It’s worth noting before I start that some of these games were “Gen Con releases”. They were available prior to Gen Con at other sources but Gen Con was the first convention that they were widely at in the United States.

My Gen Con Haul

Tricky Kids

The first three are going to be the ones that a friend picked up from Gen Con for me. Tricky Kids is a trick taking game. The twist on this trick taking game is that the cards do not have numbers on them. Instead when you get your hand of seven cards you write down the numbers, which need to total up to 21 points.

There is more than that as well. As you play out the tricks, the points you get are from the chips that you take. And you know what order those chips are going to come out in. So while everything might give you some points, you may want to avoid winning a trick in hopes of taking a trick later in the hand. This just sounds brain burning and fun.

Slam Throne

Slam Throne is pogs. Yup, it’s as simple as that, but it’s pogs with the Dice Throne theme. I believe it was four characters who were released, granted you don’t know who you get. This one just looks like silly fun and that is what drew me into it. Plus I love Dice Throne so I want to support the company when they make a product that I think looks fun. Is it going to be great, I doubt it, but sometimes fun is just what you want.

First-Class Letters

I like roll and write games. But First-Class Letters is not like the typical roll and write game. This is a word game with roll and write elements to it. It’s about creating words and putting them in order. But each time you roll letters you get more points for using all three of the letters. But there is always a letter that you cannot use, and as you can guess that’s generally a vowel.

To add to that you need to put your words in alphabetical order. That might not be too hard, but as you get down to it, you become more and more limited as gaps between letters start to shrink. And at the beginning of the game you seed three spots with starting letters, so that can add to the challenge as well. I think this sounds like a ton of fun, though I can see why some people may not like it because it is a word game.

Trinket Trove

From the same company as First-Class Letters, though I didn’t get this one picked up for me at Gen Con, is Trinket Trove. Trinket Trove is a set collection game. But to collect cards you need to bid to draft them. The twist on this is that as you bid to draft cards, the more cards you bid, the sooner you go. But also, the cards that you bid are now a pile of cards that someone else can take. The set collection aspect looks simple, so it is the bidding that really excites me for this game.

No Loose Ends

Also from the same company, which is GameHead, we have No Loose Ends. No Loose Ends is a trick taking game where you want to win certain types of tricks. How do you determine that, well, you use cards from your hand to indicate what type of trick you are going to take. I like this balancing act as it’s a twist on the normal bidding. I need to decide if I can win a blue trick or two but I need to play out two blue cards are bids, for example. That sounds like a fun trick taking twist to me.

Vantage

Vantage from Stonemaier Games is one of the ones that was released before Gen Con. And I pre-ordered it before Gen Con. But this is an open world adventure game. You get a mission to complete as a group at the start of the game. And then you get dropped into a world.

This is a game where you can win, but it’s more about the experience. What is the world like, what adventures will you go on? I also hear that it is better in that one to maybe three player range. And that is because while it is engaging to be part of the story at the table, it is downtime between turns. So I like it for a one off sandbox game when I want to play an open world game.

Otter

Otter is one that wasn’t on my radar going into Gen Con. It is only because of hearing about it that I pre-ordered this one, or late pledged it, on crowdfunding. Otter is a card shedding game. By that I mean you want to empty your hand completely. But if you don’t, you draw back up and try again.

Each otter has a head and tail that are give you a rule. So it might be something like the next card you play is two or less different from the previous card and it is of the fish suit. If you match both things you can keep on playing on that one until you only match one of the two. And there are three otters in play, so you want to try and match all of them.

I like the sound of this one because it sounds simple to learn but tricky to play.

Tag Team

This one the Man vs Meeple channel was the one that brought it to my attention. The game is interesting because it is what is known as an autobattler. That means that you have your two heroes and your opponent has two and the cards just battle themselves. That is not something that sounds like a great game there.

The trick is what as you start you have two cards. You battle both of them out. Then you draw three more cards and you add one of them to your deck. You don’t rearrange the cards in your deck, but you add that one and you decide, do I add it at the top, middle or bottom. Effectively when will cards activate. As you start to know your opponents card you ask yourself, when are they going to activate their big attack, and can I block that time. But they know that, so do they adjust where it is in the deck when they add a new card above it, or keep it in the same spot?

Ace of Spades

Finally is Ace of Spades. I won’t say too much on this one because I already wrote a review for it. You can read the review for Ace of Spades here. Devir has another hit game and one that sold out really fast each day at Gen Con. This is a solo or two player game where you battle a boss by playing out poker hands. It is easy to learn and play but offers some fun challenges as you go along.

The one thing that I think keeps this from being more so for everyone is that it is somewhat lucky. Yes you can manipulate your hand with discards and draws, but sometimes you might not be able to beat the boss just because you drew poorly. I still love the game and think that it’s a very good game with fun mechanisms and a great theme.

Final Thoughts

Clearly without going to Gen Con you can still find Gen Con games. And I love that Devir put Ace of Spades on a free shipping sale during Gen Con. So if you were at the show you could stand in line to buy it or you could just order it. And since I wasn’t, I still could get it at Gen Con prices like I had picked it up there. I hope more companies, when they can, follow suit with that. Makes me feel better when I can’t go.

Out of these games that I haven’t played, I think I am most excited for Tag Team. I love the sound of that game and the characters all look cool. But I want to play all of them. And so many of them offer interesting twists on what you do in the game. What is the Gen Con release that you are most excited about playing or did you pick-up?

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100 through 91 here.

90 through 81 here.

80 through 71 here.

70 through 61 here.

60 through 51 here.

50 through 41 here.

40 through 31 here.

30 through 21 here.

Top 100 Games 2022 Edition – 20-11

20. Lords of Hellas

Lords of Hellas is big game from Awaken Realms, and one of their first games. So that doesn’t mean it isn’t without some rough edges but it’s a game that I really enjoy. It offers so much for you to do, you can go questing, fight monsters, build temples and monuments, or try and take over area in the game. And all of them give you some benefit and can help you win the game.

And that is one of the really cool things with Lords of Hellas. The game gives you a lot of ways to win it. That means that every player isn’t going after the same objective, or they might be, but that’s not from lack of options. You can win by taking over two large areas. Or you win by holding five temple spaces. And if a monument if fully built, whoever at the end of three turns is holding it wins the game. Or, if you defeat three of the monsters you can win.

As you play, also, your goal might change. Because you get more powers and those help develop a strategy for how you want to play the game. The first time that I played, I think all the players were within a turn or two of winning.

Buy on Game Nerdz

19. Spire’s End

Spire’s End is a dark choose your own adventure game with combat. And really a pretty simple game as you make choices, you fight combats and you really hope that you don’t die too quickly. As it is a challenging game. But I really enjoy the story in the game. The idea of a spire showing up, town folks have gone missing, and now you need to explore this mysterious thing to see if you can find them is great.

Plus the dice combat works, it is not the most complex game. But the dice combat is fun as you try and figure out when you push, using energy which is your life, for a bigger attack in hopes that the enemy won’t be attacking you. And of course, there is still a chance that attack will just straight up miss anyways.

Buy on Favro

18. Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler

Now we’re onto one of my top roll and write games, not my top one, but close. And this is one that I’ve played a lot on Malts and Meeples. Paper Dungeons is a “dungeon scrawler” their words not mine. What that means is that each player is delving into a dungeon, leveling up their adventuring party, crafting items, fighting monsters and everything you’d do in a dungeon crawler. And it even has a campaign.

Now the campaign is nothing to write home about, but Paper Dungeons is a nice level of complex. Do you want to spend your time leveling up your heroes and just making it to the boss monsters to fight them that way, or is racing around the dungeon, taking damage and getting loot the way to go. Well that might depend on cards that you’ve gotten so the whole system just works. I just wish the campaign were a bit more.

Buy on Game Nerdz

17. ICECOOL

Icecool has dropped slightly on my list, but that’s mainly because there are so many good games. Plus, Icecool is my favorite dexterity game. You are flicking penguins around trying to get fish. And you are doing that trying to avoid the one hall monitor who is out to get you. The game is simple, flick your penguin, get them through a door and get points. But it is always a grand old time when I play it.

I also like that like Pitchcar you get excited when someone makes a good shot. So it’s never hyper competitive, well, maybe it was for a few people at the North American championships in 2019. But most of us even for a tournament with a pretty awesome prize were just having fun with it. It’s a great try to win game, but I never feel bad if I’m not winning.

Buy on Amazon

16. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

Now onto a bigger game, Ares Expedition, which they might just be calling it now, borrows from another game. But it’s a great pretty fast playing space epic game of terraforming Mars. All you are doing is building up a tableau of cards in front of you to then trigger things that raise the temp, oxygen level, and basically make the planet habitable by the end of the game.

But the cool thing is how actions are chosen. Each player chooses an action at the same time. And whomever picks the action, multiple people can, do it and get a bonus. If you didn’t pick that action, you still can do it, just without the bonus. So everyone is involved throughout the whole of the game.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

15. Hanamikoji

Now onto a two player game. Hanamikoji is a push and pull as players try to win the favor of either four Geisha or 11 total points worth of Geisha. All done through simple but fun card interaction. In fact, there are only four actions you do during the game, but it creates an amazing puzzle as you play.

You either pick a card to keep for winning favor, discard two that no one will use, put out three options and your opponent picks one. Or put out two sets of two options and your opponent picks one. So at the start of the game you are feeling out your opponent to see what they might have in their hand. At the end, you hope that you’ve saved the right action to give you a shot to win. I think it works so well because sometimes you might have to give your opponent what they need, but you get the information that you need.

Buy on Miniature Market

14. Railroad Ink

Final roll and write game on the list and it’s easily my favorite. I really like Railroad Ink or Railroad Ink Challenge. And I need to play it more and more with the expansions for it. But Railroad Ink is a route building game where you are connecting road and rail connections at the edge of your board to complete massive routes and score points.

I know that some people don’t like the Railroad Ink Challenge version as well because it adds in some to the game. It gives you challenges that you need to complete, or should, for more points. Now they don’t always work out but it’s fun when they do. And I like it because it adds variety to the game without adding in a complete additional rule set with the expansions.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

13. Destinies

Now we’re getting into games that I’d consider my bread and butter. That is not a knock against the other games, I think that Destinies is just the type of game that I write about and talk about more. Why, because it is a bigger campaign feeling game.

In Destinies you are trying to complete your destiny faster in a story driven game. And that is cool and unique about the game as most story driven games are cooperative. But you are trying to get yours done first and shape the story around you, at least for that session. And then it strings together a series of stories, not too many, to tell a bigger experience in the game.

I also really appreciate the simplicity of the game. There is a great app that handles the story element. But beyond that, how you do and manage skill checks is great. You are spending dice, you always have two and can add more that refresh over time, to do a check. If you don’t get it, you lose out on information, if you do, it progresses. But it’s not just a roll to see if you beat a number it’s a roll to see how many success you get. Because you have markers on your stats, and how every many you match or beat number wise, you get. It’s a simple system but one that works well.

Buy on Miniature Market

12. Sleeping Gods

And another big story game, and another one that shouldn’t work as well as it does. That is not a slight to anyone more so that the game is really impressive. Sleeping Gods is a story driven open world game. You go into it not knowing what to do, other than find some totems and that’s your quest. And to create a compelling story is tricky in a setting like that, but Sleeping Gods does that.

It also is not just a one time game because of it. I went off several different directions on the map. But I didn’t go anywhere to the east, I didn’t delve into the dungeons much and I didn’t go to the south much. In fact, I probably have 75-80% of the world left to explore. That makes Sleeping Gods an easy game to come back to and explore the story of it again and again.

Buy on Amazon

(or I’d recommend checking out Sleeping Gods over on Gamefound and getting it with the new version there)

11. Clank! In! Space!

And wrapping up this section before we get to the Top 10, we have Clank! In! Space!. A deck building push your luck game set in space. This also counts for Clank! as well, and I wish for Clank! Legacy, but that’s one I still need to get to the table.

In Clank! In! Space! you are building up your deck to move as efficiently around a spaceship as possible. All the while you know that you’ll be making noise, clank, so that when cubes are added to and pulled from a bag, you are going to start losing your health. Think the bad guys finding you when your color is pulled.

Plus the game has good humor in it. It knows that it’s a silly game and it leans into the space themes and tropes. So you’ll recognize the characters you are finding on the ship, or at least have an idea of some of the different sci-fi properties that it references. Clank! In! Space! is just a good deck building game that offers more to do than just deck building.

Not Available. But Checkout Clank Catacombs coming soon.

Upcoming Streams

So, only planned stream and I know that this is late coming out because of the holidays, but tonight we have 10 through 1.

Join me live for this finale of my Top 100 Games. Let me know what games make it into your Top 10 (of all time) 2022 Edition. And just for a good time in general to talk about board games and what we love about them.

Then on Wednesday, we’re getting to the holiday season. So I am not starting another big box campaign until the start of 2023, but we’ll be highlighting some and then playing smaller games leading up to that. So join me on Wednesday as I start that process.

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Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven, and I’ll include Jaws of the Lion, is going to be a campaign game for the person who wants a lot of control over what they are doing. The card play in Gloomhaven is great and really smart. I love picking two cards, one to use the top of and the other to use the bottom. But if I’m slower than other players or the enemies, now I need to put flexibility into what I’m doing. Gloomhaven also provides great character progression. It isn’t too fast so you learn and can use and enjoy the new cards but then be gaining XP for the next new card.

I also think that Gloomhaven, the big box, works well for players who like the change it up. You retire a character after some time. You’ll hit your secret goal and it’ll be time to retire them and move on. If you get really attached to a character or a way to play the game, Gloomhaven won’t be for you. It is better for a game that changes everything up as you get new characters with how you play them.

Sword & Sorcery

As compared to Gloomhaven, Sword and Sorcery is light and small. Now it’s still a big box with a lot of minis in the box. But Sword and Sorcery is all about the dice chucking. The story is pretty light, the decision making space in where the story goes really doesn’t exist. But when it comes to optimizing how many dice you can have and roll, Sword & Sorcery does that.

Stars of Akarios

Stars of Akarios is an interesting hybrid. I would say that this game is for people who want something like Gloomhaven, though the game is very different, but set in space. You can watch game play here. But this is going to be your big space epic game, and probably the biggest space campaign game, at least until ISS Vanguard comes out soon.

But this is also the game for the person who wants a little bit of everything. There is some choose your own adventure. Tactical space combat and then space and planet exploration. So really a little bit of everything that you could do. And they manage to make all of them work, though you need to be in for the space combat because that is the biggest piece.

Pandemic Legacy

This is one I’d say three introductory campaign games. And Pandemic Legacy is a legacy game on top of that. This one, though, might be the best, because in Pandemic Legacy Season 1, if you’ve played Pandemic, you can basically jump in and play the game. If not, it’s an easy teach and a cooperative game.

This is really just a story driven version of Pandemic. It does introduce rules as you go along. But it ramps up players slowly. So if you know someone who is interested at all in gaming, this is a great option to start.

Tainted Grail

Moving to the other extreme, this is not introductory friendly. There are rules you kind of need to look up to figure out what is going on. And there will be situations where the rules maybe don’t explain everything. But Tainted Grail offers some of the best story experience I’ve had in a game.

The story is dark, the story is adult. And the game has a strong survival element as well. I really recommend this one on story mode. The game is still very hard at times. There are going to be combats where you just look at it and run away. But when you dive into the story, it is just so good. So much depth to the world and every expansion gives even more story that is just amazing.

Charterstone

Charterstone is a euro campaign game. It’s one that I think euro players will like, it is a campaign game, and it adds in things. I also think that Charterstone is also a good one for a budding euro player. It’s pretty simple to start and definitely adds in a lot as you go along.

The story for me on Charterstone is very weak, and I honestly thing it pretends too much with it. But the game play is solid. It is a good euro game. And for a legacy game, you can still it after. They even offer a recharge pack, as does the next one on the list as well. But I don’t know what I’d want it.

Aeon’s End Legacy

Aeon’s End Legacy is another one with a weaker story to it. But a story that I sound fun. You can watch the whole of the game over on Malts and Meeples, I’ll put the first part down below. But if you like deck building or are interested, this is a great spot to start.

I also think that this is a great game for players who want to make their own character. As a legacy game it allows you to build up your breach mage with the cards you want the way you want. Other games allow you to customize somewhat, here you really get so much choice over that. Deck building helps provide some of that, but also with the powers you get, it works nicely as well.

My City

Another legacy game on the list and another one that is really easy to get to the table. It is a tile laying game where everyone has their own set of tiles and a card if flipped over to determine which one to put down. There are additional rules that are added as you play further into the game, but it is never too much.

This is also a great campaign or legacy game for people who don’t have that much time. Or don’t have a big block of time. It’s easy to pull out and play a game that takes maybe 30 minutes. Then you do that again two nights later, and so on and it’ll never take you that long to be back up and running.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Another one that I played on Malts and Meeples. This one is kind of like Aeon’s End Legacy, but instead of deck building through game play, this offers deck construction. So if you like optimizing your character to be good at some things, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is good for that.

I also think that this works well for maybe the person who doesn’t have time to play Pathfinder. If you’ve played Pathfinder and done the adventures, you’ll get more into the story, recognize characters and places. But it’s less of a commitment than jumping into another campaign and planning out 3 hours every week or two to play, at least.

Paper Dungeons

Paper Dungeons is an odd one on the list. It is technically a campaign game, you play through cards with monsters to fight. But it doesn’t need to be, it can be a one off. Nor do I think the campaign is all that great. But if you really like roll and write games, and Paper Dungeons is a very good roll and write game, this is going to give you a heftier roll and write to play. And also one that I played on Malts and Meeples.

Sleeping Gods

Alright, one more that is on Malts and Meeples. Sleeping Gods is for the player who wants a weird fantasy world but also wants to be able to do whatever they want. All the other campaigns on the list give you a general order of doing things. Some might have side missions but generally they’re about the main story that is going through.

Sleeping Gods gives you fun card play and a lot of interesting powers and decisions. Now, I’d recommend that you get the sequel one, it’s coming out sometime probably next year. It’ll make a few things cleaner, like not having to control as many characters. But the one you can get now is great as well and the story tends to be one of the lighter ones and more fun. And the story works as well which is impressive with no real direction.

Risk Legacy

Another legacy game on the list and only one more after this one before the list is finished off. But Risk Legacy is going to be for the person who likes that in your face game. But whereas Risk can be annoying and take forever. In Risk Legacy the games are much faster, so it’s also for the person who likes that in your face but finds Risk way to long. I’m one of those people, so this one is a lot of fun when you want something very competitive.

Seafall

Finally, I had to put it on the list because I technically did play probably half of it or a bit more. This one I don’t really recommend. I think that there are elements of the game that work but most don’t. If you go back to Sleeping Gods where I talk about open world, that one tells a great story in spite of that. Seafall is also open world but it doesn’t tell a good story.

Also the games are just too long, so I really don’t recommend it for that. The longer you play the higher the points get, plus you unlock things so that means there is even more to think about. I want this to be so much better than it is, it had potential and it just falls flat.

Final Thoughts

13 campaign games on the list. And I thought about adding in Arkham Horror the Card Game, and when I get around to a campaign box for Marvel Champions. So clearly I love campaign games, but like I said, not all of them are for everyone.

If you are looking to dive into a campaign game, I really recommend probably three games as my top choices. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a great small box version of Gloomhaven. And it’ll give you the exact same game just with less stuff and less cost. Pandemic Legacy is a good one to jump into as well because a lot of people know Pandemic. Start with Season 1 and it’ll be an easy way to see how much you like legacy games and campaign games. And finally, I think that if you want something bigger and maybe a bit more challenging, I recommend Sleeping Gods. I like it solo, but I think most people will like it at three players.

But let me know what your favorite campaign games are? And how do you play them?

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