much. Seeing as it's player elimination it can often times go a little long, so eliminated players end up waiting for everyone to finish and that's never fun. My girlfriend really likes it though so there are times she convinces everyone to play it instead of the dice game, so I do end up playing it every so often but I can definitely guarantee it won't be showing up on this list.

Hint for #7
A co-op game that adds a possibility of a secret traitor

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Dead of Winter
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Battlestar Galactica?
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Definitely didn't expect Dice-BANG so high. There's very little substance to it, but I do think it's really fun. As far as 'filler' hidden roles games go, it beats ONUW comfortably (though that could still show up, I suppose). I think this game is a lot lighter than anyone was predicting in your Top X, so that excites me in terms of the spread of what could be left.

It's also almost ridiculous how much better the dice game is than the card game. The 'Mancato!' cards and the hand management element seem to add absolutely nothing to the game other than length; there's a cage that's very much an unpreventable 'Take That,' and your characters are much more durable to begin with for such a simple game. But it's also a game from like 2002, so it's hard to hold that against it too much. Dice-BANG seems to recognize all the weaknesses of the original game and reduces the game down to its best parts: randomness, but where teams matter, and violence.

As for #7, BSG guarantees a secret traitor, so DoW is more likely I think.
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could also be Shadows Over Camelot >_>
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SoC is a game I've wanted to try since I first got into the hobby. The more time passes, the less interested I am. It's like the opposite of Carcassonne, probably the biggest gap in my list of played games, which becomes more bothersome to me by the day!
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Haha oops, I thought my hint narrowed it down to three but didn't realize BSG guaranteed a traitor so I guess I narrowed it down to two.


Dead of Winter or Shadows Over Camelot coming up in a bit!
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7) Dead of Winter (2014)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150376/dead-winter-crossroads-game
Dead of Winter is a horror co-op game for 2-5 players. In this game a zombie outbreak has happened and players have taken refuge in a colony. Every player can control multiple characters and everyone is working together to survive. Every round a crisis will occur and players need to work together to fulfill the requirements or morale will be lost. Players will each have their own secret objective they need to complete. The problem with that is if the team wins, but a player doesn't complete their objective they will still lose, which will cause players to risk the whole team losing because they haven't finished their own requirements. To make things worse, there's also a chance one character could be a traitor who's goal is to make the main objective fail.

This game has the worst die in any game with dice, the exposure die. This is a 12 sided die that you must roll every time one of your characters moves or fights a zombie. Half of the sides are blank, some are wounds, some are frostbite, and one side is bite. If you roll a bite your character is dead and if other people are near your character they're in danger as well. I've failed my objective on the final turn because of this die >.>

This game also has a neat storytelling addition. On your turn, the player to your right draws a card from the crossroads deck. They all have a random trigger, and if you do the action that triggers it, the other player stops you and reads the card. It usually causes something to happen, often times giving the player a choice. These cards can really help the group and really hurt the group.

There's also a standalone expansion that adds new characters, crossroad cards, objectives, and 3 modules. The Improvements which can help the colony, the Bandits that make the game harder, and the Raxon that makes the game even harder and adds super zombies. I've tried Improvements and Bandits, but haven't tried Raxon yet.

Hint for #6
My favourite co-op game. And by that I mean no semi co-op or traitors. Players always all win or lose together
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bleh dead of winter

bleh co-op
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The Loner Sword
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Hmmm...can't tell if that is one my wife and I would like or not.
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I didn't get too jazzed about DoW. Only played it twice, but mechanically it just wan't that interesting to me. Maybe there's more to it.

... Pandemic Legacy, maybe? Given that Pandemic has come and gone, I'm ruling out Forbidden Island/Desert, too.

I'm gonna go weird and say Big Book of Madness, which I played for the first time recently. Co-op is a pretty wide genre though.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

... Pandemic Legacy, maybe? Given that Pandemic has come and gone,

We're actually working on that. Doing our second game of April tonight!

SeabassDebeste posted...

I'm ruling out Forbidden Island/Desert, too.

Good call. Haven't played Island and wasn't a fan of Desert.
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Arkham Horror/Eldrich Horror
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I wasn't that big on Dead of Winter at all the one time I played it

really dont like dead of winter

this is probably a little controversial but i'd much rather a game like dead of winter play like betrayal house on the hill. that game is fairly random and not balanced, but is deeply thematic and works because of that. dead of winter tries to be a better true "game" but the mechanics really do not work for me, and therefore it ends up doing less of everything
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I'm just picky about co-op games in general

I didn't expect this many haters for DoW, but... I kinda like it [the hate]. Seems like most people are in agreement that the mechanics aren't quite as tight as they ought to be. I guess the fans just really love the potential semi-coop, plus the hidden agendas. That is a cool concept for sure.
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yeah its too many things to me, none of them very good. i prefer a game that feels tight mechanically almost any day though; i love stefan feld games, what the hell do i know?

the other thing that bugs me about dow is i dont understand what im supposed to represent. like im some band of various people, cool, but why are we collectively a hidden traitor with a secret goal? that part is weird.
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Calintares posted...

Arkham Horror/Eldrich Horror

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I'll spoil that nobody has guessed it yet, though I know that's expected with such a vague hint.
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My favorite co-op game is Hanabi so I'll guess that

Ah I'll guess Pandemic The Cure, since you did mention you played it and it had the "possibility" of showing up.

If so, good choice, I decided it is my favorite a few months ago. There's rarely a 100% correct choice on what you should do on your turn, so people throw out suggestions, but you really just follow your gut and do whatever you think is best. If you wanna take a huge risk and re-roll one of your crappy actions even though you might roll a biohazard and trigger the next epidemic, it's anyone's guess if that's the right move or not =]
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i'll toss out space alert
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Robinson Curosoe
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6) The Grizzled (2015)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171668/grizzled
The Grizzled is a co-op hand management game for 2-5 players. This is a game set in World War I. This game is less about fighting, and more about the struggles that the soldiers endured during this difficult time. There are 6 different characters, and they all play almost the same. There will be a deck of cards split into two stacks, the trials deck and the monument deck. Each round, cards will transfer from the monument deck to the trials deck. Players will have hand of cards drawn from the trials deck consisting of different of 6 different threats. Weather (Rain, Snow, and Night) and Symbols (Gas Mask, Bullet Shells, and Whistles). Each card has at least 2 different threats on it, with some having even more. When a round begins, players will alternate playing threat cards from their hand, but they must be careful. If there are ever 3 or more of the same threat played face up, the round is a failure and more cards get transferred to the trials deck. Your characters don't get physically hurt in this game, they get mentally hurt. The other type of cards in the game are hard-knocks, and if you play one it adds a struggle that your character goes through, such as being forced to draw extra cards. If you don't have any cards that you can play, or don't want to play, your character must withdraw and head back for the trenches. You then secretly chose one person you'd like to support using one of your support tiles. Once all soldiers have withdrawn, the mission is considered a success and support is revealed. If one person got majority of support, they are allowed to remove up to 2 hard-knocks. If it's a tie, no support is given. The game ends in a win when the trial deck is empty and players have no cards left in their hand. The game is lost when either the monument deck is empty, or one player has 4 or more hard-knock cards at the end of a round. This game has an expansion that adds actual missions that they players go on, ranging from easy to hard. I really like this expansion and almost always try to play with it.

I really like how this is a game based on a real war, but it's not actually about fighting and killing. It really gives you a look at the type of hardships the soldiers had to endure. This game is really hard to win too, majority of games I've played have been losses. There are different ways to make the game easier and harder as well.

One sad note about The Grizzled. This game's artist, Tignous, was one of the twelve people killed during the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting.

Hint for #5
This game can use components from another game
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bumpo
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Oh, one that I've played. The Grizzled is solid. I've played it a few times with 3 and a few times with 5. My issue is that its difficulty does not seem to scale - it's insanely harder with more players, with more cards being drawn faster, more cards to get rid of per round, and no mitigating factors to make it any easier.

Neat game, though. I really do like the Support mechanic. One thematic part I like: being afflicted with Silence really does change the way the game plays. It feels like a real trauma when one of your teammates suddenly isn't talking and contributing anymore.

No clue about #5.
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The support mechanic is definitely a nice addition. It makes thematic sense, getting over your problems with the help of your friends. And yeah the mute card sounds like it isn't a huge deal since you can't share info on what's in your hand or who you're supporting, but it really does throw the game off.
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My issue is that its difficulty does not seem to scale - it's insanely harder with more players, with more cards being drawn faster, more cards to get rid of per round, and no mitigating factors to make it any easier.

have you played much of forbidden desert? game is crazy hard with 5. i think all the leac*** co-ops tend to scale a little tougher with higher player counts but desert is just miles apart

edit: that censor though
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#5 will be posted in a little bit
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5) Kemet (2012)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/127023/kemet
Kemet is an egyptian themed area control/war game for 2-5 players. This is one of the most balanced game boards I've ever played. Everybody's city is the same distance away from every other city, so there is no disadvantage on which one is yours. On your turn you will take an action on your player board which could be increasing your army, moving an army, obtaining prayer points (currency), increasing one of your three pyramids, or gaining new technology. The pyramids are red, blue, and white and the stronger they are the stronger technology you can get. There are 16 technology tiles for each colour, 4 for each of the 4 levels. So with a level 3 white pyramid you can buy any level 3 or lower white tile. The tiles all have helpful abilities so get the ones you want quickly because there aren't many duplicates. Some of the tiles give you creatures that you can use to join your armies in battle and they are all awesome. The point of this game is to hold control of different temples and win battles to obtain victory points. One part of this a game I really like is that if you win a battle, you only get VP from it if you were the attacker, so it discourages turtling a big army. First person to have 8 or more VP at the end of a round wins.

As mentioned earlier, this board is amazing. It's double sided and certain parts are excluded for lower count games, but it's made to be completely balanced. I love the technology tiles and every play feels really different and lets you try out different strategies each game. The creatures are all really great, but one of my two problems with this game is that there aren't enough of them. Well that has been fixed slightly with the C3K (Creatures Crossover Cyclades/Kemet). This is a mini expansion that allows you to use creatures from Cyclades (another game by the same publisher) in Kemet, and the Kemet creatures in Cyclades. Even though both games are really different and have different themes, they made the crossover work. There's an expansion for this game that adds 16 black tiles, a second modular board with this new thing of having priest characters walking to your Kemet board and gaining abilities on the way. I haven't gotten to try it yet but I do really want to, though that ties in with my other problem. This game takes a long time to set up and put away, and part of that reason is because there's so much stuff that it also takes a ton of table space. Setting up 48 tiles seemed to be an excess of space, but with the expansion that's 64 tiles and a second board. I've seen custom inserts for this game that have all of the tiles all set out in trays that you can stack to save space, but I have a hard time justifying the prices on them. Oh and the box says 60 minutes, that is most certainly not true. I've even done a two player game with another person who knew how to play and it was maybe 90 minutes, so it's probably even longer with more people. Though every other play has been with at least one new person, so maybe I'm wrong?

Random fun fact: I forgot to mention this earlier, but Broom Service is the highest ranking game on my list that I have never won. There is a slight technicality with this game, the only time I've won is the two player game mentioned earlier. I know it should count as a win, but it's not as cool of a win than winning a 4 or 5 player game so I'll try to fix that next time I play it!

Hint for #4
My favourite 2 player game
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Kemet is really nice

Kemet sounds cool.
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i have heard kemet is really good. a friend of mine has it and i'll probably play it someday

but dudes on a map + fighting games are totally not my thing by default; it really takes someone else's interest in the game for me to end up playing them
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7 wonder duel as predix for next
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Would love to play Kemet (and Cyclades, and Blood Rage, and Inis...) someday.

As for the 2-player game... 7 Wonders Duel is probably correct, now that I see it guessed. My guess would have been, uh, Twilight Struggle. But I don't think there's any precedent for that to show up here. <_<
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7 wonders duel is possibly my fave game so i hope that's it.

i still need to get pantheon
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I love 7 Wonders but I've never played Duel. Is it really that good? How different is it from multiplayer?
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trdl23 posted...

I love 7 Wonders but I've never played Duel. Is it really that good? How different is it from multiplayer?

I'll let somebody who has played 7 Wonders and 7 Wonders: Duel more than I have explain that one.
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bumpo
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i got to play dungeon petz for the first time today

its more good ol' vlaada chvatil fun but didnt quite catch me like dungeon lords did. the "puzzle" aspect of it is a little less fascinating and a little more random

(still good though)
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Great_Paul posted...

List Recap:

50) Dead Last
49) Archaeology: The New Expedition
48) Mysterium
47) Sheriff of Nottingham
46) Bear Valley
45) Shipwrights of the North Sea
44) Onitama
43) Animals on Board
42) Port Royal
41) Pandemic
40) Ticket to Ride
39) Dixit
38) Deception: Murder in Hong Kong
37) Love Letter
36) Tokaido
35) Clank!
34) Good Cop Bad Cop
33) Thunder & Lightning
32) Welcome to the Dungeon
31) Patchwork
30) Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn
29) Seasons
28) Smash Up
27) Cash 'n Guns
26) Dice City
25) King of New York
24) Steam Park
23) Ars Alchimia
22) Celestia
21) Splendor
20) Dominion
19) Champions of Midgard
18) Spyfall
17) Loony Quest
16) Jaipur
15) Stone Age
14) Broom Service
13) Adrenaline
12) Shadow Hunters
11) Last Will

I don't see Stratego, Risk, Monopoly, etc.
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