New boardgames

[frunk]

I agree with Small World and Through the Ages.  Imperial is more of a stock market game than a wargame, it could be disappointing.

Others I'd recommend:

Race for the Galaxy - This can be a bear to get into by reading the rules, but it's well worth it.  Here's a video tutorial that should help out a lot.

Tales of the Arabian Nights - Great storytelling game, a bridge between full-fledged rpgs and boardgames.  Works very well with 2 or 3, with more it can drag.

[ulmont]

Race for the Galaxy - This can be a bear to get into by reading the rules, but it's well worth it. 

As I understand it, Race and Puerto Rico have very similar rules, so if you get through one you might be able to switch to the other for a different flavor experience.

[PRC]

Here is a great little 1 Player vs. AI program of Race for the Galaxy that includes options for using both expansions.  It's a pretty fun: http://www.keldon.net/rftg/

[frunk]

Race for the Galaxy - This can be a bear to get into by reading the rules, but it's well worth it. 

As I understand it, Race and Puerto Rico have very similar rules, so if you get through one you might be able to switch to the other for a different flavor experience.

It is close, and will help.  What helps even more is San Juan, which is halfway in between the two.

[PRC]

You pick roles like in Puerto Rico except in RftG everyone can potentially pick the same role.  It's easy enough once you've played a few times... I found the hardest part of learning Race for the Galaxy is understanding all the little symbols on the cards.

[ulmont]

You pick roles like in Puerto Rico except in RftG everyone can potentially pick the same role.  It's easy enough once you've played a few times... I found the hardest part of learning Race for the Galaxy is understanding all the little symbols on the cards.

Yeah.  There's a Race server here:
http://genie.game-host.org/main.htm

It has a text mode that explains the cards in text rather than the symbols, quite useful.

[CountDeMoney]

Fuck that eurofamilygerman bullshit.

They're ready to cut their teeth on Tide of Iron

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22825/tide-of-iron

[The Larch]

Fuck that eurofamilygerman bullshit.

They're ready to cut their teeth on Tide of Iron

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22825/tide-of-iron

Yeah, a whole life of buying games and never playing them with anyone is ahead of them, and you shouldn't keep them from it!

[CountDeMoney]

Fuck that eurofamilygerman bullshit.

They're ready to cut their teeth on Tide of Iron

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22825/tide-of-iron

Yeah, a whole life of buying games and never playing them with anyone is ahead of them, and you shouldn't keep them from it!

Blah, blah, blah.  Don't make me get Marty to tackle you.

[The Larch]

Fuck that eurofamilygerman bullshit.

They're ready to cut their teeth on Tide of Iron

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22825/tide-of-iron

Yeah, a whole life of buying games and never playing them with anyone is ahead of them, and you shouldn't keep them from it!

Blah, blah, blah.  Don't make me get Marty to tackle you.

Face it, German games have a clear advantage against traditional wargames: You can actually get other people to play them. 

[Delirium]

Face it, German games have a clear advantage against traditional wargames: You can actually get people who aren't real gamers to play them. 

I fixed your post for you.

I'm with Money here. Not that many of the suggestions aren't well and good, but I think you limit yourselves to just the old wooden block games. I know a guy who plays Conflict of Heroes and Wings of War ceaselessly with his sons.

[The Larch]

Face it, German games have a clear advantage against traditional wargames: You can actually get people who aren't real gamers to play them. 

I fixed your post for you.

I'm with Money here. Not that many of the suggestions aren't well and good, but I think you limit yourselves to just the old wooden block games. I know a guy who plays Conflict of Heroes and Wings of War ceaselessly with his sons.

The bottom line is that to play games you need other people. Hard core grognards are few and far between, and largely speaking a dying breed. My experience in my gaming group is that you can only get 3-4 committed people to play a wargame (World in Flames is our drug of choice in that case), thus you need to trick or fool new people almost every time, which normally don't come back because the game is too complex, and the logistics for playing are considerable, mainly regarding commitments for playing time. A German game has the considerable advantages of being able to gather more than enough people at almost any given time.

[frunk]

Why should I care if someone is a "real gamer" as long as they are playing games that aren't Monopoly or Life?

There's a lot of different games out there, and I enjoy a number of them.  I've faded out of the harder core wargames partly due to a lack of interest, being tired of dealing with fiddly rules that make me wonder if I've played the last 4 hours right or not.  I think I've lost the desire for simulation at that level as a gaming goal.  To me it's more about interesting dynamics between the game and the players.  With that as a goal wargames are a bigger timesink than sitting down for an easier to learn but still rich game.

[Syt]

I find I can occasionally goad friends into playing Arkham Horror, but them not being versed in the Lovecraftian lore makes them often go, "WTF is this stuff??"

[The Larch]

I find I can occasionally goad friends into playing Arkham Horror, but them not being versed in the Lovecraftian lore makes them often go, "WTF is this stuff??"

In our gaming group "Ticket to Ride" is the most successful game amongst the light gamer demographic, most importantly among the gamer-girlfriend subsector. A sample dialogue could go like this:

Gamer A: "What if we play some boardgame?"
Gamer B: "Sweet, which one can we play?"
Gamer B's girlfriend: "You're going to start yet another game? I thought we would be home by now!"
Gamer B: "Don't worry dear, it'll be just a short game"
Gamer B's girlfriend: "Yeah, you said that last weekend and we ended up going home at 3 in the morning! No way you're staying this time!"
Gamer A: "We can play Ticket to Ride..."
Gamer B's girlfriend: "Oooh, may I join?"