Top 100 Games (of all time) – 20 through 11

20. For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game

Published By: Side Room Games
Designer: Wilhelm Su

Buy For Northwood!

A solo trick-taking game seems like it shouldn’t work. But For Northwood! works really well. It’s a simple trick taker, you need to follow suit if you can. But the twist is that you need to win a specific number of tricks each time. You play over eight rounds and need to win between 0 and 7 tricks, exactly. That sounds impossible, but you get powers that help you manipulate your hand. It’s always a question of, which one do you go for, in terms of tricks to win, and as you get further along, can get manipulate your hand to make it work.

19. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Published By: Fantasy Flight Games
Designers: Michael Boggs, Nate French, and Caleb Grace

Buy Marvel Champions

I love Marvel and this is the game that gives me the Marvel feel to it. You are a superhero and you want to stop the bad guys scheme and defeat them. But, thematically, when you are in your hero form the bad guy is going to fight you and you take damage. So you need to manage going between your superhero and alter ego form so you don’t get hit. Of course as your alter ego, the villains are going to be scheming away. And you can create all sorts of fun combinations of heroes and villains to face off.

18. Floriferous

Published By: Pencil First Games
Designers: Eduardo Baraf and Steve Finn

Buy Floriferous

This game is one that I think is really overlooked in the gaming community. It’s a clever drafting game that does two very interesting things. The first thing is how scoring works. You don’t have much scoring that just happens, instead you draft your scoring cards. So there is always a choice between, do I draft more flowers or do I draft scoring cards. The other is how the drafting works, and this it maybe a bigger twist. You draft from a column, how high you are in the column determines when you draft next round. So it’s very possible you want to draft a less ideal card to get a perfect card.

17. Stars of Akarios

Published By: OOMM (Open Owl Studios)
Designers: Brendan McCaskell, Jonathan Thwaites

Buy Stars of Akarios

I love my big campaign games, and Stars of Akarios is one of my favorites. This one works so well for me with the tactical space combat, the planetary exploration, and a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The tactical space combat really shines in the game as you use your dice to position your ship, attack, and avoid the enemies the best you can. And the exploration is a bit like The 7th Continent/Citadel where you flip over cards and create a map and really explore as you go.

16. Clank!: Catacombs

Published By: Dire Wolf
Designer: Paul Dennen

Buy Clank! Catacombs

While i just did sell all of my other Clanks, this Clank! Catacombs spot is for all of them. Clank! is a push your luck game where you build up a deck of cards to get into a catacombs, in this case, and get out with the most points and best treasure that you can. Of course, if you are too noisy doing that, you clank, and when the enemy activates it might knock down your health. So it’s this push your luck in making noise, and going deeper. I like, too, with Clank! Catacombs, the map gets built as you go, so the board really is different every time.

15. Roll Player Adventures

Published By: Thunderworks Games
Designers: Keith Matejka, James William Ryan, and Peter Andrew Ryan

Buy Roll Player Adventures

Another big campaign game here with Roll Player Adventures. This one is all about dice manipulation and a fun story. I had a great time playing through the first campaign, and the additional one that I have, I need to get to the table. The system works well, though I will say, with four players it becomes a bit easier than at lower player counts. But the simple map movement, the story, the skill checks and of course combat and leveling up make this a fun time.

14. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game

Published By: Office Dog
Designer: Bryan Bommueller

Buy The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game

I like trick-taking games. Not a ton make it to my Top 100 games mainly because a lot feel similar. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is one that is different. Yes, it leans into a lot of standard things, but it’s also cooperative and story based. There are other cooperative ones out there, but the story based feels unique. Especially because this closely follows the books, so you get to chapters with Goldberry and Tom Bombadil as required characters which is fun. And the cooperative elements are challenging for the game.

13. Pirates of Maracaibo

Published By: dlp games
Designers: Ralph Bienert, Ryan Hendrickson, and Alexander Pfister

Buy Pirates of Maracaibo

The second of three new games on this part of the lit in a row. Pirates of Maracaibo is a pirate resource management game. I normally would want it to have more adventure, but this one is a ton of fun. I love building up my ship and seeing what strategy of building up ship, getting treasure, exploring, and competing quests can lead to victory. And it is great because all of them feel good to do. It isn’t a game where I feel like I need to go one way, though, I think some ways are more consistent.

12. Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game

Published By: Brotherwise Games
Designer: John D. Clair

By Mistborn The Deck Building Game

Another deckbuilding game on the list here with Mistborn. And I like Mistborn just a bit better than Clank! because of a little more pure deck building. But also it has a lot of fun elements to the game. It leans into Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn world and let’s you burn metals to play cards. I also like the turn track, you always bump up in power as you go up the track. This makes for a really great experience of feeling like the game is ramping up.

11. Sleeping Gods

Published By: Red Raven Games
Designer: Ryan Laukat

Buy Sleeping Gods

The final game on the list is another big one, though not a campaign game. Sleeping Gods is a sand box story game where you are dropped into an unknown world and need to find and deal with totems. Of course, it’s a new land, so you don’t know where those are. And there are monsters and other interesting things to deal with. You need to control 9 crew, but really, it’s one turn and you just need to remember a few key abilities as you play. So it sounds like a lot, either cooperative or solo, but it’s not too bad.

Join Next Week

Just as a reminder, I am streaming new videos most Wednesdays. Let me know what you want to see me play next on Wednesdays after this list is done. You can subscribe to the channel and click notify to know whenever a new video comes out. Currently I am playing through Legendary Kingdoms on Monday and then my wife and I are playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on Fridays. So join us for those videos.

And thank you for checking out the video and articles. Let me know what your favorite game from this chunk of 10 is and which one you would love to get played.

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Top 10 Games of 2024

10. Dungeon Kart

Do you want to play Mario Kart? Do you want to play a board game? Why not do both and play Dungeon Kart from Brotherwise Games. This is a racing game where you play as the characters from Boss Monster, those bosses who are trying to build up their dungeon, well, they want to blow off some steam. So hit the track and use their abilities and their cars to the best of your abilities to get around the track first. If you fall behind, don’t worry. You get spells and blast away at your opponents to slow them down so you can get back into the race.

I like this one because it is a fast game and a theme that people like. I like Mario Kart a lot, and I know that a lot of people do. So Dungeon Kart is an easy one to recommend. Add in that the game is simple to play, and it is even easier to recommend. There are a few things that you need to know, but overall, not a complex or difficult game to learn. And the fact that the characters and cars are different, that’s fun as well.

9. Snowfall Over Mountains

Snowfall Over Mountains is one of a few smaller games on the list, but the only one that is only solo. I enjoy this game for the solo experience because it’s one of those calming and relaxing solo games. You are drawing cards and trying to build a snowscape around you that is going to score the most points.

You score points for different things like rabbit tracks or trees. And there are a few different scoring cards for each of the elements. That is good because it means you can mix and match and get a lot of different combinations for a lot of good variety in what you are doing.

The footprint isn’t as small as some solo games, but it’s not huge. And the box that the game comes in is a nice and small box so if you are traveling and want a solo game to take along this is a solid one.

8. Star Wars: Unlimited

Next up, this game could have been higher, I think. I really like Star Wars Unlimited and I really enjoy the TCG aspect of it. As I say in the video, without the theme I’m not sure I’d be as excited for it. But being able to build a deck with clones, droids, Mandelorians, rebels, whatever factions they have thus far, that’s a lot of fun. And there are a number of aspects that also help the game.

I want to focus on one aspect here. I really like that you always have a leader in this game. The leader is going to give you an ability that you can use, even when they aren’t in play, and that ability is going to give you a focus for your deck. There isn’t just throwing your favorite cards into a deck, you need to think about synergies as well between your characters.

Okay, one more aspect that I really like, and I promise that is it. I appreciate that the game doesn’t let you run out of energy. There is no card draw and hope you get credits or whatever so you can play out cards. Instead, it uses this great system, you draw two cards and, if you want, put one into play as a resource. I love that decision space as I need to decide, do I want this card or do I want the resource, and that is often times a very tough call.

7. The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth

Now for another theme that I really like, we have The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth. This game reimplements 7 Wonders Duel, but it’s not just a straight reimplementation. And for me that is a good thing. I like 7 Wonders Duel a lot. But I think that I like Lord of the Rings Duel (as I’ll be calling it) more. And of course, the theme is a great reason for that.

I also like that the game doesn’t end with scoring. Yes, I’m not 100% sold on how it does end, but there are a number of ways for it. There is only one way that I have an issue with or wish there was a bit more. The first way is that the ringbearer makes it to Mount Doom and chucks in the ring, or the Nazgul catches the ringbearer. Or if you rally the support of the different races of Middle-Earth that’s another way too. Finally, if you take control or have a piece of control in every area. If none of those happen it’s whomever controls the most areas, and that’s okay.

But if you like Lord of the Rings, this is a great two player head to head game that I really recommend. If you don’t like Lord of the Rings, it’s still good. Especially if you want something with a bit of theme in it compared to 7 Wonders Duel.

6. Castle Combo

Now for a game without much theme but that’s still a lot of fun. Obviously Castle Combo is a lot of fun, it’s in my Top 10 Games of 2024 and at #6. But this is a game about building out the best scoring grid that you can. The game is simple, you play it in nine rounds, and at the end, you have a 3 by 3 grid of 9 cards.

But there are elements to the game that offer a great challenge or some good fun. I like how the cards are all divided into three things. The first element is the cost, you need to be able to pay that coin cost to get it. The next is an instant effect. It might be that all cards of a certain type cost 1 less now. Or it might just get you coins or keys. Finally there is the scoring, and that is going to happen after all your grid is full. So you need to figure out how to optimize that scoring while still getting coins and keys to get more cards.

And I really like the key mechanism in the game. The keys either let you wipe the row of cards you are on. Or you can use the key to move you to the other row so you can buy from there. But, it won’t less you do both in one turn. I really like that challenge element of the game because I could wipe, but will I get something good. Or I could move, but maybe wiping will give me something better.

5. Let’s Go! To Japan

Next up is one that didn’t make my Top 100 Games because I hadn’t played it yet. But I really love Let’s Go! To Japan. This is a game about planning out your itinerary for going to Japan. And you need to plan out three things to do each day in Tokyo, Kyoto, or both.

Each day has a particular theme that it wants you to go for as well. It might be that you want to get food one day and go to a nature sight another day. That order changes for every game, but the different symbols remain the same. The fun thing is that you need those symbols to score your cards each day, well to score the one that you can see the end game scoring on anyways. So if you need food and it’s before the food day, you probably need to get some food in a less than optimal way.

It is also a good drafting game. I like how I get two cards, one Tokyo and one Kyoto. I pick one to add to my itinerary and give you the other, or person to my left or right. But not to use right away, to collect into a hand of cards that then you’ll pick from later in the game. So I can set you up with stuff you don’t want. Or I can just focus on what is best for me. But it’s a nice twist on drafting.

4. Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game

Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game was one of my most anticipated games for 2024, and clearly it didn’t disappoint. I really enjoy this game and of course, I love the theme and I love deckbuilding. But those two elements aren’t enough for me automatically love the game. I think the solo/cooperative play helps it as well, though I really do enjoy it as a competitive game too.

There are two elements I want to talk about that I really like. The first is the burning of the metals. I love how they make that a thematic part of the game. Pewter is going to give you more attack and healing. Things that help you sooth emotions or rile them up could heal or get people to be generous and give you more money. But they are thematic and I like that you are limited in how many you can burn, so there is a good amount of strategy in your deckbuilding.

I also like that the game has a leveling track. Each player levels up once per turn. That gives you new abilities that make you more unique and powerful in the game. And it starts to let you burn more metals. I think that combination just works well so that what could be a longer game, can’t be as long because you start to ramp and get stronger. And soon you might be buying and using cards with Atium and doing a lot of damage or leveling to win the game.

3. Rebel Princess Deluxe Edition

I never thought that I’d put Hearts on my top games list, but here it is, Hearts, albeit with shenanigans is my #3 game for 2024. I really like this one because it’s a familiar trick taking game. Instead of avoiding hearts and the queen of spades, you avoid the princes proposals and the frog prince and his proposal. That element is very much the same.

But it’s very different in a lot of other ways. You each have a princess and they have a power. You can use that power once per hand of cards. And then you, instead of passing left, right and then across, you pass however a flipped card tells you to. And that flipped card also has other things on it, like some special rules for that hand. It might be that the person furthest from the card that led the trick, numerically, is going to be the winner of that trick. It causes chaos but is so much fun.

2. Slay the Spire: The Board Game

The last two are ones that I’ve played on Malts and Meeples. First off we have Slay the Spire. I love the video game and the board game works just as well. In fact, it offers something that the video game can’t, you can play Slay the Spire: The Board Game multiplayer, and it’s amazing. In fact, I think I prefer it multiplayer, or maybe multihanded better than purely solo.

The game does a few things to make it work. While the core of climbing the tower, and adding cards to your deck, is the game, there are elements that are different. Firstly, it scales down the health and attack levels. I love this because it makes the math easier. Next you roll a die to determine the enemies attack and what relics that you have activate. This makes it simple as compared to keeping track that something goes off every seventh round or anything like that.

And I want to talk about multiplayer. Each player gets their own row of enemies that will damage them. But you are able to support your allies by attacking the enemies. So maybe mind are just playing defense for a round, that means that I can help wipe out your row of enemies and then you don’t have to worry about anything so you can go all out attacking. It’s a great addition to a great game.

1. The 7th Citadel

Finally, at #1, we have The 7th Citadel. I really love this game and it’s what I had wanted from The 7th Continent, though I do appreciate that open and very sandbox system in The 7th Continent. The 7th Citadel gives you that same sandbox to play in but gives you more specific and focused missions. I know that I need to find something southeast. I’m not sure where for sure, but I just know that I need to go southeast, and I really enjoy how that works.

But the game keeps some of the core elements to it that are great. I like that you still are spending cards from a deck. And while that deck isn’t your life and won’t just instantly kill you if the wrong thing is drawn, bit kind of is your life. You put cards back into the deck by spending hit points. So if I want to get 10 cards by in, that’s five of my life. And while the game isn’t always punishing you with combat and taking life that way, there are a ton of challenges that you need to deal with.

Final Thoughts

Like I said at the beginning, I’m annoyed I missed Rock Hard 1977. I really like that game, so it’s an honorable mention and probably would be in about the middle. And I look at my shelf and I see more 2024 games that I want to play. Bomb Busters is a big one as is Stamp Swap that I want to try.

It is always a good year for games. If you don’t find one that you love, it means that you either got caught up in the hype for some game or weren’t looking that hard. And I love that I can find amazing games all the time to try. I definitely want to spend more time playing 2024 games, and maybe late in 2025, I’ll look back again at 2024 and see what my Top 10 looks like then.

Let me know your favorite game from 2024?

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Mistborn Solo vs Multiplayer

I won’t be doing a full review on Mistborn Deckbuilding Game yet, I need to play it more. Mainly, I want to play a couple more times solo, a time or two cooperatively, and of course some more competitive games as well. But let’s talk a little bit about it and how the cooperative/solo works.

Added Solo Mode

First off, it is more thematic for it to be a cooperative game. I found it odd that it was a competitive game to start. Kind of like Call to Adventure with the Stormlight Archives, though that one makes more sense. But with Mistborn and the characters you play, it always made sense to me that it should be a cooperative game.

The risk, of course, is that it is designed as a competitive game. So I worry about a game that has something tacked onto it. Is it still a good mode? Or is it something to get people who wouldn’t buy it to buy it? I feel like this solo mode is well thought out. As you watch the play through, I am sure you see that I was worried about if I would win or not. It wasn’t until very late in the game that I felt comfortable. And I like that about the game, it feels like an intended way to play it.

Combat

Now, I think that both ways are pretty different. The combat as a multiplayer game is part of the game. And I think in a two player game, the combat is going to be a key element to it. In higher player counts, you might lose the game because of combat, I’m not sure you win the game with combat. But the combat against the Lord Ruler is interesting mainly because he heals so much.

In fact, I feel like the game is almost split into two parts. The first part of the game is a race up the tracks to stop the Lord Ruler from healing. Next you want to deal out damage once the healing is gone. The constant part between that is that you need to heal a ton as well.

I think that it is possible to beat the Lord Ruler with just two of the tracks done. In my play, I believe I could get out damage quickly enough end game to make that work. If he is only healing ten, and not every turn I like my chances. But you definitely need to complete two of those tracks.

Variability

So is the solo mode going to be variable enough. I think there are elements that make me believe it will be. Firstly, the characters that you play are asymmetric. So Vin is different than Marsh who is different than Kel. But I think that difference is minor.

Next is the variable market. That element is going to change up the game each time you play. You might ramp slower to the big cards because of what is available. Or you might find that going up the tracks is harder because of the cards you are able to buy.

I also think those tracks provide variability to the game as well. I picked some with pretty consistent leveling up. The game is going to be different with the other ones. Some give you fewer bonuses. And things like less damage than I had, I think that would make the game a lot harder.

Finally is the Lord Rulers deck. Yes, the composition of that deck is not going to change. But when you draw cards, that is going to be an element that changes. I got lucky with the Kadra and House Lords at the end of the game. If I find an obligator or inquisitor that late, no chance that I win the game. So it is balanced on an edge there.

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule. It’s not just all my Top 100 Games (of all time).

• Monday night, time varies, I play different small solo games, though I might be looking to start up a campaign again. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to continue my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition. There is one week left, which is going to be two Wednesdays out. After that I’m planning on doing some look back and look ahead videos and smaller solo games or things like Balatro and Slay the Spire.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make. We will skip this Friday because of the Holidays.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat..

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Why I Initially Backed the Cosmere RPG?

Let’s start out with what drew me to this campaign in the first place. Honestly, the biggest thing is the theme. I like the Mistborn series, in fact, with the deckbuilder coming out for it, I’m reading through it again. And I’m enjoying it more the second time through. Plus I love the Stormlight Archive. Those books are amazing and while they are a beast to read, I enjoy the unfolding world and story. I’m working my way through them a second time, on audiobook, as well.

I really like the idea of playing in the worlds as well. Both of them would offer really interesting role playing possibilities. From the spren in Stormlight Archive to the burning of metals in Mistborn, all of that feels like it could provide a lot of unique storytelling and room for adventures.

Finally, I just like RPG’s. I like to sit down and play or run Dungeons and Dragons in particular. But when I could make it to AcadeCon, I loved trying out new systems in a setting where it was all about trying and playing new games. And this is a new system with the other two things going for it, so I was immediately interested in it.

So Why Did I Cancel?

Budget

There are two main reasons why I cancelled. Let’s dive in and talk about them some. The first one being, it’s expensive. I need to make a choice as to what I get and what I don’t. And this is not a choice that I’m always the best at making. And it’s something that I want to get better about. But that’s not the main reason that I cancelled it. But it is part of it and a good reason. Especially because the level I’d have wanted to back would not be that cheap because I want it all, or at least a bunch of it.

How Many Systems Do I Need?

The bigger reason is, I need to determine that I am going to play. When I look at it, I think it looks like fun. Again, I love the setting of the Cosmere RPG. And I think I’d enjoy playing in that world. However, I know from my past experience of owning different RPG’s, I don’t play them. My brain likes to hold one RPG in it, and that one right now D&D 5th Edition. And I already bought the new stuff for 5th Edition. So I need to learn those updates when they come in.

And previously I’ve owned systems like the Dresden Files Fate system. Star Wars from Fantasy Flight also was in my collection. Fiasco and some other smaller ones were on my shelf for ages. What did I find out? I don’t play those systems. I play a single campaign and my campaign of choice is in Dungeons and Dragons. If someone else were to invite me to a game, I’d play for sure. But I don’t need to own it myself. And I still even own the new Marvel system which I need to run a game of as well.

Why Talk About My Choice with the Cosmere RPG?

Let’s wrap up by talking about why I wanted to talk about this. I was really torn on whether or not to keep my pledge. Even now I know late pledging will be an option. But I want to hold my ground on it, because I think that my reasons for not backing are good, for me. And I think that is so much of it.

There is part of me that feels like I am missing out. Why, because I think I truly would enjoy the system. And I think that part will exist as I see people get in the game when it comes out. And it might even be one that I pick-up later. But I need to know and have a plan for playing it. If I don’t, it is going to be another thing where I keep it around because I want to play it, but I don’t get around to playing it.

Did you back this massive crowdfunding campaign? If so, can I play in your game?

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How To Win the Mistborn Deckbuilding Game?

There are two ways in which you can win the Mistborn Deckbuilding Game. The first is fairly simple, knock out your opponents. If you take them out and are the last one standing, you win the game. The other is a bit more work, but gives you benefit as you go, you need to complete three missions. Each mission will give you rewards as you go up the tracks, but when you complete all three you win the game.

How Do You Play the Mistborn Deckbuilding Game?

This is a standard deckbuilding game in some ways. You get both attack and purchase power on your cards that you play about. And you use that attack and that funding to buy new cards and attack the other players. But how some of the cards work is very different than your standard deckbuilding game. So let’s look into some of those unique things that Mistborn does.

Game Play Highlights

Burning Metals

Yup, we’re already onto the highlights. Mainly because the basis of the game is that much of a standard deck building experience. But let’s talk about activating cards. I think that it is one of the most unique elements of the game. In Mistborn the characters burn metal that allows them to use abilities. They do that in the game. You are able to burn metal and that then let’s you activate some of the cards. Some are just basic funding that don’t require anything. But others you need to burn metal to activate.

And while you are limited in how much can burn, there are ways around it. I’ll talk about one in a second, but you can spend cards to burn additional metals. Each card has it’s ability, but there are pairs of metals that it has that you can burn. So it’s a way, if you can’t spend all your cards otherwise, to power up cards and play out as much or more than you could in the first place.

Finally, you can always burn an extra metal. But that metal is burnt out until you discard a card of that type to get it back. It’s nice mechanism to let you push early game, but it has a cost. Do you want the benefit now to need to refresh it later?

Unlocking New Powers

You also unlock other things. Each player starts out pretty much the same. The metals in the base deck vary, but that’s about it. As you go up in turns you unlock powers. And generally these powers are passive. If you burn something, you get a benefit. So as you go, you get more powerful, but also become more unique in what you can do or what you might want to focus on. And you gain access to Atium, something even more powerful to burn.

And the game scales with the burning of metal and unlocking powers. At the start of the game you can burn a metal per turn. But at the end of each turn you bump up on a track. That track gains you access to several things. But the biggest is that as you improve your deck of cards, you can burn more metal. So you go from one all the way up to four. It builds a great power ramp into the game.

Permanent Cards

I talked about how some cards, or most cards are ones you play out and burn metal for. But you also gain permanent cards. These cards go into play in front of you. I say permanent, but more so that they don’t cycle at the speed of others. They can be defensive cards that need to be taken out first. Or they can add offense or other abilities as you burn metals. It’s a nice way to potentially thin out your deck for a period of time before someone decides it’s too annoying at targets them over you. And it can even give you the benefit of burning additional metals.

Combat

Combat is pretty simple and I call it King of Tokyo style combat. There is one player who has the target. All the other players attack that player. If that player wants, after any attack, they can then pass that target off to another player. But if you attack while you have the target, you attack everyone. It makes it so that sometimes it’s worth it to hang onto it and have the damage in order to deal out a bunch of damage to everyone.

What I Want To See More Of

So we talked about a lot of highlights. In reality a lot of those highlights are how you play the game as well. But they work so well thematically that I wanted to cover them. I chose to end on combat, though, because it’s an area that I want to see more of. When we ended our demo, we had one player knocked out and the rest close. I like that balance of it being close there. But the winner won via going up on the mission tracks.

To me, it felt like it was more likely to end with someone going up on the mission tracks. I want to see someone win via combat and via knocking everyone out. It is going to be tricky, unless one person never the target in combat. Otherwise, everyone loses life so consistently. And there isn’t an immediate benefit, besides being closer to winning, of knocking someone out. In a two player game, I think it’ll happen often. But three or four players, it is likely better to go up the tracks and complete missions.

I also want to see how many people remember or how long it takes people to remember to move up their power level each round. So each player has that track that unlocks burning more metal and elements like that. It is a bit of extra house keeping that is going to take a bit for some people to remember. I don’t know how you’d make it easier to remember. I just know that it wasn’t always the easiest to remember.

Final Thoughts and First Impressions on the Mistborn Deckbuilding Game

I really like this game. I think that it adds in some fun additions to the game and to deckbuilding. The elements of the game like burning the metals are also very thematic to the books. I appreciate the attention to detail put into it because it offers something different that makes sense. And it’s an element of the game that is easy to teach and explain to people who know the game.

I say that, and I also want to talk about how the game is pretty fast. We got through basically the whole game in an hour and a half. That is with the rules teach and with a few rules questions. Not to say the rules teach was bad, I think it was quite good, but we wanted to ask questions and clarify things as we went. And generally our interpretation was right, but it is good to clarify. So I think if people knew the game, a four player game could take an hour or so. Which is nice because it feels like the streamlined the game just enough.

Is the theme one that interests you? Do you like deckbuilding games? If so, I recommend Mistborn Deckbuilding Game.

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How To Play Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archive

This isn’t the full details, like I said, it’s a first impression. And along with that, I need to try competitive mode still. But the basics of the game generally remains the same. In this game you are building out your heroes grand adventure in three different acts. You cast runes to test your skills and complete challenges to get story elements.

To do this you cast three basic runes that can give you 1 or no points for a check. And you cast runes based off of skills on the card. Those are your standard Dungeons and Dragons stats. So you can cast up to three runes of each type which can give you more points and better points since it is a skill you are good at.

In the cooperative game you are trying to get your characters levelled up to cast runes against Odium at the end of the game. Odium has hit points and you remove them throughout the game in various ways. Mainly if you get cards with radiant symbols. But if you fail checks it can also add more onto him. So you all work together to make sure you pass checks and can take out Odium in the end by casting your best runes.

What Doesn’t Work

Right now I think the weakest thing is that the story, while there, could be there more. When I play, I want to really tell a story of what I am doing. And I think that is something the game can encourage. It is almost a backstory generation for an RPG campaign. Especially if you are starting higher than level 1. I also know know that for some people that won’t work, telling more story. But I’d probably implement some story time in my game as the cards really lead you.

The game is also very light. This might be more for whom it is for, but the combination of light game play and the casting of runes, epic fantasy artwork, it feels off slightly. You almost expect the game to be more strategic looking at it, but it is very casual in what it does. And in the competitive version, it will have some take that, which might turn some players off as it doesn’t match the theme that well.

What Works

I enjoyed the cooperative game play quite a lot. I thought that Odium was an interesting villain and while what he does is fairly simple. And you can change him up with one of several cards that you assign to him at the beginning. We played on one that I think is a harder one and managed to win. But that is because we leveraged our cooperation a lot we were able to win.

I also think the game played well as cooperative because had less downtime. This is a lighter game, as I said, so downtime isn’t a major issue. You have a limited number of choices so you pick one and go with it. But in cooperative you help other players. I play a card and it improves your chances of completing your challenge. Competitive it’d be more take that and playing cards on yourself.

The light game play is also nice. Again, it helps with downtime. But it also made it pretty easy to pick up. I think the rules are solid. And I think you could get down to it and get playing fast. More teaching would occur during the game but it is easy enough that you could do that. And because of the great artwork, I think it’s a nice game to draw people in.

Let’s finish with the artwork. It is amazing. It helps that I know the characters. But even if you don’t, the artwork is gorgeous. And it is likely going to make you want to reach the books to find out what everything means. But the qualify of the game is very solid overall. The player board is a bit thin, but cards are nice, runes are nice, and cardboard tokens are nice.

Who Is It For?

This is more of a gateway game than I was expecting. I think that people who are familiar with a few games or a few concepts would be able to pick up this game. I might not pull it out over something like Catan or Ticket to Ride, but it is close to that. And, in all fairness, I might pull it out over them because of how much I’ve played those two.

If you are looking for a highly strategic game, there are elements of strategy. But it is not going to wow you with the strategy in the game. This is more about the artwork and that lighter game play than heavy decision making.

Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archive – First Impressions

I had a good time with the game. I want to try it as a competitive game. But I suspect I will prefer it cooperative. A game like Call to Adventure could rely too much on take that, I think, in competitive mode. And to be trying to set yourself up for that one perfect card or toss and have someone mess with it is not that fun.

I also wonder about staying power for the game. The game is likely to stay in my collection because it’s Stormlight Archive versus it being a highly replayable game. There are elements that change it up, but is it enough. Granted, Brandon Sanderson is writing more books in the series, so it could be one that comes back and works out just fine with another expansion in two years. Overall, it is a fun game that I think is a bit lighter than I’d life if I didn’t love the theme.

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The $1 Crowdfunding Pledge

Let’s talk about the $1 pledge level. Why do I pledge at that level sometimes, and how often do I get more?

So what is a $1 pledge? It is basically a cheap way to get the updates on a Kickstarter campaign. With Gamefound you can follow along if you subscribe to it. But Kickstarter, is is $1 and often times it gives you access to the pledge manager as well.

The nice thing about a $1 pledge is that you don’t need all the money at once. If both Final Girl and Marvel Zombies run at the same time – they did – then you don’t need to give both of them a couple hundred dollars right at the same time. You back $1 now you can get one now and save up for the other one later.

But how often do I back for $1, once in a while, and I’d say maybe 2 out of the 6-7 that I did that with, I ended up adding in the pledge manager. One, for sure, that I did was The Witcher: Old World. And I believe there was another that I added. I don’t care enough, most of the time, to do $1 and get the updates.

The Drink

A Negroni again. It’s such a good drink, again a warm day and one that is nice to have on a day like that. But a good drink to have stuff around for. It is really one that I like to sip while grilling as well. On a hot summer day it is refreshing and with some ice in there, it doesn’t feel water down when the ice melts.

Upcoming Streams

Tomorrow I’ll be streaming, I think my plan is more Paper Dungeons. So join for some fun to play along. I’m still working my way through that campaign.

I talked about this on the stream, and maybe I’ll talk about it more tomorrow. But I am getting a gaming table with a topper. That will allow for me to leave a bigger campaign game set-up on the lower level and put the top on when I want to play something else. So once that comes, I am going to be getting back to streaming a larger game.

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What Crowdfunding Did I Back in March?

Surprise! Four Secret Novels by Brandon Sanderson

This was a surprise for sure for me. I really love Brandon Sanderson’s writing. Stormlight Archive is one of my top series, might have dropped to #3 now. But surprise writing over COVID would be a bit crazy to do four, if it weren’t Brandon Sanderson. I know that one is tied into the Stormlight Archive. I only backed at the level for an ebook, I thought about more, but it added up quickly.

HotRod – A Roll and Write Revolution Game

One thing I’ve been doing a bit of this year is backing print and play roll and write games. I think that it’s something fun that I can do for a small creator. Often times these things are little passion projects. And while I am always ready for a big one, like a Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write, it is fun to help a smaller dream come true. This one is going to be a car roll and write game. We’ll see if it is good, but I am curious.

Unsettled

I already mentioned it is a better one that I backed. I forgot that it ended in March, so it counts for the month. Unsettled is a space exploration game, where each planet lets you explore, and try and solve the problem that is going on. I immediately backed this because it is already out, and the reviews are good. It, to me, feels a bit like a TIME Stories where it plays with a lot of different things within the same system. And each planet or scenario is different and feels unique.

Wine Management

Wine Management is another one of those little roll and write projects that is just print and play. I actually have the files for this already, though I do need to reprint the game board. I think the idea of playing a game where you are making wine. But some of the bigger ones, Vihnos and Vitaculture, the style of game looks a bit too dry to me. So I hope that this is a nice light and fast game.

Overisles

Finally, I backed Overisles for my wife. I normally try and avoid backing RPG’s. If you remember from a bit back, I got rid of most of my RPG stuff. Not because I don’t like the systems are am not interested in trying other things, but I know I will mainly play Dungeons and Dragons. I don’t need the other systems. Overisles, though, is a unique sounding game. Yes, it is an RPG, but it also teaches you sign language. That is awesome, a way to gamify a skill that more people should have.

Final Thoughts

Outside of Unsettled, I didn’t back much that was expensive. Like I said, I only backed Sanderson’s at the e-book level because of the price. And Overisles is also only in PDF format. Really, the only physical game that I backed was Unsettled. The rest are offering me digital files for print and play or digital versions of books.

What did you back in March?

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The Reckoners Game Play

The Reckoners is a cooperative team where players take on the roles of the various Reckoners trying to take down epics, the supervillains. This is done in two ways. you either attack or research the epics. When you research an epic completely, that is finding their weakness and makes it easier to kill them.

As you defeat epics, they are trying to take down the population, find your base, and generally mess up your plans. And they are working for Steelheart, the biggest epic. Figuring out his weakness and being able to attack him at all only happens as you defeat the other epics, and he’s messing with you even more than they are.

If you research and damage Steelheart enough to take him down, you win the game. And the population hitting zero causes you to lose the game.

What Doesn’t Work?

The variety in the game is lacking. This is in a few different ways. The epics, while different, don’t feel massively different. It’d make the game more complex, but the game is pretty simple to learn. I hope the expansion gives them more things they can do. Also, Steelheart is the only big bad guy. And while you move from location to location, as does Steelheart, there is nothing unique about them.

Basically, the game does make the characters you play unique in a single way. But opportunities were missed to add in a little complexity, but also make the game more variable. I played with six people, that means every character is in play. So even then, there isn’t variability in a six player game. The expansion does add more Reckoners you can play which will change up the game. Same with more epics, and more bosses to fight.

What Works?

The simple game play is very good. Mainly because everything happens at once. You roll your dice, keeping some Yahtzee style, each time. And the same for using the dice. Once everyone is done rolling, you spend your dice all at once. It’s a bit chaotic, but the only slow moments are going through what the epics do and everyone can help with that.

The actions are simple as well. You can research, deal with henchmen, attack an epic, get money to buy more gear, get a wild card token, or contain an epic. Researching and attacking I’ve already talked about. Money to buy stuff makes sense. The wild card is basically a free action next round. Containing is the trickiest, but not that hard. It means that the epics do less when they activate. And you can do that to any epic or Steelheart, if you are at their location.

The production of the game is also amazing and it helps the game. The artwork is extremely good. The dice are nice and chunky and easy to read. Plus there are many Game Trayz to hold the locations, sliders for the epics and Steelheart, and spots to slot in dice as you keep them and spend them. Is it an over the top production, most certainly, but it is really nice and it is easy to get to the table.

What Do I Want To See In More Plays?

Well, I only have experience at the six player count. I want to try this at a lower player count. The scaling in the game makes sense, so I want to see how well it works. Plus different difficulties. We beat it on easy on the last possible turn before we’d have lost. So it is challenging on easy. Granted, we could optimize our play better. So normal seems like an interesting challenge as well.

I also want to see how different the game feels. Will I do the same things each time? Is the game a limited puzzle with limited shelf life? Is the expansion needed to keep it fresh? I definitely could see if I played the game a lot, it being one that loses steam as time goes by.

The Reckoners Initial Impressions

I like this game a lot. I think after one play I rate it as an 8.5 out of 10. It is a very accessible cooperative game. The packaging, the huge box and all the trays and things, it makes it look way more intimidating than it actually is. I could pull out The Reckoners and play with most people. And while the theme won’t come across that much, it is still a fun theme to work with.

It reminds me a bit of the Dresden Files Cooperative Card game when it comes to theme. If you know the source material, the theme is there. If you don’t, it is still a really good game. This one I think is even more accessible than that one is. And does the theme better, but just slightly. And as you learn the theme, you might want to read the books because of the game.

Have you played the Reckoners? What are you thoughts?

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What Is The Wheel of Time

The Wheel of Time is a series that was written by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson from 1990 to 2013. Robert Jordan passed away before he could finish writing the series. Knowing that he wasn’t likely to, he took notes and planned it out so someone else could. Brandon Sanderson, writer of things like the Stormlight Archives and The Reckoners was tasked to do that.

The Wheel of Time is an epic fantasy series following a main group of characters, that grows and changes as the series goes. It mainly focuses on a group of kids/young adults from Emond’s Field in the Two Rivers, and their adventures as they go out into the larger world after they fall under the eyes of the dark one. And their lives are spun into the Wheel of Time.

That’s very general idea of the plot. Without going too deep into it, there is magic, there is darkness, there is romance, back stabbing, and wolves. There’s high adventure, legends coming to live, and a very involved world which you’d expect from a series with 14 books or 15 if you count the prequel. There is even a character sent on a mission that never comes back because there are so many characters.

What is the Show?

So the show is going to be an adaptation on this series. Thankfully the series takes place over quite a long period of time in the world. That means that as the show spans years and actors get older it is going to work. This is almost a bigger scope, I’d say, than something like Game of Thrones, but it’s generally going to be on that scale. This is going to be more of an epic adventure with political intrigue kind of in a backdrop.

Key Wheel of Time Players

Rand al’Thor

From the Two Rivers and Emond’s Field, Rand grew up on the farm with his father. His mother is an outlander and Rand stands out a bit from everyone. He’s one of the characters who the Dark Lord takes note of. The story and the Wheel of Time spin around him more than most of the other characters, though they all have their moments to shine.

Perrin Aybara

Perrin also comes from Emond’s Field. The blacksmiths apprentice, he is slow to speak but very quite smart, just not ready to rush in. He has some interesting times as he meets up with some wolves that influence and change his life. His path leads him back to Emond’s Field more often, but still travels and explores the world.

Matrim Cauthon

The final of the boys from Emond’s Field. Mat is the light hearted one. He plays jokes, he is impulsive, and that often gets him into trouble. It really changes him early on in the series when he comes cross something as they leave Emond’s Field to escape the Dark Lord.

Moiraine Damodred

Moiraine is an Ais Sedai from Tar Valon. They are the magic users, the female half of the one power, which has not been tainted by the dark one. She comes to Emond’s Field, drawn by the weaving of the wheel of time and the hope for saving the world from the Dark Lord. She is the one who helps the boys on the run with her warder Lan

Lan

Moiraine’s Warder. He is very stoic and while a caring man, he doesn’t show emotions. As a Warder he is connected with Moiraine and when she dies, he will die, not immediately, but soon. He helps train and protect the boys and the others from Emond’s Field.

Egwene el’Vara

Egwene is the daughter of the Mayor. She’s head strong and loves adventure. When the boys are slipping out of Emond’s Field, she follows them and joins their adventure. While she is not as tightly wound into the wheel of time, she plays an important role in helping them complete their missions and it wouldn’t be possible without her. She never loses that sense of adventure but does mature throughout the series.

Nyneave al’Meara

Nyneave is the wisdom of Emond’s Field. The wisdom is basically a herbalist and healer of the town. They are considered to be wise in those arts and generally considered to be a stable force in the town. Generally they lead or are an important part of the women’s circle. Nyneave is young and a bit hot headed to be a normal wisdom. She doesn’t join the group immediately but is a major player.

Now, there are many more players in the Wheel of Time. In fact, there are too many to really talk about, because like I said, it’s 14 books. Not all 2782 of them are throughout the whole story though. These characters are all important, through most of the story if not all of it. But like Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time is not always shy about killing off characters.

What Are My Thoughts on the Books?

I am not going to do any spoilers here. I could, but I think it’s more useful to have an idea of the feel of the series and my thoughts on that. The series is interesting, I am not going to call it great, and I am not going to call it bad. It does a few things that are fairly standard for a lot of these epic fantasy stories coming from that time. And the story is very long.

I think the audiobooks, not counting the prequel story are going to take about 400 hours, which is very long. Needless to say with me listening to it now, I’ll maybe be on book two or three when the series starts. I think that the show is going to be quite good. There is a ton of information and story to use in the show. I hope they cut it down a long ways, and I think they will. The first book with everything that happens could be feature length movies and probably five of them.

Normally I want a story to stay true to the story. And with Wheel of Time I do want it to stay close. But I want it to tighten up the story. The story is epic, the characters are interesting. A few things need to change because it gets too long and too repetitive. Now that I have all of it on Audible audiobook, I can imagine that I will come back to these books often.

Have You Read The Wheel Of Time Series?

Let me know your thoughts on the series? Do you think this will be a good show? What do you think of the trailer?

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