And if you want to know the criteria that I’m using, or the conversation starting point, you can read that article here.

My Tableau Building Games

As normal, we split it into games that I’ve played first and then games that I haven’t played yet in my collection.

Tableau Building Games I’ve Played

• 7 Wonders Duel
• Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth
• 7 Wonders
• Splendor: Pokemon
• The Castles of Burgundy
• Arkham Horror The Card Game
• Marvel Champions
• Dwellings of Eldervale
• Forest Shuffle
• Res Arcana
• Meadow
• Space Base
• Faraway
• Castle Combo
• Furnace
• Aquatica
• New Frontiers
• Jump Drive
• Ancient Knowledge
• Starship Captains
• Village Rails
• Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archives
• Cafe Baras
• Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
• Pixies

Tableau Building Games I’ve Yet To Play

• Everdell
• 3 Ring Circus
• Ark Nova
• A Feast for Odin
• Revive
• Beyond the Sun
• Targi
• Endless Winter: Paleoamericans
• Vale of Eternity
• Expeditions
• Fantastic Factories
• The Bloody Inn
• Raising Robots
• The Witcher: Path of Destiny
• Andromeda’s Edge
• Earth

What Stays and What Leaves?

This is a tough list to really do because they are so unique. A lot of the time there is a pretty big difference between a scoring tableau game and an engine building tableau game. So as I’m looking at the list, it’s hard to say that I should keep this one or another one. Plus sometimes they didn’t really do a great job of putting like games on the BGG list. For example, Terraforming Mars, on the list, Ares Expedition, not on the list. New Frontiers is a tableau building game, but Jump Drive wasn’t part of that list. So I hope that I caught everything, but I’m sure some where missed.

What Is And Easy Leave?

So when we look at the list the ones that I have yet to play, those are generally going to stay. That means that we’re looking at what I’ve played for easy games to leave the collection. It’s not an easy list to pick from. I only have one that is an easy leave from the list. And that is I’m going to be getting rid of 7 Wonders Duel. Mainly because I own Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth. Yes, they are different, but I’m most apt to pick the Lord of the Rings themed one to play.

The other one that is going to leave is 7 Wonders. Now that might be surprising, but I bought I copy and I just don’t play it. If I want a big group drafting game, I go with Sushi Go Party! For that reason while 7 Wonders offers something quite different, it just isn’t going to stick in my collection.

What Is An Easy Stay?

Now for easy stays, I definitely am keeping Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth and then both of the LCG’s on the list from Fantasy Flight Games. I know that I want to keep one of Dwellings of Eldervale and Andromeda’s Edge, but having not played the latter, I don’t know which I want to keep. I’ve heard the latter is the better game, but I like the theme for the former more so.

Space Base, Forest Shuffle, Castle Combo, Castles of Burgundy and Ancient Knowledge easily make the list as well. As does Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archives.

Everything Else

Now let’s touch on everything else and this is where I need to find a few to cut. Do I need Jump Drive in my collection if I play it on BGA so much? I had actually put it in the too sell pile but then I brought it back. And I want to keep it and New Frontiers because I really like both of them. So they stay, though with Jump Drive, it’s tempting because of BGA.

One that it tough for me is Meadow. I like Meadow a lot, but it’s also one that I play less often. I think that this means I just need to play it more to keep it in the collection. The same can be said for Res Arcana. I need to play it more because I really do love that game.

Furnace is going to leave the collection, I’ve decided. Mainly because it’s okay at two players. And I think that I am most apt to play it at two players. Because of that it should leave the collection I think. Another one that I love the theme of but thought the game play was okay so it’s going to leave is Cafe Baras. Mainly it’s super cute, but a bit too simple for my tastes. Even as a game to play with my kid, it’s not quite interesting enough.

So The Tableau Games That Are Leaving

Just to recap we have Furnace, which I really enjoy but less so at two. Cafe Baras is a bit too simple and 7 Wonders Duel is a game that has been replaced by Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth. And 7 Wonders is getting kicked out because it’s the secondary drafting game for big groups for me.

I think that there will be others to leave once I play more. But it’s tricky getting all the tableau building games to the table. Some I maybe shouldn’t keep, like Res Arcana just because when will I play it again.

What is your favorite tableau building game?

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Arcane Wonders

Senshi

In Senshi you are trying to raise your characters stats so that you are the strongest warrior monk. It looks like a quick little filler and I used it to get to a shipping threshold so not one that I know a ton about. But if it’s a good filler while waiting for game night, I’m interested in it.

Four Gardens

Four Gardens is one that I have seen played, and part of the appeal is a giant stacked pagoda in the middle that rotates. That determines what resources you get and then you use those resources to create paintings which at the end of the game score you points. It again doesn’t sound like a heavy game, but one with a cool mechanism to it and hopefully interesting enough game play.

Picture Perfect

Picture Perfect is one that I looked at for a long time before it was on sale with Arcane Wonders. This is a game about trying to setup the perfect picture. Each person has information about how characters want to be setup. And you try and keep track of all that information so that the lady of the house doesn’t have to be too close to the dog and the dog is next to the potted planet, and the potted plant is, well you get the picture – all puns intended.

But then at the end of the game, you snap a picture of your display and you see with all the clues out there, how well you did. That just seems unique, but I didn’t pull the trigger before now because I want to know it’s a game I’ll like. I think it is one that will work well, but it has more risk to it for myself and my group.

Smartphone Inc

Finally, Smartphone Inc is going to be a heavier game about building up your smartphone empire. You produce smartphones and you need to know when is the time to sell them, and when is the time to hold back. I like that as an idea, but heavier euro style games get played less. So I am curious to know if this is one that I will like. I generally hear very good things about it, so I’m excited to try.

Noble Knight

Arkham Horror LCG Characters

Last time, I said that there would be more characters coming up. Instead of listing them all off, just know that there were three more of the original characters that I can mix into the game now. I want to find some time soon to sit down, pick a character or abilities and spend some time using all the cards I have now, as I own a couple different investigator boxes plus these packs, to build a character to use.

Aventuria

This is supposed to be a card driven adventure and story board game. One that I looked closely at their latest Kickstarter but I couldn’t quite pull the trigger. Noble Knight sells used games, so when this was available to grab used, it made a lot of sense to get it that way to try. And if I enjoy it, I’m confident that they’ll run another crowdfunding campaign that I can jump in on. But card driven adventure and campaign, I want to know more.

Medieval Academy

The Dice Tower played this one on their 36 hour marathon. And Medieval Academy is not a new game. But it is one that as I watched it played, I thought it looked interesting. It is a mechanism that I like, drafting. I want more drafting games in my life. And this one lets you draft and push up on tracks to try and score points. The game is one that looks simple, but it is different than a Sushi Go Party!. And did I mention, I like drafting.

Beyond the Sun

Another game that is here because I could get it used. But it is also another game that has been on my radar for a long time. Beyond the Sun is a space game, kind of. Really, it is a game where you get techs. I like that the game is described as a giant tech tree. So you look to improve your ship and build out your tech more efficiently than others are doing. Mainly, that is something that sounds different. I own a number of space games, but nothing like this.

Boardlandia

The Legacy of Yu

This is one that I can thank the Man vs Meeple Discord for getting me to pre-order. The Legacy of Yu is a solo only campaign game. As I look into it more, I like the sounds of the puzzle. This struggle to build out enough buildings, build up enough troops or power to resist the enemy, and keep the enemy from progressing too quickly. It is a puzzle that you complete with worker placement and getting characters for powers.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal

And Heat is not here yet. This is a pre-order that should ship at the end of the month, or maybe start of the next. It is hard to know, shipping makes everything interesting. But Heat is a racing game, and one that is fast. But it is also tactical as you try and push up to turns and not go around them too fast so that you wreck.

And you can push yourself sometimes. But when you do that, you gain heat which clogs up your hand of cards. So Heat plays with that idea of hand management as well. I love racing games, so I’m glad that the game is at least getting out there more as it was hard to find for a while.

Amazon

Inside Job

This is a game that I will fully admit, maybe shouldn’t have gotten it. Why, it is my genre of least favorite games. It is a social deduction game. But, unlike most, you do get information to go on. Because Inside Job is a trick taking game as well.

The good guys need to win a certain number of tricks will fulfilling objective. The bad guy needs to win a certain number of tricks before that happens. But it is possible that neither of those conditions will be fulfilled. So the bad guy can still win if the good guys can figure out who they are, and the majority vote for them. That end part is as expected. But I want to know if that trick taking experience gives me enough information to work on, or not.

Clever 4Ever

And I finally found this, in German. But this is the fourth game in the Clever collection of roll and writes. I love Ganz Schon Clever, Doppelt so Clever, and Clever Hoch Drei (or their names in English). And that means that I tracked down two from Germany before. Thankfully there is an app, so I can learn the rules in English that way. I need to spend more time learning Clever 4Ever that way. But I am so excited to get this one here.

Set

This is a game that I played growing up. I wanted to get a copy of it. It’s basically a pattern recognition game where you try and find sets of three. You either need to match everything or not match at all across those three cards. So I can match three purple circles and then have their fill be different. But the second something overlaps they all need to overlap. And the second it doesn’t, they need to all be different. I am good at pattern recognition, so I like it, but we’ll see how well it goes over when I pull it out.

Dorf Romantik

This one is based off of a video game. I know nothing about the video game. But the game itself is a cooperative Carcassonne that I’ve heard described more as an activity. But that activity sounds fun, so I want to give it a try. And it is a game that was just nominated for the Spiel in Germany. So that makes me more curious about it.

That’s the next part of the list. You might be wonder, there is more? I do believe that there is. But I need to track down what those are because I might have covered them. And you might wonder about shelf space. Well, I have about 45 games that will be sold this weekend. So there is going to be a Point of Sale soon. Which game from this list would you want to try first?

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