Recommend me a Board or War-game

[RPGPundit]

I had asked about Talisman earlier because I`m trying to see if there`s a boardgame or wargame I should take back with me to Uruguay.  It would have to meet mainly two conditions:

1. It should be good.

2. It should be relatively portable, it can`t be a big, heavy, full sized box.  Something the size of the new Talisman or Arkham Horror would be about the biggest it could be. It could certainly be smaller than that.

Just as a guideline, games of this sort that I`ve liked have been things like:  Illuminati, Memoir `44, Battlecry, Conquest of the Empire, History of the World, etc etc.

I`d be open to more traditional boardgames too, though obviously nothing as elementary as Risk or Stratego, thanks.  Also, I`m NOT a big fan of "german games" or games like Settlers of Catan or Carcassone.

RPGPundit

[arminius]

I was going to say M '44. I've now played it 2.5 times and loved it every time. It very much "is what it is", i.e., not a "serious wargame", but still a game of war, with strategy and tactics and stuff.

Two very nice games have recently been re-issued in such a compact format that you can easily carry both back with you:

• Colossal Arena. This is a re-issue of Titan: the Arena. Excellent game of abstracted arena combat and betting. Feels like being a Gamester of Triskelion. From Cosmic Encounter it takes the idea of each monster having a unique rule-bending ability; from Kremlin it takes the idea of "investing" in monsters to control them and get points for having them survive. Card play is devilishly clever; if you enjoy Dahimi or whist-family games, it's not exactly the same, but it has a similar sort of wheels-within-wheels quality.

• Condottiere. Another wheels-within-wheels game. Slightly less abstracted; the goal is to expand geographically (gets you more cards each turn) and specifically to obtain a number of contiguous territories (wins you the game). Card play is quite subtle in this one, in fact it demands the "dynamic tension" of good players or the game may collapse. Key point to remember: if all players but one use up all their cards, the turn ends and you re-deal. This is how to you keep someone from running away with it.

I would also recommend Shanghai Trader on the basis of a single play, but I don't know if you can find it. To me it's like an evil (and non-boring) version of Monopoly crossed with Junta. E.g., imagine if controlling the utilities gave you the ability to cut off water to Park Place, or you could extort money from another player by threatening to send him to Jail.

I'd unequivocally recommend Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage, (new edition by Valley Games) except it might be at the upper end of your tolerance for complexity/fiddliness.

[KenHR]

You might like Twilight Struggle, as well.  It uses a modified Hannibal: RvC system...much simpler in play.

TS is fast becoming my favorite "light" game to play with my wargame buddy Tom.

[KenHR]

Oh, if you can still find it, the game Nexus Ops, which was put out by the revamped Avalon Hill, might be to your taste, as well.  Axis'n'Allies style combat, resource building and management, mission and combat cards that monkey-wrench your plans, and very good with two or four players.

[wulfgar]

Colossal Arena is indeed very good.  One of my favorites.

Risk 2210 takes Risk and turns it up to 11.  If you're willing to look at something that runs on the basic "risk" engine but is much more involved, I can explain further.

Twilight Struggle is indeed very, very good.  It's become one of my all time favorites. Downside is that it's only 2 players, not that that's really a downside. It's just a design feature that might limit how often you can play.

The following two would bust your size constrait, but I feel compelled to mention them anway:

War of the Ring.  It's a 2 player (4 players with teams) game that covers the LOTR trilogy as a strategic wargame.  Very cool.  Only played it once so far, but am looking to get in a second game with my copy soon. It's really close on your size constrait being slightly bigger than Arkham Horror.

Samurai Swords (aka Shogun), guessing you might have heard of it since you've played conquest of the empire.  It's a fellow member of the old Milton Bradely Gamemaster series, and the best one in my opinion.  2-5 player game of war in feudal Japan.  If you've got the older COnquest of the Empire or Axis and Allies, this is the same size box.

I'll try thinking on it some more and see what other recommendations I can come up with.  From your list I'd say you have good taste in board games (read similar to mine )  History of the World is a classic.

[Jason Morningstar]

If you like the gameplay of M44, Richard Borg's Command and Colors: Ancients is pretty much perfection.  It adds rules for supporting other units and leadership (also seen in BattleLore) and a little more granularity in unit types.  It isn't as flashy as Memoir in terms of components, but it's a better game in many ways.

[cheeplives]

Last Night on Earth is an awesome cooperative/competitive game for 2 to 6 players (up to 4 human players versus up to two zombie players). It comes complete with minis, a tile-based map, and various scenarios. They also have a couple of expansions out for it too (which really do a lot to expand the game). This game takes a little while to play, but not nearly as long as Arkham Horror... 1 to 4 hours depending on the scenario. Arkham Horror sized box.

Estimated Time to Invasion (E.T.I.) is a cool little game that seems inspired by X-Com UFO Defense. Basically you play as the owner of one out of six corporations that all are competing to complete research project of advanced technology to defend the planet against an incoming invasion. The twist: one of the players is actually an alien sympathizer. Play centers around resource management and trying to figure out who the alien sympathizer is. The endgame has the alien sympathizer revealed and the aliens then attack each corporation. The winner is the corporation which survives the attack with the greatest Public Image... if no corporations survive, then the Earth is lost. This is a relatively quick game but needs at least 3 players (and is better with more). No dice rolling, it's all resource management, but it's quite fun. I'd say a game can run anywhere from 1 to 4 hours depending on the length decided before game-time. Box is a bit thinner than Arkham Horror and is around A4 in LengthxWidth.

[Spinachcat]

My two favorite board games are...

Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings which is cooperative and beautifully simulates the journey of the story and the threat of Sauron and the ring's corruption.   The add-on supplements have been good, but the base game alone is kickass.  Most games take 2 hours unless the pooch gets screwed or the players decide to sabotage themselves.  Victory through sacrifice is a common theme.   The "Call upon Gandalf" mechanic is very fun and adds to a lot of tension in the game.

Mutant Chronicles: Siege of the Citadel which is out of print, but easy enough to find on eBay for $20.  Siege is a skirmish boardgame that is semi-cooperative where each player has 2 supersoldiers, kewl guns and techno toys and faces off against a GM with hordes of undead nasties in a variety of interesting tactical missions.   Most games take about 2 hours (3 with noobs).

I have heard terrific things about Pandemic, but I have not played it yet.  The game plays in 1 hour and players say it is consistently challenging.   My buddy says its a Euro/American hybrid game because while the mechanics are very fluid and have Euro influences, the game never becomes abstract away from the hard core thematic setting of "Outbreak: the Boardgame"

[tellius]

Caylus is one of my more favourite boardgames. It is a surprisingly complex game.

[Venosha]

Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings which is cooperative and beautifully simulates the journey of the story and the threat of Sauron and the ring's corruption.   The add-on supplements have been good, but the base game alone is kickass.  Most games take 2 hours unless the pooch gets screwed or the players decide to sabotage themselves.  Victory through sacrifice is a common theme.   The "Call upon Gandalf" mechanic is very fun and adds to a lot of tension in the game.

I have to give a second thumbs up for this game.  Time consuming yes...but worth it.  The base game is great, and the add-ons make it more worth wild. The team effort to evade Sauron is very in-depth.  Loved it!

[JongWK]

How about expansions for Memoir '44?

Or, you could pick one of these.

[KenHR]

The Expansions for Memoir '44 are quite good if you don't have them (I haven't picked up the carrying case with the air rules yet).  I'm particularly fond of the Soviets.  The new terrain rules in the Pacific expansion are cool, too.

I posted a brief overview of each of them on my old blog: http://kenhyunr.blogspot.com/2007/01/memoir-44-expansions.html

[Danger]

Hmmm...

Both of these are a wee bit out of date, so feel free to ignore this:

Circum Imperium by FASA.  It's Circus Maximus in spaaaace!  I cannot claim to have had a more enjoyable time with a board game than I did with this one (minus the Battletech games in which I lost in a most magnificent manner and Car Wars which is a totally seperate beast of another flavor).  Read up the specs on Boardgamegeek and you'll see what I mean.  This bitch is fun.  

Space Hulk for similar reasons.

Now, Wooden Ships and Iron Men may be in print or not (being an Avalon Hill child), but it is the most fun historical game I ever played.

Lastly, in terms of mass production games, Survive! has to be, hands down, the most fun, most wonderful / remarkable / sexcellent game I have had the chance to play with friends from all across the spectrum.  If you can find this one, grab it with both hands and fall down on top of it and make sweet, sweet love to it 'cause it'll never let you down.  It won't turn around and desert you either.  Honestly; this is a fun, fun game.

Note: I'm waaayy out of date with my "likes," so don't look for too many things that are in production now, I'm sorry to say.  Get off my lawn and (once again) go to Boardgamegeek.com to see specs for these games.

[KrakaJak]

Strange Synergy is pretty awesome.

It's from Steve Jackson Games, where you set up 2-4 teams of players with 3 random powers a piece(superpowers, gadgets, Weapons) all drawn from a deck of hundreds. The combat is very close in depth to D&D 4e.

Each time you play it, the strategies available will be different. You can occasionally draw a "bad hand" however, and be totally screwed for the game. If you don't mind this, it leads to some sheer ridiculously random and entertaining moments.

It's very easy to play but it may require a bit of translating for your non-english speaking friends (as there are hundred powers in total).

It comes in the same size box as Munchkin.

[Ghost Whistler]

What's the Starcraft boardgame like? (aside from being LAAARGE).