So, who else is a builder?
Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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I found out I'm a builder when it comes to board games. I want to build things. I find it very frustrating to play a game and leave nothing behind. I want to create things and shape the maps.
I don't mind difficult games, but I can't stand games that destroy what I've built. Understanding this has brought some light into why I like or dislike certain games. This GeekList takes a look at some of my favourites and some recent games I've found lacking.
Feel free to add to the list if you have something to contribute to the idea.
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Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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Let's start with a look at some of my favourites. I love Age of Steam. It's an unforgiving game where success is hard to achieve - but at the same time you're building stuff, creating routes. No matter what happens, at least you've done a network of railroads and even if you lose, you can be proud of what you've created.
Same goes with 18xx. You don't necessarily own the companies you develop the whole game and all the track is common, but I just love seeing the networks that are created during the game. It's very pleasing, and most certainly one of the reasons I like all these train games so much.
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Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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Antiquity is another tough game - but once again, it's about building things. You get to take over the landscape, fill it with industry (and leave pollution behind). Sure, you may lose what you've built if you have to build graves, but I can live with that. One needs some challenge, after all.
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3.
Board Game: Go
[Average Rating:7.77 Overall Rank:41]
Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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Go is a builder's game as well (Chess is a warrior's game, or at least more than Go). Stones that lose their liberties are removed from the board, but still, the general idea of the game is to build chains and formations.
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4.
Board Game: Mhing
[Average Rating:6.60 Overall Rank:1379]
Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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Even something like Mhing (a commercial card game version of Mahjong) has building, as players build sets of cards to win.
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Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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Another recent favourite of mine, another building game. Let's add San Juan, Puerto Rico, Agricola... you get the drift. Perhaps it's time to look at some games I don't like.
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6.
Board Game: Cuba
[Average Rating:7.30 Overall Rank:162]
Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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What's this doing here? At first look Cuba looks like a builder game. That it certainly is, definitely a builder game and not a warrior game. But it's not enough for me. The game is short and the buildings are all pretty equal: there's no "get this building first and then you can get this more impressive building next" effect. On the sixth round, you're still almost as helpless as in the beginning. I don't get enough sense of achievement out of this game.
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7.
Board Game: Shogun
[Average Rating:7.70 Overall Rank:42]
Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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I played Shogun yesterday. It's a fine game, if you can stand the chaos. However, it's also a fine example of a warrior's game. Sure, you can build things, but if you do, someone's going to come after them. In our game I built a castle on the first turn and later on the same season, an enemy attacked, the battle was undecided and the castle I built was undone. Not cool.
The whole game is all just tug of war, you win a province from someone and then lose another province. Nothing lasts for long.
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Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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In the Year of Dragon is another fine example of a frustrating game. It's difficult, but in a wrong way. Instead of making progress hard, the game directly attacks your holdings: your characters are killed in various ways, leading to rotting buildings. Sorry, but I just don't enjoy that. I can see the game's pretty clever and solid, but I don't like it.
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Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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1960 is a well-respected game and mechanically quite worthwhile. I do like these card games with cards that have multiple uses and all that. But still this one leaves me... well, not cold, but lukewarm, and that's because this is no builder game. You can amass popularity, but your opponent can take all that away. You can play for several rounds and end up exactly where you began from. Not cool!
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10.
Board Game: Antike
[Average Rating:7.21 Overall Rank:226]
Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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Antike is a curious beast. It's another war game, basically, as players can directly attack each other to conquer cities and burn temples. However, I like Antike. Perhaps it's because the combat is fairly subtle - often more a threat than actual violence. Most of the time there's fairly little fighting. That, and the swift turns. Oh, I like those swift turns.
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Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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Let's have another positive example. Through the Ages has war and conflict, but I just adore the way it has been abstracted. You don't need a map full of marching warriors to do a good civilization game.
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Wade
United States
Pueblo
Colorado
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one of the best in terms of simplicity yet with enough strategy that most gamers will enjoy a play. Few can compare to the "built enviornment" you are left with after the game
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Greg Jones
United States
Washington
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Good heavyish Euro for the builders. Has that feeling where you're always one or two actions short of everything you want to do by the end of the round.
You can lose buildings in this one, but on balance more buildings go up than come down.
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Greg Jones
United States
Washington
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Another route builder. This one's cool because it's so tactical, you can't plan at the beginning of the game exactly what your route will look like by the end. It's fun at the end of the game to look at the completed subway lines and be surprised how they turned out.
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Greg Jones
United States
Washington
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Another route builder. Also surprising how it turns out in the end. In this one, you can't predict how the routes will look, because no one person controls them.
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16.
Board Game: Pueblo
[Average Rating:6.89 Overall Rank:490]
Mark Salzwedel
United States
New York
New York
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I like 3D games, so I traded for this one. This is one of a whole bunch of games in which you literally build, so it's likely to be a long geeklist. It's a pretty light game, but it should appeal to your building instinct.
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17.
Board Game: Attika
[Average Rating:7.08 Overall Rank:252]
Greg Jones
United States
Washington
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Build buildings, and build the board.
Buildings can't be taken away once built.
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Mark Salzwedel
United States
New York
New York
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This one allows you to build . . . buildings! Not terribly complex, but has that construction thing going on.
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Greg Jones
United States
Washington
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Hmm, you literally actually build in this game, and even the board expands somewhat randomly. And you certainly can lose what you have. However, you can build abstract structures, some of which can eventually become indestructable or nearly so. I think this is analogous to Go. No stone is inherently safe, but you can build structures such that any attempt to surround that stone would be instantly countermanded. Another analogy is a beaver dam. A beaver piles up sticks in fast-moving water. Some of them get washed away. Sometimes even whole arrangements of them get washed away with only a few remaining in disarray. But eventually it's possible to arrange them in such away that they remain permanently. That is a very satisfying building result.
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Wade
United States
Pueblo
Colorado
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Another hour or less, nice building game with a brillant "feel" to it.
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Wade
United States
Pueblo
Colorado
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Another hour or less building game with a nice mechanic. Some say dry, I like it for a change of pace. I generally prefer building cities, countries, districts and this is more abstract, but its still a decent game.
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Greg Jones
United States
Washington
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Perhaps it's a set-collection game at heart, but for me this is also the best tile-matching building game. I have more fun with trying to build a nice wall than with just the set collecting. There are two constraints to consider with building. You want to get a long wall, but you also need to keep your non-walled areas open. Otherwise, you might get shut out of building a tile because you have no legal place to place it, even though you could totally afford it (maybe even with exact change). Poor construction can cause you to lose the set-collection battle.
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23.
Board Game: Java
[Average Rating:7.08 Overall Rank:307]
Richard S
United States
Rensselaer
New York
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I don't have the same requirement to build that you do, but if I did I would play this game more often. No matter who wins or loses, you end up with a darn impressive landscape after the fact. Mexica and Tikal also fit, but Java is my favorite.
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Greg Jones
United States
Washington
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Another good tile-matching building game. The tile-matching rules are less strict than in Alhambra. You can place a wall against a door. There just must be some open door to the room. Also rearrangement is less costly. Whereas moving a tile in Alhambra uses two valuable turns, renovating in Vegas Showdown often only means you lose one point you could have got for publicity, and you can move two. Likewise placing a tile you couldn't place initially is cheaper. In Alhambra, it costs one turn. In Vegas Showdown, you can do it for free when you do publicity. So in Vegas Showdown, it's rare that I don't bid on a tile because I don't have a place to place it, until late in the game when most of my casino is full.
On the other hand, there are bonuses for placing buildings certain ways, and that can affect my decisions.
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25.
Board Game: Taluva
[Average Rating:7.14 Overall Rank:242]
Greg Jones
United States
Washington
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Java reminded me of this. It's another one where you build the landscape and buildings on it. I'm not that fond of it, but I have no logical reason for that. It has the sense of building to connect and block that Go and Attika do. It should appeal to people who like building and who like high conflict with minimal luck or chaos.
Buildings can be destroyed, but you still get credit for them. Depending on the situation, you may or more not want your building destroyed.
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Posted Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:27 pm
Washington
Sydney
NSW