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Hey guys. My party is greatly into territory control, being RTS video game players.
I have been looking for strategy games in that vein, but they need to work well for 3 players.
We also tend to be really slow so it needs to have 4 hours 30 minutes playtime at most.(we will make it into 5-6 hours with our speed anyway)
I have been looking into a list of titles that seem great, but I have no idea if they work well with 3 players. Can you give me ideas on how they work with 3 players ?
1) Chaos in the old world (potential issues: balance, time to play)
2) Eclipse(does it work ok? I hear alliances get screwed in games with less players, how important are they ?)(is time to play good?)
3) Rune Wars (something something heroes seem out of place in the game?)(playtime?)
4) Clash of Cultures (playtime?)
5) D&D: Conquest of Nerath (rules issues ?)
6) War of the Ring Second Edition(already 2 established teams?)
I have removed Twillight imperium from this list due to expected playtimes above 6 hours and Cthulhu wars due to no copies being available locally.
If you can recommend me for which of these games to aim for, or to rethink my opinion on some I would really appreciate your help.
We are currently playing Forbidden stars and enjoying it, if that helps figure out our taste in some way.
Thank you in advance.
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Martin Larouche
Canada
Longueuil
Quebec
Melting souls with cuteness since 2007
Lovin' N-16
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Twilight Imperium 3 with 3 players take only at MAX 4 hours, if you play slowly.
On the other end of the spectrum, Eight-Minute Empire takes around 10 minutes and is all about territory control.
Small World is about 60 minutes.
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Boaty McBoatface
England
County of Essex
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deedob wrote: Twilight Imperium 3 with 3 players take only at MAX 4 hours, if you play slowly. On the other end of the spectrum, Eight-Minute Empire takes around 10 minutes and is all about territory control. Small World is about 60 minutes.
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Scott McKay
Canada
Ottawa
ON
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Of the games you mentioned, I think Chaos is the best for 3p for the type of games you are interested in. 3 hours for your group. You'll have to decide for yourself about balance; figuring out the strengths and weaknesses is part of the fun!
Clash works great for 3p as well but it's more of a 4X game so there's a lot more going on than area control. 4+ hours playing slow.
I love Eclipse but it's not great for 3p.
I also really like Nerath but it is designed for 2p or 4p playing in teams so you could do it with 3p but one guy would be playing both factions of a team. That means he would actually have more than double the playing time of the other two players since, having to defend on their turns, he wouldn't have much time to plan his own turns.
I highly recommend Blood Rage for your group. It's not a 'take it and try to hold it' type of area control but requires a more shifting strategy as areas are pillaged and opportunities come up. Some similarities to Chaos including play time.
A suggestion for when you might want a shorter game is Shitenno. It is Samurai-themed area influence without a map and features a rather unique 'you cut the cake but I choose first' mechanic for dividing armies, money, and powers at the start of each round. This game is actually better for 3p than 4 (IMO).
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Thank you Martin.
A person at my local boardgame store told me twillight imperium games take a long while even with 3 players and told to me to avoid it. But you are not the first person to tell me I can get short games with it. I am somewhat confused on that one.
8 minute empire seems like a good appetizer or a simpler game for when we have less time.
Thank you Steven and Martin for the Smallworld suggestion, but I have played the game before and it just didn't grab me enough.
Darth Gamer wrote: Of the games you mentioned, I think Chaos is the best for 3p for the type of games you are interested in. 3 hours for your group. You'll have to decide for yourself about balance; figuring out the strengths and weaknesses is part of the fun! Clash works great for 3p as well but it's more of a 4X game so there's a lot more going on than area control. 4+ hours playing slow. I highly recommend Blood Rage for your group. It's not a 'take it and try to hold it' type of area control but requires a more shifting strategy as areas are pillaged and opportunities come up. Some similarities to Chaos including play time. A suggestion for when you might want a shorter game is Shitenno. It is Samurai-themed area influence without a map and features a rather unique 'you cut the cake but I choose first' mechanic for dividing armies, money, and powers at the start of each round. This game is actually better for 3p than 4 (IMO).
Thank you for the suggestions Scott.
ChaosIOW is definitely a contender along with Clash.Perhaps clash might prove a bit more interesting considering the not only combat layers.
I hear only good stuff about Blood Rage, but one of my players dislikes the theme for some reason.
Need to research Shitenno a bit.
Sorry if I come off as ultra nit-picky. I sort of am and especially when I add the desires of my players things become a big mess.
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chris thatcher
United Kingdom
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I think both TI and Runewars will be too long even at 3 players. Nerrath is a 2 or 4 player game. Chaos really is a 4 player game. Personally I think eclipse or clash of cultures is a better choice.
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Marc Gaudet
Canada
Moncton
New Brunswick
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I played a game of Forbidden Stars the other week with three players and really enjoyed it! Its actually loosely based off the Starcraft board game (long out of print) but with a Warhammer theme.
We liked that the factions were assymetrical, the rules were tight and the game flowed well (little downtime between turns). One of my favorite things about this game is that unlike something like Eclipse, it was rather light on calculations, instead of constantly worrying about having enough money to do things you simply only had to worry about doing some specific actions before/after opponents did theirs.
Our 3 player game took around 2h30 but we surprised finished the game about 3/4 the way through the round limit. hilariously enough we all thought we were going to win on each of our next turns, only one of us was right lol.
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Marc Gaudet
Canada
Moncton
New Brunswick
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Eclipse is a great game in that it has area exploration and unit customization. Its downfall for three players is that it doesn't have a catch up mechanic and casualties can be lopsided with bad dice rolls
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Kevin Garnica
United States
Buena Park
California
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The King is Dead.
It's not a long game by any means, but it is considered one of the more "perfect" 3P area-control games.
Just take 5 minutes and have a look at it. You're welcome. 
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M M
United States
New York
New York
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Chaos isn't really a 3-player game. It's really balanced for 4.
Dominant Species
Eternal Dynasty
Small World
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I haven't played Blood Rage with 3 yet, but I expect it would work well.
I'm also not crazy about Vikings, but I do very much like the Norse God mythology. The game is so much fun, maybe your player would be won over if they tried it? Not that you'd necessarily want to risk buying it over something else that might be a surer thing. Still, it's a relatively quick-playing game (compared to the time frame that you gave) that is getting accolades from almost every corner right now.
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Danny Nelson
United States
Poway
California
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Maybe Terra Mystica would work? I played it once with 3 players and the game went fine. The rules are quite a bit to digest, but once you get the mechanics down, it's a great game.
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Geoffrey Burrell
United States
Cedar Rapids
Iowa
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The war game Ogre is also meant for three players.
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Adrian Iordache
Romania
Bucharest
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San Marco and Alien Frontiers play very well with 3 and have area control / area influence aspect.
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Just to chime in on Nerath - it's a really good, if a little light, war game, but it always plays with four sides, which naturally can pair into two alliances. I don't think it would work with three, unless two people want to gang up on a third playing two armies....
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Nexus Ops probably has the strongest RTS feel of anything I have played. You create units from your base and send them out to capture mines and the central objective. You get a hidden objective each turn that will give you something to aim for to score points and if you win a fight as the attacker that will also score points so it encourages aggressive play. Very fast paced and highly interactive.
Kemet also has area control and has a shared tech tree that will let each player go for different playstyles.
+1 Alien Frontiers
Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game might also scratch the itch as well. It's not a 'dudes on a map' style game but has an area control feel in that you play cards on bases and trying to have the highest score on it so you can claim the rewards.
I probably would not recommend Chaos in the Old World for 3 players. I think it is an excellent game but it is best with 4.
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Kevin Shillinglaw
Canada
Kitchener
Ontario
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If it's still in print, Jerusalem may work. I've only played it once, many years ago, but it was a lot of fun.
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Geoffrey Burrell
United States
Cedar Rapids
Iowa
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Ogre might fit.
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Keith Presley
United States
Las Vegas
Nevada
In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...
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+1 for Alien Frontiers
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Dustin Taylor
United States
Nashville
Tennessee
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Came in to recommend Runewars
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A P
United States
Redwood City
CA
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Maria. Fantastic three player game.
Triumph & Tragedy. Fantastic three player game.
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Rick Kimmel
United States
Waconia
Minnesota
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pacman88k wrote: The King is Dead. It's not a long game by any means, but it is considered one of the more "perfect" 3P area-control games. Just take 5 minutes and have a look at it. You're welcome.
I like this game more every time I play it. Excellent with 3.
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Thank you for the replies guys.
Many interesting titles.
I will look into alien frontiers, the king is dead.
That said it seems the inner me really wants to get it's hands on either Eclipse or Chaos in the old world. I will consult my players and offer them your suggestions as well.
Thank you again.
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