TDG: Ten Games That Killed Other Games

Join Cody as he takes a look at ten games that killed other games!

[Warchoon]

For us, Game of Thrones was killed by FIEF France. FIEF is more random, pushing for more diplomacy, has a historical theme, and very interesting goals (noble and church titles with special powers attached). It's very thematic, basically pushes you into alliances (forged by marriages, destroyed by assassinations), and is the ultimate medieval intrigue game. It can be really random with different events, but that randomness does feel in line with "deal with what you got" theme of medieval history. We never felt the urge to play Game of Thrones after getting FIEF, as GoT is more dry mechanically.

[derekrledr]

Well, Cody... that was a lot of fun! I enjoyed your list and the reasons you gave for each. I tried to come up with a list of my own... based on games that I played A TON back in the day... but now would prefer another game with similar themes or mechanisms.
The first that popped into my head was:
1. Avalon Hill's Rail Baron... I played this a lot, even though the endgame tended to drag a bit (no... a LOT). The killer was of course... Ticket to Ride.
2. Avalon Hill's Richtofen's War... I had a blast playing this... even setting up campaign games. It was replaced by Ace of Aces (with pilot's eye booklets). That one could even be played over a land line phone as long as both players had a book. I would still play Ace of Aces today... even though Wings of War/Glory would probably get to the table first. Age of Dogfights is another good modern option.
3. Avalon Hill's Gangsters... got a lot of play (although these days... mention of it brings equal measures of hate and love... apparently no middle ground for it). For me, it was replaced by the very much under-appreciated The Godfather:Corleone's Empire... an Eric Lang design that flew under the radar.
Hmmm... I see a trend developing here. I had a lot of fun with my Avalon Hill games... but now I keep most of them for their sentimental value. One that was not replaced... and I would still play at the drop of a hat... is Up Front.
My ears perked up with your discussion of tactical wargames... hoping that you would point me to the "perfect" game. Alas... Company of Heroes appears beyond my reach at the moment. I have Tide of Iron, a lot of Heroes of Normandie, Combat Commander: Europe, Conflict of Heroes and Combat Infantry... and I enjoy aspects of each of them, but something bothers me about each of them as well. I Kickstarted the latest Band of Brothers... we'll see if that one is THE ONE for me.

[tttlife]

Love the videos on lists maybe you can make another top ten best expansions of all time or necessary expansions or maybe a top ten deck building games would be cool. How about a list of your favorite games per publisher that would be nice. Keep up the great work 👍

[garicb]

being a grognard, you're probably more comfortable with hex/counter vs dudes on a map. But they are very different experiences for the novice imo. There's just something cooler about a plastic battleship than a picture of a battleship on a square chit.

[agonyuncle]

Valeria Card Kingdoms kicks both Machi Koro and Space Base’s but. Check it out

[Nominrath]

Dinogenics kills Dinosaur Island. Ankh kills Blood Rage. That’s all I’ve really got. Most of my games go through a pretty rigorous screening process before I buy them so I don’t have much overlap. Someone here said Imperial Assault kills Descent, I might agree except that Descent allows for single scenario play which is a huge draw as it’s super difficult to get people to commit to a campaigner. (A problem I face with Journeys in Middle-earth too.)

[paultice]

Although they are very different kinds of game, Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion has killed Shadows of Brimstone as a campaign dungeon crawler for me. The way Gloomhaven keeps track of your advancement just feels so much neater, I'm not a big miniatures painter so I don't mind the monster standees, and I love the Gloomhaven gameplay.

[MaxwellSchmalzried]

War Room sounds great, I just don’t know if I could ever get enough people together to actually play it!

[klausfritsch]

I loved Tide of Iron (I even wrote several scenarios, at least one of which was published by 1A), but I was less than enthusiastic with how they did "equipment" (guns etc.). I also dislike the scale issues, a base being a squad, platoon or even batallion (or division?), depending on the scenario. I was part of the 1A playtesting bunch.
Even back then, I used 15mm minis to play ToI because the plastic soldiers in the bases were just too fiddly and more work than necessary. By now, I use the miniatures to play Chain of Command (platoon plus supports) or Big Chain of Command (company plus supports). Currently, I am preparing my first test drive of O-Group (batallion plus supports, with the option of fielding several batallions).

[javierperz]

Have you played Bad Company? It’s supposed to be a Space Base killer. I’m looking for a second opinion cause I haven’t played either and would have to purchase one to do it.

[attiladukai]

For me.
- Descent 2 have killed Zombicide Green Horde, because Descent 2 can also be co-op and in variations, plus it is better that Zombicide. Not to mention the automated Overlord fan expansion.
- Dune 2019 have killed Rising Sun, Scythe, Lords of Helas, Kemet. Dune 2019 is just gorgeous, and had many options, plus it is a story teller game, the others have zero chance against it, especially after the new expansion. Now we are experts on it and the game is really fast. Sometimes 1.5 hour, 7+ turn game.
- Forbidden Stars (With the FAN Expansion) have killed Twilight Imperium for me. TI is a legend, I love it, I enjoy it. But FS have almost the same feeling and it is a lot shorter and user friendly. It is really hard to find players for TI, but FS is a no brainer (I have a 40k fan group).
- Nemesis have killed Dead of Winter. Again, amazing games, but Nemesis is just so so so good. We only play it with Alien Isolation and The Thing OST.
- Battlelore 2 have killed all other C&C games. It is made for me, I cannot explain in any other way, we always have a great time. Even the loosers, because we have equal skill lvl and man, this game have really epic endings. Perfectly made 1v1 game.

[GGdeTOURS]

Hello Cody! 1775 killed 1812 / Texas Hold'em killed the 5 Cards Draw / The Mind killed The Game / Zombicide Black Plague killed the first edition (even if now I sold my Black Plague collection and play with my son's modern edition lol) / About playing with my wife: Wingsan definitively killed Welcome in your Perfect Home (which I sold back) ... etc ... Plus all the opposite examples: Ark Nova didn't kill Terraforming Mars at all / 1754 didn't kill 1775 (too bad because I much prefer the French & Indian war but the mechanisms was less fun) / TI4 didn't kill my beloved Eclipse 2d Down / And no game will ever kill the beauty of my group playing a TEXAS HOLDEM POKER! - GG

[rexross]

I can't rid of games ever, I'll buy new editions and everything, expansions etc, even if i never play them again i want to collect them forever myself.

[allenatkins]

I have to ask, how many games do you own?
If you had to pick five, which would you take?

[chrisdonovan]

I think I played an early version of Zombicide once. I own every expansion of Last Night On Earth, and have yet to open more than half of them! The base game is so good at not only delivering on the B movie zombie experience, but somehow, with all it's dice chucking insanity, it's rarely failed to provide a close game.

To me, they scratch different itches, with Zombicide giving more of a Resident Evil vibe.

[tyrroo]

Question: do people still want to play Game of Thrones games, considering how terribly the show ended?

Many people I know absolutely loathe Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and FIre after how the show ended. They don't want to re-read the books, they definitely don't want to re-watch the show, and they don't want to play any games based on the IP because they don't want to remember the infuriating dumpster fire that was season 8.

[Janisurai]

Root (all expansions) has killed all dudes on a map games for me, although I am excited for my copy of company of heroes to arrive. Struggling to get undaunted to the table sadly.

[JJ_TheGreat]

1:29 Actually, there are 2 games which are almost EXACTLY the same - (1) Clash of Cultures and (2) Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game (2010). Look that (older) version of SMC up. You’ll see EXACTLY what I am referring to regarding how it is very similar to Clash of Cultures. I have both (the 2 expansions for SM Civ.), in addition to the Monumental Edition (which includes the expansion, which at one point was very difficult to come by, in the original printing of the game).
I will one day HAVE to play both of those games!

[refreshdaemon]

I can totally see how Secret Hitler did in The Resistance for you. I like how it adds even just a little bit more information and stakes into the game, but the game that killed it for me is Deception: Murder in the Hong Kong, which has a lot of the same hidden traitor genes but really builds much more of a deduction game around it. I also like how it takes little bit of focus off of ambiguous social deduction which can be a little intense or hard to figure out for some players. That said, The Resistance killed Werewolf/Mafia for me, so maybe some day something will kill Deception too.

[Lordjunon]

Try Valeria Card Kingdoms, that and space base did a 1-2 punch killing Machi Koro.