My Top 50 Games (as of Jan. 1 2014) Part 3 30-21

Welcome back to my top 50 games list as of the start of 2014.  Part 3 has a few surprises as far as placement goes.  3 games make their debut in the 20's.

Without further ado, the games!

#30 Can't Stop  Down 15
Can't Stop is a great push your luck dice game.  It fell on my list because I haven't played it in over a year.  I don't own it, so it's not really under my control.  The design is simple and straight forward, but I love the anticipation that each die roll brings.


#29 Kingsburg  Up 6
Kingsburg moves up due to more experience with the expansion.  The game really offers a lot of choice, even with limited dice rolls.  Yes, you can get messed over by terrible dice rolls all game long, but for the most part, you'll be able to do something on each turn.  The more I play Kingsburg, the more I realize the depth in the game, and the different paths to victory.


#28 Fleet  Down 12
Fleet is still a really really good game, but I need to expansion to keep it fresh.  The game has become a bit samey to me.  I don't think there's necessarily one dominant path to victory, but there are several key things that you need to do in order to succeed, and once you get those things together, you're really hard to stop.  I know that the expansion is going to change a lot of things, or at least add a lot of options, which will prevent some of those main paths.  I enjoy Fleet, especially with new players, but in order for the game to stay up here again, I need the expansion to be excellent.


#27 Takenoko New
I received Takenoko from my BGG Secret Santa, meaning I haven't had it long.  The first time I played the game, I really enjoyed it.  Every time I've played it subsequent to that, I've enjoyed it.  That level of enjoyment demands a place on this list.  I'm not sure where Takenoko will settle, but this seemed like a good place to start.  Takenoko is a very approachable game that starts off simple and gets more complex as you go along.  There are 5 options on any given turn, and you get to do 2, so you're not overwhelmed with choice, but you're also not too limited.  I really enjoy how everyone has to interact on the board, but everyone has their own goals.


#26 Eight-Minute Empire New
If you read my review of Eight-Minute Empire you'd know that I enjoy the game, even though the title is a bit of a misnomer.  This game is more like 15-20 minute empire.  Still, it's a very well designed game, and it works well in a short amount of time.  The game has two ways to score points, but they're directly related.  On your turn, you purchase a card that has a symbol on it, and then you do the action listed on the card.  At the end of the game you get points for sets of symbols, as well as points for areas controlled on the board.  It's a really tight game with several key decisions, but it's also over quickly, so one bad move doesn't leave you losing for hours.


#25 Forbidden Desert  New
Spoiler alert, Forbidden Island is gone, and Forbidden Desert has taken over.  Forbidden Desert isn't the most challenging co-op game, but is by no means easy.  The player powers are easy to understand, but making the best use of the combination in any given game is a true challenge.  Make no mistake, Forbidden Desert is a lot more difficult than Forbidden Island.  Sun beating down on the players will account for a lot of lost games.


#24 Small World Down 6
Small World is still a very enjoyable game for me.  I enjoy the variety of races and powers.  I also enjoy the player politicking that goes on to try to cut down the leader.  The only reason it dropped a bit was due to newer games taking higher spots.  Small World is a great game for Risk players looking for something a little shorter and something with a lot more variety.

#23 Dixit  Down 11
Moving down due to lack of plays and a lack of desire to play.  Don't get me wrong, Dixit is still an excellent party game, and my go to game for a very creative group. The problem is that I don't have the creative mix of people that I had in college.  Dixit truly takes a group of diverse thinkers to make it work as well as it can.  That's one of the things that makes it a great party game.  It serves as a way to get to know someone, but more importantly, learn how they think, and also discover some of the random connections that people have.

#22 Roll Through the Ages  Down 11

Down due to lack of excitement.  I still think that RTtA is a great game with a lot of choices to make.  It's one of those games that I want to play more to really explore different strategies.  The problem is that I don't have other people who want to go down that path, so it tends to sit on the shelf while other games get played.

#21 Pandemic  Down 8
Pandemic is an enjoyable game for me, but it moved down because the newest expansion essentially requires the new version of the game, and I'm really opposed to that.  Now, I still enjoy what I have, and I will happily play Pandemic with what I have.  The game is fine, but it gets a bit samey after awhile.  My plays of it have drastically decreased over the last couple of years.  It can suffer from one player telling others what to do.  Fortunately, in my group, there are two of us who offer opinions and then leave the final choice up to the player.  That system has worked well for us, though it's not perfect by any means.

Top 42 Part 4 (21-15)

Thanks for coming back again. You can find part 3 here, and links to previous ones from there.

Without further adieu,


#21 Werewolf/Mafia
It's hard to really count this as a board game, but with the ultimate werewolf edition, and thus role cards I'm going to go ahead and count this.  I've only played Werewolf a handful of times, but each time it has been a lot of fun.  It takes a large group to play well, and the best games I played were the 15-20 person ones.  You need at least 10 to make it worthwhile, so because of that, I don't get to play it much, but it's a lot of fun trying to figure out who's a werewolf.  The best moments are the ones where everything goes wrong, like when the werewolves get the last laugh, who then kills one of cupid's lovers which kills the other lover.  This game has a lot of good memories, and is a really fun way for a large group of people to play something together and have a lot of laughs.

#20 1960: The Making of the President

This is another game that I've only played a few times, but it was an interesting game.  Politics aren't of much interest to most people except in election years, but this game captures the tension of a close political race.  1960 was perhaps the most seesaw election process in recent history, and this game captures it perfectly.  Each player can play cards either for their affect or for action points, but they have to be careful because if they use them for action points, their opponent can try to use the action for himself.  I don't have much of the strategy to this game figured out, but it's a very well designed two player game, and it makes me want to try Twilight Struggle.  A great political game about a fascinating election, and my favorite 2 player only game.

#19 Carcassonne

This would be higher on my list, but it dropped down due to lack of recent plays. I think all the good things I have to say are in my review of Carc, but let me summarize why it's here on the list.  I can play it with just about anyone, it's easy to teach to new players.  Also, Meeples are just plain fun to play with, and the way they do different things gives players strategy opportunities.  You can't go all farmers early on, else you'll fall behind on points, and your farms won't do enough to catch up.  The downside is the numerous expansions and thus new rules, so it feels like I play the set of tiles every single time.  It's the only tile laying game I own, which gives it unique mechanics.  I really like the variety on tiles and the building aspect.  I've had a lot of fun with Carc, and I will continue playing it at least occasionally for a long time.

#18 Small World

First off, sorry Tahlia, it did fall this low, but really 19-8 were really had to decide between, and they each have their own merits and I like them all.  Small World is a fantasy combat game.  I won't call it a war game, since it's a bit too simple for that, but the game is all about combat.  You get a race, think Halflings, Elves, Giants, Sorcerers, etc. and a power, like Seafaring, Forest, Dragon Master, which give you a certain number of tokens which you use to conquer areas on the board. For each area you get a coin, and after a certain number of rounds, the high total wins.  Combat is really easy, you just need 2 tokens, plus how ever many things are currently on the region in order to take it over.  This leaves no surprises in bad die rolls which eliminates some of the frustration.  Somehow it just seems more fun when you die to Diplomat Ratmen or Flying Halflings as opposed to the rigorous and tedious combat system that is Risk.

#17 Space Hulk: Death Angel 

This is the hardest co-op game I've played.  The genestealers pursue you from room to room, and your space marines will rarely be exactly where you need them.  Nevertheless, it's a lot of fun to try to beat the game, and with player range going from 1-6 it works well for a lot of game groups.  Each player is put in control of one team of space marines (2 different marines) and given 3 options for actions.  On your first turn, you can choose from any of the three, but after that you only have access to the two you didn't just play, meaning you can't do the same thing back to back.  This means you have to be sure that what you're doing now isn't going to be necessary next turn, and you also have to communicate with teammates so not everyone attacks on the same turn.  It's all about balance and communication, yet the way in which enemies come out and the events that happen are anything but balanced, and the game limits the player's communication.  It doesn't matter though, because the game is still enjoyable and something I want to play frequently.

#16 Settlers of Catan

More specifically, Cities and Knights.  This was the first hobby game I ever played, and I, for lack of a better term, fell in love.  I started thinking about it, replaying games in my head, and wanting to play it all the time.  Perhaps I've romanticized Settlers, because when I play it now, some of the charm is gone, but I can't deny that I played it a lot of times, and it was the start of my gaming family, and the reason I have three amazing friends from college.  Catan is a game I will one day play with my girlfriend, and then fiancé, and then wife, and someday kids and nieces and nephews.  I can't deny that it is the reason I love boardgames, and it's an amazing blend of strategy and luck, resource management and player interaction.  It does a lot of things pretty well, no single thing great, but it's a great way to spend a few hours with people, and that's the mark of a great game.

#15 Roll Through the Ages

Consider this a civilization game boiled down to dice. Now, many elements had to be removed, but since I've never played a true civ game, I enjoy this for what it is.  You use workers to build cities, cities give you more dice, then you use workers to build monuments.  You have to get food to feed your cities, else your people starve and you lose points.  If you roll too many skulls, you lose points, but if you make 3, you attack your opponents.  Skulls give you goods which let you trade for coin which then allows you to buy developments.  Sure, there's luck in what you roll, it's dice for goodness sake, but there's a lot of strategy that can mitigate the luck.  I personally play with the expansion which adds more development and player to player trading, which adds to the civilization feel.  Overall, it's a well done dice game that I enjoy in ~45 minutes, which is great.

Just 14 more to go.  Sunday will be 14-7, then I will do 7-6-5-4 on Wednesday 2/7 and 3-2-1 on Sunday 2/11.