try to use phpBB Recent Topics, you can find this plugin here : htp//wordpress.org/extend/plugins/phpbb-recent-topics/
Actually BuddyPress is not just a forum plugin. It is often called as niche social network plugin. Forum is meant to just ask questions and get answers and that discussion board is arranged in systematic order. If you just need this kind of plugin, you can use bbpress BuddyPress is more than that. It has features like groups, friends, private messaging, blogs etc. If you want more features on buddypress, additionally you can install buddypress based plugins. So if you need discussion forums, use bbPress or if you need more features use BuddyPress.
yes bbpress would work fine - but to be honest, i prefer using specialized scripts that were made especially for forums - i guess its more of a preferance issue. but yes bbpress would do great.
BBpress is best mate, try it Or if you want hire someone to do forum integration of software like vbulletin or phpbb or mybb with it
I 2nd buddypress, I've used it on a few sites and the integration was very nice with the styles I was using.