boardgames

I can’t recommend enough to write your own rule summary. Write it once, and reorganize it as much as you can with the goal to teach it in a fluent way. Teaching also means giving few components to players when you explain them, simulate actions physically (When you say I draw a card, you draw a card, When you say I push ressource A token here, you push the token, etc.).

With heavy games, players expect the owner to be a teacher. Not everyone is good at this. The owner role is to ensure peoples don’t spend a bad time with the game. Teaching the rules in a engaging way is part of owner responsibility.

This is how I take it. I have few heavy game but I try to learn rules and learn to teach rules as much as I can so players feel confident after first turn.

I completed Gloomhaven. It was a MONUMENTAL undertaking, required diligent organization and a dedicated table that was never used for anything else. You also need a bachelor's degree in the rulebook (or just get comfortable with house rules that fill in)

I'm 15% of the way through the expansion (Frosthaven) and am utterly exhausted. There's so much to do and so many opportunities to put something back wrong and now my draw pile somehow has the discards in it. Fuck.

But it was a glorious journey. Gloomhaven added a welcome interface layer that classic DnD was missing for me. And the combat system is so colorful! That said, the game basically demands a companion app for tracking health. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but immensely rewarding.

Something I've always found difficult about these large games is getting the rules across to the others. My regular group are all gamers - we've all dabbled in the bigger games and can parse dense rulebooks. But the onus always falls on one of us to learn the rules and try to teach the others. I've sent "How to Play Oath" videos to countless prospective players who see the 30 minutes runtime and give up on the idea. Those that didn't watch the video said the game only started to click after 4 plays. Which is a hilarious amount of Oath.

I related to this article a lot. It’s the same sentiment of this classic Family Guy clip: The game is Euchre (YouTube Link)

I like the idea of everyone sitting around a table, effortlessly playing a game and having a great time—but adult friendships are tough. When you get to hang out for an hour here, two hours there, every few-to-several weeks or months, investing an hour or more into learning the rules of a game that may or may not be fun is a tall order.

I think there are enough tabletop games in the hobbiest game space for everyone. That means there's a very wide range of games from the simplistic to the complicated. I think if expectations are not kept in check, it can be easy to bite off more than one can chew.

Moreover, everyone's going to find different things complicated. I've been in this hobby for decades. I don't find Gloomhaven particularly complicated. I very much enjoy hex and chit war games. But god damn, I cannot wrap my head around Oath. There's just something about it in which the rules don't click for me.

One of the first things I do when considering a new purchase is head over to BGG and read some reviews. If it looks up my alley, then I'll give the game a go.

I've come to the same realization with regard to campaign games like Gloomhaven, as well as any board game that takes more than about 3 hours to complete, like Twilight Imperium or War of the Ring.

I enjoy these games and admire their epic scope, but the stamina and commitment required to complete them is too much for me and my middle-aged group. Congratulations to those who can manage it.

We play almost exclusively euro-style games, and the sweet spot for us is about 2 hours, plus or minus 30 minutes.

I play in several groups of people with very different backgrounds of experience and willingness top deep dive rules.

My main game is mansion of madness. Not the most complex one, but already several hours long with some crucial rules. The game does not need a dedicated game master as that part is done by an app. But the game pieces, cards are physical objects.

I did two things to improve the game experience for every one.

First, the organization of all cards, objects, board material. I have put every thing in labeled boxes. The card are grouped by type and alphabetical sorted . This really really helped a lot to speed the game up. And often there are only marginal waiting times to find things. So the players are way more focussed on the game.

Second, I adapted my play style a little bit. As it is my game, I'm often the Referee and solve ruling question. So I can confirm that often by owning the game you often are the unofficial game leader or game master.

But if I play in a group with experienced players, I can get them involved. As I have everything in boxes, i can easily say: you are in charge of these kind of items and place the box in front of them. Another player for this kind of tokens. For each other player it is only one type of material with it's rules. But for me I can remove several parts of the rules from my responsibility.

If I play with a group nearly completely with first time players, I sometimes don't play with them, instead completely focus on the role of game master. It works for me with this game, as it is very interesting to see how my friends behave in problem solving situations or how they solve the puzzles. And in this case I can focus on explaining the rules to them. Check on their train of thoughts. And with this "training", after the second game the other people are fit to overtake simple tasks.

I’ve made this realization with multiplayer-only games, but I play solo and have been slowly getting into the big box games I have lying around, it would take forever trying to complete that shit with friends. I learned awhile ago that it’s just too much of a hassle trying to get people together for a regular boardgame night, it’s just not in the cards for me. I play in a weekly rpg/d&d game, but there’s a never a chance in our group to pull people away from rpgs.

First thing I needed to do though was give up on getting anything new, so I’ve almost completely cut myself off from any new kickstarters, I don’t need anything else to add to the pile.

Glory to Rome doesn't belong here, it's a small card game and not at all hard to get on the table. It has the opposite problem, a lot of people would love to play it but it's impossible to get a copy these days (unless you print it yourself).