I've been the last two years. Don't know yet if I'll go this year.

Am sort of tired of this 'train' craze.

You mean like Settlers of Catan/Rails Across America?

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the swag from last year. They gave miniatures for use with Axis & Allies, which I don't really play anymore (who wants dice to determine the outcome?). I don't really want to dump them, but they're just clutter.

I mean like the countless 18XX games, Eurorails, Age of Steam and those types of games. That seems to be the big fad lately, with whole conventions devoted to them.

I mean the concept is great, it's just that when I go to my boardgaming club, it's all anybody plays these days.

And Ticket to Ride is an abomination. I don't get why that game is so popular.

I've been wanting to get into DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis) and wargaming miniatures for a while now. Hopefully I'll be able to in April.

There's a Battlestar Galactica boardgame out there that involves several deck of cards, a lot of dice, a bunch of players, and a convoluted board with a story. I tried to teach a friend to play Diplomacy a few weeks ago at a board-game get-together. She tried it for a turn, decided it was too complicated, and proceeded to go play BG. I wasn't sure whether to be confused or amused.

Best non-diplomacy game: RoboRally

That was a pretty fun game. My personal favorites are Scrabble and Settlers though.

scrabble is a little too random as a result of drawing tiles. you get a bad set of tiles and you can't make a word.

"Best non-diplomacy game: RoboRally"

LOL! +1 Draugnar. That game is hilarious.

Settlers is good, but my favorite is Cosmic Encounters. (Mayfair version, although I hear the new Fantasy Flight version is good too. Just don't waste time on the dumbed down Avalon Hill/Hasbro version.)

Hey Hanged Man, maybe you can ebay the miniatures.

Favorite non-diplo game is Twilight Struggle at the moment.

Risk
Axis and Allies
Settlers
Puerto Rico haha

Killer Bunnies, Ninja Burger and Munchkin are always pretty good too. Risk has some variations that are also fun to play.

Are there any Republic of Rome players here?

I love quick games, but I haven't been able to get into Killer Bunnies. Munchkin, on the other hand, is a blast.

Ooh! Ooh! Talisman.

My kids enjoy all the various ways of eradicating each others' bunnies. Though it can get a bit tied down if you play w/ all the decks and their rules. It can occasionally interrupt the momentum.

"Are there any Republic of Rome players here?"

I have a copy of it, but have never been able to find two friends willing to put the effort into playing it. :-(

I have long wanted to make some kind of online version of it (with some improvements), but have never taken the time to develop the programming skills such a task requires.

@Draugnar
It evens out over a series of games. Aren't you the one who plays poker?

i enjoy the classic boardgames like monopoly, risk, stratego, and scrabble (i never heard of diplomacy before joining here so i still need to find a board game version of this, also i lost half the startego pieces so i need to get a replacement for that as well)

if we include card games in with the boardgames then i play magic the gathering, many forms of poker, and i tried killer bunnies once. killer bunnies confused me at first and i won my first game without really knowing what i was doing but i caught on after a while. i find apples to apples and games similar to that to be very good party games

@peterwiggin - But poker is a game where you can bluff. There is no bluffing, no big stack bullying, no slow-playing, no reading another player to scrabble.

Favorite games:
Dominion
Race for the Galaxy
Agricola
Puerto Rico
Thebes
Le Havre
Diplomacy (That's right - 7th)
Niagara
Memoir 44
Ticket to Ride
RoboRally
@Putin: Why do you call Ticket to Ride an abomination? If you say there's too much luck, you're missing the point. I like it because it's fairly quick. Similar to my top pick, Dominion. No board, all cards. They both have a reasonable amount of thinking without making your head explode and a decent amount of luck. That's what makes them good.
On RoboRally, it's a lot of fun but it takes too long in my experience.

Oh, and poker isn't about fun. It's about making money. I hjave been making more at poker the last 4 weeks than I have at my job before I got let go. 4 weeks in and I'm up $4700. That's almost $1200 per week. I only netted $1000 per week on my job.

pretty good deal if you ask me, get to play poker which is fun and make money which is also fun when and making more than you were at work which is pretty sweet. i cant wait till i can get a job even if im only making minimum wage so that i can start building up a small lump of cash to start playing poker with.

Remember, there is always risk at poker. There is no risk at working for a living. I'd just as soon get back to work and go back to playing poker for fun and spending money than depending on it to pay the mortgage and car payments.

yeah, i understand what you mean but how you said it before made it sound so good lol. even if i end up losing the initial lump sum of cash (which will most likely be between $200-$1000 when i do start) then that lets me know that i cant do what your doing and make money off it and would just stop. thats where alot of people run into trouble because they get that high from the possibility of making a quick buck and end up spending alot more on it then they planned.

Don't start big. I started playing 3-6 limit for $50 a game. When I was consistently making money at that, I started playing 1-3 no-limit for $100. Now, when I just want to relax I play 1-2 NL for $200 (max buy-in), when I want to make some money, back to 1-3 for $500 (max buy-in) and lately 2-5 for $1000 (max buy-in). But I took years to get comfortable with the amount I spend. If you aren't comfortable with bigger bets and calls, don't play the game. Nerves will give you away. Instead play smaller stakes.

If you want to play no-limit, start with 1-2 if you have a casino near you that offers it. Buy-in is usually $60-$200, so you aren't risking much. When I started, the casinos only offered 1-3 ($100-$300 at that time) so I waited till I was comfortable with 3-6 limit before moving to no limit, but even then I lost $100 several times before I got the feel for reading my opponents and got comfortable with the risk.

Also, you'll notice I said "the amount I spend". you must enter into the game with the idea that your buy-in is already lost and you have to make it back. If you get worried because you are down 25 or 50% of your buy-in, then you'll either go on tilt trying to make it back or play so conservative you are pushed off winning hands.

thanks for the advice, i'll keep that in mind when i do get the money to play =)