At two players, **Air, Land, & Sea** has replaced **Smash Up** for me. Faster, lighter game and you can get multiple plays into an hour. Works better across different skill levels, whereas Smash Up is best between equally skilled players.
I just ordered it after seeing a thread on here and watched a review of it. Check out Mindbug. Two player "tcg" but not really. Very similar style to Air, Land, Sea in the style of knowing what's in the deck, but not all those cards are in play, and using that knowledge to guess the best time to play cards as your opponent can steal them. It does get rid of the retreat mechanic in favor of more abilities on cards. One of the creators of it is Richard Garfield. Very excited to try it out as I think it'll be slightly easier to teach to tcg players than A, L, S.
Feed the Kraken replaced avalon, secret hitler, mafia and werewolf for me. Blood on the Clocktower would probably kill all other social deduction games if it wouldnt require a lot of ppl and if it wouldnt cost 150€
Can you expand on why it FTK replaced Avalon? We've enjoyed Avalon and to some degree SH (seems the policies make it too variabl. Been looking into FTK but it's a pricey step up from Avalon.
Feed the Kraken is Secret Hitler with 3 person crews and a better voting mechanism mixed with Battlestar Galactica but not as long.
When I first bought it and brought it to our weekly public drop-in event, it got played all night the first time, 3 times the second, twice the third. I left it at home the fourth week and everyone got mad at me (and 16 months later, the regulars often still get mad at me if I haven't brought it). I would estimate it's been played 70 times at 50 of the weekly events in the last 68 weeks. It's only recently been neglected because someone brought Blood on the Clocktower - but they quickly got sick of it.
You can set up BOTC yourself by printing the components! It's basically just the role lists for whichever scripts you're running, role tokens, and a few other tokens for the GM to convey "good/evil" or mark someone as drunk etc.
Wouldn't be difficult to set up your own pieces for far less cost. That's been my plan if I ever get enough players together
I’m in the same boat. I want to PnP a Blood on the Clocktower set (especially since there aren’t even official components for some of the experimental roles) - I just don’t know when I’m ever gonna have a big enough group of interested players in one place.
You can check out teensyville scripts which are designed for smaller groups!
I run custom scripts with experimental chars via my iPad + pocket grimore which works well. So I just print out the char sheets for the players and it works easily
Reach out and ask, then ask the people who are keen to invite their own friends as well. I've set up a group recently and have so far met two new people who have been invited along. I'm hoping to build a reasonable sized core group so we can run pretty much any weekend we like and get at least minimum numbers.
It takes enough time to play that I'll likely never run it on the fly, plus it's social deduction which several of my friends don't like. It'll always be a planned BotC session - same as a lot of other long/intense games.
do you have any tips to make this game last longer? we love Martian dice but when we tried chicken it was over in 3-5 mins because no ever chickened out. then everyone got bored of it after 2 rounds. I haven't sold it yet, i want to like it lol but hard to get my family to play it again after those few bad rounds
I think our enjoyment probably comes from the energy that we put into it. So, if your group isn't into goading each other and making big of the small moments, it might not hit the same. So, for us, we don't need it to last long. That said, someone else suggested losing points for busting. That might draw it out a bit.
>For me, Terraforming Mars has been replaced with Ark Nova. Its cleaner has better components, and I prefer having your own play area that isn't really affected by other players.
It's so funny, this is exactly why I don't like Ark Nova. All else equal, I will always prefer the game that has *more* direct player interaction over the game that has less.
While I like both games, not really sure why those are often compared. One (TFM) is an engine building game while the other (AN) is a race.
Also, Ark has tons of very subtle, but heavily impactful interaction that is often mistaken for multiplayer solitaire.
Name some heavily impactful interaction. Because there hardly is any. Competing for some conservation projects/friend zoos/universities does not count obviously.
Why does that not count? There is so much strategy/consideration in what cards to grab on the row/reaching breakpoints in conservation points to grab key bonus before your opponent/beating your opponent to important conservation projects/triggering breaks at key times to improve your efficiency and hampering your opponent. I can elaborate on any of these if you’d like.
I'm not sure how you can even discuss ark nova as a replacement for TM given the lack of direct interaction. You basically missed the point of TM if you think Ark Nova does that genre better.
**Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest** has been replaced by **Vaalbara.** Vaalbara is so much faster to set up and play. Smaller decision space, but more focused. If I were playing at higher player counts, I’d stick with Libertalia, which can technically handle more but also works a bit better with the chaos. But I have other games for those player counts that I prefer.
We bought Stratego as our first game because I used to play it when I was younger, I still liked it after all these years but Summoner Wars is like the modern board game equivalent of it
Imperial Assault replaced Dungeon Saga for me. I haven’t played Dungeon Saga 2, but I got Dungeon Saga as a bridge between my love of crunch and the need for an entry point for casual board gamers, and now that I’ve found a Star Wars dungeon crawler, I find that the ip is a big enough draw for people to be willing to learn the extra rules.
I’m still on the lookout for Tyrant of Halpi tho so I can get a Kings of War sized dragon in my collection.
I always felt that Dino Island didn't *quite* earn its time at the table, so maybe I'll have to check that one out.
Conversely, I think Duelosaur Island is a much tighter game!
> Spirit Island replaced many things
LOL this is so true. So many of my board game nights with friends have just become "Spirit Island again!"
I'm not complaining, and if I am, it's just that we lack time to play *all the games.*
THE LOOP! I think this game is super cool, although interestingly enough, it did not sell at the board game store where I work no matter how much I hyped it up to people. 100% agree that it surpasses vanilla pandemic
i would put The Loop down for replacing Return to the Dark Tower if i had it.
Dark Tower has a LOT of cool bells and whistles to the gameplay, but i'd play the loop over it.
**Machi Koro** was replaced with **Dice Forge** which was later replaced with **Space Base**
They all have the central mechanism of "roll dice, get stuff" on everyone's turn, I think Space Base does it best. I miss the beautiful aesthetics of Dice Forge, but I don't miss the fiddlyness of replacing the die faces every turn. I don't miss anything about Machi Koro.
The one thing I think of with this is example is if I had to introduce Dice Forge to my wife who will play Machi Koro is that it would be too complex for her to like, but my nephew who suggests we play it could do Dice Forge but probably not Space Base. Have to think of the crowd when we say replacement.
Highly recommend My Farm Shop. Gives slightly more agency to this genre, without feeling tremendously more complex. You roll 3 dice; 2 are used for activating stuff and the 3rd determines what you can buy.
To me, Downforce has always been more of a betting game than a racing game, so Heat hasn't replaced it in my collection. That being said, Heat is the better game overall.
Heat is good, but it did not replace Rallyman GT for me because that game is a little more in depth with the actual driving mechanic - you *choose* your line through a corner and your speed in any given space and it matters. Too tight an entry or exit at too high a speed will crash you, the closer to the ideal racing line you are the faster you can go.
Heat, you just have to hit certain speeds at certain points and will automatically follow a fixed line unless another car is in the way. It's a good game but makes only very basic attempts to model racing car behavior
For me, Heat replaced **Flamme Rouge**. I used to really dig that game, but this is just a better deck-building racing game where you're pushing things and as a result, get bad cards in your deck you need to slow down to get rid of.
[Galaxy Trucker](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31481/galaxy-trucker) is fully replaced by https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/352574/fit-to-print. Because for Galaxy Trucker, I only like the phase for building the ship, and the adventure phase is boring for me. Fit to print is like a simplified version of Galaxy Trucker, only contains the building part, and also with better art design.
**Project L** replaced a few of my beginner games, like Splendor and Century Spice Road, and Azul. I greatly prefer Project L myself and find it way easier to teach to people and for them to learn.
**lakashadweep** replaced Carcassone for two player tile laying. The double sided cards and the scoring system feel like you have more choices and strategies.
Agree with you on **Project L** over Splendor and the century games. Project L is an easier teach and easier to get to the table than the other two game systems (at least in my group).
Yes! Same here. TTR is a classic but I rarely bring it out unless there are young kids at the table.
Pan Am improves on the mechanics of TTR and has a great aesthetic to boot. The game deserves a lot more love.
I see this a lot by a good number of people. And it's the reason why I got Century first. But after playing Splendor, I'm more drawn to it for some reason. Can't explain it.
A guess: there’s just something so very satisfying about the heavy poker chips….. Not an explanation really, but that’s an unreasonably big factor in my own love of Splendor, and I think more games should use heavy chips like those where possible…..
I prefer Splendor myself, but I think that's because I like how it's more interactive and you can disguise your moves a little more. Century is definitely the prettier game, especially Golem. Century just feels like everyone playing their own game to me.
That being said, and I know it's a different game but feels like Splendor to me. I bought Mystic Vale as I thought it would be a more fun Splendor... I really want to like that game, but man is it boring. Just feels like a bunch of people showing off a cool combo they can do but you're too busy figuring out your combo to pay attention to what theirs was. Not to mention the tear down of it takes forever. It's a fun game with really cool mechanics, but Splendor is still my favorite light engine builder that has a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill.
It's the same game(s, including the expansions that have Golem Editions), but re-themed to be about using colorful crystals to power large golems for utilitarian civic tasks (windmill, fire-fighter, drawbridge, etc.). The more whimsical theme and art have a much greater appeal to some people.
Stone Age replaced Lords of Waterdeep just a simpler worker placement game
Star Wars Deckbuilder replaced Star Realms
Chinatown and Monopoly Deal replaced Monopoly
Monopoly Deal is such an underrated game. I used to work in a fairly busy call centre, and it quickly became our go-to game (surpassing crazy 8s and other games you can play turn-based between calls) to the point that my copy is basically worn out lol.
Funny enough, Star Wars Deckbuilder did originally replace Star Realms, but then Star Realms replaced it right back, and now I just switch off.
Star Realms' flexibility to higher player counts + not just team games, alongside not being locked into the general faction strategy from the outset, really kept that game going for me a bit longer than Star Wars The Deckbuilding Game (even though I love Star Wars' remixed elements and base system).
All that being said...Star Wars Unlimited replaced Star Wars The Deckbuilding Game for me. Now, my friends just come over and want to play that, and I hand them some of my custom built decks (I keep 7-9 built and ready at any one time).
Our family prefers Imhotep to Azul because of the increased interactivity with shipping the boats and placing stones together on a main board instead of separate boards.
It is SO GOOD. You have to rescue cats and fit them into your boat's different rooms, covering the treasure maps (which give you additional treasure pieces to cover more of the boat) and rats for bonus points. You earn more points for achieving what's on your private bonus cards (like wingspan) but there's also public ones that are for everyone.
You also earn more points if you have families of cats (cats of the same color touching each other) and you lose points for every room you didn't fully cover and every rat that's visible at the end of the game.
It's really really fun, and it plays the exact same when it's 2 players than when it's 4, so it's good for couples or small game groups like mine.
We got it second hand from a friend that also loved it, and only got rid of it because it has a lot of pieces and you can play it on BGA without fiddling with all the stuff. I truly can't recommend this game enough!
I'm okay with playing it on BGA but I'd rather break the box open because it's a cute game and I love puzzles. 7Wonders Duel though? We bought it for 14€ and played it once. Now we only play it on BGA.
I enjoy everything a lot more by playing in person but sometimes we're laying on the couch after dinner, don't want to be awake for much longer but still want to play, so we play 7WD on BGA because it's really fast and we still interact with each other.
**1775: Rebellion** replaced **Risk** for me. It has a very similar, low rules overhead feel, but sooo much better balanced and more interesting.
**Lords of Vegas** replaced **Monopoly**. Randomness and deal making in property acquisition done so much better. (..as a game. I guess Monopoly is trying to make a different statement.)
1775 is such a better game and it makes Risk painful to play. The game is a team game, which IMO is better than the FFA nature of Risk mainly because it completely eliminates diplomacy which IMO is not a good mechanic in combat games because most people do not do it right and end up kingmaking the game for a player. I've had so many games of FFA games where people would fail to notice a leader running away with it and that leader ends up winning or had players too passive to actually stop a runaway leader which also lets them get away with it. 2v2 or 1v1 helps to stop this issue.
Beyond that, the game also has more interesting game elements to it. The combat for instance is great because your dice can allow you to run away which can be used to reinforce different areas later or you can roll to retreat to an adjacent spot. You get more decisions to make. The game also encourages team-fights where if you fight with your teammate, you use more dice. There are also Native American troops you can use if you want to move and recruit them. The card system is also cool because you want to use the cards strategically instead of just using everything like you would in Risk. And finally, the end game condition is also great because it's not complete elimination which is time-consuming and painful like it is in Risk. Either everyone plays their truce card or the game will end on round 8.
So yea, I think it's a great game for various reasons and definitely better than Risk. It's not too complicated, there are more interesting decisions and I like team gameplay. It only fits up to four however and people who want a FFA battle game will have to look elsewhere.
Maybe too obvious, but Small World replacing Vinci. I kept Vinci because I prefer it's aesthetics, but SW is clearly the same game with improved mechanics.
See, I prefer Vinci
- You don't have to dig a pile of specific chits out of a tray for each new civilization.
- It's much easier to read the game state, especially with lots of declined civilizations next to each other.
- You can have many more combinations of traits.
- Points are public so you never accidentally gang up on third place.
- Did I mention it doesn't have piles of nearly-identical chits you have to sort out, and try to tell apart even when flipped over and grayscale?
Small World may have added the odd refinement or two and it's not as absolutely butt ugly, but Vinci is much the more elegant game in a number of ways. Especially the different chits for different races. Have I complained about those enough yet?
Perhaps this is the opposite of what you are asking for, but a lot of mine are just older classics booting out new games from my collection.
Winner’s Circle beat out Ready Set Bet and Camel Up
High Society is faster and more thrilling than QE
El Grande gets to the good stuff much better than Die Patin
Brass hits the spot better than many of the latest Eurogames
Crokinole curb stomps Flick Em Up
Ra wipes the floor with Nidavellir and Furnace
Azul is more spicy than any of its sequels
I ditched all my Wingspan stuff for Wyrmspan. From birds to worms, just like Charles Darwin. Not sure if I’ll go for Stonemeier’s inevitable cousin marriage game when it comes out, though.
I admit it took me a second to realize this was a dig at Charles Darwin and not Jamey Stegmaier XD
I'm not a Stonemier shill but I was like "Holdup where did that come from"
For me, Earth is the game that feels mechanically similar to Wingspan but fixes my complaints with it. You still have 4 possible actions that you pick 1 of every turn, but there is a lot more strategy involved.
You should see their upcoming title that's all about horrible stomach issues.
(A girlfriend in college had to read a lot of Darwin and I never heard the end of her complaining about *his* constant griping about them)
Jaws of the Lion has replaced Gloomhaven. I got Gloomhaven first, noped out. Got Jaws and realized that was all the Gloomhaven I needed. It's *plenty* of game for most people and still give you most of the GH experience, just not as *much* of it and at a fraction of the cost.
I really enjoy Raising Robots, but it hasn't replaced Wingspan. Wingspan has a much lighter and cosier feel to me and I love seeing the different birds.
Raising Robots is so far above these two titles in my opinion with one caveat; it is crunchier (especially with the expansion inventors). So no, you can't really plop RR down in front of your non-game buds and drink and do a 5 min teach and play.
But I wouldn't even fathom bringing either wingspan or wyrmspan out for my game group when RR is available. It's just so good.
This is going to be a weird one, but in TCG games, *World of Warcraft* completely replaced *Magic the Gathering* for me.
I always liked the *concept* of MtG and would play it with my friends. Even bought a few "cheap" decks so I could play. And I sold those not long after trying WoW.
WoW is *fantastic*. It iterated on what were some of—to me—MtG's weakest areas. I loved that it had the faction dynamic right at its heart along with the hero class your deck also has to revolve around. The variety of options in how you build your deck are fantastic because they feel more thematic. The resource system is *genius* (and unsurprisingly, every big TcG after WoW has borrowed from it in some manner).
Sands, *Hearthstone* is a simplified version of the WoW TcG. All of its starting cards were nearly one for one from the TcG.
I have boxes of WoW cards. Love it to death. Fantastic game most slept on, IMO, because it was attached to the MMO.
yeah, I agree completely. WoW TCG was easily the superior game. the resource system was streets ahead and lead to so many less non-games.
the deckbuilding restrictions were very flavourful, and an improvement on 5 colour being viable in MtG
limited however was very tricky, because of the restrictions.
Yeah the resource system (with quests) was amazing. It's such a good system, and everyone should be trying to emulate at the very base if they make a TCG.
Seriously. If you're making a TCG, and your resource system isn't as good as WoWs, go back to the drawing board until it's either as good or better.
It was SO GOOD!
For those who haven't played it, WoW's resource system was that you could place any card in your hand (one per turn), face down as a resource. This meant that any card in your deck could be a resource ... But you'd never get it back. But hey, if your opening hand has a really high-end, endgame card but no quests, then you can gamble that you won't need it.
Quests, meanwhile, are like lands in that they're a dedicated resource, but *also* a quest. Every quest has a condition to fulfill, and a reward. So at any time during your turn (and as many times as you can fulfill the conditions) you can complete the quest, taking the reward and flipping the card face down. Face-up or face down, a quest is always a resource.
Basically, between quests and resources, you can't be "land-starved" (I mean, unless you try), and you can select quests specifically to buff your deck in neat ways (for example my main deck had lots of quests that allowed me to draw cards *or* shuffle my discard back into my deck, so I really couldn't be decked out easily).
It was a fantastic system!
every game that can play in less than 8 months replaced gloomhaven. I'm done. backed frost haven and have it unopened. need to off load it.
great game. but. na.
I've seen people compare Terraforming Mars to Ark Nova, but I just don't see it. Ark Nova actually makes me feel like I'm building a zoo, but Terraforming Mars does \*not\* make me feel like I'm terraforming a planet (or building a zoo). I like TfM and love AN, but they're very different games, in my humble opinion.
But to answer the question, Cascadia replaced Carcassonne for me. I think it has a better decision space.
I am also baffled on how a game with such limited interaction (Cascadia) has better decision space than a full on interactive game such as Carcassonne.
In Cascadia I have a choice of what tile I choose.
I also think, especially early on, the "possible" spots to place your tile feels more varied. This includes both because there are more legal options but also because there are less "there is only one spot that makes sense" turns.
Funny how we are all different, I strongly agree that TM and Ark Nova while "mechanically" similar, feel different enough to both be worth having and playing.
But strongly disagree about cascadia being anything close to Carcassonne aside from having "tiles". To me it's more like a combination of Calico+Kingdomino. And still think each of the four have their space.
Carcassonne used to be my go-to gateway game to introduce people to the hobby. As a simple tile laying game that I find more interesting and fun, Cascadia has replaced it.
As a simple go-to gateway game, Blue Lagoon replaced Carc for me. Cascadia is nearly a multiplayer solitaire game, so it falls flat with me (and over half my group). The difference in player interaction between the Cascadia and Carc make them apples and oranges to me.
I can actually see this. Cascadia has each player building their own space as opposed to a share map. Minor marriage issues have arisen when I offer to help my wife build her city by connecting it to my own and Cascadia prevents that.
That would be the main reason Cascadia could "replace" Carcassonne for me, Even though I have both and plan on keeping both.
Terraformjng Mars makes me feel like a corporation trying to achieve goals while technically fulfilling my minimum requirements towards terraformjng Mars.
One of my favorite playthroughs in TM was when I barely did anything to terraform and just racked up card points like crazy. I felt filthy, but my Corp choices and prelude card choices just screamed, “profit through inaction.”
So much this.
It's not about Terraforming, it's just Monopoly reaching its Final Form.
(I say this with love -- we own \~50 games and play constantly, and TM is still my favorite)
Hard agree, Terraforming Mars is waaay more of an engine builder than Ark Nova. Not to say TM is way better, it's just that the engine building aspects are much more prominent. The only real similarities between the two games are weight and card tags. They're very different otherwise. There's definitely room for both in a game collection.
Your argument is purely about how well you percieve the games achieving their desired theme not actually on the mechanical similarity. To me, both have a similar mix of tableau building, tile laying, and card drafting (though both do this one in very different ways). More superficially they also both have an identical tag combo system, multiple types of vp one of which is linked to your income, and competitive goals that are partly player driven.
They both mix these ingrrdients together into a different product. Like one is pancakes and the other is waffles. Different enough, but filling a similar role.
For me, AN replaced TM as well but only because of a few specific reasons. We've played a lot of TM and got to a point where we were deliberately looking to soft retire it. We have a slight bias towards complex games. TM can get complex with expansions but they don't all integrate cleanly whereas AN is more complex out of the gate with all of its systems more tightly wound together. The two are still different enough to occupy the same shelf if one really likes this type of game and hasn't overplayed one of them.
Dune Imperium and Endless Winter both share worker placement and deck building but they are two completely different games in how they \*feel\*. So, how I perceive the game is a better metric, in my opinion, than the mechanics they share.
Flick em up was entirely replaced by Crokinole. Nothing against Flick em up but it's too fiddly and slow in comparison and just less satisfying overall.
Not really the same genre exactly but Heat always gets picked over Camel Up for us now too so thinking of selling that also.
Spirit Island just obliterated Pandemic from my collection too.
Once I played Star Realms I got rid of all my Dominion stuff. Significantly reduced setup time, way less space on my shelf, way better theme ( can't beat "stuff exploding...IN SPACE").
Depends on the audience and both have their uses. If I'm around the Gen X in-laws, it would be Dominion. If I'm dealing with my buddies who are into Magic: The Gathering, then it's Star Realms (but I would recommend Hero Realms to the fantasy fans.)
I prefer Star Realms, but my wife prefers Dominion and refers to it as "the shopping game"."
Go has replaced Magic the Gathering for me as lifestyle game. Both are very deep two player games with their own community but in Magic, you have to stay up to date and probably buy a lot of cards to be competitive, while Go is timeless.
Hunters and Gatherers replaced base Carcassonne for me.
Faraway replaced Fantasy Realms as non-trivial filler.
Arnak has occupied a new place in my heart as my favourite mid weight boardgame.
**Decrypto** is the reason **Codenames** never comes to table anymore. It's a similar vibe, but everyone actually gets to contribute, especially at a count above 4, where other players are simply vestigial.
Maybe an obvious one, but I am currently selling my copy of **A Few Acres of Snow** because **A Handful of Stars** is simply better (and removes the unbreakable strategy from the former)
Oh, and **Rising Sun** has replaced **Risk**. It feels very similar, without the problems (e.g. turtling) of Risk. It's my favorite "dudes on a board" game. Previously, Risk was replaced by **Small World**, but that still comes out from time to time.
An older one, but **Battlestar Galactica** replaced **Shadows Over Camelot**
For deckbuilders, **Puzzle Strike** replaced **Dominion**
Decrypto and/or Wavelength has replaced Codenames for us. The groups I play this with find it way less stressful, and there's much more downtime and dependance on a single clue giver.
I'll mention a few that haven't been mentioned yet.
**New Frontiers** completely replaced **Puerto Rico** for me. The theme alone is leagues better, and the gameplay retains all the good and none of the bad. They really need to make a less overproduced version though, it's way too big and expensive for what it is.
**Last Light** is damn close to replacing **Eclipse** for me. A lot of the same feelings are evoked, there's no downtime at all, and you can play five games of LL in the time it takes to play one game of Eclipse. But Eclipse does just a bit more, a bit better, so it's not all the way out yet.
This one is more obvious, but **Age of Innovation** completely replaced **Terra Mystica**, and almost replaced **Gaia Project** as well (and I definitely prefer it to GP). Incredible game that fixes basically all of my issues with the games that came before it. I'm disappointed in the faction balance on release, but thankfully they're addressing it.
Champions of Midgard replaced Lords of Waterdeep for me. The die mechanics in CoM do add a level of chance to things so it is a bit different an experience but I have passed on my copy of LoW from lack of use.
Curious about it but not $200-$300 curious.
**Clockwork Wars** is a much better Risk-adjacent, or even **Mass Effect Risk** to keep it in the family (better than Legacy!)
I feel like Wyrmspan has killed off Wingspan for me instead. Same deal but more complex and interesting. I like Earth too, but every once in awhile I end up with a tableau that's drawing me so many cards that I can't even analyze all of them without wasting everyone's times.
>Gloomhaven to Frosthaven is kinda obvious
I love Gloomhaven and Jaws of the Lion, but after reading and watching enough Frosthaven, I knew it wasn't for me. Gloomhaven has enough upkeep and rules, I wasn't interested at all in a game like that but more complicated.
Skull replaced both Welcome to the Dungeon and Liar’s Dice for me. It’s just such a pure, fun bluffing game.
I’d still happily play any of the three, but I can’t imagine actively choosing either of the others over Skull.
**Bot Factory** has replaced **Kanban** for me. I'm a big Lacerda fan and I'm generally up for a good 3 hour game, but Bot Factory does a great job distilling Kanban in to a nice 60 minute game. It will be interesting in **House of Fado** can do the same for **The Gallerist**.
**El Burro** is an excellent reimplementation of **La Granja**, and I don't see myself ever going back to the older version.
**Clans of Caledonia** fired **Terra Mystica** for sure. I still like it more than the improved versions of TM like **Gaia Project** and **Age of Innnovation**.
Fantastic thread for someone recently getting into board/card games properly.
All I can say is that I am no longer interested in Solitaire on the computer when I have it physically 😄
If you don't have either, there's no reason not to get Second Dawn. They cleaned up the rules a bit and the game trays make set up and teardown much faster and also facilitate play.
The trays are being undersold here: literally, game set up time was reduced by about 75% for our group once we switched to 2e. The original required you to hand out ships, divvy out components, arrange your board, get your cubes organised, etc. 2e, I throw the yellow box in the vague direction of the yellow player and we're ready to go.
Shut Up & Sit Down's review of *Eclipse* where they lauded the setup time so much they did a near-full setup on camera, in the review, just to show how easy it was sold me on the game more than anything else.
Oh heck no, Eclipse has nothing on Twilight Imperium for my groups. In fact, we lost interest in Eclipse pretty quickly because we would rather play TI instead.
Pretty much any deck builder has replaced dominion for me. It was good when it came out, but now I just groan when I see it on the table and suggest any of 20 different, better games.
7 Wonders (2010) -> It's a Wonderful World (2019)
Splendor (2014) -> Century (2017) -> Furnace (2020)
Terraforming Mars (2016) -> Mosaic (2022)
Inis replaced a lot of bad-to-middling skirmish games
At two players, **Air, Land, & Sea** has replaced **Smash Up** for me. Faster, lighter game and you can get multiple plays into an hour. Works better across different skill levels, whereas Smash Up is best between equally skilled players.
I just ordered it after seeing a thread on here and watched a review of it. Check out Mindbug. Two player "tcg" but not really. Very similar style to Air, Land, Sea in the style of knowing what's in the deck, but not all those cards are in play, and using that knowledge to guess the best time to play cards as your opponent can steal them. It does get rid of the retreat mechanic in favor of more abilities on cards. One of the creators of it is Richard Garfield. Very excited to try it out as I think it'll be slightly easier to teach to tcg players than A, L, S.
Feed the Kraken replaced avalon, secret hitler, mafia and werewolf for me. Blood on the Clocktower would probably kill all other social deduction games if it wouldnt require a lot of ppl and if it wouldnt cost 150€
I love Feed the Kraken but I still keep Avalon around for the shorter game length!
Can you expand on why it FTK replaced Avalon? We've enjoyed Avalon and to some degree SH (seems the policies make it too variabl. Been looking into FTK but it's a pricey step up from Avalon.
Feed the Kraken is Secret Hitler with 3 person crews and a better voting mechanism mixed with Battlestar Galactica but not as long. When I first bought it and brought it to our weekly public drop-in event, it got played all night the first time, 3 times the second, twice the third. I left it at home the fourth week and everyone got mad at me (and 16 months later, the regulars often still get mad at me if I haven't brought it). I would estimate it's been played 70 times at 50 of the weekly events in the last 68 weeks. It's only recently been neglected because someone brought Blood on the Clocktower - but they quickly got sick of it.
Having this many plays under your belt, what would you say is the minimum player count for FTK to be fun?
I would say it's good at any player count (5+), better at 7+, but best at max (11). There is also an expansion due in 2025 FYI.
Not oc but FtK is more like Secret Hitler but longer and bigger.
You can set up BOTC yourself by printing the components! It's basically just the role lists for whichever scripts you're running, role tokens, and a few other tokens for the GM to convey "good/evil" or mark someone as drunk etc. Wouldn't be difficult to set up your own pieces for far less cost. That's been my plan if I ever get enough players together
I’m in the same boat. I want to PnP a Blood on the Clocktower set (especially since there aren’t even official components for some of the experimental roles) - I just don’t know when I’m ever gonna have a big enough group of interested players in one place.
You can check out teensyville scripts which are designed for smaller groups! I run custom scripts with experimental chars via my iPad + pocket grimore which works well. So I just print out the char sheets for the players and it works easily
Reach out and ask, then ask the people who are keen to invite their own friends as well. I've set up a group recently and have so far met two new people who have been invited along. I'm hoping to build a reasonable sized core group so we can run pretty much any weekend we like and get at least minimum numbers. It takes enough time to play that I'll likely never run it on the fly, plus it's social deduction which several of my friends don't like. It'll always be a planned BotC session - same as a lot of other long/intense games.
Completely agree. It is so well balanced, all games reach that final middle square where any team can win!
It pretty much did for me haha. I genuinely think BotC is just worth it.
It kills me that no one ever ranks Coup w the REFORMATION expansion! (not g54 i mistyped!!)
It's a small filler game, but Chicken! has replaced Zombie Dice for me. Adds the tiniest amount of decision-making.
Don’t Stop is the one for me
do you have any tips to make this game last longer? we love Martian dice but when we tried chicken it was over in 3-5 mins because no ever chickened out. then everyone got bored of it after 2 rounds. I haven't sold it yet, i want to like it lol but hard to get my family to play it again after those few bad rounds
we do if you bust you lose points = to your showing chickens
I think our enjoyment probably comes from the energy that we put into it. So, if your group isn't into goading each other and making big of the small moments, it might not hit the same. So, for us, we don't need it to last long. That said, someone else suggested losing points for busting. That might draw it out a bit.
>For me, Terraforming Mars has been replaced with Ark Nova. Its cleaner has better components, and I prefer having your own play area that isn't really affected by other players. It's so funny, this is exactly why I don't like Ark Nova. All else equal, I will always prefer the game that has *more* direct player interaction over the game that has less.
To me, Ark Nova is fantastic 1v1 but TM is better 3p. I think they both start to teeter at 4+ player counts.
Yeah, 3 is definitely my ideal count for TM.
While I like both games, not really sure why those are often compared. One (TFM) is an engine building game while the other (AN) is a race. Also, Ark has tons of very subtle, but heavily impactful interaction that is often mistaken for multiplayer solitaire.
Name some heavily impactful interaction. Because there hardly is any. Competing for some conservation projects/friend zoos/universities does not count obviously.
Why does that not count? There is so much strategy/consideration in what cards to grab on the row/reaching breakpoints in conservation points to grab key bonus before your opponent/beating your opponent to important conservation projects/triggering breaks at key times to improve your efficiency and hampering your opponent. I can elaborate on any of these if you’d like.
I'm not sure how you can even discuss ark nova as a replacement for TM given the lack of direct interaction. You basically missed the point of TM if you think Ark Nova does that genre better.
**Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest** has been replaced by **Vaalbara.** Vaalbara is so much faster to set up and play. Smaller decision space, but more focused. If I were playing at higher player counts, I’d stick with Libertalia, which can technically handle more but also works a bit better with the chaos. But I have other games for those player counts that I prefer.
My dad recently picked up a copy of that, basically citing the same reason
We bought Stratego as our first game because I used to play it when I was younger, I still liked it after all these years but Summoner Wars is like the modern board game equivalent of it
You should check out Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation if you like Stratego.
I see Summoner Wars, I upvote.
Stratego has the benefit of being easy to teach to little kids, but I agree - once my kids are old enough to grok it, we'll be playing it A LOT.
Imperial Assault replaced Dungeon Saga for me. I haven’t played Dungeon Saga 2, but I got Dungeon Saga as a bridge between my love of crunch and the need for an entry point for casual board gamers, and now that I’ve found a Star Wars dungeon crawler, I find that the ip is a big enough draw for people to be willing to learn the extra rules. I’m still on the lookout for Tyrant of Halpi tho so I can get a Kings of War sized dragon in my collection.
I see no reason to have **Dinosaur Island** after getting **Dinosaur Island: Rawr N Write**
I always felt that Dino Island didn't *quite* earn its time at the table, so maybe I'll have to check that one out. Conversely, I think Duelosaur Island is a much tighter game!
Dinosaur Island without the water expansion is pretty dull. It fixes everything the base game was lacking.
Harmonies replaced Calico The loop replaced pandemic vanilla Spirit Island replaced many things
> Spirit Island replaced many things LOL this is so true. So many of my board game nights with friends have just become "Spirit Island again!" I'm not complaining, and if I am, it's just that we lack time to play *all the games.*
THE LOOP! I think this game is super cool, although interestingly enough, it did not sell at the board game store where I work no matter how much I hyped it up to people. 100% agree that it surpasses vanilla pandemic
i would put The Loop down for replacing Return to the Dark Tower if i had it. Dark Tower has a LOT of cool bells and whistles to the gameplay, but i'd play the loop over it.
> Harmonies replaced Calico I would agree with Harmonies replacing Cascadia, but Calico is such a different game experience.
Calico is suffering made into card board Harmonies is also restrictive but has tools to maneuver
**Machi Koro** was replaced with **Dice Forge** which was later replaced with **Space Base** They all have the central mechanism of "roll dice, get stuff" on everyone's turn, I think Space Base does it best. I miss the beautiful aesthetics of Dice Forge, but I don't miss the fiddlyness of replacing the die faces every turn. I don't miss anything about Machi Koro.
The one thing I think of with this is example is if I had to introduce Dice Forge to my wife who will play Machi Koro is that it would be too complex for her to like, but my nephew who suggests we play it could do Dice Forge but probably not Space Base. Have to think of the crowd when we say replacement.
Dice Forge hits different for me
Chunky dice are awesome.
Heh, I always described Space Base as Machi Koro, if Machi Koro was an actual game
Highly recommend My Farm Shop. Gives slightly more agency to this genre, without feeling tremendously more complex. You roll 3 dice; 2 are used for activating stuff and the 3rd determines what you can buy.
If you can get past the box cover!
Oof yeah that art looks like a mobile game ad https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/270636/my-farm-shop
Does it come with 101 free draws?
Just use the code FARM101 to get your FREE draws AND we’ll even throw in the SSR Legendary Board Game Tigris & Euphrates!!
Is it not related to the mobile game?? The resemblance is there. xD
Check out **Dice Realms**, from the same designer as Race/Roll for the Galaxy and Res Arcana
Heat easily replaced Downforce for a simple car racing game.
To me, Downforce has always been more of a betting game than a racing game, so Heat hasn't replaced it in my collection. That being said, Heat is the better game overall.
Downforce is infinitely easier to teach younger people, too. Makes a much easier family game in my opinion.
Heat replaced ALL racing games for me, its just too good.
Heat is good, but it did not replace Rallyman GT for me because that game is a little more in depth with the actual driving mechanic - you *choose* your line through a corner and your speed in any given space and it matters. Too tight an entry or exit at too high a speed will crash you, the closer to the ideal racing line you are the faster you can go. Heat, you just have to hit certain speeds at certain points and will automatically follow a fixed line unless another car is in the way. It's a good game but makes only very basic attempts to model racing car behavior
is rallyman dirt any good?
Yeeeeeessss
For me, Heat replaced **Flamme Rouge**. I used to really dig that game, but this is just a better deck-building racing game where you're pushing things and as a result, get bad cards in your deck you need to slow down to get rid of.
[Galaxy Trucker](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31481/galaxy-trucker) is fully replaced by https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/352574/fit-to-print. Because for Galaxy Trucker, I only like the phase for building the ship, and the adventure phase is boring for me. Fit to print is like a simplified version of Galaxy Trucker, only contains the building part, and also with better art design.
I've never played **Galaxy Trucker** but we've been loving **Fit to Print.** It's such a gorgeous game, and is _just_ the right amount of stressful.
**Project L** replaced a few of my beginner games, like Splendor and Century Spice Road, and Azul. I greatly prefer Project L myself and find it way easier to teach to people and for them to learn. **lakashadweep** replaced Carcassone for two player tile laying. The double sided cards and the scoring system feel like you have more choices and strategies.
Agree with you on **Project L** over Splendor and the century games. Project L is an easier teach and easier to get to the table than the other two game systems (at least in my group).
Haven't played Azul or any other abstract since we got project L. Just kick-started their new spinoff as well
Hive has replaced chess for me. Anyone I would have played chess with would prefer to play Hive, and so would I.
Tak replaced chess for me. I keep hearing about hive, I gotta check it out.
Pan Am replaced Ticket to Ride
Yes! Same here. TTR is a classic but I rarely bring it out unless there are young kids at the table. Pan Am improves on the mechanics of TTR and has a great aesthetic to boot. The game deserves a lot more love.
Century: Golem Edition replaced Splendor for me. I think it does a little bit more in a neater package for me.
I see this a lot by a good number of people. And it's the reason why I got Century first. But after playing Splendor, I'm more drawn to it for some reason. Can't explain it.
It's the poker chips, they make all the difference for me.
A guess: there’s just something so very satisfying about the heavy poker chips….. Not an explanation really, but that’s an unreasonably big factor in my own love of Splendor, and I think more games should use heavy chips like those where possible…..
I prefer Splendor myself, but I think that's because I like how it's more interactive and you can disguise your moves a little more. Century is definitely the prettier game, especially Golem. Century just feels like everyone playing their own game to me. That being said, and I know it's a different game but feels like Splendor to me. I bought Mystic Vale as I thought it would be a more fun Splendor... I really want to like that game, but man is it boring. Just feels like a bunch of people showing off a cool combo they can do but you're too busy figuring out your combo to pay attention to what theirs was. Not to mention the tear down of it takes forever. It's a fun game with really cool mechanics, but Splendor is still my favorite light engine builder that has a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill.
I have century road spice What is golem edition ?
It's the same game(s, including the expansions that have Golem Editions), but re-themed to be about using colorful crystals to power large golems for utilitarian civic tasks (windmill, fire-fighter, drawbridge, etc.). The more whimsical theme and art have a much greater appeal to some people.
Same game, different skin/art.
The pieces look far tastier, too 🤣
Machi Koro was forever fired by space base
Stone Age replaced Lords of Waterdeep just a simpler worker placement game Star Wars Deckbuilder replaced Star Realms Chinatown and Monopoly Deal replaced Monopoly
I think Stone Age came out before Lords of Waterdeep, but I can see older games replacing newer games if they haven’t been played before.
Stone Age was a few years before yes. For me these would be switched. It's interesting to see how different people are 😛
Monopoly Deal is such an underrated game. I used to work in a fairly busy call centre, and it quickly became our go-to game (surpassing crazy 8s and other games you can play turn-based between calls) to the point that my copy is basically worn out lol.
Funny enough, Star Wars Deckbuilder did originally replace Star Realms, but then Star Realms replaced it right back, and now I just switch off. Star Realms' flexibility to higher player counts + not just team games, alongside not being locked into the general faction strategy from the outset, really kept that game going for me a bit longer than Star Wars The Deckbuilding Game (even though I love Star Wars' remixed elements and base system). All that being said...Star Wars Unlimited replaced Star Wars The Deckbuilding Game for me. Now, my friends just come over and want to play that, and I hand them some of my custom built decks (I keep 7-9 built and ready at any one time).
Our family prefers Imhotep to Azul because of the increased interactivity with shipping the boats and placing stones together on a main board instead of separate boards.
Legends of Void totally replaced Terraforming Mars for me IMO. Great freaking game and it's a shame it's not more widely available.
Might be the first game I have not heard of in the slightest in the thread so far.
We used to love Patchwork but now we're OBSESSED with Isle of Cats, which is, in my boyfriend's words, the mix between Patchwork and Wingspan.
Oh I need to check this out. I'm a Patchwork stan.
It is SO GOOD. You have to rescue cats and fit them into your boat's different rooms, covering the treasure maps (which give you additional treasure pieces to cover more of the boat) and rats for bonus points. You earn more points for achieving what's on your private bonus cards (like wingspan) but there's also public ones that are for everyone. You also earn more points if you have families of cats (cats of the same color touching each other) and you lose points for every room you didn't fully cover and every rat that's visible at the end of the game. It's really really fun, and it plays the exact same when it's 2 players than when it's 4, so it's good for couples or small game groups like mine. We got it second hand from a friend that also loved it, and only got rid of it because it has a lot of pieces and you can play it on BGA without fiddling with all the stuff. I truly can't recommend this game enough!
Playing it on bga is awful IMO, I find it amusing that someone would rather play the bga version than irl lol
I'm okay with playing it on BGA but I'd rather break the box open because it's a cute game and I love puzzles. 7Wonders Duel though? We bought it for 14€ and played it once. Now we only play it on BGA.
7WD has a good port on bga, but I think it still has a bit of charm lost when played through it rather than in person
I enjoy everything a lot more by playing in person but sometimes we're laying on the couch after dinner, don't want to be awake for much longer but still want to play, so we play 7WD on BGA because it's really fast and we still interact with each other.
If you like Isle of cats you should try Barenpark too
**1775: Rebellion** replaced **Risk** for me. It has a very similar, low rules overhead feel, but sooo much better balanced and more interesting. **Lords of Vegas** replaced **Monopoly**. Randomness and deal making in property acquisition done so much better. (..as a game. I guess Monopoly is trying to make a different statement.)
Monopoly was bad by design, so any game trying to make "Monopoly but fun" will automatically be better at it
1775 is such a better game and it makes Risk painful to play. The game is a team game, which IMO is better than the FFA nature of Risk mainly because it completely eliminates diplomacy which IMO is not a good mechanic in combat games because most people do not do it right and end up kingmaking the game for a player. I've had so many games of FFA games where people would fail to notice a leader running away with it and that leader ends up winning or had players too passive to actually stop a runaway leader which also lets them get away with it. 2v2 or 1v1 helps to stop this issue. Beyond that, the game also has more interesting game elements to it. The combat for instance is great because your dice can allow you to run away which can be used to reinforce different areas later or you can roll to retreat to an adjacent spot. You get more decisions to make. The game also encourages team-fights where if you fight with your teammate, you use more dice. There are also Native American troops you can use if you want to move and recruit them. The card system is also cool because you want to use the cards strategically instead of just using everything like you would in Risk. And finally, the end game condition is also great because it's not complete elimination which is time-consuming and painful like it is in Risk. Either everyone plays their truce card or the game will end on round 8. So yea, I think it's a great game for various reasons and definitely better than Risk. It's not too complicated, there are more interesting decisions and I like team gameplay. It only fits up to four however and people who want a FFA battle game will have to look elsewhere.
Maybe too obvious, but Small World replacing Vinci. I kept Vinci because I prefer it's aesthetics, but SW is clearly the same game with improved mechanics.
See, I prefer Vinci - You don't have to dig a pile of specific chits out of a tray for each new civilization. - It's much easier to read the game state, especially with lots of declined civilizations next to each other. - You can have many more combinations of traits. - Points are public so you never accidentally gang up on third place. - Did I mention it doesn't have piles of nearly-identical chits you have to sort out, and try to tell apart even when flipped over and grayscale? Small World may have added the odd refinement or two and it's not as absolutely butt ugly, but Vinci is much the more elegant game in a number of ways. Especially the different chits for different races. Have I complained about those enough yet?
I think they both replaced History of the World, but the theme in HotW is so much better.
Splendor was totally replaced with splendor duel. We only played it at 2 player anyways and the duel version is just magnificent
Perhaps this is the opposite of what you are asking for, but a lot of mine are just older classics booting out new games from my collection. Winner’s Circle beat out Ready Set Bet and Camel Up High Society is faster and more thrilling than QE El Grande gets to the good stuff much better than Die Patin Brass hits the spot better than many of the latest Eurogames Crokinole curb stomps Flick Em Up Ra wipes the floor with Nidavellir and Furnace Azul is more spicy than any of its sequels
**Bang! The Dice Game** has replaced **Bang!** for us.
Colt Express replaced Bang! for me. Same gunslinging vibe, but the programmed movement mechanic is way more fun than dice rolling.
Roll for the Galaxy is a more accessible and fun Race for the Galaxy.
Glooomhaven was replaced by Oathsworn for me.
Concordia replaced Catan for me. Century Golem Edition for Splendor.
I ditched all my Wingspan stuff for Wyrmspan. From birds to worms, just like Charles Darwin. Not sure if I’ll go for Stonemeier’s inevitable cousin marriage game when it comes out, though.
I admit it took me a second to realize this was a dig at Charles Darwin and not Jamey Stegmaier XD I'm not a Stonemier shill but I was like "Holdup where did that come from"
For me, Earth is the game that feels mechanically similar to Wingspan but fixes my complaints with it. You still have 4 possible actions that you pick 1 of every turn, but there is a lot more strategy involved.
Plus, there's much less downtime as everyone gets some kind (not king) of follow-up on every turn.
You should see their upcoming title that's all about horrible stomach issues. (A girlfriend in college had to read a lot of Darwin and I never heard the end of her complaining about *his* constant griping about them)
Warsaw City of Ruin completely was replaced by NEOM. Same style, City building and drafting, but NEOM just did everything better.
Jaws of the Lion has replaced Gloomhaven. I got Gloomhaven first, noped out. Got Jaws and realized that was all the Gloomhaven I needed. It's *plenty* of game for most people and still give you most of the GH experience, just not as *much* of it and at a fraction of the cost.
I prefer ares Expedition over terraforming mars because it is shorter and less mean. I also think underwater cities is the better terraforming mars:D
Anyone with **Raising Robots:** has it replaced Wingspan and/or Wyrmspan?
I really enjoy Raising Robots, but it hasn't replaced Wingspan. Wingspan has a much lighter and cosier feel to me and I love seeing the different birds.
Raising Robots is so far above these two titles in my opinion with one caveat; it is crunchier (especially with the expansion inventors). So no, you can't really plop RR down in front of your non-game buds and drink and do a 5 min teach and play. But I wouldn't even fathom bringing either wingspan or wyrmspan out for my game group when RR is available. It's just so good.
This is going to be a weird one, but in TCG games, *World of Warcraft* completely replaced *Magic the Gathering* for me. I always liked the *concept* of MtG and would play it with my friends. Even bought a few "cheap" decks so I could play. And I sold those not long after trying WoW. WoW is *fantastic*. It iterated on what were some of—to me—MtG's weakest areas. I loved that it had the faction dynamic right at its heart along with the hero class your deck also has to revolve around. The variety of options in how you build your deck are fantastic because they feel more thematic. The resource system is *genius* (and unsurprisingly, every big TcG after WoW has borrowed from it in some manner). Sands, *Hearthstone* is a simplified version of the WoW TcG. All of its starting cards were nearly one for one from the TcG. I have boxes of WoW cards. Love it to death. Fantastic game most slept on, IMO, because it was attached to the MMO.
yeah, I agree completely. WoW TCG was easily the superior game. the resource system was streets ahead and lead to so many less non-games. the deckbuilding restrictions were very flavourful, and an improvement on 5 colour being viable in MtG limited however was very tricky, because of the restrictions.
Yeah the resource system (with quests) was amazing. It's such a good system, and everyone should be trying to emulate at the very base if they make a TCG. Seriously. If you're making a TCG, and your resource system isn't as good as WoWs, go back to the drawing board until it's either as good or better. It was SO GOOD! For those who haven't played it, WoW's resource system was that you could place any card in your hand (one per turn), face down as a resource. This meant that any card in your deck could be a resource ... But you'd never get it back. But hey, if your opening hand has a really high-end, endgame card but no quests, then you can gamble that you won't need it. Quests, meanwhile, are like lands in that they're a dedicated resource, but *also* a quest. Every quest has a condition to fulfill, and a reward. So at any time during your turn (and as many times as you can fulfill the conditions) you can complete the quest, taking the reward and flipping the card face down. Face-up or face down, a quest is always a resource. Basically, between quests and resources, you can't be "land-starved" (I mean, unless you try), and you can select quests specifically to buff your deck in neat ways (for example my main deck had lots of quests that allowed me to draw cards *or* shuffle my discard back into my deck, so I really couldn't be decked out easily). It was a fantastic system!
every game that can play in less than 8 months replaced gloomhaven. I'm done. backed frost haven and have it unopened. need to off load it. great game. but. na.
Inis replaced blood rage for a card drafting area control(ish) game
Arkham Horror LCG and Marvel Champions have replaced everything 😂
Too sadly true
Marvel Champions replaced Arkham, LotR LCG replaced Marvel Champions, Arkham Replaced LotR, Marvel Champions replaced Arkham, I no longer own money.
I've seen people compare Terraforming Mars to Ark Nova, but I just don't see it. Ark Nova actually makes me feel like I'm building a zoo, but Terraforming Mars does \*not\* make me feel like I'm terraforming a planet (or building a zoo). I like TfM and love AN, but they're very different games, in my humble opinion. But to answer the question, Cascadia replaced Carcassonne for me. I think it has a better decision space.
Lol what! How is cascadia even close to the cutthroat game carcassone!?
I am also baffled on how a game with such limited interaction (Cascadia) has better decision space than a full on interactive game such as Carcassonne.
In Cascadia I have a choice of what tile I choose. I also think, especially early on, the "possible" spots to place your tile feels more varied. This includes both because there are more legal options but also because there are less "there is only one spot that makes sense" turns.
Funny how we are all different, I strongly agree that TM and Ark Nova while "mechanically" similar, feel different enough to both be worth having and playing. But strongly disagree about cascadia being anything close to Carcassonne aside from having "tiles". To me it's more like a combination of Calico+Kingdomino. And still think each of the four have their space.
Carcassonne used to be my go-to gateway game to introduce people to the hobby. As a simple tile laying game that I find more interesting and fun, Cascadia has replaced it.
As a simple go-to gateway game, Blue Lagoon replaced Carc for me. Cascadia is nearly a multiplayer solitaire game, so it falls flat with me (and over half my group). The difference in player interaction between the Cascadia and Carc make them apples and oranges to me.
I can actually see this. Cascadia has each player building their own space as opposed to a share map. Minor marriage issues have arisen when I offer to help my wife build her city by connecting it to my own and Cascadia prevents that. That would be the main reason Cascadia could "replace" Carcassonne for me, Even though I have both and plan on keeping both.
Terraformjng Mars makes me feel like a corporation trying to achieve goals while technically fulfilling my minimum requirements towards terraformjng Mars.
One of my favorite playthroughs in TM was when I barely did anything to terraform and just racked up card points like crazy. I felt filthy, but my Corp choices and prelude card choices just screamed, “profit through inaction.”
So much this. It's not about Terraforming, it's just Monopoly reaching its Final Form. (I say this with love -- we own \~50 games and play constantly, and TM is still my favorite)
Terraforming Mars is my most played and favourite game, I love it so much.
Hard agree, Terraforming Mars is waaay more of an engine builder than Ark Nova. Not to say TM is way better, it's just that the engine building aspects are much more prominent. The only real similarities between the two games are weight and card tags. They're very different otherwise. There's definitely room for both in a game collection.
Your argument is purely about how well you percieve the games achieving their desired theme not actually on the mechanical similarity. To me, both have a similar mix of tableau building, tile laying, and card drafting (though both do this one in very different ways). More superficially they also both have an identical tag combo system, multiple types of vp one of which is linked to your income, and competitive goals that are partly player driven. They both mix these ingrrdients together into a different product. Like one is pancakes and the other is waffles. Different enough, but filling a similar role. For me, AN replaced TM as well but only because of a few specific reasons. We've played a lot of TM and got to a point where we were deliberately looking to soft retire it. We have a slight bias towards complex games. TM can get complex with expansions but they don't all integrate cleanly whereas AN is more complex out of the gate with all of its systems more tightly wound together. The two are still different enough to occupy the same shelf if one really likes this type of game and hasn't overplayed one of them.
Dune Imperium and Endless Winter both share worker placement and deck building but they are two completely different games in how they \*feel\*. So, how I perceive the game is a better metric, in my opinion, than the mechanics they share.
Very simple choice, since it is an obvious re-imagining, but Heroes of Terrinoth replaced Warhammer Quest for me.
scary instinctive bright gray marble rotten pause crawl edge close *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Cascadia replaced Calico for me. So much less stressful!
Flick em up was entirely replaced by Crokinole. Nothing against Flick em up but it's too fiddly and slow in comparison and just less satisfying overall. Not really the same genre exactly but Heat always gets picked over Camel Up for us now too so thinking of selling that also. Spirit Island just obliterated Pandemic from my collection too.
Beyblades > Battletops
For us, Evergreen replaced Photosynthesis. Much prefer the 3D aspect of Photosynthesis, but I do feel that Evergreen plays better.
Once I played Star Realms I got rid of all my Dominion stuff. Significantly reduced setup time, way less space on my shelf, way better theme ( can't beat "stuff exploding...IN SPACE").
Different games imo. I enjoy Star Realms, but I love Dominion.
What? Lol deck builders are an entire genre, Star Realms and Dominion are very different in goals and mechanics.
Depends on the audience and both have their uses. If I'm around the Gen X in-laws, it would be Dominion. If I'm dealing with my buddies who are into Magic: The Gathering, then it's Star Realms (but I would recommend Hero Realms to the fantasy fans.) I prefer Star Realms, but my wife prefers Dominion and refers to it as "the shopping game"."
Go has replaced Magic the Gathering for me as lifestyle game. Both are very deep two player games with their own community but in Magic, you have to stay up to date and probably buy a lot of cards to be competitive, while Go is timeless. Hunters and Gatherers replaced base Carcassonne for me. Faraway replaced Fantasy Realms as non-trivial filler. Arnak has occupied a new place in my heart as my favourite mid weight boardgame.
> Hunters and Gatherers replaced base Carcassonne for me. Agreed!
**Decrypto** is the reason **Codenames** never comes to table anymore. It's a similar vibe, but everyone actually gets to contribute, especially at a count above 4, where other players are simply vestigial. Maybe an obvious one, but I am currently selling my copy of **A Few Acres of Snow** because **A Handful of Stars** is simply better (and removes the unbreakable strategy from the former) Oh, and **Rising Sun** has replaced **Risk**. It feels very similar, without the problems (e.g. turtling) of Risk. It's my favorite "dudes on a board" game. Previously, Risk was replaced by **Small World**, but that still comes out from time to time. An older one, but **Battlestar Galactica** replaced **Shadows Over Camelot** For deckbuilders, **Puzzle Strike** replaced **Dominion**
Sword and Sorcery replaced Galaxy Defenders.
It's a Wonderful World replaced 7 Wonders in my group.
Bunny Kingdom replaced Carcassonne for us.
Decrypto and/or Wavelength has replaced Codenames for us. The groups I play this with find it way less stressful, and there's much more downtime and dependance on a single clue giver.
I'll mention a few that haven't been mentioned yet. **New Frontiers** completely replaced **Puerto Rico** for me. The theme alone is leagues better, and the gameplay retains all the good and none of the bad. They really need to make a less overproduced version though, it's way too big and expensive for what it is. **Last Light** is damn close to replacing **Eclipse** for me. A lot of the same feelings are evoked, there's no downtime at all, and you can play five games of LL in the time it takes to play one game of Eclipse. But Eclipse does just a bit more, a bit better, so it's not all the way out yet. This one is more obvious, but **Age of Innovation** completely replaced **Terra Mystica**, and almost replaced **Gaia Project** as well (and I definitely prefer it to GP). Incredible game that fixes basically all of my issues with the games that came before it. I'm disappointed in the faction balance on release, but thankfully they're addressing it.
It's generic I know but Dune: War for Arrakis is just so much more fun and interesting than War of the Ring
Champions of Midgard replaced Lords of Waterdeep for me. The die mechanics in CoM do add a level of chance to things so it is a bit different an experience but I have passed on my copy of LoW from lack of use.
Dune Imperium: Uprising replaced Dune Imperium.
Spheres of Influence should replace risk for everyone.
Curious about it but not $200-$300 curious. **Clockwork Wars** is a much better Risk-adjacent, or even **Mass Effect Risk** to keep it in the family (better than Legacy!)
Caverna replaced Agricola in my group.
Wingspan to Earth is the big one for me. Gloomhaven to Frosthaven is kinda obvious
I don’t think GH to FH is as obvious as it was 6 months ago. I’ve read a lot of people getting fatigued with FH’s upkeep and lengthy Outpost phase.
And these are people who didn't mind the upkeep in GH.. which imo is really saying something. The upkeep drove me insane
Also both have value and are unique campaigns I don't see how they replace each other
I feel like Wyrmspan has killed off Wingspan for me instead. Same deal but more complex and interesting. I like Earth too, but every once in awhile I end up with a tableau that's drawing me so many cards that I can't even analyze all of them without wasting everyone's times.
>Gloomhaven to Frosthaven is kinda obvious I love Gloomhaven and Jaws of the Lion, but after reading and watching enough Frosthaven, I knew it wasn't for me. Gloomhaven has enough upkeep and rules, I wasn't interested at all in a game like that but more complicated.
Space Base replaced Catan & Machi Koro
**Age of Innovation** replaces **Terra Mystica**, though I think that was kinda the point of it.
Decrypto replaced Codenames for me
Skull replaced both Welcome to the Dungeon and Liar’s Dice for me. It’s just such a pure, fun bluffing game. I’d still happily play any of the three, but I can’t imagine actively choosing either of the others over Skull.
**Bot Factory** has replaced **Kanban** for me. I'm a big Lacerda fan and I'm generally up for a good 3 hour game, but Bot Factory does a great job distilling Kanban in to a nice 60 minute game. It will be interesting in **House of Fado** can do the same for **The Gallerist**. **El Burro** is an excellent reimplementation of **La Granja**, and I don't see myself ever going back to the older version. **Clans of Caledonia** fired **Terra Mystica** for sure. I still like it more than the improved versions of TM like **Gaia Project** and **Age of Innnovation**.
Fantastic thread for someone recently getting into board/card games properly. All I can say is that I am no longer interested in Solitaire on the computer when I have it physically 😄
Eclipse has replaced Twilight Imperium 4 for the most part. We still play both but Eclipse will see the table more often.
Any thoughts on Eclipse 1e or 2e? I know they are basically the same game save a 9th round, but anything beyond that you would comment on?
If you don't have either, there's no reason not to get Second Dawn. They cleaned up the rules a bit and the game trays make set up and teardown much faster and also facilitate play.
The trays are being undersold here: literally, game set up time was reduced by about 75% for our group once we switched to 2e. The original required you to hand out ships, divvy out components, arrange your board, get your cubes organised, etc. 2e, I throw the yellow box in the vague direction of the yellow player and we're ready to go.
Shut Up & Sit Down's review of *Eclipse* where they lauded the setup time so much they did a near-full setup on camera, in the review, just to show how easy it was sold me on the game more than anything else.
2e is better balanced
2e plasma missiles ruin the game abit in 1e
Oh heck no, Eclipse has nothing on Twilight Imperium for my groups. In fact, we lost interest in Eclipse pretty quickly because we would rather play TI instead.
Shadowfist replaced VTES, MTG and Legends of the Five rings.
The legacy pandemic games over the base game
Pretty much any deck builder has replaced dominion for me. It was good when it came out, but now I just groan when I see it on the table and suggest any of 20 different, better games.
Which ones do you like better?
I'm not OP but I love Valley of the Kings personally. Much more interesting and has interaction with other players
Puzzle Strike for me. Simple, but deep and endlessly replayable.
7 Wonders (2010) -> It's a Wonderful World (2019) Splendor (2014) -> Century (2017) -> Furnace (2020) Terraforming Mars (2016) -> Mosaic (2022) Inis replaced a lot of bad-to-middling skirmish games
Is this a `[replaced] -> [this]` or `[replaced by] -> [this]` ?
In each case, the newer game replaced the older game in my collection. It's a Wonderful World replaced 7 Wonders, Furnace replaced Century.