Board games

[puur prutswerk]

I designed this boardgame today.

If anyone wants to make their own version and play it they are encouraged to. Let me know how you like it.

Here is a pic of the empty game board.

Any input on mechanics is also welcome.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Who's been able to still play board games with everyone afraid of COVID?

I tried to get the group I normally play with to get together again after the lockdowns ended and they were all like "Hell no."

 

[Lagi]

I designed this boardgame today.

If anyone wants to make their own version and play it they are encouraged to. Let me know how you like it.

Here is a pic of the empty game board.

Any input on mechanics is also welcome.

Judging by the ornamentation of the bases, you are very attached to your game.

 

[puur prutswerk]

I designed this boardgame today.

If anyone wants to make their own version and play it they are encouraged to. Let me know how you like it.

Here is a pic of the empty game board.

Any input on mechanics is also welcome.

Judging by the ornamentation of the bases, you are very attached to your game.

It's a little fresh for me to be very attached to it, I started to build it at the end of last week after a friend gave me the two ikea magnets (the bases) and I sacrificed my airfryer snack divider to be the game board.

Mechanics are going to get an overhaul, the commander/special troop to normal soldier ratio is a bit skewed now. I am thinking of letting players choose a loadout of commander and some special units.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

Awakened Realms have started a kickstarter for a reprint of Nemesis, including an intriguing new standalone expansion where instead of a space ship the action takes place in a multi-level base on Mars :https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/awakenrealms/nemesis-lockdown/description

Available for late pledges whenever they launch their pledge manager sometime this month. As someone who has enjoyed Tainted Grail (I got 4/15 chapters and 25+ hours into the game, but decided to wait until the expansions arrive at the end of the year and replay with all the content) but missed Nemesis, I will definitely be backing it.

I've only played two games of Nemesis, both via the incomplete and somewhat clunky mod on Tabletop Sim, and have enjoyed both runs considerably. The rules are very dynamic and both games unfolded in a completely different fashion. Clearly a great story generator, as the first game was a very cinematic solo scramble to fix a ship that was on fire for most of the game and the other was a 2-player coop action horror experience as we ended up activating like 2 adults + a Queen very early on in the game, requiring us to close doors behind us wherever we went and carefully spend ammo and combat cards to fight our way through the intruder-infested rooms.

Apparently this version will feature a revamped solo/coop mode, as well as an optional map that will make it possible to play the regular semi-cooperative gamemode solo (presumably with the app playing NPCs with randomly assigned objectives, which sounds fucking amazing as long as they nail the implementation.)

Hey, I was wondering if you had received your pledge! I'm on a massive Tainted Grail binge right now, started out as Arev and Ailei (girlfriend) but we overstretched ourselves in chapter 3A and decided to restart. Now Maggot and Ailei and doing better overall (though I think I like Arev's combat combos quite a bit more). The game is a ton of fun and actually quite well written. Only complaints are that the combat can lead to a ton of downtime for those not involved (not too bad with 2, but I'd never play this with more people because of this) and it's sometimes just too fucking random.

On that playthrough that we reset we died due to exploring the Fernsea did everything properly to explore this big labything spanning 15 or so verses and then at the end got a massive fuck you in the form of "this content is only available past Chapter 6 or so". Infuriating. Nothing indicated this to be the case up until then and we gained tons of terror and lost a ton of health in this ordeal, which ultimately was our demise a little later.

Anyways, great game overall aside from these two flaws, looking forward to the expansions. Though I think you should pick your campaign back up now, because you're likely to burn yourself out trying to play it all in one go.

On the subject of Nemesis: very fun game with the right group, though, to me, it's a 4 player only game. With 2 there's not enough intrigue and the co-op mode doesn't make the game shine. 3 is just OK. Played with 5 once and it dragged: the downtime was pretty miserable and having the KS exclusive medic character on board contributed to the length too, because the bitch can heal people over and over, delaying the endgame.

Have yet to touch the other aliens or the aftermath mode from my all in package, so I just backed lockdown for a buck and will consider buying it when pledege manager opens further down the line. Probably won't get it though, because the new bat alien looks kinda lame and I already have too much stuff for how often I get to play this as is. If the base Nemesis app also allows for a better co-op mode on the base game, I'm definitely not getting lockdown.

On another note, got my hands on the Kickstarter exclusives from the Blood Rage digital campaign. Look forward to trying them out, my group loves that game.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Awakened Realms have started a kickstarter for a reprint of Nemesis, including an intriguing new standalone expansion where instead of a space ship the action takes place in a multi-level base on Mars :https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/awakenrealms/nemesis-lockdown/description

Available for late pledges whenever they launch their pledge manager sometime this month. As someone who has enjoyed Tainted Grail (I got 4/15 chapters and 25+ hours into the game, but decided to wait until the expansions arrive at the end of the year and replay with all the content) but missed Nemesis, I will definitely be backing it.

I've only played two games of Nemesis, both via the incomplete and somewhat clunky mod on Tabletop Sim, and have enjoyed both runs considerably. The rules are very dynamic and both games unfolded in a completely different fashion. Clearly a great story generator, as the first game was a very cinematic solo scramble to fix a ship that was on fire for most of the game and the other was a 2-player coop action horror experience as we ended up activating like 2 adults + a Queen very early on in the game, requiring us to close doors behind us wherever we went and carefully spend ammo and combat cards to fight our way through the intruder-infested rooms.

Apparently this version will feature a revamped solo/coop mode, as well as an optional map that will make it possible to play the regular semi-cooperative gamemode solo (presumably with the app playing NPCs with randomly assigned objectives, which sounds fucking amazing as long as they nail the implementation.)

Hey, I was wondering if you had received your pledge! I'm on a massive Tainted Grail binge right now, started out as Arev and Ailei (girlfriend) but we overstretched ourselves in chapter 3A and decided to restart. Now Maggot and Ailei and doing better overall (though I think I like Arev's combat combos quite a bit more). The game is a ton of fun and actually quite well written. Only complaints are that the combat can lead to a ton of downtime for those not involved (not too bad with 2, but I'd never play this with more people because of this) and it's sometimes just too fucking random.

On that playthrough that we reset we died due to exploring the Fernsea did everything properly to explore this big labything spanning 15 or so verses and then at the end got a massive fuck you in the form of "this content is only available past Chapter 6 or so". Infuriating. Nothing indicated this to be the case up until then and we gained tons of terror and lost a ton of health in this ordeal, which ultimately was our demise a little later.

Anyways, great game overall aside from these two flaws, looking forward to the expansions. Though I think you should pick your campaign back up now, because you're likely to burn yourself out trying to play it all in one go.

On the subject of Nemesis: very fun game with the right group, though, to me, it's a 4 player only game. With 2 there's not enough intrigue and the co-op mode doesn't make the game shine. 3 is just OK. Played with 5 once and it dragged: the downtime was pretty miserable and having the KS exclusive medic character on board contributed to the length too, because the bitch can heal people over and over, delaying the endgame.

Have yet to touch the other aliens or the aftermath mode from my all in package, so I just backed lockdown for a buck and will consider buying it when pledege manager opens further down the line. Probably won't get it though, because the new bat alien looks kinda lame and I already have too much stuff for how often I get to play this as is. If the base Nemesis app also allows for a better co-op mode on the base game, I'm definitely not getting lockdown.

On another note, got my hands on the Kickstarter exclusives from the Blood Rage digital campaign. Look forward to trying them out, my group loves that game.

Ayo what up dawg

I've been playing Tainted Grail with Arev (left hand) and Maggot ("girlfriend" aka right hand) because repentant mercenary and druidic reject with substance abuse issues appealed far more to me than a smithboi with anger management problems and some traumatized grill or an edgy redhead for that amtter. Maggot definitely has a lot of character-exclusive content which is some of my favorite writing in the game, and Arev is quite sparse in comparison, but hopefully that will change.

Which path did you take after Chapter 1? I love how discovering a single piece of information in Chapter 1 can give you a really good tip of where to go, and led me to discover some pretty cool buffs and story clues quite early into Chapter 2. My only frustration thus far has been with the fact that to progress chapter 2 I first had to go to the bloody fen to discover the signs of the war for myself (even though simply visiting Lady Kincaid's town made it obvious that there was one going on!) before I could speak with anyone regarding joining one of the sides. I also didn't realize that joining Timberland was an option, so ended up joining Kincaid only because I thought that was the only way to progress the chapter. While I regret that, I think I will be focusing more on the expedition/Grail story this playthrough anyway.

The writing is really something else and I am enjoying how inspired everything is without straying too far into grimdark fantasyland or wacky outlandishness - I love how, for example, the more gritty and cynical plot of the war for Avalon is contrasted with the more mystical and reality-bending narrative concerning the Foredwellers and the Grail itself. One of my favorite themes is the idea of pursuing knowledge/power as being a sacrificial/transformative journey that leaves one as at once less and more than what they once were, and the type of shit you can do in some of the explorations certainly qualifies.

I did sperg out a little and come up with an A4 page of house rules before ever getting the game based on feedback from boardgamegeek, which I have meticulously applied via tiny sticky notes to the rulebook and the cards and shit like that. Rebalanced some skills and stuff like that. Also, instead of using either the hard campaign reset on death or the soft "Allmother's mercy" reset mechanics, I am keeping track of the game state at the start of each chapter and resetting to the begging of that each time I die. As long as record the state of your combat/diplo decks this is entirely doable. Also playing with a lot of the hard mode rules, for example leveling up in increments of 5 xp, so overall its quite tense and stressful to play but extremely cathartic when things go according to plan (like getting FD to fuck off for a few turns with the right timing - sorry if that's too vague, but I've written it in a way that you will understand if you already experienced what I mean and if not then nothing is spoiled).

You are right that I should just pick it up again. In hindsight I did burn myself out somewhat, having just ended my last playsession months and months ago after entering Chapter 4 in a bit of a fucky position (might have to resort to allmother's mercy this time!) after well over 20 hours of playtime. I should probably dedicate one evening a week to playing this thing to avoid burning myself out or something - hard to limit yourself when you are playing with yourself, which is also why I masturbate for 12+ hours sometimes.

Oh but first I am going to wait for some army painted quickshade to arrive. See, the ebay guy who I sold a kidney to buy this thing from didn't have the sundrop version (not that I could afford one due to the markup anyway) so I have long been thinking of the best way to emulate it. Thought about replicating the color scheme with black and beige primers under strong tone quickshade, but then I figured - hang on, the minis are already a nice shade of medium gray, how about I eliminate as many possibilities of error as possible (have never painted anything, even if this process is just spraying/dipping shit) and just dip them in dark tone to create like a stone figurine look which I don't mind at all. So that's the plan right now. Obviously will hit them with some anti-shine varnish afterwards. Plan on splurging on the sundrop version of the nemesis gameplay all-in when they open the pledge manager early next week because its actually pretty great value considering all the different aliunz are shaded with a different color scheme.

What's the state of the app now? I really wanted to play with the voice acting and soundtrack but I hear the VO will be limited and the Witcher 3 soundtrack works well enough so idk if I will bother.

re: Nemesis - I will only be able to play it Solo and possibly with 2 people and I'm hoping the app will help to add that semi-coop layer (apparently by adding the ship/lab AI to the game which you have to deduce whether or not it is out for you or not based on the information it gives you). This won't be an entirely blind decision however as I've played the game in tabletop sim and enjoyed it greatly, and imagine it would be even more so when I've got all the little plastic mans to fiddle with. However, I was actually theorycrafting a way to play 2-player double-handed semi-coop. The gist is that each player gets a team of 2 characters drafted normally. Objectives are drawn normally but "Player 1/2 must die" and "Player 3/4 must die" mean "Lowest numbered character from the other team must die" and "Highest numbered character from the other team must die" respectively. The "be the only surviving player" condition in some objective would be changed to "be the only surviving team." Then the players would be optionally scored on the characters that have both survived and completed their objectives. And once a player loses both of the characters they control they play as the Intruder giving them the opportunity to even the score, creating an incentive to avoid straight up dispatching the other team unless its absolutely necessary and to finish your objectives as quickly as possible. I have no idea how this will work in practice but in theory this should make 2-player mindgames much more involved as you are dealing with 2 unknown variables.

sorry for wall of text but once i saw your post i was OVERCOME with the desire to connect with you on a psychic level. please print this post out and keep it on your person at all times so that we may never truly part. if you could mail me a lock of your hair or something that would help too. regardless peace out homedude

 

[Boleskine]

Neat visualization of the most popular board games in the past 13 years.

 

[Reality]

El Grande is the only Board Game I've ever rated a 10, so I'm glad it stayed in the top 20 for 8 years (finally vanishing in 2015).

Also open to Pings to play it for the rest of time-

 

[Lagi]

MageKnight so popular

but some other game that i play from this list, I can agree are good fun.

 

[Boleskine]

 

[pakoito]

Spoiler

100 Gizmos
99 The Networks
98 Chaos in the Old World
97 Empyreal: Spells & Steam
96 Villagers
95 Pavlov's House
94 Galilean Moons
93 Steampunk Rally
92 Oaxaca: Crafts of a Culture
91 Pay Dirt
90 The Isle of Cats
89 Martians: A Story of Civilization
88 Nemo's War (Second Edition)
87 Takenoko
86 Star Wars: Imperial Assault
85 The Reckoners
84 Last Friday
83 Caverna: The Cave Farmers
82 Dawn of the Zeds (Third edition)
81 XCOM: The Board Game
80 Android
79 Space Cadets
78 Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game
77 Scythe
76 Rurik: Dawn of Kiev
75 Lords of Waterdeep
74 Twilight Imperium (Fourth Edition)
73 Dune
72 Terra Mystica
71 Sentinels of the Multiverse
70 Century: Golem Edition
69 Castles of Mad King Ludwig
68 Freedom: The Underground Railroad
67 It's a Wonderful World
66 Agents of SMERSH
65 Architects of the West Kingdom
64 Kiitos
63 SpaceCorp
62 Star Realms
61 Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game
60 Museum
59 Hostage Negotiator
58 Churchill
57 Android: Netrunner
56 Pandemic: The Cure
55 Defenders of the Last Stand
54 Lords of Hellas
53 Above and Below
52 Potion Explosion
51 Black Orchestra
50 Le Havre
49 Spheres of Influence: Struggle for Global Supremacy
48 Circadians: First Light
47 Kolejka
46 Yokohama
45 Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island
44 Suburbia
43 Cthulhu Wars
42 Crisis
41 Power Grid
40 Sidereal Confluence
39 Gloomhaven
38 Empires of the Void II
37 Arkham Horror: The Card Game
36 Horrified
35 Everdell
34 Santorini
33 Arkham Horror
32 Millennium Blades
31 Brass Birmingham
30 Leaving Earth
29 The Captain Is Dead
28 Healthy Heart Hospital
27 Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery
26 Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game
25 Paladins of the West Kingdom
24 The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire
23 Chinatown
22 Between Two Cities
21 7 Wonders
20 Gaia Project
19 Azul
18 Xia: Legends of a Drift System
17 Mansions of Madness: Second Edition
16 Underwater Cities
15 Roll for the Galaxy
14 Argent: The Consortium
13 Bloc by Bloc: The Insurrection Game
12 Nemesis
11 Obsession
10 Anachrony
9 Paths of Glory
8 This War of Mine: The Board Game
7 War of the Ring
6 Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game
5 Twilight Struggle
4 Thunderbirds
3 Star Wars: Rebellion
2 Terraforming Mars
1 Spirit Island

 

[Reality]

Is it just me or is he nicer to gateway games than he used to be?

Not that I should complain given what I do over every holiday when stuck with relatives.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Spoiler

100 Gizmos
99 The Networks
98 Chaos in the Old World
97 Empyreal: Spells & Steam
96 Villagers
95 Pavlov's House
94 Galilean Moons
93 Steampunk Rally
92 Oaxaca: Crafts of a Culture
91 Pay Dirt
90 The Isle of Cats
89 Martians: A Story of Civilization
88 Nemo's War (Second Edition)
87 Takenoko
86 Star Wars: Imperial Assault
85 The Reckoners
84 Last Friday
83 Caverna: The Cave Farmers
82 Dawn of the Zeds (Third edition)
81 XCOM: The Board Game
80 Android
79 Space Cadets
78 Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game
77 Scythe
76 Rurik: Dawn of Kiev
75 Lords of Waterdeep
74 Twilight Imperium (Fourth Edition)
73 Dune
72 Terra Mystica
71 Sentinels of the Multiverse
70 Century: Golem Edition
69 Castles of Mad King Ludwig
68 Freedom: The Underground Railroad
67 It's a Wonderful World
66 Agents of SMERSH
65 Architects of the West Kingdom
64 Kiitos
63 SpaceCorp
62 Star Realms
61 Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game
60 Museum
59 Hostage Negotiator
58 Churchill
57 Android: Netrunner
56 Pandemic: The Cure
55 Defenders of the Last Stand
54 Lords of Hellas
53 Above and Below
52 Potion Explosion
51 Black Orchestra
50 Le Havre
49 Spheres of Influence: Struggle for Global Supremacy
48 Circadians: First Light
47 Kolejka
46 Yokohama
45 Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island
44 Suburbia
43 Cthulhu Wars
42 Crisis
41 Power Grid
40 Sidereal Confluence
39 Gloomhaven
38 Empires of the Void II
37 Arkham Horror: The Card Game
36 Horrified
35 Everdell
34 Santorini
33 Arkham Horror
32 Millennium Blades
31 Brass Birmingham
30 Leaving Earth
29 The Captain Is Dead
28 Healthy Heart Hospital
27 Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery
26 Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game
25 Paladins of the West Kingdom
24 The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire
23 Chinatown
22 Between Two Cities
21 7 Wonders
20 Gaia Project
19 Azul
18 Xia: Legends of a Drift System
17 Mansions of Madness: Second Edition
16 Underwater Cities
15 Roll for the Galaxy
14 Argent: The Consortium
13 Bloc by Bloc: The Insurrection Game
12 Nemesis
11 Obsession
10 Anachrony
9 Paths of Glory
8 This War of Mine: The Board Game
7 War of the Ring
6 Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game
5 Twilight Struggle
4 Thunderbirds
3 Star Wars: Rebellion
2 Terraforming Mars
1 Spirit Island

2 Terraforming Mars

Played this today.
Surprisingly good, but that might be victor's bias talking.

 

[v1rus]

Ive been into board games for a while now. Terra Mystica, Root, Twilight Imperium, Scythe. Yet have to play a PvE game tho, since noone I know owns any, and no stores have an open copy.

Any recommendations? Gloomhaven really that good?

 

[Catacombs]

Any recommendations?

For solo games or with friends?
Race to the Galaxy is a great two to four-player game. The aforementioned Terra forming Mars is also good

I'd also suggest Dead of Winter and Jaipur.

 

[Sranchammer]

I'm just playing solitaire games until my kids are old enough.

 

[v1rus]

Any recommendations?

For solo games or with friends?
Race to the Galaxy is a great two to four-player game. The aforementioned Terra forming Mars is also good

I'd also suggest Dead of Winter and Jaipur.

PvE for with friends. I literally bought Race for the Galaxy couple of days ago Loving it. Friend has Terraforming Mars, but I didnt like it for some reason. Gonna give it a try sooner or later tho. Another friend also has Dead of Winter. That game is rumored to be cursed, because whenever said friend brings it, we never end up playing it. Now Jaipur i never really tried.

Was asking about those big box PvE games, people like to mention. Gloomhaven, 7th continent, Spirit Island, Too Many Bones, etc.

 

[Catacombs]

Any recommendations?

For solo games or with friends?
Race to the Galaxy is a great two to four-player game. The aforementioned Terra forming Mars is also good

I'd also suggest Dead of Winter and Jaipur.

PvE for with friends. I literally bought Race for the Galaxy couple of days ago Loving it. Friend has Terraforming Mars, but I didnt like it for some reason. Gonna give it a try sooner or later tho. Another friend also has Dead of Winter. That game is rumored to be cursed, because whenever said friend brings it, we never end up playing it. Now Jaipur i never really tried.

Was asking about those big box PvE games, people like to mention. Gloomhaven, 7th continent, Spirit Island, Too Many Bones, etc.

Ah, PvE. Then Dead of Winter is a great game for that, if that ever makes it to the table. Jaipur is good for two players but no PvE.

 

[pakoito]

Ive been into board games for a while now. Terra Mystica, Root, Twilight Imperium, Scythe. Yet have to play a PvE game tho, since noone I know owns any, and no stores have an open copy.

It really depends on whether you want a dungeon crawler, a puzzle, RNG mitigation, beat your own high score or just an AI emulating a player. Tell me which one you want and I can point you into the right direction.

Gloomhaven really that good?

GH hits many spots because it has euro mechanics on an ameritrash wrapping, plus a campaig unlock system. The combat mechanics are awesome, the build theorycrafting is awesome, the maps are okay, the lore is okay, the actual story is meh. Start with Jaws of the Lion, even better on Tabletop Simulator.

EDIT: I though you meant for solo. For PvE (coop) the largest problem is quarterbacking, where a single player dictates strategy and is basically playing for everyone. Only GH and a few other games don't suffer from it, mostly those with heavy asimmetry and without full information.

 

[Jason Liang]

Tigris and Euphrates can be co-operative; if you've ever seen girls play it.

 

[v1rus]

Ive been into board games for a while now. Terra Mystica, Root, Twilight Imperium, Scythe. Yet have to play a PvE game tho, since noone I know owns any, and no stores have an open copy.

It really depends on whether you want a dungeon crawler, a puzzle, RNG mitigation, beat your own high score or just an AI emulating a player. Tell me which one you want and I can point you into the right direction.

Gloomhaven really that good?

GH hits many spots because it has euro mechanics on an ameritrash wrapping, plus a campaig unlock system. The combat mechanics are awesome, the build theorycrafting is awesome, the maps are okay, the lore is okay, the actual story is meh. Start with Jaws of the Lion, even better on Tabletop Simulator.

EDIT: I though you meant for solo. For PvE (coop) the largest problem is quarterbacking, where a single player dictates strategy and is basically playing for everyone. Only GH and a few other games don't suffer from it, mostly those with heavy asimmetry and without full information.

Yeah, multiple players is a must, and GHs mitigation of quarterbacking is what attracted me to it. Replayability is another important factor. Aside from that, no requests really, except that it should be heavy.

From all I've read, it seams Gloomhaven is exactly what I'm looking for, and I'd def start wtih Jaws of the Lion. Still, for infos sake, which games avoid quarterbacking well like GH? Heard that Spirit Island does it well, but a fellow Codexers opinion weighs a lot more.

 

[v1rus]

Oh, Mage Knight also looked sorta interesting. Liked how it also had PvP option.

 

[pakoito]

Ive been into board games for a while now. Terra Mystica, Root, Twilight Imperium, Scythe. Yet have to play a PvE game tho, since noone I know owns any, and no stores have an open copy.

It really depends on whether you want a dungeon crawler, a puzzle, RNG mitigation, beat your own high score or just an AI emulating a player. Tell me which one you want and I can point you into the right direction.

Gloomhaven really that good?

GH hits many spots because it has euro mechanics on an ameritrash wrapping, plus a campaig unlock system. The combat mechanics are awesome, the build theorycrafting is awesome, the maps are okay, the lore is okay, the actual story is meh. Start with Jaws of the Lion, even better on Tabletop Simulator.

EDIT: I though you meant for solo. For PvE (coop) the largest problem is quarterbacking, where a single player dictates strategy and is basically playing for everyone. Only GH and a few other games don't suffer from it, mostly those with heavy asimmetry and without full information.

Yeah, multiple players is a must, and GHs mitigation of quarterbacking is what attracted me to it. Replayability is another important factor. Aside from that, no requests really, except that it should be heavy.

From all I've read, it seams Gloomhaven is exactly what I'm looking for, and I'd def start wtih Jaws of the Lion. Still, for infos sake, which games avoid quarterbacking well like GH? Heard that Spirit Island does it well, but a fellow Codexers opinion weighs a lot more.

MK is too long and thinky to be played with others. A solo game can go 3h+ easily, and it's 1h+ per additional player. The downtime is killer for the game pace. Try it at least once before buying. Same goes for Too Many Bones.

Now, my recommendations. Root with the Clockwork Expansion boards (I'd print them rather than buy). Millennium Blades has both PvE and PvP without quarterbacking and plenty of replayability. Kingdom Death Monster is 99% RNG mitigation, my group bounced off hard but yours may like it; your toons die too often for quarterbacking to matter. W40K: Space Hulk - Death Angel like Gloomhaven has secret actions and asymmetry and is kind of hard; it lacks content tho. Mechs vs Minions has drafting each player's strategy. Legendary Marvel is also kind of coop, although some people prefer Sentinels of the Multiverse.

Captain Sonar is also supposed to be good, I haven't played. There're also a couple of Cthulhu mythos ones that are good. I didn't like the original pandemic due to qbing, maybe the legacy or spin-off versions fix it somehow.

 

[v1rus]

From all I've read, it seams Gloomhaven is exactly what I'm looking for, and I'd def start wtih Jaws of the Lion. Still, for infos sake, which games avoid quarterbacking well like GH? Heard that Spirit Island does it well, but a fellow Codexers opinion weighs a lot more.

MK is too long and thinky to be played with others. A solo game can go 3h+ easily, and it's 1h+ per additional player. The downtime is killer for the game pace. Try it at least once before buying. Same goes for Too Many Bones.

Now, my recommendations. Root with the Clockwork Expansion boards (I'd print them rather than buy). Millennium Blades has both PvE and PvP without quarterbacking and plenty of replayability. Kingdom Death Monster is 99% RNG mitigation, my group bounced off hard but yours may like it; your toons die too often for quarterbacking to matter. W40K: Space Hulk - Death Angel like Gloomhaven has secret actions and asymmetry and is kind of hard; it lacks content tho. Mechs vs Minions has drafting. Legendary Marvel is also kind of coop, although some people prefer Sentinels of the Multiverse.

Captain Sonar is also supposed to be good, I haven't played. There're also a couple of Cthulhu mythos ones that are good. I didn't like the original pandemic due to qbing, maybe the legacy or spin-off versions fix it somehow.

I already have Root, but I wouldnt call its AI aspect what I'm looking for - I'd rather just play the game with real people. KDM is waaay above my (or well, pretty much anyone's prolly) price range. It does look cool as all hell tho.

Millennium blades looks real cool. Tyvm for all your recommendations!

 

[Catacombs]

Captain Sonar is also supposed to be good, I haven't played.

Captain Sonar is so, so fun with eight players. Getting that many people, though, is rare, at least for me. I've had that happen twice since buying it years ago.