The Board Game Revolution

Photo: Dragonchow Dice Bags

As is typical with we geek types, eventually our attention span fails us.  No matter how many miniatures are left in that army that need painting, or how unorganized your Magic: The Gathering cards are, or how many comics are left unread, eventually the itch takes over.  You begin looking for something new to spend time and money on.  I’ve completely fallen prey to the bug…

On the recommendation of one of our readers I recently began listening to the D6 Generation podcast.  These guys are basically all about gaming, especially board gaming.  This was the one in a number of events that have recently coalesced in my life to bring my attention to board and card games again.  A few months ago I broke out the old Hero’s Quest game and was running it weekly with my wife and a number of friends.  Shortly there after I was introduced to Settler’s of Catan and was hooked.

Photo: Boardgamegeek.com

While my wife and I came up in the geek ranks playing D&D and Magic together, she really hasn’t taken an interest in any of my more current gaming trends, Warhammer 40K being forefront among them.  Likewise I doubt she’ll find much appeal in Dystopian Wars, and while she likes fantasy and might enjoy Warhammer Fantasy Battle, ultimately I know she doesn’t have the patience for painting all the models.  So since model based games really aren’t her thing, I’ve wanted to find other games we could play, along with games that would be more accessible to those not-so-geeky types we know and love.

The non-traditional, or at least less mainstream, board games seem to be an answer to my goals.  So first I had to go get educated about board games. A couple of great resources are Boardgamegeek.com and if you’re into podcasts, the D6 Generation to get you started.  The first thing I learned was there are a few categories in this new realm of gaming, the two that stood out most were resource management games like Settlers, and dungeon crawls like Hero’s Quest.  While I, due largely to my fantasy roots, immediately gravitate toward dungeon crawls, as does Tammy, I found that most of those games may be a bit “heavy” for the armchair geek or the non-geek to get into.  And after my recent experience with Settlers I found I do enjoy resource management game styles as well.

So where does this leave me?  Well thankfully Tammy and I have a weekly game night at our place every Thursday, in addition to my Warhammer nights on Wednesdays.  While in the past it’s been games like Turbo Cranium and Yahtzee, we recently played Settlers to much success.  So the door has been opened within our group and some have even mentioned interest in dungeon crawls and role-playing!  Go figure.

So, this Thursday my lovely bride and I will take a trip down to the Compleat Strategist down on 33^rd and 5^th to pick a new game up for game night.  Will it be Carcassonne, Descent, or Arkham Asylum?  I don’t know yet, I’m leaving it up to her.  So I’ll keep you posted.  In up coming posts I’ll be bringing you up to speed to the walk through of my new found board game hobby.  Right now my games to try are listed below:

• Arkham Horror
• Carcassonne
• Battlestar Galactica
• Descent: Journeys into the Dark
• Ticket to Ride
• Settlers Expansions
• Dominion
• Pandemic
• Sid Meier’s Civilization
• D&D Castle Ravenloft: the Board Game
• Small World
• Cadawallon: City of Thieves
• 221b Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Detective
• Zombietown

If you have any games you’d like to see reviewed let me know!  Stay tuned for more board action!