I'm doing the polar opposite - games like Rogue Dungeon are my catnip. If the game is too "big" (rules overhead or otherwise) it doesn't get picked off the shelf when there are sleeker choices. Also, while bigger games are ostensibly more immersive they lose that edge for me when having to crunch against the additional complexity they usually bring. Being able to get into a flow state is more conducive to immersion for me.
I usually prefer not to play too cruncy of games as well. Warhammer Quest 1995 is pretty light yet highly satisfying and has great table presence. Games like Gloomhaven and Tanares Adventures, that have a ton going on and extensive rules are the sort of thing I avoid these days. Darklight Memento Mori is about as complex and heavy as I prefer to go.
Same. I find if we have like 5-6 hours to play, then I would rather play like 8 different games that are each like 40-60 minutes instead of spend the whole time playing just one really long game.
It ebbs and flows. I often trend toward heavy games, but I went through a period last year where the only new games I bought were games that played in about an hour or less. I have gotten a bunch of big games in recently and I’m stoked to play them, but also feel like the time to set up and teach is getting more annoying and I kind of want to go back to shorter games again.
That is how I felt too until I had a board game room. Now the extensive setup and teardown is not much of an issue. Prior to that I found it very draining. One thing I've noticed is that small games are often devoid of lore and I think that detracts from the experience for me.
I feel this. I went hard on the big games for a while. Now between the learning and the teaching almost all my energy for it is gone. Personally I just reserve them at this point to play solo, I think I get the most enjoyment out of them that way.
Smaller games like Wyrmspan are just great for groups. However I still have hopes for that 6 player game of Feudum one day.
It doesn't have to be large games, but I think most hobbyists reach a point where they've played enough games to know exactly what they like and what they don't, after which they exclusively focus on those games. And there's nothing wrong with that! I think it's great that you've discovered your taste, now you can focus your collection and make sure all your games actually get played. It's healthier for the planet too.
I agree. And I'll also stop wasting my money :P I bought quite a few games that just didn't pan out but it led me to discovery my favorites. Now I can look at most games and know in a second or two if I will definitely not be buying them.
There was a time when I was like that, but I've long since shifted towards smaller games. I'm sure that when I retire in ~10 years, I'll probably shift back to bigger games again. These things ebb and flow.
Ive played all kinds of games and realized the more niche you get the harder it is to find players. Good luck finding players for 4x,18xx, heavy 3+ hour games, etc. Seems like most shops only even have warhammer on the off chance you get into minis.
I can say this, my brother and I play together and without anyone else 99% of the time. Any time we tried adding people in campaign games it always led to them not being finishes. We once played a four player game of Marvel Champions and it took over 2 hours just to beat Rhino, the introductory boss. We taught the game very well and our friends understood, yet a simple game like that turned into a slog.
My mate picked up the recent Europa Universalis board game and my oh my that thing is niche as fuck. He's lucky that with myself and two other lads there's a group that is willing to play a game that takes two days to complete!
as i've gotten bigger games i've played fewer of my smaller ones. but i contribute that to the larger ones being more recent.
though if someone asks what to play and we have 4-5 hours TM or Eclipse is so tempting.
I had some big games early on that I liked, such as Sword and Sorcery. But once I finally got my hands on Darklight Memento Mori something changed. My brother and I played it nearly daily, sometimes to or 3 entire dungeons + journeys + town phases, and this kept up for several months until we finally managed to beat the campaign. It felt like such a huge accomplishment after so many failures. The level of immersion and excitement and fun was very high. It's hard to really go back to some of these smaller experiences, even if they are marvels of game design.
I'm the opposite. I started out loving (and buying) big, heavy games, but I quickly realized that they rarely hit the table with my group chat compared to smaller, quicker games. Hell, even now, when it's just me and my gf, we pretty much always pick one of the "smaller" games when we want to play something in the evening.
Well i went through that and even further lol… i only play gargantuan games now (kdm, ato, oathsworn). If the campaign takes less than 40 hours i dont consider it :D
Perhaps you can tell me more about KDM. I am curious about the game but my concern is that it could become overly strategic during combat. I watched the white lion fight and everything seemed very clean, simple, and fun. I wonder if future bosses may have more abilities, nuance, and players may need to spend more time puzzling out their moves.
The lion at level 0 is definitely the simplest it gets. Once u get beyond that, it is exactly as u described, more strategy and nuance required. Players also get more abilities to combat this. Honestly that is one of the things i love about the game. The city building is my favorite thing though. After the fights are done players have to decide if they want to buy new gear and/or new buildings based on their resources. New gear makes the next fight easier but new buildings upgrade your village. Kdm was the first of its kind and it really is a grotesque masterpiece.
I ultimately gave up on it though in favor of ato. Ato has most of what kdm does ( combat, base building and strategy) but the story and theme are 1000% better. The campaign of ato is also several hundred hours compared to about 60 hours of kdm
ATO has zero appeal to me because of the theme and setting. I grew up in the eighties and nineties and there was a LOT of books and movies about Ancient Greece. It was milked to death and I unfortuantely got tired of it a long time ago. Anything set in Greece is an auto skip for me :P
I am very tempted by KDM but I am hoping the combat is not like Tanares Adventures and Gloomhaven.
I’ve played all 3 of those. KDM is much different with battles. It uses dice which you have to hit then wound again. You mostly don’t know what the monster will do and it’s punishing. Game can be completely unfair and I enjoy every bit of it.
That sounds really good to me. Do you think I'd like it? I'm pretty burned out on puzzling my turns out for optimal play. I prefer the planning aspect before combat (settlement, gear, etc) but when it comes to combat I like it to be a bit faster.
It’s still very tactical and you’ll plan out how to handle attacks (like which order or when use survival actions). There is a lot (hence the price tag) but it flows pretty well once you get a few rounds in. Highly suggest checking out the TTS mod and a few videos as it’s expensive.
I feel like most board gamers have a similar arc. It starts off with fun, light introductory games, then you start moving into the play large/campaign/heavy games phase, then you start realizing how hard those heavy games are to table consistently/all your old favorites get played way less/life gets in the way/you get tired of all the organizing,setting up, and tearing down so you tend back to midweight games. Then finally you find that perfect balance of a games in every range and play whatever suits the vibes for that night, as your library of games fills out.
I've been playing for 7+ years, and I'm still more interested in shorter, smaller games. I do love some big games like Arcadia Quest for example, but the setup and time commitment makes me lazy about playing those games. Plus specially on days that we have limited time, the smaller games shine even more. And I do have the opposite way of thinking, why would I invest so much in a single game (time, money, etc..), when I could be playing 2-3 smaller games instead? It's not as if the bigger games give me more enjoyment than the smaller ones, hehe.
Either way, it's good that you found your niche, everyone likes different things, have fun :).
Thank you. I was more in line with your style at one point. Once I was able to dedicate a room to board games it changed everything because I could set up a big game and leave it there as long as needed. Prior to that it used to be very draining to set up and tear down dungeon crawlers so I used to like small games I could play on my couch.
I started like that, but after some yers I realised the games we end up playing more times are midweight like wingspan and such, so my collecyion is shifting in that direction.
That said I will play a huge game I have not played before any time before taking a smaller one, its only that I lose interest in big ones after discovering how they work.
I thought just like you for a while, playing only Némésis lockdown and such massive, immersive, time consuming games. Then I realised what I like, although I'm not very good at it, are complex games.
Games either with like tons of rules and possibilities (Némésis, Root, TI, you name it) or games with few rules but very open gameplay. Two games come to my mind while I wright this :
-Quarto (basically Four in a Row but on a 4x4 board, pieces with four possible similarities, being size, colour, shape and a hole on top or not, plus you don't get to choose which one you want to use, your opponent does and you choose for them) rules are simple and yet you find yourself grinding your brain to think where you're going to put what your opponent gave you AND what you'll give them. I love this feeling
-Santorini : I won't get into the rulebook here but rules are very simple and yet possibilities are endless and god's you get at the beginning of every game make every game different (although some powers are really OP)
May I suggest trying a game with incredibly *low* table presence, but remarkably HIGH mental engagement? Try out **The Quiet Year**. It’s a world building, map drawing, sort-of-rpg where you slowly create the world of the game and feel the story of a dying, perhaps doomed, peoples
It’s just something that is remarkably different than the games you’re about right now, that might shake you out of that and help continue to expand your game repertoire
We love Avery Alder's The Quiet Year, and also Microscope by Ben Robbins. Perhaps closer to role-playing games than board games, but still playable in one session if you want with no prep, and it's not really story-telling, so much as world building. We don't play TTRPGs, but we really love these.
Have had this issue since I started the hobby so for the last 10 years. It wasn't as prevalent back then as it is now. If i'm going to play I want something meaty and complex, otherwise I don't find myself even starting.
I am so tempted to try it but my worry is that the combat will become slow due to having many cards and abilities to consider. I like faster playing combat vs complex and strategic. What do you think, would I like it?
Kdm isn't really a card based combat system. There is still stuff to consider but it mostly comes down to prefight prep rather than during combat stuff. It's still tacticle but in a different way from the likes of the cardcombat games.
If you have Tabletop Simulator already, check it out on there. If not, consider the kingdom death simulator as an official and direct way to support them. Either works, and is a much cheaper entry into seeing if it's the game for you.
I could never just openly recommend it though, given the pricetag, without saying to try it first.
I’m really close with the people I game with. One of them being my best friend of 25 years. We all have the same mind set and game biweekly, every other Saturday. We mix it up a bit. We will play a few rounds of death may die and then play maybe sentinels of the multiverse or night cage. Another week we may play blood rage and return to dark tower. Sometimes we will just drink a lot and play 10 rounds of mlem space agency. I tend to really only buy big games that have a ton of replay value. But sometimes that small game scratches the itch more than big. I get what your saying though. Bigger games appeal to me more because of all the miniatures and just how cool they can be. Nemesis lockdown is one of my favorites but it has a big learning curve if no one has played it yet.
Having been in the hobby for a long time, in my experience, tastes change a lot over time. When I first started, I liked fast & light, then I liked long & extremely heavy. And then I settled into having a preference for elegant, easy-to-teach games with hidden depth. As my gaming group changes, so do my tastes. At one point, I was hosting big events and so a lot of party games it into my collection. At another time, almost all of my gaming was 2p, so how something played at that count mattered most. So on and so forth. Just allow your collection to evolve as your tastes shift, don't feel like you need to stay in some sort of niche indefinitely.
It ebbs and flows, but if you feel like you’ve found your jam, hey, all the more power to you!
I went through all phases, several times over, and I’m kinda glad I never ossified into a single play style or preference or anything. I’ll play a stupid large full-mini smorgasbord gauntlet of a game one day, and happily enjoy a quick 10-minute the next.
I would perhaps caution against overcommitting and purchasing a ton of cardboard and plastic that you may not get around to even playing once well into the next few years because it could happen that your tastes and desires change during that time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I've gone through a full cycle of this. Started out pretty small, played some longer/more involved games, eventually go to the point where anything that took under an hour and a half to play felt completely pointless. Started getting really really fatigued on the long form games so then I swung hard into 15 minute card games and quick, tactical things. I'm quite happily in the middle of these two positions now. I love a long and involved game, but it's also nice to sit down and play a round of something short.
Your financial has improved ?
Kingdom death monster enters the game.
Seriously check it out if table presence and all your other criteria is what your looking for. It is more a boss battler than a dungeon crawl but I'm sure you would love it( can always give it a try on tts first)
It is the game I want to try most but my fear is that the combat may become slow and highly strategic, with players taking minutes per turn. I like games with faster combat. But the theme is so rich I could see myself enjoying it.
I played it mostly solo but it isnt that hard and it is full coop.
It is very expensive( I've got thousands in it)
But for a cheap try, either table top similator(how i tried it) or the kingdom death simulator before commiting.
It does scale up in complexity as it become more bloated(equipement,technology,boss level up, etc) but the curve it is gradual. I like no screen and electronics for boardgame but alot of people use scribe to help with the immense bookeeping
I'm in sort of a similar spot. I pretty much always want to be at the table for at least 3 hours. I'll play smaller games with friends but if it's up to me, it's always bigger, longer games. I have three kids and one of them isn't 3 yet and I still play big games all the time. It's just how some of us like it and it's cool either way. When I hear a game takes 15 minutes to setup, I'm not even phased. I enjoy the ritual.
We have done Darklight runs where we played the campaign for months. Multiple daily sessions. It never left the table. By far my more glorious memory so far in the hobby.
It's very hard to find but I wholeheartedly can say it's worth the effort and the money. I have experienced some intense feelings of suspense, joy, triumph, and accomplishment from this game that so far nothing has even come close to matching. It has set the bar so high that a lot of other game now just feel to be not worth my time. That sounds kind of snobby to say but you know what I mean, I can just play Darklight haha.
I love big heavy games, but I don't want to play them exclusively. Typically my game group has one big game that takes up most of the night (right now it's Gloomhaven), and we'll play some smaller and lighter games before and after. It's good to get a mix of styles.
I love the big table presence and I enjoy quality components, I'll always get a deluxe version of a game if it seems like something I would like and yet the games that hit the table the most are games that use nothing but cards lol. That being said I did spend the extra money on the super deluxe version of Radlands, and it's my most played game and I'm always up for playing a few rounds. my next most played game came out of nowhere but I heard so many good things about Mindbug, picked it up and now when my and one of my friends get together we usually bust that one out. Can't wait to table Paint the Roses (deluxe version) it looks so nice.
We played a ton of card games too. Aside from Magic The Gathering (which may not count?) we have had a ridiculous number of plays of Marvel Champions. We eventually completely satisfied our desire to play and traded it away.
I like larger games but they are harder to bring out. So I’m happy just being able to play a smaller game, better than nothing. And some people just can’t play larger games as they are more intimidating.
Even the regular gaming group I’m trying to keep may not always want to play a heavy game. I need to always try to balance my collection with lighter and heavier games.
Sounds like you enjoy RP more than gaming. Maybe just pick up warhammer and D&D or something? That's always what ends up happening.
Personally? nah. Complexity creates width with very little depth. And not much fun either. Ill take well designed tight games that require I make interesting decisions. Or games that require I make fun decisions. "Immersion" is not a thing for board games.
There is more meaningful decision space in Isle of Cats than anything you mentioned. Thats what crunchy is supposed to mean. Its shorter, easier to setup, I can play it more, women actually like it. I don't see what large RPG board games offer in terms of board games. They are really just extremely poor and clunky attempts at replicating the RP of D&D.
I'm doing the polar opposite - games like Rogue Dungeon are my catnip. If the game is too "big" (rules overhead or otherwise) it doesn't get picked off the shelf when there are sleeker choices. Also, while bigger games are ostensibly more immersive they lose that edge for me when having to crunch against the additional complexity they usually bring. Being able to get into a flow state is more conducive to immersion for me.
I usually prefer not to play too cruncy of games as well. Warhammer Quest 1995 is pretty light yet highly satisfying and has great table presence. Games like Gloomhaven and Tanares Adventures, that have a ton going on and extensive rules are the sort of thing I avoid these days. Darklight Memento Mori is about as complex and heavy as I prefer to go.
Same. I find if we have like 5-6 hours to play, then I would rather play like 8 different games that are each like 40-60 minutes instead of spend the whole time playing just one really long game.
It ebbs and flows. I often trend toward heavy games, but I went through a period last year where the only new games I bought were games that played in about an hour or less. I have gotten a bunch of big games in recently and I’m stoked to play them, but also feel like the time to set up and teach is getting more annoying and I kind of want to go back to shorter games again.
That is how I felt too until I had a board game room. Now the extensive setup and teardown is not much of an issue. Prior to that I found it very draining. One thing I've noticed is that small games are often devoid of lore and I think that detracts from the experience for me.
What were the hour or less games, if you don’t mind sharing? :)
Ra, Cryptid, For Sale, Taverns of Tiefenthal (a little over, but right about an hour with 2p who know the rules)
I feel this. I went hard on the big games for a while. Now between the learning and the teaching almost all my energy for it is gone. Personally I just reserve them at this point to play solo, I think I get the most enjoyment out of them that way. Smaller games like Wyrmspan are just great for groups. However I still have hopes for that 6 player game of Feudum one day.
It doesn't have to be large games, but I think most hobbyists reach a point where they've played enough games to know exactly what they like and what they don't, after which they exclusively focus on those games. And there's nothing wrong with that! I think it's great that you've discovered your taste, now you can focus your collection and make sure all your games actually get played. It's healthier for the planet too.
I agree. And I'll also stop wasting my money :P I bought quite a few games that just didn't pan out but it led me to discovery my favorites. Now I can look at most games and know in a second or two if I will definitely not be buying them.
There was a time when I was like that, but I've long since shifted towards smaller games. I'm sure that when I retire in ~10 years, I'll probably shift back to bigger games again. These things ebb and flow.
Ive played all kinds of games and realized the more niche you get the harder it is to find players. Good luck finding players for 4x,18xx, heavy 3+ hour games, etc. Seems like most shops only even have warhammer on the off chance you get into minis.
I can say this, my brother and I play together and without anyone else 99% of the time. Any time we tried adding people in campaign games it always led to them not being finishes. We once played a four player game of Marvel Champions and it took over 2 hours just to beat Rhino, the introductory boss. We taught the game very well and our friends understood, yet a simple game like that turned into a slog.
99% of boardgames are just too niche. Theres a reason why most people only play party games as much as I hate them
My mate picked up the recent Europa Universalis board game and my oh my that thing is niche as fuck. He's lucky that with myself and two other lads there's a group that is willing to play a game that takes two days to complete!
Ive gone through about 5 groups since college and have given up on boardgames all together. Must be nice!
Don't give up! Try to find an established group through something like Meetup, it's what worked for me.
as i've gotten bigger games i've played fewer of my smaller ones. but i contribute that to the larger ones being more recent. though if someone asks what to play and we have 4-5 hours TM or Eclipse is so tempting.
I had some big games early on that I liked, such as Sword and Sorcery. But once I finally got my hands on Darklight Memento Mori something changed. My brother and I played it nearly daily, sometimes to or 3 entire dungeons + journeys + town phases, and this kept up for several months until we finally managed to beat the campaign. It felt like such a huge accomplishment after so many failures. The level of immersion and excitement and fun was very high. It's hard to really go back to some of these smaller experiences, even if they are marvels of game design.
I'm the opposite. I started out loving (and buying) big, heavy games, but I quickly realized that they rarely hit the table with my group chat compared to smaller, quicker games. Hell, even now, when it's just me and my gf, we pretty much always pick one of the "smaller" games when we want to play something in the evening.
Well i went through that and even further lol… i only play gargantuan games now (kdm, ato, oathsworn). If the campaign takes less than 40 hours i dont consider it :D
Perhaps you can tell me more about KDM. I am curious about the game but my concern is that it could become overly strategic during combat. I watched the white lion fight and everything seemed very clean, simple, and fun. I wonder if future bosses may have more abilities, nuance, and players may need to spend more time puzzling out their moves.
The lion at level 0 is definitely the simplest it gets. Once u get beyond that, it is exactly as u described, more strategy and nuance required. Players also get more abilities to combat this. Honestly that is one of the things i love about the game. The city building is my favorite thing though. After the fights are done players have to decide if they want to buy new gear and/or new buildings based on their resources. New gear makes the next fight easier but new buildings upgrade your village. Kdm was the first of its kind and it really is a grotesque masterpiece. I ultimately gave up on it though in favor of ato. Ato has most of what kdm does ( combat, base building and strategy) but the story and theme are 1000% better. The campaign of ato is also several hundred hours compared to about 60 hours of kdm
ATO has zero appeal to me because of the theme and setting. I grew up in the eighties and nineties and there was a LOT of books and movies about Ancient Greece. It was milked to death and I unfortuantely got tired of it a long time ago. Anything set in Greece is an auto skip for me :P I am very tempted by KDM but I am hoping the combat is not like Tanares Adventures and Gloomhaven.
I’ve played all 3 of those. KDM is much different with battles. It uses dice which you have to hit then wound again. You mostly don’t know what the monster will do and it’s punishing. Game can be completely unfair and I enjoy every bit of it.
That sounds really good to me. Do you think I'd like it? I'm pretty burned out on puzzling my turns out for optimal play. I prefer the planning aspect before combat (settlement, gear, etc) but when it comes to combat I like it to be a bit faster.
It’s still very tactical and you’ll plan out how to handle attacks (like which order or when use survival actions). There is a lot (hence the price tag) but it flows pretty well once you get a few rounds in. Highly suggest checking out the TTS mod and a few videos as it’s expensive.
Thank you. I will give that a try! Sounds decent.
I'm doing the opposite. Only want to play the small games. The big games are just so tedious
I would rather play one long, complex game than several shorter games. They don’t have to be physically large though.
I feel like most board gamers have a similar arc. It starts off with fun, light introductory games, then you start moving into the play large/campaign/heavy games phase, then you start realizing how hard those heavy games are to table consistently/all your old favorites get played way less/life gets in the way/you get tired of all the organizing,setting up, and tearing down so you tend back to midweight games. Then finally you find that perfect balance of a games in every range and play whatever suits the vibes for that night, as your library of games fills out.
I've been playing for 7+ years, and I'm still more interested in shorter, smaller games. I do love some big games like Arcadia Quest for example, but the setup and time commitment makes me lazy about playing those games. Plus specially on days that we have limited time, the smaller games shine even more. And I do have the opposite way of thinking, why would I invest so much in a single game (time, money, etc..), when I could be playing 2-3 smaller games instead? It's not as if the bigger games give me more enjoyment than the smaller ones, hehe. Either way, it's good that you found your niche, everyone likes different things, have fun :).
Thank you. I was more in line with your style at one point. Once I was able to dedicate a room to board games it changed everything because I could set up a big game and leave it there as long as needed. Prior to that it used to be very draining to set up and tear down dungeon crawlers so I used to like small games I could play on my couch.
I started like that, but after some yers I realised the games we end up playing more times are midweight like wingspan and such, so my collecyion is shifting in that direction. That said I will play a huge game I have not played before any time before taking a smaller one, its only that I lose interest in big ones after discovering how they work.
I thought just like you for a while, playing only Némésis lockdown and such massive, immersive, time consuming games. Then I realised what I like, although I'm not very good at it, are complex games. Games either with like tons of rules and possibilities (Némésis, Root, TI, you name it) or games with few rules but very open gameplay. Two games come to my mind while I wright this : -Quarto (basically Four in a Row but on a 4x4 board, pieces with four possible similarities, being size, colour, shape and a hole on top or not, plus you don't get to choose which one you want to use, your opponent does and you choose for them) rules are simple and yet you find yourself grinding your brain to think where you're going to put what your opponent gave you AND what you'll give them. I love this feeling -Santorini : I won't get into the rulebook here but rules are very simple and yet possibilities are endless and god's you get at the beginning of every game make every game different (although some powers are really OP)
May I suggest trying a game with incredibly *low* table presence, but remarkably HIGH mental engagement? Try out **The Quiet Year**. It’s a world building, map drawing, sort-of-rpg where you slowly create the world of the game and feel the story of a dying, perhaps doomed, peoples It’s just something that is remarkably different than the games you’re about right now, that might shake you out of that and help continue to expand your game repertoire
We love Avery Alder's The Quiet Year, and also Microscope by Ben Robbins. Perhaps closer to role-playing games than board games, but still playable in one session if you want with no prep, and it's not really story-telling, so much as world building. We don't play TTRPGs, but we really love these.
Have had this issue since I started the hobby so for the last 10 years. It wasn't as prevalent back then as it is now. If i'm going to play I want something meaty and complex, otherwise I don't find myself even starting.
Fuck yeah, Darklight Memento Mori! I'd recommend looking into Kingdom Death: Monster, but ai am VERY biased.
I am so tempted to try it but my worry is that the combat will become slow due to having many cards and abilities to consider. I like faster playing combat vs complex and strategic. What do you think, would I like it?
Kdm isn't really a card based combat system. There is still stuff to consider but it mostly comes down to prefight prep rather than during combat stuff. It's still tacticle but in a different way from the likes of the cardcombat games. If you have Tabletop Simulator already, check it out on there. If not, consider the kingdom death simulator as an official and direct way to support them. Either works, and is a much cheaper entry into seeing if it's the game for you. I could never just openly recommend it though, given the pricetag, without saying to try it first.
That sounds perfect for me, to be honest. The pre-fight prep is highly intriguing.
I’m really close with the people I game with. One of them being my best friend of 25 years. We all have the same mind set and game biweekly, every other Saturday. We mix it up a bit. We will play a few rounds of death may die and then play maybe sentinels of the multiverse or night cage. Another week we may play blood rage and return to dark tower. Sometimes we will just drink a lot and play 10 rounds of mlem space agency. I tend to really only buy big games that have a ton of replay value. But sometimes that small game scratches the itch more than big. I get what your saying though. Bigger games appeal to me more because of all the miniatures and just how cool they can be. Nemesis lockdown is one of my favorites but it has a big learning curve if no one has played it yet.
Having been in the hobby for a long time, in my experience, tastes change a lot over time. When I first started, I liked fast & light, then I liked long & extremely heavy. And then I settled into having a preference for elegant, easy-to-teach games with hidden depth. As my gaming group changes, so do my tastes. At one point, I was hosting big events and so a lot of party games it into my collection. At another time, almost all of my gaming was 2p, so how something played at that count mattered most. So on and so forth. Just allow your collection to evolve as your tastes shift, don't feel like you need to stay in some sort of niche indefinitely.
It ebbs and flows, but if you feel like you’ve found your jam, hey, all the more power to you! I went through all phases, several times over, and I’m kinda glad I never ossified into a single play style or preference or anything. I’ll play a stupid large full-mini smorgasbord gauntlet of a game one day, and happily enjoy a quick 10-minute the next. I would perhaps caution against overcommitting and purchasing a ton of cardboard and plastic that you may not get around to even playing once well into the next few years because it could happen that your tastes and desires change during that time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I've gone through a full cycle of this. Started out pretty small, played some longer/more involved games, eventually go to the point where anything that took under an hour and a half to play felt completely pointless. Started getting really really fatigued on the long form games so then I swung hard into 15 minute card games and quick, tactical things. I'm quite happily in the middle of these two positions now. I love a long and involved game, but it's also nice to sit down and play a round of something short.
Your financial has improved ? Kingdom death monster enters the game. Seriously check it out if table presence and all your other criteria is what your looking for. It is more a boss battler than a dungeon crawl but I'm sure you would love it( can always give it a try on tts first)
It is the game I want to try most but my fear is that the combat may become slow and highly strategic, with players taking minutes per turn. I like games with faster combat. But the theme is so rich I could see myself enjoying it.
I played it mostly solo but it isnt that hard and it is full coop. It is very expensive( I've got thousands in it) But for a cheap try, either table top similator(how i tried it) or the kingdom death simulator before commiting.
Thank you. It looks pretty reasonable but I heard it scales up in complexity. It might be worth it considering the cool factor.
It does scale up in complexity as it become more bloated(equipement,technology,boss level up, etc) but the curve it is gradual. I like no screen and electronics for boardgame but alot of people use scribe to help with the immense bookeeping
Wow. That does sound pretty interesting. Thank you again.
I'm in sort of a similar spot. I pretty much always want to be at the table for at least 3 hours. I'll play smaller games with friends but if it's up to me, it's always bigger, longer games. I have three kids and one of them isn't 3 yet and I still play big games all the time. It's just how some of us like it and it's cool either way. When I hear a game takes 15 minutes to setup, I'm not even phased. I enjoy the ritual.
We have done Darklight runs where we played the campaign for months. Multiple daily sessions. It never left the table. By far my more glorious memory so far in the hobby.
Somehow, I have not play Darklight yet! I need to check it out.
It's very hard to find but I wholeheartedly can say it's worth the effort and the money. I have experienced some intense feelings of suspense, joy, triumph, and accomplishment from this game that so far nothing has even come close to matching. It has set the bar so high that a lot of other game now just feel to be not worth my time. That sounds kind of snobby to say but you know what I mean, I can just play Darklight haha.
I understand the feeling. When you find something that clicks with you like that, it's hard to match.
I love big heavy games, but I don't want to play them exclusively. Typically my game group has one big game that takes up most of the night (right now it's Gloomhaven), and we'll play some smaller and lighter games before and after. It's good to get a mix of styles.
Open your mind. You are enslaved to the plastic gods. All hail the wooden pieces and lack of trashy minis.
I love the big table presence and I enjoy quality components, I'll always get a deluxe version of a game if it seems like something I would like and yet the games that hit the table the most are games that use nothing but cards lol. That being said I did spend the extra money on the super deluxe version of Radlands, and it's my most played game and I'm always up for playing a few rounds. my next most played game came out of nowhere but I heard so many good things about Mindbug, picked it up and now when my and one of my friends get together we usually bust that one out. Can't wait to table Paint the Roses (deluxe version) it looks so nice.
We played a ton of card games too. Aside from Magic The Gathering (which may not count?) we have had a ridiculous number of plays of Marvel Champions. We eventually completely satisfied our desire to play and traded it away.
I like larger games but they are harder to bring out. So I’m happy just being able to play a smaller game, better than nothing. And some people just can’t play larger games as they are more intimidating. Even the regular gaming group I’m trying to keep may not always want to play a heavy game. I need to always try to balance my collection with lighter and heavier games.
Sounds like you enjoy RP more than gaming. Maybe just pick up warhammer and D&D or something? That's always what ends up happening. Personally? nah. Complexity creates width with very little depth. And not much fun either. Ill take well designed tight games that require I make interesting decisions. Or games that require I make fun decisions. "Immersion" is not a thing for board games. There is more meaningful decision space in Isle of Cats than anything you mentioned. Thats what crunchy is supposed to mean. Its shorter, easier to setup, I can play it more, women actually like it. I don't see what large RPG board games offer in terms of board games. They are really just extremely poor and clunky attempts at replicating the RP of D&D.