IIf you enjoy Carcassonne a lot, you might try a couple of expansions - Inn & cathedrals adds a bit of zing and that you can mess up your opponent more directly. It is a good expansion that doen's change the rules much.
Another expansion that I'd recommend is Traders & Builders - it adds some complexity to Carc, which I think is a welcome thing. Both these expansions make the base game longer unless you remove some of the regular tiles from th ebase game so that you;re still playing with the same approximate number of tiles. I'dstay away from the princess & the Dragon expansion though. And the Count didn't do anything for us either - that one works better with several players, and even then, it was very unintuitive. You could also try the Tower expansion, if you want to introduce some real nastiness to your gameplay. I wouldn;t play that one with my spouse though... As to Settlers, well it's not really my cup of tea so I'm not the best judge. I like it better with the Cities and Knights expansion which adds some complexity to the game. Unfortuantely it also adds length to the game, which I don;t like... For new games on the lighter side, you might consider Yspahan. It's a great tactical game with some light strategy, and has a boatload of dice, a bunch of camels, souks and caravans, gold coins, and lot os little wooden resource cubes. This game integrates several mechanics and mutliple paths to victory, and involves both resource management and area control. Very cool game with components that visually attractive. A very accessible game that also allows a few few strategic decisions, and many meaningful and interesting tactical decision points. There's luck here too, but not as much as you'd imagine because of the way the dice are allocated as tactical choices for all players after you've thrown them all. For us, Yspahan was a great next step up. Puerto Rico is a great strategic game that is surprisingly accessible to new players. You can enjoy it right out of the box, so to speak, but you can also really grow into it too. The use of roles is ingenious, since you can play it tactically and/or strategically. An interesting game to play. We found Tigris & Euphrates very very dry and repetitive with not enough sense of progression - we never felt like we were really getting anywhere and din't really care. But there are tones of people who really dig T&E.. I think this game would be a big jump from the ones you;re currently playing though. Lost Cities was so lightweight, we couldn;t think of any reason to bother playing it. But again lots of people love this simple card game. Same with Incan Gold. You might want to consider Traders of Carthage or San Juan for light card games, They both have enough complexity to keep them interesting with a high replay value. San Juan is a light caqrd-based version of Puerto Rico and uses roles like Puerto Rico. Traders of Carthage is basically a set collection game, but a far more interesting one, in our opinion than Lost Cities. Arkham Horrow is a long and involved reg'ish game that you need a commitment to. People either dig it or really dislike it, in my experience. And even my firends who like it a lot don;t lay it that often because of the game length. A lighter rpg'ish euro that we like is Return of the Heroes, which is shorter, more accessible, and also less dark in theme. It has a good sense of progression, like you're getting somewhere and you care about that. To make the game evn shorter, you could also try the Grail expansion for it, in which the players are in the Arthurian legend searching for the Holy Grail. This theme is even less dark and actually shortens the game, unlike most expansions. You could also try Lord of the Rings (the one published in 2000 - there are a couple of games with the same name by the same creator). It's a cooperative game in which all the players are united in trying to destroy the ring and defeating Sauron. It is literally one for all, and all for the ring bearer to complete her mission. This is a game where you may choose to have your character die in order for the ring bearer to survive. There are no losers unless the ring bearer fails in his mission (the role of ring bearer moves from player to player in th game). Very cool mechanics and is like no other game I've ever played. It has a slight rpg'ish feel to it. Stone Age is another good game that would be a step up from what you're currently playing. There's quite a lot of luck in this one though, and that turns some people off. But it is a good tactical game with some light stretegy. This games invloves resource management and production, and worker placement with a couple of different paths to victory. For a real meaty game, we love Caylus, and have found it very accessible, as you can play this game tactically, as well as very very strategically. As long as both players are at about the same skill level or into discussing why they're doing what they've chosen, it's a great game. This is the premiere worker placement and resource management game, in my book, with multiple paths to victory, and lots of interesting tactical and strategic decision points. I love the components and theme. You;re bascially playing a medieval real estate developer. There is also a lighter version card-based version of Caylus called Caylus Magna Carta. Agricola doesn't seem to me to be a good game for a relaive newcomer. We found it tense and dry. But I'm sure there are lots of people who feel otherwise. We like games with a broad variety of themes and mecahnics, from lgiht to heavyweight. The ones that most stand out and have stood the test many many replays are: 1. Caylus 2. Yspahan 3. Gloria Mundi (a great race game with resource management. Has a hilarious decline of civilization theme. We play with house rules to ramp up the game faster.) 4. Carcassonne anf the Traders & Builders and the Inns & Cathedrals expansions 5. Vinci (out of print and hard to find - a fine area control game with a light civilization theme) 6. Domaine (a good area enclosure game. Rather abstract, but there's enough complexity to keep me interested.) 7. Lord of the Rings 8. San Juan - Puerto Rico lite 9. Puerto rico 10. Traders of Carthage - still new but we like playing it quite a bit when we're looking for something light 11. Stone Age - also quite new, but we've been happily giing it a lot of plays 12. Return of the Heroes 13. Cleopatra & the Society of Architects (a light strategy game with great plastics bits, You're building Cleo's palace. The corruption mechani give much greater weight to the decision points. This game really needs 3 players though, as the corruption mechanic doesn;t work with only 2 players. Ther are other games we play too, but they're a lot heavier than these... On Feb 2, 2:00 pm, LessPaul <[email protected]> wrote: > I am new to the world of German/Euro games. So far my world consists > of the "big 3" gateway games: Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and > Settlers of Catan. > > As I look toward widening my options, I see two possibilities -- > Carcassonne and Catan expansions, or entirely new games such as: > > Puerto Rico > Mystery of the Abbey > Tigris & Euphrates > Incan Gold > Arkham Horror > Lost Cities > Memoir ’44 > > Any sage words of advice? Thanks! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BGG Down" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/BGG_down?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
