Deranged – This game from HobbyWorld out of Russia is still in demo/beta phase, but the quality of the production seems like it’s very close to done. And it was one of the games on my radar from before the con. I liked this idea that you were having to get rid of curses to escape this town. But you also had another secret objective. But there’s a chance that you’re going to end up becoming “deranged”. Basically, there’s a chance that you’re going to turn into the monsters that you’re trying to avoid in the town, and the only way to save yourself is to kill a human. The game play was a lot of fun, and the game plays quite quickly. It was one of the highlight demos from the con.

Homebrewers – I brew my own beer, or I have in the past, and I have never been that interested in the theme of brewing beer in a board game before. But I saw this one on the table, and it looked simpler than some of the other ones, so I decided to demo it. It was a lot of fun. The game is basically an engine builder, where you try and balance brewing four different types of beers, but you can make them better by adding ingredients to the beer that will gain you more money or cause your beers to score better at the summer beer festival and Oktoberfest. So you’re trying to build up this engine that is going to make your brewing as efficient as possible. The game also plays really fast, which was something that I was worried about with a lot of engine building games.

Bottom of the 9th – Not a new game, but an interesting little baseball game. Instead of having to play 9 innings, this game basically just puts you in the pressure situation of dealing with pushing a run or two across to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning. The game plays fast, and offers some luck, but also some decision. I’m not sure that the game is for me, simply because I don’t have someone whom I’d play it with all that often. But the concept of the game was interesting, and it seemed to work well for what it was supposed to do.

God of War – One of the bigger games at the con, this was one that we actually tested out fairly late and we waited in time to get demoed. God of War is based on the video game(s) and you take on different characters as they fight against the hive of dark elves. The game offers some interesting choices for deck building, and has something I like, which is that you add cards you get to the top of your deck, so you aren’t waiting for them to randomly show up. The demo game, was, unfortunately a bit easy, which was intentional, but that meant that while you got a feel for the game, it was hard to tell how challenging the actual game would be. I liked the theme, and I liked how it played, but I’ll be curious to see as reviews come out, how hard the game actually is.

Final Hour – If games of Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror are too long, Final Hour focuses down on that last battle with the cultists as all you’re trying to do is figure out what the ritual is, before time runs out. This game is supposed to play in two hours, and I can see it playing in even less than that once you know what you’re doing. It’s really a puzzle game as you try and figure out what two symbols are missing from the board, but with a couple of interesting mechanics in it. You get a random, I believe, action that you’re going to take, and you have two different parts, move/attack or move/search, but you don’t know which one you’ll take for sure. Because the first two people in “initiative” get to move/attack and last two move/search. But you might not have the low number card you want to go faster and attack, so you’re move/search hurts the team. The game seemed like it would have some nice pressure to it. Not sure if there’s room in my Lovecraft collection for the game, though.

Dreams of Tomorrow – Not all demos are good, unfortunately. This one is hard to know what I actually think about it. There were two factors that made it hard to really demo this game. The first was that the person who got us into the demo was way to aggressive about it. We almost felt trapped into doing it, and then the person who was running the demo was clearly done running demos of the game. The concept was interesting, you’re trying to create a series of dreams to give you points but really to send back in time to stop the world from being destroyed. But while the rondel mechanic (taking actions in a circle so that you can’t get to some actions right when you want to) was interesting, the game itself was more of an abstract puzzle with a few little twists to it. I don’t think, even with a good demo I would have loved this game, but the demo definitely made it worse.

Letter Jam – So, this is a game that I was excited for going into the convention. And because of that, we actually ended up demoing it twice. The reason for that is that the first person we demoed with was clearly done with running demos, either for the day, but it seemed like for the con, on day one, and one of the people was not that interested in actually playing it. Letter Jam is a cooperative game, and the person who I was there with, didn’t realize that until half way through. But the concept for the game, a Hanabi/Mastermind style word game, is interesting, so we decided to try it again a couple of days later. We actually avoided getting into the first demo to get into because it was the same person doing the demo as the first time, but the group we had for the second time and the person running the game, which isn’t something that’s needed for the game, did a great job, and it was so much more fun. At that point it was sold out though, otherwise I would have probably come home with it.

Zona – Another game that I really wanted to see on the table. This game is very interesting as you fight monsters and search for secrets to be the first to get into the vault around Chernobyl. So it’s an alternate world with monsters and magic, but a ton of fun. You have dice that you rolled for combat, but there are ways to mitigate them. The game was also interesting, because the people demoing it were only taught the rules, since the rule book was still in Polish and cards had just gotten translated into English. The aesthetic and game play, though, were a lot of fun, from what we got for it, and I want to see a more finished version of the game, but if it plays like it did, I think it’s a game that I’d want to get.

Now, I know that there are so many more games that we demoed at the convention. There was a wrestling game, Just One (for the fun of it), Iron Forest to see the prototype, and more. Like I said, we could have just done demos the whole time and it would have been a blast.

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So let’s talk about this list. Starting at the top and going down.

1. Avengers: Endgame – It’s hard to say that this movie isn’t the best one. it wraps everything up nicely and it’s just amazing action throughout. Clearly I’ve been thinking about it and l am going to see it again. Rarely does a movie feel like it hits all the right notes like Endgame does.
2. Avengers: Infinity War – I like this movie for it’s shock value, I like it for Thanos as a villain, I like it for everything that it does. It also hits it out of the park, and we get to see the first of the team-up of Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy which should be fun, hopefully, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol III.
3. Thor: Ragnorak – I can watch this movie whenever. It has a blend of humor and action and is the only Thor movie to use Immigrant Song from Led Zepplin. Chris Hemsworth just plays comedy so well.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol I – I think this one is so high because it showed that Marvel could do something that was primarily comedy. Yes, there is action in Guardians of the Galaxy, but really it’s more about the humor. They also were able to get heart into this one.
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming – Peter Parker is one of my favorite, if not my favorite superhero. I grew up watching the early 90’s Spider-Man cartoon, so there’s nostalgia, and the original Spider-Man movies I liked, even kind of liked the mess that the third one was. But this is by far the best Spider-Man movie, and they really nail the feeling of Peter Parker in the MCU.
6. The Avengers – Hard not to put the original team-up movie up high. The battle of New York is just great, and Loki makes such a good villain. We also get to see the good Hulk really show off in this movie. We also get to meet so many characters that are important as well, like Maria Hill, Hawkeye, and really get to know Black Widow for the first time.
7. Iron Man – The original MCU movie. This movie just hit perfectly with Robert Downey Jr. playing a great Tony Stark. It was an origin story that started Marvel’s trend of creating really human and relatable characters as you see Tony from the start, at his weakest. The main villain might be underwhelming, but Robert Downey Jr. makes that not matter.
8. Thor – Way higher than most people will have it, but I love Thor. I think that it actually does a good job being a Thor movie that feels like the comics as well. You get some team-up of Asgardians, and you get to see Thor out of place. Plus Loki is always a good thing. I don’t think Hemsworth had hit his stride with the character yet though.
9. Ant-Man – Probably a lot higher than a lot of people have it. Again, I thought the villain was underwhelming, but the family comedy feel for this movie just works. Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, is just great, and you get good sight gags, and action that is done in an interesting way.
10. Doctor Strange – This one is an interesting story, probably where we see the first drop off of movies that I really like to just like quite well. Benedict Cumberbatch does a good job as Strange and you get some interesting action throughout. It also didn’t have a big fight at the end against the final boss which was fun and interesting.
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron – James Spader as Ultron works great. Getting to see Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver is amazing, I love adding them in. This also really doubles down on the infinity stones. I also like it, because this movie is key to Tony Stark’s character arc and sets up Thor: Ragnorak by giving us some great Hulk and Black Widow scenes.
12. Ant-Man and the Wasp – I really like Ghost, but I thought that overall this movie wasn’t quite as fun as the first Ant-Man. Michael Pena is amazing in this movie, as well as the first Ant-Man movie. I suspect I’ll like this movie more on a second viewing, only watched it once thus far.
13. Iron Man 3 – Do they do the Mandarin wrong? Yes, in some ways. Mainly I say yes, because it could have been some other random bad guy, not someone as big as Mandarin, in terms of the comics. However, I think it works for the movie, and the end fight is great and exciting.
14. Captain America: Winter Soldier – First Captain America movie on the list, and definitely the best one in my opinion. I really like the twist the SHIELD is Hydra, and I think it would be fun to see some sort of Secret War angle for Nick Fury to lead a covert SHIELD and be battle Hydra still behind the scenes. Also, we get to see Cap conflicted about Bucky and deal with that.
15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol II. – Probably another one that I need to see again, but it feel a bit flat for me. The biggest thing was Ego that part of the story just felt weird and off to me. I don’t know how they’d have been able to pull it off differently, but it felt like there should have been a better way.
16. Black Panther – Probably a lot higher for a lot of people, but I have a major issue with this film. The writing for Black Panther, himself, was bad. It wasn’t acted very well and it just didn’t work. Then you have Michael B. Jordan stealing the show. The look and tone were great for a Black Panther movie, but when the main character and his love interest are both the most boring characters in the movie, it’s going to fall very flat.
17. Captain America: The First Avengers – I’m not a huge fan of this movie. I think out of all of the origin story movies, it feels most like an origin story. However, Red Skull is a villain that I like, and I like that they’ve been able to kind of bring him back. Captain America just doesn’t have much character development as compared to say Iron Man.
18. Captain Marvel – Probably another one that surprised a lot of people. I got one issue, and I talked about it in my spoiler review of Endgame, but Captain Marvel is too powerful for the MCU. She isn’t a character that you can use often because you have to have an Infinity Stone to slow her down I guess? Maybe they can save her character by nerfing her powers now that the infinity stones are destroyed and it would make sense? Also, Brie Larson, I like you as an actress, but you didn’t feel like a super hero in this movie.
19. Captain America: Civil War – Aka. Captain America and Iron Man fight over Bucky. Sokovia Accords, what are those? This is about Bucky, with a side of Bucky, and a little bit more Bucky after that. That is why this movie falls so flat for me, while others like it. Sure there is a bit about the Accords in there, but when you really get down to it, Captain America spends more of his time fighting Iron Man because of Bucky than the Accords.
20. Iron Man 2 – I don’t think this is a horrible movie, but it just falls flat. Whiplash as a villain isn’t all that compelling, but like the rest of the Iron Man movies, it is often more about Tony fighting himself than it is about Iron Man fighting a bad guy. Just wish the bad guy had been a bit more compelling.
21. Thor: The Dark World – Chris Hemsworth did fine in this movie that really didn’t know where it wanted to go. However, Natalie Portman who had been okay in the first movie clearly is phoning it in on this one. I also don’t think they did a great job with the Dark Elves. Loki was entertaining, but not in it enough.
22. The Incredible Hulk – Haven’t seen it. That will change this summer, but sorry Edward Norton, you don’t interest me as the Hulk. There are only two hulks, Lou Ferrigno and Mark Ruffalo.

Now, what do you think of this list? I’m sure that there are some, mainly Civil War that people will have much higher on there lists, but you’re wrong. Wait, this is a list of what I like, so you can put them where ever you want in your list and enjoy them. Let me know what your rankings are in the comments below.

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