Eclipse is a lot of fun. If you like Twilight Imperium, then you'll probably like Eclipse. It runs faster than TI and the players build the map as they play rather than having the hexes placed before hand. Overall a very fun game that has played different every time so far. We've had a guy attack early and dominate. The same guy did it again and got wiped out. We had a guy win silently by turtling up and building monuments. One guy built a fleet of super ships and we all thought we were done for, only to have one of the other players build a smaller fleet very specifically designed to fight the super fleet.
Also if you like the TI universe you can check out REX. Which is just a re-skinning of the old Dune board game in the world of TI.
Lords of Waterdeep is very fun. Fairly simple and straight forward. Each player has a secret hero which gives them end game bonuses for completing objectives. Gameplay consists of taking turns placing agents on the map. Each location gives something different, whether that be resources (fighters, mages, clerics, rouge), action cards, quests, or even the ability to build buildings. You use the resources to finish quests or build buildings. Some of the quests you finish have lasting bonuses like "Once per turn, every time you gain a fighter, gain one additional fighter." Overall very recommended.
Someone mentioned earlier about a racing game. If they're talking about Formula D, it's surprisingly fun. It's a good game for non-board gamers because the concepts of car racing are pretty easy to grasp and they're well integrated into the game. Your primary choices per turn are going to be what gear you're going to be in, which dictates which dice you roll, then what path you take after you roll.
If you want to try something new with a largish group of pro board gamers, you can try Space Cadets. A cooperative game where each person mans a different station on a star ship and you go on a mission. The captain gives out orders which are all various mini games the individual stations play. Depending on how well each station does determines how well the mission goes. All of the orders must be discussed, communicated, and completed before an hourglass runs out of sand.
So for example the timer will start captain will say "we need to explore these sectors to find crystals. Engineering, I need power to helm and sensors. Helm I need you go get us safely in that sectors. Sensors, I need you to scan that sector before we reach it. Weapons, you'll do nothing. Sheilds, all power to the aft." before time runs out. Then the timer gets started again and each station has to play their mini game. Helm needs to look through various maneuvering cards and put them in order to move the ship. The sensor station is looking at cards with shapes on them and blindly feeling through a bag to try to find the matching shapes. Ect. Then time runs out and all the actions by the crew get played out. If sensors fail then you don't get to see what the next sector looks like. If the helm failed you could be flying into an asteroid field. Overall a fun game that's a bit different from most board games.
, or try not to play them at all.
