I also have been itching a little to play Cosmic Encounter, which I have, and Talisman, which Drew has (a full set, no less).

My Cosmic is a full set of West End's Cosmic and More Cosmic.

I had a friend back in Michigan who once had a full set of Eon Cosmic, including the 9th expansion set with the Aristocrat power. It's now long gone, and Eon sets are collectors items that only leave their owner's hands for obscene sums of money.

Republic of Rome (the Middle Republic game) is SO MUCH FUN, Jess. And actually, though I haven't seen any of it, the HBO series is probably good to keep in mind while playing. I played it with a lot of fans of Roman history, and we were always discussing and inventing juicy details about what was going on.

Civ was fun too. They are both Block Out A Whole Day games, though.

Yeah, I'm really itching to play a big game of Talisman too.

I spent many late nights playing Civilization and Talisman. I vaguely remember Cosmic Encounter -- isn't that one where you play one of a number of alien races, each of which has special (and often very off-center) powers?

I was very good at Empires of the Middle Ages, which was a conquer-Europe-during-the-Middle-Ages game. Not least because the game was set up so your empire had natural language and, to a lesser extent, religious limits. I played then with a very attack-minded group. So they'd develop large empires and spend the rest of the game losing and regaining. While I'd stop at my natural limits and have a smaller, but more cohesive and prosperous, empire.

where's the love for Word Sandwich?

I think is was Sean who mentioned it earlier- I have indeed played the Order Of The Stick game. I found it very similar to Munchkin but more fun as it incorporates the personalities of the comic-strip denizens into the play of the game.

I also have spent many hours in love with Arkham Horror . Though I have found the denoument to be frustrating it always leaves me wanting to play some more.

I'd love to play the board version of Civilization. I've been playing Sid Meier's computer versions since the beginning. I still think Civ II was my favorite. I loved building underwater bubbles and tunnels, along with the space stations. They did away with those when they reverted to Sid's original format in Civ III. Sometimes, I think the original version of the game was best. They keep adding so many new techs and wonders and such, the game has gotten horribly bloated. I almost never play to the end anymore. Just 'til I get bored with the current iteration of whichever civ I'm playing and kill the game.

Sail, the original Civ board game is very similar in many ways to the video game. It stops well before the modern age, even with the expansion set. But still lots of fun.

In Age of Empires II, is there a way to play in "I just want to see what happens" mode without having the computer outbuild me on every single point? I just want to track the development of my community without getting my butt kicked all the time.

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I must have this!

Amych, as some have mentioned, the game is 'Burnout'. There are several editions of the game now, 'Revenge' being one of them, but I think the 'crash into shit for points' mini-game is a feature of most of them.

As revenge Pete routinely kicks the living shit out of anything and anybody at Halo. And just to grind it in, he's all gracious about it.

I think being gracious is a knee-jerk reaction to the kind of attitude one is subjected to on Xbox Live all the damn time by the multitudes of birth-control poster-children that foul up the place. Nasty little runts. It also scares the bejeezus out of many of my casual player friends when I explain to them that, yes, I can kick their ass seven ways til Sunday at Halo but I'm probably around average ability compared to the usual online players. Some of them are terrifying and I've come last in many a game.

And here I thought "Pulling a Pete" was being adorably loomy.

You're going on the new List called the Fraggin' List.

He's gonna come in here and be all, "Bloody hell! Adorable in the gaming thread too???"

Nope, you just get added to the Fraggin' List.

Goodness, the Games Thread is a-buzz, isn't it?

Nope, you just get added to the Fraggin' List.

TWO lists, babee! *I'm* on two lists!!

t does the Two List dance