Which NVA would that be?

Junta has been a little less fun for me than I feel it ought to be. May be because I thought the other players were just a bit too easy on El Presidente. Either that or I never quite mastered the art of building people up so they'd be a bigger target than I am.

NVA = Nationale Volksarmee = Armed Forces of the GDR

I was just reminiscing about it with a friend tonight. It was majorly weird.

My favorite boardgame at the moment is Command & Colors Ancients. I love Borg's system.

Interestingly I've been looking at Condottiere and at Princes of the Renaissance (not that I can find that latter one).

Junta is up for play.

I own and hope to play:

Arkham Horror
Junta
Twilight Empire (two player)
Carcassonne (which I have played, but enjoy best when played uncompetitively with my wife, just watching the patterns unfold)
Kremlin which looks fantastic
Memoir '44

And some others I haven't listed.  I plan to buy Brass which looks great and maybe Fire and Axe.  I'm also looking for Soldier Raj, as the topic appeals.

Thanks for all the help so far by the way, it is welcome, and I have started to get the feel of boardgamesgeek which has helped hugely.

I enjoy Kremlin a lot; I'd put it in the same stylistic category as Junta & RoR. Unfortunately I've never had a chance to play the advanced game, which I think is supposed to help with certain situations. Arkham Horror is the only game on your list that I know and actively dislike, based on a single playing where it just seemed utterly random and rather pointless. It may depend on the players' knowledge & enjoyment of the source material. I don't know Cthulhu practically at all.

I looked at Memoir '44 today (there's a good if cringeworthy instructional video on the Days of Wonder side), and I have to say: Despite earlier reservations it looks like a good game. It is what it is, i.e. fairly simple. But it, rather than AT-43, may be the thing to play with this friend of mine who's in town for a couple of weeks and who's at best a very casual wargamer. Besides, given the contents, it's positively cheap.

I have found Arkham Horror (with the Dark Pharaoh and the Dunwich Expansions) to be my favourite boardgame on the last year. It's amazingly funny, though the expansions make the game a bitch to beat.

Quote from: Elliot WilenI enjoy Kremlin a lot; I'd put it in the same stylistic category as Junta & RoR. Unfortunately I've never had a chance to play the advanced game, which I think is supposed to help with certain situations. Arkham Horror is the only game on your list that I know and actively dislike, based on a single playing where it just seemed utterly random and rather pointless. It may depend on the players' knowledge & enjoyment of the source material. I don't know Cthulhu practically at all.

Is RoR the one where you all play Senators scheming to become Emperor, but where potentially if you all backstab too much Rome will fall and everybody loses?

I always thought that sounded rather cool if so.

Yes, that's the one. I've only played the early republic game; there's also a middle and late republic scenario, as well as a "play it all the way through" campaign. As time goes on the external threats become less pressing, although the populace always needs to be appeased: if the senatorial order is overthrown, everybody loses regardless of how well things are going otherwise.

Quote from: Elliot WilenYes, that's the one. I've only played the early republic game; there's also a middle and late republic scenario, as well as a "play it all the way through" campaign. As time goes on the external threats become less pressing, although the populace always needs to be appeased: if the senatorial order is overthrown, everybody loses regardless of how well things are going otherwise.

RoR is awesome, but quite difficult at the beginning. In the first turns simply getting Rome to survive can be a trial. We found that, in many games, in order to start with the scheming and backstabbing, we had to do a lot of teamwork to eliminate the Punic Wars and the Social Wars at the early stage of the game. If you let a number of wars to stack simultaneously - I seem to recall that the top was 4 - Rome was destroyed. Wars were a random event, so if you had 3 wars started, you usually started to pray. Seriously.

Arkham Horror is a game for dense people. There´s an optimal strategy, that makes it pointless to play the game. They later introduced complications, but that just stretches it, doesn´t invalidate the optimal strategy.

Typical FF-game. Just one step away from the Eagle Game sickness...

For fuck's sake:

Quote from: SettembriniIf you play them with your grandma or other non-sophisticated-gamer people.
I really get iresome when quality gaming time with sophisticated gamers is wasted on something you could as well play with any girl or gal from the street.
There are enough occasions when one has to hang out with unsophisticated gaming people, play those games THEN!
Don´t turn the RPG club into a 50% Ligretto club.

Quote from: SettembriniArkham Horror is a game for dense people.

Could you please try a bit harder to be more of a pretentious cunt? I'm not sure if that's possible, but you have a history of trying really hard.
 
"Sophisticated gamer people"? "A game for dense people"? "Any girl or gal form the street"? Have you been attending the Brain Damage school lately? Are you feeling the need to replace Ron Edward's message?
 
For fuck's sake. This shit it's vomit - inducing.

Sorry, Arkham Horror has an optimal strategy. If you don´t find it, you are not paying attention. Surely that could be because you don´t care, not only because you are dense.

But if you just play, without thinking, then it´s not quality gaming.

It´s just killing time, and not wirth the label sophistication.

The first part is in no way offensive. It´s truth. I HAVE TO play Settler or Liggretto or Caracassonne at family gatherings and children´s birthdays.

If I meet with my gaming buddies, I will not waste my time for such trivial shit. Because we play RPGS or Wargames that are way more sophisticated and specialized. That´s just TRUTH nothing offensive going on.

EDIT: If you can play Empires in Arms or Battletech with your grandma and little cousin, more power to you. But they are unsophisticated gamers in my book.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityI looked at Memoir '44 today (there's a good if cringeworthy instructional video on the Days of Wonder side), and I have to say: Despite earlier reservations it looks like a good game. It is what it is, i.e. fairly simple. But it, rather than AT-43, may be the thing to play with this friend of mine who's in town for a couple of weeks and who's at best a very casual wargamer. Besides, given the contents, it's positively cheap.

I was really underwhelmed with it.  I own Battlelore and played it before I played Memoir '44.  I think Battlelore is a better application of the rules.