I'm honored to be a part of the writing team at the
Opinionated Gamers website... and this last month we've been blogging about the
games that seemed to go "below the radar" of the gaming community in the last decade and
needed a little OG love.
What follows are my entries (which I've expanded on for my wonderful
readership)... if you'd like to read the whole thing, go to the Opinionated
Gamers website. (But make sure you come back here and read my stuff!)
2010
- Fresco
BGG Board Game Rank: 284
Well, here’s how NOT to start off a list of unheralded games… with
one that’s ranked above 300 on BGG. I know this got a big box edition and a ton
of expansion modules (I own all of the ones that are currently released)... but
I never hear anyone talk about playing it! (And, due to my regular crew of
gamers and their complete lack of taste, I never get to play it.) So,
unheralded. Right?
Note: getting
a Queen big box edition is not a mark of overwhelming game design success… seriously,
both Lancaster and Alhambra got big boxes. (Don’t get me started on how much
Alhambra messes up a perfectly good game - $timmt $o… I don’t care that it won
the Spiel des Jahres.)
My lack of play is a crying shame, as this is a personal favorite in the worker
placement genre… dripping with theme that melds perfectly with game mechanics.
And the plethora of expansion modules means you can craft the level of depth to
fit the situation.
Here's my take on the expansions…
- In the original box (1-3):
- The portrait cards & paint mixing tiles are great ideas &
should be used from the start with gamers
- The extra paint colors add some interesting tactical decisions but
add to the length of the game.
- First large expansion box (4-6)
- The gold leaf a nice touch that increases the score, but I think
it works best when coupled with the glaziers to offer different scoring
pathways to pursue.
- The wishing well is pretty random & non-essential.
- Second large expansion box (8-10)
- The second set of expansions (the bell, the "plague",
etc.) are not necessary - but do give the game some variety if you're playing
it a lot... which, sadly, I am not.
- Stand-alone expansions (7 & Queenie 1)
- There are two other small expansions published - a small giveaway
called The Bishop's Favor (which I like) and an incredibly over-priced set of
"secret" bonuses called The Scrolls (which would like better if it
wasn't so expensive).
- Fresco Mega Box expansions
- These don’t physically exist yet… but were part of the Fresco Mega
Box Gold Edition. The only one that sounds like something I really want is The
Dome… but the cost of the expansion pack was too high even with my deep love
for this game. Of course, I wouldn't say "no" if someone gave it to me. :-)
Also considered for my 2010 pick: Famiglia (BGG Board Game Rank: 1751)
& Die Siedler von Catan: Der Schokoladenmarkt (Ritter Sport-themed expansion
for Catan)
2011 - Core Worlds
BGG Board Game Rank: 638
I get that there are reasons that Core Worlds
didn’t become the hit it should have been:
- The more players you have at the table, the harder it
is to see your options… and, conversely, the more options you have
- The game is exponentially more interesting and
involving when you add the Galactic Orders expansion… which wasn’t
released in tandem with the base game
- It’s a game that rewards multiple plays… in a climate
that is making that more and more difficult with the avalanche of games
that appear every year
- It’s not a short game… we played last night (Jan. 2,
2020) and a two player game with experienced players ran an hour and 45
minutes
But take all of that and ignore it, because this
continues to be a favorite gaming experience each and every time it hits the
table. I wouldn’t recommend learning this deckbuilding/tableau building hybrid
with more than 3 players… and I believe Galactic Orders is an ESSENTIAL
expansion… but given those limits, hunt this one down and give it a try. (You
can read my glowing review of both Core Worlds expansions on the OG.)
It’s important to manage your expectations –
there are SO many directions you can go in this game, but you can’t do all of
them. You have to prioritize your energy and actions throughout the game but
especially near the end to be able to bring in victory points.
2012 - Septikon: Uranium Wars
BGG Board Game Rank: 7983
I originally reviewed this in 2013 (when Russian
copies began reaching the U.S.) - you can read my review right
here - and was pleased when the Kickstarter enabled
English copies to exist. Sadly, it never got the attention it deserved as an
one-of-a-kind design.
Here’s what I said back then:
Some of you are barely hanging on now – your “but I don’t like wargames!”
reflex alarm is blaring. Maybe it would help you to think of Septikon – Uranium
Wars as a resource & opportunity management game… albeit with a whole lot
of damage & destruction. Or maybe you could think of it as a worker
placement game – if your workers were loyal & mindlessly obedient clones
whose entire mission was to pummel the opposing space station into submission. OK, it’s a war game.
A recent play was the first time the game has
gone over an hour… typically, we finish this in about 45 minutes as one player is
pummeled into submission. There’s nothing quite like this game out on the
market (that I’m aware of)… and it’s a very interesting two-player adventure in
trading punches combat.
Also considered for my
2012 pick: Wurfel Bohnanza (BGG Board Game Rank: 1679)
2013 - Quantum
BGG Board Game Rank: 434
This fast-moving game of space conquest works like a charm with 2, 3, or 4
players, thanks to the modular boards. It’s also possible to create a wide
variety of powerful “combos” by pairing technology cards with inherent ship
powers (and each other!) to create wild new ways to mess with your opponents
and/or out-race them to the win. The cards seem overpowered at first glance -
but since every card is at that level, it balances out well and keeps the game
humming along at a lightning pace.
There are a number of suggested
board layouts – we’ve found that all of them work well. When you add The Void
(a one tile expansion), you have even more varied board layouts and strategies.
And it’s a really good looking game, too. Even
with dice as spaceships.
Also considered for my
2013 pick: Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends (BGG Board Game Rank: 514)
2014 - The Battle At Kemble’s Cascade
BGG Board Game Rank: 1886
Those of us who spent some portion of our youth frittering
away (“frittering away our noontime, suppertime, chore time too!) on video
arcade machines remember fondly games like Defender & Stargate (aka
Defender II)... and the Tyrland brothers obliged by creating a side scrolling
board game, complete with 8-bit graphics, clunky firing mechanics (you can’t
fire diagonally - of course), and a nifty tray system that keeps the game
moving towards you. (Nice touch - the trays can change size to better make the
game work at various player numbers.)
And while Defender was a solo game, this is definitely a
multiplayer experience – not only do you attack the incoming enemy ships, you
can open fire on your “friends”. Thankfully, you don’t have to put a quarter in
the box when your ship goes down… you simply warp back into Kemble’s Cascade
and open fire on those who caused your premature demise.
It’s not a perfect game - it can be fiddly and some of the awards & cards
are more powerful than others… but it captures the arcade experience perfectly.
I can’t ask for much more than that.
Matt Carlson reviewed The Battle at Kemble’s Cascade on the OG site back in the day.
2015 - Baseball Highlights 2045
BGG Board Game Rank: 423
Let’s start with a key fact - I’m not a fan of actual
baseball… but I tend to like baseball board games. Baseball on television is
only slightly more exciting than golf on television - and thanks to ESPN and
about 50 other cable sports channels, if I’m that bored, I can watch axe
throwing, competitive cornhole, and/or esports. (On the positive side, I would
have missed out on ice cross downhill and freeride mountain biking if not for
those oddball sports channels.)
But I digress. A lot.
We’re talking about baseball games - and in the case of
Baseball Highlights 2045, we’re talking about a heavily abstracted baseball
game with a future version of baseball that involved cybernetically enhanced
pitchers and robot batting machines with wheels. And yet… it gets the “feel” of
baseball right. More importantly, it involves really great gameplay as your
team changes via deck-building and you work to get the right players in the
lineup to slow down/stop or out-score your opponent.
Almost every game I’ve played has been wonderful… including
a couple of times playing a 4 player tournament version (which runs a little
long but works like a charm). Mike Fitzgerald designed a real beauty here.
Three sad notes:
- Football
Highlights 2052 is not as good as Baseball Highlights 2045… it’s fine, but
it doesn’t feel like you have nearly as much control of the game coupled
with a higher cognitive load due to the complexity of the cards. (And I
say that as a big actual football fan.)
- The
rules are organized in what can only be called an arcane fashion - this is
not unusual for the publisher in question. It makes learning the game much
more difficult than necessary.
- No
surprise, really… but the three-player mode doesn’t work nearly as well as
head-to-head or 4 player tournament.
2016 – Armageddon
BGG Board Game Rank: 3588
This was one of those “surprise!” games at Essen 2016 - not
a lot of fanfare, relatively unknown designers, etc. - but it continues to be
one of my favorite auction-ish games for 3-4 players.
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). Workers can be used as currency for
auctions (sending them out to build buildings and scavenge resources) or placed
on your personal compound to defend against marauders and accomplish other
tasks.
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.
I’ve been working on a review of this for nearly 3 years… if and when I ever
get it done, it’ll be a work of art. (I’ve actually written fiction sections
connecting the game mechanics to the story of a lone outpost after the
Catastrophe.) But don’t let my inability to get my magnum opus review finished
keep you from trying this wonderful game. (And it’s still available at pretty
decent prices from Amazon and/or Walmart!)
Also considered for my 2016 pick: Hit Z Road (BGG Board Game Rank: 1270)
2017 - Escape from 100 Million B.C.
BGG Board Game Rank: 2981
So, something went wrong… and we’re stuck in 100 Million
B.C. We’ve got to work together to find all the parts to the time machine
before our actions and the various wormholes that the accident created mess up
the timeline so bad we don’t exist.
Kevin Wilson’s game of time travel has much of the normal
“quests” of a cooperative game - find missing stuff, explore the area, avoid
bad things (in this case, dinos), and beat the timer. The nifty twists are the
wormholes that spit out figures from the past (or future) - like young Abe
Lincoln or Amelia Earhart or a spaceman with a laser gun - that you have to
corral and send back through time… and the problem that each dino you kill adds
paradox and increases the chance of a virtual time meltdown. Worse yet, you can’t
let Abe go after dinos with his ax... or have the dinos eat an unsuspecting
caveperson – it just creates more paradox.
Escape runs a little long with the full complement of players - but we enjoy it
a lot with 3-4. We’ve never winked out of existence… but Elvis was president in
one of the timelines we returned to. (Nice design touch – each finishing score
has a “what happened” paragraph in the rule book.)
Also noticed by us... a bit of work and this could be re-themed as Toejam & Earl: The Funkadelic Board Game. (Note: I consider this a positive.)
Also considered for my 2017 pick: Nemo’s War (BGG Board Game Rank: 339)
2018 - NEOM
BGG Board Game Rank: 1452
My initial rules read of NEOM (prior to seeing the game) made me think it would be an interesting but difficult to play 7 Wonders knock-off. I’m happy to say that the first day I taught/played (a few weeks after Essen 2018), I was proven wrong… and ended up playing it 3 times in one day. As soon as it became easily available in the U.S., I jumped on a copy… and it’s now in regular rotation here at Chez Jackson.
I’m a huge fan of both 7 Wonders and Suburbia – enough so that I own every expansion for both games and plunked down a C note in order to get the Collector’s Edition of Suburbia. So, when a game can easily be described as combining some of the best bits from both of those games, I’m in.
And that’s the way I introduce NEOM to gamers – the drafting is similar to 7 Wonders and the tile-laying feels like Suburbia. But that misses some of the innovations that make Neom more than just another chip off the old blocks:
- Using a “bomb” draft item (Flood, Fire, Crime Wave) in each era that hurts others but denies you a turn
- The initial “seeding” draft of cornerstone tiles – they do more to set strategy than the similar Leaders expansion in 7 Wonders
- The simplified resource system – including the creation of trade routes and the ability to buy resources from someone farther away at a slightly higher cost
Most important is the reality after 15+ games that there are multiple ways to win:
- Focus on your cornerstone tiles
- Build a suburb (lots of residences)
- Be the resource king (and the $ that go with it)
- Build a balanced city
Also nice – it plays well with 2 players (using a similar system to Fields of Green), balances nicely with 3-5 players, and even has a decent solo mode
Also considered for my 2018 pick: Wildlands (BGG Board Game Rank: 918)
2019 - Kauchuk
BGG Board Game Rank: 7849
Using rubber bands & a peg board for area control (in a stunning variety of modes) is genius. I want to clarify a rule (how big an area can you surround with completed areas and claim?) and I’m not in love with the cardboard scoring track – but I’d be more than happy to play again. This doesn’t work quite like anything you’ve played before… and it is well worth seeking out.
Also considered for my 2019 pick: Coloma (BGG Board Game Rank: 1994)
