Lost Treasures of the Eurogames Reclamation Project

Oh man, Sidibaba looks very cool. I've had it for several months and have brought it to game nights looking to play, but we never have enough or the moment isn't right. Most reviews echo Bull's comments, but I'm determined to make it work.

Witch's Brew is being reprinted by uplay in Italian but with less language dependencies than the German version, with all the expansions included (as per TOS).

It's an amzing game. Time Well Spent actually has some German copies.

Mike, what about Vikings? That's a great middle-weight Euro. I'd also suggest Maori. I really like that one.

It's been a long time since I've played it, but Vikings was one of my bad Eurogame epiphanies. Playing it, I thought "I might be in the wrong genre." I remember very little about the experience, just that I thought it was really dry and geometric.

Michael Barnes wrote: Jambo is Rudiger Dorn? How did I miss that? I think it's the only Dorn game I like!

What about Traders of Genoa?

Wiraqocha
Carson City
Der Pate - never came out in N.A. so it might not qualify(?)

Top Race is older than the date range specified, but the 2008 Pegaus Spiele version is awfully pretty.

Union Pacifc - although that might fall into the original ERP.

Stephenson's Rocket - it had a good rep way back when, but I've only played it once. It's a little too complicated to get it with just one play. Or I could have just been too dumb to get it all with one play.

RobertB wrote:
Stephenson's Rocket - it had a good rep way back when, but I've only played it once. It's a little too complicated to get it with just one play. Or I could have just been too dumb to get it all with one play.

SR is basically Knizia's take on Acquire. I like it a lot but I think it is difficult to "grok" - especially as the majority of points are in the track mergers that create the end game conditions, whilst acquiring goods by connecting cities at the beginning works out to be no more than low point scoring busy work (though it does act as a way of getting the tracks started.) Not being available in an English version hasn't helped. There's no randomness involved too, making it one of the drier games of a fairly dry designer. I still think it's very clever - using share auctions to control the path of the track - it's probably a game that needs more play to get truly competitive at.

Witch's Brew was a good game that I made a healthy profit on because we really like Citadels a lot better. Citadels works as a family game, but Witch's Brew turns the corner with more moving parts, several different currencies, more guesswork, and less deduction. The rules aren't difficult by any means, but Citadels feels cleaner. Witch's Brew gives each player their own hand of cards to choose from (like Mission: Red Planet) but you get all your cards back every turn. It's less fun to try and deduce what other players are going to do in Witch's Brew than in Citadels, and the different currencies you use to make potions really don't add an extra level of fun over the single currency in Citadels.

Zooloretto is good too, but another one we sold because I prefer the spacial aspect of the players' zoos in Aquaretto. Zooloretto is only slightly more game than Coloretto, and Aquaretto is only slightly more game than Zooloretto. Aquaretto feels like the most complete design.

Fire & Axe, also known as Viking Fury, is pretty great. I have the Ragnar Bros Viking Fury, the original game, which only has slight differences from Fire & Axe. It's the only pick up and deliver game I like.

La Citta was good, but a lot of eurogamers I played it with hated it. It's deceptively cut-throat. I've been called some pretty foul names while playing La Citta, but I won most of the time. People get mad when what looks to be a pleasant eurogame turns vicious. Mad Dog is right: Needs player elimination.

Wildlife wasn't great. It had kind of a neat area control mechanic, but so do a thousand other games. Unless you're really into the theme there are other games that are more rewarding.

I hate In the Shadow of the Emperor. I can't tell if Jeff is being serious about comparing it to Blood Royale or Fief. Eyebrows have been raised and Concern is at Level Orange.

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In addition to recommending Aquaretto and Viking Fury / Fire & Axe above:

Traders of Genoa: Get the smaller Alea version if you can. There's no reason to get the huge box "Genoa" version other than it being more readily available. Not a heads-down eurogame, although it looks like one. It might be one of the better negotiation games out there, but the thing is that nobody plays it well the first few plays. The best strategy is not to try to maximize every deal in your favor, but to take a piece of as many deals as possible so that you're making a modest amount of money often instead of a lot of money rarely. The short number of turns seems to put people into "get money now" mode when they play the game the first couple times.

Bison: I said this in the What Games are you Playing thread, but Bison is what I wanted Carcassonne with expansions to be. It's better than Carcassonne with expansions, but a pretty different game than Carcassonne itself, which is a weird place to be. Basically you control regions with Natives, Teepees, and/or Canoes. The kicker is there are multiple scoring rounds, you can move your stuff, and you can upgrade your stuff. It lends itself better to diplomacy and alliances if your group is into that type of thing. Fantastic theme and artwork, and the theme makes logical sense for the most part. Definitely overlooked.

Workshop of the World: I don't really know how to describe this one, other than it's a great streamlined middle-weight game set in Industrial Revolution era Britain. It looks a little bit like Brass, but definitely isn't. Each player has a public and a hidden town "destination" that will yield money (points). Players build networks of Canals in the first phase and Railroads in the second phase, with a complete reset in-between. It's an auction game but not one where you should go broke and struggle if you're not a dolt. The Ragnar Bros website description is as good as any.

Lastly, and very recently, Ground Floor was a Kickstarter euro with a modern theme that's maintained a spot on our shelf. Definitely worth checking out if you're into worker placement with player interaction and limited predictability that thematically makes sense and isn't medieval.

Who's got some opinions on O Zoo le Mio?

Also Queen's Games had that run of games in Alhambra size boxes as well as one size up but I haven't seen any mentioned. Highland Clans, Airships, Metro, Lucky Loop...I know nothing about any of them but Metro which I've heard is pretty good and just got reprinted. I think most come from the era of dry-Euros and I don't think there are any hidden gems, but worth asking I suppose.

Definitely want Union Pacific, but it's another one of those damn expensive ones. I played it long ago and really liked it.

Fire & Axe is freaking awesome. All the silly hemming and hawing becuse you don't have viking ships attacking each other or raiders fighting...so dumb, because it's not ABOUT that. It's about looting and pillaging with a side of trade. The Asmodee version looks fabulous, and I'm glad that my group actually talked me out of selling it because now I'd just be in the hunt for it again. Definitely a game that should have gone over better here than it did.

Der Pate is great too...I kind of don't regret trading it though, because it didn't feel like it would last beyond 5-6 plays. It was also one of those that fell in that hazy area between family game and middleweight Euro. But it's REALLY cool...I mean, it's the Godfather board game!

Stephenson's Rocket was one of those oddball Knizia games that some people just flipped over and others didn't get...I'd love to check it out. You know a great Knizia from this time that nobody paid attnetion to- Rheinlander. It's another of his Acquire-style games, but it's on a linear track instead of a grid. Pretty cool.

I think that line of Queen games you're talking about was mostly duds. Metro, I actually don't really care much for. I do really like Alhambra though. I have never played with any of the expansions but they look pretty interesting.

I forgot (conveniently) that Genoa was also Dorn. So is Emerald, which I liked. Damn it. I guess I should stop hating on him based primarily on Goa, which is in fact really fucking terrible.

Michael Barnes wrote: Definitely want Union Pacific, but it's another one of those damn expensive ones. I played it long ago and really liked it.

Don't forget Airlines Europe, which is essentially the same game but tweaked. I'm sure it's available for a lot less than UP.

VonTush wrote: Queen's Games had that run of games in Alhambra size boxes...

Airships is decent if you like building your stuff with dice rolls in a short timeframe. I'd take it over Kingsburg and games like that any day.