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The other day some of our bloggers shared their planned first games to play with other people after lockdown. Well here are some more ideas from our other bloggers. What will your first multiplayer game be in real life? Find some inspiration here!
Hannah - Getting back to her Roots
For Christmas, I got Root. We first struggled through a learning game of this in early October, and I have been thinking about it since. I played the Eyrie, and MJ played the Marquise, we used the basic walkthrough learn-to-play instructions, and it took us over 2 hours. I loved it. The components are fabulously sleek and simple. The battle dice are huge and chunky, and the individual artwork on the cards means that regardless of how long MJ is deliberating over what his next masterstroke is going to be, I am not bored in the slightest.
This game of woodland warfare is one of those that sticks in your brain. What if I had just been smarter about where I put cards into the decree, perhaps I could have forged myself a decree that would have been stable for longer? What about if I had built more buildings as the Marquise de Cat rather than trying to battle my way through the woodland taking out roosts? Could I have managed to get those last few victory points and squeak a win?
Thing is, Root is good at two, even more so with the Clockwork Expansion, but I have heard it sings at four players. That is four human players rather than two people and some bots. Our game group is us and one other couple, and I cannot wait to play games in person with them again! Root is going to be top of the play list as soon as we have the time to devote to a learning game, which if it isn’t soon will be a long old while as they are expecting a baby soon enough! But when we are safely allowed to play, this is the one I am looking forward to most. Fingers crossed it will not be long!
Scott - Game Over Man! Game Over!
My gaming collection has grown at an alarmingly rapid rate since the pandemic hit. Solo games, co-op games, living card games - I’ve got my fill of it all. But there’s one game in particular I cannot wait to play with a big group of friends.
Nemesis! I was gutted to be unable to afford the initial Kickstarter offering of Nemesis so when I was able to rectify that disappointment, and grab the retail version, I took the opportunity with glee.
I’m fortunate enough to have my wife to play games with and we’ve both been enjoying Nemesis a great deal. Whether it’s been solo or full co-op, we’ve had a great time. I love the theme, I love the gameplay. But, it does threaten to get a bit repetitive with the pure co-op rules. You wake up, you go and check the engines, you go and check the co-ordinates, you get to the evacuation pods. Along the way you have your objective like find an alien egg or research the invaders, but there’s not a great deal of variance there.
Of course we could play the game as intended, working on our secret, sometimes-conflicting, endgame schemes. But with two people, it just won’t carry the same threat or punch.
Thus a large player count, with the semi co-op rules, is at the top of my gaming agenda. Working alongside your friend to get to the bridge and ensure the ship is heading in the right direction, only to rush ahead and lock them in a room before depressurising it? Yes. Yes please. I know “Gotcha!” games can be really frustrating to play, but I think the cinematic scope of Nemesis lessens that blow of finding out your mate has sent the ship towards Mars because his corporate bosses told him to, and he’ll be saved while you’re stuffed.
In space, no one can hear you scream. But in a vaccinated gaming group? Yes, you can. And I cannot wait.
John - Wash Your Hansa
I played Hansa Teutonica for the first time during lockdown over TTS, despite it being an old game. Wow – I was instantly won over.
Yes, the theme is rather ‘dry Euro’ but the gameplay is absolutely fantastic – rules light but decision heavy. That doesn’t mean endless analysis paralysis, but every turn you’re faced with a good range of decision points, all with interesting implications.
You are constructing trade routes across mediaeval Germany – so in some ways this has a bit of Ticket to Ride in it, only way better. Completing routes allows you to set up Offices in the towns across the board, and creating a network of these will score you VP in a number of ways. However, routes to five special towns each give you an option to upgrade your player board and the power of the actions available to you – so there is a pleasing dose of engine building in here too.
But the master stroke for me is the player interaction. Routes can be contested and players can bump one another’s pieces; however this costs. Equally, being bumped may remove you from a route you want, but it allows you to relocate to a new route with a bonus piece/pieces. This is great – it makes for a plenty of to and fro take that, which provides the right level of conflict without making it overly punitive.
Then the final aspect that makes this a winner for me is the decision making of when to switch from engine building to VP accumulation, and this is made more interesting by end game triggers which can vary the game length. Consequently, you need to keep a careful eye on running VP totals as well as like outcomes from endgame scoring.
Playing on TTS has allowed me to play this with some friends halfway across the country, but I can’t wait to get my local gamer friends playing too. A real classic I have previously un-discovered, but am glad that I have found.
Callum - Close Encounters of the Cosmic Kind
Believe it or not, the way we are now isn’t normal. Living our day to day lives in pyjamas, dressing the top half of our bodies for a Zoom call, seeing a visit to the kitchen as a day trip. None of it’s forever. And when it’s all over, and I have to be tolerate other human beings’ presences, there’s one game I know is going to be the first on my games table, Cosmic Encounter.
Prior to this pandemic, our gaming group were basically family! Every week we’d meet at least twice to deal cards and roll dice. Since that’s stopped, I’ve realised it’s the socialisation I missed. Cosmic Encounter by Fantasy Flight Games is the pinnacle of social games for me. And therefore, the game that will hit my table first.
You play as a unique race of aliens with an ability. Your aim is to colonise five foreign planets, owned by other players. Players can negotiate, ask for allies in battles, deceive and be quite cutthroat. And it’s that discussion throughout these happenings that makes the game exciting! You’ll barter, bargain and beg in order to succeed, and no doubt join the winning side once or twice out of convenience! It’s a game that forces players to talk and discuss, and that causes tension and excitement.
The core game is for three to five players, however throwing the first three expansions in bumps that number to eight! (Alongside a tonne more aliens to use and a shed load of extras!) I’m excited to see my friends again when we can all meet up, and I’m equally as excited to ruin their day when I claim the galaxy for myself through underhanded tactics and vicious deals.
It was a close call between Cosmic Encounter, Root and Mansions of Madness, but what our group thrives on is the social element and competition. Deception and backstabbing. Grudges and greed. It’s our jam, and it’s the way we like it!
Kirsty - Mission Interplanetary
Early in our board game journey, my husband and I came across a very cool sounding game. In Mission: Red Planet you are sending workers to various areas of the Martian surface. These areas have valuable resources which are needed to both power the machines back on Earth but also may be useful to terraform the planet. But, other people have also heard of these resources and also want to send their workers. Armed with nine professionals, each with different effects, you need to gain control of the various surface areas.
The theme is awesome, the card play and effects are very clever. The only issue is that, as with many area control games, it doesn't spark with two players for me. Playing the normal rules, Mars feels too big. You never properly get in the way of other players as you can each stick to your own area.
Now, we do have the 2015 version which includes a two player variant. But it doesn’t have the same appeal to me. Part of the fun of the game is the real sense of competition. There is a race to time your workers arriving on the planet at the right time for scoring. The feeling when you play a card to push another’s workers off a rocket. For me, that same tension and intrigue isn’t there when the game is only between two players.
So when we can actually meet people again, and sit round a table and play board games, I know what I am going to do. Assemble our trusty board game foes and challenge them to a game of Mission: Red Planet. I don’t even care if I come last with an embarrassing score, I am looking forward to the game!
Ben - Mech Wars
I don’t really mind what I play first after lockdown is over. It may be a little longer until I crack Twister out though. I might warm up with Hungry Hippos. Each player can be assigned their own hippo and we can sanitise them afterwards.
To be fair I would play Donald Trump Top Trumps as long as I was playing at a pub table, with a pint and my friends.
I guess we will most likely be allowed visitors before we can have public games nights and so for that reason my first post-lockdown game will be Scythe from Stonemaier Games. I bought my copy of this big box, asymmetric, engine builder, just as we went into Lockdown and it has sat on my shelves taunting me ever since.
The game is set in an alternative post war 1920’s. Players take on the rolls of rival nations with their own special powers and objectives. They expand their borders to produce resources, and control territory. Recruiting workers, improving efficiency and reducing costs, building structures and huge mechs to deter invaders or assault their rivals.
I really want to know how it feels to have Scythe set up with all five players around the board, each player doing their own thing. And Scythe lets you to that. If you want to go for all-out war, you can. If you want to concentrate on production and defence, you can do that too.
While I wait for freedom, I’ve been playing the app version of Scythe. Although it has been enjoyable, I can imagine real people will play very differently to the AI. And having a board game set up in front of you with all your friends sat around - especially with such a visually impressive game as Scythe - it just can’t be beaten.