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100 through 91

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – 90 through 81

90. Project: ELITE

• Published by CMON in 2020
• Real Time Scenario Based Tower Defense

Normally this wouldn’t be my type of game. I love parts of it, like chucking dice, scenario driven play, and cooperative game play. But I don’t like real time. This balances that out by giving you real time in bursts and then a moment to strategize before the next wave of enemies comes out. That is real time game play that works for me.

Not Currently Available

89. Lands of Galzyr

• Published by Snowdale Design in 2022
• Relaxing story driven cooperative or competitive game

Lands of Galzyr is a game that feels like that kind of random D&D session. You stumble across missions but each mission is it’s own thing. And the whole thing is done in a package that puts story first and keeps the game play simple. And it’s a relaxing game to play. Not that some stories aren’t exciting or risky, but it never truly feels high stakes.

Pre-order Lands of Galzyr

88. Kohaku

• Published by 25th Century Games in 2020
• Build the best and highest scoring Koi pond

I really enjoy Kohaku for the simplicity and thoughtfulness of the game play. It’s a game where you need to plan out where you place tiles to optimize your scoring. But it’s not overwhelming. And the elements like drafting both a koi and a scoring tile each turn and how that works is really enjoyable.

Buy Kohaku

87. My City

• Published by Kosmos in 2020
• A fast, ever building legacy game

My City is one of those legacy games that is just simple and fun to play. Sometimes they get bogged down in trying to be too big, but not My City. The game is focused on adding a little bit each time and giving you a fun fast session as everyone builds out their city in hopes that it’s the best one at the end of each scenario.

Buy My City

86. The Isofarian Guard

• Published by Skykingdom Games in 2023
• A massive solo and two player story driven adventure

This is one that you can checkout a game play of on Malts and Meeples. I really enjoy this game, though it is a massive table hog. The game is an interesting story telling game that has some tropes, but quickly branches off into magic powers and interesting story. It’s one that I think works well solo but I’d prefer to play two player to keep the combat simpler and share that great story experience.

Buy The Isofarian Guard

85. Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade

• Published by WizKids in 2020
• It’s Roll and Write Pinball, can you get the new high score?

Super-Skill Pinball is truly a pinball roll and write game. I love how it simulates the game with the ball movement and how it launches up, can ping around in the bumpers or drop back down. It’s a great game for solo play and it’s fun with others, though it’s possible that one player will finish before the others. That’s the only downside to the game, but with all of the tables i never feel like I’m lacking in something to keep it being played solo.

Buy Super-Skill Pinball

84. Crokinole

• Created in 1876
• A competitive flicking classic

There’s no publisher for Crokinole, the game is public domain, but there are a lot of great spots to get boards and get spendy or fancy boards. I really like the simplicity of the flicking game. It works really well and smoothly and it’s one that you can definitely get really good at. I wish I had more time to get this one to the table, though, I could say that about all of them.

Pre-order Crokinole

83. Clever Cubed

• Published by Schmidt Spiele in 2020
• Another combotastic roll and write game from the Clever line

I really enjoy Clever Cubed because while some of the others have combos, Clever Cubed is the one that has even more combos. And while sometimes I really like a good straightforward roll and write game, I also love the ones that give me a ton of combos. No doubt that this the latter, and the core game loop of how you pick and eliminate dice on your turn is always good.

Buy Clever Cubed

82. Furnace

• Published by Hobby World in 2020
• Bid on cards and build up the best industrial engine you can

This is a great and simple engine building game. Everything works smoothly with gathering resources and turning them into points. But there is also a really fun auction as well. I love how it’s a single bid per person per card but if you lose the big, you get a benefit for bidding there. And how the benefits scale based off of the number you bid with is amazing.

Buy Furnace

81. Yggdrasil Chronicles

• Published by Ludonaute in 2019
• Defend the world tree from all the threats that abound

This is a really tough cooperative game and one that I really enjoy. I think it’s a fun push your luck as you try to power up while hoping that you can keep the enemies in check. Of course, there are so many enemies and they ramp quickly that it can be very challenging. Plus how the enemies activate or how it’s determined which ones do is really clever and fun.

Buy Yggdrasil Chronicles

Final Thoughts on Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition 90 through 81

What do you think of the list, is there a game that you want to try or that you love on it? I feel like I got a really big variety on the list this time. There are some lighter games, but then you have a game with a ton of minis like Project: ELITE and a big campaign game in The Isofarian Guard. The only thing I think is missing is a true party game from this section.

Just a reminder, join me next week on Malts and Meeples for the next 10 on the list. The plan is to go live around 9 PM Central time and it’ll be 80 through 71. The best way to know when I go live is subscribe and click that notification bell. That’ll let you know for sure when it’ll be happening.

What is your favorite game from the list and what is one that you want to try?

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Creating My Top 100 Games List

And that site is Pub Meeple. It’s a great site because it pulls in your Board Game Geek list and can use that to do a ranking. In the ranking you compare two games against each other. So let’s say Monopoly and Clue. You decide which one you like better, so Clue then Monopoly. Then you might compare Risk and Scrabble and decide on Scrabble. It’d then give you the comparison of Clue and Scrabble and let’s say I pick Scrabble, it’ll then have me compare Clue to Risk to determine which one I like better. If I pick Clue then Risk and Monopoly get compared. But if I pick Risk, then Clue and Monopoly just get slotted after.

Also, it’s worth noting a few other things I mention at the start. That’s how I eliminate some of the games. Each box of Dice Throne doesn’t count as it’s own entry. Every version of Clank, Aeon’s End, and Pandemic aren’t their own entries. Even Frosthaven, Gloomhaven, and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion get lumped together. Why, because otherwise the list would be dominated by a few games.

Finally, last thing is that I do not put games that I’ve only played digitally. There are a couple of games, Rogue Angels being the big one, that will likely end up in my Top 100 Games (of all time) when I can play it physically, but I want to experience it that way as well to verify my feelings.

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition 100 through 91

100. Ship Shape

A new one to the list, this is an interesting little game that is kind of a party style filler. But not a party game in terms of a “haha” game. But it’s a light game of filling out your cargo hold the best that you can. You have three goods, cannons, gold, and contraband. You get points for gold, cannons compared to the person with the fewest, and your contraband, if you don’t have the most.

Plus you are bidding on what tile you get to place into your hold. It might work out well, you win the bid, you get the top one, or you could get the second one. Of course, if you tie, then you don’t get any in order and have to rebid for your one once more a gone. So it’s kind of random, but a lot of fun with simple mechanisms.

Buy Ship Shape

99. Welcome To…

Welcome To has dropped on the list. I think that Welcome To is down on the list because I don’t play it as often because it isn’t my favorite solo roll and write game. But the game is still great as you try and build your favorite Stepford neighborhood. Can you build the best white picket fences, pools, parks, and get those house numbers in the right order?

Plus there is good variety with the different maps. So I likely need to play those more often so that I can get that variety. And one of the better things is that Welcome To is a great game for a larger group. There really is no upper limit, just sheets, as to how many you can play with. So that makes it a fun game to pull out when I want a bigger group game but not a party game.

Buy Welcome To…

98. SCOUT

SCOUT is another new one to the list and this was a big hit from last year in the US. I believe it was out in Japan prior to that, but I started hearing about it a ton last year and a ton at Gen Con in 2022. SCOUT is a card shedding game. That means that you have a handful of cards and you’re trying to get rid of yours the fastest.

To do that you are trying to play out card(s) in sets, runs, or a single card, that beats what the other person played. The trick of the game is that the cards have numbers on the top and bottom. And when you get your hand of cards you can’t rearrange it. So you’re stuck with what you had, that might mean that you can’t beat what someone else played down. Instead you take one of the cards they played and add it to your hand wherever you want.

Buy SCOUT

97. My City (My City: Roll and Build)

Next up is one of those combo of games. My City and My City Roll and Build. This is a game about building out a city in either a campaign or legacy game version. And one is a roll and write the other is a polyomino game.

I like each version. My City, the legacy version, is a good game that’s fast to play and works well with a group of people. My City Roll and Build is able to be played solo. It is still a very fast game, and fewer things carry over, but I like it a lot as a solo game. It is still extremely fast, probably 10 minutes for the roll and write game. The legacy version is probably 20-30 minutes.

Buy My City

96. The Reckoners

Now we’re onto a cooperative game on the list, The Reckoners. This is based off of a series from Brandon Sanderson that I really like. And this is a good cooperative game in that there is little to no downtime in the game.

How do they make that work? The game is in two parts, the first part is rolling dice to determine what actions you will do. And everyone does that at once, it’s kind of Yahtzee style in that you roll multiple times. But not completely because you always are keeping dice. Then everyone is talking as they roll to make sure it gets set-up right, and you go and do all your actions. Again it is done all at once. The only downtime is when you do the epics (super villains) actions to see what goes wrong.

Buy The Reckoners

95. Clever Cubed

Clever Cubed, another roll and write game and part of the Clever series of games with Ganz Schon Clever (That’s Pretty Clever), Doppelt So Clever (Twice as Clever) and a new game, Clever 4Ever. This one I really like how heavily it leans into combos. There are so many combos in the game that it’s just crazy with how things can connect together and how they just chain off of each other. Plus you get really high scores which is fun.

Buy Clever Cubed

94. Project L

A game that almost wasn’t around any more, as the company – Boardcubator almost went out of business. But Project L is a polyomino game where you are using Tetris like pieces to fill in shapes. As you get more pieces to use, you can start to grab in bigger ones and bigger pieces to fill in the shapes faster.

One of the cool elements of the game, besides the insanely high quality, is that there is a master action. It is an action that you can do one time per turn, but it lets you add to each of your shapes. So you can spend turns collecting more cards and then doing master actions to fill them up faster or all at once, so it’s very fun when you get that working well.

Buy Project L

93. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

Another roll and write game, Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade is not shockingly about Pinball. I like that you get a lot of tables to play so you change up what you want to play. And it isn’t hard to learn, though there are pretty simple rules for all the ball moves. The ball moves down and rotates clockwise, I believe, or counter clockwise, either way it’s always the same way.

And each table offers something new. I like the cyber hacking one where you can get into a special area of the board and score a ton of points. All of them have something unique and there are four tables in the main box. Plus there is an expansion box, a Star Trek box, and a holiday movie box, so a lot of options.

It is also a roll and write game that I like solo. Multiplayer it’s possible that one person will end much sooner than someone else. That can lead to downtime, and as you saw with The Reckoners, I like it when there is as little downtime as possible.

Buy Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

92. Atlantis Rising (Second Edition)

Atlantis Rising is a cooperative race against the clock (figuratively) as the island of Atlantis is sinking. And this is another game where there is little downtime. Everyone is working together and putting out your meeples to the board for collecting items. The further you are out on peninsulas it’s better, but because it’s sinking, you might lose a meeple, for that round.

With what you collect then you’re building up machines. The machines will open a portal that will allow you to escape. And they give you powers as well which might make it smoother to get what you need. Of course, by the time you’re doing that, the island is sinking fast, so it’s a race against time.

Buy Atlantis Rising (Second Edition)

91. Vegetable Stock

Next one is Vegetable Stock. A game that I wouldn’t have known about but for Chris Yi from the Dice Tower who likes this game. This is a small set collection game. And it is also a drafting game. As you draft cards that builds up your collection of card to give you points. And you draft from a pool of one more than there are people.

The card that is leftover affects the stock market. So what you take won’t push it higher, but what is left is going to be push it higher. If it gets too high it’ll bust and drop it down again, so you need to redo that work. Vegetable Stock is a light filler game and really fast. So one that will work well for a lot of groups just as that smaller group game that you can knock out.

Buy Vegetable Stock

Upcoming Streams (Top 100 and Game Plays)

Next Wednesday at 8 PM Central time I’ll be going through 90 through 81 of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition. So join me then and let me know which are your favorites on that part of the list.

And on Monday I stream around 9 PM central time. Generally it is a solo game, though sometimes a topic or a list or Slay the Spire. But it’ll likely be solo games for a while with the Top 100 List going on. And normally on Wednesdays I stream solo campaign board games. So after I finish up my Top 100 Games I’ll be getting back to that, possibly more of The Isofarian Guard.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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My City Roll and Build

So final thoughts on the game and what works well for the game. There will be some comparisons to My City, but probably not a ton, I’ll save those for a Board Game Battle. But I think there is plenty to talk about with My City Roll and Build.

Firstly, the speed of play is amazing for this game. Each stream I’ve done, keep in mind learning the rules for each episode as I go, it has been just over half an hour. As a solo game, that means, I play each episode in about 10 minutes. And a chapter takes about half an hour. I’d maybe say 15 minutes and 45 minutes when it comes to playing in a group. But this is a very fast game.

The concern about a fast game is that it might lack meaningful decisions. And I think that My City Roll and Build still offers those. Yes, there is no dice mitigation, unless you want to take negative points. But that is an interesting decision in and of itself. Because there is that tradeoff of the negative points, now you don’t know if you want to skip over it.

I also think that the dice work really well. While every player still gets the same thing, like in the board game. The dice add in variability to that. No longer is everything even and equal. I might roll a lot of solid buildings and my score raised up higher that way. So you can’t plan out as well how things might come up.

And finally, I like that the game doesn’t keep all of the scoring. It’s a small game with a small scoring sheet. So it’s nice to shift the focus on what we’re doing from time to time. And for a game that is so fast, if all of the scoring were to stay around, it’d get bogged down in what you are doing.

Upcoming Streams

So last night’s stream was at an odd time. My apologies for not announcing that sooner. With Father’s Day weekend, some things that happen on Sunday, recording the podcast, got moved to Monday night with adjusted when I streamed. But let’s talk about next Monday. Plan is 8:30 PM on Monday for streaming. And I think I might try and learn Welcome to the Moon.

Tomorrow it is going to be The Isofarian Guard. I am off work today, so I plan on learning the rules and getting it set up. That is what I will play tomorrow and get started on that campaign. So you can join me at 8 PM Central on Wednesday for that.

Finally, with today off, and with my normal Tuesday gaming not happening, I am going to stream opening some Magic the Gathering packs. 4 collectors packs of the Lord of the Rings Magic The Gathering set is my plan. From what I’ve seen the One Ring hasn’t been found yet, so there is a chance, a tiny tiny tiny chance. The plan is around 8 PM Central.

The best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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My City Roll and Build

We’ve talked about it several times on the stream and in the articles as to how it compares to the main My City game. I will just add, it makes me want to come back to that game and play more. But I own three campaign roll and write games. I have played, counting this one, two of them. It is possibly I will pick the third one for the next thing I stream on Mondays.

But how does My City Roll and Build compare to the other campaign game?

Progression

Let’s start off with the progression that this has. The other game that I’m talking about is Paper Dungeons, which I also played through on Malts and Meeples. But My City Roll and Build is a game with more progression. You unlock things, additional scoring or rules, as you go, so the story and game feels like it progresses. In Paper Dungeons, there is no progression. You start in one place, there is story between things, but you don’t progress.

However, neither has a ton of progression. In both of the games, you play them out and you don’t get better at anything. My City Roll and Build, new things get added, which is progression. But, you play the exact same way, no better or worse, as the game progresses.

Epic Nature

And neither again really leans too much into this. My City Roll and Build is not an epic game. Paper Dungeons tries to be a bit more epic. But because there is no progression, each story runs the same way. You venture into a dungeon, fight monsters, and then repeat with different monsters. That is the epic nature of the game.

But that is overall more epic than My City Roll and Build. There a church is added, okay. Now there is more water than before, also okay. Or you build over forest now. None of these changes really supply that much of a different feel in the game. And you don’t need it to be epic, but for a campaign, I expect more from both, though mainly Paper Dungeons because it can promise more.

Upcoming Streams

Next Monday at 8:30 PM Central time it is going to be playing more My City Roll and Build. I’m enjoying it and I want to know what the next things that are added are. It’s not a legacy game, but it feels like the legacy game it is based off of. So join me for the last chapter next week.

I did not make time for learning Isofarian Guard. I have two days off next week leading up to the stream. There is time set aside in that for me to learn the rules. So next week it will be Isofarian Guard time. That means this week I am going to be playing a different solo game. Possibly Super Mega Lucky Box which I just played again recently. So join me to see what game will hit the table at 8:00 PM Central on Wednesday.

The best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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My City Roll and Build

Let’s talk about that abrupt end to the game. Was that a good thing or not? Because I think for a lot of people it wouldn’t be. For myself, I didn’t mind it too much for one main reasons.

The reason I didn’t mind it is that the game is so fast. When you sit down and play My City Roll and Build, especially solo, it takes about 10-15 minutes per game. And some of that time is learning the new rules. You play extremely fast. I probably lost another 5 to 10 minute of game time because the game ended quickly.

I think My City Roll and Build would not be an issue to finish it an evening. If I were to start playing at 7 PM, I would be done by 10 PM or at most 10:30. And everyone plays at once, so I think multiplayer, you’d maybe add an hour of time overall. The game is really fast, it is very light, but it matches and does what the board game does as well. So to me, that’s interesting to see what it does and if I can get lucky.

And before you say, I got really unlucky and that makes the game poor. Or that the board game would be better. The exact same thing can happen in the board game. You build out and you can’t skip buildings. So it really does match the board game that way. And maybe that randomness wouldn’t be for you. But for me, like I said, the game is so fast that I don’t mind it.

Upcoming Streams

So what’s coming up this week. Wednesday, as I said in the stream, unlikely that I’ll be playing Isofarian Guard. That is the next campaign I’ll be diving into. But I need to learn the game still. So it’ll be playing a smaller game, or I have a box of Pokemon cards that I might be unboxing just to see what I get. I’ll announce that stream closer to when it happens. Either way the stream is at 8 PM Central time.

And next Monday is going to be more My City Roll and Build. I have two more chapters to go, so let’s see if I can build upon what seems to be some average scores and see if I can push my total score higher. Will it work or will I have an abrupt ending again. Monday streams start around 8:30 PM Central time.

And, again, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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CoolStuffInc

Dungeons and Dragons: The Yawning Portal

I don’t even know that much about this game. But it’s a theme that I like a lot, Dungeons and Dragons. And from what I know of The Yawning Portal, that’s a portal in a tavern that leads to a lot of different adventures. It’s part of the Sword Coast and Forgotten Realms setting for Dungeons and Dragons. I’m hoping for a fun, lighter, adventure style game.

TIME Stories Revolution: Cavendish

I still get basically everything for TIME Stories. This is one the new cycle now so I need to get through the first stuff, first. But it’s been a game that we’ve enjoyed a lot. And if I figure out a better storage solution, I can make it take up a whole lot less space on my game shelf. But I’m curious to play more. And even if it isn’t the most loved thing, it should be fun for my group still. We’ll see when we get this far into the series.

Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar

Next up we have a legacy game with mixed reviews. But mixed reviews was enough to keep me from running out to get the game. I think for a lot of gamers it has been. I wonder as it goes on sale more, if more gamers or people will buy it. It’s a Jurassic Park/World park building game where you are avoiding dinosaurs and basically playing through stories around the movies, not really the movie stories. It looks like light fun, which is why it felt like the right price to get it when it was pretty heavily on sale.

Reload

Finally from CoolStuffInc we have Reload. I’ve heard very mixed things about this game as well. But I like what it is in concept. Kind of that battle arena like a Fortnite or PUBG style of game. You run around, the area gets smaller, you want to be the last person standing. It sounds like a fun time with some complexity and decision making, if you make it through the rules.

Miniature Market

Rome and Roll

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but in a short chunk of an evening you can build it up in this roll and write game. Or at least build up your gladiators, warriors, and I believe civilization as well. It’s a heavier and crunchier roll and write game. One that I want to play to see if it’s a good game for me. That, Hadrian’s Wall, and Twilight Inscription might be my heavy roll and write games.

Stranger Things: Upside Down

This one should be arriving today or so, but it’s a Stranger Things board game. And one from the designer of Pandemic. Now, it’s not just the Pandemic system. But it is a light to mid weight cooperative game. And kind of follows some of the things you expect. You do things and then bad things happen. But how the bad things happen and how many is determined by what you do. So it adds this element where you need to push to complete things. but that can cause more bad things to happen.

Lucky Numbers

Lucky Numbers is a game that I don’t know too much about. But it looks like a tile, or number, laying game where you are trying to fill out a grid in a specific way. It looks light, it has a solo mode, so one that I want to try out and see what it’s like.

My City: Roll and Build

You saw this one, potentially, already because I just played it on Malts and Meeples. Let me drop the video below, but it’s a roll and write version of the legacy game My City. I still enjoy it this way, and it makes a nice solo game.

The Quest for El Dorado

Kind of a classic game at this point, and a deck building game. I do like deck building a lot. To go along with that, it’s also a racing game. As you try and navigate a path to El Dorado as efficiently as possible. From what I’ve heard, it has some fun twists on it, which I’m here for. I like deck building a lot, but I don’t need all my deck building games to just be deck building, this one adds in more.

Arkham Horror LCG: Winifred Habbamock

I’m going to have to do a part 2 on this because this article is getting long. And there will be more Arkham Horror LCG character packs on this. I’ve started playing some with a friend, and it’s been a grand time. So I picked up some of the character packs because that is where you get some of the best cards.

Joan of Arc Expansions

This one come from Mythic Games selling off the rights to this game. It’s a bummer because I’m not sure Mythic Games is sitting in that much better of a spot. But for me it’s been a chance to grab more expansions. It’s still a game I need to table. But I like the idea of it as a miniatures style game, but with less overhead.

Omen: Heir to the Dunes

Another one I can’t say that I know that much about. I picked it up because it was on a good sale. It’s a two player head to head game. So the type that might stay in my collection. But it, and Radlands are games that I want to see how they play and if they’ll dethrone my favorite head to head game, Dice Throne.

That’s a Question

Another good sale game. This looks like a simple party game. I’m not sure it’ll be for me, but if I remember correctly it was $3 or $4 so cheap enough to take a flyer on. I don’t know that I need more party games, but I also find that party games are the ones that I rotate the most.

Robots

Robots was another game from that sale. It’s a kids type of game from what I can tell. But in a small box with cute artwork, another one where I look at it and think, why not try it. It might be a fun filler game about making silly robots. If not, it cost $3, so not a big deal.

Skytear Horde

Another one that you’ve seen on Malts and Meeples. So the video will again be below. But this is a tower defense, lane defense game. I like it because it’s just a fun experience that as you start to get into the swing of the game, it moves quickly. Yes, the learning of all the steps can take a bit, but once you’re in, it’s not too bad.

D&D Dungeon Scrawlers: Heroes of Undermountain

Finally another roll and write game. This one with again a Dungeons and Dragons theme. I want to play it, and I want to play some of my other dungeon crawling or scrawling roll and writes, but two of them, this one included, don’t have a solo mode. That’s my only bummer about the game. But a D&D based roll and write game is a theme and style I’ll gladly give a try.

And like I said, more to come. But those are some of the games that are entering into my collection. There’s been a lot coming in, which means that I need to have a decent number of them leave soon as well. Which is what will be happening this weekend.

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My City Roll and Build

This one is interesting for me in how much I like the game, at least right off the bat. Mainly because it’s very similar to My City, a game that I enjoy. The progression of what you are doing seems to be the same order. There is just a bit more randomness to it. I guess it shows the simplicity of the original design which is what I think makes it a fun experience.

My City Roll and Build keeps that design at it’s core, just makes it a bit more random with the rolling of the dice. In My City, it is an even distribution card flip. Here it’s randomized dice roll. So that means you end up with certain building types and shapes repeating more often. Now, the shapes are all simpler, they need to be with two dice. So I don’t think it makes it any more complex to learn and play.

But about the game a little bit. You build up your city trying to cover up stones, leave trees uncovered and cover up as much ground as possible. Open stones or ground give you negative points. Uncovered trees give you positive points. And as you play through chapters, there are 4, and episodes per chapter, there are 3, you learn more rules.

So in my play, first game it was the scoring above. Second game added in grouping house types together. So the bigger the group, more points you got. And third one added in wells. Which if you can surround them with four buildings, you get four points. So nothing is too swingy or complex, but it starts to add in more scoring options.

Upcoming Streams

This Wednesday I plan on wrapping up ISS Vanguard. Do a bit more exploring before launching into the next campaign experience. Still deciding on what that game is going to be. But most likely it is going to be Isofarian Guard. Which I unboxed on the channel a few weeks ago. If you want to join for the last ISS Vanguard play, you can find the upcoming video here. I will stream at 8 PM Central.

And then next Monday, it is more My City Roll and Build. It will be the game I play over the next three weeks to get through the whole experience. See if it’s a game that looks interesting to you. And if you already own it, you can play along with me and let me know your scores.

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So this is a list of 10 games, in no particular order. Also worth noting, it’s a list of 10, I’m unlikely to buy most of them as a lot will be big, but I’ll likely buy a few.

10 Board Games in 2023

10. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Board Game

I almost considered backing this one, but it just didn’t quite draw me in. But I love the material that it’s based on, I think I mainly played Heroes of Might and Magic IV. And it’s a world exploring adventure, fighting game which has some interesting systems. So I want to get my hands on this one and try it, because of that. And because it’s a big game but isn’t one that is all about the minis or all about an epic campaign which is different. And it’s not cooperative, which is also different for me.

9. Earth

Another one that was on Kickstarter, and Earth is a much smaller game than a lot on the list. But for that reason, I didn’t back it, I thought it was an interesting one to pick-up later. It’s an engine building game, which I generally like. And with a smaller package I’ll enjoy that as well. Plus it’s an engine building game about creating your own ecosystem which is fun, and the game looks very pretty. So that’s enough for a reason for me to be interested, it’s a pretty game.

8. Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game

I didn’t consider backing this one because the Terraforming Mars games, generally no need to back them. And the Dice Game looks interesting and like more Terraforming Mars. I already own Ares Expedition and I like that one. Plus I own Terraforming Mars that I need to play. But like Earth, this is going to be another engine building game which I’m certainly interested in. And it’s based off of a system at least with Ares Expedition that I like and a theme that I like.

7. Arkeis

People are complaining a lot about this one because it’s taken a long time to deliver. I believe it was crowdfunded in 2019 or very early 2020 and it’s got a 2023 date. But it’s one that I am very interested in grabbing at retail when it comes out.

It’s a legacy game, but a legacy game set in Egypt and delving into tombs and temples to get treasures. I’m not sure how it’ll all work, but I’m excited for it for the legacy campaign aspect but also for the setting and the potential for story. I really like Lost Ruins of Arnak which generally has that theme, so I’m hoping that Arkeis will be more immersive game play.

6. Soul Raiders

This one says it was on Kickstarter or Crowdfunding and it looks vaguely familiar, but I’m surprised I didn’t look into it more. The designer did Splendor before, a game that I don’t love, I think this one sounds very interesting. A high fantasy setting will get me interested.

Plus then it had deck building in it as well, which I enjoy. I’ve wanted to find a good campaign game that uses deck building heavily in it as I think it’s a mechanic that makes sense. And the artwork looks nice, so it’s one that I want to try and play, maybe not own, but play.

5. Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders

Have I mentioned that I like big campaign games? Well, I do. And Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders is a follow-up, in setting to Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef, which I just got. So I do want to get this one as well, it’s a dungeon crawling campaign game set in that world. And that world, while it might not come through too much in Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef, is gorgeous to look at.

So if I can start to get story and explore characters in that world, I’m interested. Plus when it was on crowdfunding, I thought it looked intriguing. Mainly it looks like the action system is going to be very different with ebbs and flows of it building from lighter turns to bigger turns.

4. My Island

This one I doubt that I’ll get in 2023 but I wouldn’t be surprised if I get it later. It’s a legacy game, follow-up to My City, this time with an Island. I haven’t beat My City yet, or completed it I should say. But I’m really liking it when we do get it played. It is an accessible, easy to pick-up and easy to put down legacy game.

My hope is that My Island is the same thing just some new twists on it. And it’s a legacy game, so I like that element as well. And that’s the reason that I’ll get to it when I get to it. I have enough other legacy games that I really need to get played.

3. Sagrada Artisans

Another one that was on Kickstarter, Sagrada Artisans takes Sagrada and turns it into a legacy game. From what it looked like, it kept a lot of the game the same with drafting dice and creating stained glass windows. But it also added in a coloring element.

So that they could mess around with the windows more, you aren’t placing the dice on the windows but instead coloring in the color you picked, and I’m assuming putting the number down. That sounds like an interesting twist, not the coloring but the non-square windows, and how that’ll work. I hope it’s a light, fun, legacy game, like My City has been and like I hope My Island will be.

2. First in Flight

At this point in time you should know that most of these have been on crowdfunding. Some of that is because it’s hard for publishers to know when a game will come out so far in advance unless it is on crowdfunding. And First in Flight is one that is different, though, it’s a smaller, lighter game where you are trying to collect cards to be able to pull of the longest flight possible.

It’s historically based, so you’re competing with others trying to do the first flight of some length, I believe. And the helpers you can get are actual people. That element also makes it more interesting because it’s a lighter game that is going to give you history. When it was on crowdfunding, I was definitely interested. But it’s in that range of buying it later is probably the smarter plan.

1. Tales from Red Dragon Inn

I’m not going to buy this one, but I do want to play it. I think that Red Dragon Inn is an okay game, and I fully know that I’d like it better if I played it with fewer. I’ve always  played it over the player count, and it just takes a silly game and makes it too long. Tales from Red Dragon Inn is the dungeon crawl adventure that you all go on. I don’t really know how it’s going to work, but they’ve created very interesting characters for the world. So I think it’s something or a world that would be fun to play around in.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of good games out there. I said that there were 16 pages of 2023 games on BGG, I didn’t go through all of them to get my list of 10. Am I missing something huge that I’ll end up loving, most likely. But that’s the fun of gaming and new board games coming out. It’s finding that new board game that you want to play over and over again. Last year, for example, Stars of Akarios wasn’t even on my radar, and now it’s in my Top 10. So we’ll have to see what game comes out of nowhere and just surprises me.

What game are you anticipating coming out in 2023?

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Top 5 2023 Gamefound Campaigns

5. Vampire: The Masquerade – Milan Uprising

I want to be more excited about this one and I am excited about a lot of it. The part that I’m less excited about is that it uses the Teburu system. Now that technology I think is interesting and I likely will get it, eventually. But it’s not out yet and my rule of thumb is don’t buy the first generation of a tech project. This is the second campaign for a game for it, and I’m excited to see them adding more games. But while the game, a cooperative 1-4 player game set in the World of Darkness setting, the technology, I want to see an iteration or two of it first.

4. DANTE: The Invasion of Hell

What puts this one on my radar is that it’s from the same company as Chronicles of Drunagor. A game that I want to play more of, but I think it’s a group campaign game. I want to know if DANTE: The Invasion of Hell works better solo? And it does have a solo mode, plus, I like their other game, so this is going to be really interesting. And my guess is that this is going to be another big game. Campaign games are a weakness of mine, so DANTE also hit on that, if it looks like a good game to play on Malts and Meeples it is going to make it even more tempting to play.

3. Thorgal: The Board Game

Based off of a video game that I don’t really know, this is a cooperative storybook adventure game, much like my #4. This one looks much smaller which I appreciate. And I’m curious to know more about it. It’s from Portal games. I don’t always gravitate towards everything Portal does, but I’m also interested to see what they are going to try next. And Thorgal, this one is interesting me. Again it’s that cooperative adventure game that can be played solo, and we know I like games like that.

2. Witchbound

I really didn’t know anything about Witchbound going in, and now it is towards the top of my list overall. I’m going to do a list like that at the end of this post for Top 5-7 games. But it’s a solo story driven game about becoming the first witch in over 100 years. That is exactly my sort of game. I like the theme of the game, I love the artwork that I’m seeing, and overall, I think I’d really enjoy it.

Plus it seems like a shorter play time which if it’s a bunch of little bites of game play over several sessions, that’s great and what I’m looking for often versus the two hours of some of the bigger campaign games that can be played solo.

1. Elder Scrolls

This one is pretty easy to pick because it’s based off of a system that I like, Too Many Bones, with a theme that I find interesting, and a company I really like. This is going to be a premium game with an IP so I expect a big price tag for it, but I’m going to likely back it, just to see if it’s for me. Chip Theory really doesn’t disappoint and they always have a strong fan base, so I’m excited for this game.

And I’m excited to see how they can bring as big a world as Elder Scrolls into a board game. It seems like it’ll be a campaign game, but one where you can mix and match different campaign elements together or go through different shorter stories, so not a massive campaign.

I find it interesting that with the five games from Gamefound all of them are cooperative games that have caught my eye. Really, it shouldn’t be a surprise, I love cooperative story driven games that can be played solo. All of these fall into that category, some of them are very big, and others less so, but at least I’m consistent.

Top 3 2023 Backerkit Campaigns

3. Leder Games Project

So like I said, it’s a bit thin on Backerkit. That means that we get from them. And one of them is this Leder Games project. It’s on the list because when Leder Games puts out a game, I am interested in it. Even if it isn’t going to be for me. I’m not that interested in trying Vast, but the game itself sounds interesting. And that means that I’m going to check out what this is when they announce it officially.

I think I’ve heard rumors, and I might be off on this, but an easier to get to the table Oath style game was in the works. But honestly, I might be making that up, there’s a lot of news and I’m just doing it off of memory. If it is, it’s maybe one that I’d pass on, but it could also catch my fancy if it’s easier to table.

2. Wild Gardens

One of the few out there that has any information on it. I’d probably have the Leder Games project above this one if I knew more about it. But Wild Gardens looks like a pretty game of resource collection and completing goals. I’m not sure what else is going on in it. But looking at the cover, it’s a pretty game, and the artwork throughout the game looks great as well. I hope that the game play matches the artwork and is a nice relaxing game to play.

1. Gloomhaven Minis and RPG

Easily my Top 1 over there. You know that I love Gloomhaven and I will say right now, I am not backing the minis. You can hold me to that, but I do not need the minis nor would I really  have use for a lot of them. It’d just make Gloomhaven and Frosthaven harder to play. But I want to know more about the RPG.

I haven’t looked into it too much yet. I know that it is built around card play, or can be, like you have in Gloomhaven. And I’m hoping that they give you tactical opportunities for combat and then a lot of theater of the mind and opportunities to role play as well. If it’s just mainly combat focused with a bit of role playing thrown on top, I’m less interested. But I’ll definitely be looking into this one more.

Top 5 2023 Kickstarter Campaigns

5. Crown of Ash

This is one that I keep on seeing advertisements for on Facebook and is one that definitely interests me. Crown of Ash is an area control and worker placement game. But it isn’t a game that is stuffed full of big minis or things like that, it looks like a more reasonably sized game. I’m not sure it’s one for me, but I want to learn more about it. The cover is striking and overall, if it’s a good area control game and the worker placement makes sense, it might be one that I want to play. Area control and in your face isn’t my normal style, but I am curious about it.

4. Rove

So there was a fan expansion that I want to get for Gloomhaven, The Crimson Scales. It’s something that was created, with the blessing of Isaac Childres to work with his system. And it sounds really cool. Rove is from that designer who is now branching out and making his own game. It’s a big box 1-4 player cooperative fantasy RPG in a box. I’m interested in that. No shock to anyone there.

And I want to know what someone who has done work related to Gloomhaven can come up with. Because I fully expect this isn’t going to be a dice chucking giant campaign like Sword & Sorcery, so how are the lessons learned from The Crimson Scales going to build into this new game?

3. Stonesaga

It helps to put this on the list having played it. And I believe the beta playtesting is going on right now, if people want to check it out. But this is a cooperative game where you are playing as cave dwellers who are advancing their society, building up, and well, dealing with giant monsters that are a threat to the board.

This is a legacy game, which is fun, and one that has story and campaign on it, but it reminds me more of the level of story of a My City or Charterstone. The story matters, and they integrate missions better and story challenges better, but it only matters so much. Plus the artwork on this one is just great and when OOMM Games puts something out I’m interested.

2. Marvel United Multiverse

Should this be number one? I don’t know. I don’t need more of the game. But Marvel United is such an easy game to get to the table that I definitely want more of the game. I love the IP with Marvel, it works well for the type of game it is. And it’s a good cooperative game that I can pull out and play with almost anyone. It isn’t too light for gamers because the game is fast. And it isn’t too heavy for non-gamers.

Plus it doesn’t matter if Groot is your favorite character, Wolverine, Iron Man, or whomever, you can sit down and play as your favorite Marvel character. And I think that’s great about it, this is just going to be even more. Like I said, I don ‘t need more, but it doesn’t make the game harder to table, which is great.

1. Rogue Angels

Again, this one hopefully will be coming back to Kickstarter or some crowdfunding platform in 2023. I put it here, I just got to play another scenario and I still love the game. The characters are so much fun, and while similar, different in what they can handle. We lost part of the scenario I played on Sunday but were able to be the overall mission. You fail forward into the story versus redoing a scenario over and over and over again.

And the game play, every time that I sit down and play it, I can pick it back up again, which is great. All of that while having a lot of story, being cooperative, you know I’m in. I think it’s one that would work well for Malts and Meeples as well. It’s a big campaign, but it isn’t a sprawling table hog like some big campaigns.

Top 5 Upcoming Crowdfunding Campaigns

Let’s face it, these are mainly going to be cooperative adventure driven games. But out of the 13 that I have, sorry Backerkit we couldn’t get to 5. Which ones are the ones that I am most interested in.

1. Rogue Angels
2. Elder Scrolls
3. Marvel United Multiverse
4. Stonesaga
5. Witchbound

What Crowdfunding Campaigns Are You Most Interested In?

Let me know which ones interest you the most? Are there any crossover, do you want to get all the minis for Gloomhaven, it would be awesome, or is that just too much? Are there any that I missed. I was trying to find everything that I could, but I won’t lie, it’s tricky.

And even some of them, like Crown of Ash is one that was supposed, I believe, to come out in 2022. Rogue Angels did, but then needed to relaunch. So it’ll be interesting to see what comes up and where everything lands. Checkout other creators, like BoardGameCo I think does a quarterly list of things, though might be doing a yearly list of Top 10 he’s most excited for across everything. So let me know what I missed that you think I might like.

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Checkout 100 through 91 first here.

Checkout 90 through 81 here.

Top 100 Games 2022 Edition – 80-71

80 – Star Wars: Rebellion

Star Wars: Rebellion is a big Star Wars game with lots of fighting, dice chucking, but is really a game of cat and mouse. The empire is trying to find out where the rebel base is. The rebels are trying to complete missions and get the support of the people and undermine the empire. It really is a big game of cat and mouse which feels like the original trilogy.

The one downside to this game is how long it is. I do not mind that it’s two player only, you can play on teams but it’s two player only. But it’s a three hour game, now, that can be awesome a lot of the time. But you need to plan when you want to play Star Wars Rebellion.

Buy from Cool Stuff Inc

79 – Say Bye to the Villains

Say Bye to the Villains is an extremely tricky cooperative game. Players take on the roles of different Samurai who are preparing to takeout Yakuza. The plan is simple, but the game is tricky. It’s all about optimizing your character so that you can be the villain that you end up with. But you only have a limited amount of time and everything you do takes up time. Can you balance it building up your character, supporting the other players, and figuring out what the villains are up to. It almost comes down to the last villain and samurai being a coin flip as you just don’t know.

Buy from Amazon

78 – The Quacks of Quedlinburg

I like deck building and The Quacks of Quedlinburg gives some of that feel. But it is really a push your luck bag building game. You start out with your potion that you’re trying to make and it’s mainly lousy ingredients. You can’t push too far because you’ll bust. Of course, busting isn’t the end of the world, it gives you either money or points, you just can’t get both. As you get money you spend it to get even more ingredients to your bag which means that you can push even farther.

The strategy in this game is surprisingly good. And I really appreciate that about it because there is a lot of luck. But you can build up your bag so that it combos off each other. Where you can score more points if you don’t push your luck, just in case you bust.

Buy from Cool Stuff Inc

77 – Point Salad

Point Salad is another game that is pretty simple, you either take two veggies or a scoring card, but has good strategy. You need to pay attention to what everyone else is doing around you. Because as vegetables are taken, that flips cards off the decks. But on the back of those cards are scoring cards. It’s easy to play, but gives you that good decision of not knowing if you should risk leaving a scoring card, or will get get flipped. A nice filler length game at lower player counts. I think I prefer it at 2-4 and less often 4 because it makes the game longer and more random.

Buy from Miniature Market

76 – Metro X

I actually stayed at the table, after my stream last night, and played some Metro X. This is a roll and write game where you are filling in bus routes. But the bus routes cross each other, and that can be great. It means that you might fill in multiple spots on a route. Or it can be lousy, because you might want to put a big number onto a route, but you can’t as it’s been split.

Metro X is a good example of a puzzle roll and write. You need to figure out the optimal way to fill in everything. But also a roll and write that limits the complexity. You just fill in spots on the routes. Each bus can have a limited number of numbers used on that route. Because of the randomness it can be frustrating sometimes, but everyone is dealing with that.

Not Available

75 – Kohaku

Kohaku is a relaxing game of building out your Koi pond to score as many points as possible. You draft or select tiles form a pool of koi and scoring tiles taking adjacent ones. And then you add them anywhere to your koi pond. The only thing is koi can’t be by koi and scoring can’t be by scoring. I find this game to be relaxing. The tiles are beautiful dual layer that gives it that watery depth. And while I try and win, it isn’t a game that is so intense that it feels like everything is pressure filled each decision.

Buy on Miniature Market

74 – Calico

Another pretty game, Calico is not as calm as Kohaku. In fact, the puzzle of trying to play everything in is stressful. You need to think about scoring for buttons, cats, and your own objectives. And you really want whatever patch you’re adding to your calico quilt to help you in multiple ways. But as you play down and fill in your quilt, your options become less and less. And I like that tension of can you get the right tile to complete maybe two of your scoring objectives. Or will you need to settle or less?

The game is simple though. You play one of two tiles to your quilt. Then you replenish with one of three tiles, that is it. But each decision you make matters a ton in the scoring of the game.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

73 – My City

We’ll see how long My City sticks on this list, mainly because it’s a legacy game. And legacy games slowly drift down over time, I’ve found, the further I get away from playing them. But right now, I’m still in the midst of My City and it is great.

My City is a tile laying game where everyone is putting down the same shaped tile every turn. But there are new rules each time that come up. And you want to cover up open areas the best you can, but also build up groups of buildings that are the same type. And it adds more and more to the game without making it longer than a 15-20 minute game. Highly recommend this one as a light legacy experience.

Buy on GameNerdz

72 – Roll Player

Roll Player is another drafting game on the list. This one is dice drafting. And you are picking the dice to get them for your RPG character. The concept of the game takes one fun part of role playing games, building a character, and really focuses in on that.

Each attribute, standard ones for Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder, has a power that goes with it. It might make it cheaper to buy equipment. Or it might let you flip a die in order to push your stats higher. It’s a really fun game that I need to get around to building my insert for it. Because once you have everything, it is a bit difficult to get it to the table.

Buy on GameNerdz

71 – Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game

Wrapping up this section is technically two games. I went with my favorite/harder to find of the two in Battlestar Galactica, but this is also Unfathomable. Both of them are big hidden traitor, social deduction games of trying to get to some final location.

I do not like social deduction. In fact, I’d say with high confidence that there is only one other one on the list. But BSG and Unfathomable work because there is so much more game going on. You are fighting off monsters, whether it’s deep ones or Cylons. And there is just a lot going on with a lot of challenges that happen in the game. All the while trying to figure out who might be the one(s) who are traitors. And at the start of the game, it might be someone, but by the end, there will be for sure.

Buy Unfathomable on Miniature Market

Upcoming Streams

First off, reminder that there is no stream tomorrow. I am out of town so no stream happening. I think the following Wednesday will be the finale of my Stars of Akarios live streaming. With likely Chronicles of Drunagor hitting the table next.

And next Monday, the Top 100 games are going to continue. 70 through 61 in my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition. You can find the link to that video below. Join me live, chat about the games hitting the list, which are your favorites, or which you want to try.

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