[Recommend] Best Star Wars or LotR board game

pspahn · September 20, 2011, 01:09:42 PM

Kinda in the mood to pick one up. Any suggestions?

Pete

Ghost Whistler · September 22, 2011, 08:36:47 AM

Has there been anything other than Star Wars Risk (don't bother) in the last ten years?

The Lord of the Rings cooperative boardgame is about your best bet from FFG.

I don't recommend the cooparetive living card game due to crummy distribution.

Justin Alexander · September 26, 2011, 10:30:42 PM

I'll second the recommendation for the cooperative Knizia boardgame from FFG. It's mechanically fun; and it can also be very evocative of the novels themselves if you pay any real attention to the cards you're playing.

I'd love to know about any good Star Wars games out there. Until such time, I'd say that Twilight Imperium might scratch that itch.

pspahn · September 26, 2011, 10:34:53 PM

Thanks guys. Game's been ordered. I'll post my thoughts when i get it.

Pete

Spinachcat · September 27, 2011, 01:27:27 AM

The FFG Lord of the Rings is a great game, but it lags in replay after a while because there are definitely winning strategies. But the expansions definitely help freshen it up.

As for Star Wars, I have one definitive choice for "best" - Star Wars Duels
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3284/star-wars-epic-duels

Its a combo minis/card/board game where you play a pair of SW heroes in battle against another pair in a variety of cool locations. Each pair has a custom deck of cool moves and attacks so playing Anakin is different than playing Vader. You can play 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2. I've done 3v3 but the board gets a bit crowded with 12 figs. It also plays quickly which is awesome.

There was an active Yahoo group and online community that modded the game nicely.

Ghost Whistler · September 27, 2011, 06:51:21 AM

i never looked into winning strategies though i'm sure there are a few smartarses that have broken the game

However the Sauron expansion makes the game competitive and a lot harder as one person gets to play Sauron. His role is a little bit less involved than the hobbitses, but you do get to screw them pretty severely.

I never played with the Battlefields expansion, but it does look quite interesting.

Premier · September 27, 2011, 07:41:19 AM

I really love Star Warriors. It's a hex-and-counter Star Wars dogfighting game published by West End Games. Not too rules-heavy for a tactical wargame, and you can integrate it with D6 Star Wars for more detailed (but slower) space fights in your RPG. Drawback is that it was published in '87 (-ish), so getting one today might be hard.

pspahn · September 27, 2011, 01:03:50 PM

Yeah i used to play Star Warriors back in the day. I was looking for something less mechanical to play with the family. Epic Duels sounds great but the buy in is a bit high. Might have to go the Christmas list.

Justin Alexander · September 27, 2011, 05:43:37 PM

Quote from: Spinachcat;481874The FFG Lord of the Rings is a great game, but it lags in replay after a while because there are definitely winning strategies. But the expansions definitely help freshen it up.

The "just move Sauron closer to your start position" tends to work well as a challenge shifter, too. Whatever strategy you've got (and there are definitely superior and inferior strategies), there's a place on the Sauron track that you can use to make the game challenging.

Spinachcat · September 28, 2011, 12:33:43 AM

Quote from: pspahn;481985Epic Duels sounds great but the buy in is a bit high. Might have to go the Christmas list.

It will run you 80-100 on eBay. However, if you don't like it, you can resell it for the same price. I expect the price will rise if the game doesn't get re-released when the 3D SW movies hit next year.

2012...the year the Mayans predicted Jar Jar in 3D!

Quote from: Justin Alexander;482035The "just move Sauron closer to your start position" tends to work well as a challenge shifter, too.

True. Some people claim it can't be beaten at 8, but it can and things get tougher if you add the houserule that all Hobbits must survive to the end which nukes the suicide hobbit strategy.

crkrueger · September 28, 2011, 06:10:24 PM

Quote from: Spinachcat;4820812012...the year the Mayans predicted Jar Jar in 3D!

I will die happy in the Apocalypse knowing Lucas is going with me.

Doom · September 28, 2011, 07:58:00 PM

The Star Wars miniatures game is actually pretty fun once you get the vicious competitiveness out of it.

Pick up a big lot of commons on e-bay (shouldn't be too expensive), have one guy divide up some subset of the forces into two groups...have the other guy pick which group he wants to be.

Ghost Whistler · September 29, 2011, 05:56:44 AM

It always looked good. But the rarity scheme, as was the case with the ccg, was a joke. For that reason I never touched it.

I do remember a boardgame about the battle of the sarlaac pit. That was years ago though.