Favorite Board Games

[Rain Man]

I like wargames, and there are a couple that are my favorites.

First, there's an old SPI game called Conquistador. Great play system and concept. You had to first explore new lands and then settle them, and as the game progressed you evolved from looting and trying to survive to building lasting settlements and eventually trying to destroy other players' settlements. I love it even though I've never been able to play a full game since it takes 20+ hours to play a game.

Another game I really like is an old Avalon Hill game called Tobruk. It's a game of British/German WWII battles in North Africa, and has a great game system. It was played on a level of individual tanks and soldiers. My friends and I would abandon the plain North Africa map and play it on Squad Leader game boards to get more fun out of it.

I also like Outreach, a game of exploration throughout the universe, and Civilization (not the video game, but rather the board game where you tried to build cities and take over other players' land, and you had a period of trade each turn where you tried to build up your commodities.