Top Board Games From 2018

It is the beginning of the year, so it means we reflect on the year pass. One of the reflections points for me is all the great times spent around a game table indulging in my favorite hobby. With the boon in board games over the past decade, 2018 was another year of stellar titles. It is always hard to pick a list of favorites since there are some titles I never got to play. If there are some games I have missed which you think I should try, let me know by leaving a comment or let me know via Twitter. With further ado, below is my list of favorite titles from 2018 in no particular order:

• The Mind (2-4 players) - Do not talk, do not signal. The polarizing game of 2018 where players have to play cards in numerical order without talking or signaling to other players. A game consist of twelve levels which correspond to the number of cards each player will receive. The players start with three lives and two throwing stars. When players are ready, the players put their hands on the table and the round begins. Now it is up to the players to figure out who needs to lay down the card first and continue in numerical order until everyone is out of cards. A throwing star can be used if a number is missed by one card and anything greater will cost a life. On certain rounds, players can earn back a life or a throwing star. If the players make it to the end of round twelve, they win! The game can be hilarious to watch if you have no context. One night while playing at a pub, people were coming up and asking questions because they saw people not speaking while laying down cards with a rare moment where a hand was raised to correct the game state or answer a question. Even after playing a few games with people, it can still be difficult to win all twelve levels. The Mind has become one of my favorite travel games this year.

• War Chest (2-4 players) - Do you love a game with tokens? Do you like drafting? What about strategy games? War Chest is a game from AEG where players fight to control the board by being the first player or team in four player scenario to have placed all their control markers. Before the game gets started, players random select army banners then draft the banners to be part of their army. Each banner comes with a set of tokens and a special tactic. The players take two tokens from each of their banners and puts them in their respected bag. During each round, they will draw three tokens from the bag which players use to perform different actions. The game ends once all control markers for a player (or team) are on the board. After picking up War Chest, it has replaced Hive which was my last favorite two player strategy game. It has a good amount of replay-ability since you never know what banners you will get or draft.

• Root (2-4 players) - An adorable war game from Leder Games where players assume control of one of the four woodland factions to fight over who will ultimately control the forest. The factions consist of the economic driven Marquise de Cat, the territory focus Eyrie, the mercenary Vagabonds, and the Alliance aka the resistance. Since this is a complex game, I’ve linked a video to help explain how to play Root. We picked up the game at PAX Unplugged which was surprise for us since we heard it was sold out. Sadly, it did not hit the game table until the holiday season, but the wait was worth it. The game has all the best elements from resource management, diplomacy, asymmetric combat. Pick your favorite faction, build up empire, collect all the victory points, and rule over your forest kingdom.

• The Quacks of Quedlinburg (2-4 players) - A fantastic “push your luck” game from North Star Games where players take turns brewing potions to sell at Quedlinburg each year. Players draw ingredients from their potion bag and put them onto their potion bowl. The whole time they are drawing ingredients, they have to be wary not to explode by drawing more than seven value worth of Poppy. If they do not explode, they are able to get victory points and money which is used to purchase more ingredients. Each of ingredients has a different power based on the alchemy book being used for them. After nine years of selling potions, the player with the most victory points win. The replay-ability on the game is high since there are two potion boards and four books for each of the ingredients except pumpkins and moths. We picked up the game at PAX Unplugged and it has been the one game hitting our table over and over again during the holiday season. It takes the top spot for my favorite board game of 2018.

Aside from the great games which came out in 2018, some favorites from years past continue to be on list of top games.

• Star Realms (2-4 players) - A deckbuilder from White Wizard Games where two opponents (four with more core sets and expansions) square off for galactic dominance by reducing their opponents Authority to zero. Star Realms released in 2014 and continues to be one of my favorite games to this day. Between the iOS, Android, PC, and the actual game, Star Realms keeping hitting the game table. I highly recommend checking this out.

• Dropmix (1-4 players) - Harmonix released a music mixing game in 2017 which allows players to put down NFC-equipped cards on a game board. Each card is keyed to an instrument and color coded to different squares on the game board. Once a card is played, it changes the beat of the song. There are a couple different modes from Party where players form a team and play cards to the requests of the game board, Freestyle which allows players to play whatever cards you want to make a perfect mix, and Clash aka the competitive deck construction mode. After a year of being out, I enjoy playing Freestyle just to come up with unique song mixes. You can even save your favorite mixes and share them with the world. Here is an example from Jesse Jones.

• Azul (2-4 players) - An amazing game from Plan B Games (Next Move Games owns it now) where players collect times to fill up a 5x5 board. Players take turns picking up tiles from one color from either the center of the board or from one of the factory spaces. After pick up the tiles, players fill rows on their game board. At the end of the round and if a row is filled up, they move one tile on their 5x5 board. Each tile is scored and rounds continue until a player fills up a single row on their 5x5 board. There are a couple different ways to earn extra bonus points such as filled up a column on the 5x5 player board. With the easy to learn rules, Azul has become one of my new gateway games to introduce people to the hobby game industry.

Note: The above links use Amazon Affiliate links. I always encourage you to shop at your FLGS, but in case you don’t have one nearby, I’ve included links to buy the games on Amazon.

Top Ten Board Games From 2014.

With the close of 2014, I tend to setup a budget for the next year of game purchases especially around GenCon time. I decided to look back at last year's budget and noticed I went a tad over my initial estimates. This was mostly due to an amazing year of games and not just board games. I picked up more RPG and board games than I had in previous years. As I looked at the list of purchases, my mind started to sort them into a list. Here is the following list of my top board games from 2014: 

10. Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game - I've been a huge fan of the Legendary system from Upper Deck Entertainment. The latest game with the Legendary tag centers around the Alien universe. Upper Deck captures the horror aspect quite well, for instance, scanning cards as they move down the corridors that could expose any sort of danger is intense for the players. People can play mix all the cards, but I prefer the method of playing through each film (Alien, Aliens, Aliens 3, Alien: Resurrection). I stood in line for this game at GenCon and do not regret that decision in the slightest. 

9. King of New York - If one has played King of Tokyo, it should be no surprise that King of New York made anyone's "Top Ten List of 2014". Iello took Tokyo with the Power Up expansion and put everything in New York. The only downside to the new game is the Super Star bonus card which I feel tends to break the game due to the amount of VP someone can rack up quickly on their rolls. 

8. Lost Legacy: The Starship - Alderac Entertainment Group released a handful of small sized games this year. Lost Legacy: The Starship was one of those great titles. It is a draw one, play one in the same vein of Love Letter. The difference between the two games is an additional "Investigation Phase" where any remaining players try to find The Starship. The extra phase adds another layer of deduction without it feeling forced onto the players. There have been additional Lost Legacy sets released that can be combined into The Starship in order to bring the player count to six. It is one of the few games I keep on hand when I travel to conventions like PAX.

7. Sheriff of Nottingham - Have you ever played Liar's Dice or Bullshit? Do you enjoy games were bluffing is encouraged? Are you okay with backstabbing your neighbors? If you answered yes to any of those questions, this game is right up your alley. Sheriff of Nottingham from Arcane Wonders is a game about bluffing (or not) goods past the Sheriff in order to make a profit at the market. Each player will have two turns to play the Sheriff while others try to get all their goods past her/him. The amount of social interaction in Sheriff has made this one of our go to titles when we're all in the mood for a thematic game with a chance of roleplaying a character. 

6. Tiny Epic Kingdoms - One of the best 4x games in a tiny little box from Gamelyn Games arrived to masses of Kickstarter backers around October of 2014.  The pocket sized game packs a ton of strategy due to all races and maps. It is crazy to think about the amount of depth packed into the game. Over the past couple months of playing the game with various numbers of players, I've not been able to formulate a standard strategy. If you like 4x games, this is a must own for the collection. If you want a fantastic travel game, this is one to add to the collection. Gamelyn Games is looking toward a great future and it is only going to get better with Tiny Epic Defenders and Tiny Epic Galaxies. 

5. Istanbul - When I went to GenCon 2014, Istanbul was on my "MUST HAVE" list from Alderac Entertainment Group. Istanbul is a pick-up-deliver game set in the bazaars of..well...Istanbul to collect rubies. The combination of worker drop off plus a slice of resource management with a dash of strategic movement makes this one game for the collection. The three different difficulties of tile placement make the game easy to teach new players, yet difficult for experienced players. Sadly, I've only been able to get a couple games in since GenCon.

4. Sons of Anarchy - Gale Force 9 has done it again with capturing the essence of an IP in a board game with Sons of Anarchy. The player is running one of the many MCs (Motorcycle Clubs) trying to amass the most cash by the end of the game from running guns and selling drugs (Guuci bags for those that played the demo with me at Gencon). One has to do all this amidst the rival MCs trying to take out your club at various locations. Just like Spartacus, it one of the few games where I've seen players get sucked into and behind the theme of the game without being fans of the show. 

3. Star Realms - Everyone who has played games with me knows that I adore any game that is primarily a card game (mostly because I grew up playing MTG and Decipher Star Wars). As an avid deck builder fan, I picked up Star Realms while at Gencon 2014. The rules are simple and straight forward without too much complexity. Instead of amassing honor/victory points, the player's goal is to eliminate the other opponent/s. Each of the four factions has an ability like life gain or discarding cards from opponents that can lead to great combos. The games can be quite competitive which shows promise for an organized play scene.

2. Doomtown: Reloaded - With the recent boom in the LCG/ECG/WTFCG, Alderac Entertainment Group comes into the scene strong with Doomtown: Reloaded. Doomtown is the updated version of Deadlands: Doomtown from the 90s CCG Boom.  The uniqueness of the Downtown game was not lost in its modern update. Players will still need to position their gang members, build up their town, and have a decent hand for the poker mechanic. One of the key reasons the game is high on my list is multiplayer aspect of the game. Doomtown scales remarkably well and provides for great moments. Do not let the learning curve scare you away, pick it up and get ready for some shootouts. 

1. Splendor - I could spend hours gushing about this great title from Space Cowboy, however, I'll try to sum it up in a paragraph. GO BUY THIS GAME! There, simple, right? Splendor is a resource management game that has a ton of depth and strategy. It has become a staple for board game night since it is a great warm up or closing night game. Honestly, we've had a couple nights of just Splendor because of the replayability of it. Did I mention you should just go buy this game?

Games that did not make the list because I did not get to play them:

• Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game - I continue to hear people rave about this game from Plaid Hat Games. The event-card mechanic has intrigued me since I've noticed it has motivated people to role-play a bit more than an average thematic board game. Plus, I always enjoy a good game where you have to debate the moral decision of your action. Do you save the group or go rogue by sacrificing them to an oncoming hoard of flesh eating creatures.
• Five Tribes - I keep getting told to buy this game from Days of Wonder without being told too much about it. I've heard it has a new spin on worker placement genre. It will be on my list for games to pick up in Q1 of 2015 since everyone will not stop raving about it. 
• Star Wars: Imperial Assault - I initially did not play attention to this game when I walked past it at GenCon 2014. I thought it was going to be Star Wars the Descent flavor. However, the more content released for the game has caused an increased interest in the game since it does not look like a copy of Descent. Fantasy Flight Games released it later this year, so I'll probably pick up a copy early Q1 of 2015 to try it out. 

Let me know your thoughts on your top games of 2014. Leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter!

Game Master Series - Be the Player

During my early developmental years, my mother bought me a copy of Dungeon and Dragons Advanced 2nd edition. She was leaving on a trip and thought one of the books would be an entertaining endeavor for me. The Dungeon Master guide would open a whole new world of gaming that I did not know existed. On her next trip a couple months later, I was gifted the Players Guide and Monster Manual to complete the initial set. The path to being a Game Master had started for me.

Each person who has ever game mastered has their own tips and tricks in order to survive any issue, from story pacing to disruptive players. That will be the goal of each of the Game Master Series posts. Tips that have helped me level up in my game master class will be presented with examples. Without further ado, we'll hop into the first tip of the series.

A good Game Master will ensure that he/she experiences the role of player from time to time. Any Game Master who has not sat in the chair of a player will miss some critical aspect to telling a story for everyone. New Game Masters tend to focus on their story while neglecting their players' development, or they emphasize the individual character stories without having an arcing plot. The focus on individual players takes away from the overall group experience. Never being a player at any point means you're going to have a bad time. 

When I started out playing Dungeon and Dragons (skip ahead about two years after my first books were given to me), I spent all of my time being the Dungeon Master. My goal as my group's DM was trying to weave epic stories similar to the tales spun by authors such as Greenwood, Feist, and Martin. Each session revolved around more plat setup than time given to the players for developing their characters. After a bit, I noticed players would get bored and do their best to railroad my campaigns. The reasons behind their actions baffled me. My answers would come in the form of the Lakeland Roleplaying Guild; it would be the first time I sat down as player in another person's game. After a couple sessions, my thoughts began to focus on how to improve the story for the players instead of focusing solely on my story.

Once a Game Master has sat on the other side of the screen, they gain new insight into the world of a player. From that point on, the focus of one's game involves the players alongside their story. Until next time, let the dice continue to roll critical for you!