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Hey everybody, I've always liked painting miniatures, especially 40k mini's. However, i've never liked all the rules and army lists for big tabletop games. I want a game to play with some friends that won't require a big commitment of time and money for all people involved. So i've thought about getting a board game. Less rules, no army lists. It seems like a lot of the hard work is already done, you just have to set a board up and paint some models.
I've been looking into project pandora and I wanted to see if anyone could tell me about some other boardgames that fit the needs the needs of someone half witted like myself!
A lot of the Mantic games, like Project Pandora, go for pretty straightforward rules - and you get some painting too.
I've managed to successfully introduce my boardgamer mates to Dreadball a few times and they've been pretty comfortable with the rules.
I'd recommend Deadzone too, however from the sounds of it you might be far happier with Mars Attacks when it reaches retail.
However, Deadzone has a truly great starter set, with 2 complete factions and it is played on a board too.
Or you could buy the main core of a faction, which contains notably more points than what you'd need in a standard game, for £20 retail - and usually a whole lot less. It also includes all the faction rules on handy little cards as well.
I'd recommend X-Wing too - which is another game that I've managed to convince the boardgamers I know to try. However as it seems you enjoy painting, unless you were wanting to go the hog with custom repaints - Which you could do if you want, easily enough.
I'd recommend avoiding 'Sedition Wars' - Apparently that game went horribly, horribly wrong at the rules stage.
Alternatively, you could go a bit weird and try playing proper boardgames - something like 'Castle Panic,' 'Ghost Stories' or even King of Tokyo with actual minis from various different companies. - That could be fun!
If you're looking for a boardgame-with-models, I'd throw DreadBall by Mantic games into the ring. The maximum size of a team is relatively small (14 players), the game is reasonably simple to learn but is modular so if you feel like "going big" with rules you still have that option and there's a wide variety of teams to choose from (with even more on the way in the fall). Owing to the small size it's reasonably cheap to get into as well.
Another decent choice is Super Dungeon Explore if you like the Chibi style of their miniatures. The painted examples on the web look awesome and there's a decent amount of plastic available. The downside is the rules are so-so (it's been said that playing as the Consul is not particularly fun) and the cost of the starter set is up there. Sourcing some of the stuff can be iffy at times as well. There's a big wave of stuff from their recent KickStarter that will probably come out this time next year.
X-Wing is another possibility. While the models come pre-painted, they do repaint very well and people have done some impressive work in this regard. The game is very balanced, easy-to-learn and quick, plus it's Star Wars. FFG has released new things for it pretty regularly and while stock levels are often an issue, the price isn't terribly unreasonable. It does have an element of "list-building" though, so that might put it out of the running.
It plays 2-6 people, and is full of fantastic photographic cards and chits and stuff. I'm a big fan of Flying Frog games because they tend to give you tons of extra pieces you can use for custom scenarios or the scenarios they sometimes release on the web. Easy enough that my mother enjoys playing, but has plenty of avenues for expansion (and expansion packs if you want). It has a few easter egg references (the first standalone expansion is called Timber Peak, taking place in a remote logging community...)
They have a similar game set in a pulp Martians vs Carnies arena:
Invasion from Outer Space
Despite not getting the expansion love that LNOE gets, I think this is actually the superior game. The Martian mechanics are better than the Zombie mechanics of LNOE, imo.
Both games come with a good number of figures that are easily paintable.
Doesn't matter if you don't give a damn about the TV show! It is the most fun I have had in ages when playing a game with friends.
Imagine some of the elements of Monopoly, mixed with a bit of back-stabbing/double crossing and a little of miniatures/dice rolling (and ebay!)
Non-miniature war gaming friends have played it with wargaming friends and everyone I know who has tried it has loved it, it's very easy to pick up but difficult to master - gets a big thumbs-up from me!
I'll second Spartacus but I would say Zombicide is better.
Both are great fun but Zombicide wins by virtue of being a much better spectacle than Spartacus for me (mines painted ). I would also suggest that Zombicide has a nicer format and the collaborative nature of the game means it's really inclusive.
How do you promote your Hobby? - Legoburner "I run some crappy wargaming website "
Myth and zombicide look amazing. Probably better than what I was looking for in the first place. I've got a lot to choose from now! Thank you all so much for the helpful suggestions!
It's not scifi like 40K, but Wizards does three cool board games based on D&D, called, appropriately enough, D&D Adventure Games. Each comes with a ton of minis and numerous heroes. The sweet thing is that you can combine all three games and use any of the monsters and any of the heroes in all three. They also have some two-player battle games which are frankly, kind of weak, but those boxes also have card for using all of the monsters in them with the D&D Adventure Games.
The thing that makes them really cool (other than all that) is that they are cooperative games. All of the players work together to complete the scenarios. I wouldn't want every game to work this way, but it's really fun as an alternative.
There's Castle Ravenloft (vampires and undead), Wrath of Ashardalon (Red Dragon and dungeon monsters), and Vault of the Drow (dark elves, spiders, and horrible beasties). I hate that they have basically dropped supporting them, but with three games (and multiple compatible 'expansions') there's a lot out there.
I like the games that are co-op, should prevent future fights. and it allows lots of people to play and then everyone could just cheat. It makes a more laid back game which is perfect for me.
Ah, I've heard very good things about Gears of War but haven't tried it yet..
I have to be honest, I wasn't a massive fan of the D&D boardgames. They are certainly quite professionally done, but I found the combat system quite limited, and some of the models aren't particularly good (although this can be mitigated if you have ever collected Fantasy/D&D type stuff and just use your own minis)
notprop wrote: I'll second Spartacus but I would say Zombicide is better.
Both are great fun but Zombicide wins by virtue of being a much better spectacle than Spartacus for me (mines painted ). I would also suggest that Zombicide has a nicer format and the collaborative nature of the game means it's really inclusive.
Cheers for the recommendation! Will make sure I give Zombicide a try
I'd recommend both Rivet Wars and Super Dungeon Explore. Both great games with simple rules and a lot of replay value. Easy to paint stylized minis, and plenty of expansion content out/and/or on the horizon.
Schmapdi wrote: I'd recommend both Rivet Wars and Super Dungeon Explore. Both great games with simple rules and a lot of replay value. Easy to paint stylized minis, and plenty of expansion content out/and/or on the horizon.
Both very affordable too.
Agree with this 100 %
Also agree with Gears of War, and if you want something a bit simpler, the D&D games.
I'd urge you to steer clear of the Mantic Pandora or Dwarf Kings Hold games. The components are really poor and you can find better rules out there.
As one that hasn't been tossed out there yet, I'd even look into the newsroom Level 7 game by privateer.
But yeah, there is much much better to be had for your $$ than project pandora.
It plays 2-6 people, and is full of fantastic photographic cards and chits and stuff. I'm a big fan of Flying Frog games because they tend to give you tons of extra pieces you can use for custom scenarios or the scenarios they sometimes release on the web. Easy enough that my mother enjoys playing, but has plenty of avenues for expansion (and expansion packs if you want). It has a few easter egg references (the first standalone expansion is called Timber Peak, taking place in a remote logging community...)
This, the few times I've played it it's be a pretty fun game.
As well I'd say the standards such as Talisman and Munchkin. Though Munchkin doesn't particularly have much to paint in it it's quick to get in to.
I've sat and watched people play Relic a bunch of times, which is the 40k version of Talisman and...
Well, it looked really awful. Move randomly to fight random opponents using random mechanics in order to pick up random items in order to let you randomly progress to fight more random opponents until everybody got sick of it enough that they end up just wanting someone, anyone, to win the game.
I think there was only about 2 useful decisions a player got to make in the entire game, with almost zero player interaction whatsoever. It basically seemed like a 3-4 hour long game of Snakes and Ladders.
On the other hand, the character busts were awesome, and paintable.
Wales: Where the Men are Men and the sheep are Scared.
Me and my girlfriend had a lot of fun playing gears of war together. It's cooperative against card based Ai which is fun due to you being in it together rather than against each other.
Mansions of Madness is possibly one of the top games I've played in the past few years. Eldrich Horror isn't bad either.
I've also seen a lot of people slate it but Zombies!!! is usually a good laugh too - mainly the ability to screw over your fellow players just as they think they've won.
"I hate 6th! Fix it GW!!!"
"Seventh edition? Feth that GW! I'm sticking with sixth to show you who is boss! Via la revolution!"
"I'm not buying anything from you no more! Apart from three riptides, new codex, starter set and rulebook... but that's it!"
Lords of Waterdeep. Its a worker placement game which plays 5, 6 if you pick up the expansion. Learning curve is pretty easy - in a game or two you'll have all of the rules down.
It plays 2-6 people, and is full of fantastic photographic cards and chits and stuff. I'm a big fan of Flying Frog games because they tend to give you tons of extra pieces you can use for custom scenarios or the scenarios they sometimes release on the web. Easy enough that my mother enjoys playing, but has plenty of avenues for expansion (and expansion packs if you want). It has a few easter egg references (the first standalone expansion is called Timber Peak, taking place in a remote logging community...)
This, the few times I've played it it's be a pretty fun game.
As well I'd say the standards such as Talisman and Munchkin. Though Munchkin doesn't particularly have much to paint in it it's quick to get in to.
Another +1 to Last Night on Earth from me. It's very well designed with completely different scenarios and objectives, and the co-op nature makes it a great game with more people
Zombies!!! is another good one, and has a lot of expansions to keep it fresh. And finally, because my fiancé and I love it so much, I have to recommend Carcassonne. It's very different to the others mentioned, but immensely enjoyable. Players take turns to place tiles, and can place followers ('Meeples') to try and score points. It's very simple to learn, but difficult to master, and always provides a good game and some laughs whenever I play it.
Ben
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Zombiecide is a great option. An excellent game and very nice components.
Also, I've not played it, but a couple of my gaming buddies really like Descent. The miniatures are not state of the art, but they're well done and take a coat of paint well. The owner of the game just finished painting nearly all of his Descent monsters and they look pretty good.
I would also mention some of the more streamlined miniature games like Song of Blades and Heroes. A really fast-playing easy to learn game that I find less complicated than many boardgames. In general when I want a low-rule wargame I play Song of Blades. When I want a boardgame, I just play some of my favorites (Carcasonne, Ticket to Ride, 7 wonders, etc), which don't happen to have miniatures.
Best of luck whatever you choose.
Pacific wrote: Out of interest, what are the Zombicide miniatures like to paint? Are they holding enough defined detail to make it worthwhile?
I've not painted any, but my buddy has the game and I've looked at his figures. I think they're great. Definitely well detailed and clean enough cast to be worth painting up. Also, they've done a great job giving each one a unique character (many of which you'll recognize from various media).
Zombiecide would definitley be recommended as a good boardgame with miniatures.
Zombicide looks great. My friends think it looks cool too. It'll definitely beat trivia games, and cards against humanity. That game loses its shock value after about 4 games.
Thanks for the advice on project pandora, I wouldn't have known the rules weren't great until it was too late.
I might consider looking into d&d as well, but I hear it takes a good dungeon master to make it interesting.
Pacific, I think zombicide said it supports up to 4 players.
