#61: Armageddon (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Armageddon

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 5,615
• rating: 6.6
• published: 2016
• designers: Chris Marling & David Thompson

Print Status

• out of print... but not difficult to find

Why It's On The List

• Imagine a three-way collision between the Mad Max films, an auction game and a worker-placement city-building game. Throw in a little Notre Dame-ish fend off the invaders (marauders instead of rats)... and allow players to use people as currency in the auctions as well as workers to keep your post-apocalyptic settlement running.

Tips & Tricks:

• The artwork is evocative without leaning too hard into the dystopian grimness… and the iconography is very clear once you get the hang of it
• I’ve found that it takes players 2-3 rounds (roughly half a game) to get acclimated and then they’re ready to defend their very tiny barb-wire encrusted empire.
• The auctions are double-layered... they are "get to choose first" auctions for buildings and for equipment. In addition, the winner of each auction gets a small bonus, and the loser gets a penalty. 

Extras

• I've been working on a review (complete with fiction sections) of Armageddon for years now... short version: I think all of the elements fit together to make a really satisfying and enjoyable game experience. I have to give you the short version because I can't find the document with my fiction sections any longer.
• I also think this is a criminally over-looked game... and I said as much in a really good Opinionated Gamers article you should check out.
• This is the first of two games on this list designed by David Thompson. (If I remember correctly, this was David's first published game!)

#62: Gnadenlos! (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Gnadenlos!

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 12,728
• rating: 5.9
• published: 2001
• designer: Klaus Teuber

Print Status

• out of print

Why It's On The List

• Klaus "I'm makin' a mint off the isle of Catan" Teuber managed to make a Wild West themed Euro game that uses a press your luck element to create some really great suspense.

Tips & Tricks:

• Poker is where you can lose the most ground if you're pushing to the front - make sure you've got a poker player in your hand.
• The game is shorter than you first anticipate... be ready for it end slightly quicker than you'd imagine the first time you play.
• Just because everyone else is spending big money does NOT mean you need to spend big money - payday is rough if you've got a lot of notes out there.

Extras

• Another game that was never published in English - but the components are language neutral. (The name of the game means "Merciless", btw.)
• One nice thing - it will NEVER go longer than 45 minutes (there are three different game "timers" - and at least one of them is guaranteed to go off by that time).
• Here's what I wrote about Gnadenlos! for The One Hundred.
• This is the third of five (5!) designs by Klaus Teuber on my countdown.

#63: Nemo's War (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Nemo's War

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 399
• rating: 7.8
• published: 2017 (2nd edition)
• designer: Chris Taylor

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• A solo "wargame" that is brimming with thematic touches (from the event deck to some of the unusual ship choices)... and an impressive level of variability created simply by changing Nemo's objective.

Tips & Tricks:

• Nemo’s War was designed as a solitaire game – everything from the unidirectional layout of the board to the theme of the game scream “low player count”. That said, there are variants in the rule book to play with more players… my one play with more players worked fine, but at its heart, it's a solo game.
• Nemo’s War reminds me a bit of old school wargames – ships have attack and defense values, there are a lot of dice rolls, and there is even a printed CRT on the board for the various actions. At the same time, it incorporates action expenditures, bag draws, ways to mitigate bad die rolls, etc. from the more modern game designs.
• Each objective demands different play styles and trade-offs, which I find endlessly fascinating. So far, I’ve proven to be the most successful at exploration – while all-out war with the nations does not seem to be my forte. I must also note that I play on the lowest difficulty setting – I cannot imagine cranking this up to the highest level… I’d be fish food in a few turns.
• The game runs about 90 minutes now that I’ve internalized the rules and the order of play – it isn’t unusual for me to play a couple of times in a night if I’m stuck in a hotel on a business trip. And I’m always eager to play it again.

Extras

• There are multiple expansion packs available - I sprung for all of them. The Bold & Caring pack adds 2 new objectives, which makes the game even more varied.
• The Journey's End expansion is well worth your time & money! (Of course, if you're just jumping into the game, the Ultimate Edition has all the content along with really great rulebooks integrating all the expansion content.)

#64: Nexus Ops (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Nexus Ops

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 692
• rating: 7.2
• published: 2005
• designers: Charlie Catino & Steven Kimball

Print Status

• in print again!

Why It's On The List

• A really well-thought-out "dudes on a map" game that subverts the ever-present turtling problem with a varied set of rewards for attacking other players.

Tips & Tricks:

• Hordes of cheaper figures can work just as well as a few expensive figures - and sometimes even better.
• This is the rare combat game that works well with 2, 3 or 4 players.
• I know I said it in the previous section - but it's worth saying again: turtling does NOT work in this game. ("Turtling" is emphasizing heavy defense and little or no offense, in hopes of getting your opponents to exhaust themselves fighting each other and/or throwing themselves against your defenses in vain.)

Extras

• The new edition with new art from Renegade Games Studios is actually a nice blend of the original game with some of the rules variants from the FFG edition as options. Most importantly, it has a molded plastic Monolith rather than the odd cardboard thingee from the original AH edition.

Top 100 Songs: #20-#11

It's the penultimate entry in my top 100 songs list...

• #20: Digee Dime (Burlap to Cashmere - 1998)
• The infectious rhythm coupled with the poetic lyrics sold me on this oddball band.
• Twisted castles in her hair / Building mountains in the air / Making profits, lending loans / Ancient TV's, rotary telephones / But within this misty cave / Lies a painter, blind but brave / Paints the story of where we've been / Where we are, where we could be
• #19: Comedian (Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil - 2014)
• It had been nearly a decade since Steve Taylor had recorded an album… and here he came with a super-group (Peter Furler, John Mark Painter, Jimmy A), leaning into a similar (though not identical) vibe as his previous band (Chagall Guevera). There's a lot of great cuts on the album - but none of them are as profound and epic as this song.
• And didn’t I thank you from the dais? / And didn’t I do you good? / And didn’t I take up all your crosses / that were made of balsa wood?
• #18: Surprised (Resurrection Band - 1995)
• Resurrection Band had a storied history as one of the first "heavy" CCM bands - not to mention their serious street cred as a part of JPUSA (Jesus People USA), a Christian intentional community & church living in and serving the people of the Uptown neighborhood in Chicago. Bringing in Ty Tabor (King's X) to produce their album Lament kicked their blues-influenced hard rock into high gear.
• #17: Where the Streets Have No Name (U2 - 1987)
• U2 has a bunch of incredible songs… but "Streets" is the one that stops me in my tracks any time I hear it. 
• #16: Song for America (Kansas - 1975)
• I actually didn't know Song for America until I picked up their greatest hits album while in college… the first Kansas album I knew was Leftoventure. This is probably the prog rock-iest cut in my countdown - seeing as how it takes almost 3 minutes for a vocalist to show up. (Love this song.)
• #15: Jim Morrison's Grave (Steve Taylor - 1987)
• I just heard Steve Taylor perform this live a couple of weeks ago - and it was just as good almost forty years later.
• I'll let Steve do the talking about the song he wrote: "I guess he [Jim Morrison] thought of himself as somewhat of a "tortured artist" who not only believe that genius justifies cruelty but that genius and selfishness are inseparable. And that's really how he lived his life. He was very cruel to the people who were close to him, even the people who loved him. So this song is just my thought about going to the grave, almost a stream-of-consciousness lyric. "Jim Morrison's Grave" asks the age-old question: Does artistry justify being a weasel? The last line of the song is, "The music covers like an evening mist/Like a watch still ticking on a dead man's wrist." Morrison left the world some intriguing music. As far as I'm concerned, that's not enough."
• #14: The Medicine (Common Hymnal - 2021)
• A brilliant and moving gospel-tinged appeal for Biblical truth when it comes to racism and justice.
• What does it mean to have compassion for another? / How can I claim to love a God that I can't see? / If I can find the will to harm and kill my brother / Cause he neglected to look like me / I can speak the words of men and songs of angels / I can give all my possessions to the poor / But if your love can't move the mountain of my hatred / Somehow, I missed you, and I need you so much more
• #13: The Good Confession (I Believe) (Andrew Peterson - 2008)
• I first heard Andrew tell the story behind this song sitting in the fellowship hall of the church I pastored… he was playing a solo concert at our little church that night and I had the opportunity to talk with him. I can't do it justice - but you can listen to him talk about it as part of the tribute concert to Rich Mullins he hosted at the Ryman.
• Through the years / I barely fell; / I mostly dove right in. / I drank so deep / From the shallow well / Only to thirst again.
• #12: Broken Things (Julie Miller - 1991)
• The perfect match of Julie's voice and heart-rending lyrics.
• You can have my heart, though it isn't new / It's been used and broken, and only comes in blue / It's been down a long road, and it got dirty along the way / If I give it to you, will you make it clean and wash the shame away? / You can have my heart, if you don't mind broken things / You can have my life; you don't mind these tears / Well, I heard that you make old things new, so I give these pieces all to you / If you want it, you can have my heart
• #11: Life's Just Hard (Tonio K - 1999)
• A poignant reminder that everyone you meet is carrying something you can't see… by one of my favorite songwriters.
• Life's just hard / No matter who you are / No matter who you think you are / It's a fiery ordeal / You play your cards / And you say a prayer / And you look for love / If you’re lucky you find it there / 'Cause love is where it starts / But it's just hard

#65: Viva Pamplona (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Viva Pamplona

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 7,589
• rating: 6.4
• published: 1992
• designer: Wolfgang Kramer

Print Status

• very OOP

Why It's On The List

• It's a great theme (the running of the bulls) with great art and even better game play... you must have courage to win - and the willingness to shove your opposition to the ground.

Tips & Tricks:

• The tempo of the game can vary wildly - depending on how the Toro cards appear. That's not a bug... it's a feature - part of what makes the game so charming.
• Sometimes it pays to run one guy WAY ahead of the crowd - especially if Toro takes off at high speed. (Sometimes it doesn't - but them's the breaks, my friend.)

Extras

• I was pleasantly surprised how well this game works with 3-4 players... of course, it's a "more the merrier" game that is an absolute joy with the full complement of six people around the table.
• This is from the same gaming design family as Viva Topo and Midnight Party. (It's a family I'm fond of...)
• I've often wondered about how you can lose courage points when someone else shoves you (and worse yet, they get them!), but it's still fun.
• This is the third of five (5!) games designed by Wolfgang Kramer on this countdown.

#66: Let's Go To Japan (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Expedition

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 427
• rating: 7.6
• published: 2024
• designer: Josh Wood

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• The combination of beautiful artwork and clever gameplay is really something to behold... particularly for a game that originated from a pandemic-cancelled vacation trip.

Tips & Tricks:

• I try very hard not to commute back & forth between Kyoto & Tokyo. The cost in time (to take trains rather than extra walking as bonuses) or points (-2 for each train ticket you don't acquire) is just not worth it.
• It's OK to occasionally burn a card and take a walk... sometimes, it just doesn't pay to take the known bad and hope you get lucky on the random walk card.
• The game works well with 1-5 players... like all drafting games with a card pass, it runs at the speed of the slowest player.

Extras

• I splurged on the Kickstarter version of the game - and the wooden pieces plus the ceramic bowls for them really have a lovely vibe.
• The solo system for Let's Go To Japan is really smart - whatever you don't draft goes to the "Travel Agent" you're competing against. There are times when that decision can be excruciating!
• I've only played the "Day Trip" expansion a couple of times... but I'm not sure it really adds all that much to the game.
• The Opinionated Gamers review of the game is what convinced me to back it. (Thanks, Dale!)
• There is another game coming in this series... Let's Go To France will be on Kickstarter in May. By all appearances, it is not simply a Gallic re-skin of Let's Go To Japan. 
• This is fifth new-to-the-list game on the 2026 countdown.

#67: Vegas Showdown (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Vegas Showdown

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 920
• rating: 7.1
• published: 2005
• designer: Henry Stern

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• This is the best implementation of the climbing auction mechanic first seen in Evo, then in the (excruciating, IMHO) Amun-Re, and in 20th Century. I also like the need to plan what rooms you'll add to your Vegas resort... and in what order to build them.

Tips & Tricks:

• There are a variety of winning building configurations/mixes - your mission is to choose the one that best dodges what other players are doing... .
• ...and then make it expensive for other players to get their "key" rooms.

Extras

• While the graphics for this one are generally good, I do wish the player boards in the original edition had been mounted.
• I'd suggest adding some tokens in the box to track "extra" victory points. (We use glass beads to track points that are not found on the player boards - that way, you can check & make sure you haven't missed any points during the game.).