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We all have some "go-to" games we enjoy / relax to.
What tabletop or even board-game is one you like the most?

Any "mixed feelings" games I would like you to avoid like I happen to like 40k but it can be a love-hate thing.

For some reason playing Battletech is as natural as breathing to play for me and I tend to like the most.
X-wing is very quickly catching up however.

Thanks, this is also a means for me to look at anything I was not aware of.
I like all kinds of gaming and am interested what my peers play.

If any of you say Risk, you must have many late nights under your belt...

Warmachine is my favorite.
Dropzone is really catching on me.

I still like 40k but it annoys me so much for a competitive game. Go figure the 2 games I really like are very tournament focused.

Chess. I rarely feel salty during/after chess.

Coup is a quick bluffing game that I thoroughly enjoy. Under 20 bucks, too - really fun.

Lastly, Settlers of Catan. I always have fun playing that.

Absolutely adored axis and allies back when. But have not played in a while.
And of course Heroquest. Id say its my favourite of all time.

Kings of War is doing a very nice job of filling my fantasy mass combat needs at the moment.

I would say that it has replaced Warhammer Fantasy for me - but, really, I am enjoying it more than I have any edition of Warhammer since 3rd. (Next step will be trying it out resolving background battles for a fantasy roleplaying game - which is what attracted me to Warhammer in the first place. ) So, I really can't say that it is just a replacement - I enjoy it too much for its own sake.

Hell, I enjoy it as much as I did the old TSR Battlesystem, but have played it a heck of a lot more often..

Deadzone continues to be awesome - I just wish that I could play it often. (And that Orx weren't quite so... effective. These aren't GW squabbling Orks - these are professional soldiers. GW Orks and Orcs are just as much fun - but very different in their behavior on the table.)

Mordheim... has long been my favorite GW game. And if any game deserves the accolade of 'forging the narrative' it is Mordheim. Necromunda also continues to be fun - but I am a fantasy gamer at heart.

The Auld Grump

Necromunda and Black Powder. Two different game types, both super enjoyable.

Having Way lot of fun with Dystopian wars. and Planet fall.

just getting into legions and its looking way fun too.

Necromunda. Pure fun.

for scifi, i quite like GRUNTZ..

Malifaux, well balanced, more than simple beat 'em up on the goal for how to win, and interesting well integrated unique system for action resolution.

X-wings my go-to, but I've bee having a lot of fun with Boardgames (Catan, Red November, and weirder) lately.

Robo Rally has always been good fun for our group.

For coffee and warm up: Yahtzee, Farkle, Love Letter. Sherlock Holmes: The card game ("The game is afoot!"). Magestones.

For an evening: Heroclix (older version considerably more, sans figure cards). DungeonQuest, Wings of War, Cthulhu Wars.

For a week: Talisman.

These are my "You could convince me to come over on short notice to play" games. My "wouldn't leave the table if offered a game" list is longer and less sparkly.

Not exactly tabletop or board game, but Magic: The Gathering is pretty much my go to game with most of my mates. Quick setup, quick to play and with the amount of cards all of us have we can put together pretty much unlimited deck variations so things never get old.

I don't have any friends who wargame, so I have to rely on my FLGS for that but I also don't have a way to transport my mini's at the moment so I can't really get to the store.

Fuzzy Heroes! A miniature war game you play with children's toys; the stats of your 'model' are based on the action figure/stuffed animal's physical attributes. It's fast and hilarious.

(KISS action figures are so unbelievably ripped...)

Lately its been Bolt Action. It plays fast and really keeps you on your toes with the random activation thing.

Otherwise 1st edition AD&D or Mordheim.

And I play Pool too, 9 ball is a favorite.

Warmachine: I lose almost every game I play but it is fun getting a jack in there and smashing everything in sight.

X-Wing: Good suspense involved with dials and actions.

Tactics II

According to the box, it is (literally), the grandfather of all wargames. If you've never tried it, good luck finding it, but it's worth it. I love board games. I'm can't even count as many as I have, but that is the best. A close second is Solar Quest. It's like monopoly, but your space ship can run out of fuel AND has lasers. LAZZZZZERS

For simplicity, relaxation, no-stress play and just plain fun factor, I go to one of these three.

X-Wing.

Dreadball.

Zombicide.

Dreadball: My go to game for certain fun

Dead Man's Hand: Simple but brilliant, always have fun with this one

Bolt Action: If my opponent leaves observers at home its good fun. If not, then meh. They're debatable game breakers, but certainly FUN breakers for me. "Oh you've rolled a single 4 and ruined my entire army, good game."

Spartacus: I have a love/hate relationship with this one. I'm VERY good at it and can almost always see the required combos I need to get through a lot of influence in a short space of time. The problem is though that sometimes people can fluke a good run and beat you regardless of the fact they had no plan.
I hate that.

Dark Future was my fave way-back-when.

40k these days, if there's anyone to play it :(

Warmachine such a hard game to master but lots of fun to play

X wing even though I'm the worst pilot in the galaxy I still have tons of fun

Judge Dredd loved the comic and being able to play it out on the TT makes it even better

Power grid is the board game my buddies and I enjoy playing on a Friday night

X wing - Good casual and quick fun

Battlegroup Fall of the Reich - My go to game when i fancy something large scale and tactically rich

Lion Rampant - Just quick good fun skirmish gaming

Bloodbowl for me, theres just something that I really like about the mix of skill and luck.

Easy to pick up and not many minis to lug about, I like it when its a good even game, I enjoy it when i am Gobbos or flings up against it and i absolutely love it when I am an agility four team.

Never had a bad time playing Munchkin, in any of its many, many, many flavours.

 Pete Melvin wrote:

Bolt Action: If my opponent leaves observers at home its good fun. If not, then meh. They're debatable game breakers, but certainly FUN breakers for me. "Oh you've rolled a single 4 and ruined my entire army, good game."

Yeah, I love Bolt Action utterly when there are no observers. Its still fun without, but the game becomes much more dice driven.

I completely love Kings of War.

Warhammer Quest.

Easy to set up, easy to play, a billion possible outcomes. Hilarity always ensues.

kungfujew wrote:
Tactics II

According to the box, it is (literally), the grandfather of all wargames. If you've never tried it, good luck finding it, but it's worth it. I love board games. I'm can't even count as many as I have, but that is the best. A close second is Solar Quest. It's like monopoly, but your space ship can run out of fuel AND has lasers. LAZZZZZERS

Does that make Little Wars (by H. G. Wells) the Great-Great-Grandfather of all wargames?

I've never played Tactics II, but I have played Small Wars - it was good fun, if a bit simplistic. A friend owned one of the older versions, but we never got to play.

Avalon Hill was my introduction to wargaming. (Not counting The Us Marines vs. The Invasion of the Cheap Plastic dinosaurs - played by every little boy that owns a bag of plastic soldiers, and another bag containing plastic dinos, with as many editions as there are players....)

The Auld Grump

Unsurprisingly, I really like Arcadia Quest. I confess, I only bought it originally for the miniatures, intending to use them with SDE, but Arcadia Quest is actually a much better game than SDE hands down.

In Sirlin's articles on game design, I remember him saying that a great game is not a game where you can't add any more, a great game is a game where you can't take anything more away, yet it still retains everything that makes it a great game. I think Arcadia Quest exemplifies that principle. For example: In SDE you have traps which can be triggered on the map, traps come in all different shapes and sizes, there are rules for positioning them, they can have different status effects and attack values, and there are more rules for disarming them etc... It's quite involved. So the first time I triggered a trap in Arcadia Quest I thought "oh gwad! here we go, gonna have to spend ages figuring out the rules for resolving traps" *flicks through the rulebook*, but to my delight, all you need to do is take a wound and throw the trap away, simples! And that's a good thing, because the game isn't about traps. Traps only exist to make you think twice about exploring, the AQ traps accomplish that perfectly without needing to slow the game down and be distracting. Which lets you focus on the parts that make the game fun, like killing other players

zgort wrote:Chess. I rarely feel salty during/after chess.

I also like Chess, it is very much my "go to" game to chill out, but I think I've also played it enough that it has become more about pattern recognition than actual heavy thinking, which I think makes it a lot easier on the frontal lobes. Whenever I suggest to friends that we have a nice "relaxing" game of chess, I always see their face contort. They seem to get a headache at the very prospect of having to think about chess.

Out of all the GW games. Blood Bowl.
Just loads of fun when ever we play...(I think beer helps . )

And for playing with my teen age sons, X.wing.

K.O.W ,and Bolt Action , are my other favorite games ATM.