Carcassonne definitely is a great game, one of the instant classics. I can only recommend it.

But it's a pure boardgame, devoid of any RPG elements.


Galactic Civilizations is a great classic. Again, no RPG elements, but relatively simple yet elegant in its design which allows for quite varied game sessions.


You may also like Glory to Rome. Relatively complex rules, but an excellent strategy game.


Finally, Dominion is marvelous in design. By picking your sample of cards the strategy to win a game is different every time. A true masterpiece.

Axis & Allies was the last board game I played a lot and that was during my high school and college years.

How about an RPG about being a smuggler in the Star Wars universe?

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire/

I used to play SW RPGs a long time ago and they were pretty fun with the right group of friends (knowledgeable of the SW universe), and I collected tons of figurines and props during that time (all sold/gone now).

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Roleplaying-Rulebook-Edition/dp/0786943564

http://www.amazon.com/Revised-Core-Ruleb...WA194CG81FP75YH


Unless The Force counts as magic, that is.

7 Wonders is a great party game that is easy to pick up and quick to play.

Hmmm...

I used to play Axis & Allies a lot until we got into a bit of a rut, whereby the Axis would always lose when the Allies played England and Russia with the strategy that England would basically just bomb Germany's production capability into oblivion, and Russia would build as many cannon fodder troops as possible to prevent being overrun early by Germany's initial tech advantange.

While a slow starter, eventually, Germany couldn't build enough units to either A> prevent being bombed back into the stone age, or B> force a takeover against the bajillion troops Russia would build up... At that point, the USA's increasing production would result in them mopping things up while keeping Japan spread out in the Pacific. IIRC, I don't think the Axis ever won a game, in our group, after we hit on that strategy ... which eventually, of course, stopped us playing it altogether.

Apart from that, the board-game I probably had the most "fun" with was a game called "Acquire". The games were short (typically about an hour or so), easy to play, but tricky to master, and cutthroat as hell. For a simple game, there was a subtlety to it that kept us entertained for countless evenings...


Regards,
4

Do not gloss over Monopoly. There is no game like Monopoly that I have seen which arouses emotions in people. People can take this game so personally, as if they're playing with real money and property or as if winning and losing were actually tied to their business acumen as a sort of indicator of their abilities to survive. If you delight in watching people getting upset when you take their resources, in addition to the satisfaction of winning, this is a game like no other.

The last time I played with a couple of friends and one of their girlfriends, this guy was cutting deals with his girlfriend that they wouldn't have to pay each other if they landed on each other's property. Awww... True love conquers all.

Then when I made a property swap with him which kind of made his original deal with his girlfriend useless, he became cuthroat and told her he would no longer agree to his arrangement with her. So she gets up crying and says, "You guys..sniff...sniff...are taking this way too seriously, and I can't take it anymore..." She runs out of the room nearly hysterical. The rest of the players are laughing, her boyfriend is laughing, so he goes off after her and does relationship maintenance and we can all hear him consoling her in the other room and saying, "Look, they're just animals, these guys are not fun to play around with because they're selfish a-holes like you said." So he comes back and we make fun of him because we heard what he said, and he's laughing, because he knows he's a phoney. Just five minutes earlier they were both on cloud 9 because they thought they had some arrangement that made them an unstoppable force.

I remember a friend who wanted to play, and then during the game it hit too close to home as was having his own real life financial troubles, and it was starting to affect him. I've seen people throw the money and throw the tokens and hotels out of exasperation. Really strange to see.

Ticket to Ride we play a lot
Monopoly
Scrabble
Risk (obviously)
A game called Munchkin
A couple of my kids just started playing Dungeons and Dragons (like from 1980)

I've written before we are pretty limiting with TV and video in my house so games and playing outside are two big things for the kids.

Oh....if you can find it, and have about a jillion years to figure out the rules on energy, etc., Air War by TSR is a great board game.

Not a board game but similar would be Ace of Aces series. We have those and still play them on long car trips.

So many games, so little time...

Not even a complete list...


FT

When I was in college I had the board game version of "Harpoon". I really tried to get into it but with hundreds of different cardboard counters to keep track of and all of the number crunching involved I opted to go the PC game version route.

There is a show called Tabletop by Wil Wheaton where he plays board games with others, usually actors.

Tabletop

NATO: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2079/nato-next-war-europe
Imperium Romanum II: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1496/imperium-romanum-ii
Battle of Britain: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1844/battle-britain

Flames of war. Table top ww2 game.
I think there is a game called x-wing or x-wing armada. With really cool models out there. I was buying paints for warmachine and noticed those starwars ships on a shelf. Dident have time to look closer thou