Though, I think a lot of gamers like to collect types of games that they like. I might say sometimes for the intellectual property or theme. But other times because they just love that type of game. So they play that type of game a lot and they want to own them. That is a valid reason to own them. But it’s not going to be one I talk about coming up here.

What Do I Mean Same Type of Board Game?

First off, let’s define what I mean by that. I mean two different things, and possibly both can be true about a game. The most common is a game with a similar mechanism to it. So that might be that it is a drafting game, deck building game or trick taking game to name a few examples. The other might be that it fits an overall theme of game in some way. By that I mean an adventure game or a filler game. These give you a feel of doing something in particular or a niche in particular of gaming.

Reasons To Own the Same Type of Board Game

Variation

Variation is the first thing that I want to talk about. This means that while a central mechanism might be similar or the theme or feel of the game might be similar they do something differently. So when you decide to pull a game off the shelf you are making a choice between the differences in those games.

Example 1: Stars of Akarios and ISS Vanguard

Both of the above are big space adventure games. But Stars of Akarios is going to give you some exploration but a lot of it is going to be tactical space combat. On the flip side, ISS Vanguard is going to be a lot of planetary exploration and ship management. So while you might get that big grand adventure feel, they vary how you do that.

Example 2: Fox in the Forest and Fox in the Forest Duet

Now we are narrowing down here. Both of these games are two player trick taking games. The difference is one is competitive and one is cooperative. And that is variation on what you are playing.

Variety

The next thing is similar but do you want variety in what you are playing. Meaning if you place a certain style of game a lot do you want variety in what you are playing and when you play it. I find if I play a certain game a lot to fill a particular niche in my gaming, it’ll often get left be the wayside and sold. But if I rotate the games, a game is more apt to stick in my collection.

Example 1: Filler Games

I think that filler games are a great example for this. I own probably 20-30 filler games that are just small box fillers. Why, because they travel very easily with me. And because they travel so easily that means that I can take different games to play with my family. And the same with game night, it makes it easy to pull out of a different one. But, for example, we played Tsuro a ton. And because we played it a ton my wife and I got board of that as a filler game. Tsuro didn’t become a bad game, we just got burned out and tired of it.

Example 2: Trick Taking Games

Much like filler games, I think it would be easy to play a trick taking game over and over again until you burn out on it. Because these games are shorter to play, generally, you might play a couple of games in a sitting. But if you play the same game over and over and over again it starts to become stale. The example of this for me would be Hearts or Euchre on the computer. They are fun, but I played them so much that I am somewhat burned out on them, or at least I was.

Player Count

This one I think is more obvious than some other ones. But I do want to clarify a few things about it. A lot of games I might say player count matters on. But it is possible for a board game to say that the player count is 1-5 and another one of the same style of game and mechanisms to say 1-5 as well and to still be worthwhile having in your collection. What I mean is, what is a game best at for player count. Sometimes a game might say that it plays great at 5 but that takes a 45-60 minute three player game to two hours.

Example: Nidavellir

Now, this is just a single game but it serves my example well. I dislike Nidavellir as a two player. Or it is probably more honest to say I find that it is more fragile as a two player game. But as a three or four player game I love it. So while it has bidding, open drafting, and set collection, I will not play it at two. So I want other games two fill in that player count.

Complexity

Another question is how complex a game is. Because sometimes a game might give you a similar feeling or use a similar mechanism but might be complex at different levels. And for that reason it might create a lot more difficulty to get a game to the table and for that reason you might play it with a certain group or situation versus another game.

Example: Aeon’s End versus Astro Knights

Both of these are cooperative deck building boss battler games. There are some differences to them, but I think that one is easier to table than another. In particular, Astro Knights is a simpler game to teach and play, in my opinion. Some of that is because there is less work to get it to the table. The deck that you set-up to buy from in the game is much faster and simpler to do. I also think that it is a bit more streamlined with understanding the heroes.

Game Length

The final one I have for the list is game length. Now I mention game length with player count. And that can be a factor with that as well. But sometimes it matters less with player count and more with how long you want to mess around with that mechanism or how much time you have to play a game. If I want to play a trick taking game and I have ten minutes versus forty minutes that is going to change the game that I play.

Example: Hero Realms vs Clank! In! Space!

Which do I pick when I want a short deck building game? Clank! In! Space! even at two players can take a while. Especially if the players are playing safe and trying to get the best treasure and not rush the end of the game. On the flip side, Hero Realms is a fast two player head to head battler of a game. And it escalates quickly in the deck building. So while a game can draw out a little bit because of healing, it is shorter and faster to play.

What Deck Building Games Do I Need?

So let’s run down my game collection here. In particular, I want to talk about deck building games because that is a style of game that I love. But do I need all of them that I own? First off, let’s create a little list of the deck building games I own. I likely will miss some, but here is that list.

• Clank! Adventure Deck Building Game + Expansions
• Clank! In! Space! + Expansions
• Clank! Catacombs + Expansions
• Clank! Legacy 1 & 2
• Ascension + Expansions
• Xenoshyft: Onslaught
• Xenoshyft: Dreadmire
• Hero Realms
• Aeons End + Expansions
• Aeons End Legacy 1 & 2
• Lost Ruins of Arnak
• Mistborn
• Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle
• Anng’s Destiny
• Nightfall
• Thunderstone Quest
• Tanto Cuoro
• Star Wars: The Deck Building Game
• Astro Knights

So let’s start out, a few that are safe on the list because I just need to play them. So when I run through everything games like Clank! Legacy, Aeon’s End Legacy 2, Anng’s Destiny, Nightfall, Thunderstone Quest, Tanto Cuoro and Star Wars: The Deck Building Game are all safe.

Variation

Variation is going to make a few more safe on the list. Firstly, Lost Ruins of Arnak is a great example of game that is safe. While there is a deck building element to the game it is more of a worker placement and resource management game, or at least as much of that as it is deck building.

Likewise, Mistborn does unique things with it’s powering up mechanisms and that is going to make it a bit more unique than some. And it has a solid solo and cooperative mode to it as well which makes it versatile. But it’s mainly the the metal burning system and leveling up that make it varied from other deck building games.

A question should be asked about Astro Knights and Aeon’s End. While there are some differences, mainly how the market works, the game mechanisms are pretty similar. But each of them has their own niche. I am apt to pull out Astro Knights when I want to introduce someone to deck building but Aeon’s End is less likely. And I think I’d play Astro Knights at a higher player count as well, though it does have the same issue as Aeon’s End.

Game Length and Player Count

I am lumping them together here because they often times are the same thing. So Hero Realms and the Star Wars: Deck Building Game are interesting because they are both two player. Do I need to two two player only deck building games. I say that, but I own to make Hero Realms a solo deck building game as well.

Then I also look at games like Clank! (all versions, Xenoshyft, and Aeon’s End, all games that are bigger deck building games that are going to take longer to play. So do I need them all. In particular I am looking at Clank! because I own so many different versions. Aeon’s End I do as well, but since I own them they can mix and match. Clank! Adventure Deck Building Game, Clank! In! Space! and Clank! Catacombs do not mix and match, so it is a question if I need them all.

Complexity

Now complexity is a spot where I look at it and I think, Ascension is likely safe, but not maybe all the expansions for it. Ascension is a good straightforward deck building game. If I want to just introduce the concept of deck building the base game works wonderfully. But some of the expansions add a bunch more to the game. And while they are stand alone so I don’t need to mix them in, or I can use just them, it does make it harder to get to the table sometimes.

Am I getting Rid of Any?

Honestly, I think I am. Just in this moment, I think I talked myself into getting rid of Clank! The Adventure Deck Building Game and Clank! In! Space!. Why, because while I really like both of them, I think I am just going to play Clank! Catacombs. And if that is the case, why am I going to keep all of them around?

As well as Hero Realms. That one or the Star Wars: Deck Building game is on the chopping block. Now, I know that I said I haven’t played the Star Wars game. This upcoming Tuesday I am likely to have a friend over for gaming. And since it is going to be two of us, that is going to be a chance to get the Star Wars: Deck Building Game played. If I like it, I think that Hero Realms is going.

Upcoming Series

I need to get rid of more games from my board game collection. So that means I need to prep more games for selling. So why not use this framework, clump games together, and see which ones maybe should leave the collection. It’ll kind of be like the culling videos that I did a few years ago, and I might actually turn it into that as well for the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. So join me on this journey.

Is there any way that I should consider whether or not game overlap is needed or not?

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How To Play Frosthaven?

Scenarios

Frosthaven is very much like Gloomhaven with a few things added to it. Mainly around one phase of the game. In Frosthaven you are going out and exploring scenarios, dungeon crawls, where you are fighting enemies, looting treasures, and sometimes completing goals as well.

This is done through a card play system where you play out two cards. The cards are split into two halves, the top and bottom action. You can do the top or bottom action on either card you play, but you must do one of each. These actions are going to be how you move about the board or attack an enemy, primarily. There are other actions but they are less common and dependent upon what character you are playing. The most common one is that some characters will also have healing abilities.

Town

After a scenario you head back into town where a number of things happen. You activate buildings that you’ve gotten up and running in town. They might have an ability that triggers before anything else. The goal, is, as I talk about this, to not spoil anything.

Then you shop, level up, retire characters, craft potions, and more in town. This might not all be available immediately, but it will come available as time goes on in the game. Each of these actions can be done in any order by the players, so you complete a lot as you go.

Finally, as a group, you spend resources if you want and if you can to build a new building. Building up buildings or leveling them up is how Frosthaven is going to grow as a town. But once you do that, you complete the town phase and are ready to head out on your next scenario.

Frosthaven or Gloomhaven?

This is an interesting question. Mainly, do you need both Frosthaven or Gloomhaven. Or is either game that much better than the other one? I think that thus far there is one that I prefer, slightly. I think that Frosthaven is slightly better. But if you own Gloomhaven, it isn’t enough of a difference to go out and buy Frosthaven and not play Gloomhaven.

Frosthaven gets the slightly nod for me in a few areas. Firstly, the town phase adds to the game. I like what you do in town and I like that you get to decide how you grow your town. That means that how I play Frosthaven and how you go through it are going to be different.

The other areas are around the writing and scenarios. The scenarios are better written. But it is more than just that. There are more scenarios with other objectives. In Gloomhaven I kill everything and the scenario is done. In Frosthaven, that is still often the case. But there is more going on, often times, it is kill everything and complete this objective. Or I guard a location or attack a location in order to win. The main mechanisms are similar all the time, but there are more that provide more than just kill everything.

Is It That Much Better?

But what if you find Gloomhaven to just be okay. Is Frosthaven that much better that you need to get that?

No, Frosthaven, at the core, uses the same mechanisms. The card play and action system is the same for your characters. You find that is most of what you do in a game. The scenarios are still the major part. But now the world offers more choices in what you do. So as you play through, you develop more of a specific path for your group versus the game leading the way.

I think that is a major enough difference for me so that I can say that I like it better. But if you don’t like Gloomhaven and the mechanisms, it isn’t enough for the game. It is an extra 10% on top of the game. That isn’t going to cause the game to switch up on how it feels. 100% of the game of the Gloomhaven system is still in the Frosthaven system.

The New Stuff

I already wrote an article on the new stuff. And I even did a review just focused on that. If you want to see all about the new stuff, check that article out here.

Improving Old Stuff

I find that Isaac Childres and team also have improved on some of the old stuff. Mainly around the characters in the game. The balance feels better. And the mechanisms even on the starting characters is more. I remember Gloomhaven out of the box, characters feeling less interesting than the ones that we are playing now.

I think that some of that is there is an expectation that people know the system. Frosthaven doesn’t feel like it needs to teach everything in the game. It just needs to add in a little bit more and provide a different experience. It goes back to the question, do you need both. I think that Frosthaven, even with the characters, wants you to have both.

I appreciate, though, that the game is mix and match. So if I want to bring in a character from Jaws of the Lions, that is possible. If I want to play a character from Gloomhaven, I can do that. Will I do that, unlikely, but it is possible. Mainly from Jaws of the Lions, if we find that we’ve retired most to all of the characters, I think it could happen. But that is not that likely, nor are we close to doing that.

Final Thoughts on Frosthaven

I love Frosthaven. Clearly from what I’ve written about it, I think that it is just as strong as Gloomhaven. However, you won’t ever see it separate from Gloomhaven on my Top 100 Games (of all time) lists. Why, because the core of the game is the same. So there isn’t enough for me to say that what I do changes or that one game is massively better than the other one. Frosthaven feels like a continuation and iteration on Gloomhaven. And I think that is just fine.

For some, that might not be enough to come back to Frosthaven. If you like Gloomhaven but just beat it, or want to try a majorly different campaign, or maybe are burnt out on campaigns, Frosthaven is unlikely to be what you want next. It is, as I said, mainly still Gloomhaven. But if you love Gloomhaven, beat that campaign and you want a game that does more, but not so much that it feels harder or fundamentally a different experience, Frosthaven is for you.

My Grade: A+
Gamer Grade: A+
Casual Grade: C

Note, this is not a game that if you are a casual gamer you should jump into. I think once you understand the core loop and system of Gloomhaven and Frosthaven it isn’t bad to get going or continue in. There is a learning curve to that, though. If you play with someone who knows and likes the system, they’ll be able to ease that transition along. Or, grab Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion which has a tutorial built into the game to teach you how to play.

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Why Organize Your Board Game Collection?

Maybe that’s the first big question to get answered. Why would one organize their board game collection? And for a lot of people it won’t be needed. I know a lot of people own the handful of games, or even twenty, that they really love. Well, twenty games fits into a closet and you can see them all.

For myself, and looking at my stats on Board Game Geek, I own about 500 different board games. To go along with that, I own about 250 different expansions. I don’t always keep my expansion boxes, when I can combine I do. But that is still probably 600 to 650 unique boxes that I need to think about and know where they all are. And as I sell and buy games, that changes where things are. A new game comes in and it gets shoved into a pile or onto a shelf with some random games.

So for me, I organize to know where my games are. And I’ll get to how I do that later. Right now, immediately after organizing, I do not know where all of them are.

Ways to Organize

So let’s talk about how people might organize. And let’s start with the most space efficient way. I think that some people just organize to maximize how much they can fit in to a space. Not a bad way of doing it, it’s simple, but then nothing logically flows to a given location on your shelf. You need a way to know where a game is and where it goes back to, once you’re done playing it.

On the flip side, I think that some people don’t organize for another reason. It’s tricky to organize, and like I found out, when you do organize, it’s a maintenance project to get things back to their right spot. As you add new games, you need a cubby to place it in or a shelf to place it on. If you don’t have that, you often just stack them randomly.

So what are some other methods? I think there are three that a lot of people will consider and pick from.

Mechanisms

The first is mechanisms in a game. If I own 10 deck building games, I think I do, all ten go to the same spot or area of my game collection storage. That way, I know when I when I want to play a game of a certain style, I go to that are and I can look at all of them. This makes it easy to pick a game of a given style around the mechanisms in the game.

The downside is that a lot of games use different and multiple mechanisms. I own several deck builders that have things like campaign or push your luck in them. So which do they go with? I think that deck building is the main mechanism. But if someone were to come in and look for a game, well, that mechanism might be secondary to them.

That said, this is an element that I do use for sorting. Not all the time, but often, and I generally keep it to broader things. So roll and writes, all in one section. Trick-Taking games, all in a single section. And campaign or story games (even this one blends some) all in a single section.

Theme

Next up you might sort by theme. This is another fun method to do it because it lets you know what type of game you are getting into. All the fantasy games go in one spot and all the sci-fi go in another. There are now a ton of nature games, so they go in another area.

But like mechanisms, you get games that have multiple themes. Something might be fantasy and horror, so which does it go in. There are games that are horror without fantasy and vice-a-versa. So it’s a judgement decision as to where they go.

That said, if you sort it well enough you can figure out a lot of that so it makes sense. And I think that theme is one of those areas where you might look at it and say, what mood am I in, and by that you mean theme more often than, say, mechanism.

Right now, I don’t think I have anything sorted around the genre sort of theme. I think my story and adventure games being together almost counts for that, but not quite. That is the closest area though that the sorting makes sense for that.

Weight

Finally, I think of the weight of the game. Now, depending on how you anchor your shelves to the wall, it might be actual weight, put your heaviest games on the bottom. But what I want to talk about is the complexity rating of a game. Board Game Geek has a number assigned to this that people vote on. Let me quickly disclaimer that number, the more you play games, the easier games are to learn. So take that number with a grain of salt.

But sorting by weight is what I did a fair amount of as well. I sorted my more mid to light games into one area, my heavy games into another, with then my exceptions, like my story and campaign games, roll and writes, ana few others split into specific ways.

Why did I do that? Well, because some areas of games are harder to sort. And a lot of that is when you get into those games of if they are heavier or not. So sorting by weight lets me know what section to look at for a game night. When I do my big game night, party games, roll and writes, but also those lighter weight games, those work the best.

How Do You Know Where They Are?

So obviously, I own a ton of games. I own more games than most people do and less games than a good number of people do. But how do I know where my games are. Some of that is just guessing, I know it’s a lighter game, I look in those mid to light wait games.

But I also know that I own enough that I might never pull a game off the shelf if I don’t know where it is. So it’s a work in progress, but I’m trying to go through and document where everything is. Some of that is because while sorting how I did, I also tried to optimize for space. I did a solid job, not too many piles of games left on the floor. That said, it is now causing me to not know where games are as much.

So I could do a book, and I might even print off a book/binder for when people I play with are looking for a game. But I am currently creating a spreadsheet. I know the games I own. So I don’t need a picture or description, though, once in a while that might be handy. But with my shelf set-up, I can number shelves and then everything is grid based. So right now a game might be on shelf one, cubby A4.

Final Thoughts on Organizing a Board Game Collection

Obviously, this isn’t needed, and there isn’t a right way. The Brother’s Murph did a fun video one time where they organized them all into color, so it was a board game rainbow across their collection. That is a fun way to do it as well. I’d definitely need a spreadsheet to know where everything was then.

So organize how it makes sense to you. I think even when people do own twenty games, they often organize them in ways that make sense to them. It’s just that twenty games is a whole lot easier to keep track of than 500.

I also want to say, I think that it was a kind of therapeutic experience. I think I know most to all of the games that I own. So it isn’t a situation where I need to figure out what I own. But it is a good reminder to move stuff around and see games. Some of it is seeing games that I forgot where they were that I really love, or maybe weren’t in the forefront of my mind. But that might just be a me thing for a nice relaxing project.

How do you sort your games?

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Crowfunding Isofarian Guard

Let’s first off start by talking about the Kickstarter campaign, which I actually didn’t back. Back around when it came to Kickstarter I had just backed a handful of campaign games, and when I say a handful, I mean a small moving truck full. And Isofarian Guard promised another small moving truck full of game. Though, in reality a lot smaller than a lot of those.

But the game itself was one that I was interested in. Rolling Solo had a game play of it to show off how it worked at least in prototype form. And the mechanics looked interesting to me, but I wasn’t blown away by it. The story, however, I knew that I loved the idea of it. So Isofarian Guard stayed on my radar.

The Prototype

Now, this is where it got interesting. I saw the prototype for Isofarian Guard on a video(s) that Quackalope and BoardGameCo did. And man, is there a lot in the game. In fact, there is so much in the game that I went back and looked at it again. Why, because I thought it might be worth it for the price point. And well, I was right.

Size to Cost Ratio

Let’s just talk about the size of this game, because it is huge. It is bigger than Frosthaven, a very big box and game. And it is cheaper. Now, there are elements in which it has less. But weight wise and size wise it is larger than Frosthaven, so Isofarian Guard is huge. In fact, it’s too large to fit in a Kallax cubby which means I’m heaving it to the top of a Kallax or a need to find another solution.

But that doesn’t cover the cost. The game is cheaper than Frosthaven as well. So larger box but cheaper overall. And it is a lot cheaper than more recent campaign games on crowdfunding. Even when I late pledged it after watching the BoardGameCo video, it was cheaper than the campaign games showing up at that time.

So for me, and where I was with what I had backed recently, I got the late pledge. Even if it is not a game that I love, I think mechanically more than story wise, it is a worthwhile investment.

The Mechanisms of Isofarian Guard

So let’s finish up by talking about the mechanisms in the game and then the story. But the mechanisms need to sell me on themselves for the game. Isofarian Guard is a story adventure game that has two parts. The first part is traveling through the lands. Then you go and have story phases, or more story focused phases in settlements. This might sound like another game, Oathsworn.

But the main mechanism that I want to talk about is bag building and pulling out chips for attack, defense, and other abilities. I think that looks interesting, but it didn’t sell me on it. Mainly, it seems simpler to me than a lot of other games. Let’s compare it again to Oathsworn. That has hand management with a cool down track, and a push your luck element. This is build your bag and assign the chips you pull. But I suspect that there is more than that from the taste I got.

The Story

And the story is something that sells me on the game. Again, this is what I remember, because the game has been in production for a while. The world is one where there really isn’t magic, or not much magic. Magic is something of the legends and when a group of the kings finest guard or at least trusted soldiers, become imbued with magic that might end a war, they think that is weird but great.

The king, when they return, he is not a fan. And if I remember again, he is listening to a character that I can best describe as a Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings. Someone who is poisoning the mind of the ruler and leading them into decisions that are not good for their kingdom.

That is a story that I am sold on. It is interesting, offers depth. And does a few things that are unique. In the box is a number of campaigns. But it isn’t like you pick one and play it and then the next one follows along after. I believe that they all happen at the same time as I you play different groups of the guard who split off to complete different objectives from the start of the story. That is a very interesting idea.

Final Thoughts on The Isofarian Guard

Let’s be fair, I late-pledged this game because I love campaign games. But there is another reason as well. While, Isofarian Guard looks like a table hog. It is a solo campaign game. If I couldn’t have played it solo, I wouldn’t have backed it. It is a game that I plan on playing on Malts and Meeples.

Of course, I need to play play other campaign games first. But most likely, not today, but next week I will unbox the game. Show off all the components because, it is a lot and there are some interesting things to look at in the game. I love a campaign game for that. And I want to play it as soon as a can. In fact, it might be the game that I play after ISS Vanguard, we will have to see. I own others like Oathsworn that are high on my list to play as well.

Did you back The Isofarian Guard?

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