Board Game Day at the Case House

[Case]

On 9/30 (that's a Saturday), I'm having a board game day at my house, which is in Sunnyvale, CA.

Bay Area QT3'ers are welcome. (Hey, so is any other QT3'er if you happen to be in the Bay Area on that day). I know it's a bit of a hike for people in the east and north bay, but it is Saturday.

PM me if you're interested, and I'll forward directions. I plan on starting around noon and going until midnight or so.

I've got room for 3-4 simultaneous sessions, if that many people actually show up.

Games on tap:

Caylus
Twilight Imperium, 3rd Ed.
Rage of Dracula
Arkham Horror
Settlers of Cataan
Thurns und Taxis
Heroscape
Prince of the City (White Wolf)
Dreamblade (I have two starter packs)
Axis and Allies Miniatures
Star Wars Miniatures
Ticket to Ride: Marklin
Zombies (plus numerous expansions)

[Warren]

<contemplates moving to CA>

Anyone know of any board games groups around the suburbs of Chicago? West, NW and North suburbs in particular?

[Lorini]

That's funny, I'm having a board games day in So. California (Pasadena), the same day. If you are from So. California and are interested, pm me. Same types of games as the Sunnyvale one too.

Lorini

PS. Here is the link to my games:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewcollection.php3?username=&dir=&orderby=&startletter=&own=1&rated=both&comment=both&trade=both&want=both&wishlist=both&rating=&includetags=&search=&minyear=&maxyear=&B1=Load

[charmtrap]

I saw the Arkham Horror at the game store and being a Lovecraft nerd was curious about it. Any good?

[Rywill]

My impression (only having played a few times) is that you really need the right number of players to make it balanced. It's interesting because the play mechanic is everyone-against-the-monsters, with set rules for how the monsters appear, move, etc. But if you have too few people, there's just no reasonable way to win, because monsters and interdimensional gates appear too fast for you to keep up with. I think the magic number was around 5-6 players, but I could be remembering wrong.

[Case]

I saw the Arkham Horror at the game store and being a Lovecraft nerd was curious about it. Any good?

Somewhat complex, but good with the right crowd. (People who don't know Lovecraft or Call of Cthulhu tend to be baffled.)

Think of it as a really simplified Call of Cthulhu game with pregenerated characters, with the rules/game acting as the GM.

[jeffd]

Rywill's basically right. Playing with only a few players means you are just hopelessly outclassed - you just can't close gates quickly enough to keep up.

Playing with too many players I'd imagine makes it a cakewalk. I think 5-6 is about right as well; it lets you have some real strategy beyond "everyone jump through gates as fast as possible and hope for the best"

[charmtrap]

That's too bad cause it sounds cool. I don't think I have enough geeky friends to get 5-6 people to play it at any one time. I may pick it up anyway to add to the collection.

[MatthewF]

Crazy, I just moved from Sunnyvale (to Florida!) a month ago.

[Odysseus]

That's too bad cause it sounds cool. I don't think I have enough geeky friends to get 5-6 people to play it at any one time. I may pick it up anyway to add to the collection.
It's fine with 2, just use 2 characters each.

Here (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/70828/page/1) is a variant that flips the pacing around so it's slow in the beginning and frantic at the end, which helps a lot with fewer players. It also fixes a horribly broken situation in the standard rules where you cannot possibly lose, but still have to play the game for 2 more hours to really win.

[Brooski]

Anyone know of any board games groups around the suburbs of Chicago? West, NW and North suburbs in particular?
http://boardgames.meetup.com/44/?gj=sj10

[Shieldwolf]

Bunch of us in West L.A. if anyone ever wants to play on the weekends give me a call or shoot an email. We play almost every sunday.

randyc.bookman@verizon.net

[Warren]

Cool! Thanks, Brooski!

[Jason McMaster]

I wish I could come over. I just finished writing an article about Arkham Horror. It's a great game, but you really need to play it while reading the rules first. It's a great game with a GOD AWFUL rule book. Also check out Board Game Geek for any errata (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/15987)