Boardgames from Games Workshop

[abhorsen950]

Thanks for your input everyone, I've heard to many mixed things about Talisman and Space Hulk, I've got my eyes on some boardgames, not old Games Workshop games though, just wanted to know if you guys played them and what you think and the feedback has been great.

I've got Battle Masters!! Well did  played it to ruin when I was kid, not by the rules but sliding the mini's around.

Thanks again everyone
Steve

[fastolfrus]

If you want detailed reviews of boardgames, we usually look on here before buying anything :

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/?

Other boardgames (non GW) that are worth a look :
Kingmaker, interesting game but can be a bit of a slow finish depending on number of players (doesn't work well with more than 8 players in a pub)
Diplomacy
Buck Rogers battle for the 25th century

[Malamute]

I still have my original copy of Fury of Dracula, which I purchased back in the day and still play it every now and again. Loved it.

We used to play Talisman and Warrior Knights too, but that was a loooong time ago.

[Furt]

Some of my most fondest memories are of playing Talisman as a kid.

We had all the expansions as well, but they kind of ruined it for me.

There was something about that original art that appealed to me so much and they didn't quite capture it again.

[Onebigriver]

I hated Spacehulk because it was so predictable, you could tell from the map who was going to win.

Not my experience I have to say, but I agree that it's all subjective.

[abhorsen950]

Thanks for the input, I'm a big fan of BGG Brilliant site I use it alot, I got my eye on World of Warcraft Adventure Game or Pandemic to come from Father Christmas.

Thanks for the input everyone
Steve

[cram]

Dungeonquest was the first I had, followed by Talisman and its add ons. I played Heroquest and then Advanced Heroquest when it came out, also Space Hulk was a favourite of mine. Spent countless hours playing them and loved every miniute. Still have all these games and more gathering dust in the attic somewhere.

[Photographer]

Space Hulk! It's the most exhilirating game around!

[Welf VIII.]

I would also add the original Mighty Empires to that list. Imho a great game on its own and not just a Warhammer supplement.

I kind of like Talisman as it gives me the chance to play with guys not familiar with miniatures and introduce them to this fantastic world. But I agree that it takes too much time.

Heroquest on the other hand was great to seduce teenagers and children to follow our dark and sinister path of miniature wargaming and role-playing.

Blood Bowl the best game ever. Nuff said.

Space Hulk is a great game. Seems to me like Games Workshop lost a lot of their creative potential when they sacked its inventor Richard Halliwell. BTW: Does anybody know anything about what this genius is doing these days?

[rob_alderman]

Blood Bowl, SPace Hulk, Curse of the Mummies Tomb and Judge Dredd are all excellent little games.

I am a bit of a simpleton, so the easier a game is to set up and play, the better.

[Dolmot]

Of old GW games, Blood Bowl and Space Hulk are widely considered good, easily fitting into BGG top 100. The rest are a mixed bag. There are some ridiculously simple ones like Gobbo's Banquet (what, two pages of rules and still including some obvious holes). The various levels of dungeon crawls were big hits, although their success is better explained by theme and adventure than good design. Every teenager loved Hero Quest back then. There were also some epic conquest games, such as Warrior Knights. The 80s versions often suffered from typical design flaws of the time, including but not limited to "let's skip playtesting and add another D1000 table instead", "let's skip reason and include yet another counter pile / card deck / rules sheet for the promo pic" and "let's make it an epic 12 hour battle, where the outcome is obvious after two hours and the rest is just tedious grinding". Talisman can be a 12 hour grind without epic battles - a bit like Monopoly, only with fewer options to affect the outcome.

Some later FFG re-releases try to overcome these issues by including a German-style VP-element and/or balancing mechanic with mixed results. Nostalgic old geezers are outraged, ignoring the fact that they haven't been able to find time or willing players for the old rules since 1987 for some odd reason. Then again, the VP-heavy versions of these "epic battle games" can be occasionally won by claiming a few objectives and then sitting in a corner for five hours.

The completely new FFG games are typically quite good. They don't have the burden of 80s-style slapstick rules design. GW does better job by just providing the theme, rather than writing the rules.

So, take a look at the 80s games if you like the theme and history, but don't expect any stellar games. Their positive reviews are more often based on nostalgia and golden memories than good design. The new FFG games are at least fair picks, sometimes even good. For really good games, get something completely different. Or the latest fan-made Blood Bowl edition...

(Anything to do with space marines is an instant zero stars from me.)

[Major_Gilbear]

The GW classics that got me started were the old crawler-type games: Space Hulk, Heroquest and Advanced Heroquest. Later on, I also enjoyed Warhammer Quest and Necromunda hugely. (I know that Necromunda isn't really a boardgame, but GW put everything you needed into the starter box, and players only needed about new 8-10 mostly one-piece figs if they wanted a different gang).

The newer incarnations of the older classics that I've tried have been decent enough too - the new FFG Warrior Knights was a big improvement over the original, GW's Space Hulk 3rd Edition is the best version IMO (best balanced too!), and Fury of Dracula was decent (never played the original though).

The big problem with a lot of the old GW boardgames though was that as well as not always being very well balanced, they also took faaar to long to play and revolved around a last player standing = winner goal that made them eternally tedious if you were unlucky enough to get knobbled or knocked out early-ish in the game (as you then spent the next ~3+ hours effectively watching your friends playing a game without you). All the FFG re-dos that I've tried have streamlined the fiddly bits with some neat mechanics and have changed to a concludeable ending with a VP-determined winner. That tends to make the games reasonable to finish in an afternoon, and keeps everyone playing until the end, both of which are real improvements.

BTW: Does anybody know anything about what this genius is doing these days?

He's about on BGG from time to time, but I don't think he's doing well at the moment... I think Life's kicked him in the nuts.  There's a little update from here towards the bottom of the thread.

[Donpimpom]

Talisman, is awesomely great to play with people not used into gaming, I even played it with my mother in law!

it's a lot of nostalgia on these games indeed, most of us enjoyed them when we where novice gamers, so has sense with the veteran point of view they look easy or predictable.
I gather a small collection of them because of their graphics, i really love the look of the GW 80's games

[Driscoles]

Rogue Trooper !
It was a great game when I played it the last time about 20 yrs ago.

[abhorsen950]

Oh good lord!! Sorry everyone, didn't have the slightest clue my threads were still active, my apologies, I haven't been around for to long. Thanks to everyone for the input I will look into there choices.