All Systems Go

Dorfromantik: The Duel

A cooperative game has gone competitive as now it’s two players facing off against each other in Dorfromantik. This is one that I picked up because it was on a good clearance. 40% off the price was worth it for me to check it out. And if I think I’ll find what I like in the game, it’ll be one that my wife and I could play. Or I play with another person 1 on 1 often so this one might work well for that. The game doesn’t look much more stressful than the original, which is to say not at all, but one to get played.

Art Society

Next up is Art Society from Mighty Board. This is one that I’ve thought about getting for a little bit. The premise of the game is very interesting to me. You a patron of the arts, so you want to build out the best art wall. But there are certain things you need to think about when placing your artwork on the wall, such as eye line. Another game that looks pretty light but like a lot of fun.

In the Hall of the Mountain King

I got talked into this one by my friend, the owner of All Systems Go. This one is a tile placement, worker placement game. And it was the Kickstarter deluxe version. So it came with great trays to be able to get it to the table quickly. One that I’ve heard good things about but wasn’t on my radar. As I’ve played more euro style games lately, it’s moved up in ones that I wanted to try.

Pit

This is one that my wife grabbed. I have enjoyed Pit but haven’t played it in years, and isn’t one that excites me to play again. That said, it’s a good enough classic. I might own it, and if I do, we can pass it on to someone else.

Diamonster

This one has monsters and the kid spotted it. I don’t know anything about the game really, looks almost like a hand management trick taking combo where you are trying to complete some objectives to win. Right now he can play with the cards, looks a bit complex for a five year old. But another one of those, sure why not purchases.

Spirits of the Forest

This looks like a fun light little game. According to Board Game Geek one that is primarily two players, but can play up to four. You try and collect the most spirits by collecting gems and other things. If it’s a light and pretty fast playing game, I’m cool with that. The artwork and aesthetic on the game look great.

Reign of Dragoness

This is a game where you want to get rid of the cards in your hand. First person to do so is going to win. To do that you need to set out a pattern of cards, might be a single card or it might be a set or a run. Other players need to beat that. And it keeps on going until no one can beat it. Then whoever won the last “trick” leads out the new pattern. The game sounds pretty simple and it reminds me of Scout a game that I like. So I’m glad my wife spotted it.

Miniature Market

Distilled

This is a game that has been on my radar for a while. Firstly because it is a theme that I like. I’m a fan of distilling and especially a good whiskey. So while it is one that is outside of my former wheelhouse, meaning it’s Euro in nature, I think the theme will help for me. Plus, I find that I like more euro games now. This is one that also has a lot of love from a lot of reviewers who I like, so when Miniature Market had it on a good sale, it was an easy on to pick up.

Folklore: The Affliction Minis

This one is just minis. Do I need minis. I do not. Is it all the minis for the game, it is not. Will I buy more minis to fill out the box, probably. But Folklore: The Affliction is a game that I really need to play. It’s been on my list to stream for Malts and Meeples for a while. Once I’m done with The 7th Citadel we’ll have to see if it’s one that I get to next.

I Bought It On eBay

Etherfields

I regret selling my copy of Etherfields. So I no longer need to regret that because I picked up a new copy. And I picked it up with all the bells and whistles of everything. Did I need everything, probably not, but the price was solid for someone who was trying to unload their collection. This is an Awaken Realms game where you are going through dreams, and not nice happy dreams. The theme is very exciting, there is hand management and deck building in the game, so I think I am going to like it.

Renegade Games

Artisans of Splendent Vale

This is a game that I’ve looked at a lot. But to this point I’ve passed on it because the writing in Legacy of Dragonholt, another story game from Nikki Valens, was not up to par. So I was worried about Artisans of Splendent Vale. And from what I’ve heard, it’s interesting writing but not the best writing. So why pick it up? Well Renegade Games was selling it for $10, that is why. They must have ran out of warehouse room. So they sold 50 copies for $10 and that is enough for me to try it. It’s normally $110. This is another one that I might end up streaming down the line.

Final Thoughts on New Games

This is lighter than sometimes. Not to say that it isn’t a number of games. But when your friendly local game store is closing, it’s kind of worth it to pick up some things. And I say closing, let me correct that, dropping it’s brick and mortar location. Which of these games would you want to try first? I think some of the smaller ones have a better chance to hit the table. Or maybe Art Society, a bitter game, but one where I think people will be on board with the theme.

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I bring this up now because I am getting near the point, in a few weeks, where Lands of Galzyr will come off the table. It’s a great gaming, sandbox, type of story driven game. Not a campaign, but campaign adjacent. So on my shelf, which game do I play next?

ISS Vanguard

ISS Vanguard is an epic space game. But different than some where it’s flying about and blowing things up. So for example, different than Stars of Akarios (also an option to revisit). That is tactical space combat. In ISS Vanguard, humanity has uncovered a string in our DNA that leads to coordinates in space. Those coordinates, well, we don’t know what we are going to find out there, but, with humanity coming together, we find a way to make it out there.

The game is basically split into two parts. The first generally is planetary exploration. You go down to a planet, interact with things, complete tests, try and research, whatever the objectives on the planet might be. You take down crew and explore with them. The other part is back on the ISS Vanguard where you are maintaining and improving your ship. You also deal with issues that arise. A fun spin on things.

Oathsworn

Another option is going to be Oathsworn. Like ISS Vanguard it is going to have two parts in what you are doing. The first part is an investigative phase as you spend time around town or some location interacting with story and characters on a map. Trying to figure out things that will help you out in the next phase.

The second phase is doing to be boss combat. Characters are taken into combat with an interesting card mechanic that you play with. Each card has a cooldown on it, and they don’t cycle down until you play other cards that push them down on the cooldown track. And another thing that I like, you pick if you want to roll die or draw cards to see if you succeed.

Middara

Middara is a game that has been on my shelf for a while. Part of me is waiting until the next two parts come in as well. But Middara is going to be a dungeon crawl style game set on an alien planet that has an almost anime feel to it. So big crazy monsters and adventure as you go and a ton of story. It’s kind of from the peak of dungeon crawlers on Kickstarter where everything is huge.

My concern about streaming this one is that the map changes or grows over time. So like Chronicles of Drunagor, a game that I enjoyed playing, it is not going to be the best for streaming. But it’s an option and there is a lot of content for it just in Act 1, and I have Acts 2 & 3 coming eventually as well.

SHEOL

SHEOL is an interesting game, darkness has taken over the lands. And now as humanity you are pushing back against the darkness and monsters with the little Lux, light, that you have. Can you complete your missions and survive through the darkness?

I think that this one is easier to see on the table than to really explain. But it’s one that I didn’t back on Kickstarter and then I needed to track down after seeing Meet Me At the Table play it. It’s definitely one that is harder to find.

Skyrim

One of the newer ones to come out is Skyrim. Skyrim is a campaign game, like the video game. But how much time you spend in a game on a main quest or when you stop, I think is a little bit more up to you. And this is less of a dudes on a map sort of minis and dungeon crawl game. There is a ton of adventure to it, versus just trying to kick down a door and fight the next thing. So in some ways a little bit like Lands of Galzyr, though, there is still combat, or more combat in Skyrim.

Etherfields

Etherfields is an Awaken Realms that I backed and did single wave shipping, so for me it took a long time to come in. Now, I am still interested in the game, just a little bit less than I originally was. Etherfields is a world of dreams where you are exploring different dreams or nightmares and completing objectives. I believe it is a game that has progression and story to it, but it’s less of a campaign game than some.

Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

I’ve already played regular Aeon’s End Legacy. Legacy of Gravehold is the newer bigger box and I won’t lie, it is tempting me. I love Aeon’s End solo. And to play a giant box, I want to know what legacy content is in there. There is something fun about a campaign where you are opening up and exploring new things.

On the flip side, I already have showcased Aeon’s End Legacy and I think played Aeon’s End: War Eternal before on Malts and Meeples. So that makes it a bit lower on the list for me. But I also know already that I really like the game. So that is what keeps it on the list.

Relics of Rajavihara

This one very well might end up being a Monday streaming game. It’s a pretty simple, from what I’ve seen, experience that is meant to be played quickly. It is basically puzzles that you are trying to complete to get the treasure and it’s done on different levels. It reminds me of, I think it was called, Chip’s Challenge. A game about sliding around blocks to open up areas and, well, complete challenges. So a smaller game, but one I want to try.

Yggdrasil Chronicles

A friend taught me this game recently and I loved it. Yggdrasil Chronicles is a tough game of trying to stop various Norse gods, like Loki or Hel from messing with the world tree Yggdrasil. You play as one of the good Norse gods, but you are trying to do so much to make it work. And the more the frost giants, or other things get out of control, the harder it is to win the game. So it’s about remediating, but seeing if you actually can make it through.

I’m not sure what the campaign element brings. It does have some story to it. And I think it could be one that is fun to play, though trickier to film. Mainly because you are playing on a 3D tree that rotates. I would likely need to film it from the side to make it work.

Hoplomachus Victorum

Finally, and I do have more, Hoplomachus Victorum. This one actually isn’t quite here yet. But it is on the way and should be here soon. From Chip Theory Games, Hoplomachus Victorum is a solo and campaign version of an earlier game of theirs, Hoplomachus.

In this game you take your hero, build up troops, and fight in contests to become a hero. So that you can be standing tall as you go through the different areas and face off against different bosses. The story is light on this game, it is more a campaign of just gaining things and making your own story, versus a narrative adventure. But it’s also one that might work well on a Monday, though, that depends on how much setup there is.

Which Game to Play?

Let me know which one you think I should get to the table. I think that I am probably the most excited to play ISS Vanguard. But ISS Vanguard is one that I might want to play with a bigger group. So that would put it lower to the list.

SHEOL is probably the most different theme, in my opinion. The rest feel like themes you see in more board games. Maybe Middara is different, but it is more of a dungeon crawl with a lot of familiar things, just a less familiar setting.

And of course, this doesn’t include more Pathfinder Adventure Card Game or Arkham Horror The Card Game. And I can see games like Shadowrun Crossfire, Solomon Kane, Folklore: The Affliction and more that would certainly be options to play as well. Let me know which game you think I should stream after Lands of Galzyr.

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But that’s enough of that, let’s see how this mission of space exploration and combat went.

The Game – Stars of Akarios

So I want to talk about one thing that I don’t know if it’s a bad thing but is something to note. And that is going to be with space combat, the AI intelligence. Mainly because, I don’t find the AI to be all that intelligent. And that is a bit of a negative to the game.

There are elements of it that are thematic, I think. If you look at it as a dogfight, the spacecraft are all moving about shooting at each other. And the goal is to take out everyone that you can, but with multiple ships on the board you get out of position. But in terms of game mechanics, while it might match that, it means that it can put the enemy in a really bad position. They can’t shoot, so they rotate and move and if they stopped sooner they could shoot, but they do their full move.

So sometimes because I don’t have those constraints as much, I can plan my movement more, they end up in a spot I can just blast them. Or their movement just takes them out of the way of being able to get a shot. That means that some combats are a bit too easy, I think. So I might look, in the long run, to adjust the difficulty.

I also wonder if because there are different amounts of ships depending on the player count, if it might not balance better or be harder with more. Mainly because I can avoid three ships for a while. Or Gi’ardain can handle two ships shooting at him. But make that four in a turn, now there is a whole lot more tactical play.

Upcoming Streams

So the next stream is going to be on Monday at 8:30 PM Central. I’ll be going through the next part of my Top 100 Games. This time it’ll be games 80 through 71. You can catch up on the other videos over here. And click on the video below, and notification bell, to know when the video is live on Monday.

And then next Wednesday there is not going to be a stream. I’ll be out of town on vacation. But as I talk about in the video, and in the opening. I plan on wrapping up this assassin mission that I’m on. After that, I’m not sure I’ll continue. I want to, but I also want to show off other games. I’m looking at games like Oathsworn, ISS Vanguard – coming soon, Middara possibly, Folklore: The Affliction, and more that all need to get played.

Do you want more Stars of Akarios or to see a new game hit the table? And which game would you like to see played?

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Fortunately there are board games that can give that feel or smaller pen and paper experiences that might offer more of a one off game play. And you can do a one off game play with Dungeons and Dragons as well a one shot, but that might not be what you are looking for.

Fiasco

Fiasco is a pen and paper RPG, but it is one that is meant to be played in a single sitting. It is also one that you are meant to play with everyone as a player. So you lose the need for someone to be leading the story and basically having a different experience than everyone else.

Fiasco leans into the roll playing side of an RPG with impro focused prompts and collaborative story telling. It is also a game where things aren’t supposed to go that great. As the same, Fiasco, would suggest, the situations you are in and the story that is generated generally aren’t the best for the characters.

Spire’s End

Spire’s End is going to offer you more of a mechanical combat in a game though very luck heavy. In this, you and another person, or just playing solo, delve into a spire that has appeared in your town. Of course it isn’t full of nice things. In fact, it is where almost everyone in the town is being held. So can you explore, fight monsters, and find an end where you save the day?

Thus far, that is beyond what I’ve been able to do, But if you want to see how it plays, you can watch my game play below.

Legacy of Dragonholt

One that I had in my collection for a while, Legacy of Dragonholt is a choose your own adventure story combined with some character building. And I think out of all of these, it might be the most RPG like well, after Fiasco, but Legacy of Dragon holt has more of a standard feel to it.

Now, my one knock on it is that the writing is just okay. It toes a line where it seems like it should be more serious in it’s story. And sometimes it is serious, but it is meant for families to be able to play. Mom, Dad, a kid, and you can pass around the book and let people read passages. You spend tokens and players take turns making decisions. But one that I think is pretty solid. I’d love to see a new version or a new setting just with better quality writing.

Destinies

Now for something with very good writing, we have Destinies or soon coming out The Dark Quarter. You can still late pledge that one. But Destinies is a competitive game where each player is trying to fulfill their destiny. You explore the world, unlocking more of the map, rolling dice to complete challenges, and interacting with story.

Destinies uses an app to tell the story. Now you might not like apps at the table, but it does a great job. Mainly, it can keep answers to the story hidden while you play. And it can be played solo, that you can play without spoiling yourself. The app also allows for simpler interactions with items. You don’t need a massive book to cover every combination, just the data in the app.

Clank Legacy

Next up is the most board game out of all of them. Clank Legacy is going to be a game built upon the Acquisitions Incorporated crew from Penny Arcade and elsewhere. But this is a legacy style game which means to get the full story you and a group need to play it several times. However, it isn’t as long as playing a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons or something like that.

At the heart of it, Clank Legacy is a game where you build out a deck of cards as you play. Using those cards you are going on quests, maybe, I don’t know all the details for Legacy. But in the regular version you delve into a dungeon trying not to make too much noise. But the legacy version adds on to that.

Dungeon Party

Finally, if you want something silly, and a number of these are silly, Dungeon Party is a great option. It is a dungeon crawling game where you just get to go in and beat up monsters. But you do that by playing quarters. You bounce your token, though recommend you use actual quarters, to get to land on monsters and defeat them.

As you defeat them you get treasures that give you new abilities that you can use. This is not a drinking game, but it could easily be made into one. And that is kind of the point of it. A chance to just be goofy and have a good time around the table with that fantasy theme.

Final Thoughts

RPG’s are hard to emulate the whole experience outside of a big game. And I kept games like Gloomhaven, Folklore The Affliction, Tainted Grail, and Sword & Sorcery off the list because they are all games that require more commitment.

But I think that they are good options. And even the longer ones here, Legacy or Dragonholt, Destinies, and Clank Legacy are all shorter than your standard campaign. Plus, there is some level with them that they are easy to get to the table. For someone who wants that feel but doesn’t want to remember a plethora of stats and abilities, these attempt to make it easier.

What are some experiences that feel like an RPG without that big time commitment. Let me know your favorites in the comments below.

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Why I Wanted One

Besides the fact that a board game table just seems cool. I did have reasons that I wanted to get one. In particular with Malts and Meeples I want to stream campaign games. However, with my current set-up that means every time I stream, I set-up the game, set-up the cameras, set-up the lights. It isn’t too bad when I play something like Paper Dungeons, but with Sleeping Gods, I needed 25-30 minutes to rush to set it up every time.

And I don’t consider Sleeping Gods to be that hard when it comes to set-up. So other games that I want to try, things like Folklore: The Affliction or Solomon Kane or Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1, those are much bigger. That means it’s going to be a whole lot more work to get it to the table. And some evenings with a toddler, I am rushing at the very last second to get stuff ready for the stream.

I could stream later, start at 8:30, buy an extra half hour. But that is not that useful for me a lot of the time. Mainly Marvel shows come out on Wednesday and I like to watch them without it getting late. So I like that start time at least for myself right now. And having a table with a topper would solve a lot of the problem.

What I Wanted in a Board Game Table?

So what did I want in a board game table? Firstly and most importantly, I wanted a table that I could get a topper for. So one with a decent recess to play at one level, and then the topper for normal gaming. I also wanted to get one that would fit the playmats that I already have.

So I own three Watson sized playmats from Board Game Toppers LLC. They do some with great artwork. So I didn’t want to not be able to use that. I want a table that is going to fit it nicely on top or on the inside.

There are other elements as well that interest me. I wanted to work with a company that had stuff in stock. Too many companies run Kickstarters or Gamefound campaigns that are going to be delayed for when they ship them out. I also wanted one where they’d have accessories in stock later. Stuff like cup holders are very nice. I do have TV trays that drinks can be put on, but a cup holder is also very nice.

Jasper by Board Game Tables

So why did I pick this one?

Let’s start out by talking about price. Board game tables are not cheap and to get everything I wanted at once, and to get new chairs, it probably would have been $2000+. That is more than I’d be selling from my collection.

So I looked it down to more stripped down options. And I looked at a few different companies before landing on the Jasper by Board Game Tables. The big thing for me, like I said, is the topper and using the mats that I already had. I found a place that would do more custom work, but that was more expensive. No surprise there, really. But that is the only way to get the mats I had to fit in the recessed area.

The Jasper by Board Game Tables, on the other hand, comes with a mat. That means that I already had something that’d fit down in it. It with the topper fits, however, the Watson playmats from Game Toppers LLC just about perfectly. The width is right and the length is just the tiniest bit longer for the table, but that is the right direction to err.

So just with that, the shipping, table, and topper, the whole thing came to $1400, much better than a $2000+ bill for something custom. And the other companies out there, like Wyrmwood, they make amazing extremely high quality and hand crafted projects. However, that also made their base stuff more expensive, and less ideal for the playmats that I already had.

Final Thoughts on a Board Game Table

Board games are 100% a luxury item. And I am fine picking up something like that. On an average week, I would use the table three times, or two, for playing games. It’d also help make streaming easier for me.

I love to stream board games. But it becomes work towards the end of most campaign games. The amount of set-up as you unlock more things, that can be a lot. Even if a game is not a legacy game with unlocks, some games just have a ton. I don’t even know how to film something like Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1 because of how much it has.

But a game table is going to help me out a lot. And I am excited to get it and get it set-up. I ordered the game yesterday and I know the shipping labels are printed already. I hope that it gets picked up today. If that is the came, sometime this weekend it’d likely show up. And when it does, I’ll be posting pictures on Twitter.

Do you want or have a specific table for playing games? Is it like my current one an DIY project and do you want a recessed one like I am getting?

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124-101

100 – 76

75 – 51

50 – 26

Unplayed Board Games – 25- 1

25: Folklore: The Affliction

Folklore is a campaign game that’s been on my shelf for quite a while. It’s one that I know I’ll likely need to play solo to get played so it might show up on the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel coming up here. But it’s basically an RPG type game in a box. Like a HEXplore It, it is going to give more of that die rolling feel you’d expect from a pen and paper RPG. Plus it’s about vampires, werewolves, and ghosts, fun stuff that I like.

24: Fox in the Forest

The smallest game in this section, Fox in the Forest is a two player trick taking game. I recently played the cooperative version of it and had a lot of fun . Fox in the Forest is competitive but one that works really well with two. I believe it balances out some of that by making taking all of the tricks a bad thing, so no shooting the moon. Or it needs to be done in a specific way. I like trick taking, just need to figure out which trick taking games will stick in my collection.

23: The Quacks of Quedlinburg

Another not huge game, The Quacks of Quedlinburg has been a really popular game over the past few years. It is a bag building game, by that I mean you add things to a bag, in this case cardboard tokens. And then you draw them out, and you are trying to make your potion grow. But if you get too many bad ingredients in there, it explodes and you get fewer rewards. But the further you push down the track of adding ingredients, the more points you get.

22: Res Arcana

Res Arcana is an engine building game. It’s a smaller one though with a limited number of cards and the main goal of the game is to figure out how to turn out points. You do that through artifacts and spells and things that you might get out in front of you. The question of the game is, who can get their engine running the best.

21: Western Legends

Western Legends is back into the big games, not a campaign, but a massive sandbox game. In this game you play in the wild west and you can be a good guy bringing in trouble makers, delivering cattle, things like that. Or you can be a bad guy, rustle cattle, rob the bank, and things like that. And you can switch in the middle of the game. Western Legends lets you do anything in the pursuit of points and create your own wild west story.

20: Mechs vs Minions

Mechs vs Minions is an interesting game because it’s created by Riot Games. They are known best for League of Legends, and now Arcane a Netflix show set in that world. Mechs vs Minions is kind of set in that setting, from what I can tell. But it’s a programming wave where you set your Mechs on a path where they can take out the minions. The game plays in scenarios and it might be kill everything or it might be get this objective and get back out. It’s fully cooperative, and one that has been a grail game for me.

19: Cthulhu: Death May Die

I like Cthulhu, don’t know if he likes me. But Cthulhu: Death May Die is a game, kind of in the vein of Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness, but this time from CMON. And it’s about investigating, fighting cultists and other horrors, and getting to be just insane enough that you’re powerful enough to kill the elder god at the end. Or maybe you’ll just go mad completely or die. I like the theme, and the difficulty level of the game looks really challenging.

18: Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor

Speaking of a game that looks challenging, Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor, is a 4x game in a fantasy world. I already had a game like that on the list, Heroes of Land, Air and Sea, but this has a twist on this. You don’t fight against each other. Instead, you all need to end with better scores than the two bad factions to win the game. This cooperative nature of the game really drew me to it. Because it’s not just everyone do better, but how do I do well enough but also don’t hinder your chances.

17: Black Rose Wars

Black Rose Wars is an intimidating game to get to the table. There are lots of cards in the game, and it’s actually another programming game. Like Mechs vs Minions you’re deciding what you do. But with this one, it’s a free for all. You are summoning monsters to the board, laying traps, slinging spells, and blowing up rooms. The first mage to a certain number of points, I believe, wins the game. But it’s more about the crazy and powerful things that you can do which makes me want to try it.

16: Descent: Legends of the Dark

Another big game, Descent: Legends of the Dark takes up basically a full Kallax cube by itself. And the box says Act 1 on it. This is going to be a story driven dungeon crawler of a game. But it’s from Fantasy Flight, so they used what they knew from their apps for Mansions of Madness, Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth, and more to make even a better app. This really helps with the fog of war or not knowing what’s behind a door as you play. I’ve done a demo, but not enough to count as a play.

15: Betrayal Legacy

Betrayal Legacy is a game that’s been on my too play list for a while. It has two great things about it, first it’s a legacy game, and I love legacy games an their progressing story. Secondly, it’s based off of Betrayal at House on the Hill. A game that I know isn’t balanced, but it is still a game that I love. Not too many games do horror too well, and Betrayal often feels like a horror movie in so many great ways. So I’m excited to see what can be done with a bigger story.

14: Loup Garou

Now we’re looking at a game that is a book. Loup Garou from Van Ryder Games is a game in that you go through and make choices. You play as a character and they have stats. But in a lot of ways, it’s a choose your own adventure. It’s a graphic novel, so you read the text, look at what you can do, and that determines where you flip to. I don’t know why, since I got this at GenCon in 2019, I haven’t just played this. It’s solo only and it’d be easy to get through, probably with dying. I need to play this ASAP.

13: Under Falling Skies

Another solo game, Under Falling Skies was added to my collection more recently. This is almost Space Invaders the game. But it seems really intriguing as a puzzle, plus there is a comic that comes with it and a mini campaign. You place down dice in the game to activate different things. The trick is that the weaker things won’t do as much, but the stronger things, alien spaceships descend faster. It’s finding when you’re perfectly ready to do that one big thing, from what I can tell.

12: Nidavellir

Another smaller box game on the list. Nidavellir is a set collection and auction game. And there is one reason it is so high, and it’s not the Norse Mythology. But it is because of how the auction works. You have five coins. You use three of them to bid and two are at the bottom. If you put a zero as one of your bids, you can trade in the higher of the two left over coins to get the value of the two left over coins. So you can upgrade your money as you go. When do you tank a bid, taking whatever is left, to do that.

11: Sea of Legends

I think from here on out is all big games, or mainly. It isn’t all campaign games, though. Sea of Legends isn’t a campaign game, but it is an epic story game of pirates. What drew me to this game, besides wondering about the story the game promises, is three things. Those three things set up your story, but at the start of the game, you pick a Captain, a Nemesis and a Lover. And that all determines your story. So you end up with a lot of variability. Plus it’s pirates and adventure on the seas, so it’s a theme that I love and look for in board games.

10: Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1

This one could be higher on the list. Middara does a lot of things that interest me. It is a campaign game. It does fog of war well. There is massive amounts of story. The theming is crazy space, fantasy, anime, all things that I’m down for. And let’s face it, I could just say it’s anime because a lot of anime is space fantasy and crazy. But this one looks really cool to get to the table and massive to get to the table. I need to find a group to play this one with.

9: Deep Madness

Deep Madness is a game that I can blame on Rolling Solo. This is a game that is not easy to track down, mainly because it was just on Kickstarter. And I own almost everything for it, but I haven’t played it. The madness should give you some idea as to the sort of game, but what I like is that this is set on a deep sea base. And monsters are coming in and have wiped out everyone. The corporation who built the base is now sending the team down to figure out what is going on. It’s a theme and horror that I love so much, I just need to play it.

8: Lost Ruins of Arnak

Now we’re back from campaign style games. Though, Deep Madness can be played as a scenario, but they are kind of linked. Lost Ruins of Arnak is a deck building worker placement game. I like deck building, and worker placement isn’t my normal thing, but not bad. Lost Ruins of Arnak just has a cool Indiana Jones vibe to it that drew me in. And I think the deck building and theme will make it work well for myself and my group.

7: The Ratcatcher: The Solo Adventure Game

So when I said that there might be one smaller game left, this is it. It’s an interesting game in that it’s a solo only game, three of them on the list, but it’s a big box. It honestly feels like a bigger box than the game should have. In this you are trying to catch rats and get cheese. If the rats get too much cheese, now a big bad rat comes out onto the board, and things are going to get scary. It’s again a solo game, so one that I should get played.

6: Solomon Kane

Back to massive games, Solomon Kane is one that’s been on lists of games that I want to play for a while. But some of that was also that I wanted to buy it. It came and went on Kickstarter while I wasn’t too active there. And it’s been delivering last year and now wave two this year, and I managed to get wave one stuff for it.

In Solomon Kane you don’t play as Solomon Kane, you play as virtues guiding him. And I think that concept is interesting. You can play it solo with one super virtue, or each player gets a virtue in a multiplayer game. And then you take him through stories. Really interesting with how it works with not controlling the main character.

5: Roll Player Adventures

Kind of a cheat for the list, I really like Roll Player Adventures, but I’ve only kind of played it. Roll Player Adventures, I got to play a demo of it at GenCon in 2019 while they were still doing playtesting of the game. But the game is a blast, and the story, I like, because it isn’t too heavy. It’s a big story game set in the Roll Player world, but also a dice manipulation game when you drop into combat.

I know I’m going to be diving into this one soon. So I’m excited to get it to the table. I ordered the character backstory pack for it with the special quests that you can get from it for each character. I think that is going to make the whole thing even more immersive, which is great.

4: Nemesis

Another horror game, Nemesis is, from what I’ve heard, the closest you can get to Alien the board game. There is an alien infestation on your ship, and you need to complete your objective and then take out all the aliens or launch yourself out in an escape pod. But you don’t want the aliens to get to Earth, that’s for sure. But you want to end up there, so can you get the engines to launch you there.

3: Dwellings of Eldervale

Another non-campaign game, in fact a number aren’t in the top, but they are big games. Dwellings of Eldervale is that. This one really interested me because it has giant monsters, but also you are doing worker placement. But I really like how the worker placement works. You unlock new workers but also your workers become your dwellings. And when you pull back workers they do things as well, so it’s not a waste of a turn to pull back workers.

2: Terraforming Mars

Super high on the list and a big game in how long it takes and how big it plays, Terraforming Mars is so high because I really like Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition. I know that the games are different, there is more take that or randomness, and area control and you have a much bigger board that you’re using in Terraforming Mars. But I really want to play it and see how I like the engine building that goes on in that game.

1: Destinies

Finally, we have Destinies. Destinies is a game from Lucky Duck Games where you are playing through a story, but unlike a lot of story games, this is competitive. And each of you is trying to complete a destiny of yours. And it is a race to see who can complete theirs first. What interests me are some of the mechanics a roll over a certain number to get successes is cool. Plus you can manipulate that. But also that you need to pay attention to the story on other people’s turns because they might find something to help you.

To me, that’s a good game in that it’ll keep you engaged with what everyone is doing. Even if I’m not taking my turn, I need to know what you are doing as well. I might not be actively interacting with anything, but I still need to pay attention. And if a game can do that, I really want to play it.

Final Thoughts

That’s the whole list, all 124 of them. I could have had one less if I counted my playtesting of Roll Player Adventures. But also, that is a game that’s extremely high on my list for wanting to get played. Definitely a lot more big games up here. Though, I think outside of the campaign games, most of them can get played. And I could see, if things fall right, even getting one or two of those to the table this year. Like I said, I think Roll Player Adventures will be getting played soon.

Which one would you play first?

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This is going to be a list article, with all my unplayed games ranked. But before I dive into that, I want to talk about some of the terms that I just used. Mainly shelf of shame and shelf of opportunity. They are the same term phrased in different ways. Let’s dive into them and then the big list of games to play.

Shelf of Shame vs Shelf of Opportunity

This is a term that I’ve heard thrown around for a few years now. The idea that games on your shelf have this title. First off, I think this is kind of silly. Games that you haven’t played don’t have a special spot in existence. Now, maybe they do have a special spot on your shelf, but they aren’t held in any sort of light. They are just a board game.

But the first term I heard is Shelf of Shame. The idea behind this is that you feel bad since you haven’t played all your games. This is silly. I go back to my talk about collection versus a hobby. Know what you have on your shelf. For me, board games are a collection and a hobby. That means it’s fine to not get to every game quickly. They are part of my collection. But I play them, as they are part of my hobby as well, and hobbies get used or worked on.

Then came the term Shelf of Opportunity. Shelf of Shame is very negative, and opportunity sounds much better. But I, again, find this not much better. Yes, they are games that you play eventually. And yes, it spins it in a positive light. But both terms keep a focus on the fact the games aren’t played.

What Do I Call Them?

I call them what they are. Board games to be played. A board game is just an object. In labeling them either way, it places power on that object. Yes, one puts it in the light of a game being an opportunity for something new, and new exciting opportunities are good. But it leaves the pressure on actually playing the game.

Like I said, I play games. I buy games. Board Games are a collection and a hobby for me. I own games that might take a long time to get played. Campaign games where I play one at a time or two, and I am already playing two. Those wait for when I have time, and that is okay. I feel like the label places a cloud, no matter what label, over the games, and in the end of the day, games are just games.

If I never play a game in my collection and it collects dust for five years. I shouldn’t feel bad about leaving that opportunity out there. I most definitely shouldn’t feel shame. It is a game and I play games. So I play other games and not the game that is sitting there. I am still enjoying the hobby without playing every game I own.

So Why Write This Out?

I gave myself a challenge at the beginning of the year. Not because I feel guilt about games that I haven’t played. But because it is fun to play games. And I want to play games, I want to experience new games, and I want to cover new games.

For me, my challenge isn’t to get all the games off the shelf. It isn’t because I feel like I miss out on an opportunity. And I care not about shame from it. For me it’s about trying new things and almost making a game out of it. If I don’t make it by the end of the year, I don’t care. I play these for fun.

Unplayed Board Game List

Let’s Talk About the List

124 Games on it, and my goal is to get it down below 100 by the end of the year. You add in a bunch of Kickstarter games coming in, and you can see why it is a big list and also a challenge. And of course, then, there are campaign games on the list. If we look at campaign style games, I think we’re sitting at 14 on the list. And that is a lot of games to play through a campaign of, so that isn’t going to happen. Though, with Sleeping Gods coming off the list to start the year, it will some over on Malts and Meeples.

There are also some kids games on the list. Right now, I don’t think I will play those this year. Monza looks fun, but the toddler isn’t quite ready for it. But the toddler is also three, so who knows, maybe by the end of the year, we can play those games a bit more. But right now I’m not expecting to.

I also think it’s important to note that a lot of big games are at the top. Those are the ones that I’m most excited to play and cover. And some of them should be getting played soon. Probably after this weekend I’ll be lining up a time to get started playing Roll Player Adventures.

To go along with that, there are a lot of solo games as well. I could play, in the top 20, around 75% of them solo and some of them are solo only games. So I need to start knocking those out first, because they are high on my list. That won’t be how I get under 100, though.

Final Thoughts

I think that it is fine to challenge yourself to play your unplayed games. I think it is fine to limit how many unplayed games you own. When that becomes the focus or the obsession, I think that is when we start to lose the focus on what we are doing. Or when tie to it other emotions, like shame.

When I see people post about clearing their shelf of shame, I am sure it feels good for them. But on the flip side, in the comments, you see people feeling guilty about their unplayed games. I am not that way. I don’t feel guilt over that. And you shouldn’t either.

This is an odd article, I wanted to talk more about the games, and I will soon. But before I could do that, I think it is import to talk about the shame or guilt that can be thrown around in the hobby. Not always intentionally malicious but always harmful.

Also, let me know what game you think I need to try first. What is your favorite on the list that I have too low, or that you know I would like or should try?

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There are a lot of good games, and I could have pulled more off of my shelf. Reichbusters: Projekt Vril, 7th Continent, and Midarra were all honorable mentions that didn’t get mentioned in the video. And I even own more campaign games I could consider as well. But let’s talk about the ones that I did.

Six Board Game Options

HEXplore It: The Forests of Adrimon

This is an exploration and adventure game. It’s going to let you create a Dungeons and Dragons, in some ways, type character(s) to take through the world. You explore, shop, and fight along the way. This leads to a big battle in the end against the villain of the story. HEXplore It is ore of an adventure game, in some ways, than a true campaign style game. The setting is going to lean into a mechanical world with a Sorceress named Adrimon puppeting them all.

Under Falling Skies

This is a bit of a space invaders style game. There is a campaign to it as you play through some different cities. Each game goes pretty fast for this one. It is going to have less story than all the other games. But Under Falling Skies is going to give you dice manipulation as you try and keep waves of aliens away from you. I also runs off of a comic book(s) that tell you the story for each scenario.

Deep Madness

Another almost campaign type of game, like HEXplore It. Deep Madness is going to be a horror based game where you play through scenarios. The scenarios are loosely linked together. But in Deep Madness you and your team go down to a deep sea base. Something has happened, you have lost contact with them, and when you get there, things are much worse than expected.

Each scenario has you trying to survive to complete different objectives. They do form together to create a loose story. One time you might be trying to get the coms system up and working or restore life support before it fails fully, or get off the deep sea base. There just isn’t as much story between that ties them all together. This is one that is a bit of a longer game I think might be trickier to stream, but could be doable.

Sleeping Gods

Sleeping Gods from Red Raven games and Ryan Laukat is a game not set in the same world as his other games, Above and Below, Near and Far, and Now and Never, but still has to same amazing artwork. In this game you are transported to a world that you know nothing about. You aren’t even sure what you are trying to do. Except, you want to find a way home.

Sleeping Gods is a big exploration adventure game where a single play can take 10 hours or 15 hours. You complete quests and look for totems and clues. And there are a lot of different story elements you can find, so much that to win the game, you don’t need to do the same thing every time. That leaves a ton of the game available to explore again and again and again.

Folklore: The Affliction

Folklore: The Affliction is the most traditional in terms of a campaign game. This is a world that is full of vampires, werewolves, and other monsters. And as a monster hunter, you want to take them out. That, though, is easier said than done. Folklore is really an RPG board game. It gives you that feeling of rolling dice to see what happens and rolling D20’s even, I believe.

What interests me so much about this one is that RPG feel. You go from story moments and random encounters as you travel across the land. And then it drills down to a tighter picture and you get into combats against monsters. And you can even turn into a monster yourself if you aren’t careful.

Solomon Kane

Finally, we have Solomon Kane. This is a scenario but kind of campaign game. I say kind of campaign game because each story of Solomon Kane is it’s own campaign. Some of them can be played in a few hours. Some of them are much longer than that. Each scenario is going to have it’s own objective to try and complete.

It’s an interesting game, though, in that you aren’t playing as Solomon Kane. Instead you play as virtues who are aiding him along his way. In the books that the game is based off of, Solomon Kane is a good man with a particular set of skills. But he didn’t always use those skills for good. So the idea of the virtues is to keep him on the path and not fall into the temptations and darkness of his past.

Which Game Should I Play?

Vote and help me decide what game I should play. The voting is going to close on December 21st in the morning. That’s probably going to be one of the last daily articles I do that week. But I’ll dive more into the game then and probably ask some questions about what I should do, if there is anything to determine in the set-up.

But this is what I am going to stream to start the year. Don’t expect anymore streams in 2021 with Christmas and the week leading up to New Years. But for sure no stream next week, maybe one between Christmas and New Years. If that happens, I’ll try and give as much warning as possible.

Thanks everyone for watching and have a great holiday season. I hope that you get lots of great time with family and friends, and a lot of great gaming.

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Plus I unbox a new board gamer order with had four expansions in it. And I go off on some tangents, not about beer this time, but about a board game that stayed in my collection.

The Topic

I wanted to touch on getting rid of board games, because it is a popular topic. And well, I hope that I can add some insight to the conversation. When I see these videos, too often, it comes off as bragging that people have nice and trim collections. This is very much a pushback on a previous mindset of having a massive board game collection.

But, to me, neither of these are healthy. I think there are good reasons to get rid of board games. But showing off that you are better, that isn’t a good reason. That is a seemingly responsible thing that actually creates barriers to entry into our hobby. New gamers often buy a lot of games, I know I did, and I still do. So when they see people getting rid of games they feel like they are doing it wrong.

I go with a few different reasons to possibly get rid of a game.

1. Other Games in the Same Category/Genre I like Better
2. Space
3. Don’t Have the Right Group

You can find out more why in the video.

Unboxing

Expansions for three different games were unboxed last night. You can see the Point of Order that I did for these games and posted yesterday. I’m excited for all of these expansions. I think most so I’m excited to get Terraforming Mars to the table. It’s a bigger more complex game than Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition, and I’m interested to try that.

The Beer

Another can of Spray Tan from Outstate Brewing up in Fergus Falls, MN. This is really a go to summer beer. It is tart and has a good flavor that works really well on a hot day. During the summer in Minnesota, I tend to drink mainly sours and IPA’s with a few other random beers thrown in. Just because it helps cut the hot and humid. During the winter, on the other hand, it still can be IPA’s and Sours, but very often I will dive into the big porters and stouts that feel like more of a hearty drink during the cold.

Upcoming Videos

So only for sure one video coming up in the next week and a half. Two weeks from now I’ll be back with another Top 10 list, and I think I’m going to do my Top 10 either Family/Gateway games or Roll and Writes, haven’t decided what which yet.

And on Wednesday, 8 PM Central, I’m going to be streaming the second chapter of Aeon’s End Legacy. I’ll probably miss, though, next Wednesday’s stream because of having family in town.

Though, I do plan on putting out another 3 Reasons Buy/Not Buy video. You can find all the videos in that series on this playlist as they come out.

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Shipping Problems

So, like I said, I’m going to start with the big issue that is happening in board games, and generally just shipping period. Getting onto a ship or even into a shipping container costs a ton of money, way more than a lot of companies were planning for. This has especially hit Kickstarter companies. If a game as Kickstarted in 2019 and is shipping now, the amount charged for shipping would be vastly different. Along with that, manufacturing costs can also be higher.

Needless to say, this has hit some of the board gaming companies hard. There is one company that I know of which is asking people to pay additional shipping right now. They’ve already collected but the options are pay additional shipping, only be able to ship part of it, or wait on shipping until prices come down. Another has said that they will cover the shipping but gave a PayPal account. And another asked people buy/order from their webstore. Mainly because they make a standard profit on that, so it can help offset shipping costs.

Roll Player Promos

Thunderworks games as the company that asked for people to buy from their webstore if they could, to help offset shipping. While I already have most of what I want from them, all or Roll Player and Cartographers, plus getting Roll Player Adventures and the Cartographers expansion via Kickstarter. But I didn’t have the two extra character for Roll Player. They don’t really add much to the game, it is just more characters. But like I said, this was a way to help offset some of the shipping costs for Thunderworks.

Cartographers Playmat

Now, the promos were very cheap, I think $6 per promo, so I decided it’d be good to add something bigger. Had Lock-Up, their worker placement game set in the same world as Roll Player been available, I might have gone with that. But that was sold out, so I decided to get a playmat. This isn’t needed for the simple roll and write that Cartographers is, but it does help. Like with Welcome To the playmat just helps lay out the cards that everyone is using nicer. Plus the artwork and look of it is cool, so they not.

Now onto the expansion order:

Terraforming Mars: Turmoil

Turmoil, surprisingly, doesn’t make the game easier. in Terraforming Mars: Turmoil you now get planetary events, like sandstorms that can come in and mess stuff up. Plus there is a governing body that you want to control or at least influence so things that happen are good for you. Terraforming Mars gives you a lot to think about and this one just adds in a little bit more. I feel like with that and Prelude I now have two interesting expansions that I can mix into the base game.

Folklore The Affliction – Fall of the Spire

An expansion for an RPG in a box. Folklore The Affliction really tries to be that game that has you rolling dice, dealing with encounters and world events and finding a story. This just adds in more story and more game content. Folklore is a campaign game that I really need to get to the table sometime soon. Though, honestly it’ll be a bit because I have Aeon’s End Legacy to play through and we’ll see what I get to after that.

Tiny Towns: Villagers & Fortune

Finally, two expansions for Tiny Towns. Now, I like Tiny Towns, I think it’s a fun simple game, and that’s really why I got more of it. There a ton of different combos but when you’ve played with all the different buildings you’ve played with them. Even if you can mix them together differently. So what I’m hoping is that Villagers and Fortunes will both add in a little bit more content that’ll be fun to play around with. I don’t need them to keep playing TIny Towns, but I think without them the shelf life of Tiny Towns would be shorter.

Dune: House Secrets

This is one that I just pre-ordered today. While the others are either already here or will be shortly, Dune: House Secrets will get here in Q4 of 2021, so a few months from now. Why pre-order it? Good question, Portal Games does a great job of making sure that there are plenty of copies of their games. But with the pre-order that means that I’ll get some extra bonuses. For Vienna Connection, that was wooden tokens, some design diaries, and more. Just stuff to add to the experience, they are doing something similar for Dune: House Secrets, so I just wanted that extra little bit.

Plus, Dune: House Secrets is based off of the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game system. I really like that system. It creates interesting stories and I love the deduction aspect that it gives you. So, I’m hoping that they’ll be able to leverage that into an interesting story of intrigue set in the Dune world. I like the Dune world/universe that is in the books, so I think that it should work well for me.

Which Do You Want To Play?

I have to be patient for Dune: House Secrets, so I’ll set that one to the side. Right now I think that playing Terraforming Mars is at the top of my list. I know it has a solo mode, but it’s a long game. Maybe I can get it set-up say this week after Aeon’s End and then leave it up and play it over a few evenings. Let me know which one you want to play.

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