While the year is certainly not over, given that everyone is frantically shopping for Christmas presents I thought it prudent to create a list to help potential shoppers out. Here you will find the best games I have played in 2021 and though, I make the disclaimer that some of these games have been released a bit prior to 2021 so it’s not exactly the best of 2021 but more like the best I played in 2021 with Christmas gifts in mind.
In either case, if you are shopping for a boardgame fan, these 5 games come highly recommended!
5. Great Western Trail (2nd edition)
New art, same game, Great Western Trail remains on my “play often” list and for good reason, it’s one of the best Euro games in the market today.
While the 1st edition of this game was released back in 2016 and strictly speaking very little has changed between the 1st and 2nd edition, I still felt it prudent to put this one on this list not only because it remains one of my favorite games to play with my daughter (14) but because it’s such an amazingly unique and fun game.
This new version is largely a cosmetic upgrade, is even prettier than the original if you can imagine that and comes with a few organizational bits that make setup and takedown a little quicker.
Overall Great Western Trail is kind of a uniquely designed game which makes it hard to compare with other games, but it has a very simple to grasp turn progression (you move a little meep each round on a track) so its a very easy game to grasp conceptually while the action spaces, the bread, and butter of the game create a highly cerebral strategic board game that can be played repeatedly with new experiences emerging every time.
Fantastic game that plays up to 4 players, but works great with 2 or 3. It’s just long enough to make an exciting board game evening with the family while short enough to not overstay its welcome. I have had a lot of fun with this one, makes a great Christmas present in the next level family game category, though it should be noted that there are a lot of rules in the game so I would not categorize it as a beginner game, this is more for that board gaming family who is already accustomed to playing modern euro games. Not for the Monopoly-RISK crowd, it’s a notch or two above that.
4. Vampire The Masquerade: Vendetta
In my humble opinion, the single best board game based on the world of darkness franchise and that is saying a lot as their are quite a few contenders.
My gaming group and I discovered this little gem during our yearly board gaming retreat and it stuck the landing like a pro with us. This rather simple card game falls into the “look them in the eyes” category of gaming as it’s really more of a game of bluffing, counter-bluffing and bluffing the bluff… point is there is a lot of bluffing.
Simple rules and premise, this is a game about using little to gain a lot by using human psychology of people against them. Each round players compete in a fictional world in which vampires rule cities as secret societies based on the classic tabletop RPG Vampire The Masquerade.
Naturally being a fan of the tabletop RPG is a huge boon here but even if you have never heard of the World of Darkness this is actually just a fantastic game in its own right and stands on its own. I would argue it actually makes for a great family game because it really is simple to teach and learn, while being very replayable and competitive, while remaining pretty short game, averaging around 30-45 minutes tops.
Great Christmas present if you want to surprise a boardgamer with something really unique this year.
3. Talisman
This stone-cold classic belongs on the shelf of every family board game collection along side Monopoly, RISK and Checkers!
The classic adventure game was released all the way back 1983, yet remains in print today and is every bit as fun as it always has been. I always say that if you have kids between the ages of 8-15 and don’t already own a copy of Talisman, this is a very easy decision. Far more interesting than the Monopolies of the world for a family game night, yet, so simple that rules explanation fits on a napkin.
These ultra-simple rules make this an adventure game that never seems to wear out its welcome with the board gaming world. In its 4th iteration, this latest edition still available today uses most of the original art retaining its retro feel for long-time fans, while still gorgeous laid out on the table for today’s standards.
Inspiring fantasy stories, the recognizable cast of characters with any generation and a sense of ownership and self-built into the game that draws players in as they struggle against the game itself while in competition with each other.
The great thing is that if you find it lands well and becomes a family favorite, it’s infinitely expandable which means every year for Christmas you can by any one of a dozen expansions that can create new experiences.
If you are looking for a great family boardgame this Christmas, Talisman has you covered.
2. Imperial Struggle
Without question my single favorite 2 player historical game knocking out its predecessor Twilight Struggle from the spot.
Ok this one is not for the family, this is a gift you buy for a purist board gamer with a love for history, in particular, if you enjoy games like Twilight Struggle or other 2 player competitive strategy games with a lot of depth.
Imperial Struggle for me personally is the unquestionable king of 2021, it absolutely blew me away and skyrocketed into my top 10 best games of all time like gangbusters!
There is so much to love in this complex strategy game for 2 players based on the historical conflict between Britain and France in the 18th-century colonial period. Yes, it’s heavy, complex, deep and can be quite lengthy (in the 3-4 hour range) but boy do I adore this game.
Of all the games I play this is the one I look forward to the most, it’s a true well of strategy, creating endless opportunities to fine-tune your game while at the same time the game is incredibly dynamic so there are no routines here like their often were in Twilight Struggle its predecessor.
If you have a gamer buddy who loves historical games, this is an auto-buy. It is a modern interpretation of chess if you ask me, the perfect 2 player strategy game.
1. Dune Imperium
No if, and or buts about it, this is the single best board game that came out in 2021!
Before I wrote a single word for this article I knew that Dune Imperium would be my no. 1 on this list and unless you have been living under a board gaming rock you already know that Dune Imperium IS the game of the year in 2021.
Dune is effectively a fine-tuning of 2 core game mechanics that have swept the board gaming space for the last decade, worker placement and dynamic deck building. It marries the two mechanics in a perfect union, layering it with an amazing science-fiction theme just in time to support the newly released feature film.
This infinitely replayable game is tightly woven which means that every game is going to come down to the wire, it requires deep planning, dynamic thinking and calculated risk-taking. Like all good Euro games there is very little luck involved and each time you play this game you will discover new strategies and opportunities that you will want to explore the next time you play.
The game is gorgeous on the table, very easy to teach and learn while offering wildly different experiences depending on how many players are sitting at the table. Weirdly while the experiences are different depending on player count, I can’t say that one is better than the other. Each brings something different to the table, requiring adjustment to strategies and approaches.
Super fun to play, love this one!
Honorable Metions
There were a few games I played this year that easily could have made this list if I expanded it to a top 10 or 15, so as an added bonus here I will throw out a few more gift ideas.
Vampire The Masquerade: Heritage: This was a really great legacy game based on the Vampire The Masquerade tabletop RPG. It requires a dedicated group to play it over time, but mechanically it’s full of surprises and true to its source material tells a great story of the world of darkness. Fantastic game, but definitely requires a regular group to really get the most out of it.
I’m not huge on legacy games but if any game will sell you on the concept it will be this one.
The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine: This cooperative trick-taking game falls into the puzzle category in a weird way. Essentially players are given missions that ask them to clear the board in a certain order and with specific instructions and the trick to the game is that players must communicate non-verbally through their actions while attempting to coordinate. Tricky but super fun game, great for the family.
It comes with 50 missions, each harder than the next and while the game starts out relatively simple, it becomes a real challenge in later stages making it a great game to learn together as a team.
Tapestry: While the rules of this civilization builder are simple, the strategy goes so deep it makes your brain explode all over the table. The paralysis analysis in this game is almost painful, but the game is just so good. I mean I find it difficult to recommend as a family game as it’s just a tad too much and it is a pretty long game, so it definitely falls to the hardened veteran crowd, but I haven’t played a game this good in years and it seems to have largely fallen under the radar. This game belongs in the top 10 board games on the geek, at 242 as of this writing it is criminally underrated.
It’s a civilization-building game but not in the Sid Meiers tradition, but more like a Euro version of the concept.
The one thing I always tell people who enter the hobby, people who typically enter the scene through Dungeons and Dragons is that while D&D is an amazing game, it is but a small piece of a much larger world. In today’s list, we explore some of the amazing RPG’s that have been made since Dave and Gary penned the grandaddy of role-playing games decades ago. I have focused this list with advice aimed at Gamemasters looking for great systems, but I think players should find this list entertaining as well. Note also I have only included games I have actually played or run and obviously, I have not played everything that has ever been written. I’ve also tried to focus on games that are actually still available today, obviously giving you a list of RPG’s you cannot buy and play today would probably not be terribly useful.
10. Star Trek Adventures
Star Trek is a franchise that has seen a lot of renditions over the years in the RPG genre and arguably, many of them made a respectable showing, but Star Trek Adventures is the game to beat.
I was a little bit hesitant about adding this game to the list because frankly, it misses the mark a bit with some of my criteria for this list, but I still think for Star Trek fans this is a great game.
The issue with Star Trek Adventures is that the books are poorly organized, written in a narrative style where rules and story are blended into the text making it difficult to use the books as a reference and the rules are, well, kind of complicated with a lot of high-level concepts that aren’t easy to teach. This makes the game difficult to get to the table and it’s a bit of a chore to run as a GM.
That said, if you can get past this difficulty curve, Star Trek Adventures does an amazing job of bringing Star Trek stories to a group ready to take on the intricacies of the final frontier and I think if you are a fan of Star Trek and want to experience it in RPG form, this is your game and it’s worth jumping through the hurdles.
The difficult thing with bringing Star Trek stories to an RPG, in general, is that it requires a lot of setting knowledge on the part of the players to really bring the stories to life. The terminology, Starfleets command structure and how ships and technology work, are all core knowledge that is required to get the most out of the game. The game does teach you all this, but typically players aren’t the ones reading the books and I think sitting down and explaining the Star Trek universe to players who aren’t already fans is going to take a very long time and probably won’t translate well. As such, this game should be approached with assumptions that players are already in the know and it then comes down to explaining how the rules bring all these setting concepts to life.
Being an Origins Award Nominee is indeed an honor, but I think they could have won if the game had better editing. The books writing style and organization is one of the failures of Star Trek Adventures.
Here Star Trek Adventures really shines as the connection between the intricate setting concepts and the rules of the game are in perfect sync and really bring to life the complexities of technology in the Star Trek universe. The intricate relationships of the command structure, the unique skills of the Star Trek universe, the way technology works and all of the history of Star Trek are all embedded into the mechanics in this rather perfect union.
It’s a lot of work to make Star Trek come together at the table, it requires knowledgeable Star Trek fans and a DM willing to study the intricate rules, but when the stars align, this game is a Star Trek fans dream.
For me personally, it was worth the stretch to get this one to the table as I’m a huge Star Trek fan but it comes with the above disclaimer and certainly wasn’t easy, it’s definitely for more advanced players.
9. GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System)
GURPS has been a household name in the RPG community for decades, it’s been around nearly as long as D&D and Steve Jackson is a wonderful designer that makes a lot of really great stuff.
Published in 1986 by Steve Jackson, GURPS is a role-playing system designed to cover every setting and genre imaginable as a universal RPG system for all occasions. It was the first of its kind when it was published in a market where games were always published for specific settings and/or genre and despite decades of role-playing game publishing, it is even today a leading member of a small group of games that take this approach to role-playing.
GURPS is in its 4th edition of the game but unlike so many role-playing games that have many editions/versions, GURPS core mechanic has been largely unchanged and the 4th edition books are backward compatible with all material that goes all the way back to its original 1st edition which is a big plus for fans.
What makes GURPS special and the reason it’s on this list for me personally is that it’s a system that handles settings and stories that most other systems are ill-equipped to do so, the unique stuff typically not covered by other games.
This is the game I pull out when I want to run something really unique or very specific. In the last few decades, I have used this system to run westerns, unique science-fiction time-traveling stories, superhero games and modern police dramas.
GURPS also has amazing source material support, you would be hard-pressed to pick a topic that GURPS doesn’t have a sourcebook to support it, giving you specialized rules coverage for just about anything you can think of which is great for GM’s, in particular those exploring more unusual subjects for role-playing.
GURPS, as it promises, is well equipped to handle a wide range of stories and while it certainly can do the standard stuff like Fantasy for example, I personally find it excels more at times when you want some really specific customization and need a flexible system that can handle it.
If you are a fan of GURPS, this is a system that has coverage of settings and genres that have their own systems, for example, you can play Werewolf the Apocalypse using the GUPRS system. This is a great feature if you just want to stick to one system but try out a lot of different setting material.
Over the years I find I use it less and less often but this is because today there are so many RPG’s that handle so many specific topics that GURPS’s universal approach becomes less and less necessary. For example, I used to use it to run games like Star Trek, Dune or Aliens because games covering such specific genres and settings generally didn’t exist or were handled poorly, but today this is no longer the case and usually, when a game system focuses on telling a specific type of story or describing a specific setting, it will do a much better job of it than a universal system like GURPS can.
It’s still a great tool in a GM’s toolbelt however and I find that on occasion I still find a reason to use it. Don’t let the rumors of its complexity fool you, while GURPS is a very robust system that has great rules coverage, it is a very easy game to run with a very standardized system that is easy to teach. Great game, it earns its place at the tail end of this list.
8. Alien RPG
There really are very few games I recommend as a party game, but if you’re looking for something you can run for non-gamers, this is the one.
Free League Publishing has produced some really amazing role-playing games since their arrival in the role-playing market and Alien the role-playing game certainly qualifies as one of the good ones.
What I really love about Alien the RPG is that the people who wrote the game really understood not only the setting material but the core concept behind the Alien story. In particular, their attention to the structure of a good movie-driven story which is all about horror in space. They really get that concept of drama that rises from the unknown tension of being in a movie about Aliens that will kill everyone, but not really knowing how that story will evolve, what the details of this next iteration of the movie will be. Players that enter this game know that they are likely going to die, the question is how and of course their is always hope that, like in the movies, they will be one of the survivors.
The cinematic mode in the game is a great example of that specific design approach that really lets a GM tap into the heart of an Alien story setup. You have to realize that Alien(s) is based on a series of movies, which if you include all of the Alien movies, the expanded alien flicks like Prometheus and all of the Predator vs. Alien movies, this franchise is all about short, violent stories about humans interacting with these horrific monsters in space.
This cinematic mode is the perfect setup but if you want that tension to be something that rises over the course of many sessions, the campaign mode is a great way to slowly build up that tension to the inevitable clash with these monsters where players have an opportunity to get attached to their characters so that when that final moment comes, the horror is that much closer to home.
It’s a very simple system to learn and teach, there are some really great story modules that bring amazing alien tales to your table if you aren’t into writing one yourself and Free League Publishing games are masters of book organization that makes the whole experience that much better.
My one and only complaint about the game is that they use black gloss pages with white text in the book and I know that this is a design choice, but it’s really hard on the eyes, I wish publishers would stop doing this.
If you love the Alien movies as I do, this game handles the material beautifully and I would argue that in terms of games on this list, Alien the RPG is the king of one-shots. This is a game that is tailor-made for bringing a group of players together for an all-day event and because it’s such a simple system and game, it’s perfect for introducing the concept of role-playing to non-gamers.
Absolutely love this one, fantastic work coming out of Free League Publishing.
7. Star Wars (West End Games Edition)
The West End Games version of Star Wars is a bit more like the books rather than the movie, which is to say it’s a bit more gritty and serious version of the Star Wars Universe.
There have been a lot of games that tried their hand at bringing the Star Wars Universe to an RPG, but there is only one that gave George Lucas the middle finger and showed us what Star Wars should be and that is the West End Games take on the Star Wars.
This edition of the game ignores some of the fuzzy and often hard to swallow concepts that the movies represent like inept Storm Troops who can’t hit the side of a barn with blasters and the ridiculously stupid way the villains of the world behave when heroes come along to try to stop their evil plans.
West End Games allows Star Wars to be a bit more serious, it’s a world where Storm Troopers are elite soldiers not to be trifled with and the Empire is a serious threat that isn’t going collapse because a farmer from Tatooine learned to swing a laser sword around.
This more genuine take on the Star Wars universe is what West End Games was going for and I love it. It turns Star Wars into a more serious science-fiction setting, where a blaster to the face will kill you, where being shot at is actually dangerous and space battles are represented with a sense of realism that satisfies fans of the genre who wish the movies were a little bit less space fantasy and a bit more space reality.
I know it’s not everyone’s bag, but for me, a version of Star Wars that is no PG rated is just what the doctor ordered, this is my favorite version of Star Wars in RPG form. The system is easy to learn and teach and it makes itself far easier to bring to the table than the many efforts that followed like Edge of Empire or the D20 Saga version.
Great game, great system, takes itself a bit more seriously yet manages to nail the Star Wars universe perfectly and despite its age it’s still in print today.
6. Dungeon Crawl Classics
It doesn’t take itself seriously, but DCC has some really innovative mechanics that are easily portable to Dungeons and Dragons, the basis for this one which I consider a classic as its name suggests.
There are many variants of Dungeons and Dragons and though I think most would count Dungeon Crawl Classics among them, I would argue that it’s got its own thing going and really doesn’t quite count as such a variant.
DCC is more than just D&D, it’s Gonzo D&D, a game with some serious wackiness to it designed almost like a spoof of D&D, meant for a fun and silly approach to the fantasy adventure.
Now you can approach this game with some seriousness if you wanted to and really the system itself lends itself to that style of play as well with a great magic system and some really cool concepts for martial classes, but for me personally, I lean into the skid here. The game is written in a style that suggests that you should see it as a kind of comedy show and given how the adventures are designed, the artwork and general wackiness of the premise, everything about DCC makes this the ideal game for a sort of Mighty Python version of Dungeons and Dragons.
This game generates laughs and my friends and I were in stitches when running this one. It’s everything you love about D&D with a comedy twist and it simply asks you to let go of your inhibitions and grognard mentality and accept it for what it is, a light-hearted version of Dungeons and Dragons.
I recognize it’s not for everyone but personally, I love it, it’s a great game in particular in short stints, the funnel concept is amazing for a one-shot and there is plenty of meat on the bones to keep the laughs coming if you want to make a campaign out of it.
A metric ton of fun, yet a really well-designed game, it’s fantastic.
5. Forbidden Lands
If you are the type of GM that thrives on open sandbox and on the fly emergent story and gameplay, Forbidden Lands is the perfect game for you. Everything about this game screams improv.
The second Free League Publishing game on the list, Forbidden Lands is simultaneously an awesome concept, a fantastic take on the classic game of Dungeons and Dragons, while at the same time being a great fantasy setting all in one game.
I can’t say enough positive things about Forbidden Lands. It’s a survival game in a fantasy universe with very deadly mechanics and a really gritty feel to it putting it squarely in the OSR wheelhouse, yet its mechanics are sleek and modern, with an absolutely fantastic dynamic world-building concept at the core of gameplay.
Players are survivors of a world that has gone terribly wrong and they are charged with trying to find a way to not only survive in this harsh environment but to thrive. The world around them is completely unexplored and the players must follow dynamically constructed clues about what is out there and because the game is an open sandbox, every group is going to take its own approach on how to proceed.
Players don’t just contend with the monsters that dwell beyond the borders of their village but they must deal with the harsh realities of weather, basic necessities like food and water and the absence of proper civilization. There are no blacksmith shops to buy everything you need or taverns where you can easily access the basic necessities and comforts of life. Everything in this game is a struggle and players are always on the brink of death no matter where they turn. The only thing they can rely on is each other and this creates amazing table dynamics.
I adore Forbidden Lands and if your fan of Dungeons and Dragons, while this system is certainly wildly different mechanically, everything about it is going to be familiar nonetheless. An amazing experience, in particular in the hands of creative GM’s.
There are a few quirks in the game that I would say require some minor correcting like the Peddler class that has a way of spoiling some of the survival gameplay elements but these are easily house ruled issues that can be solved and there is a great community around this game from which you can get lots of great advice some.
Highly recommend this one if you haven’t tried it.
4. Vampire The Masquerade (5th Edition)
It’s a really well-designed game with a very poorly written book, but playing a vampire in the world of darkness is a gaming experience that is so much fun, its worth overcoming the hurdle of this terrible book.
I love White Wolf games, specifically their world of darkness setting and certainly Vampire The Masquerade has to be my all-time favorite game set in that world. The games 5th edition did a lot of housekeeping in terms of rules to give the game greater balance but really the big strength of this latest edition is how the mechanics of the game and the story of the game are properly connected. The mechanics really bring out the horror of being a blood-sucking monster in this latest edition by implementing the hunger system and trimming the fat off the disciplines to bring them more in line with a game of vampire politics rather than a game about vampires abusing each other with disciplines as was the case in past editions.
I love the new take on the game, I’ve been running this game for a couple of years and it just works to bring that Vampire story to life in all its gory splendor.
This game would be much higher on the list if it was not for the fact that the actual core rulebook for the game is an absolute nightmare to work with. This has to be an example of the worst kind of RPG editing in the history of RPG’s. Simply put, no matter how many times I have read the book and how long I have played this game, I still can never find a single bloody thing in that book. Everything about its layout and editing is completely illogical, the editors of this book should be fired immediately.
That said, it’s a simple enough game that after a few sessions you will have most of the important stuff put to memory and so really, the game has a natural flow and simple system that you can largely get away with running the game just with the storyteller screen in front of you. Being a vampire is a lot of fun and this game really gives that to you in every spectrum and definition of the classic monster.
Love it, if you have never played Vampire The Masquerade, I would argue you are yet to really experience the RPG hobby to its fullest.
3. The Song of Ice and Fire RPG: The Game of Thrones Edition
I’m a huge fan of The Song of Ice and Fire story and world and as such, I have huge expectations and demands from an RPG that tackles this setting. This game not only met those demands bar far exceeded anything I could have hoped this RPG to be. This is one of the best interpretations of a setting into an RPG I have ever had the pleasure to experience.
In the last decade, I have had a really wide range of gaming experiences, but without question one of my absolute favorites is a short six-session campaign I ran in the seven kingdoms using the Song of Ice and Fire RPG (The Game of Thrones Edition) <- Yes that is a mouthful.
The Song of Ice and Fire RPG has got to be one of the best translations of a setting into an RPG I have ever experienced, Green Ronin Publishing knocks it out of the park with this game.
All of the intricate relationships between characters, the house building and politics mechanics, the absolutely fantastic social combat rules, the gritty and really brutal combat mechanic and of course just the setting writing all come together perfectly in a game that conjures up the TV show and makes you feel like your part of it.
There is so much great writing in these books, the organization and GM advice you get really helps tremendously in bringing The Game of Thrones to life at the table. I especially love the character creation building that has the players working together to not just form an adventuring group but a sort of dysfunctional family.
As a huge fan of the books and the TV show, I had an absolute blast with this one and I’m certain I’m going to run it again in the future. Our game only lasted six sessions but it was one of the most memorable six sessions of my gaming career. In our story three brothers struggled against each other for control of the house the players built together and in that short period of time they were engaged in a Knights tournament, they fought The Mountain in combat, they fought alongside The Starks in war, they betrayed each other in cunning political games and ultimately destroyed themselves. It had absolutely everything you could possibly ask from a Game of Thrones story and this system helped bring it all to the table.
I love this RPG, it really is a work of art.
2. Alternity
Bill S. and Richard B. create magic in what is the unquestionable king of Science-Fiction RPG’s, Alternity. This is not only one of the best sci-fi RPG’s, it may very well be one of the best RPG’s ever made.
While all the games on this list I consider personal favorites I would happily play or run at any time, at this point in the list we are getting into the games that really define me as a GM and as a role-player and Alternity is certainly such a game.
There are a lot of science-fiction games out there but in my humble opinion Alternity is worlds apart, this is the single best science-fiction RPG ever written, period. The work of the super team (Bill S. and Richard B.), it is a combination of brilliant design and inspired writing.
Alternity covers all forms of science-fiction genres from X-Files style conspiracy, Near Earth, Post-Apocalypse to hard science-fiction and science-fiction opera. It does all of that under a single, flawless system that makes use of 4 core classes, yet is distinctively skill-driven.
I adore this game and have used it countless times in everything from time-traveling games to space exploration games and everything in between. It’s a very simple system, yet so robust that even though there are only 4 classes you will never make the same character twice.
The game’s handling of technological eras, concepts like mutations and cybernetics, ship combat from hard science reality style to Star Wars space opera style, is all handled with perfection in this one game.
As if this wasn’t enough, Alternatiy has some of the best supplements for an RPG I have ever read including the absolutely astonishingly awesome StarDrive campaign which I say without reservation is the single best RPG setting ever written, period. The fact that it’s supported by this fantastic system is just icing on the cake of perfection.
I know that availability on this one might not quite hit the criteria for the list, but this is a game that was over-printed so finding books in the 3rd party market is actually quite easy, you can find it on Amazon or Ebay at very reasonable prices. There is a new edition of the game that was put out, I don’t know anything about that one so it should not be confused with the original TSR version.
I have not a single negative word to say about this game, it’s perfect. If you want science-fiction, it begins and ends with this game.
1. Dungeons and Dragons
The one and only Dungeons and Dragons makes the top of the list which should come to the surprise of no one!
While my desire with this list was to expose my readers to other RPG’s for their consideration, this list would be a bald-faced lie if I did not put Dungeons and Dragons in the number one spot.
D&D has had many editions over the years, but in each era in which it appeared whether it was 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 5th edition, Dungeons and Dragons was always my number one, favorite game to play. The only exception in the last 30+ years of my gaming life when that wasn’t true was during the brief period when 4th edition D&D was the current version of the game. I really didn’t like that version and it was the only time that I would not have put D&D as my number one choice of RPG.
I consider all of the editions as members of my D&D toolbox and as a DM, I’m more than happy to run any edition (except 4th) and I would typically do so for different reasons. I will very soon create a top 10 versions of D&D list which would include various retro-clones, spin-offs and re-imagining into this category and certainly if pressed I could put the editions of D&D in order from favorite to least favorite, but all and all I have enjoyed all of these games and I consider every one of them excellent RPG’s.
I’m certain however if I was pressed today to pick my favorite version of Dungeons and Dragons, the one I reach for when a fantasy story pops into my head that I want to explore there is no doubt that “my” preferred version of the game is 1st edition BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal). Typically I would use a modern retro clone like Old School Essentials if we want to get strictly down to the specifics, but ultimately 1st edition Basic D&D for me personally is the simplest game to run, the one that sticks to the D&D concept the best and is the most fun for my players. It’s fast, challenging, easy to learn and teach and above all, fun as hell. It’s D&D in its purest form.
Some Honorable Mentions
There were quite a few games that were cut from this list and though I would argue for good reason, I do think they deserve a courtesy nod for being in contention.
Star Wars Edge of the Empire is a game that teases me with one of my favorite franchises of all time and it certainly was a contender, but in the end the narrative dice system, while clever is just too fussy and demands far too much from a gaming table. I like the ingenuity of it, but it misses the mark for me personally and certainly doesn’t compete with my favorite take on the Star Wars universe.
Warhammer Fantasy Role-play 3rd edition like Star Wars Edge of the Empire has a clever take on role-playing with its narrative dice, but I find it has the same issue as its Star Wars follow up. Too much fucking about with translating these dice to make something useful out of them at the table. I want to love the concept because conceptually it’s really good, but it’s just too impractical at a gaming table and its board game approach to RPG management distances itself too much from the hobbies traditions and assumptions. It was a good effort with a lot of really great writing and I use the game for inspiration, but it’s just not something I’m interested in running.
Pathfinder 2nd edition is another take on Dungeons and Dragons and the truth is that I actually like this one as a player quite a bit. Lots of great options for character building, a fantastic game world built into the system and a really fun combat mechanic that really gets to the heart of modern D&D gameplay. As a DM however I find the 600+ page rulebook is just severe overkill, it’s just too much, there is waaay to much to juggle as a DM and really the payout is kind of limited. Anything as a DM I could do with Pathfinder 2nd edition, I can do with D&D 1st edition, yet it will be a 10th of the complexity, for me it’s just a hard pass. I think a good, dedicated GM can make it work, but it’s too mechanized for my tastes, I could never run a game that is this codified. That said I think it’s actually an amazing design achievement, it’s a really clever game and those with the patience for this much crunch will find a lot to like.
Once a year me and my friends gather in a sleepy little village called Hassela in Sweden for a 4 day board gaming weekend. It started back in the summer of 2016 but quickly turned into a religiously observed yearly event. 4 days of non-stop eating, drinking and most importantly gaming.
This years event proved to be even more significant than any I can recall as it was really the first time things felt “normal” since the pandemic started. The Pandemic has been a literal plague on our ability to get together socialize and play games and even though my gaming buddies and I have had a game night here and their, it was always filled with this sort of tension and subtle fear of becoming infected and getting sick. Now with everyone vaccinated and at least a calm in the storm as temporary as it may be, I think it was the first time I spent any time with my friends where I never gave a moments thought to the possibility of getting sick. It was a wonderful feeling and an amazing weekend.
At this years event while their were quite a few new games that were introduced, we also played quite a few games I would consider “classics” at this point. It was definitely a very Euro-Gamy weekend, though I don’t think this was some sort of conscious or intentional thing, but rather a testament to some really great releases in the last couple of years and my groups general fondness for worker placement games specifically.
I present to you this years games in the order they were played, enjoy the list!
Tapestry (2019) by Stonemaier Games Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
A hidden gem that seems to have been ignored by the wider gaming public, I was shocked to see so many copies available for purchase for such an amazing game released 2 years ago. Grab a copy before people figure it out!
Without question it was unanimously agreed that this was a smash hit with us this weekend, in fact we ended up playing it a second time, something we rarely do on these big board gaming weekends simply because there are so many games people bring to the event. Tapestry however was so good that playing it once was simply not enough.
Tapestry is a sort of resource management and civilization building game where players effectively try to expand their civilization through successfully exploring, conquering and inventing technologies in a very “Euro Way”. Its actually a bit difficult to describe but it suffices to say the game is oddly thematic and has this very healthy presentation that gets you into the spirit of telling a story about your developing civilization while remaining wildly abstract and extremely strategic. This is a game where thinking and planning really pay off.
Tapestry has a lot of really unique and interesting mechanics, but really I think what makes it such a great game is the simplicity of what you do on your turn and the depth to which those simple decisions impact the outcome of the game. All you do on each of your turns in this game is choose to move up on one of 4 tracks (Technology, Exploration, Science and Military). This comes with a resource cost, but each step along these tracks has a unique benefit that helps to expand your civilization. Because each player draws a random civilization or perhaps better to say “culture type” at the start of the game, their interaction with other civilization results in each player adapting a very unique strategy/approach in each game. Which again is hard to describe, its something you almost have to experience to understand. You can kind of think of it like playing chess, but the layout, starting positions and types of pieces you and your opponent get are different each game, which means that all of the strategies you tried in your last game are not going to work in this game, even though the general rule (move one piece on your turn) is the same. Each time you play Tapestry the game re-invents itself, presenting you with an entirely different way of seeing it.
It does not surprise me at all that this game has fallen under the radar as I find myself struggling to properly describe it and do it justice. On boardgamegeek this game is rated 235 which is shockingly low given BBG’s affinity for great Euro games and how good this particular one is. I have only played it twice so it would be hard to justify a full review, but my gut on this one is that it has immense replayability and depth, based on these two plays I would not hesitate to recommend it. It is a fantastic game.
Blood Rage (2015) by CMON Designer: Eric Lang
The only 5 out of 5 stars game I have reviewed for this blog, a review I stand by, its an amazing game.
Blood Rage remains the only game I have ever reviewed on this blog that got a perfect 5 out of 5 score and as it does every time I play it, it has proven that it deserves that score and all of the accolades that come with it. Blood Rage is just straight up amazing and though I would not exactly call it a “Euro” given it’s over commitment to presentation, theme and “take that” interaction, the entire game really does hinge on smart card drafting and well timed unit placement on the board. This may have the appearance of some sort of Ameri-Trash area control game, but there is very little luck in this game, the most skillfully executed strategy will win this game every time.
It’s a brutally hard game to win and certainly players benefit from experience and player knowledge of the cards, so it can be a bit tough to win on your first go against more experienced players which might actually be the only flaw I have ever seen in the game, but in my experience it’s always a very close game and all victories are hard fought and well earned.
I love this game, naturally with a 5 star score I highly recommend it and thanks to its long term success it has been in print since it was released and you can still buy it today. I do recommend getting the 5 player expansion if you can get it (that tends to be a bit harder to find) but it plays really well with 5. While I do like the Mystics of Midgard and Gods of Asgard expansions as they add some interesting added components they aren’t really necessary and might over complicate the game a bit for less experienced players.
Vampire Rivals (2021) by Renegade Game Studios Designer: Dan Blanchett & Matt Hyra
My gaming group and I are huge Vampire: The Masquerade fans, in fact we have been actively playing the 5th edition RPG religiously for the last couple of years, so the Vampire theme has considerable meaning to us. We have also played all of the various Vampire games that have been released in the last few years including Heritage and Vendetta.
Not too shabby, really a pretty solid collectable card game, it’s not going to surprise you but its not exactly a let down unless you are hoping for something extraordinary.
Vampire Rivals is a more traditional living card game, along the lines of Game of Thrones the card game and really this felt very much almost like a kind of “based on” LCG. A lot of the mechanics and concepts of Rivals were instantly familiar to me and conceptually it really felt like the game is driven by well established card game design principles.
I think my gaming group liked this game a lot more than I did, but this may have something to do with the fact that generally speaking collectable card games for me have to do something really unique to garner my interest. I have played dozens of CCG’s and LCG’s over the years and have quite a few on my shelf not to mention some of the digital variants I play. When I clear shelf space for a collectable card game, it’s going to have be something more than just the standard fair, which is not to say I didn’t like Rivals, it was fine, but it wasn’t like Star Wars: Destiny were after one play I was ready to whip out my credit card.
I’m sure we will play this one more in the future, but I have my doubts about it becoming a thing with us and truth be told I liked both Vampire Heritage and Vampire Vendetta much better then this one, so if we are talking Vampire based card games, I think their are much more interesting options than this one. I will however say that if you like Game of Thrones the Card Game and you also love the Vampire: The Masquerade theme, Rivals is going to be in your wheel house.
Bang The Dice Game (2013) by dV Giochi Designer: Riccardo Pieruccini
Based on Bang the Card game which I have never played, Bang the Dice game is a Yahtzee like twist on the classic hidden identity genre of games.
Bang The Dice Game got introduced to the group a couple of years ago at the big board gaming weekend and it’s been a mandated filler for the event ever since. This is a quick, wildly erratic and mostly silly dice chucking and hidden identity game and while their might be some strategy to it in their somewhere, for our group its just an excuse to goof and have a laugh, fitting nicely in between drinks and dinner. It’s a great small group party game, hitting that 5 to 8 player sweet spot. I’m not sure if it replaces games like Coup or The Resistance for me, but chucking dice is always fun and the game requires very little explanation for it to click with even the most inexperienced non-gamer. Its as universal as Yahtzee but so much more fun.
Empires: Age of Discovery (2015) by Eagle-Gryphon Games Designer: Glenn Drover
Age of Empires is in the strictest sense the perfect worker placement game with some meat on the bones. The eye candy deluxe version I spent my mortgage money on looks gorgeous on the table, I regret nothing!
This stone cold classic is arguably Glenn Drovers Mona Lisa, though the man is responsible for a considerable amount of board gaming history including classics like Attack!, Conquest of The Empire, Railways Of The World and Sid Meier’s Civilization.
Age of Discovery to me however is an example of taking an awesome concept like Worker Placement and perfecting it. This is simply one of the best worker placement games ever made and it was during our big board gaming weekend what I would consider a main event game where we had a full seating of six players hunched over for several hours trying to figure who had the right to rule over the new world.
Age of Discovery is really a kind of race to the new world, it’s very much all about trying to squeeze the most out of the starting conditions and whatever benefits you can gather along the way. Turn order is huge in this game and its a constant fight to be first player so that you can land those key capital buildings, resources and specialized workers. Its one of those worker placement games where there is never an absence of tough decisions. The scoring rounds too are such a critical moment where suddenly everyone is simultaneously jocking for positions in the new world and the game goes from a very peaceful and humble management of your own resources to suddenly forcefully pushing everyone out of your way.
If it wasn’t for the fact that we played so many truly amazing games, I would call this game the highlight of the weekend, but alas there was a lot of great stuff that hit the table and I would be really hard pressed to pick my favorite. I don’t really know how well this game hits with the rest of the group, but for me personally, I love this game and I’m always excited to get it to the table, it has been and will forever remain on my must own list.
The Sheriff of Nottingham (2014) by CMON Designer: Sergio Halaban & Andre Zatz
I put this one in the same category with my beloved Galaxy Trucker, is it a good game? I have no idea, you will laugh your ass off and that is all that matters.
I have no idea if Sheriff of Nottingham is a good game or not, but I do know that it is a great time in a box. At no other time during the entire weekend did we laugh as much as we did during our play of this game. The lying, bribing, threatening and posturing of this game never fails to deliver sheer and utter silliness that has everyone in tear inducing laughter. Every time I play this game it results in some eternally quotable moments that we laugh about for years after.
If you are looking for some sort of strategy in a game like this however I think you will be disappointed, trying to play this game to win is just a silly endeavor, you just have to sort of accept and embrace the absurdity of the game, let lose and play it as it is intended, with a cocktail in your hand surrounded by friends.
I love Sherriff of Nottingham, but it’s not at all because I claim its a good game, to be honest I’m not even entirely sure we are playing it properly. It’s greatness comes from its ability to produce funny situations that has everyone in stiches and its precisely for this reason Sheriff of Nottingham makes an appearance in the big Hassela weekend almost every year.
Vampire Vendetta (2020) by Horrible Guild Designer: Martin Mottet
There are a number of board and card games based on the world of darkness setting and while I think Vampire Heritage gives Vendetta a run for its money, this is by far my favorite take on Vampire: The Masquerade outside of the RPG.
Vampire Vendetta my gaming group discovered this year during the pandemic using Tabletop Simulator. While I find playing games online is typically a considerably lesser experience, I was pleasantly surprised by this one and one of the guys ended up picking up a real copy and bringing it to the big board gaming weekend this year.
For me Vampire Vendetta falls into the, if you love the theme, you will love the game – category of games, meaning that if you are not into Vampire The Masquerade RPG and you don’t know what a Brujah is or why vampires fight over control of cities like Chicago, this game probobly will not only confuse you but seem rather arbitrarily unbalanced. For those of us in the know however, Vendetta is a perfect execution of the Vampire The Masquerade theme, nailing that political struggle between the vampire clans that as fans we find so engrossing about the world of darkness. Yes, its just as unfair and often unbalanced as you would expect the clans to be as this game designer understood that in order to be the game Vendetta needs to be, aka, a true representation of the world of darkness, those in-equalities need to be built into the game and thankfully they are.
In Vendetta each player picks a clan and gets a limited deck of cards that represent the most classic elements of each clan. There are 4 sections of the city, one of which is the princes haven and each round players are vying for control over these sections of the city. This is done by committing action cards to the zone either face up (revealed) or face down (hidden). These aren’t full commitments because in vampire feinting an action, trying to get players to over commit and tricking them into terrible situations is what the game is all about.
Part psychology, part strategy and all horror, Vampire Vendetta just has it were it counts. Simple rules, great execution of theme, well paced, highly replayable and above all else the designer knows his audience, clearly this is a person who knows his world of darkness and this game is a love letter to it.
Definitely for Vampire: The Masquerade fans only, but if you love the world of darkness, you are going to love this board game version of it.
Coup (2012) by Indie Boards & Cards Designer: Rikki Tahta
A stone cold classic, I can’t think of any reason why any gamer does not own this game.
Coup may be the only game that has made the table at every single one of our Hassela board gaming weekends over the years and this year was no different. Easily one of my favorite fillers of all time, this hidden identity game relies almost entirely on the psychology of its players and most of the strategy of the game is about reading the other players and knowing when you can and can’t lie about what cards you are actually holding. Simple, fast and quite difficult to win, its among the best of the Ultimate Werewolf inspired hidden identity games.
Condottiere (1995) by Eurogames Designer: Dominque Ehrhard & company.
THE best trick taking game I have ever played and really the magic of this game is that it feels like so much more than just a trick taking game. It tricks you!
Despite its 95 release making this a fairly old game, my group discovered it only in recent years but it has become an unquestionable established classic in our group. I have never met anyone who played it and didn’t like it, in fact I have bought it and given it away three times. Everyone who plays it feels the instant need to get their hands on it and its no surprise to me at all because the game is a perfect example of extremely streamlined game design.
This is a trick taking game with a area control element, but what really gives this particular card game an edge over the virtual sea of trick taking games out there is how the cards you draw are used over potentially several rounds. Because you don’t actually know how many rounds their will be with any given card set you draw you have to always think about the fight you are in now and its importance and what fights will come next. Often you are trying to get other players to commit to battles you have no intention of winning just so you can set yourself up for future victories, while other times you are just looking for opportunities to screw people or get a quick victory.
Easily one of the best trick taking games I have ever played and thankfully this game seems to always be in print. Another game on my must own list.
Tsuro (2004) by Calliope Games Designer: Cathy Brigg & company
I’m not the best person to ask about abstract games, its just not my bag of chips, but I didn’t outright hate it which Is my usual response to abstract games so it must be really good.
I’m not a huge abstract gamer, looking at my shelf I can count the amount of games I have in this genre on one hand minus a few fingers, but every once in a while a game comes along that I find irresistible (I’m looking at you THE DUKE).
The Duke is the only abstract game I have ever played where I can legitimately claim that I love it, it’s amazing but alas for only two players.
Tsuro however was not one of those games and though I really didn’t see anything particularly wrong with it as it was clever, simple and quick, exactly what you want an abstract game to be, it’s not the kind of game that floats my boat. It’s not an issue with the game, but rather just my general gaming preferences, in fact, I would argue that if you like abstract games, this would probobly hit the spot just right. What little I know of the genre, this game seems to have that puzzle element I think abstract gamers will love. When we played it I’m not joking when I say the game took about 10 minutes to complete, it was a very quick game.
Are you dumber than a box of rocks (2016) by AMO Toys Designer: Joe Herbert & Dave Herbert
Its a trivia game, I’m not sure how one judges that. I mean people ask me questions all the time, it doesn’t mean we are playing a game. Its a funny gimmick.
A member of our gaming group has an affinity for pulling out odd ball games for us to try and while I find that all Trivia games are basically the same, this one in particular actually had some funny elements I think Trivia fans might enjoy. For one it was a multiple choice game, essentially all questions are answered with 0, 1 or 2. Which means that you effectively have a 1 in 3 chance of guessing right. This is a team game however and your opponent is a literal rock in a box, that has 3 sides with a 0, 1 or 2 written on it. The question is asked, the rock is shaken and your effectively competing against random chance. Surprisingly enough, it was a close game and while I will admit most of us were drinking and not exactly in top form, it was kind of funny to have almost been beaten by an actual box of rocks. Its a silly concept, but as far as trivia games go, this was actually kind of funny.
Dune Imperium (2020) by Dire Wolf Designer: Paul Dennen
I love the DUNE books, this is easily one of my favorite science-fiction settings, but while loving the setting enhances the experience this is just a rock solid worker placement and deck building game, it knocks the sea of competition in this genre out of the water and then steals the water, because you need water.. trust me!
Dune Imperium was the only other game in the line up that was played twice and for the exact same reason Tapestry got a second go, this game is straight up amazing. In fact, while 2020 was an absolute shit year for gaming because of the pandemic, hence their was very little games played in general this year in our group, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Dune is the game of the year.
A combination worker placement game with a deck building/playing element, this is one of those games that has just that perfect tightness. Games are ALWAYS close, hard fought battles. The game is really well paced, wonderfully balanced, beautifully illustrated, based on an absolutely awesome theme and is just chalk full of replayability. Blood Rage currently stands as the only game to have ever gotten a perfect score from me on this blog, but if there is any game that I know of right now that has a shot at being added to that list, it is most certainly going to be Dune Imperium. You are going to have to look long and hard to find a flaw with this one, it may just be a perfect game.
Don’t bother thinking about it for another second, this is an auto-buy if there ever was one.
Stone Age (2018) by Zman Designer: Bernd Brunnhofer
It’s bright, colorful, easy to teach, easy to learn, you get to roll dice and there is a fair amount of strategy to the game. I put it into the simple and fun category, it’s not going to change your life, but its a very easy game to get to the table.
Worker placement games are what I call “highly reliable” strategy games, meaning that, they usually don’t have a luck element and if they do it’s very minimal. Stone Age flips that, by creating not only a considerable luck element based on dice rolls, but a push your luck element with how you position your workers. You often pick spots on the board you can’t afford, hoping to score the needed resources during the round, which means that the game has this sort of gambling element to it.
It’s hard to know where to place Stone Age in light of a world filled with amazing worker placement games, in particular given that the “highly reliable” strategy games are generally considered “better” because they remove luck and put control into the players hand making them games of skill. I may be alone in this but I find Stone Age kind of refreshing. To me games should have luck in them, in particular when the game has ways to circumvent the reliance on luck through good long term strategies.
Stone Age is certainly not going to blow anyone away, in fact, my early impressions of this game when I first tried it were kind of luke warm, but I have kids in the house who love to play board games and kids love rolling dice so Stone Age is popular with them. The result is that I have played this game more often than I probobly would have otherwise with my gaming group. I brought it along this year to the Hassela weekend as an alternative pick as my 4 player game in place of Dune, but by the time it was my turn to pick a game we had already played Dune twice so it made its way to the table. In light of Dune I think perhaps people were less impressed with it, but I think its a pretty fun game and its definitely more family friendly then games like Tapestry and Dune that can feel a bit heavy on the strategy end. Stone Age has very simple and easy to understand goals, quite perfect for kids or less experienced gamers.
Batman Flux (2015) by Looney Labs Designer: Andrew Looney
Fuck off Batman Flux!
Ok, I’m just going to say it, this game is stupid but I suppose a game designed by a guy named Mr. Looney, we should probobly not have expected much.
I know these flux games have a following and all, but to me this game was just complete nonsense. I won, I have no idea how or why, but I was just glad it ended quickly!
Gloom (2005) by Atlas Game Designer: Keith Baker
Great artwork, funny theme and unique gimmick with the see through cards help to set the mood the game is trying to put across.
Keith Baker of D&D fame takes a swipe at making a card game about people living tragic lives, then dying horrifically to score points. As silly as that sounds, this game was actually mildly entertaining.
It’s a bit gimicky with it’s see through cards that you layer one on top of the other and it’s rather morbid theme, but its a short enough game that the exercise doesn’t over stay its welcome and it was good for a couple of laughs. A simple and quick card game filler that might be good as a camping game or something to pull out with the kids. Nothing for my personal shelf, but given the card game we had played right before, I was mostly just happy we were not playing Batman Flux!
Conclusion
Another Hassela weekend for the history books and what a fantastic weekend it was. Lots of great games were played and a good time was had by all!
Now its time to pick my favorite game of the weekend and I have to admit I struggled with it for quite a while. Certainly established classics like Blood Rage are always contenders and my beloved Empire: Age of Discovery I’m never disappointed by was in the running briefly. In the end however it was a battle between Dune Imperium and Tapestry.
Strictly speaking I think Dune Imperium is a better game from a sort of generalist perspective. What I mean is that if it’s board game night and I’m pulling out a game no one has every played, I can get everyone playing Dune reasonably competitively on the first go in no time flat and no one will be confused about what to do or how to do it. Its a game that is easy to teach, easy to learn, its actually relatively fast and while it has plenty of nuances and potential strategies, its not going break anyone’s spirit and the result of the game is going to be tight. Whoever wins isn’t going to win by more than 1 or 2 points.
Tapestry on the other hand while the core rules are relatively simple, has a metric ton of iconography and requires considerable explanation to get people going while the depths of the strategy and nuanced ways the economy works is going to have players struggling to grasp exactly how to put together a competitive strategy. Even for a humble veteran like me it took a second game before I had even the faintness clue what I was doing and I was none the less lapped by the more experienced player. At the end of Tapestry a less experienced player might score as little as 100 points while a more experienced player can break 400. The margins of victory will require everyone to have a good grasp of the game before they get close enough to make the game feel competitive.
Still ultimately my choice for favorite game of the weekend has got to be Tapestry. I don’t consider a game having so much depth that it takes a few plays to get it figured a problem or a flaw of the game. To me, good games are challenging games and I want the game to push me to figure it out, I want that challenge of learning to play a game well and I don’t mind taking a pasting from more experienced players in that process. In fact, I prefer my games that way and while it can sometimes get frustrating to lose repeatedly and not fully understand why, the rewards for cracking the nut and winning that first game always feel so great.
More than that I think Tapestry is a really diverse game. Those culture/civilization cards really re-define the strategies and possibilities of the game creating this great replayability. Dune Imperium is a fantastic game and choosing Tapestry over it should not be seen as some sort of disparagement against it, but if you asked me this morning what game I want to play right now, I would definitely pick Tapestry.
I asked my gaming mates to call out their favorites, again I generally don’t reveal anyone’s identity on the blog so they shall remain hidden masked men behind the scenes, but their picks were as followed.
Player 1: Blood Rage This did not surprise me at all, any Viking themed game is always going to be popular among Swedes and I’m fairly certain I saw him placing an order for Blood Rage on his phone before we were even done playing. It was his first time playing the game and I do recall how excited I was about the game the first time I played it as well. It’s an awesome game!
Player 2: Tapestry Player 2 and I share a lot of the same tastes in games and I knew when I introduced him to Dune Imperium he would love it and I think he knew when he introduced me to Tapestry I would love it. We were both right, but, I agree with him that while Dune Imperium was a very close second, Tapestry wins it.
Player 3: Tapestry Again not a shocker at all, both player 2 and 3 are hardened veterans, they know a good game when they see one and while I would imagine Dune Imperium was also on the radar for Player 3, I think among the guys who fill their book shelves with games as a matter of religion, Tapestry got our attention and had us checking our bank account status.
Player 4: Condottiere Also not a big surprise, every person I have ever met who I introduced Condottiere to immediately takes to it and I have already replaced my copy 3 times as a result of giving it away to friends who loved it so much I just wanted to see the look on their face when I say, “Here you go, its yours now!” Condottiere really has that natural charm of a trick taking card game that makes it a conduit for turning non-gamers into gamers.
Player 5: Condottiere I was a bit surprised by player 5 picking this one given the field of games this weekend, but I suppose I shouldn’t be. Condottiere is on the surface a simple trick taking game, but it’s really so much more than that between the sheets.
That’s it for this year, only 360 or so days until the next Hassela weekend, I can’t wait.
When it comes to RPG material, the quality of the various publications and writing can vary dramatically. Back in 2017 I did a Top 10 RPG Modules list of all time which was both one of the most popular articles on this blog, but also the one I doubt I will need to update anytime in the next decade.
In this list we broaden the scope a bit to talk about various RPG publications which go beyond adventure models. These are books and books series I think are not only a core part of D&D history, but very much applicable material that any good DM should own and read. This is material that will advise you, inspire you and make you a better DM.
I think it would be impossible for me to rank these so, I simply decided not to. Enjoy the list.
1st EditionAdvanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide
There have been many Dungeon Masters Guide for the game of D&D, not to mention countless supplemental and advice books for running games, but to me the original works of Gary Gygax are the equivalent to what I would consider the bible for Dungeons and Dragons.
The 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Guide was reprinted in a glorious leather-bound book a few years back along with the rest of the core books, selling out instantly, proving that these books are every bit as important today as the day they were printed.
The book is written in a style that speaks directly to the DM in a commanding voice offering you advice that though can sometimes be tough to swallow in the light of modernization of the game is as true, as factual and as indisputable today as the day it was written. It’s a bit like a self help book written by your dad who doesn’t try to spare your feelings and rather focuses on preparing you for real life.
While the book is chalk full of advice, don’t be so arrogant as to assume the rules are “out dated”. The book is a literal gold mind of supplemental rules that can be universally applied to any edition of the game, quick resolutions using rules that are well suited for the abstracted concepts on which Dungeons and Dragons is founded. More than that you will find a treasure trove of magical items and an endless array of tables for quick randomized information. There are rules that cover concepts like henchmen and hirelings, magic item creation, world building concepts and a wide variations of approaches to campaign styles that are all universally applicable.
I have never run a game of D&D without this books influence regardless of edition, it is a must read and a must have for any serious DM.
The Mystara Gazetteer’s
There are many settings created for the game of D&D, but you would be hard pressed to find a setting that does a more thorough of job creating a diverse, living, breathing world in which to set your game that are directly applicable to game sessions. The Gazatteer’s were written over 16 books that detail every culture and every region of the world, but the focus of the books is to give you material you can use and it is here where most settings kind of fail for me.
The Mystara Gazetteer series was a bright, colorful series of books that inspired you with its art and attention to detail, but the most valuable aspect of the books is their usability at the table.
The amount of inspired writing, unique story hooks and NPC characters in excessive detail makes this one of the most usable campaign settings ever written in my humble opinion.
More than that however is the fact that Mystara is a truly unique setting, not reliant on the endlessly repeating clichés found the many settings written for Dungeons and Dragons in the following years. It breaks the mold before there ever was one to base your setting off of. Since Mystara settings have been largely variations on the same concepts and it can be tough to distinguish the difference between the Forgotten Realms and point of light.
Thanks to RPG Drive Thru and print on demand, getting access to these books is relatively easy, a well worth investment for any aspiring DM looking for a place to create their adventures.
Pathfinder 2nd edition Core Rulebook
While as a DM I generally prefer simpler and more classically driven systems for my D&D like B/X or BECMI, when it comes to modern renditions of the modern game of D&D, Pathfinder 2nd edition is without question the gold standard.
It makes quick work out of complex rules while serving to provide highly involved and exciting game session. This is a game so fine tuned, so well thought out, streamlined and brilliantly diverse, that it works not just as a D&D clone but a universal fantasy system.
Paizo has shown that fantasy role-playing can be stretched in a variety of creative and interesting ways, with Pathfinder 2nd edition they have effectively created a new sub-genre of Dungeons and Dragons.
Pathfinder ensures that players have maximum creativity and options in their hand, while ensuring the DM can manage it all, keeping it straight for the table without having to do constant rules look ups. Pathfinder 2nd edition does everything right, including correcting the many things D&D has done wrong for 40+ years like its core action management systems.
If you are looking for a modern D&D system, before you consider 5e, consider Pathfinder 2nd edition. It is the definitive modern version of the game that is superior to everything that is out there today.
The Reavers of Harkenwold
I think the saddest part of the Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition as a game is that despite a really terrible mechanical focus, it had some of most inspired adventure and setting writing, with some of the best writers in the business providing the material. Guys like Richard Baker and Bill Slavicsek were at the helm of some of this material which included The Dark Sun Campaign book, Kyhber’s Harvest for the Eberron setting and one of my absolute favorite adventures, the two parter, Reavers of Harkenwood (The Iron Circle & The Die is Cast).
Reavers of Harkenwold was released as part of the Essentials Line for 4th edition as a two part introductory set, but the love that was put into this book shows just how fantastic of a content creator Richard Baker is.
What I love about Reavers of Harkenwold is that its one of those rare instances where an setting for the adventure is so well written you can run it as written and its absolutely brilliant. That is really rare in adventure writing, I can only think of a small handful of adventures that pull that off.
Reavers of Harkenwold however is more than just an adventure, in fact that is not why its on this list, what this is really is a very well thought out mini campaign and its written in a style that really makes it system agnostic which is also something that is really rare in adventure writing. Its a setting, its an open world, it has a great villains and above all else it tests the morality of an adventuring group. By the time your troupe is done playing through this adventure, they will know who their characters are, but they will also care about a place, become involved in the setting and establish themselves as part of it. That is really what makes Reavers of Harkenwold so great as a publication.
Reavers of Harkenwold didn’t make my top 10 modules of all time list but the truth is that I have never viewed this as an adventure module, to me its a mini campaign as what makes it great is less the story and more the setting it presents.
The Rules Cyclopedia
The Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia to me is the most definitive work ever done for Dungeons and Dragons. It combines all of the original 1st edition Dungeons and Dragons core rules under one roof before the game diverged into the “advanced rules” concept which arguably could be construed as a good or a bad thing.
This very thick book is the absolute definitive collection of rules for the 1st edition D&D system and its very accessible today via RPG drivethru using their print on demand service.
To me personally the Basic and Expert Dungeons and Dragons sets combined to form THE best version of Dungeons and Dragons as a game system. To me, once the advanced rules came along with concepts like the race and class split is where most of the problems in Dungeons and Dragons started. Balance issues, rules complexity issues and all of the minutia that comes with that complexity that have driven decades of arguments what about D&D should and shouldn’t be. The B/X set never suffered under the weight of rules complexity, it was a system that was designed to be played and to this day it is the most commonly used system as a base for D&D variant. Their are more fantasy games based on B/X rules then all other D&D systems in existence times a hundred.
The rules cyclopedia is a compilation of the Basic and Expert rules, but it also includes the companion, master and immortal supplements which bring in concepts like kingdom management, high level play and topping it off with the ascension of characters as gods. Using the rules Cyclopedia is the only way a group of D&D fans can play the same D&D game for decades and never run into the balance issues of high level play. It is the most complete, all in one rule set for running D&D and its the first and last book you will ever need to run D&D forever.
Its a masterpiece in my eyes and though I prefer to run only the B/X rules myself, its great to have all the added support in the event a campaign stretches into those higher levels.
1st edition Forgotten Realms Box Set
Not to suggest that 1st is always better, but the 1st edition Forgotten Realms Box set to me is the unquestionable definitive work for this setting and everything that followed played second fiddle to it. Not only as a description and definition of the setting, but in how it was written and what it focused on.
The Forgotten Realms is a iconic D&D setting, but never in its history was in as good a shape as it was in its original box set release, if you love the realms, these are the books you should be using.
This box set was designed to be used at the table, offering the GM key information about events in this place, events that would lead to modules linked to the original setting material. Strangely this approach was largely abandoned after this box set, transitioning to the way settings are written today where the material is “general information” about the world with an assumption that creating a story in the setting is up to the GM. I prefer the way it was done in this book as it ties key stories and events of the setting to the player characters with other fantastic material like The Pool of Radiance, The Curse of Azure Bonds and other classic stories like Expedition to Undermountain and City of the Spider Queen.
It was also before anyone started fiddling with the history of the setting to try to fit it into modern editions of the game that constantly expanded the races and classes of the game, breaking a lot of the nuances of the setting, those subtle elements that would take the setting from a believable real place to an obvious attempt to fit the latest players handbook into it.
The 1st edition Forgotten Realms setting was the only version of the setting that did not take the rules of the game into consideration, focusing on the lore and history of the world, directing its events based on the story, rather then the latest rules.
When it comes to the Forgotten Realms, this is the box set to own.
The Scarred Lands Campaign Setting
Born from the remnants of the White Wolf writers, The Scarred Lands Campaign Setting is styled after the story first concept so much of the amazing writing that was done for the world of darkness. The Scarred Lands is perhaps one of the most unique settings that exists for Dungeons and Dragons, originally published for 3rd edition D&D.
The Scarred Lands, like Mystara, had incredible detail among countless books released for the setting, each effectively its own mini campaign setting, but because it was written by former White Wolf writers, it has that dark and almost disturbing twist blended into its pages.
It’s a setting that defines in absolute perfect detail some of the most unique places ever inked for a Dungeon and Dragons world. Whether your talking about Calastia: The Throne of the Black Dragon that brings one of the most amazing political villains ever written into your world, The City of Hollowfaust, essentially a city run by necromancers and the undead or awesome books like The Wise and The Wicked that describe the many unique people of the world both villain and hero alike, The Scarred Lands is just chalk full of exquisite detail.
The Scarred Lands setting to me is one of the few out there written for D&D that completely breaks expectation, discards the cliques and gives the players a place to explore that will truly surprise them and again, it does this on a level so detailed that every single book written for the Scarred Lands becomes a campaign setting in of itself.
So good, it hurts.
Old School Essentials
One of the issues many modern gamers have with old school systems like 1st edition Basic D&D and Advanced D&D is that the rules are considered incoherent, hard to grasp, inconsistent and difficult to run. It has always been a problem for modern gamers to even try out old school systems to see the differences, to see what they are missing, to understand that piece of history and why their are so many fans of these old school systems. Its an unfortunate situation, one old school GM’s like me contend with all the time because frankly its all true. Old school systems are indeed written in a style that makes them really difficult to implement at the table.
I will never be able to say enough about how highly I think of The Old School Essentials books, this is the finest, most streamlined and impactful release for D&D in 40 years to me.
In comes Old School Essentials, essentially a true down to the last detail replication of Basic/Expert rules but with modern organization to make the game as comprehensible, as easy to understand and use as the original rules desired to be. It took 4 decades for someone to unravel the mess of the original works and create a book that makes the whole thing comprehensible and not only has Old School Essentials done this successfully, but it did it better then what we see even in modern rule books.
Old School Essentials brings all the fun, excitement and glory of the old days in a easy to understand and absorb way proving that not only are the original B/X rules amazing, but it is everything modern gamers want modern D&D to be, but simply never quite gets their.
One of the best books written this decade, oddly enough using rules made 4 decades early. A masterpiece resurrected for the modern day.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker & Ultimate Campaign Guide
The 1st edition of Pathfinder was really just a spruced up version of D&D 3rd edition, but because of the timing of its release, being after 3.5 which was an extremely long running edition of the game and during the 4th edition of D&D which was one of the least popular editions of the game in the D&D franchise, 1st edition Pathfinder was the edition I actually played the most next to Basic/Expert rules.
Pathfinder Kingmaker was updated for 2nd edition in a single book for the entire adventure path. To me this was an instant classic that deserves mention in any conversation about Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.
In the course of its run, I found most of the material released for the game to be quite suitable, but it was the adventure path Kingmaker and its related source book, The Ultimate Campaign Guide that really brought the game to a whole new level.
Pathfinder takes an old D&D concept, Empire/Kingdom building found in classic D&D modules like Test of the Warlords and campaign settings like Birthright and makes it comprehensible. While the rules for domains were covered reasonably well in the BECMI system, the word comprehensible would not be how I would have described it their either for all the love I have for the system.
Kingmaker made domain running for D&D a pure joy and because the module had a great story and setup for players to take throne, it ended up being one of the most popular adventure path in Paizo’s history, so much so that they made a video game out of it.
Ultimate Campaign uses the same core system for kingdom management as Kingmaker, but expands on it and other campaign running features that allow you to create your own kingdom building stories.
Of all the stuff that came out of Pathfinder, I count Kingmaker and Ultimate Campaign Guide as the absolute best of the best and what is really great with the Ultimate Campaign Guide is that it is mostly system agnostic so you can apply the rules of kingdom management to your favorite D&D system not to mention that Kingmaker itself as an adventure path has been converted to both Pathfinder 2nd edition rules and 5th edition D&D rules making it that much easier.
Fantastic content worth getting even if you don’t use the 1st edition Pathfinder system.
1st edition Oriental Adventures
The offensively named book is to me one of the best supplements ever written for 1st edition Advanced Dungeon and Dragons and that is saying a lot as their have been quite a few that competed for a space like this.
Oriental adventures was effectively an alternative version of 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, a self contained alternative for fans of Asian lore. No one has done as amazing of a job bringing this style of play to the table as this Gygax did with this book.
I’m a huge fan of Japanese and Chinese lore. What Oriental Adventures does is D&D’affy it, creating not only a fantastic sub-system for Dungeons and Dragons with all new races and classes with mechanical constructs way ahead of its time like Ancestry and Honor, new spells, new equipment, but a great setting. It effectively refreshed Dungeons and Dragons using the endless well of Asian lore, doing so not only respectfully but with a fantastic fun twist.
I adore Oriental Adventures and because it’s written by Gygax, it has that commanding voice legibility to it, making it not only a fun, applicable book for the table, but a great night stand read.
There was a 3rd edition of this book and of course their are entire systems dedicated to this setting like the amazing Legend of the Five Rings, but if you already love D&D and you want an Asian twist, this is the book to get.
It has been almost a full year and a half since I have updated this list and while board gaming as a hobby has been tragically hindered by the ongoing covid crisis pretty much the entire year, I think an update is in order.
This time around there are some pretty heavy handed changes and I have to admit that even I was surprised when I was finished writing this article and making my determination, but on the bright side there is plenty of new stuff to talk about so without further delay, lets get into it.
10. B-17 Flying Fortress Leader
I know that solo games are not everyone’s cup of tea but this game has so much great depth and such an amazing feel factor, not to mention it looks absolutely stunning on the table that it just has to be on my list.
I will be the first to admit that when it comes to my top 10 list, putting this one on here I have almost a sense of embarrassment. It’s sort of like admitting that you like the Star Wars Holiday special, or are a fan of white socks with sandals.
While it’s not my first solo game on the list, this is a rather obscure DVG game that I think most people who look at my list will scratch their head and wonder where the connection is, how in the world you go from any of these game to this one. It’s just something out of left field.
The truth is however that B-17 Flying Fortress Leader is one of those “piece of engineering” games that has this very tight, story driven premise that I personally find completely engrossing. You are a commander of a fleet of American bombers during World War II, making all of the decisions about bombing targets, flight paths, plane configurations, resource management and general command decisions. You setup all of your orders and put everything into place and then the games AI takes over where your plan is executed and you watch helplessly as your decisions are put into action. Its just enthralling and though I can’t say I’m a huge history buff, there is something about this particular piece of history I just can’t help but obsess over. There is just something sexy about world war II American bomber planes.
More than that though this is a game that just looks amazing on your hobby table, it’s an intimate solo game that you can play in one sitting or spread it out over days. It has a really fine-tuned sequence and there is a tremendous amount of strategy and planning that when done well you are rewarded for, yet there are surprising twists that keep you coming back to try again and again.
It’s a hard one to recommend to a general player base but It would be dishonest if I didn’t put it on my personal top ten list given how often I play it. If you have an interest in the subject matter and are looking for a cool solo game however, if my opinion counts, I think this is one of the coolest games I have found in years. (read the full review here ).
9. Twilight Struggle
Twilight Struggle really blew me away the first time I played it despite having a lot of reservations about even trying it. It’s one of those games you always hear about but don’t actually think you will like, well I’m here to tell you, you are wrong. You will like this game, any reasonable gamer will.
Twilight Struggle is an award winning game that has maintained a strong presence in the euro gaming community on board game geek for years, keeping the number one spot for nearly a decade. It has a digital app, yearly competitions and is considered widely as one of the best designs in board gaming by some of the most prestigious designers around.
That is not however why I like it, quite to the contrary, I was fairly uninterested in the game despite all of these accolades and have only recently tried it on a whim with very few expectations. Truth is that the subject matter didn’t interest me and I feel very strongly that theme is key to any game that would ordinarily make this list.
Twilight Struggle’s surprise for me was two fold. First I was shocked to discover how amazing the game actually was and how well deserved its praises really were. This is a deep, thinky and very dynamic game that pulls on a lot of mechanical levers that beg to be explored. More importantly however it actually inspired an interest in the subject matter for me (The Cold War) which is actually a fascinating period in history full of intrigue, actions and counter actions that give A Song of Ice and Fire a run for its money.
Just a fantastic game, one of my favorite discoveries in the last few years and as you have already been told by pretty much everyone, this is a game that belongs on your shelf no matter what type of board gamer you are.
8. War of The Ring
The Asymmetrical 2 player epic is effectively Lord of the Rings in a box, if you love the books and movie, this is an amazing way the battle for Middle-Earth.
This year I have tried to be honest with myself and include “times played” as a consideration for judgement for games on this list. Truth be told, I have not played War of the Ring for nearly 3 years at this point and this is the reason it drops to the number 8 spot. I couldn’t bring myself to remove it from the list entirely because I still consider it to be one of the best 2 player epics out there, but fall it has and unless something changes, fall off the list it will.
I have spoken so much about this game over the years I could put up half a dozen links from this sight alone, it feels strange to repeat any of it. I think the game can be summed up by saying that this is the entire Lord of the Rings story in a box, if you love the middle earth saga you must play this game. This game is Lord of the Rings.
So why haven’t I played it, this I think is a fair question that should be answered. After all its on my top 10 list and I haven’t played it in 3 years, that needs an explanation. The answer however is actually quite simple. When the opportunity to play 2 player games comes up, this is usually time reserved for playing miniature games. Miniature games in my gaming group carry a lot of weight and so there is this default assumption that if there is 2, then we play a miniature game. It’s just really hard for me to get 2 player board games to the table in general no matter how good I think they are.
7. Game of Thrones The Board Game 2nd Edition
This is a game that is played in the minds of the players, the board and pieces are mostly distraction.
Game of Thrones the board game has had a consistent presence on this list for years but this year it takes a significant drop from the number 3 spot. I don’t think this is a reflection on the game itself but popularity and current plays of any game are going to fluctuate and frankly this year Game of Thrones was a bit meh all together in our group and especially for me.
I think its something that happens eventually when you have played a game often enough where you start to see some of the chinks in the armor. Don’t get me wrong, this game would not be on this list if I didn’t love it and was willing to drop what I’m doing to play it, but I certainly can think of several epics I would pick right now over this one to play in a larger 5-6 player group. It is a great game, it has been a great game for over a decade in my group, but I’m at a point with it where I have played it enough times that it may be time to retire it from this list.
For those that have never played this one however, know that its staying power in my gaming group and for me personally exceeds a decade of entertainment, if you can get that much out of any game its what I would call an auto-buy. Like that is a great record to have for a game and GoT the board games earns those stripes undisputed.
6. War Room
War Room is not a game, it’s an experience. It takes the idea of playing war games to the absolute limit, yet somehow makes it very accessible and to some degree practical. You’re going to need a huge table and a lot of time, but that is the price of entry into this theatre of the mind.
I was very hesitant about putting this game on this list because I have to be honest here, I am yet to play a full game with a full group. Its on this list largely because I know my games, I know what I like and I know that a game is “going to be amazing” from reading of rules and play testing it myself. I have done this extensively with War Room and I’m almost 100% certain that after playing it with my local gaming group this one will surge on this list to one of the top spots. For now I leave it at number 7 for the sake of propriety.
War Room is Larry Harris’s new world war II epic, the guy that brought us the ultimate classic Axis and Allies. War Room is massive both in size and scope, a game designed with about the most elegant and well thought out mechanics I have seen in years. Its very clear that Larry took his time with this one using all of the experience, feedback and knowledge he has mustard up over the last few decades with Axis and Allies.
It is absolutely astonishingly beautiful on the table, its designed with various player counts in mind and though like Axis and Allies and most “super games” as I like to call them this one is long as fuck and will not be easy to get to the table, likely taking in excess of 12 hours. Hence this is an event in a box and it makes no apologies for that.
This game will make you feel like a military commander running world war II and this is exactly what the game tries to accomplish. The rules are relatively simple but the strategies go deep and its going to cease up your brain as you try to unravel the possibilities. For fans of war games, in particular Axis and Allies, this is a must own. Unfortunately its a very exclusive and hard to get game not to mention without a doubt one of the most expensive I have ever bought so be warned before you get too excited that this one may be as hard to get on your shelf as it is to get to the table.
5. Twilight Imperium 4th edition
Without a doubt one of my favorite games of all time, Twilight Imperium is just part of the family at this point.
Twilight Imperium is a game I have talked about since I started this blog and the blog before that. In fact, I have spent the last 10+ years talking about it and frankly I’m yet to fully tire of it. This is a versatile game that offers science-fiction fans the ultimate epic in gaming today. There is no game on the market that comes even close to creating such a dynamic, one of a kind experiences as Twilight Imperium and though it has fluctuated on this list over the years and editions, this latest version of the game is in my humble opinion the best yet and by a wide margin.
I think of all the things I could say about Twilight Imperium the one that should get your attention is that despite its weight, scope and play time, it is a relatively simple game to learn to play and learn to play well. A couple of games of this and anyone can become an expert and that is what I love about it. The mechanics just work and just like all great board games, much of the games strategy and game play is very much player driven. Which simply means that every group is going to play this game differently and each time you add or exchange a player the dynamics of the game will change.
Love it, always have, always will.
4. Vampire: The Masquerade Heritage
Vampire Heritage is the new kid on the block, fresh and young and though legacy games have a tendency to rise and fall, I think this one may stick around a lot longer than what might be expected. Very strong opening.
Anyone who follows my blog may know that I’m a huge Vampire: The Masquerade RPG fan, in fact I have been running a Vampire Chronicle with my local group going on 3 years now and we absolutely love everything about this setting. When a board game set in the world of darkness was announced it was an easy decision for us, but frankly we were quite reserved in our excitement initially. Vampire as a game and as a setting is a very delicate matter to fans like us and its easy to fuck up, our confidence that someone would come along and make a great board game out of it was lets just say limited.
Boy where we wrong, holy shit balls this game is amazing. Now I have put it on my number 6 spot only because we have just started to play this legacy game, having only finished our first era of the game, but I personally fell instantly in love with this one for three key, indisputable reason.
First is that the game captures the world of vampires with perfection. This is exactly the feeling I was hoping the game would offer. The politics, the betrayals, the maneuvering, the manipulation.. its all there. It gives you that creepy sense of place and time, illustrated beautifully to also enhance the imagery. Really just a perfect execution of the theme in board game form.
The second thing is that the game is extremely simple from a mechanical “how do you play this thing” point of you, while the gameplay, the strategy itself is immensely complicated. I love it when any game does this, where I can sit down with friends and spend 10 minutes explaining “how” the rules work, but we will spend the next six months trying to figure out how to win. Again I can’t say enough how pleased I was to see this approach taken, its really amazing.
Finally its a legacy game and I know a lot of people have reservations about legacy games because they are sort of “one shot” play throughs but there are 21 games in the chronicle and even after 3 games (the first era) the game has fundamentally changed in unique ways that will not repeat if you in the future would replay this one. Those permanent alterations to the game give this amazing sense of personalization and when you really think about it one of the biggest problems with most board games is that you will eventually tire of playing them anyway. The legacy keeps the game fresh play after play which means that each time we get together though we are playing the same game, things will be very different. I love this concept, I think it works particularly well in this game.
For fans of the world of darkness, don’t hesitate, this is a game tailor made for you.
3. Lord of the Rings The Living Card Game
I love this game and true love lasts forever!
Yes, my favorite, top game of all time has dropped down from the list. What can I tell you, it happens to the best of them. I have to say however even though this card game represents the highest investment I have ever made in a game (I have an almost complete collection), I have gotten more joy out of this game then everything else in my collection combined and I know I will play it forever.
Its just an amazing game and you can read the various reviews and comments on this one all over this blog site, I speak of it often. The truth is however that I have played this game so much that its time for me to sort of move on to other things.. for a while. I will certainly be back at some point as this one has a tendency to resurge like crazy. I have periods when I play this one non-stop and periods when I don’t play at all, but it goes back and forth.
What is it, why do I love it, just read the review and you will understand. REVIEW.
2. Through The Age: A New Story of Civilizations
Through The Ages is to Civilization building games what Twilight Imperium is to science-fiction games. Its a game fit for a king.
Through The Ages drops to the number 2 spot on my list, but holds strong as one of my all time favorites. This has always been one of those games that’s tough to recommend much like Twilight Imperium and maybe even War Room simply because of the length of play. Through The Ages however has two things going for it that keeps it on my radar far more frequently then the other “heavy” board game experiences.
For one, it plays really well with a small group, even as a two player game. Far more importantly however is that its supported by a really great app allowing me to play it whenever I have time without the fuss of trying to get a table game going and nothing is lost in this resource management game when doing so. I certainly think the pandemic crisis in the world leaving me locked in my house has helped this game to claim more of my free gaming time then it might have otherwise, but I have played this game quite consistantly for over 3 years now and I still love it every bit as much as I always have.
Recently it got an expansion as well which is the first for the Through The Age franchise as the original version never got that service which has also helped to refresh the game for me.
Love this one, but it’s heavy, thinky and long so be ready for that if you plan to commit.
1. A Song of Ice and Fire: The Miniature Game
Song of Ice and Fire is one of those games that you just know 20 years from now you will look back and consider it a classic, a game that becomes representative of an age of gaming in your life. It’s just that good.
Without question or doubt, Song of Ice and Fire the miniature game is the big blow out in 2020 for me. A game I have played and obsessed over at every opportunity I could get and thanks to the ability to play the game online through the use of Table Top Simulator, I played it a lot this year.
It’s not the first miniature game to find its way to the top spot on my list, you may recall (if you read my blog) that Star Wars: X-Wing held that spot tightly for a couple of years.
Song of Ice and Fire is just one of those gems that fires on all cylinders both as a miniature game and just as a gaming experience for me. It’s deeply tactical, yet simple to learn, it adds the hobby component but makes it as painless for you as possible, it has a really strong community and tremendous support by the publisher.
More than that though its just a fun game to play, it’s one of those “sink your teeth into it” kind of games that you can analyze and experiment with, the more you play the more you discover the little nook and crannies of possibilities. List building, adapting new ways to use the same units, trying to find those great positional and circumstantial moments that tip the scales. I love that it’s so dynamic as well, rather then your standard “lets just kill each other” it’s a mission based game and each mission is as unique as the next, all of them presenting interesting and diverse challenges.
The fact that its based on an amazing franchise with a robust theme, one it incorporates amazingly well certainly adds to the games flavor but certainly at least for me personally the fact that all my friends dove in head first into it means that I have a plethora of opponents always available representing all of the factions in the game.
It’s just a really solid miniature game that dropped into my group at the right time, one that I’m totally head over heels for, it earns its stripes as the top game for this list.
The Drop Offs
I always feel compelled to mention some of the games that drop off the list, in particular given that I still consider them amazing games worth your time.
Shogun by Queen Games falls off the top 10 list for the first time since I started the list and I can’t stress enough how painful that was as I absolutely adore this game. The dice tower of terrible faith, the deeply analytical planning phase and those explosive “I can’t believe that just happened” moments as battles are resolves are just a small taste of why I love this game. It’s wonderful but it gets pushed off the list, it happens to the best of them.
Great Western Trail is another one I consider “the best in genre”. This is probably my favorite pure euro, pure victory point smorgasbord game. It’s just clever as hell and deserves all of the praise it gets from the general gaming community. It was only ever at the tale end of my top 10 list, but certainly deserving to be on the list as is any other game that made it over the years.
New Angeles was one I didn’t really lose too much sleep over, don’t get me wrong I think it’s a great game but I felt it had sort of played itself out for me personally. It’s still a staple of my gaming groups yearly super board gaming weekend for good reason as its a fantastic group game and I’m sure that will remain unchanged, but for me it was time for it to go.
Blood Rage is one I struggle with always because I do believe it to be an absolutely perfectly designed game, but I just don’t play it often enough nor find myself drawn to it frequently enough to justify its presence on my list. That does not change its status as the only game on this blog that ever got a perfect 5 out of 5 star review rating, it deserved it and I stand by it.
Star Wars Armada falls of the list and I think its largely because I just don’t feel there is room on my top 10 list for two miniature games and A Song of Ice and Fire blew it out of the sky with ease. There will always be a special place in my heart for Armada as I do believe it to be a fantastic game, but its so heavy and weighs you down so much that I just can’t bring myself up to restarting the engines. I don’t have any intentions to get rid of my collection and I do genuinely hope it comes back around in my group some day, but right now I’m battling it over the seven kingdoms of Westeros and loving it.
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