Also previous order: Last Will is a really good and underrated worker placement game.

Haven't got Dominant Species to the table but unboxing it made me very giddy, looks great on the surface.

Moooooaaarrr games

quick background;

married a kiwi eight years ago

she and her friends into board games ( i teach chess for a living )

first game they taught me was Brass, which i still enjoy. we own >20 games, and like the heavy euro strategy. was introduced to terra mystica about a year ago. i think it the best new game since...chess.

you can learn and play at terra.snellman.net

for a 2p, we enjoy Fields of Arlo, the new rosenberg. highly interactive, several paths to victory, excellent re-playability.

First game you were taught was Brass? Once you made it through that, probably pretty set. I have it unplayed on the shelf and we are getting ready to tackle the errata I hear it has. So I need your expertise.

Played a bunch of Le Have. Fun game, also good with app. In person play suggestion, mark your own buildings, even if you have to get pieces from another game. Makes it easier. Because owners get paid for their use.

Tried that, appearance is kind of quirky. Played 2 games vs. computer, computer pulled a 28 to win the 2nd game. Thats about a 1 in 15,000 occurrence. Probably two quirky for my 85 yr old father.

safeharborgames.net seems like a good site for several card games. Played some live cribbage. Feel is pretty similar to yahoo, though its a download not a java pop-up (Yay).

i really enjoy brass. played a ton at orderofthehammer, mostly 2p. twice got myself to a top three ranking at the site. upgrade your mills early. flip three level three mills in the canal stage. build your level fours during the rail stage. i stopped playing brass because TM is a much better game. far less luck. no simple winning strategy.

also played several hundred games of le havre. great game. unfortunately, i think the coal strategy is dominant. coal = $$$ = vp's. i think the most loans i've ever taken and still managed a win...11.

if you are truly into euro games, TM stands WAY above the crowd. i feel at times like we are gaming pioneers exploring workable lines in the world's next great game. as in chess great, and as in go great. a game that will still be relevant several centuries from now.

TM=Terra Mystica??

Oh I see it in your previous post now.

Yeah, TM is fun. Does it negate Brass because it's so similar or because you enjoy TM so much you don't want to play anything else really unless its really different?

i haven't played brass otb in years. only online, turn-based. very long game with a bit too much randomness to justify the time investment. you can become completely stymied by a crap run of cards. if there is a weak player in the group, they can make terrible move decisions...and without intending, destroy your plans. there is a two-player variant described at BGG, which orderofthehammer uses, and i found very satisfying.

we played TM otb almost exclusively for a few months, but two of us got so good at the game, no one else in our group had a chance. we have since purchased half a dozen new games for the group, whilst i continue to play at snellman.

Funny you mention quality of opposition, I was just thinking about that recently given how a few games have went OTB. Most heavier Euros suffer from the same problem, if you have a weaker opponent in a group, depending on turn selection order or whatever mechanic the game has, it can really be a detriment to a certain player around the table. My game group has this issue; not that the players are bad gamers but for the most part they have to be introduced to most games we play. They pick them up quickly enough but for example, in Agricola it takes a few plays for a newbie to understand the nuances of the Starting Player action, and it can really screw whoever is to their right. Same kind of thing with Puerto Rico.

we run into this constantly. I've concluded that I will have to satisfy my competitive nature playing vs. strong gamers online.

the expansion rule change in TM, setting turn order by previous round drop, helps quite a bit.

when I'm with a gaming group otb, I do my best to simply enjoy either learning a new game, or seeing how quickly I can make good decisions and still find a solid line of play. I always try to be one of the quicker players at the table.

to some extent, we have to put up with poor decision making by weaker players. the slow player drives me nuts. that they are also, often, the player who's had too much to drink tends to compound the discomfort. but without them, there'd be no game.

I just played this this week. Fun little strategy game disguised as a party game. Liked it quite a bit.

Ticket to ride - United Kingdom.

I couldn't find any Ticket to ride game in the ****ty town I live in and I was too lazy to drive 60 km to Barcelona and get it, so I made it myself.

This is a custom made map that I got from HERE and it has the route cards, which are critical to have. I made some simple train cards, printed them in 3.5x2.5" size and put them in a sleeve with a single MtG card for robustness. In stead of trains we used perler beads. Game on!

The kids loved it!

Looks impressively made but can you not order things online and have them delivered to you?

Gotta get some games for our new place. Ability to play 2 players would be good, but 4, maybe 5-6 expansion would be ideal.

Have:

Catan + expansions
Carcassone
Race for the Galaxy (way better online)
Pandemic

Small World is pretty simple and ranges well from 2 players to 5.

And I'll never stop promoting Power Grid for 3 to 6.

Power grid looks good but 120 mins and up playing time is kind of scary. Accurate?

Playing time estimate is accurate, but it's worth it.

If you're looking for a shorter game that covers that player number range, 7 Wonders is really good (probably takes about 30-40 minutes).

I feel best about power grid with 4 and 5. 3 is ok, 6 I just don't love the feel of.

Maybe Viticulture. Scales nicely from 2-5. Engaging, accessible theme.

Never heard of Viticulture. Might check it out sometime.

Reno, what games would you recommend for 6?

a pair of 3 player games?

seriously though, for lighter or party type games: wits and wagers, cash n guns, resistance, coup

Slightly heavier: 7 wonders, shadows over camelot

Heavier: Imperial/Imperial 2030

I think a lot of the medium-heavier Euros that scale up to 6 do so mainly for a formality. A lot of them will be pretty sluggish I feel with that many and I agree with reno; two 3-player games is much better. Sadly my group suffers from the issue of some people always wanting to play together.

Power Grid is probably the one I'd say best scales up to 6.

I own Dominant Species which goes up to 6 but have yet to play it. From what I understand it's a beast of 3-ish hours or more with 6 players.

Pretty much anything more than 5, you are better splitting the group into two games or you are left with only the lighter party games. Resistance, One Night Ultimate Werewolf are our favourites. Coup is ok but I'm not the biggest fan of it, it is virtually unplayable at 2 players I think.

6 is a tough number for gaming with heavier euros. i've played several but often feel like we'd have been better off splitting into smaller groups. cavarna was the last 6 we tried and the final half hour was torture. you are often left wishing the game would just bloody end.

7wonders is one of the few games which requires a bit of thinking and still manages to be fun in large groups.

+1 to the powergrid rec. one of the first games i got really into and still greatly enjoy every time we bring it out.

lords of waterdeep also works well with as many as five. complex enough to challenge, yet simple enough to stave off paralysis.

7 Wonders is a good selection for 6 or 7 although I personally think of it as a lighter game.

7w becomes a pain when one (or more ) think it is something more than lite.