Board Games I want to try...

[John Grubber]

SO I want to try a new boardgame, and have several choices. All are Dungeon Crawl/Skirmish games, but given the cost (basically $100 a piece for the core games) I am apprehensive and looking for abit of insight from anyone who has tried any of them.

Here are my basic requirements:

1. Visual - Tiles and minis to move around are a must (keeping kiddies engaged).
2. Mechanics- Simple, not too detailed, again to keep the game moving. Not too many cards, or counters etc. again to keep the game moving.
Looking for a gateway mini game to lure in the kids. Not Twilight Imperium....
3. Not Gory - Blood and guts in teh art and minis bothers the kids. I am not a huge fan of it and hope they grow out of it, but its a concern for now.

Here are my Options:

Conan: http://www.monolithedition.com/conan-en/

Super Dungeon Explore: http://sodapopminiatures.com/game-super-dungeon-explore/

Massive Darkness (not out yet): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/massive-darkness

Zombicide Black Plague: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/zombicide-black-plague

ANyone with any thoughts? Thanks

[Hobb]

The miniatures for Super Dungeon Explore looked 'anime' cool. The others were more 'pulp' cool and more gory - much more gory.

When you wrote "Blood and guts in teh art and minis bothers the kids. I am not a huge fan of it and hope they grow out of it, but its a concern for now." Who is suppose to "grow out of it"? Your kids or the game designers who insist on splashing blood over everything...



...and still subscribe to the Todd McFarlane school of art:



?

I think that between us we have the supplies and skills to create our own hand-crafted dungeon crawl - but I understand the value of having it all nicely presented in a box with nice production.

[John Grubber]

I laughed ot loud at the 'outgrowing' comment. I think its sad that these games, which probably could stand on their own, rely on extreme gore and violence in the art. I am a bit more okay with the Conan one, since the material is so often violent. Maybe I am just fed up with the zombie craze too. Super dungeon explore is really cool looking, I wish you could get the hero minis separately, then use monsters we already have.

As far as creating a game, I think you are on the right track. I will post separately about that, I would like your (and any others) opinions about a simple game rules set.

[John Grubber]

On an art note- there is a definite French Comic industry look to Black Death and Massive Darkness- not surprising as i learned today that most of the designers and artists live/work in France, and the games are initially written then translated. They also know/worked wit the Conan people in the past, explaining why there are no zombies in Conan, and similar exclusions in games from the other company.

[Sponsored content]