I Need This Board Game...

For a brief recap of how I came up with my list, refer back to my previous post: 2018 Top 100 Games of All-Time - #100-91 Here we go with #30-21! Even faster now! #30 - Santorini An amazing abstract strategy game with simple rules but plenty of depth, in addition to outstanding production values. Although it plays best with two, it can accommodate up to four in a crunch and the expansion adds variable player powers for additional replayability. #29 - Dead of Winter The ultimate zombie game has fallen a bit due to lack of plays, but should rise again if I can ever get The Long Night and Warring Colonies to the table. Heavily inspired by The Walking Dead where other humans are the real problem, not the zombies, this is a great semi-cooperative game in which you never know who to really trust. #28 - Patchwork This light, Tetris-style tile laying game seemed to kick off the current trend and in my opinion remains the best of them. Even though I mentioned it was l...

For the review of the tabletop version, see here: Review #8: Jaipur Price:  $4.49 CAD Rating: 9* The minute I discovered that this tiny game had an app released for it, I was instantly sucked in. At the time, I had not yet played the physical version but was very intrigued at how this short two-player card game could possibly be in the Top 100 on BoardGameGeek. Of the digital implementation of board games I have reviewed so far, this one has by far the highest production values. There are multiple play options - solo, pass-and-play, online, and campaign. That's right - a campaign for this simple game! As with any good digital board game, there is a tutorial to teach newcomers how to play. During the actual games, there will be a helper that you can toggle for hints or to let you know your opponent's last move. The actual game play is very intuitive and easy to understand. All the basic game modes work well. In the solo mode, you have the choice between four d...

As I mentioned in a previous post, 2017 was a big year with respect to board games for me, as I was able to play enough games to create a Top 100 list, with help from attending conventions and new app releases. Without these, it would have been very difficult to play new games because of my busy work and family schedule. Moving into 2018, I may have found something that will propel my ability to play new and old games to new heights - online board games. Although the tail end of 2017 had me finding out that Food Chain Magnate was playable on BoardGameCore, this year I have found many more websites carrying many more games, all for free! Using these websites you are also able to play against real players around the world, in which most cases is more of a challenge than playing against AI. One downside is that unless you play real-time games, which I cannot dedicate enough time to, turn-based games can take a long time to finish. In some cases, games have dragged on for more than two m...

# of Players:  1-4 Playtime:  2-3 Hours Core Mechanic:  Tile Placement/Auction Theme:  Castle Building Type:  Euro Weight:  Medium-Heavy Year:  2015 Rating: 8.5* The first time I played Castles of Mad King Ludwig, I knew it was going to be an amazing game. Both in terms of the auction and tile placement mechanics and the gorgeous components, it easily won me over. Then it was announced that a new expansion was coming that added three modules to the game. With the game as good as it was, did it need these extras? Although the rules state that the different things that came with the expansion could be added to the game in any combination, I don't see why you wouldn't play with all of them together. First up are the Barbicans & Moats. The Barbican piece replaces the starting foyer from the base game. This piece also makes up one of the four moat pieces that can be used to envelop your castle and gain players more bonus points. Onc...

For a brief recap of how I came up with my list, refer back to my previous post: 2018 Top 100 Games of All-Time - #100-91 Here we go with #40-31! Going to start rushing these as the end of the year is coming! #40 - Burgle Bros. Right now, this is probably my favorite co-operative game out there right now with a fantastic theme and intuitive mechanics, even if I find it difficult to win! It definitely captures the feeling of a heist and the guard AI that you play against is well implemented. #39 - Small World This is a fantastic area control game which is almost light enough to be a gateway game.  The combinations of powers and factions are almost endless and add significantly to the replayability. A steady stream of interesting expansions also helps as well. #38 - Galaxy Trucker Building your own spaceship and then watching it get smashed to pieces - there is no other game like it and I am surprised that no one else has tried because this game is so much ...