Big Backgammon fan. I also like Scrabble.
Favourite board game other than chess?
I do like actual checkers on a 10x10 board, but I don't get to play a lot of people. Usually they don't share my interest in it, and I beat casual players easily.
I like Shogi and Xiangi too, though I only played it casually online. Basically I like all board games with some kind of strategy in it.
Stratego! This is a game in which NO ONE can beat me, not even computers! It reminds me of chess 960 but all the pieces are covered so you do not know the ranks of your opponents pieces.
I have resisted the temptation so far, I am too busy at present. I have spent many hours sitting in front of the PC not wanting to go to bed until I have got over a crucial stage in the game.
Right now, I'm enjoying a proprietary card game named "7 Wonders". I guess you would classify it as an empire-building game.
But I am totally fascinated by chess variants...the parallel universes of chess. I'm particularly interested in "Ultima" a variant in which pieces move like queens, but make captures in a variety of different ways.
Here's a page explaining "Ultima":
http://www.chessvariants.org/other.dir/ultima.html
You can find out more about the vast universe of chess variants, and play them online, here:
Amy
In relation to Board games several people have mentioned War games such as The Battle Of The Bulge. I have the " 1914 " game which is set up to cover the Western front. One needs to place all of the units in one's forces from Swizerland up to the English Channel, it does take quite a while to set up but it is a interesting game.
Risk and Stratego.
When I was younger, Milton-Bradley had a series of games I completely adored, called their "Gamemaster series". These were really cool games! One of them, my favorite, was "Conquest of the Empire". It has since been purchased by Wizards of the Coast, and they rewrote the rules and ruined it (as far as I'm concerned).
Another game I really liked (in the olden days) was Axis and Allies -- But again, this was purchased by Wizards of the Coast who again rewrote the rules, broke it, then "fixed" it by rewriting the rules again and again, then adding their expansion packs and kits so that you keep spending money with them, so I don't play Axis & Allies anymore.
I don't like Wizards of the Coast (can you tell?)
I have resisted the temptation so far, I am too busy at present. I have spent many hours sitting in front of the PC not wanting to go to bed until I have got over a crucial stage in the game.
The problem for me is, once I sign that peace treaty I've got to finish this wonder, and then I've sent some explorers out and I can't just stop while they're in the middle of the ocean or I'll forget about them, and... then it's time to go to work.
Shogi is a great game, when you capture a piece it becomes yours and you can drop it on the board on your side as a move, but it's not easy to find opponents.
Indeed. I keep trying to add a Shogi section to my Chess tournaments in Michigan, but I can't rustle up playes. Chess960 and Xiangqi are other variants that have attracted marginal interest. The truth is I would hold a tournament in any abstract strategy game if I could find six players that were interested.
If anyone lives near Detroit, and has interest in games other than Chess, here's some information: http://gamesinmichigan.com/chessforcharity/chess960.htm.
As for my favorite game other than Chess? Too hard to decide. Lately, I'll play almost any abstract strategy game, and my favorite is whatever I happen to be playing at the time. However, if someone starts up a game of Cosmic Encounter near me, I might just drop everything to go play.