Good Fantasy Flight games?

[Chainsaw]

What are the good Fantasy Flight games that you've played? I have an old Arkam Horror game that I never really played and recently someone recommended DOOM. The games look beautiful in general and I've always thought it would be great if they were also fun.

[Philotomy Jurament]

Let's see, we have:

• Arkham Horror (and expansions): Probably our most-played boardgame. I like it a lot, although it can go on for too long, sometimes. Kinda a classic "Ameritrash" board game with lots of cards, bits, et cetera.
• Eldritch Horror: Basically a simpler version of Arkham Horror. A little more streamlined and easier to play, probably shorter, on average. Despite these good attributes, we tend to play AH, instead, but I think that's mainly because of our familiarity with AH and its rules.
• Game of Thrones Board Game: We have the first edition. We've only played this a couple times. Seemed pretty good, but I have a hard time getting other family members to play it. It's a strategy game with player elimination, etc.
• BattleLore: We have the first edition. This is a 2-player command & colors war game. If you like the command & colors system, you'll like this. It has fantasy elements, but I tend to prefer playing it without those (i.e., fighting HYW-era battles with just historical units). Nice bits/minis. (I've used those with other wargame systems, too.)
• Hey, That's My Fish: A lite, fast-playing strategy game that's appropriate for younger players, too. This used to get more table time when my kids were younger, but it's been a while since we've played it. It's fun, but lightweight.
• Runebound: This is a RPG-as-board-game, kinda like Arkham Horror or Heroquest or Magic Realm, etc. It's okay, I guess, but doesn't get much play time. I'd rather just play D&D.
• Lord of the Rings: A co-op game. We used to play this quite a bit, but haven't pulled it off the shelf in a while. Was fun. Always seemed a little weird and abstract, to me. (I have fond memories of playing I.C.E.'s Fellowship of the Ring back in the 80s, and prefer that game -- although I don't own it and haven't played it in decades, so my evaluation of it might change if I were to play it again, today.)
• War of the Ring: An action point two player wargame. It's a decent game, but I haven't it played it much. Big game and takes some time. I have the first edition.
• Ugg-Tect: A quirky and fun game. This one is great with kids, or adults with adult beverages. The idea is that you're cavemen trying to build monuments out of wooden blocks. There are two teams, each led by an "ugg-tect" leader who is the only member who knows the plans. The ugg-tect has to communicate the design to his team using a limited vocabulary of grunts and gestures. He also has an inflatable club to knock members if they're doing shit wrong. Silly and hilarious. Highly recommended.
• Android: Netrunner: My wife picked this up. I haven't played it, but she plays it with my eldest son, and my eldest nephew is also a big fan of the game. It's a two-player card game. It gets quite a bit of play. I guess I should try this, sometime.
• Chaos in the Old World: Three to four player strategy game with a Warhammer universe theme. You play a Chaos God trying to conquer the Old World. This one gets some table time, and is fun. I like playing Nurgle the Plaguelord.

[thedungeondelver]

We played a marathon session of Descent: Journeys In The Dark one day, but I found it to be very "meh". Too complex to scratch my Dungeon! itch, too simple to scratch my D&D itch.

[Flambeaux]

We played a marathon session of Descent: Journeys In The Dark one day, but I found it to be very "meh". Too complex to scratch my Dungeon! itch, too simple to scratch my D&D itch.

This was my experience of both Descent and Runebound. Set-up time and space needed were so great, I'd rather play a pick-up game of D&D.
We, too, have the 1st edition of Game of Thrones but I'd rather play Kingmaker.
Didn't care for Arkham Horror.

The only one I've played repeatedly that I did enjoy was the Lord of the Rings game that Philotomy mentioned. Some friends of ours owned a copy and we used to play frequently before we all had kids.

Now that I reflect on it, they make gorgeous games that I don't enjoy playing. Take that FWIW. My games from GMT and my old Avalon Hill collection get played. But the Fantasy Flight don't.

[Philotomy Jurament]

This was my experience of both Descent and Runebound. Set-up time and space needed were so great, I'd rather play a pick-up game of D&D....Didn't care for Arkham Horror.

Most of the "rpg-as-board-game" games that I play get that reaction from me: I'd rather play an actual RPG. That's true of most of them that I've tried (e.g., Runebound, Talisman, Descent, Hero Quest, et cetera). For some reason, I find Arkham Horror an exception to that rule. I don't know why.

Have you tried BattleLore? I recall you liking the Command & Colors system.

[Wheggi]

We were at a friends house and we played a LotR board game where we were on the quest to destroy the ring. There were different game boards that we progressed through, and supposedly it's tough to beat but I guess we got lucky. It was fun, but nothing I'd make a steady diet of. Is this the LotR game you guys are talking about?

- Wheggi

[Philotomy Jurament]

Yes, that sounds like it.

[Wheggi]

Yeah that was it.

- Wheggi

[Welleran]

My take:
Arkham Horror -- great game, my local groups go-to game for many years now. It never gets old as every game is different. The expansions are generally very good.
Lord of the Rings -- ok but it got a little old
Runebound -- pretty fun and one I play once in s while
Descent -- didn't really do it for me but it's ok-ish
Twilight Imperium -- one of my favorite all time games however it is a slog to play through it with 12+ hours needed to give it full justice. However, if that does daunt you it's awesome (note I've always played with both large expansions).

[rogatny]

I've played the War of the Rings game. It's huge and complex and fun and takes forever.

I own, but have never played, the Game of Thrones game. It looks huge and complex and like it will take forever.

Unfortunately, I don't really have a group of people to play those games with on a relatively frequent basis.

Talisman (not a Fantasy Flight Game), however, I have gotten to play pretty frequently. I've found it really scratches that, "I want a slightly more complex version of Dungeon!" itch.

[Falconer]

Arkham Horror is nice. On the one hand, it’s like a longer, more complex, and more flavorful version of Pandemic. On the other hand, it’s a great way to get people interested in RPGs, especially, of course, Call of Cthulhu. It’s a lot of fun in its own right. Doesn’t get played that much just because there’s a TON of setup and a TON of rules and you never really get to do all the RPG-like stuff you want to do because you’re racing the clock like Pandemic. Says its for 1-8 players, but 4 is the sweet spot. (REALLY bad with many more players, IMO, because then it’s everyone playing a solo game and having to wait forever between turns.)

War of the Ring is my favorite board game of all time. I’ve been playing about once a month since about 2006, always always always the four-player rules. It’s epic, raucous, strategic, thematic, I mean it’s everything. We play the First Edition game with the Twilight of the Third Age expansion (I have the Collector’s Edition, which includes both). The only game that I love as much as D&D.

Star Wars: Rebellion is a new one which is basically WotR in space. It doesn’t quite attain the perfection of WotR, and unlike WotR the 4-player rules aren’t great (it’s fundamentally 2-player, which is a bummer because I almost never have 2-player game nights), but I like it. If you want to build space ships and capture each other’s planets, it makes for a fun night.

Now for some non-FFG games, but still big box Ameritrash board games:

Mage Knight Board Game – my friend picked this up, and I was skeptical (I’m biased against RPG-like board games, because, why not just play a RPG), but, it actually hits a pretty sweet spot. The world generates as you explore it, and you conquer castles, buy stuff from monasteries (or sack the monasteries), gain followers and spells and fight stuff. Pretty neat!

Railways of the World – the ultimate train game.

Mare Nostrum – the best 2-hour civilization-building game I have come across. We have long played the beautiful first edition, though it has a reputation of being imbalanced, but that has never stopped us from enjoying the hell out of it. In fact, we’re playing it tonight. There is a new edition out called Mare Nostrum: Empires which looks Ameritrashy as hell, and changed a ton of rules and all the components are different, but, supposedly it’s better? Also it seems to have a lot of mythological elements added, which changes the feel entirely, but could be cool in its own right.

[Juju EyeBall]

I've got Battle Lore as well. I recall that working through the scenarios gradually added the more complex rules and units so the learning curve was very nice. Haven't played it in a while though.

[Matthew]

Battle Star Galactica was a lot of fun for us. Also, Citadels and Death Angel are good short games.

[Welleran]

I completely forgot Game of Thrones. That's a fun one, more or less a complicated version of Diplomacy with some interesting mechanics. Just for fun, I painted miniatures for that one to use instead of the wooden blocks. Pretty cool, though the map can get crowded.

[DungeonMonkey]

I don't think I've played a Fantasy Flight game that I did not like.

Battlestar Galactica is a lot of fun, and one of the shorter games of those mentioned in this thread (two to three hours maybe, assuming you are not using any of the supplements). It's generally cooperative, but there are one or more cylons hiding in your midst. So lots of intrigue and deception at the table.

Game of Thrones is very good. Longer unless someone self-destructs, and there's a lot of opportunities for backstabbing. For some groups that works well; that dynamic is not good in some groups of players though. (It's very like Diplomacy in that respect.)

Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror are probably my favorites. They capture the mythos flavor very well and are entirely cooperative. They have supplements galore to keep the game fresh, but the base games contain plenty to keep players busy for a good while.

Twilight Imperium is one of the most impressive games I've played. Problem is that it requires a lot of players, they need to have a good grasp of the rules (inexperienced players throw the balance off unless they are sophisticated wargamers), and it takes forever to play. Someone upthread said 12+ hours and that's dead on. (Edit: Like Welleran, I have only played it with both supplements. Maybe the base game plays shorter?)