Dice Me
A few months ago I realized that I was a total noob when it came to one aspect of gaming: boardgames. No, I'm not talking about Monopoly or Sorry! but rather strategic, exciting games like Settlers of Catan, Caylus and Puerto Rico. So, I've been building XP in this gaming arena.
Since it's a bit more time consuming getting boardgame play together, when I have the opportunity to play online (like Ticket to Ride) I do. I've also enjoyed just reading the rules and reviews of various games. There are so many fascinating game mechanics out there and I feel like I've learned a lot about gaming in general. But I have been playing as well. I particularly enjoy fantasy themed games like Descent or Runebound.
I'm not going to start blogging about or reviewing boardgames (though I feel compelled to recommend the excellent Battlelore). I simply suggest heading over to the amazing BoardGameGeek for plenty of reviews and discussion. Before I began this boardgame run I admit I assumed that boardgaming was a dying industry which was somehow less fun than PC or console gaming due to the technical limitations. Well, I'm here to tell you now that playing boardgames is no less fun, only different. And rather then dying, the boardgame community is thriving and vibrant with a ton of new and exciting games on the horizon. So consider giving dice a chance.
posted by Aggro Me at 5:04 PM
6 Comments:
http://games.asobrain.com has online versions of Settlers of Catan and Carcassone. You can play against others or bots.
Ahhh, boardgames. I got hooked on them back when I was big on Risk.
Friends of mine and myself came up with an idea that was a sort of dice-rolling boardgame mashed up with chess, or probably more resembling the Archon video game board idea with power squares and such.
We actually took the time to draw out the game on bristol board and convinced my parent to submit it to Mattel (they were accepting mailed-in ideas back then), but I never heard back! Grr. hehehehehehhehehehe.
I was around 14yrs old, and I thought (back then) that it was a stellar idea - I wonder where the heck that whole thing ended up. Perhaps it is still in my parent's basement!
My wife and I are huge fans of the Settlers series and have been playing for about a year now. Its nice to sit down outside in the summer and drink a few beers and roll a couple dice.
Im gonna have to check out that online version.
I sense less production at work again.
Also great versions of Settlers of Catan and Carcasonne on XBox live for the 360.
I've been playing Settlers for about 12 years now. Puerto Rico for about 4. St Petersburg, Metro, Ticket to Ride, Empire Builder. . . .lovely stuff. I'm glad you've found out about this lovely way to pass the time.
Germany actually has a national gaming site where you can play a lot of these online. and if you like them, by all means pick up a real copy and have some friends in for a potluck! I used to do it every 2-3 weeks, though since half that gorup moved out of state it's more like every 2 months, but. . . still great.
Here's the site I mentioned:
http://brettspielwelt.de/?nation=en
If you want to get a board game you'll play over and over with friends, consider Betrayal at House on the Hill.
Every time you play, it's a different game as you shuffle and lay out the board tiles as you go. It's my favorite board game, after Carcasonne.
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