Skip to main content

2018 Top 100 Games of All-Time - #20-11

For a brief recap of how I came up with my list, refer back to my previous post:


Here we go with #20-11! Now we're into 2019 so I'll try to wrap up this last 20 quickly so I can move onto all that has happened in this last year!

#20 - Steam

 The best train game I have played so far by a longshot. There are so many mechanisms at play - network building, pick-up and deliver, bidding -it all adds up to one satisfying experience. With now five map expansions available, there is plenty of content to work with.

#19 - Caverna: The Cave Farmers

 With significantly less plays than Agricola and more interest in the other, more different Uwe Rosenberg games, this one has fallen a bit. Still, the gameplay is solid and I see why the wealth of choices this game presents is appealing. Players aren't tied down to any one strategy and going on expeditions is a lot of fun.


#18 - Castles of Mad King Ludwig

This game has fallen quite in comparison to the rest of the top games on my list, but is still a very enjoyable spacial experience. I love the room interactions and the twisted layout of each castle that is created which most of the time varies wildly from player to player and game to game. The auction portion can drag on a bit, but it is still an interesting mechanic.


#17 - Dominant Species

 Although it has been awhile since this game has last been played, I have very fond memories of this very cutthroat and heavy, area control game. It could definitely use a deluxe edition as the components and art were not eye-catching at all, but the gameplay is fantastic and the different abilities of each of the species seemed like it would have been a perfect game to expand. Time for a Kickstarter?


#16 - Tzolk'in

After every play of this now seemingly classic worker placement game, I see the gears spinning in my head long after. The mix of worker placement and time is still unique and presents an interesting puzzle which I still feel I don't understand too well, but it keeps me coming back again and again.


#15 - Food Chain Magnate

Arguably the heaviest and easily the most cutthroat game I have played, this game is unlike any other. The retro theming is wonderfully combined with unique supply and demand mechanics and an innovative employee structure system that is used to determine what actions you take during each round. It is as fun as it is unforgiving.


#14 - Viticulture

This is a wonderful worker placement game with very straightforward rules and an engaging vineyard theme. Although it leans on the heavier side, the intuitive gameplay has made it a successful gateway worker placement game a few times. The Tuscany expansion is one of those rare expansions that I would not play without.


#13 - Twilight Imperium

No other space-themed game can come close to matching the sweeping, epic scope of this monster - maybe with the new edition I'll finally be able to finish a game. Still, even without finishing a game I can see the potential in the limited amount of play I have gotten in and from reading the rules. The politics, the warfare, the alien species - all of it is screaming at me to play it some more.


#12 - Through the Ages

This is the computer game Civilization completely transformed into a board game. I thought that without a map it would not work, but I was very wrong. It somehow has captured all the finer points of what makes Civilization great, from happiness to science, and although there is a lot of book-keeping, it comes together amazingly well.


#11 - Terraforming Mars

This card-driven engine-building game is terrific with its gripping theme and multiple paths to victory. I have yet to try drafting the starting cards, which I heard minimizes the impact of starting with a poor hand, which was my minor quibble with the game, and I really want to try the Prelude expansion. Perhaps after that it will be able to climb a few more spots?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review #27: Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe Edition

# of Players:  5-75 Playtime:  30-60 Minutes Core Mechanic:  Deduction Theme:  Werewolf Type:  Party Weight:  Light Year:  2014 Rating: 7.5* This was the first social deduction game that I played and the most memorable social deduction moments may have come from playing this game - and I may never play it again. I'll elaborate on that more in a bit, but it in no way reflects on the quality of the game, which is very, very good. This game opened up the entire genre to me which is now a party staple and most deduction games can probably trace a big part of their game back to Werewolf. I might have played Mafia a couple times with a deck of regular playing cards, which is very similar to Werewolf, but the fact that I'm not certain just shows how much of an impact Werewolf had by comparison. There are two teams in this game - Werewolves and Villagers. The goal for the villagers is to eliminate the werewolves while the goal for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review #12: A Few Acres of Snow

# of Players: 2 Playtime:  2-3 Hours Core Mechanic: Deck Building/Area Control Theme:  18th Century North America Type: War Weight:  Heavy Year:  2011 Rating: 8* After discovering how fantastic a two-player game could be with Twilight Struggle, I was in search of something similar.  Around this time, A Few Acres of Snow was released and had just made its way into the Top 50 on BGG.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this release and I gave in, especially as people were calling this Martin Wallace’s take on Dominion, which was a game that I really liked at the time. Set in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries, one player is the British Empire while the other player is France.  The game is played over a map with each player building up a deck of cards consisting of either empire or location cards.  Location cards will be used to settle new villages, upgrade villages, build fortifications, and siege your op...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review #13: Ora et Labora

# of Players:  1-4 Playtime:  2-3 Hours Core Mechanic:  Worker Placement Theme:  Medieval Type: Euro Weight:  Heavy Year:  2011 Rating: 9* By the time this game came out, both Agricola and Le Havre were two of my favorite games and because of this, Uwe Rosenberg was probably my favorite game designer at the time and likely still is. Therefore, the hype I created for myself surrounding this release was massive. In the end, this game was full of ideas that were new to me at the time, including the tile placement, production wheel, and interesting worker placement mechanics, but there was something about the game that held it back from hitting the same highs that his previous games did. As with most, if not all, Uwe Rosenberg games, the winner is the player with the most victory points. The game is played over several rounds with each round consisting of five phases: return workers if possible, rotate production wheel, settlement ...
Post a Comment
Read more