The BGG best player count is currently based on a single vote. Looking at the rule book less than 4 works by having players control multiple characters. So as long as you are ok with that it should play the same at all player counts.
donio
joined 1 year ago
Keeping it under Lost Expedition complexity narrows it down quite a bit. Focusing on the small deck solitaire/patience aspect Puzzle Dungeon and For Northwood come to mind. Both are great at what they do but they might have the type of storytelling you are looking for. Also, while it's playable with a standard deck Regicide is worth checking out too, it's as thematic as a standard deck of cards can get. There is a custom deck available for it too (cosmetic only, no change to the gameplay).
Here is my take. There 3 types of options:
Web based services that fully implement and enforce rules for their games
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Boardgamearena - the best selection in this category by far. These days games are added much faster than normal players will be able to keep up with so there is always plenty to explore. Very large player base, for popular games you will find matches quickly. Good match-making and lots of play modes: real-time, turn-based (with customizable time allowances), Arena, Tournaments. Generally high quality implementations that tend to stay visually true to the physical version of the game. Many games have good tutorials. The premium subscription is not strictly required but an excellent value if you use the site a lot. BGA has been invaluable in my boardgame journey. It has allowed me to learn and try hundreds of games and I must have bought at least 50 physical games based primarily on my BGA experience. Too many favorites to list.
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Yucata.de - moves slower but over the years it has built up a decent repertoire and it has some real gems that you won't find elsewhere. Primarily for turn-based play (unless you find a group of people who commits to quick turns). The UI is a bit quirky but after getting used to it I like a lot of things about it. In my opinion Yucata has the best undo and replay/review implementation out there. My favorites here are Grand Austria Hotel, Newton, Mottainai, Taverns of Tiefenthal, Lorenzo Il Magnifico. Rajas of the Ganges (and Rajas Dice), Targi, Fields of Arle. Yucata has "sold" me a bunch of games too.
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triqqy.com, happymeeple.com, brettspielwelt.de, rally-the-troops.com, boiteajeux.net, warchestonline.com are some other sites that I visit for specific games. These have smaller player bases but worth checking out to see if they have one of your favorites.
Virtual tabletops that don't enforce the rules
- Tabletop Simulator is a desktop app that's available for purchase on Steam. As the name suggests this is a physics based 3d tabletop that allows you to play a huge number of games thanks to a passionate community that implements and provides these via the Steam workshop. You will find just about everything here. The main downside (to some) is that game rules are not implemented or enforced. It's primarily a 3d simulation of the phyisical components. Many games implement some level of assistance using the built-in Lua support, for example they might automate setup or have a button for end-of-round cleanup. But generally it's up to the players to follow and enforce the rules of the game. I don't play a lot on TTS but I use it all the time to get a feel for a game or its components.
- Tabletopia is a web-based alternative to TTS with the same caveats. Smaller selection of games and less flexible UI, smaller (and less involved) community. Some games can be played for free, others require a subscription.
- virtualtabletop.io - is an open-source reimplementation of playingcards.io. You can think of it as a 2d version of TTS. I like this approach a lot, especially for card games or abstract stuff where the physics simulation and fancy graphics wouldn't add much. Relatively small but passionate community.
- Vassal engine - a Java based open-source desktop app. Lots of modules and a passionate community. Worth checking out especially if you are into wargaming.
Apps that fully implement the rules
There are a lot of apps out there, some for mobile, some for desktop (many available on Steam). Most require a purchase. The quality of implementations vary greatly. Some support online multiplayer, some don't or there is no playerbase. Some have nice snappy implementations, others have very poor UIs or go the other extreme and create an overly fancy UI that is too removed from the physical game. This is generally my least favorite option, I will almost always prefer a good BGA or Yucata implementation over an app. There are a few exceptions: Ascension, One Deck Dungeon, Onirim, Sagrada and Paperback are some where I like the app version a lot.
For anyone looking for legit games with ratlings First Rat is excellent. The upcoming Rats of Wistar looks neat too.
Meadow with the Downstream expansion - I like the new river track a lot, adds a race element to the game and the new rules are simple and integrate well. It does make the game slightly longer since each player gets one more action every round. Base Meadow is great on its own but the expansion is worth checking out for anyone who enjoys the game. Fitting it all into the base box with the insert is slightly awkward but doable.
Project L - simple polyomino engine building with excellent production. A comfort game for us that I am always happy to play.
Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade - we like it and I am looking forward to trying the other tables but I kinda wish there was just a little less rolling and writing. Very thematic but feels a bit too granular at times.
I am currently learning Maracaibo, hoping to try that soon.
Mine:
- A couple of very cheap sectioned trays. Shallow enough to make grabbing tokens easy and enough sections to organize them. We use these for pretty much every game with tokens.
- A side-table to help deal with table hogs.
- A couple of those foldable dice trays. I don't actually use them for dice but as a flexible funnel when bagging things.
- Notepad, pencils, eraser
- An empty tea tin. I use this for some games where you frequently draw items from a bag because it's a lot faster.
The great thing about Azul is that it works well at all player levels. For beginners it's easy to teach, it has great table presence and you can have a lot of fun playing it completely casually. For experienced players it can turn into a cutthroat duel of probability calculations and mind games.
It's on the heavier side of mid-weight but if you can get past the graphic design it plays fairly smoothly. If you have played other Italian euros then you will see many familiar elements it can just be difficult to mentally map things at first because of the theme and graphic design. This is one of the games that ended up being too thematic at the expense of approachability.
3 plays of Golem. It's been a while so the first game needed a rules refresher but the following two went quite smoothly.
The golem tracks are a neat version of track-based income. Each round you have to distribute a certain amount of forward movement between your golems and their positions after this determine the type of actions they can trigger. They can also get out of control if you are not careful, you have various ways to deal with that.
The game also uses a version of stacked tableau building similar to how it works in Deus (or Lorenzo and Wingspan to some extent). Oh and I love the marble based action selection! It's sort of like a smoother version of Grand Austria Hotel's dice drafting. Overall it's a cool game that is held back a bit by its graphic design.
We also played some Gingerbread House and Knarr, both are smooth comfort games for us.
I like it a lot! We play at two and sometimes use a fan made variant that pre-populates some of spaces with a dummy color. This tightens up the game quite a bit. I love the way the game looks on the table and the tactility of the tiles. This is a game where the production elevates a good game into a great experience. I only wish that the cards were standard size for easier shuffling and handling.
I've been thinking about different ways we could draft at 2p. For example a Biblios style draft where each player draws 3 cards one at a time and has to keep one, give one to the opponent and place one into the bonus area. Or maybe just an open draft where we take turns picking from the current batch of face-up cards.
If anyone has the expansion I'd love to hear you experiences with that, especially at 2.