Tabletop for Two

While hosting a game night once or twice a week is ideally the best way to share your enthusiasm for tabletop games, sometimes we just end up having a little game night with just the two of us.  Sometimes that’s by choice, and sometimes our friends’ equally busy schedules conflict, so occasionally a regular game night will get put on a hiatus.  After we started having more and more game nights alone, we decided to build up our collection of two-player games.  There are many games that we own that we have fun just playing as a two-player game, like Eldritch Horror or Pandemic, but we like having a collection of games that are perfectly balanced for two players.  Here are some of the two-player only games we recommend for those nights you’d rather not play an eight-player TI3.

Rivals for Catan

Yep, just like it sounds, this the Catan experience distilled for only two players. While it doesn’t completely capture the essence of hating your friends for not trading with you, mechanically it still comes very close. Two players attempt to build linear colonies of roads, settlements, and cities amounting to 10 points. It differs in that you can add improvements to your settlements and cities to increase the amount of resources you get from the die roll, or increase your military might or trading prowess for the bonus points they afford. When you don’t have the 4 (or 6) players required for a game of Catan, this is a wonderful substitute worthy of the Catan name.

Hive

Hive is another perfect example of a game that is relatively simple to learn, but increasingly complex tactically. Two players have duplicate, hexagonal tiles of differing colors, each with unique abilities based on the insect embossed upon it. The object of Hive is to encircle the opposing player’s Queen Bee piece, with the chief limitation being that the integrity of Hive is always maintained. And by that, I mean that each piece must be in contact with at least one other piece. Moreover, each player must play their Queen Bee to the board by at least their third action.Chess would be the most apt comparison, although there isn’t a board for Hive – the pieces make up an everchanging, fluid play area.

Twilight Struggle

We’ve mentioned Twilight Struggle in multiple posts at this point as a game we highly recommend you play, and we’re going to mention it again because, frankly, it’s just that good. Twilight Struggle is a card-driven, area control game replicating the heavy tension between the American and Soviet forces (and their allies) during the Cold War. Players vie over political influence for control of countries to increase their score – a score on a linear track that ebbs and flows from one player to the other and back again. All the while the DEFCON lowers to a game-ending 1 if players get too greedy militarily. You wouldn’t expect playing cards and moving pieces on a board could be so stressful.

Memoir ’44

Memoir ’44 is a card-driven, area control, combat game with some dice-infused luck. It utilizes scenario setups to replicate historical battles from the varying fronts WWII, from Pegasus Bridge to the Normandy landings. Gameplay progresses by playing a card and activating any units of yours on the field that meet that card’s criteria. Generally, cards will activate a set amount of units either of a particular type or a set number of units residing in a particular region (the board is divided into the left and right flanks and the center). Units can, unless otherwise specified, either move twice, move and fight, or just fight. Fighting involves rolling a number of dice based on how far away the opposing, targeted unit is. Overall, Memoir ’44 is simple and not terribly deep, but by no means not fun. If the game has a detractor, it would be the set up time required to create the scenarios you play.

Pixel Tactics

Pixel Tactics is an 8-bit themed, card-driven strategy combat game, that feels a little like the tower defense genre of computer games. Both players utilize duplicate decks of double-sided cards, one side featuring a unique Leader and the other featuring a supporter. The players each select a Leader to place in the center of their 3×3 grid of a playing area. After-which, players alternate playing supporting characters around their Leader to empower their field and/or attack the opposing field. Last Leader alive wins. Gameplay is straight-forward, and replayability is immense as every card is unique, you’ll likely never see the same Leader twice. Admittedly, I’ve only played Pixel Tactics once, but it seems perfectly acceptable and enjoyable for the $10 price tag.

Netrunner

While still eclipsed by Magic: the Gathering, this Richard Garfield gem is swiftly rising in popularity. Netrunner is very unique in the strategy card game realm for offering strong asymmetric play. Set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future, one player represents the self-serving Corporation and the other plays as the rebellious hacker called a Runner. The Corp player’s goals are to accrue 7 agenda points or to outlast the Runner’s card pool while the Runner needs to hack the Corp and steal those same agendas for points. The cards represent servers and and firewalls for the Corp player, and malicious programs for the Runner. After playing Magic, Netrunner has been a breath of fresh air thematically, mechanically, and for the wallet – Fantasy Flight Games’ LCG model is far more affordable than the collectible, randomized packs Wizards of the Coast offers with Magic.

So, we’ve touched on several games for two players that we own and/or have played a few times. As the gift-giving season swiftly approaches, it seems only fitting to mention a few games for two that we have our eyes on. Jaipur, an economic card game of trading and set collection with an Indian theme (and by that I mean the country India as opposed to the indigenous peoples of North America). It sits atop a few lists of good two player games we’ve come across, and so it sits atop our list of games to acquire at some soon but as of yet undetermined time.

Asante and Jambo both piqued my interest as a returned Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia. These two games feature trading, set collection, and economics not unlike Jaipur. What sets them apart for me, if you haven’t put the pieces together yet, is the African marketplace theme they share. I squealed with delight after finding out they existed and stated rather matter-of-factually that we were going to get one or both of them. Our combined kitchen/living room already has several tokens of memorabilia from my second home in Africa, why not our game collection too?

Cam was a little surprised to hear that I recommend we give Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small a try after my vociferous reaction to regular Agricola. But considering A:ACBaS focuses mainly on the animal husbandry aspects of farming for points and removed the bits about sowing and harvesting grain and carrots which seemed to irritate me so, I suppose it’s no surprise.

I’m sure we’ll be receiving some of the two-player games we have on our wishlist during the upcoming holiday season.  I look forward to giving them a try and writing reviews of them.  If you’ve played them, let us know what you think.  Are there any other two-player only games that you’ve tried and highly recommend?

Board Games for History Buffs

One of the great things about board games is that they can be educational. Basic strategy is often the foremost of skills you increase your knowledge of – learning to anticipate your opponents moves, setting yourself up for later moves, and the generalities of board control. However, board games can take you far beyond this, helping you learn vocabulary or math with the mass market Scrabble or lesser known Paperback. While a lot of games benefit from imagination and creativity, a few like Dixit or the more abstracted Rory’s Story Cubes feature these in the forefront. The majority of games utilize competition, but many focus on teamwork and cooperation such as Pandemic or Flashpoint. Cam and I enjoy a wide variety of games, but I must say that we most enjoy board games that focus on a particular historical event or period.  I consider myself an eternal student of history, so I love diving into a board game that is also going to teach me a history lesson.  Geography is also one of my favorite subjects, and most history board games focus on a regional or world map from that era.

We’ve already reviewed a couple of our favorites, including Twilight Struggle and Memoir ’44.  Twilight Struggle is, hands down, my favorite game.  It is a two-player strategy game based on the events of the Cold War.  One player is the USA and the other is the USSR.  It’s a brilliant card-driven game that has consistently been the #1 ranked game at Board Game Geek.  Not only does it accurately portray the events of the Cold War, it also does a pretty good job of mimicking the tension between two political ideologies.  While players are competing against each other for influence all over the world, a bit of realistic cooperation must be obtained while watching the DEF-CON status.  When each player makes an aggressive move, such as a coup or realignment in a country, the DEF-CON status moves down.  If it were to reach zero, nuclear war ensues, the game is over and both players lose.  One of my favorite things about it is how it is somewhat realistically unbalanced.  In the early war cards, USSR definitely has an advantage, and in the late war cards, the advantage tilts towards the USA.  Overall, I think it’s a great teaching tool for the era and a must-have for history buffs and gamers alike.

Memoir ’44 is also a two player game, Allies vs. Axis during World War II.  It is a war game designed to emulate specific battles during 1944.  Like Twilight Struggle, it attempts to be realistic and some of the missions seem a bit unbalanced to portray each battle as it happened in history. Setting up a game can take a while (laying terrain, villages, soldiers) as each mission is set up to depict a battle from history you choose out of the scenario book.  Game play isn’t very long, so it is possible to play the mission multiple times.  It’s a fairly simple game for someone wanting to get started playing war games.  It involves a mix of strategy and luck based on cards drawn and played.  The mechanics are fairly simple and you don’t have to constantly keep track of multiple war theaters or variables like you do when playing Twilight Struggle.  I would definitely suggest it as a first wargame.

1775: Rebellion

Another great game is 1775: Rebellion.  Players of the American Continental Army and Patriots against the British Army and the Loyalists.  The game can be played with between 2-4 players in teams, and the game ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.  1775: Rebellion was published by Academy Games, a publisher that focuses on historical board games.  Their games generally blend your typical wargame with political influence games.  Like most historical games, you don’t have to know a lot about the American Revolution to enjoy it, but it does give detailed write-ups so you can understand the social and political context.

If you don’t feel like competing with your friends, you can also try a different Academy Games’ offering, Freedom: The Underground Railroad.  This is a cooperative game about slavery in the American South during the early to mid 19th century.  Players take on the roles of Abolitionists attempting to free slaves through the Underground Railroad and into Canada.  Again, it comes with excellent write-ups and a teacher’s guide so you can learn/teach about a controversial time in America’s history.  Instead of battling through a war game with your friends, you can work together.  It’s still tense as you attempt to avoid slave catchers.

If you’re not in the mood for a lengthy game, but more in the mood for some easy trivial knowledge, Timeline might be more up your alley.  Timeline is a simple card that can include up to 8 players.  Each player is given two cards with a picture of an invention on each.  One card is randomly drawn from the deck and placed in the middle of the table as the first card in the timeline.  During each player’s turn, he/she must decide where in the timeline does the invention go?  When was it invented?  In the beginning, it’s fairly simple to determine that fire was invented before the light bulb.  Once a player’s card is placed on the timeline, it is flipped over to reveal the year of the invention.  Once several cards are played, it becomes a bit more difficult to estimate whether the fax machine was invented before or after the photocopier.  There are several versions of the game, from Timeline: Inventions to Diversity, Discoveries, Music and Cinema.  We’ve only played Inventions, but I dream of a day where I can really test my historical knowledge and play several decks at once.

There are historical board games designed for all major world events, from ancient to modern.  They are designed for all levels and ages as well.  While I realize this list only scratches the surface of historical board games, I wanted to highlight a sample across different historical eras and types of games.  These are the ones we are most familiar with, but hopefully our shelf will be filled with more historical games as our collection grows.  Are there any other historical games you’ve played that you recommend we add to our collection?

Reliving History with Memoir ’44

Sadly, game night was put an a small hiatus.  Cam and I usually take the time to play a two-player game when we end up spending the night in.  For a while, Twilight Struggle was our go-to game of choice.  It’s a lot of fun, but it takes a long time to get through all three phases.  It’s also pretty intense.

Instead of going straight for Twilight Struggle, Cam informed me that Memoir ’44 is also exclusively a two-player game.  Still a fair bit of strategy is needed, but it’s also dependent on luck of the cards drawn.  It was casual and not intense.  Game play was fairly quick, and not complicated at all.

The game centers around actual battles of WWII from 1944.  Published in 2004 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the game brings to life multiple battlegrounds from the European theater.  Players can choose which scenario they want to play–from Omaha Beach to the Liberation of Paris.

We decided on a less complex scenario–Pegasus Bridge.  I was Allied and he played as Axis.  A downside to this game is that set up almost as long as actually playing.  Each scenario has a specific set up, involving building the terrain where the battle took place and setting up the Allied and Axis military in their initial locations.  An unique feature of the game is that it attempts to portray the battles as historically realistic as possible.  For example, in Pegasus Bridge, Allied had a huge advantage.  Allied troops were air dropped in and the Axis were caught by surprise.  So, in the game, the Allied player has more infantry troops on the ground and has the advantage of more cards in their hand.  At first, I thought this seems terribly unbalanced and unfair; however it’s nice to play a game that tries to portray history and war as accurately as possible.

The objective of the game is points based, with the total number required for victory varying with each map. Oftentimes, maps will have additional point objectives such as taking and holding specific locations, but in general eliminating an enemy unit will net you a point. Players make moves and battle using cards that control how many and which units (of infantry, armor, or artillery) can be used.  The units are either made up of four infantry soldiers, 2 artillery guns, or 3 tanks.  The board is divided into flanks of left, center, right.  For example, a player may play a card in their hand that allows them to activate 2 units in the left flank.  When activating a unit, a player may move two spaces or move up to one space and battle an opposing unit.  If a player chooses to battle, he or she rolls dice to determine whether a hit is made and how many hits that unit will take.  A player will roll a certain number of dice depending on how far away the unit they are targeting is and whether there are any obstacles in the way, such as sandbags.  Once a unit is destroyed the player gains a victory point.

Overall, we enjoyed it.  The long setup is a bit of a downside for me, but the more casual game play makes up for it.  I also really enjoyed the historical significance.  It’s a unique game that should definitely be in the collection of a war or history buff.  Furthermore, it’s another two-player game that we can enjoy when we feel like having the night to ourselves and not the company of a big crowd. A huge plus for me is that it was already on our shelf and we didn’t have to buy another game for us to play.