Good two player board games for GF and I?

[skittles]

Been absolutely loving...

 

Hive - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2655/hive

 

and Ticket to ride Europe, (US edition is absolutely rubbish)

 

And looking for some more fun two player games to play with the girlfriend. Any suggestions? Prefer games with more strategy and less luck but don't mind some dice element if needs be..

 

 

[Pelekophoros]

There's a couple of recent threads worth checking out (not trying to avoid new conversations, as there's so many games coming out it's worth revisiting often):

 

 

 

[jonnyalpha]

Not strictly 2 player games but some of our favorites that work really well with 2.

 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199792/everdell

 

A really good looking game where you build a town of cards in front of you. The game has a great feeling of building and increasing your wealth and abilities, at the end of the first round you'll be thinking that you're making little progress and having some small turns with little gains each time. As the game progresses you'll be pulling off combos, raking in resources and filling up the slots in your town. There are several expansions but the base game has lots of content and is a great game on it's own.

 

 https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/220877/rajas-ganges

 

Another beautiful game. You use a "hand" of dice to purchase spots on the board to access resources and bonuses buying more dice or tiles to place on your own growing province which trigger other bonuses. There are two score tracks, money and prestige, which start at opposite sides of the board and converge on each other. The game ends when one player gets their score markers to cross each other on the track. It's a lovely design and also has a small box roll 'n' write version which is worth a look. It's not a dice game in the traditional sense of rolling and crossing your fingers.

 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216132/clans-caledonia

 

Clans is wonderful. Very little luck, although there is some in the contract tiles that come out, and just great strategic choices all the way through. The variable player powers mean you have to tailor your plan to maximise the bonus that your clan has. 

 

I'm also currently in love with Yellow & Yangtze which reminds me of a multi-player Hive in some ways. It's a very abstract game in but the way that the board position grows as states expand and then collapses as wars and revolts get triggered seems very thematic to me and endlessly fascinating. There's a great app as well if you want to explore that.

 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244114/yellow-yangtze

 

You could also consider the UK map expansion for your Ticket to Ride Europe. It adds two different modules to the game. A share option module and a tech tree module depending on which map you use on the 2 sided board.

 

The advantage of any of these games is that they will expand to take more players if you can persuade some of your friends to give them a try.

 

[keptbybees]

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160477/onitama

 

Onitama would be my recommendation, one of my favourite games. It is an abstract strategy game in which you are trying to take you opponents 'King' or move your 'King' into their starting square. For each game 5 movement cards are used, with each player starting with 2 and the remaining card placed to the side. Once a player uses their movement card they swap it with the current spare card. It's a very easy game to set up and play but there is a lot of depth to it. The movement cards are picked randomly each time so it changes from game to game as well.

[Alex W.]

The frequent recommendations like Jaipur and Seven Wonders Duel really are as good as they’re made out to be. Agricola All Creatures Big and Small is nice, although we’ve only played the basic game. I got Schotten Totten on a whim and it’s a nice evening game. With the way my wife and I play, we tend to lean towards games with a shorter play time and less complex rules, but a lot of options for strategy.

[Uncle Mike]

We quite like Raptor and Ice Team here for a 2 player time here, and they're both simple, fun and not at all luck-based.

[skittles]

15 hours ago, jonnyalpha said:

Not strictly 2 player games but some of our favorites that work really well with 2.

 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199792/everdell

 

A really good looking game where you build a town of cards in front of you. The game has a great feeling of building and increasing your wealth and abilities, at the end of the first round you'll be thinking that you're making little progress and having some small turns with little gains each time. As the game progresses you'll be pulling off combos, raking in resources and filling up the slots in your town. There are several expansions but the base game has lots of content and is a great game on it's own.

 

 

 

Thank you so much dude. I'm looking to order this to begin. Can you only use one expansion pack at a time or can they all be used at the same time with the base? Have seen a good offer for the full collection here.

Checking out the others now.https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216132/clans-caledonia  and https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3938503/yellow-yangtze looks magnificent too. Next on the list I think.

[jonnyalpha]

@skittlesWe have all the expansions so far, my partner loves this game, and have the final 2 on pre-orders along with the big box to combine everything together. 

 

However, I wouldn't recommend playing them all at once although they can be combined to an extent. 

 

Bellfaire is the smallest expansion adding a number of modules to the game. You can add the ones you like and leave out others. This can be combined with any of the other expansions. We always use the variable player powers and draft the characters at the beginning, although Fay mostly seems to get the hedgehogs. We like Bellfaire quite a bit. 

 

Spirecrest is a good addition for when you know the game. It messes with the players by enforcing restrictions on you in each season and forces you to reconsider strategies that you may have learned to rely on. I would play the base game a few times before adding it. This is our favourite expansion so far. 

 

Pearlbrook adds another resource, pearls, and high scoring items to buy with that resource. We scored higher in these games but whoever managed to get the pearls first would win. The game became a race and we've only played this one twice. We wouldn't normally use this expansion. 

 

It's normally a pretty close fought game where we frequently don't know who's won until the scores are added up. A 3 player game over the weekend ended up 69,69,74. It was so close. 

 

We've also ended up getting little add ons for the game. Walnut shells to hold resources etc. Twee but lovely. 

 

Your first game can be tricky. Especially after the first season, you'll look at what you've achieved and think I'm not getting anywhere, how do I do this? Then the engine begins to kick in and your turns get more powerful and before you know it you've gone from "how do I do anything" to "can I fit in everything I'm able to do". 

[Stejay]

21 hours ago, skittles said:

looking for some more fun two player games to play with the girlfriend. Any suggestions? Prefer games with more strategy and less luck but don't mind some dice element if needs be..

 

 

 

Watergate.  Fantastic, tense, strategic, head-to-head, tug-of-war with different cards and abilities for each player.

[John0]

None of these are exclusively two player, but still...

 

Another shout for Everdell here. Have played quite a few 2-player games (of the base game) and although it feels a little luck based it's a really lovely physical set with some really nice tactile pieces and fantastic artwork. And the gameplay is very satisfying too. My gf has around an 80% winrate vs me which is unfair because my ego is much more fragile BUT i still keep coming back to it because it still feels great to play. Which is quite an endorsement!

 

Paper Tales has worked very well 2 player too for us (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217861/paper-tales). You build up an arrangement of fantasy based people/creatures and buildings and then battle it out in a series of wars, but your cards die over time which adds to an already really strong sense of narrative. The fantasy element is quite gentle and not too cliché (or maybe it hits the right kind of cliché, for me at least) and there are some satisfying combos and styles of play to be explored. I have recently got a hold of the expansion too but yet to try it.

 

Finally, Azul is a real modern classic and the set and pieces are lovely. A winner of the spiel des jahres is unlikely to let you down and it works pretty well 2-player! The bonus being that it's really easy and quick to introduce to others if you do ever find yourself with more people post-apocalypse.

[skittles]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations!

 

I picked uphttps://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/204583/kingdomino also, absolutely stunning board and the game was super fun. First run through took about 2 hours with references to the rules but we have them now. Of course i lost, again. Really fun, colourful and great game. Recommended. Picked it up super cheap too, under 20 quid and works amazing with 2 players.

[skittles]

Damn it, I absolutely love queendomino but the one says it's not her favourite.. probably because she won the 'warm up game' and then i smoked her on the real for points game.. 

 

Onto the next one!

 

HIVE is a hit with friends also, so quick and tactical.

[John0]

This thread inspired me to teach my gf Hive at the weekend! Such a great little game. I lost the second game, despite having played it a fair bit a few years ago. Ominous!

[skittles]

On 09/06/2021 at 23:22, John0 said:

This thread inspired me to teach my gf Hive at the weekend! Such a great little game. I lost the second game, despite having played it a fair bit a few years ago. Ominous!

Just got my dad to buy the three extension pieces for me and ship them over to Singapore. Love this game!

[Jackson]

Azul and NMBR9 are my favourite two players (and crokinole which you played here!). Both are puzzly, tetris-y and very satisfying and quick!

[dataDave]

On 01/06/2021 at 20:01, keptbybees said:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160477/onitama

 

Onitama would be my recommendation, one of my favourite games. It is an abstract strategy game in which you are trying to take you opponents 'King' or move your 'King' into their starting square. For each game 5 movement cards are used, with each player starting with 2 and the remaining card placed to the side. Once a player uses their movement card they swap it with the current spare card. It's a very easy game to set up and play but there is a lot of depth to it. The movement cards are picked randomly each time so it changes from game to game as well.

 

I second this.

 

It's also the only thing I can beat my Judo sensei at.

 

Azul is the favourite between me and my wife. It's also a beautiful possession in it's own right. The entire design from the box to the tiles is gorgeous. It'd also make a perfect gift for anyone if you're ever stuck for gift ideas (and if they have people to play with, of course).

[Meat]

On 01/06/2021 at 21:28, Alex W. said:

With the way my wife and I play, we tend to lean towards games with a shorter play time and less complex rules, but a lot of options for strategy.

Please allow me to quickly interject. Knowing you have a partner tears the fabric of my forum fantasy in which you are optimally asexual. Forgive me, I’m thoroughly enjoying your posts these days, they’re increasingly harmonising with my cerebral and neural-esque circuitry, even confounding it in some instances, leading to humour and so forth.

[GamesGamesGames]

Twilight Struggle.

 

Also a big fan of Star Wars: Rebellion, if you add the expansion to it.

 

Dune: Imperium is much better with more than two players, and the AI-ish third player isn't the best, but the game is brilliant and I sussed out a very nice variant that works with two-players, so let me now if you end up picking that up.

[Great King Bowser]

This thread has made me buy Hive to play with the Mrs.

[Zio]

4 hours ago, GamesGamesGames said:

Also a big fan of Star Wars: Rebellion, if you add the expansion to it.

 

I was going to come here and say just this! Myself and my gf love it (her particularly as she's absolutely trounced me in every game we've played, regardless of whether she's playing as the Rebellion or the Galactic Empire). It absolutely does need the expansion though to un-shitify the combat and it only works as a two-player game. The box says it's for up to 4 players, but this is a fallacy - the rules they've crowbarred in to accommodate 3 or 4 player games make it terrible. As a 2-player game though, it's utterly amazing! There's a lot of setup though, which is why we don't play it more often.

 

The Pandemic games work well with two players, and we're also both big fans of Splendor. Codenames Duet is a great quick 2-player game.

[Herbalizer]

Fog of Love has intrigued me, I think it would be good fun to play with my wife.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a9oNOjI8V4

[Jamin]

Jaipur, Stone Age, Targi and Patchwork are all big favourites at 2 player with me and my relatively non-game playing g/f

[jonnyalpha]

15 hours ago, Herbalizer said:

Fog of Love has intrigued me, I think it would be good fun to play with my wife.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a9oNOjI8V4

@Herbalizer Only as long as you're both happy and confident with role playing games. I bought FoL on the back of that review and it didn't work for us. I thought it was barely a game and my partner actively hated it. Neither of us play RPGs at all and found the mechanisms of the game to be completely alien to us. We knew what the game wanted us to do but were both very much non-plussed and couldn't find the fun. I'm not sure we even finished one game it was so under-whelming. 

 

It may work for you but I felt SUSD were so enamoured by the originality on show that they forgot to look for an actual game.

[skittles]

On 22/09/2021 at 18:33, Great King Bowser said:

This thread has made me buy Hive to play with the Mrs.

How is it? We absolutely love it. Bought all three expansions too.

 

I think I've mastered it and beat her every time now so she's reluctant to play.

[Great King Bowser]

On 28/09/2021 at 12:28, skittles said:

How is it? We absolutely love it. Bought all three expansions too.

 

I think I've mastered it and beat her every time now so she's reluctant to play.

We’ve only had time for one game so far. Perils of having a two year old. Will try and get some more games under our belt and report back…