When making my decisions on Pub Meeple, I basically thought about two criteria:
- Do I love this game?
- Do I love to set this game up?
I didn't want to make this crazy intensive or based on my reviews, but more just on my gut feelings! I think this year the feasibility of playing the game had more impact, which may show why certain games dropped a spot or two while others moved up the list.
Number One - Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure
If you've read my blog or my posts on BGG for any length of time, you'll know that I'm obsessed with this game. I have (almost) every expansion possible (waiting for preorder of Legacy to arrive and I guess I need to raid an ape lord's temple as well) and I just can't get enough! The app does a wonderful job of making this game solo-able, adding in tension through cards getting scrapped and missions to accomplish. The cards are great, I love building my deck, and it's pretty quick to set up! If you have not tried this one solo, you must. Must, I say!
Number Two - Spirit Island
In my opinion, this is the best board game ever made. There is so much variety, so many ways to win, so many ways to interact with your companion spirits and your enemies, so many ways to ramp up and down the difficulty, just, so many everythings! "If you think it's the best game every made, why isn't it your number one?" One main reason - it's a brain burner. I feel like I need a nap after playing this one. There is so much min-maxing and thinking about cards and half playing your turn while you think about what you're going to do. Even choosing your starting spirit(s) can be an agonizing decision! It's amazing, but it's a lot and I can't always handle that effort.
Number Three - Gloomhaven
This has got to be the most ambitious board game ever made. Not only ambitious, but wildly successful as well! The card play is masterful and you really have to think about how to get the most bang for your buck from the cards. The stories and the leveling up and items and weapons, oh my! The attack modifier deck (that replaces dice in most games) is ingenious, in my mind. Some people have said it's a gimmick, but I like the fact that you can level up that deck and have a good of what kind of cards are coming up based on what's already been played. This game would be higher on my list as well if it weren't. So. BIG! It's a beast to set up and take down, even having made my own custom insert. There have been quite a few times where I've thought, "Hey, I should play Gloomhaven." But then I play Clank! instead.
Number Four - Goblivion
This one kind of shocked me, actually! This was my surprise hit of last year, but I hadn't realized it had crawled so high up my list. When I first saw this game on Kickstarter, it made me think of a deckbuilding Castle Panic. At first, I was turned off by the silly artwork, but after playing it 20 or so times, it has really grown on me. I love how you build your deck by training peasants and defeating enemies. It's a fast game that still allows that wonderful deckbuilding feeling of ending with a powerful deck. There are also different levels of difficulty if it starts getting too easy.
Number Five - The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth
This was ALMOST the game I'd been waiting my whole life for. There are a few flaws that you can find in my review from when it came out, but all in all it is a solid adventure game. I really enjoy the ways you can level up your character (with items, weapons, new abilities, and titles) and your items. Lots of choices to be made and you can't do everything in a mission or you won't get out alive. I think the app works amazingly (although I would recommend not using it on a phone but at least a tablet or bigger) and does not detract from the game.
Number Six - Dragonfire
I fell in love with this one at FallCon in Calgary a couple of years ago. When I get home after the convention, I ordered it and have since got the Moonshae expansion as well. This one can take a while to set up and it's a bit of a bear to handle - to really get the full experience you need to play four characters (one of each faction). You'll be in too much trouble if you don't. Controlling four characters isn't always so bad in a game, but building four different decks can be a bit much. That being said, this is a great game. Lots of great interaction between the characters, great cards to add to your deck, interesting stories to play through, and a zillion upgraded titles/abilities for your characters. Half the fun is choosing those!
Number Seven - Friday
This is my most played solo game, as I assume it is with most solo gamers. It was one of the first (if not THE first) solo only game that I remember coming out or being introduced to. I think that a lot of better games have come out since this one, but it's just such a quick and enjoyable game. Wait, what, four of my top seven games are deckbuilders? Yup. Love 'em. And this one does it really well. The art is funny and I always imagine Friday shaking his head at Crusoe's stupidity. I recently purchased the app version of this for my iPhone and it's probably my most played game there as well.
Number Eight - Flash Point: Fire Rescue
I'm a pretty big fantasy nerd (what? really? didn't notice) but this game is special. The mechanics of the game are solid (especially with the Tragic Events expansion - really increases the quality of the fire), the components are top notch, and it's a game that I can get my wife to play with me! Always a bonus (she's not quite as excited to behead goblins as I am). I'm constantly impressed with how the different firefighters all have drastically different abilities and skills. It's also amazing how many rules you can tweak/alter to make this game exactly what you want.
Number Nine - Zombicide: Black Plague
If any game were to remind me of the old hack'n'slash games for Playstation 2, it would be this one. You get all sorts of weapons and items and you slay hordes of zombies. The components are great (minis are amazing), although the art is a little too gruesome for me. I picked up some metal dwarven dice a few years ago and that really increased the fun of rolling your dice to swing my flaming great sword around and see how many zombies I split in half. Controlling six characters is no big deal because there's no deckbuilding and not a lot to keep track of. It's kind of like an RPG where you have a party to control.
Number Ten - Baseball Highlights: 2045
Baseball is not my sport by any stretch, but I really enjoy the deckbuilding aspect (shocker) of this game, especially the fact that every card has two parts: a defensive and an offensive action. That, probably more than any other game, has inspired me as I designed my own game. I love that fact that a card can be played and do more than one thing. Really creative and innovative. The cards are fun and I love rolling up my little robots to bat. You don't have to be a sports fan at all to enjoy this game. If you enjoy deckbuilding, this is one of the best ones. If you haven't tried some of the fan made seasons/playoffs/tournaments that you can find on BGG, then you need to! They give this game even more staying power.
You can probably tell that I'm less of a Euro-gamer than Brandon and Carter (although, I feel inspired to give a few more a try after listening to their podcast). Who's got the list right? Me? Solosaurus? You? Share your thoughts, if you'd like!
No comments:
Post a Comment