Board games to buy

[fbmf]

Does anyone know anything of the two PANDEMIC expansions? Is there one I should avoid, or one I should buy before the other?

Game On,
fbmf

[Josh_Kablack]

What do you mean about Dominion having a bunch of fans who are loathsome and delusional? I've never played this game with people I didn't already know before hand.

Here's a nice example: Boardgame Geek reccomendations thread

As a summary, the OP asks "I don't like Dominion, what are other decent deckbuilders?" And while there are a number of helpful responses, there is also a notable chorus of inanity advocating things like:

If you didn't like Dominion, you should play it more.
If you didn't like Dominion, you should buy the expansions.
If you didn't like Dominion, you won't like any other deckbuilder.

Now regardless of your opinion of Dominion or deckbuilders, try substituting any other game for those arguments:

If you didn't like [Game X], you should play it more.
If you didn't like [Game X], you should spend more money on it.
If you didn't like [Game X], you won't like any other game that uses a similar mechanic.

Do you see the issues here? Bear in mind that these are people who think that they are offering helpful advice, and yet they are advocating an individual engaging in and supporting a pastime against his liking as well as close-mindedness.

In my own experiences both on and offline, these sorts of "recommendations" and the absurd views that consider them reasonable advice are entirely too common among Dominon fans, and so I choose to minimize my interactions with them, and were I not opposed to close-mindedness, I would strongly advise others to do likewise.

[Stahlseele]

Does anyone know anything of the two PANDEMIC expansions? Is there one I should avoid, or one I should buy before the other?

Game On,
fbmf

if you don't want it to change from cooperative to one group of players versus one other player, steer clear of the bio-terrorist one.

the other one is just more sickness and more jobs if i remember correctly.

[Morat]

Does anyone know anything of the two PANDEMIC expansions? Is there one I should avoid, or one I should buy before the other?

Game On,
fbmf

if you don't want it to change from cooperative to one group of players versus one other player, steer clear of the bio-terrorist one.

the other one is just more sickness and more jobs if i remember correctly.

Uh, no, On the Brink has the bioterrorist, but also a fifth disase, more roles, and variant epidemic cards. It's all separate optional parts. In the Lab requires On the Brink, and has a different board where you're all in the same building researching cures.

[Manxome]

In the Lab addresses one of my complaints about Pandemic, which is that it mostly feels like you're waiting for the cures to fall in your lap rather than going out and getting them, but in the process it adds a lot of fiddliness and not much depth. Or at least, that was my impression from playing it one time. (I haven't tried it again because it still doesn't address my main complaint, which is that Pandemic tends to go from "you're doing fine" to "you lost" in about 1 turn.)

If you're looking for a light game that can be played co-op, I released another board game not too long ago that might interest you: Gem Rush supports 1-6 players, can easily be taught in under 5 minutes and played in under an hour, and has both competitive and cooperative game modes.

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned Lords of Waterdeep, a D&D-themed worker placement game that is quite popular. (It doesn't play anything like D&D, it merely tells you the wooden resource cubes are Fighters, Rogues, Clerics, and Wizards, but it's a solid game and the cosmetics have gotten a lot of people to look at a worker-placement who normally wouldn't.)