Favorite Board Games

[Adept Havelock]

Originally Posted by 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.

Tobruk and Civilization were great. Never played Conquistador, but it sounds like fun.

My top 5 boardgames:

1) Diplomacy- No dice. Just skill and the ability to manipulate your opponents.

2) Supremacy- A more realistic "Risk" meets "Diplomacy" and "Monopoly" with nukes, boomer subs, armored divisions, chemical and unconventional weapons, etc. Oh, and boring but important things like economics and trade.

3) Avalon Hill's The Russian Campaign- Great strategic level game of the 41-45 war.

4) Avalon Hill's Dune- With the right 6 players, one of the best cutthroat gaming experiences ever.

5) Milton Bradley's Axis and Allies- Best "beer and pretzels" wargame I've ever played. Fortress America is almost tied with it, as one of the best balanced games I've ever played.

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Star Fleet Battles is awesome, though LONG as hell.

Yes, yes it was. It was a wonderful day for me when the system was used as the basis for the Starfleet Command computer games (Especially Version 2 and Orion Pirates). Ever play the strategic version Federation and Empire?