January 2014 Recap

Welcome to February!

January was a good month of gaming for me.  I got sick, so I missed one of my Friday night game nights, but I still managed to play a bunch of games.  I logged 33 game plays and got to play 3 games I've never played before.  I finally won my first Star Trek Attack Wing tournament in Hilmar, and I'm in the lead with 2 months to go in the Dominion War OP.

I released my annual Top Games list, this year marking my first Top 50. If you haven't taken a look at that, please do.  My sister also published her Top 25 which should give you a different opinion on things.

Just a quick list of what I actually played in January

4 Times

• Resistance: Avalon

3 Times

• Escape: Curse of the Temple
• King of Tokyo
• Love Letter
• Star Trek Attack Wing
• Tricks & Treats

2 Times

• Article 27
• Cosmic Encounter
• Takenoko

1 Time

• Eight Minute Empire
• Eminent Domain
• Forbidden Desert
• Hanabi
• Relic Runners
• Spaceopoly
• TransAmerica
• Zooloretto

Game Acquisitions
I received a copy of Tricks & Treats from the publisher, NAZCA Games.  It was an unexpected added bonus from the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund Auction.  I bought the first expansion for Escape, mostly to get the 6th player, but also for some added variety.

Closing Thoughts
I'm not sure where this blog is going to go over the next few months.  I've never wanted writing for this to be a chore.  I write when I have things to say and time to say them.  I still love boardgames, I love playing them with awesome people.  I've met a lot of amazing people through gaming.  All of that being said, I want to enjoy this too, and lately I haven't.  That's why I haven't posted a lot.  You can see that I'm playing a lot of the same games these days, and I can't really review the same games again.  There are some games I haven't reviewed that I should, like Love Letter and Escape.  I'll get to those at some point.

This is by no means goodbye, but it is a potential start to the end.  

My Top 50 Games (as of Jan. 1 2014) Part 4 20-11

Welcome back to my top 50 games list as of the start of 2014.  Part 4 has a few more surprises.
5 games make their debut in the 20's.


#20 Flash Point: Fire Rescue  Up 6

Flash Point is one of the simpler co-op games, but I really enjoy it.  The theme flows throughout the game.  There's always a certain amount of tension since fire can spark up anywhere on the map.  I have most/all the expansions, so I have plenty of ways to play this game.  It hasn't been right for every group, but it's a game I can teach to just about anyone and they have a basic understanding of how to play based on real life ideas.

#19 Legendary: A Marvel Deckbuilding Game  New

Legendary makes its debut on this list because it has a neat twist on the co-op game.  Everyone wins or loses the game together, but there is essentially an MVP on the winning side.  Now technically, someone wins more, but I've played it as an MVP situation.  I enjoy the variety of superheroes in the game, and how each seems to do something unique.  The game rewards cooperation, but it also allows players to make their own decisions which is important in any co-op game.

#18 Hanabi  New


Hanabi makes my list because it is unlike any game I've ever played.  This is a puzzle game where everyone has a lot of knowledge, but no one has perfect knowledge.  Discussion is very limited, every clue matters, and players have to pay attention to everything, both spoken and unspoken.  A perfect game is obtainable, but it's really challenging.


#17 Alhambra  New


Alhambra is an older game, but I find it refreshing and challenging even today.  It just missed the cut last year, coming in at #48.  I was able to play it several times in 2013, which is why it moved up drastically.  I have the big box, which means I have over 20 modules which means I have a lot of replayability in the box.  Alhambra is one of the few games that my entire family will ask to play.  That alone makes it worth rating highly.

#16 Love Letter  New


Love Letter is truly a minimalist game.  It has 16 cards, and 13 cube tokens.  Even though the components are low, the game packs a punch.  Love Letter is played over several rounds, with the winner of each round getting a token, and the overall winner being the player to get a certain number of tokens first.  The game has a good combination of luck and strategy.  Sometimes there is nothing you can do, but most of the time, you're going to have some chance to win a round.


#15 Escape: The Curse of the Temple  New

Escape is the most tense 10 minutes of gaming you can play.  It's a realtime co-op dicefest.  Players have to work together to get gems, and then get out of the temple before time runs out.  If even one player is left in the temple at the end, everyone loses the game.


#14 Shadows Over Camelot Down 6


Shadows drops because of its length.  I did get to play it 3 times in 2013, but each time I realized that the game takes too long for what it is.  If I could get Shadows down to an hour, it would be even higher on this list.

#13 Battlestar Galactica  Down 7

BSG probably wins my award for game I wish I played more but can't/don't.  The game is so hard to teach to new people.  It really is something you have to go through once in order to understand how to play, and even then the game is complicated.  There are a lot of moving parts, and often it's too much for multiple new players to understand.  As such, this game sits on my shelf looking sad.

#12 Star Trek Fleet Captains  Down 5


Such a good game that I don't get to play.  It's hard to have a situation where I have 1 or 2 other people who want to play a long game.  Fleet Captains isn't the longest game, but it is a deep game with an immersive theme.  I love Star Trek, as you'll see in my Top 10, and Fleet Captains feels like Star Trek to me, but this game has a lot going

#11 Dominion Down 7

Dominion trends down for the second year in a row.  Here's my issue with Dominion right now: the game is big, it isn't easy to get new players into the game because experienced players will typically win the game running away.  I have enough Dominion cards to play almost forever without ever playing the exact same game.  I still enjoy the game, especially with people who know what they're doing, but I have a hard time holding myself back when I play with new gamers.