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2019 Top 100 Games of All-Time - #80-71

For a brief recap of how I came up with my list, refer back to my previous post: 2019 Top 100 Games of All-Time - #100-91 Here we go with #80-71! #80 - Troyes (New) Troyes has been a much hyped dice allocation game that came out around the same time I started playing board games and quickly broke into the Top 50 on BoardGameGeek. It is still sitting in the Top 75 as of writing this, demonstrating its staying power after being released almost a decade ago. I finally got around to playing it this last year and even though the mechanics seem solid, the game has not clicked the way I wanted it to. It might be the fact that I am playing it online and because of the complexity it is hard to formulate a strategy and stick to it, but again, similar to Castles of Burgundy, the theme has not shone through for me and I feel that I am just pushing my way through points. It is a very interesting way to use dice and the interaction level is very high, which I appreciate. Hopefully with some ...
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Review #34: The Resistance - Avalon

# of Players:  5-10 Playtime:  30-60 Minutes Core Mechanic:  Deduction Theme:  Medieval Type:  Party Weight:  Light Year:  2012 Rating: 9* After I discovered Ultimate Werewolf and played it many times, I started looking out for other social deduction games. The Resistance was a game that was just released and was receiving rave reviews. Of course, the game I am reviewing in this post isn't The Resistance but instead its follow-up The Resistance: Avalon; still, I thought it would be helpful to provide a bit of background. Anyway, my original plays of The Resistance fell flat for the group I was playing with but I saw the potential based on the rules and was still looking to try it some more. Then I found out about the Avalon re-theme and that it added some special characters to help boost the game a bit. There are two factions in the game - Good and Evil. To win the game, members of Good must complete three quests successfu...
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New Discoveries - May 2019

Terraforming Mars: Turmoil Another Terraforming Mars expansion, this time on Kickstarter! This expansion adds a political element to the game by the way of delegates and parties. The party in charge, which is the one with the most delegates, provides bonuses and alterations to the rules. This looks like it might be the largest expansion yet in terms of altering the base game. As a bonus, dual-layer boards are a stretch goal that has been unlocked for those who haven't yet purchased an aftermarket solution. Space Base: Command Station I recently played Space Base, and though it was a middling experience, I see the potential in the game and eagerly picked up the legacy expansion The Emergence of Shy Pluto. Now another expansion has been announced to up the player count and help with storing the game. Sounds like what I need since the game box was getting full! On Mars Another big box Vital Lacerda game - what else needs to be said if you are into heavy games? Again on...
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2019 Top 100 Games I Want to Play - #90-81

For a brief recap of how I came up with my list, refer back to my previous post: 2019 Top 100 Games I Want to Play - #100-91 Here we go with #90-81! #90 - Goa  (January 2018 - #33---  ↓ 57 ) This classic auction game, which I think was once in the Top 50 on BoardGameGeek, has always been on my radar. Early on when I started playing board games, I hunted high and low until I was able to land a copy. But I haven't played it yet and with all the new games coming out, it has really gotten lost in the shuffle. Not out of my Top 100 Games I Want to Play yet, but trending that way. But I just realized that this game is by Rudiger Dorn and I really liked Istanbul, so there might be still hope that this hangs in there until it gets played. #89 - 1989: Dawn of Freedom (New) Another highly rated, card-driven war game by one of the designers of Twilight Struggle, set in a shorter period during the end of the Cold War? Consider me sold! This, along with 1960: The Making of t...
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2019 Top 100 Games of All-Time - #90-81

For a brief recap of how I came up with my list, refer back to my previous post: 2019 Top 100 Games of All-Time - #100-91 Here we go with #90-81! #90 - Decrypto (New) I heard a lot of great things about this party game, which many people had described as an evolution of the super popular Codenames. So when it was being played at SHUX '18, I made sure it was the first game I played. The first round had me confused as I struggled to understand the concept, but as soon as that second round came about, I was hooked in and can see that with more plays, this will climb higher and higher and possibly dethrone Codenames? I think there is definitely more strategy and the metagame that develops around coming up with new words to describe four core words is very interesting, as you want to make sure your clues are hard enough that the opposing team has difficulty guessing your four words, but easy enough that your own team isn't thrown off. A very fun word game that in the end is ...
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Expansion Review #4: Terraforming Mars: Venus Next

# of Players:  1-5 Playtime:  2-3 Hours Core Mechanic:  Action Selection Theme:  Space Type:  Euro Weight:  Heavy Year:  2017 Rating: 7* Terraforming Mars is a game that is ripe for expansions. The heavy dependency on cards would make it easy to implement as well. The first expansion was two new maps which I have not played yet, but I also see that being more of a mini-review when I do since on the surface they don't do much to add or change the game play. However, the second expansion, Venus Next, added a new board and a whole stack of new cards. How would this change the game? The Venus board adds a fourth global parameter, the Venus scale, in addition to the original temperature, oxygen, and ocean. Advancing this scale will increase your Terraform Ratings and provide you with bonuses, but  unlike the original three global parameters, the Venus scale is not an end game condition. It is possible that depending on h...
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Essential Collection Update - April 2019

The Essential Collection - 20 Games ($850 CAD/$615 USD) Worker Placement:  Agricola ($65 CAD/$50 USD) Role Selection: Puerto Rico  ($40 CAD/$35 USD) Action Selection: Space: Terraforming Mars  ($60 CAD/$50 USD) Fantasy: Terra Mystica ($85 CAD/$70 USD) Abstract: Photosynthesis ($50 CAD/$35 USD) Tile Placement: Suburbia ($55 CAD/$45 USD) Party:  Quiz: Wits & Wagers ($40 CAD/$35 USD) Deduction: Bang! The Dice Game ($20 CAD/$15 USD) Voting: Dixit ($40 CAD/$35 USD) Dystopian: Coup ($15 CAD/$15 USD)   Network Building:  Industry:  Power Grid ($50 CAD/$35 USD) Trains: Ticket to Ride  ($60 CAD/$45 USD) Card: Race for the Galaxy ($35 CAD/--- USD) 2-Player: Abstract: Hive Pocket ($30 CAD/$20 USD) War: Twilight Struggle   ($60 CAD/$40 USD) Filler: Deduction: Love Letter ($10 CAD/$10 USD) Bluffing: Cockroach Poker ($15 CAD/$15 USD) Card: Jaipur ($30 C...
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