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Author Topic: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas  (Read 24757 times)

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shark_bait

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2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« on: November 05, 2013, 01:29:31 pm »
0

Hey Guys, I need some help from the F.DS braintrust.  My fiance and I love playing games together but one issue that we have is that I have played all of my games much more than her.  Consequently, she says that I have an unfair advantage over her.  This is most polarized in Dominion where I have played upwards of 4000 games but is still present in all other games.  I'd like to get a new game that we can both play/learn at the same time thus removing the asymmetry of me having more experience.

So I'm open to suggestions from you guys.  The qualifications for these games are as follows:

1.)  I can not have played it ever!
2.)  Good for 2 players
3.)  Strategically deep
4.)  Replayable

For reference, I have played the following games (list is not exhaustive, it's possible I missed something)

Powergrid
Ticket to Ride
Settler's of Catan
Dominion
Colosseum
Pandemic
Stone Age
Carcasonne

That's all I can think of right now.  If any of you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them!
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Polk5440

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2013, 01:33:15 pm »
+4

The first thing that pops into my head is Hive.
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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2013, 01:34:42 pm »
+3

Twilight Struggle, perhaps? It's long, but it's got a lot of depth.

Netrunner might be an interesting option. You have sufficient deckbuilding options with just the base game, but it might well be worth slowly adding expansions as you play more. And there's a lot of strategy involved, both in game and building decks.
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...spin-offs are still better for all of the previously cited reasons.
But not strictly better, because the spinoff can have a different cost than the expansion.

theory

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2013, 01:41:55 pm »
+1

Jaipur
Mr Jack
Ingenious
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Drab Emordnilap

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2013, 01:45:03 pm »
+1

Yomi. Cue the Sirlin dislike, but man, I love that game.
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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2013, 01:45:25 pm »
+9

I'm glad theory +voted my suggestion of Netrunner. I really thought he might.
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...spin-offs are still better for all of the previously cited reasons.
But not strictly better, because the spinoff can have a different cost than the expansion.

Teproc

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2013, 01:49:01 pm »
+1

First thing I'd ask is : do you/your gf enjoy abstract games (as in Chess, Go etc) ? If so, I would recommend the GIPF project, specifically YINSH and DVONN, which are "modern" abstract two-player strategy games.

Other than that, I have three 2-player games that I really like right now, but there's a bunch of them :

- Mr. Jack. This is not an abstract, but it can sometimes feel like it. There's a board wich represents the streets of London, with 8 characters on them. One player plays Jack the Ripper, and is randomly assigned one of the characters on the board. The other plays an investigator and has to cath Jack in a certain number of turns. It's a deduction game in which the primary mechanism is that there are sources of light on the board (street lamps), and as Jack you indicate each turn if you're near the light or not. Each player moves half the characters each turn, and they each have powers which make the game really sound strategically but not too easy to predict, which avoid trying to think 15 turns ahead, i.e AP. It plays in half an hour.

- Seasons. This is not exclusively 2-player, theoretically playable up to 4 players (although I wouldn't recommend it, 3 players is fine though). It's a card game with wacky/cute theme and illustrations that a lot of people seem to like (I don't so much). First you each draft 9 cards, and then you divise those cards in 3 groups of 3. The game is played in 3 "years", so the cards are assigned to each year. Each year is divided into four seasons which each have a custom set of dice. Each turn you roll 3 dice, and each player selects one. Those dices will essentialy get you energy of a specific type (cards cost energy, kind of like mana costs in Magic). Basically the idea is to find powerful combinations, which should apeal to Dominion players. Also, the game has very good recommendations for the first few games (no drafting, some cards excluded) which allow it to be fairly complex but have a good learning curve.

- Targui. I have only played this twice so I don't know how much replayability it has (the previous two have a bunch of that, not sure with this one), but it is a good strategy game where there's a grid of actions, and a whole system of getting extra actions based on where your actions line up (can't really explain this well, you'd have to look on BGG I think). It's a pretty good, classic euro-style 2-player game.
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shark_bait

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2013, 01:52:17 pm »
0

The first thing that pops into my head is Hive.

I've never heard of that before, it looks interesting and simple to play but rewarding to good play.

Twilight Struggle, perhaps? It's long, but it's got a lot of depth.

Netrunner might be an interesting option. You have sufficient deckbuilding options with just the base game, but it might well be worth slowly adding expansions as you play more. And there's a lot of strategy involved, both in game and building decks.

I've thought about TS, but the time might be a bit much.  Both being graduate students who enjoy running means that we don't always have time for games. 

I've never heard of Netrunner before.  It doesn't look too expensive either which is a plus.
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shark_bait

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2013, 02:01:06 pm »
0

First thing I'd ask is : do you/your gf enjoy abstract games (as in Chess, Go etc) ? If so, I would recommend the GIPF project, specifically YINSH and DVONN, which are "modern" abstract two-player strategy games.

I've dabbled in a bit of chess myself, never seriously enough to memorize openings, but enough to easily beat my friends who haven't studied it. 

I'm not sure on her view on modern abstract games.  I think I would like them, but I don't know if they would be her favorite.

I like the idea of Mr. Jack.  Incomplete information seems like a fun concept for a game with 2 people.  I've played Scotland Yard before which has that feature and enjoyed it.
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Awaclus

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2013, 02:10:51 pm »
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A thing worth considering is Print n' Play games; they're cheap, they're at least trying to be unique and at best they can definitely have some interesting mechanics in them, it isn't a huge waste even if a game turns out to be not to your liking, and if it's one still in development, you can be of great help to the designer (you have to be wary with those, though, because designers always think their game is closer to the final version than it actually is, and thus may release a public PnP beta before the game is ready for that).
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XerxesPraelor

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2013, 02:14:43 pm »
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Netrunner is really great, but it makes you want expansions, which can be a minus for a game. It also only works for two players.
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Kuildeous

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2013, 02:44:14 pm »
+1

Well, if time might be an issue, then you might give Through the Ages a pass, but it works with two players. Personally, I prefer it with 3 or 4 players, but it works well for 2. My wife and I have played it a few times.

With enough experience, you can finish the game in 2-3 hours. Your first game would take a while, though. That's just how it goes.

You could start with the basic game that concludes at the end of Age 1. I personally think that's when the game gets more interesting, and I think that the game should really be played through all three ages. The rules change a little bit depending on the mode you're playing. You have your basic game that ends after Age 1, you have a more advanced game that ends after Age 2, and you have the full game that ends at the beginning of Age 4.

If you play, warn her to ignore military strength at her peril.
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AHoppy

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2013, 03:03:44 pm »
0

Hey! My girlfriend and I have the same issue!  We were just talking about this the other night and I thought it would be a good idea to learn a game together and only play it together.  So we decided on Netrunner.  I won't be able to get it/play it until I get back to the US in December, but that's our plan.  I should look into those other options you guys have suggested as well.

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2013, 03:07:52 pm »
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Well, if time might be an issue, then you might give Through the Ages a pass, but it works with two players. Personally, I prefer it with 3 or 4 players, but it works well for 2. My wife and I have played it a few times.

With enough experience, you can finish the game in 2-3 hours. Your first game would take a while, though. That's just how it goes.

You could start with the basic game that concludes at the end of Age 1. I personally think that's when the game gets more interesting, and I think that the game should really be played through all three ages. The rules change a little bit depending on the mode you're playing. You have your basic game that ends after Age 1, you have a more advanced game that ends after Age 2, and you have the full game that ends at the beginning of Age 4.

If you play, warn her to ignore military strength at her peril.
Actually this topic came up for us over through the ages.  While we learned to play the game together, I went on to play online with you guys and get some more experience.  So I would recommend this as a great 2 player game, but it does take a long time... 2-3 hours being a "fast" game is nothing to sneeze at.  That's why we discounted twilight struggle

EDIT: And as I have learned playing you folks, yes, ignore military and you die...

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2013, 03:12:26 pm »
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Just chiming in to support Netrunner. It's fantastic and you can take it as slow (Starting with just Core, mixing in expansions as you please) or as fast (keeping up with the monthly expansions) as you want. It is a little confusing at first because there is a lot of terminology, but there are also a lot of good tutorials and player aids. Once you know what you're doing, games take between 15 and 45 minutes. Multiple factions + deckbuilding + asymmetrical gameplay provide tons of replayability.
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Morgrim7

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #15 on: November 05, 2013, 04:16:46 pm »
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Catan isn't good for two players. Puerto Rico or Carcassonne.
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shark_bait

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #16 on: November 05, 2013, 04:52:49 pm »
+1

I'm currently thinking against Netrunner/Seasons, the deckbuilding is a bit much I think. 

After a brief chat she said that she wants to be able to play a game and to be able to improve on the next game.  So I think I'm currently looking away from variability in terms of combinations and more towards strategic depth.  Thus Hive, the GIPF Project and Mr. Jack look like good options at the moment. 

Also, you guys are awesome.  I post a question and get a huge variety of responses in a short time.  :)
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Teproc

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #17 on: November 05, 2013, 04:57:59 pm »
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Just to clarify, Seasons is not deckbuilding. There are cards, but you just draft 9 at that start, and try to make that work. You can draw additional cards in several ways, but you're gonna play with ~20 cards max overall.
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shark_bait

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #18 on: November 05, 2013, 04:59:30 pm »
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Just to clarify, Seasons is not deckbuilding. There are cards, but you just draft 9 at that start, and try to make that work. You can draw additional cards in several ways, but you're gonna play with ~20 cards max overall.

Hmmm, I might have to look at it a bit more carefully then.  Thanks for the clarification!
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Kirian

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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #19 on: November 05, 2013, 05:08:04 pm »
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Eminent Domain is still our go-to game.
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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #20 on: November 05, 2013, 08:57:02 pm »
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Jambo is a card game with both luck and skill. Lost Cities is very simple and has a surprising amount of replayability. The Twilight Struggle mechanics are also seen in the slightly more accessible 1860: Making of the President, which was cut down further to Campaign Manager:2008. The mini agricola 2 player did its job but I'm guessing it needed expansions for variation. I assume you have the 2 player settlers of catan game already and know that's ok.

I'll agree with recommendations for Mr Jack especially and Jaipur as well.
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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #21 on: November 05, 2013, 10:30:50 pm »
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Hive is good fun, but here's warning: At higher skill levels, it becomes rather difficult for player two to win, and the game usually ends in a draw.
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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #22 on: November 05, 2013, 11:28:22 pm »
+5

I <3 Race for the Galaxy.  It's a bit hard to get into, but it's definitely deep, repayable, and good for 2.
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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #23 on: November 06, 2013, 02:53:24 am »
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You can dabble in LCG's, you can pick all and any you might like.

LOTR is Coop, which you might like.
Game of Thrones, Star Wars and Netrunner are 1 vs 1, but suffer from the fact that you'd be willing to put more time in than your significant other.

I recommend LOTR, because if one person gets better, it helps both. :)
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Re: 2-Player Strategy Game Ideas
« Reply #24 on: November 06, 2013, 07:03:22 am »
+1

If you want strategy without too much variability of combinations, I think Agricola: All Creatures big and small would be good. It also is quite quick.
If you want something longer, you could try the real Agricola (family game without cards), Caylus or Trajan.
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