Welcome back to my top 50 games list as of the start of 2014. My top 10 has 6 of the same games as last year. Even then, 4 games make their debut in my top 10. I'd wager that there won't be another year with more than 4 new games in my top 10. I played a lot of amazing games for the first time in 2013, and I think the amount of new games on this list reflects that.
#10 Article 27 New
Article 27 is a pure negotiation game. Everyone is trying to get their way, but most of the time, no two players want exactly the same thing. Each round is 5 minutes of chaotic negotiation, but oh my, what a fun 5 minutes. I really enjoy Article 27 because the game plays quickly, but it packs a big punch in that timeframe.
#9 Star Wars: X-Wing Down 4
X-Wing drops for a couple of reasons. The main one is further down on this list, but the second is really the lack of support from FFG. Production is constantly delayed, and they don't communicate with the fans. Their tournament support is a bit lacking in comparison to another company. The other big reason is that I want missions and/or a campaign. Dogfights are fun in X-Wing, but they aren't everything that I want to experience in the game. The game is still a lot of fun, but others are more fun.
#8 Incan Gold Up 1
Incan Gold gets a bump because I played it a lot in 2013, and I really enjoyed every play of it. It's a really fun push your luck game that I rarely win. I usually run at the same time as someone else, run too early, or run far too late. Still, the game is quick, and has a lot of laughs and good tension throughout.
#7 For Sale Up 3
For Sale moves up because it's become a game I can play with anyone. It's not a super deep game, but there are still important choices to make every turn. It plays blazingly quick, around 20 minutes, which is the perfect filler for me.
#6 7 Wonders Down 3
7 Wonders moved down simply because I'm playing it less. The game is still a lot of fun, but I feel like I'm missing something when I play it. There's still a lot to the game that I haven't delved into, so I need to get it back to the table for that. It's a good design in my mind, with a lot of ways to win. Adding in Leaders and Cities has given me a lot of variety, and I'd be happy with the game exactly as it is. Of course, more wonders add variety, and another expansion might give me that little something I'm missing, so I'm not really sure. Anyways, I enjoy 7 Wonders. It's one of my go to games for a larger gaming crowd.
#5 King of Tokyo New
King of Tokyo is a great dice chucking game. I'm a sucker for any game where I get to roll lots of dice and use them to do something. What better thing to do with your dice results than rampage Tokyo and attack the other monsters? The game does suffer from player elimination, especially if you go out early, you can be waiting around for awhile. Even then, KoT is a fun game to watch, so I don't mind that too much, but others might.
#4 Ticket to Ride Down 2
Ticket didn't really move down in my opinion, it's just that #2 and 3 jumped over it. Ticket to Ride is a really fun, yet simple train game. The game is fairly simple, with only 3 choices on each turn, but how players utilize those choices makes a huge difference in their game.
#3 Resistance: Avalon New
I picked this up on a whim. I played normal Resistance, and wasn't a big fan, but after watching a play through of this online, I thought it just might work. Turns out I was right, and 50 plays in 2013 later, it's #3 on my list. I mainly play it on Friday nights with a larger group, and we get really into the game. We play at least 3 times every meeting, which has led to some discoveries of tells. It has turned us all into better liars, which probably isn't the best thing in the world, but we've all promised to use those powers for good, not evil.
#2 Star Trek: Attack Wing New
This is the aforementioned game that knocked X-Wing down. Yes, the model quality is worse than X-Wing by a wide margin, but that pales to the enriched gameplay and missions that exist in the game. The tournament support has been fantastic, and more amazing things are coming this year. I came into the game with a lot of skepticism, thinking it would essentially be X-Wing in Star Trek colors, but boy was I wrong. The gameplay is so much deeper, with a lot more options in squad building and actual game play.
#1 Cosmic Encounter No Change
Cosmic holds on to the #1 spot, though it almost lost it to Star Trek. Cosmic is a game I love every time I play it, and there is never a bad game of Cosmic. I know it isn't a game for everyone, but for those people who enjoy a bit of chaos, and having to work together, but find the opportune moment to make a power play, this is the game for you.
What did I learn in 2013?
The biggest thing I learned is that there are great games coming out all the time. My personal gaming tastes are changing all the time, and just about any game could find it's way onto my list. My top 5 games have almost nothing in common as far as mechanics go. I like them all for completely different reasons. To me, that's a great testament to my desire for variety. Stay tuned for this list next year. I'm sure many things will change again.
Then, in late November, I saw a link for a kickstarter by 2 astrophotographers (people who take pictures of stuff in space) that had really reasonable prices. One mat was $30, more mats were less per mat. I ended up buying 4 for $100, so $25 per mat. I got them early of all things, and I absolutely love the mats. The art pops off the mat, and really gives a new dimension to space battles. Since I'm a tournament organizer, it's great to have 5 mats for people to play on.
All of these mats are great, and each time I have to decide which one to play on. It's a nice problem to have. One of the things I wanted to do was to make the things I have look nice. I play a lot of STAW and X-Wing, so it makes sense to have nice play mats. Now, I fully admit that I don't need 5 of them, but it's really nice to have the variety. All of the kickstarter mats are on vinyl, which really stays put on a table, and keeps the ships from moving around too much. They're not perfect by any means, but they do their job of keeping ships there. At this point, the black mat is but a low cost memory.
