My wife has become a little addicted to Catan, even with Star Trek trappings. Most nights lately, we have been going head to head over two or three games with honours pretty even.

Our house rules have spiced up the base game**, but none the less, the game is holding firm as our premier distraction at the moment.

This has spurred me on to try some other games;

King of Tokyo Dark edition, which has a few more rules than the standard version, making it unnecessary to buy any expansions. This has not been a great success as is for 2, but I am looking at house rules here. The map has 2 spaces (optional placement, maybe one adds 2 energy, the other 2 VP, but both without healing), so there are options there and the in-out of Tokyo dynamic seems pointless with 2, so again I will look at that. We may even just play 2 monsters each with the last one standing wins.

Seven Wonders Duel*, which is one of the most recommended two player games around. Once we give this a crack, I may add the Pantheon expansion, which seems to be the popular option.

Ticket to Ride (Express) London* . This was an instant hit (7 games the first night!), so much so that I have repainted the buses into 3 rather than 4 player (17 buses base +1 spare +6 from the “lost” team makes 24) for a longer and more strategic game for 2 people and I went Union Jack Red/White/Blue. I bought this on a whim, looking to try the mechanic out with Meg before getting a bigger one, but to be honest it is a winner on it’s own, we just felt it could have gone a little longer. The house rule of first to 50 points for instant game end is used also (although that does not guarantee a win).

Ed. This works really well. There is enough game for two people to try 3-5 route cards, complete 1-2 zones and reach consistently 30-40 points, with 50pts an instantly win. It plays about half as long as Catan basic.

Pandemic Fall of Rome, because I get a little fix of wargaming in with a new take on the Pandemic mechanic. The “viruses” are barbarians who march on Rome, forcing you to make peace with them or raise armies to fight them off, but they migrate, rather than just pop up (and with dice! Love dice).

Pandemic Reign of Cthulhu. This is our second most played game, maybe soon supplanted by Ticket, and we have it’s measure for the moment and have not found it half a twitchy as we thought it might be (lost a game in 4 turns once). I am sure we will get a good pasting when we raise the difficulty.

Kingdomino*. The game that started it all. Simple and fun, but surprisingly deep, this one will stay as is, played on “lite” evenings, although Meg seems less excited by tile laying games.

Wingspan. This is probably the most involved game in the set. We have the two expansions, though we have not played the Oceania one yet. Meg is ok with this one, but says it is a long winter night game for her, admitting she is a little stuck on Catan for the moment.

Carcassonne (Big Box). A cross between Kingdomino and Catan, I will assume this one is also a winner. The big box adds the near mandatory Inns and Cathedrals and Trades and Builders expansions along with several smaller ones for added variety (crop circles?). The Catan builder dynamic seems to suit Meg more, but this one is in the mix. We like the river, but generally ignore some of the more fiddly rules.

Cthulhu Realms*. This one is on the way. The sci-fi or fantasy themes did not appeal to Meg and their need for “growth” put me off, while this one looks complete in one box, a little more fun, varied and re-playable judging by the reviews I have read.

*

Games we may try;

Batman Talisman. I have played this with friends and as with Talisman of old, it can get a little bogged down, but I think we will give it a go and see (probably with house rules if needed). If we like it enough I will paint the figures, if not they may find their way onto the war games table.

Star Trek Panic. Meg tried this with me when I first got it, just so I could learn the rules and she did not like it, but we will likely give it a go again later as this was in the pre-gaming period. It is playable solo anyway, so no harm.

Munchkin/Marvel Munchkin*. Apparently it can be played with two, just dump un-playable cards as you go. I have 9+ expansions for standard as well as Pathfinder, so plenty to see here. Personally I am keener on the Marvel one, but we will give both a go. A two person variant rule I prefer across the board is to add a 1d roll for combat. With two people the combat dynamic can get a little predictable, so rolling adds a little risk, both ways. Not without it’s flaws, Munchkin has tons of support and viable variants/fixes out there. House rule options are starting at level 3 and using a combat dice.

Heroes of Normandie. I think the look and feel of the game may be enough to get Meg interested, but I will start modestly, especially if I play as a game master rather than opponent.

X Wing. Could it be that she has shown the smallest interest in playing Bare Bones with me? The new Bespin and Orbital Dunes mats have also gone down well, further stocking the fire.

Star Wars Risk. Good simple fun, this one usually comes down to the wire. I remember one game being won with a 6 rolled by the last surviving Rebel ship, destroying the Death Star the turn before all would have been lost.

Eldritch Horror (all the small expansions). This is basically Cthulhu Pandemic on steroids. Playable solo, I will give it a crack with/without Meg as a deeper, longer game than Pandemic.

Pathfinder CCG. I have the first and original set with all the Crimson Throne expansions. It may be too much, but who knows.

Iron Kingdoms/Hordes CCG. Same as above.

CG’s are risky, so I have limited them to Cthulhu Realms, 7K Duel and what I already have.

*These are small enough to travel with as well.

**We place the planets randomly first, then our bases and ships, then the numbers are allocated only to the planets we have bases on, with the rest revealed as we “explore” them. These rules and the personality cards that this version has make for a pretty fresh and surprisingly balanced game each outing (we leave the planets as placed for the night-usually three games, re-allocation the numbers each game). We also have an “advantage” rule, where the winner must win by three or more points once they reach ten, which has a couple of times made for a very cut-throat experience and we once beat the game with something like a 16-15 score.