yeah, the starter is nit worth it. Numenera TSA is going for 10 EUR around here (Germany) and even sets of the first base game and two expansions for 25 together, didn’t know it is already into insane prices in the US. Yikes. No, for that price, better…

I’ve seen quite a bunch of sales for **Thunderstone Advance** going, especially the Numenera srt, that could be an option for you. Deck buikder with items to buy, heroes to level up, monsters to slay and a decent solo option. The nimenera box is self c…

If it us picked up by a german publisher, it could be my skirmish game of choice – its theme will go over much better than any other with the people I play with. And it us just plain cute.

Still a favorite of me, packs nicely in a double deck box if you just take a base box and plays fast and with low footprint. I like to play on my android, too. I actually like the art, especially the first boxes – maybe I am weird 😉

by TheGargoyle
Hilarious. Only on BGG the designer can ask for his booth at Spiel and actually get a reply with the booth number 😀

We regularily play through **Legends of Andor** with a group of 4, but I played with just my wife inbetween, too, just to get her up to speed on the details of the rules. It scales astonishingly well to two players. Another one we play with everything …

Well, I stretch “civ style game” a bit into the outskirts of the meaning, ok? 😉 **Golden Ages** is one that really sits smack in the middle of the definition, but doesn’t take a full weekend to play but really can be finished in 2 hours. Have only played it once as a solo game, but that was already in the 2 hour mark, so am quite confident that it would fit. And even with just that one play I really fell in love with it, because it has super smooth rules and turns, but gives an astonishing amount of flavor. So if you use a narrow definition where you expect some world building and map components, this would be my choice. In a slightly “looser” way, **Tiny Epic Kingdom** fits here, too. And with 3+ this could be a big contender for the number one, although I think that even after my first play of Golden Ages, that one blows TEK out of the water even for 3+ players (where TEK really shines). But TEK has the big benefit of being the only civ builder I know of where you can fight it out in 30 minutes, 60 tops. And it packs well to bring with you on travels. But only with 3+ players, with 2P it’s only so-so. If you open up a bit and accept some more leeway with the definition, for example ditching the actual map and board, my choice would be **Progress: Evolution of Technology**, because it concentrates on the one aspect I always love about civ builders: the tech tree. It’s essentially “tech tree, the game”. I really, really love this one. My wife likes it, too, so it actually gets some plays. Along above lines of definition, I would throw in **Eminent Domain**, too. I really like it, because it has the “following” mechanism. And it has deck building. And it has a great tech selection. And it is science fiction. And it doesn’t get played, because my wife doesn’t like science fiction. But it has some other downsides, too, mostly that a) the tech tree isn’t a tree, there are no dependencies, it’s just techs with costs you grab and b) it can sometimes feel a bit slow while playing. Especially the start. I really like it, but it definitely would have to take second place to Progress. So, yeah, at the moment it would be **Progress**, but I can easily see **Golden Ages** taking over after some more plays, it feels that great.

Tiny Epic Kingdoms indeed is fun and quick, but really not that light – there is a much more “complete” feeling in the game, giving it more of a medium weight. It is very tight – as soon as one of you reaches his win condition, it’s done, and that can happen quickly – maxing out magic, building your tower or get all your meeple on the board isn’t something that takes you forever, but since each action allows opponents to follow that action or to harvest ressources, with building up counter-actions, you have to do quite a bit of planning on every single step. It really is tiny and epic, not tiny and light 😉 The two player game is a bit different from the 3+ game, because you play with neutral dummy meeples that live on an island between you two. This really changes the game flow quite a bit, because direct interaction with the other player has to go through the neutral island first, working as a bulwark for your opponent. This can result in TEK feeling a bit slogging if you play it 2P after playing 3+. It’s an ok game with 2P, but nothing I would explicitely go for with 2P, there are better games for that. But with 3+ it is a hoot.

well, I am happy I have my preorder for Essen in 🙂

by TheGargoyle
Well, after a bit back and forth, they did deliver everything on their german Spieleschmiede funding of Athlas: Duel for Divinity. And when some problems arose with the deliveries including english instead of german components for som…

Even though I still have my copy of Mage Knight sitting on the shelve, unplayed, due to time constraints, I think if you lead your suggestions with “fluff matters more than gameplay”, you probably shouldn’t suggest it here, as it is probably much too heavy compared to OPs list of games for reference and probably a beast with anything above 2 players. I mean, you suggest Mage Knight to someone enjoying Munchkin. I don’t know how two games could be more on polar opposites than those two 😉

**Rune Age** could be a nice one, it is a deck builder in the Terrinoth world, which you already know from Descent 2E. But it gives you quite different factions to play and gives you multiple ways to play the game – fully coop, 1-vs-many, multiplayer s…

I went with **Xenoshyft: Onslaught** recently, because it really gives me the Starship Troopers feel. Slaying bugs for the company! I don’t mind the smaller card pool and the fact that the hive stacks are mostly the same, I am sure there will be an expansion out before I get bored of it. The main factor that drove me to it was that it is a “dominion variant” deck builder with a preconstructed (but in part randomly selected) buying area, so it is a bit more strategic, but has the same “buy into your hand and use immediately” mechanic that **Shadowrun: Crossfire** has (another one of my favorite deck builders). In a way to me it feels like a coop mix of Shadowrun: Crossfire and Thunderstone Advance with a Starship Troopers theme put on. I didn’t really like **Shadowrift** that much myself, when I tried it, because it felt like the game fell flat around mid-game where you either lose horribly, or notice that you are on a winning streak, but still have to go several rounds to go through the motions of winning. It’s a bit of a bummer, because losses feel epic in that game, but wins don’t. There is a moment in your game where you know that from then on you are safe to win and only really uber-dumb play could turn it around still. Which means that the game becomes a drag after that point. All this from pure solo perspectives, as both Shadowrun: Crossfire and Shadowrift I only ever played solo (and Xenoshyft so far only on the app in solo mode – waiting for my paper copy to arrive in a few days).

I love civ games, but many of them are in the category of uber-heavy euro designs with ridiculous long play times and required table space beyond what is available at my home. So I opted for something others might just count as medium euro, but for me …

by TheGargoyle
Does anyone know the booth number for Fragor Games for Spiel 2015? Would make it easier to collect my preorder if I knew upfront where to collect it. Not that I run around like a panicked gnome, looking for mushrooms …