And if you want to know the criteria that I’m using, or the conversation starting point, you can read that article here.

My Tableau Building Games

As normal, we split it into games that I’ve played first and then games that I haven’t played yet in my collection.

Tableau Building Games I’ve Played

• 7 Wonders Duel
• Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth
• 7 Wonders
• Splendor: Pokemon
• The Castles of Burgundy
• Arkham Horror The Card Game
• Marvel Champions
• Dwellings of Eldervale
• Forest Shuffle
• Res Arcana
• Meadow
• Space Base
• Faraway
• Castle Combo
• Furnace
• Aquatica
• New Frontiers
• Jump Drive
• Ancient Knowledge
• Starship Captains
• Village Rails
• Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archives
• Cafe Baras
• Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
• Pixies

Tableau Building Games I’ve Yet To Play

• Everdell
• 3 Ring Circus
• Ark Nova
• A Feast for Odin
• Revive
• Beyond the Sun
• Targi
• Endless Winter: Paleoamericans
• Vale of Eternity
• Expeditions
• Fantastic Factories
• The Bloody Inn
• Raising Robots
• The Witcher: Path of Destiny
• Andromeda’s Edge
• Earth

What Stays and What Leaves?

This is a tough list to really do because they are so unique. A lot of the time there is a pretty big difference between a scoring tableau game and an engine building tableau game. So as I’m looking at the list, it’s hard to say that I should keep this one or another one. Plus sometimes they didn’t really do a great job of putting like games on the BGG list. For example, Terraforming Mars, on the list, Ares Expedition, not on the list. New Frontiers is a tableau building game, but Jump Drive wasn’t part of that list. So I hope that I caught everything, but I’m sure some where missed.

What Is And Easy Leave?

So when we look at the list the ones that I have yet to play, those are generally going to stay. That means that we’re looking at what I’ve played for easy games to leave the collection. It’s not an easy list to pick from. I only have one that is an easy leave from the list. And that is I’m going to be getting rid of 7 Wonders Duel. Mainly because I own Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth. Yes, they are different, but I’m most apt to pick the Lord of the Rings themed one to play.

The other one that is going to leave is 7 Wonders. Now that might be surprising, but I bought I copy and I just don’t play it. If I want a big group drafting game, I go with Sushi Go Party! For that reason while 7 Wonders offers something quite different, it just isn’t going to stick in my collection.

What Is An Easy Stay?

Now for easy stays, I definitely am keeping Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth and then both of the LCG’s on the list from Fantasy Flight Games. I know that I want to keep one of Dwellings of Eldervale and Andromeda’s Edge, but having not played the latter, I don’t know which I want to keep. I’ve heard the latter is the better game, but I like the theme for the former more so.

Space Base, Forest Shuffle, Castle Combo, Castles of Burgundy and Ancient Knowledge easily make the list as well. As does Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archives.

Everything Else

Now let’s touch on everything else and this is where I need to find a few to cut. Do I need Jump Drive in my collection if I play it on BGA so much? I had actually put it in the too sell pile but then I brought it back. And I want to keep it and New Frontiers because I really like both of them. So they stay, though with Jump Drive, it’s tempting because of BGA.

One that it tough for me is Meadow. I like Meadow a lot, but it’s also one that I play less often. I think that this means I just need to play it more to keep it in the collection. The same can be said for Res Arcana. I need to play it more because I really do love that game.

Furnace is going to leave the collection, I’ve decided. Mainly because it’s okay at two players. And I think that I am most apt to play it at two players. Because of that it should leave the collection I think. Another one that I love the theme of but thought the game play was okay so it’s going to leave is Cafe Baras. Mainly it’s super cute, but a bit too simple for my tastes. Even as a game to play with my kid, it’s not quite interesting enough.

So The Tableau Games That Are Leaving

Just to recap we have Furnace, which I really enjoy but less so at two. Cafe Baras is a bit too simple and 7 Wonders Duel is a game that has been replaced by Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth. And 7 Wonders is getting kicked out because it’s the secondary drafting game for big groups for me.

I think that there will be others to leave once I play more. But it’s tricky getting all the tableau building games to the table. Some I maybe shouldn’t keep, like Res Arcana just because when will I play it again.

What is your favorite tableau building game?

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Top 5 Games Better with an Expansion

5. New Frontiers – More Variety

I’m not only telling you which games are better but how they are better. I enjoy New Frontiers, a Roll for the Galaxy Board Game quite well. And even out of the box it’s a fun game. But this is one of those games where the expansion does it right. It just adds in more stuff. That means you get more variety and variability in what you start with. Is it needed for the game, not completely, but I think that it makes it better because it just adds in a little bit more to the game.

So what does it add, it adds in new home planets, new planets and new development that you can do. All of those things are in the base game. It also adds in new actions that you can take. Those new actions replace the old ones and they provide again that added variety. And you can add in goals with them as well. Plus there is a solo mode now. But mainly it just adds more of what you already like about the game.

4. Pitchcar – More Track

I think this one is easy to understand why it’s great to have expansions. Expansions just give you more track for the game and allow you to create crazier different routes to go on. It gives you that freedom to decide, do we want to have a track that goes up and over? Do we want to do a loop? Do we want to make some narrow sections or really long straightaways? All of those things are now an option. I’m not sure that I need to say more than this, so I won’t.

3. Marvel United – More Characters and Villains

This one is odd because I think there is a tipping point for it. Now I am definitely past that tipping point. I have everything in terms of game play for Marvel United. And there is so much stuff. I haven’t even dug into all the Marvel United: Multiverse stuff. But this is a great and simple to table cooperative game. It is made even better by the fact that everything is plug and play. It is so easy to drop in a villain or a hero from another set and just start playing. No matter who it is, it’s just a few minutes to get started.

And I think the expansions really do help. The core box of Marvel United is fine. I don’t think it stands out as an amazing game. Though, if you’re not a gamer, it’s good because it’s easy enough to understand and no heroes or villains are too complicated. And while none of the heroes or villains are complicated in the expansion, they tend to add in more flavor which is great and I think for people who enjoy the base game at all, they are needed for more robust game play.

2. Dice Throne – More Characters

Speaking of more characters, I think that Dice Throne really benefits from the expansions. And the expansions are just that, they are more characters for the game. The big reason is that the characters in the base game are fun, but they aren’t great. The Barbarian feels pretty standard, and that is on purpose. But you get six characters, originally, and if you are like me and love you, you want more.

So I think that the expansions are really great. And I think that the Marvel expansions are great as well for multiple reasons. One, they are fun and thematic. But it is also a great spot to get people into a game system who might be interested in it without the IP (intellectual property). And those characters are thematic as well, so it works very well.

1. Lost Ruins of Arnak – Expedition Leaders

And this is the game that made me think of the topic. I got to play Lost Ruins of Arnak twice last night. One time was just the base game, and the other time with the Expedition Leaders. Now, I love Lost Ruins of Arnak even as the base game. But the Expedition Leaders make it a even better. So what does Expedition Leaders add?

It is mainly just adding in what it says, expedition leaders. These are unique starting cards and leaders wit their own flavor to the game. It really makes for a more interesting experience because now everyone has something unique that they do in the game. And while the base game offers variety, this adds in more, just through the leaders. But it also gives you new research tracks and more cards to mix in, so it’s a great expansion where it just adds in more. But not just more, a bit more complexity as well, if you want it.

Final Thoughts

If a game isn’t good out of the box, I don’t want an expansion to fix it. I want a new, fixed, version of the base game. And I think that for the most part publishers are good about this. All of these things where I talk about the expansions, the base game makes a good game better.

The closest to a game that I’d be not so interested in without the expansions is Marvel United. Spinmaster Games wanted the base game to be simple because they wanted it to be in Target. And I understand that, but as a gamer, it felt like it was too little to me. I could see the fun in it, but I wanted that more, and because I love Marvel I got that more for it.

But the others really are great games without the expansions. The expansion just make a great game better. And the times where I’ve seen an expansion needed to fix the game, it’s often Kickstarter. And it’s often a time where they offer that expansion that makes the game good as part of the Kickstarter or crowdfunding campaign. Which I find to be a bad practice and definitely don’t want companies doing. Always give us the whole game in one box.

What are some of your favorite expansions for board games?

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Negative Player Interaction

Let’s start out with the negative version of player interaction. This is when a player in a game can cause another player to lose something or to take something from another player. Or some other action that is actively putting them further away from winning the game.

A game like Uno, for example, is actively built around negative interactions for it’s core interaction. You are close to winning, draw two or skip your turn or I’ll reverse it away from you. All these actions are likely to keep you from winning the game. Or if I can deduce/guess what color you have, I might intentionally change it, though that one is more of the next type of interaction.

But you can get the idea for negative player interaction. It is about making another players position in the game worse. Now, sometimes that might be keeping them from winning the game, and that might be a part of the game, but games that rely too heavily on negative interaction are often the ones that end up in fights or people not liking games as much.

Neutral Player Interaction

Next u up is going to be neutral player interaction. This is when players might be racing towards a shared goal, for example. Or when spaces are limited for players. I go somewhere that you want to go in a game and it blocks you from going there. I’m passively impacting your strategy in the game. But it’s not, normally, done out a negative reason for it. It can be, but that’s again that situation where you might be blocking someone from winning a game.

An example of this is common in worker placement games. There are five worker spots that do different things. But only one worker can go to a spot. So if I take the one that sells goods, that means you can’t go there with your worker to sell your goods. You still play with the other options, but I’ve interacted with you in the game so that it limits what you can do.

I think a lot of games strive for this one because it’s pretty basic. And you don’t want it to be off putting to you players to have negative interactions. But a smart player can block good moves from another player if they want. However, it’ll cost them something in return and therefore going for that negative interaction is generally a bad plan.

Positive Player Interaction

Finally we have positive player interaction. This happens in a number of different games, so I’ll break it down in a couple of different examples. But the gist of it is, I do something and you get a benefit as well in the game.

An example of this would be New Frontiers or Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition. You pick an action to do and every other player gets to do that action. So that’s a positive because it means you get to do something every round. But as the player who picks that interaction, I get a benefit, so it’s not like I’m just picking something for everyone to do the same thing. This is a nice way to do it because it keeps players engaged at all times.

Another example is Flamecraft. In Flamecraft it’s a worker placement game but the spots aren’t limited. Instead, if I go to a location where another player has their worker, I give them a good. That is a positive because I go where I want to for my strategy, but there is a cost to me that benefits another player. It’s a bit different than the other type of positive interaction, because it can be seen as a slight negative for me, but only a slight one.

This sort of interaction is meant to make players feel good. It also shows up in worker placement games where you bump a worker back to someone’s worker pool, for example. That means they don’t need to spend a turn bringing back their workers.

Why One Way Or Another?

Now, I want to say, I don’t think that any version of player interaction is particularly bad or should be avoided. But I think that some maybe are more polarizing. Especially when it comes to positive or negative interactions. Mainly from two camps, “I don’t want to help others” or “I don’t like it when a game is mean to me”.

Both of them do, I think, have their place. And generally their space is on the opposite end of the spectrum. If I play a short game, I am more fine with negative interactions. Why, because the game is over fast, and the same with two player games. You are mean to me, I am mean to you. That is the expectation and there is no ganging up on someone. When it is a higher player count or longer game, that is less palatable because someone might be ganged up on and then be playing catch up for two hours.

On the flip side, I think positive interaction works better in longer and higher player count games. Firstly, at a higher player count it can help shorten the game. And in the example of New Frontiers and Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition, every player is engaged throughout the game. But I like that for a longer game because it keeps you from getting stuck behind or ganged up on.

Final Thoughts

I don’t think there is a right way or wrong way to do player interactions. And each way works, depending on the game. I think that some of them are better than others in certain situations though, and as a game designer or player, you need to know what makes sense for a game or for you.

Don’t add in a few negative interaction cards because that is what games do. Or as a player, don’t pick a game you can tell has take that cards if that doesn’t work for your group. Know your game and your group to create the right gaming experience.

But let me know your favorite games with all the different types of interaction.

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Catch up on previous videos here

100 through 91
90 through 81

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – 80 through 71

80. Flamecraft

• Published by Cardboard Alchemy in 2022
• Deliver on the most goals and score points as you play out adorable little dragons who help around the town

This game immediately grabs you with the artwork. The dragons are amazing, and Sandara Tang gives each of them such great personality. Beyond that the game is simple but fun, you go to a location and are either activating the cards and dragons there, or adding some, or spending resources to complete goals. As the locations get more and more dragons the more powerful they become. It’s a great ramping mechanism for a simple game. Though the game is not fast one, which might be my only knock on it.

Buy Flamecraft

79. Just One

• Published by Repos Productions in 2018
• Work together to get the guesser to the right answer with just one word

A party game on this section. I’m not sure, I expect that there are two more party games on the list, but we’ll see. I honestly have forgotten. But Just One is a great cooperative party game. One person is the guesser and everyone else needs to write down a one word clue to get the guesser to guess their one word. Sounds simple, right, but if you double up with anyone, now both those words are gone. That means that an easy clue can become very hard very fast. So you want to be obscure with your clue, but not so obscure that it won’t lead the person to the right answer.

Buy Just One

78. On Tour

• Published by BoardGameTables.com (AllPlay) in 2019
• Create the best route for your band to tour the map going from low to high numbers

This one is a fun roll and write. While I love a ton of roll and write games where they have a lot of combos, this one is a different type of puzzle. In On Tour two dice are rolled and players each place the numerical combinations on two spots on their board. But there are rules as to where they can go. And you may want to watch the city to gain bonus points, but if it won’t connect well to your route, is it worth it to push your luck?

Buy On Tour

77. Mythwind

• Published by Open Owl Studios in 2023
• Build up your settlement and play your mini game in this cozy gaming experience

Open Owl Studios went into making Mythwind with the plan of making a cozy game. So something that works well like a Stardew Valley or an Animal Crossing. They do that by creating a peaceful story world to play in, there are interesting elements to it though. And then each person plays their own little minigame. I demonstrate what the minigame for the farmer looks like. And One Stop Co-op Shop and Meet Me At The Table play some of the other ones. It’s just a unique feeling game that is fun, and relaxing to play.

Preorder Mythwind

76. Betrayal at House on the Hill

• Published by Avalon Hill in 2004
• Explore a haunted house but beware, someone is going to be come the traitor

This is a game that I still love though I haven’t played it in a few years. I fully recognize that the game has issues. When you sit down to play you know that the haunt may not work as planned because either the traitor is going to be overpowered or the other survivors will be. And the haunts themselves have janky rules. But I still love the game anyways because it’s thematic, silly, and just a fun time.

Buy Betrayal at House on the Hill 3rd Edition

75. Clever 4Ever

• Published by Schmidt Spiele in 2022
• Another combotastic game in the Clever line of roll and writes

I don’t know what else to say about this one. Clever 4Ever offers a ton of fun combos and a few different feeling sections of your sheet. How Wolfgang Warsch keeps on coming up with different and interesting ways to handle rolling five dice, using one, getting rid of lower ones and then rolling them again, I don’t know. But he does and this one is great, I especially like the sections where you can fill in different shapes depending on the number rolled. That element really feels different.

Clever 4Ever is either new to my Top 100 Games (of all time) this year or it just made the cut last year. I know I hadn’t had the game for long.

Buy Clever 4Ever

74. SpellBook

• Published by Space Cowboys in 2023
• Learn spells and feed your familiar to get the most points

This is a really simple game. All it is when you boil it down is set collection. You collect materia, you get enough of a color, you learn that spell. Then you use that spell you learned to collect more materia or learn new spells easier. Each spell you learn gives you points, or you can just feed the materia to your familiar for more points as well. The is fast, and there is a fun puzzle as to how you can optimize your spell usage as you get into the game.

Buy SpellBook

73. Century: Golem Edition

• Published by Plan B Games in 2017
• Get crystals, upgrade crystals and get golems to give you points

Another engine building game. Century: Golem Edition again, like SpellBook, has quick snappy turns. In this game it’s all about hand management and using those cards in hand to get more and upgrade crystals. Then you use those crystals to grab Golems that are going to score you points. But you literally just play a card, trade crystals for a golem, pick-up all your cards, or buy a new card. One of those things on a turn and the game just flies.

Buy Century: Golem Edition

72. New Frontiers

• Published by Rio Grande Games in 2018
• Build out the grandest space empire by doing the best action for you

New Frontiers is another engine building game. In New Frontiers you are doing it at a space level though, colonizing new planets, getting new technologies, fighting and conquering planets. All of that done through action selection where what action you pick gives you a bonus. But, everyone else is going to follow along with that action as well. So what is the best action for you and maybe not a great one for other players? I believe that New Frontiers is new to my Top 100 Games (of all time) as well though it isn’t a new game.

Buy New Frontiers

71. Meadow

• Published by Rebel Studio in 2021
• Create a beautiful tableau of nature through tricky card drafting

Meadow is another gorgeous game. I start out and end this section with beautiful games. In Meadow you want to score points by playing out creatures, taking pictures, and gaining trinkets. But to do that you need to build up your meadow from the land type up through bugs and maybe eventually all the way into deer, foxes, or other creatures. How you pick the cards you get is great. You use a fence post that tells you how far into a row or column you are picking. So you need to determine the best spots to play to get all the cards that you want and hope no one blocks you.

Buy Meadow

Final Thoughts

Firstly, let me know what your favorite of these games are. I obviously enjoy all of the tones in my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition, so Meadow needs to be my favorite. But in terms of easily getting it to the table, I’m kind of feeling a big old stream and playthrough of all the clever games on Malts and Meeples. And let me know if there is one that you would want to get played as well that you haven’t tried in my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition.

Join me next week for the next batch of games in my Top 100 Games. It’ll be starting around 9 PM Central on Wednesday if everything goes as planned. You can subscribe and click the notification bell to get notified when the video goes live. Thanks so much for watching.

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How To Play New Frontiers

The game is all about building up an engine to generate points. You do that by developing technologies, gathering and converting goods, and settling colonies. To do that you are doing one of several actions in the game hoping to build the best engine to get the most points. And each action is better for you, if you take the action. But everyone get’s to follow along and do it as well, there is just a benefit for you.

The game ends one of several ways. But the most common ways, that I’ve seen, are people settling planets or developing enough technologies. If you push either of them over past their limit the game is wrong to end at the end of that round of turns. Or you might end the game by running out of explorers to settle planets or victory points from the pool.

The Actions

Let’s talk a bit about the actions. They are the core of the game because that’s how you determine what is being done. On each players turn they pick an action to do. And that action generally has a benefit to the player if they are the one doing it.

There is a main core group of actions that you might take. And there are some additional actions as well, but there is what I would consider kind of a central loop of actions. Develop, produce, trade/consume, explore, and settle make up that core set of actions. There are additional actions that move you up in priority order, and add objectives for everyone to score to the game. But those are more minor actions that players take.

Develop

Developing is all about building out the new technologies. If you select that, you get a dollar discount as well, so it’s a benefit to be the one taking it. The technologies help in all of the other areas I’m going to mention. So what they are doing for you really depends on what you want to do in the areas below.

And as you gain more credits you can purchase more expensive and better technologies or discoveries. Including 9 cost ones which can provide a significant amount of your scoring if you’ve built and engine that leans into one of them.

Produce

The production action is kind of what you think it would be. It’s your chance to produce goods. Some of the planets produce goods, some produce windfall goods (only when you settle) and others don’t produce.

The goods come in different varieties. There are more expensive and less expensive goods. Though which good shows up more often on the planets, that I feel like is pretty evenly balanced. The development tiles, though, tend to offer more points or benefits for the less expensive ones.

Trade/Consume

Trade and Consume is all about taking those resources you got and turning them into points and money. You are always able to trade in a good for money. But that is only for a single good, not for as many as you want.

If you want to deal with more that you’ve produced, then you need to be able to consume. Consuming a good is one of the ways where you can gather points. Most goods have planets or development tiles that you can consume a good for a dollar and a point. So it might be less efficient in getting money, but a solid way to get points.

Explore

So how do you get the planets? That’s with the explore action, as you explore them, you aren’t settling them, you’re just finding planets that you want to add to your empire, by which I mean your engine. You pull seven (base game) or eight (with expansion out). And then in turn order, starting from the player who chose the action, you select a planet. The bonus is that the player who chose the action gets to select an additional planet.

Settle

Finally, in that core set of actions is settle. Settling is settling the planets that you’ve explored. Only once a planet is settled is it able to start producing or do you get it’s power. You need explorers to be able to settle. So if you take the settle action you gain a free explorer.

Everyone gets the rest of the options. You might take two explorers. Or the other option is that you can settle a planet. You either need to spend the credits and explorers to settle. Or you need to have enough military and explorers to settle. Planets either take one or two explorers to settle.

Level of Luck

I think that this is useful to talk about. I didn’t mention how you pick which planets are in the pool to explore from. And exploring is where the most luck shows up in the game. You draw out planets, it’s possible for it to lean heavily towards planets that need miliary or completely away from that. If your engine is built in a particular direction, that might not work for what you need.

But that’s about the level of luck. And the game, I’d say, if you explore, or that action is taken maybe 8-9 times in a game, you maybe have a single time where there isn’t something for you. So the luck level is pretty low.

I even have gone with a strategy that is all about developing. With that one, I was barely even needing to explore. My engine was just on the technologies. And those are all face up, so I could come up with a strategy that made a lot of sense and with basically zero luck. Once I was able to produce and consume at all, when other people took those actions, I was set.

Strategy Mix

I like how the game offers different strategies to play around with. For some paths it’s all about gaining military and once you get enough, it’s easy to conquer and settle almost any planet. I also, like I mention above, went with a strategy that didn’t care what planets I got. Generally, though, your starting planet is going to determine your initial leaning. And as long as the first couple of explores support it, it’s very possible to build up different strategies.

Some strategies, though, are harder than others. Some of them require specific keywords to really work. You get more points if you own planets with the word “uplift” on them, or you are best at fighting “rebels”. Generally these planets offset their rarity by offering more scoring. But the more specialized it is, the more potential for just a bad draw of planets.

Who Is New Frontiers For?

I think it’s for people who maybe wanted a slightly different experience or another experience like Race for the Galaxy, Roll for the Galaxy, Jump Drive, and Ares Expedition (not in the series of games). If you love the engine building and just want more this one is for you. It also offers a bit slower pace of play than some of the other ones on the list, while still being notably faster than Ares Expedition. But, I guess the simple way to put it is people who like engine building games.

Final Thoughts on New Frontiers

I do like engine building games. I was worried after two plays about the diversity of the strategy of New Frontiers. Then my third game I got set-up to go all in on development and that went great. The game is an interesting balance of trying to do everything, but the further in you get the more focused you want to be.

The one thing that I’d love in this game is to be able to build up an engine a bit longer. I’m not sure how to stretch the game out more, though. I often feel like my engine is just clicking for a couple of rounds before the game ends. Though, that is a nice thing about a good engine building game. You never feel like you’re just taking the same action because it makes the engine run best. Instead once you’re to that point or about to that point the game ends.

And I do like how New Frontiers has multiple end of game triggers. I think that handing out all the victory points path might be the hardest, we’ve seen all the others done. So I like how that works, and I do believe that victory points are possible to do. It just requires building a victory point engine versus a money engine or a settling planets engine.

Do you like New Frontiers?

My Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B-

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