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I am hosting a Gamesday at my house in April and am thinking about getting either Descent or Arkham Horror? Can you help me out? There will be about 6 of us. Thx.

Go with Arkham Horror. It is on the whole a better, more satisfying game.

Descent has one player going against everyone else, where Arkham has everyone on a team, working together (but probably still losing).

Mattlov wrote: Arkham has everyone on a team, working together (but probably still losing).

+1
nothing is more refreshing than playing together as a team

+1 for Arkham

Also, Pandemic is a great game for people versus the rules. 5 people I believe.

My vote goes for Arkham Horror. Team effort, highly thematic and creates some good stories ( even if you get devoured by the Great Old One ).

Thx guys, really. These games are so expensive and it's reassuring that the community is agreeing on AH

I just want to chime in and say I MUCH prefer Descent at 2, 3 or 5 players. It is a more fun game for me... you still have the "team" feel for everyone that isn't the overlord. And often, one person knows the rules better anyway, so is better fit for the Overlord role. Arkham can have long periods where it is really boring. That being said, at 6, it's a better game (since you can't really do Descent at 6). At 7 or 8, Arkham becomes even more tediously long.

bootlegbaker wrote:I am hosting a Gamesday at my house in April and am thinking about getting either Descent or Arkham Horror? Can you help me out? There will be about 6 of us. Thx.

Depends on what you are looking for.

Do you want a hack and slash dungeon crawl or do you want a cooperative game?

I prefer Arkham over descent. Descent is great and all but there are far better dungeon crawls out there which require less time investment in order to play and are a lot more fun.

There are many cooperative games out there but Arkham is in a league of its own.

Interesting.
Hellfury, would you be able to expand on the other dungeon crawlers that are more fun?

Da Boss wrote:Interesting.
Hellfury, would you be able to expand on the other dungeon crawlers that are more fun?

I find HeroQuest and Warhammer Quest both more amusing than Descent.

I vote Arkham

*goes insane*

Killjoy00 wrote:Arkham can have long periods where it is really boring. At 7 or 8, Arkham becomes even more tediously long.

Excellent points there. Arkham Horror can be HORRIBLE if nothing happens, i'd suggest using a small expansion, KiY is my personal fav. Put that sucker on top of your deck (as described in the traveling show rules) and watch the boring go away. As for the 7-8 players making the game too long, kill some of your friends and blame it on cthulhu, the law will understand

Well either way, I've never had a game of Descent wear down like that. Sometimes it gets a little easy at the end for the heroes, but that's still a ton of fun.

Descent is definitely the best dungeon crawler board game I've ever played.

Mattlov wrote:

Da Boss wrote:Interesting.
Hellfury, would you be able to expand on the other dungeon crawlers that are more fun?

I find HeroQuest and Warhammer Quest both more amusing than Descent.

While Heroquest is ubiquitous, I have found that Dungeons & Dragons: The Fantasy Adventure Board Game to be even better than heroquest at what heroquest does while still being just as simple as heroquest to play. Its my top recommendation for light/quick dungeon crawl/hack and slash game.

Those of you in europe will be at least somewhat familiar with this game, though americans will have nearly no clue that it even exists since it was never released here.

This review is a compulsory read.

The reasons why I like the D&D boardgame more than heroquest:
* Even more ubiquitous background D&D setting than the contrived heroquest setting.
*Much easier to find for you europeans and very cheap. (several hundred dollars for heroquest and all of its expansions, where D&D board game can be found at thrift shops semi regularly and is cheap on ebay. Americans can expect to pay about $100 for the base game and all of its expansions. Brits can expect to pay less than half of that, at most.
*Has more options and mechanics than heroquest.
*Dice mechanic makes more sense than heroquest.
*I can make my own content easily with various resources found online as easily as I could for heroquest (this is key since this game is out of print it is necessary for long term replayability).
*Uses modular boards with various themes instead of the same board for every game.
*level progression (even if it is kind of lame though kind of cool at the same time.)

There has been a recent resurgence of interest in this game for some unknown reason. Its still unknown enough to be cheap, but popular enough to be cool.

D&D boardgame easily beats descent on all counts. Hands down.

Claustrophobia is also another great dungeon crawl for two players. Its a new game and has some interesting mechanics. Its my number 2 choice for light dungeon crawls. Plus, it is based on the helldorado background, so it is automatically cool.

[edit]

I forgot to mention Rackham's Hybrid. Once find resources that give you a good idea of how to interpret the rules, it is a VERY slick dungeon crawl with so many options that its dizzying, and yet still a very quickly resolved game. This one isnt a light game though. I rate it to medium to medium/heavy. Once you know the rules its intuitive play gets faster but it doesn't make the choices any easier when you feel the press of your opponents kicking your butt.

I dont mind taking hours to resolve a game, but while I like descent I dont play it often and for the price of admission, I should be able to get more enjoyment out of it than I do.

Thanks very much for that!

Killjoy00 wrote:Arkham can have long periods where it is really boring. At 7 or 8, Arkham becomes even more tediously long.

And yet, at 3-4 the game ALSO becomes tediously long.

I'm convinced the game just takes too damned long period.