Well, I am always interested in reading about people's favourite games, these aren't often the best games ever designed, but are typically games that hold a special place, that hold a fondness due to shared memories and fun. My favourite games aren't the best designed games of all time.

Some of my favourite games include:

Fairy Tale - a great combination making card game that's quick to play and plety of fun.

Neuroshima Hex - A fascinating tile based war game (of a sort) where players build up careful networks of attack and defence. This game has been described as a knife fight in a phone booth and that is not too far wrong - it is great fun and for me at least, always interesting!

Carrom - A flicking dexterity game. I have played Crokinole (which shines with 4), but for me, if I had to own one (which I do) it would be Carrom. Carrom is a game that rewards skill and clever tactics, the square board makes for some fascinting angle shot attempts that are always a pleasure to see and exciting to see come off. This is my favourite dexterity game.

Starfarers of Catan - Yes, maybe not the best designed game ever made, but this one has appeal for me due to the fact it was one of the first euro style games I ever owned. When we were first playing this game we used to gather in an old airforce hanger to play games, the upstairs mezzanine was perfect, with big arm chairs and plenty of tables. With the sounds of Daft Punk pumping loudly we would enjoy rattling our spaceships as we fought off pirates and rescued spaceships of the mysterious 'Travellers'... A great game that I still enjoy playing today.

Well there are four of my favourite games, what are your's?

Cheers,

Giles.

Im not a very experienced gamer so I don't have many games to compare but my faves would be the Ticket to Ride series, Last Night On Earth (I love zombies), Lord of the Rings:The Confrontation and Zooloretto

I like the Ticket to Ride series, to be honest, when I first played TTR I wasn't that impressed, but everyone I have introduced it to has loved it and many have bought their own copies - it has certainly grown on me! Have you played many of the series? What is your favourite? (Mine is plain TTR - though I haven't played any of the others so that may be why!! )

If you enjoy Zooloretto, have you played Aquaretto? My wife loves both because of the cute animals (she usually tried to collect the baby animals, and despite being hooked on this seems to win rather consistently ).

I haven't played Last Night on the Earth, but I do enjoy Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation!

Cheers,

Giles.

Six favourites:

Favourite multi-player: Dune by Eberle, Kittredge and Olotka / Avalon Hill. Still the greatest for me. The perfect blend of strategy and player interaction. The theme vividly evokes the books. The opportunity for clever play abounds. Let down by rules that are vague on key points.

Favourite wargame: Rommel in the Desert by Besinque / Columbia Games. Manages to fit great strategy into a game that has < 20 pieces in some scenarios. Revolutionary in many ways: really captures tempo as the essence of warfare. The month-end refit rules are a let down.

Crazy Fun: Diceland Space by Goettsch & Ernest / CheapAss. Throw giant paper dice, each representing a space combat ship, in an attempt to knock over / trap / or line up a shot on your opponent's ships. There's strategy, there's throwing skill and there is plain chutzpah! Downsides are it is hard to store and no-one takes it seriously enough.

Favourite Communication Game: Barbarossa by Teuber / ASS. Set your own riddles in clay. I love the creativity here of setting a challenge that is intriguing enough to attract attempts, but not so easy it is guessed straight away. Some of my favourite sculptures (by friends - as modesty requires are "evolution", "gravity" and "croque en bouche"... Downsides are not being able to spell "croque en bouche"

Favourite Euro: Tigris & Euphrates by Knizia / Hans im Gluck. This game is superb: it packs so much thought and fun into a relatively short and great looking package. I love the way the board is so dynamic where terrible catastrophes can completely obliterate empires that once threatened to rule the known world. The luck here doesn't worry me: it adds to the drama.

Favourite Game I wish I played more & better: Go or Wei Chi. This is a game that has an elemental quality. In the same way that Newtown and Keppler inferred the laws of gravity, the originators of this game must have discovered it more than invented it. It has a beautiful early phase with a very intuitive quality to the play which then gets resolved by a lot of down and dirty knife fights. Downsides: awakens a certain desire for a beautiful board and stones that the wallet and frequency of play can't satisfy.

Well as I share much of my gaming with Giles our tastes are somewhat similar. I too love Carrom, Neuroshima Hex! and Fairy Tale.

I also enjoy playing Make 'n' Break, although it is best played with kids as it makes the game loads more raucous and crazy.

Another favourite is Condottiere. I love the gambling, and risk involved in it, the subtle strategies and the blatant one and I love how such a simple game can have such individual playing styles, do you attack early, do you wait for a couple of turns, do you battle for attrition, or do you throw everything at one player because they are about to win. It really is a great game.

Yeah - I love Condottiere!! Awesome game!

I also really enjoy Starfarers of Catan - with Daft Punk's Steam Logic or Robot Rock blaring in the background it is a truly fun time!!

Another old favourite I was thinking about today is Faidutti's Castle - I loved that game!! We need to get it out more often!!

Next time we organise a game weekend we should make it an 'old favourites' weekend!!

Speaking of Faidutti - I like the look of Red November! Gnomes getting plastered on a sinking submarine??? What a theme

Cheers,

Giles.