Your Ideal Board Game

I don't know what it is, but I know it wouldn't cost more than $40 and probably be designed by Reiner Knizia.

Heroquest on the floor of my best friends room, with both of our brothers.

Figure out how to make a game that makes me feel like that again, and I'm all in.

I played a 3 hour game of Relic with my best friend on Saturday just futzing around and I felt like that a bit.

Well, I would wager most of my "ideal board games" already exist in some form. But there's a game I would like to see: A dudes on a map or area control game (Think Chaos in the Old World, Dune, Liberté) with development and building.

I actually tried to design it, for fun, but I've come to realize it's a fool's errand. The reason is that, simply, the building and development wouldn't add anything that couldn't be replicated by assymetric factions, scenarios or a highly textured map. In other words, the more I thought about how the game should be like, the closer I got to Dune. I think I've said this before, but I feel that if you polish this kind of game enough, you are bound to end up with something like Dune. Or, even worse, something like Indonesia or an 18XX.

I think it's like balancing a cone over its tip. It's technically possible and it would be amazing if someone manages to do it, but chances are that the balance will be off and they'll end up making a whole different kind of game.
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EDIT: What I can really think of are expansions or tweaks I would like to see for existing games.

Dexterity game with unique character powers, lots of weapons to upgrade, a branching campaign mode, and a solid but simple AI system.
-OR-
A worker placement game with lots of dice chucking, direct fighting, and a seedy setting.

In other words, SEAL Team Flix and Hoodrats.

RobertB wrote: @Mark - you need to start playing WoW, in a raiding guild. That'll take care of dealing with lots of people (lots of them annoying as hell) and the familiarization with death. Old fart like you*, you'll be prime officer material.

As for the subject, civ builder with some fighting, in 2 hours or less, with time at the end to run the fancy civ you built a little bit. And a pony.

*I'm an old fart too.

FTFY

RobertB wrote: @cranberries - you need to start playing WoW, in a raiding guild. That'll take care of dealing with lots of people (lots of them annoying as hell) and the familiarization with death. Old fart like you*, you'll be prime officer material.

As for the subject, civ builder with some fighting, in 2 hours or less, with time at the end to run the fancy civ you built a little bit. And a pony.

*I'm an old fart too.

I feel like Clash of Cultures is basically what you're looking for.

Stonecutter wrote:

I feel like Clash of Cultures is basically what you're looking for.

I've played 4-player three times, and they all came in around 3-4 hours. Aside from that, sure.

Wow. Hotseat, Dave Roswell, and I played this at GenCon (origins?) and it was like 2 hours max. I played 2p with Roswell and it took perhaps 1.5.

It was Origins. It was my only time playing, and I think Dave obliterated me on turn 1.

A civ game in which the designers have an interest in something besides warfare. Achieving Mathematics does something more than just make your artillery units aim better.

The exact city building game I have in mind, which I can't really describe but I 'll know it when I see it.

Something very much like High Frontier but which comes in an easily identifiable box and has working, stable rules.

An expansion for Android.

Shellhead wrote: Have you ever tried One-Page Bulge? Steve Jackson set out to a Battle of the Bulge wargame with rules that are printed on a single page. It was published in 1980.

I haven't, no, but I'm going to check it out now. Thanks for the suggestion.