Top 100 Games (of all time) – 20 through 11

20. For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game

Published By: Side Room Games
Designer: Wilhelm Su

Buy For Northwood!

A solo trick-taking game seems like it shouldn’t work. But For Northwood! works really well. It’s a simple trick taker, you need to follow suit if you can. But the twist is that you need to win a specific number of tricks each time. You play over eight rounds and need to win between 0 and 7 tricks, exactly. That sounds impossible, but you get powers that help you manipulate your hand. It’s always a question of, which one do you go for, in terms of tricks to win, and as you get further along, can get manipulate your hand to make it work.

19. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Published By: Fantasy Flight Games
Designers: Michael Boggs, Nate French, and Caleb Grace

Buy Marvel Champions

I love Marvel and this is the game that gives me the Marvel feel to it. You are a superhero and you want to stop the bad guys scheme and defeat them. But, thematically, when you are in your hero form the bad guy is going to fight you and you take damage. So you need to manage going between your superhero and alter ego form so you don’t get hit. Of course as your alter ego, the villains are going to be scheming away. And you can create all sorts of fun combinations of heroes and villains to face off.

18. Floriferous

Published By: Pencil First Games
Designers: Eduardo Baraf and Steve Finn

Buy Floriferous

This game is one that I think is really overlooked in the gaming community. It’s a clever drafting game that does two very interesting things. The first thing is how scoring works. You don’t have much scoring that just happens, instead you draft your scoring cards. So there is always a choice between, do I draft more flowers or do I draft scoring cards. The other is how the drafting works, and this it maybe a bigger twist. You draft from a column, how high you are in the column determines when you draft next round. So it’s very possible you want to draft a less ideal card to get a perfect card.

17. Stars of Akarios

Published By: OOMM (Open Owl Studios)
Designers: Brendan McCaskell, Jonathan Thwaites

Buy Stars of Akarios

I love my big campaign games, and Stars of Akarios is one of my favorites. This one works so well for me with the tactical space combat, the planetary exploration, and a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The tactical space combat really shines in the game as you use your dice to position your ship, attack, and avoid the enemies the best you can. And the exploration is a bit like The 7th Continent/Citadel where you flip over cards and create a map and really explore as you go.

16. Clank!: Catacombs

Published By: Dire Wolf
Designer: Paul Dennen

Buy Clank! Catacombs

While i just did sell all of my other Clanks, this Clank! Catacombs spot is for all of them. Clank! is a push your luck game where you build up a deck of cards to get into a catacombs, in this case, and get out with the most points and best treasure that you can. Of course, if you are too noisy doing that, you clank, and when the enemy activates it might knock down your health. So it’s this push your luck in making noise, and going deeper. I like, too, with Clank! Catacombs, the map gets built as you go, so the board really is different every time.

15. Roll Player Adventures

Published By: Thunderworks Games
Designers: Keith Matejka, James William Ryan, and Peter Andrew Ryan

Buy Roll Player Adventures

Another big campaign game here with Roll Player Adventures. This one is all about dice manipulation and a fun story. I had a great time playing through the first campaign, and the additional one that I have, I need to get to the table. The system works well, though I will say, with four players it becomes a bit easier than at lower player counts. But the simple map movement, the story, the skill checks and of course combat and leveling up make this a fun time.

14. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game

Published By: Office Dog
Designer: Bryan Bommueller

Buy The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game

I like trick-taking games. Not a ton make it to my Top 100 games mainly because a lot feel similar. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is one that is different. Yes, it leans into a lot of standard things, but it’s also cooperative and story based. There are other cooperative ones out there, but the story based feels unique. Especially because this closely follows the books, so you get to chapters with Goldberry and Tom Bombadil as required characters which is fun. And the cooperative elements are challenging for the game.

13. Pirates of Maracaibo

Published By: dlp games
Designers: Ralph Bienert, Ryan Hendrickson, and Alexander Pfister

Buy Pirates of Maracaibo

The second of three new games on this part of the lit in a row. Pirates of Maracaibo is a pirate resource management game. I normally would want it to have more adventure, but this one is a ton of fun. I love building up my ship and seeing what strategy of building up ship, getting treasure, exploring, and competing quests can lead to victory. And it is great because all of them feel good to do. It isn’t a game where I feel like I need to go one way, though, I think some ways are more consistent.

12. Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game

Published By: Brotherwise Games
Designer: John D. Clair

By Mistborn The Deck Building Game

Another deckbuilding game on the list here with Mistborn. And I like Mistborn just a bit better than Clank! because of a little more pure deck building. But also it has a lot of fun elements to the game. It leans into Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn world and let’s you burn metals to play cards. I also like the turn track, you always bump up in power as you go up the track. This makes for a really great experience of feeling like the game is ramping up.

11. Sleeping Gods

Published By: Red Raven Games
Designer: Ryan Laukat

Buy Sleeping Gods

The final game on the list is another big one, though not a campaign game. Sleeping Gods is a sand box story game where you are dropped into an unknown world and need to find and deal with totems. Of course, it’s a new land, so you don’t know where those are. And there are monsters and other interesting things to deal with. You need to control 9 crew, but really, it’s one turn and you just need to remember a few key abilities as you play. So it sounds like a lot, either cooperative or solo, but it’s not too bad.

Join Next Week

Just as a reminder, I am streaming new videos most Wednesdays. Let me know what you want to see me play next on Wednesdays after this list is done. You can subscribe to the channel and click notify to know whenever a new video comes out. Currently I am playing through Legendary Kingdoms on Monday and then my wife and I are playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on Fridays. So join us for those videos.

And thank you for checking out the video and articles. Let me know what your favorite game from this chunk of 10 is and which one you would love to get played.

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Gamefound Summer Feast

Go On Board – The Witcher Legacy

Holy Hell in a HANDBASKET! I’m 100% in already. I don’t care about anything else. It’s a legacy Witcher game. Who wants to play it with me? You level up your character and play through story. Do we know a ton, we don’t, but I’m all in.

Follow the campaign here.

PIKA Games – A Wild Venture

This is a two player game that is an engine building game. It looks pretty cute and there are tons of two player games right now And I do like engine building and it’s also a game where you break down your engine. I am very tempted with this and if you preorder you get two free gifts as well. At about $30 USD it’s a very reasonable price.

Follow the pre-order here.

Fantasia Game – Rurik Second Edition

It’s a second edition of Rurik And it is going to update some things. And it is going to have a new expansion. So if you liked Rurik this might be one to jump in to get more. I think that Rurik is one of those try before you buy games for me.

Follow the campaign here.

Spielcraft Games – Cretaceous Rails

This is a reprint. But there is going to be an expansion as well. The theme of the game is fun, you take time traveling tourists on rails in the past to see all the dinosaurs. I hope that it’s a good game because that is the type of railroad game that I could get behind.

Follow on Gamefound here.

Addax Games – Rove Anchorpoint

This is going to be rove at a more accessible and affordable point to jump into. This is going to be like Jaws of the Lions was for Gloomhaven. A 25 encounter game which is going to make it much more accessible. I hope that this doesn’t launch until Rove is in the hands of backers. I might be interested but I want to play Rove first.

Follow Rove Anchorpoint here.

Nemesis Games – Uprising Legendary Box

This is going to be more Uprising. It is a cooperative/solo game that now offers true solo. I own this game already, so I don’t need more. But I do need to play it. This is a cooperative 4x game where all the players need to beat the enemy factions you are up against. And that is easier said than done.

Follow Uprising Legendary Box on Gamefound here.

Unstable Games – Mystic Moon

It’s a light strategy game where you are creating potions. I like a good potion creation game and it looks super cute. Really what I’m basing my thoughts on the game off of is the adorable artwork. And it is a theme that draws me in as well. I don’t know a ton about how it plays though and the page only offers so much at this point.

Follow Mystic Moon on Gamefound here.

Unstable Games – Here to Slay Dungeons

This is a cooperative dungeon crawling game. It is set in the world of Here to Slay. That is a game that I need to play. The artwork is great, and I love a good dungeon crawler. It’s interesting it is going to be three base games. But you can mix the base games together to mix up the monsters, heroes and more. I hope that the price point is very reasonable then because otherwise that gets expensive fast.

Follow Here to Slay Dungeons here.

Thundergryph Games – Galileo’s Truth

Anotehr game about Galileo. This is going to be in the scientific journey game like Darwin’s Journey. It is a deck building and a single worker. I have heard good things about Darwin’s Journey but I haven’t played that one.

Follow Galileo’s Truth here.

Meeple Pug – Byzantion

A thematic and political game. This is going to be engine building with miniatures and you need to handle events that come out. There is diplomacy, intrigue and backstabbing, which that doesn’t sound super interesting to me. Now I might be wrong, but it just founds like a lot. And a 30 minutes per player I really expect it would be a long game.

Follow Byzantion on Gamefound here.

ThisWay – Arctica

It’s an animal game where you are trying to do area control and a lot more. Plus gears, if you like wheels that is going to be interesting as you plan out turn things. I could see this being a game that works well for me and the aesthetic is sharp. Not just the artwork on the cards, but the board, pieces, and gear all look very good.

Follow Arctica here.

Eerie Idol Games – The Old King’s Crown Second Printing + Expansion

I don’t know much about the game. It sounds interesting and thematic. And it looks great in terms of artwork and components. But because of how fast things are going I didn’t get a good idea of the game. I might checkout some videos or reviews for thoughts on what people had from the first printing of the game.

Follow The Old King’s Crown on Gamefound.

Board Game Ink – Lone Wolf: Vengeance of the Kai

This is based off of a fantasy series. This is a two player strategy game as you play an epic conflict. They say that you might like it if you like Star wars; Rebellion. Aesthetically I think it looks decent. But if you want a big two player game, this could be it. And I am now interested in the series.

Follow the campaign here.

Red Raven Games – Song of Silveranth

Another big open world narrative game. I love their big open game in Sleeping Gods. It is a dark fairytale and fantasy setting. I love the idea of that setting. And it is supposed to have most of what Sleeping Gods did but it is going to be even bigger. Do I expect to back this one, 100%.

Follow the campaign for Song of Silveranth here.

Board Game Ink – X-Odus Rise of the Corruption Second Ecdition

I have heard of X-odus. It is going to be a massive upgrade from the sounds of it. They said it was going to be about 95% change. While that doesn’t mean massive changes to everything it is going to be a step up. It is a game that I want to check out so I’ll check out the first edition videos. But if the second edition really does change up a bunch, I’m still hesitant to dive into it.

Follow the campaign on Gamefound here.

Eons of Battle – The Catacombs of the Blessed Dead

More terrain. This is going to be creating a catacomb for your RPG game. It looks very nice. If you want to get it as STL’s you can. And you can get miniatures as well.

Follow on Gamefound here.

Archon Studios – Duskhollow

This is going to be vampire setting terrain. If you want gothic terrain this is going to be great for you. I love the sound of it. But I don’t need a ton of terrain taking up space as much as I want to have some. But if you want to do Ravenloft or some other gothic vampire campaign, this looks great.

Follow the campaign for Duskhollow on Gamefound here.

Game Theory Tables – The Table of Adventure

This is a board game table. It is officially licensed for D&D and has a GM side that you can create your on GM/DM spot. It looks great. But I already own a game table. If I didn’t I would definitely consider this one. I like that it is done in conjunction with D&D so they are going to be thinking about some things that you might want for a D&D game versus more general in nature.

Follow the campaign here.

Accidental Cyclops Games – Surviving Strangehollow

This a modular setting for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. It is a massive book and there is going to be a ton to checkout there. But I want to know is it for the new version of 5E. What tempts me about backing this one is all the monsters. But I don’t generally run campaigns based off of modules. So if I can just get the monsters, that would be great.

Follow the campaign on Gamefound here.

Cotswald Games – Machiavellian The City of Masks

A world of masked nobles set in another world. They say it’s like Ark Nova and Scythe mixed together. This sounds like a game where they are throwing in a lot of theme. I like the sound of mix of mechanisms for the game. And a steampunk style world is also interesting to me. But is it going to be a game that can combine everything into that elegant design they promised.

Follow Machiavellian here.

Godot Games – Yokai Forest Duel

They are making a duel game. It’s a tournament game of some sort. I’m not 100% how it is going to play because it is two to eight players. So it’s not a two player game, which is odd. But you are fighting best of three battles, looks like a fun head to head game mainly.

Follow Yokai Forest Duel on Gamefound here.

Invedars – Chants for the Old Ones

This is a new expansion and a new game. It looks interesting though I haven’t heard much about the original game. I do love a good Lovecraftian theme for a game. Plus the minis look very nice for the game as well.

Follow Chants for the Old One here.

Titan Forge – Bloodfields: Third Edition

This is a two player miniatures game. I think it looks very cool, but it’s definitely not one that I’m going to get. This is going to be new cards, lore and more in the game. If you want a minis game that is coming out with a lot of new stuff and seems to have a lot of classic fantasy, like elves and dwarves, this one might be for you.

Follow Bloodfields on Gamefound.

Final Thoughts

There are two games out of the twenty-three that are must backs for me. Witcher Legacy is obviously one of them. But then when Red Raven comes out with another open world style game, that is an easy back. As much as I love the setting for Sleeping Gods, I think a dark fairy tale setting is probably even more enjoyable for me.

But there is a bit of everything in this Gamefound Feast. It is really a feast, Whether you want terrain, an RPG module, a table, a small game or some huge games, you can find them all here. What is the game that you are most excited for?

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Catch up on my Top 100 Games (of all Time) 2023 Edition:

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61
60 through 51
50 through 41
40 through 31
30 through 21

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition – 20 through 11

20. Hanamikoji

The list, this time, starts off with a two player only game and my favorite truly two player only game. Hanamikoji is an amazing game of trying to win the favor of Geisha by giving them gifts. There are seven Geisha and each of them has a point value and equal number of gifts assigned to them. If you win the favor, give the most gifts, to four of them or eleven points, you win.

But where the game is amazing is how you hand out the gifts. Both players have four actions that they can do. And a round to see who has favor ends when both players have done all their actions. But the actions are what make the game shine.

Two of the actions are close to each other. One is to put a card face down to save it for the end of the round to give as a gift. The other is play two face down that won’t be used. Then the final two actions interact with your opponent. One is to play three cards face up and they pick one to put in front of a Geisha on their side and you get the other two. The final one is to create two groups of two cards and your opponent picks one.

Those choices are tough and I love that about the game. I even use what I play out as sometimes a way to let me opponent help me know what way to do. Or to gather information. Highly recommend this as a quick two player game.

Buy Hanamikoji

19. Cartographers

Next up is my second highest roll and write style game, and you’ll see the highest very soon. But Cartographers is a game about making maps and building it out in a way that scores you the most points. It’s odd, in theme, because you’d think you’d want all the maps to be identical, nope, not really.

But the game does two things that I really like. The first being that it has monsters, and why are monsters great, you might ask? Well, monsters are great because they are a negative to what you are doing. But it isn’t a negative that you control, it’s a negative that someone else plays on y our board. And I like that player interaction that often doesn’t exist in roll and write games. In Cartographers you got it because I want to add a monster that will mess you up.

Then the other thing is how Cartographers does the scoring. Scoring is done via seasons and each season scores two of the four areas. This isn’t that unique to Cartographers, but it is a fun twist to the game. It is also unique to roll and write games, at least the ones that I’ve come across. So in spring I score, let’s call them, A and B. Well, A isn’t going to come back around until winter when I score D and A. So there is a balance about which goals you are going for. And after summertime, B isn’t going to be scored again.

Buy Cartographers

18. Railroad Ink Challenge

And let’s go onto the top roll and write style game for me, Railroad Ink, though in particular, Railroad Ink Challenge. I love this game, and the app definitely helps, though I haven’t played it in a while. Railroad Ink is primarily about connecting railroad and road points around the edge of the board.

Railroad Ink Challenge builds upon that with a few different things. There are now stations where if you build a connection that connects roads and trains, which is a certain side of the dice, there, you get more points. And there are special sides of dice that you can use that often have those stations. Plus you get more points for traveling through the middle. And there are spots that when you cover them give you other bonuses as well. I like those additions to the game.

The one that I really like for the game, though, is the new challenge cards. The challenge cards offer different objectives on rounds three through five, that you can score. Now, you are able to score them later, but if you do that, they are worth fewer points. So it is a push to get those scores, but not too much of one to mess up your connections and longest routes because those are going to give you the most points.

Buy Railroad Ink Challenge

17. Xenoshyft

Now we’re onto the first of several games with deck building that make it towards the top of my list. I really like deck building and Xenoshyft is some of the best cooperative deck building out there. I love it for that, and for the theme which feels a whole lot like Starship Troopers as you’re fighting off wave after wave of bugs.

But let’s talk about what I really like about this deck building. There are a number of things that I cover in the video, but I’ll just hit the highlights. The first being that every turn you get money. So there is no hand where you’re not going to be able to buy a card. You will always be able to add a card, which is great because another thing I like, the cards you buy go to your hand, not into a discard for future rounds.

The other element that I really like is the amount of cooperation in the game. As you play and deal with the waves, you might end up with a hand with too many weapons or not enough troops. Well, someone can give you a troop if they have extra or to balance out the defenses better. You can pass off a weapon to someone else. They change decks they are in now. And there are consumables. I can use a consumable item, it stays in my deck, on the lane that you’re defending from the bugs just as easily as mine. So it’s a puzzle that all players work together on to solves very cooperatively.

Buy Xenoshyft

16. First Rat

Now we’re onto a game, two in row actually, that my first experience was at Gen Con in 2022. First Rat was one of the hottest games that year, and I got to play it, demo it, the very last day there. Since then it is one that has hit the table more times because of the fun theme and because it’s a thinky game, but it’s easy to play. For me, a game that makes me think but isn’t too complex to play is what I really like.

In First Rat you are rats who are trying to build rocket ships to make it to the moon, because the moon is made of cheese, obviously. To do that you need to collect resources, like baking soda, vinegar (propulsion), coffee can (fuselage), or a calculator (navigation) to build parts of the rocket. But there is more than just that going on because you are going up a track that only moves forward.

So you need to balance the speed that you go as well as pushing up other things, like lights. If you light an area that now offers doubles the resources for you. And you don’t just have one rat that goes up, you have multiple. Plus how the rats move is fun. One rat is able to move farther on a turn, but if you move two and land on the same color with both, you need to in fact, you get resources for both. It’s a fun twist and as you unlock more rats that is fun as well to figure out your engine for that game.

Buy First Rat

15. Ready Set Bet

Now the other game from Gen Con 2022 is Ready Set Bet. Ready Set Bet is not a game that immediately grabbed my attention. It’s a real time horse racing and betting game. That sounds like chaos, and in all fairness, there is a bit of chaos going on. But it is so much fun.

The game is pretty simple, one person (or an app) is calling the race. Rolling dice and moving the horses along the track. Everyone else is throwing down bets on horses to win, or get 2nd or 3rd. Plus there are other bets, that you can make. Those are going to be something like, if the 5 and 9 beat the 7 horse. Because rolling two D6, 7 is the most likely number to come up.

So how does the 7 not win the vast majority of the time? Well, because there are special rules for how horses move. All horses will move one if their number is rolled. But the less likely the number is to be rolled, the further the horse moves, if the same number is rolled twice in a row. So that can help one of those edge horses rocket up into the lead just because their number was rolled a couple of times.

I love Ready Set Bet because of that catch-up mechanism of balancing mechanism. The game is just a blast to play. And almost always a race or two throughout the game ends up with a late lead change and stand-up moments as players really want a horse to finish and with a couple of rolls they might be able to, as long as another number doesn’t come up.

Buy Ready Set Bet

14. Sleeping Gods

Now we go to a run of three bigger story driven games. The first being Sleeping Gods, and soon I’ll have Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies to add to the list as well. But this is an open world adventure and exploration game from Red Raven Games. In Sleeping Gods you can go anywhere, but you’re trying to find totems so you can get back to the real world instead of this one you blew into during a storm.

You play as the crew of the Manticore, or really as the Manticore itself. You travel around and then taking the crew to shore or other locations you interact with story. And Ryan Laukat and everyone involved did an amazing job with the story. You get to experience a chunk of it, but not too much so it’s replayable. And the story is not in any order, but the story all works because it’s exploring the world and there are a few spots where it pauses with big events no matter what.

I also like the game system. I didn’t talk about it too much in last nights video, but it is great. It’s simple in what you’re doing, spending icons, basically, a boost roles. Or some characters have icons built into them that you can use. And the combat mechanism is a bit odd, but I really enjoyed it as you try and figure out how to cover up damage spots on a monster.

Buy Sleeping Gods

13. ISS Vanguard

Now another one of the story games and another one that I played on Malts and Meeples. ISS Vanguard is an epic experience of a game. I don’t know, yet, if I can call it an adventure, but the experience of the game is amazing. Humanity has decoded coordinates hidden in human DNA for someone in the stars. So a crew has been put together to go out there, what will they find?

That’s the premise for the game and everything. Now the crew of the ISS Vanguard find themselves at those coordinates, and what they find is not what they expected. So you get to explore planets and find out what is really going on. And then you spend time maintaining and improving the ship, finding and researching new technologies and breakthroughs. Plus memorializing crew who have died and healing the injured.

I love that about this game. It offers two parts, planet and ship, and both are equally as important. When they announced the ship part, I thought it might be too much just maintenance. But there is story, there is progression and there are real decisions to be made. So I love both parts, in some ways, I almost prefer the ship part because it’s so interesting and smooth to play.

Buy ISS Vanguard

12. Roll Player Adventures

Now another campaign game, though this one shorter than ISS Vanguard. Roll Player Adventures is 11 chapters, I believe. And there is a side quest that you can do. But set in the world of Roll Player, a character creation game, and Lock-up from Thunderworks Games, this is the big adventure that you can take those characters you created or pre-generated ones on an adventure.

This game has a lot of story to it and choose your own adventure elements. But each map you play, each scenario you play, is going to continue that story. The main mechanism in the game is completing challenges or defeating monsters by dice placement and manipulation. And that is a fun element of the game. I think it’s a bit easier with more players though, so just note that.

I also like how you have three tracks in the game. That shows how much or little favor you have with a group. That is one way where the game is going to be vary variable. And I like it for the game because some elements of the map and how you interact are going to stay the same. But as your favor changes that’ll open up or close off some options to you.

Buy Roll Player Adventures

11. Aeon’s End

Finally we end with another deck building game, this one is also cooperative, and it is Aeon’s End. Aeon’s End is a game of defending the town of Gravehold from a nemesis that is coming through. Can the breach mages stand against it or will the nemesis and it’s minions overwhelm?

This is all of Aeon’s End stuff. I have played it on Malts and Meeples as well. So I’ll drop in the video below. But I love this game for it’s cooperative play and for it’s unique turn order. However, I think the turn order probably means it should be a two handed solo game, or a two player game. You put six cards, two for each character and two for the nemesis into pile at two players. Then that is shuffled and you draw your turn order randomly. Once all six are drawn, you shuffle it up again. I love that.

I also love how much the game offers for you to do with your money. You might want to buy more spells and more powerful spells to hit the nemesis or their minions. Or you might have a special power that you want to power up. But you also need to think about spending the money (gems) to open up more breaches. Because you are only able to prepare and cast spells for the numbers of breaches that you have. It’s a good system where you want to do everything but probably can’t quite, realistically.

Buy Aeon’s End

Upcoming Streams

Let’s run through the stream structure like I normally do. You might already know the schedule but in case you don’t. Wednesday at 8 PM Central I stream either a campaign game, or with this time of year it’s my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition. And join me next Wednesday for the Top 10. It goes so fast, and now I have so many games that I want to play.

Then on Monday I stream at 9 PM Central time. It’s generally a solo game. Though I’ll also do pack openings for things But normally it’s a solo game and a one off for the game like a roll and write, or sometimes a game like Under Falling Skies or For Northwood, which was on the list today.

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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Checkout the Sleeping Gods Distant Skies campaign on Gamefound now.

Pros

• Proven Game System
• Proven Company
• Aesthetic
• Story
• Shorter Campaign
• Cooperative and Solo
• Price

Cons

• Price
• All In Cost For Sleeping Gods

The Page

This is a beautiful page, and a lot of that is because of Ryan Laukat’s amazing artwork. Honestly, maybe the best artwork for any game out there. I get some people wanting maybe a more realistic look but I think it’s amazing. And it is so consistent across his projects that you can easily tell when something is a Red Raven Games product.

One thing, not a negative, but to note is that there is little in the way of exclusives for this campaign. As you go through everything, most of it will be available later. And I don’t mind that. But to note, looking at the costs, you can probably get it cheaper at retail, when you can find it at retail. And that’s going to be your driving factor to back it. Of course then the two reveals happening as well. But those will be available, most likely, after the fact.

The Game

The game is going to build off of what was started with Sleeping Gods. But it is taking feedback from what has been developed previously and improving upon that. So if you want to see how the game plays, you can checkout my Sleeping Gods game play over on Malts and Meeples.

So let’s talk about some of the changes that have happened in the game. The big one for me is that the skills you put on the characters they no longer reset each time through the event deck. If you watch my whole play through, you’ll notice that it’s something I missed. It didn’t make sense thematically that you’d lose them. Once you learn a skill why would that then go away, unless it was a one time use thing, so you use it. I’m glad for that rule change.

Combat is also changing up. Now, I didn’t mind the puzzle of combat, for some people, though, the accuracy and the chances to miss based off of a random card draw frustrated them. I could see that being annoying. Probably helps that I didn’t reset those skills for me. It keeps the same, cover things up, but removes accuracy so you always hits and now gives you other things for the puzzle. Instead of equipping weapons, a combat deck.

Finally, storywise, the game has more stories for the characters. So character development that can go on. I happened to find a thread that was pretty character specific, or at least focused on one character, that I played through in Sleeping Gods. But I’m guessing now it’ll be hard to go through a campaign or play without coming across some more character specific story. And I like it when I learn more about the people I’m playing.

Back or Brick

This is a Back for me. In fact, I was backer #31, and I backed it before I even looked at the page. I really loved Sleeping Gods. My only complaint on it is that it was dumb that the abilities you put on characters would go away. And I even broke that rule, granted, that then breaks some of the balance of the game.

So, I really do think that the new version, Sleeping Gods Distant Skies, is going to be a great version of the Sleeping Gods system. And I think it might be one that I like better because of that one frustration of the abilities. And I think it’ll be a great jumping in point for new people. So for me, I am backing it at Everything Pledge as well as adding on the one Sleeping Gods expansion that I haven’t picked up.

Is Sleeping Gods Distant Skies a Back or Brick for you?

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The Game – Sleeping Gods

Let’s talk about the ending. This is something I can’t talk too much about in a review, but if you’re reading this, I hope that you’ve watched the video. Because I am going to talk about how the ending system worked in here, and what my expectations were going into the ending.

So, the game end triggers when you’ve gone through the event deck three times. And from there, the game isn’t over completely, you still need to do things. And I suspect that there are other ways to trigger end game as well, I just haven’t found them yet. There was a final battle, and then decisions, I wasn’t expecting it to be as much as there was.

But was the ending satisfying? I did a lot of work in the game, sailed around a lot and figured out a way to get to and through a lot of story. And was that enough so that when I got a less than ideal ending, it was still interesting? I think that the ending made sense. It really built, in the ending, to the conclusion, and I want to find more endings to see what I can do better.

Now, the scoring, and I talk about this in the video, I got a 92, which seemed solid to me. But why does this game need a scoring system? My one knock on some of the other Red Raven Games, Near and Far in particular, is what there is story but it is too mechanical. Adding in points at the end, it makes it feel more mechanical again. I think an ending could just be an ending.

The Drink

So to wrap up the streaming I ended with some more Scotch. It’s a blended Scotch this time, Monkey Shoulders. The name Monkey Shoulders stems from the workers who would be turning the peat on the Scotch. This was a lot of work, basically shoveling all day, so they became stooped with really built shoulders.

The Scotch itself is a little bit sweeter than some. A blended Scotch often lends itself to be a bit sweeter. But it still makes for good sipping. I would say that it is also one that does well by being let to breath more. I think the first drink is a bit sharp for it, but the more that you have, the better it gets. And that’s not just from the fact that you’re drinking, but as the fumes dissipate it makes it smoother.

Upcoming Streaming

You can see a bit a state of the channel address that I did last week here. It’s not an ominous thing, it’s just something that I want to focus on a bit more this year. My written content is in a good schedule, though, might be changing slightly. The 10 Minute Marvel Podcast is coming out every week. And I do put out content basically every Wednesday. But I want to add more. So vote in the poll for what board game I should play next and video game I should start.

Let me know which ones you want me to start playing. And does additional content, like video game content, interest you for Malts and Meeples? Should I do that on YouTube or play around with that on Twitch?

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Sleeping Gods Direction

So, this is a topic I suspected I’d talk about at some point in time. The direction that Sleeping Gods was going to lead me in as a player, what is it? Sleeping Gods promises an open world game where you can explore whatever you want, go wherever you want, and try and awaken the sleeping gods however you can, but how you do that, something to do with getting totems most likely.

So, is that a flaw of the game? That I don’t know where to go next, or is that part of the experience? Should everywhere I go give me a new lead to track down something else?

I think the answer is maybe both. Yes, it is a flaw of the game, because the game is open world, though. I can do anything I want in the game, so I don’t need it to lead me around. However, now that we’re getting nearer the end of the game, and I don’t feel like I know what to do, it is a bit more of a flaw.

The answer is probably get more totems, and find more totems. But I think exploring the game for the first time, I’d like to it hand hold that for you a tiny bit more. The tutorial to start at the beginning is great. It does give you some of the story of the world, but having an optional read when you reset the deck of events for the second time, I wouldn’t mind if they told me what my final push should be towards. And just for the first game.

Once I know a general idea, I can go for whatever I want. In future games I’ll have a better idea of what it all means, but right now, I feel like my direction is lacking. That isn’t to say that the story doesn’t compel me, it does. That isn’t to say that I don’t want to explore more, because I do. But, it means right now, and for the first time, I need to find another totem without that little bit of direction I’ve had before.

The Drink

So last nights drink is a take on a Negroni. Instead of using Campari, a grapefruit liquor, I used Aperol. Aperol is a bitter apertiff so it works. But it is not as bitter as Campari. Nor is Aperol as alcoholic. The upside is that it means you can drink more. But for me, it also means that it is missing on that harder bitter note.

I think that, though, about it is that it does still have that bitter note. Aperol is going to be rhubarb as part of the flavor profile. So it isn’t too sweet, but with gentian and cinchona. It works well mixed with gin. And I could see just mixing it with some club soda on a really warm day as well.

Upcoming Streaming

So, I think it’ll be one week left of Sleeping Gods and we’ll see how we do. At most it will be two weeks. After that I am going to stream a game play of Spire’s End by Greg Favro. And after that, we’ll see what we want to play. I think it might be some more one-off solo games, I know I have Under Falling Skies and Ratcatcher that I want to get played. Plus some Final Girl as well.

Let me know if there are any solo games that you want to see me play. Should, after a few weeks off of a campaign, I jump into something bigger like Solomon Kane or Folklore: The Affliction? Let me know what you think I should play down in the comments below. Or, better idea, pick one from the poll below.

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The Game – Sleeping Gods

Let’s talk a bit about the crew today, because my knowledge of my crew is what led me to making a choice that I might not have. The crew are a key part of the game because they are who you activate for several different things. Skill checks, which add fatigue, combat, and their abilities.

Now, there are nine crew members in the game counting the Captain. And each of them has at least two abilities that they are good at. A few have more than that. I like how you utilize them, putting fatigue on the character to activate the skills that they are good at.

Mechanically, it definitely works well. I like that you can only activate up to two people. So sometimes you can get to the goal just by putting fatigue on the characters, but is it worth it. Since there is also the element where you flip over a card as well. That card might be a six, so you only need two from characters. Or it might be a one. It’s a nice little decision of how much you want to push your luck in the game.

Plus, as you get more fate cards that you can equip, you can either diversify a characters skills or make them focused on something. I generally have specialized my characters to help get to those higher numbers. I think that’s the route that most people will go, but certain abilities, at times, make more sense with certain characters.

The Drink

So last nights drink was a Negroni again. So not much to talk about with it. So let’s touch on a complaint a little bit. Target in general is getting worse at carrying things that I want. And this does come back to booze, but also is with food. Target has moved away, might be because of supply chain, but even before they pandemic they were in process of moving away from major brands. Everything was being replaced with Target brands.

The downside of this is that some items in Target brand are fine. Pasta, that’s fine. But Target cheese is much worse than Crystal Farms, Kraft or Tillamook. Now, they still carry Tillamook with it’s limited variety. So to get a shredded cheese, I either get Target brand, or hope it’s in Tillamook, or go somewhere else. Back to alcohol and Target. They are now getting rid of the local brands of gin. That means that I bought a bottle at a great price. But now, going into the Target liquor is not going to be worth it. Everything is standard at this point. And I want to get local when I can because it’s often better in my opinion.

Anyways, off my soap box. I bought a bottle of gin at a great price, but now I won’t be able to get that gin again at Target, because they closed it out.

Upcoming Streams

As always, next stream will be on next Wednesday. Join me for part 8 of the adventures of the Manticore. And thanks to everyone who has joined live over the streams. If you want to know when I go live, subscribe to the channel and click that notification bell. You can do that here.

And to let you know, there will be additional video content coming out sometime soon. I’m still working on the formats for what that will be. But don’t be surprised to see more game play. And game play of different types on the channel, so not only just solo. Plus the additional content that I want to start filming.

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But you can join with me and catch-up on the game below. And for preview games find them here.

The Game – Sleeping Gods

Let’s tackle another aspect of the game. I can’t talk about the same things every time, so let’s talk about command tokens in this game. Because, I think that command tokens are one of the more interesting elements to the game. Mainly because command tokens allow you to break the rules.

So, normally on a turn you have three steps – ship phase, event phase, and action phase. Command tokens allow you to break the rules, kind of, with that. And using ability cards does the same thing in some ways. Using an command token to activate something, whether removing a low morale, or drawing cards, whatever it might be, is almost like having an extra action.

Now, it isn’t as big as something like sailing the ship, a lot of the time. Though, I now have one that does that. And cooking a meal is less effective but still almost as good as going to port. It tends to be that you get slightly weakened versions of actions that you could take. And sometimes, they are better than what you can take, because you need to sale to a port to take the port action, makes sense. But you can cook a meal anywhere.

So the command tokens become this element of the game that you need to manage but not horde. Mainly because they always have a good use. It’s not like a health potion in an RPG, it’s clear when you need to use those. Here, you could save them, but also, you get more every turn. And to use them in combat to get that last hit, it’s so good.

The Drink

So last nights drink was a Negroni. That is made from equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and campari – or another grapefruit liquor. For me Negroni are some of the best drinks that you can have. Mainly because they are very bitter. But while being bitter they are also very refreshing. The flavor of the grapefruit and it’s influence on the whole drink is clear. Plus the nature of gin adds in a nice refreshing addition.

Upcoming Streams

So next Wednesday we’ll be back with Part 7 of my playthrough of Sleeping Gods. If you want to keep up with the games and content, subscribe to Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel. You can do that here. Every Wednesday at 8 PM central there is new content that comes out. Right now Sleeping Gods, coming up next Spire’s End.

And more content will start coming out in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for that.

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Join with me as I realize that and the crew of the Manticore explores the world created by Red Raven Games in Sleeping Gods. Also I apologize for the double sound. I had to set-up a camera again and forgot to mute that audio until part way through. Catch up here, and I’ll recap what I did this past stream at the start of next one since the audio is rough.

The Game Sleeping Gods

Let’s talk about playing Sleeping Gods solo. Because, in Sleeping Gods you play as the crew of the Manticore. That means you play nine crew members and that seems like it should be a lot to keep track of. And it is a bunch, but I don’t find it overbearing.

Firstly, I don’t find it too much because you play a the crew of the Manticore, that group, versus one characters actions then another and so on. If it was one crew member, it would be trickier because you’d need to pay more specific attention to what that crew member can do.

As it is, I pay attention to symbols most of the time. Who has the most perception or strength, and that’s just a quick scan of cards. And that makes it easy. When I get a status affect, like low morale, I can look and see quickly who can remove it. The symbols make so much of it easier than you’d think.

Where it can be slower is the cards. And the more cards you have, the easier to miss something. Or at least you could. It requires a bit more reading. Though, a lot of the cards don’t add too much complexity. And, for example, the cards on Captain Odessa, I might use them, but only when really needed because they help her too.

Beyond the number of crew, the game plays pretty easily. Finding stuff in the book, easy. Getting everything sorted out, easy, granted, I am using Game Trayz, so that makes it even easier. But baggies for the tokens are simple enough to use. And the save system, while mainly just baggies for the crew really works.

The Drink

I didn’t spend too much time on it this week. But I had mixed together basically gin, simple syrup and mint bitters. So the basis of an Old Fashioned minus the whiskey and swapping in gin. It makes a tasty drink, not one that I want all the time, but very good. It has a nice Christmas flavor to it. And while we are past Christmas, it’s still cold winter in Minnesota, so I like a festive drink.

Upcoming Streaming

So a few things to talk about that are upcoming. Let’s start with next Wednesday we’re going to have some more Sleeping Gods to stream. 8 PM Central. If you want to know when I go live, subscribe and click the notification bell for Malts and Meeples.

But let’s talk about some upcoming things. Firstly, I want to cover crowdfunding more like I’ve been saying. It won’t be an edited video most likely, but no live. And I also want to go through my collection. I do the Point of Order and Point of Sale articles, but I want to see what I might cull. I think that might be a live just for a chance to interact with people more.

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The Game – Sleeping Gods

Story without a direct focus is what we’re going to talk about today. And I’ll describe what I mean by that. This story can be explored in almost any order. New avenues will open up if you have keywords, but you can go anywhere and just explore. That is part of the game.

The question is, is that a good part of the game. I have played other games that do this, Near and Far as well as Seafall, and it can be a problem. In Near and Far, the little vignettes were fun, but the story overall for the game felt like it was lacking. The glimpses I got into the world made me want to explore it more, but also didn’t help me care that much about it. Especially in a mechanically driven game.

Seafall also tried to do little vignettes into the world. However, most of them were so generic that it felt like it really didn’t matter. And because they wanted to add reveals into the story, we actually, but poor luck, got a reveal of some of the mystery after the bigger reveal had happened. So the story that was there came out of order.

Now, this all sounds pretty negative. And I totally get that, I do often have issues with story written like that. But in the case of both Near and Far and Seafall, the story was treated as secondary. The mechanics going on were what drove the game, and the story felt more like an afterthought. I don’t believe it was, but that is how it felt. In Sleeping Gods, that isn’t the case, the game is about the story.

Mechanically, Sleeping Gods is still very sound. But the story is what drives the choices you make and what you do, not the mechanics. And that is why Sleeping Gods works as a game with story vignettes. Exploring the world is how you beat the game. Exploring the story is how you beat the game. Not by having the most points to trigger then end, as in Seafall, or get rid of all your tents in Near and Far.

Hopefully that distinction makes sense. Sleeping Gods is so driven by the story that I want to explore that. The mechanics are there to make it a game, but exploring the world and that story is what the game is about. And even if it’s not a grand epic fantasy story told in a normal format, it is still great.

The Drink

Last nights drink wasn’t anything too fancy. I went with a Mojito. The mixer part was in fact from a mix, which I generally don’t do, but I picked some up to try a while ago.

When I pick up alcohol for a mixed drink, I don’t think about it for that purpose. If I’m not willing to sip on the liquor, I’m not likely to buy it. The idea kind of comes from wine. Wine is often used in cooking and there is a mindset that you can get cheap wine for cooking. You aren’t going to drink it, just use it in cooking so why should it be good? But the flavor is what you’re going for, so a less appealing flavor in wine will make your cooking less appealing.

In a mixed drink, if I wouldn’t sip it, that means it’s going to negatively impact the flavor of my drink. Sure, something like Bulleit Bourbon or Whiskey I’m less apt to sip on, but I would. So when I make an Old Fashioned with it, I know the flavor is going to be good.

Upcoming Steaming

So Wednesday’s as always are going to be Sleeping Gods. Subscribe to the channel and click the notification bell to know when we’re going live. But if you don’t want pesky push notifications, I generally don’t, know it’s every Wednesday at 8 PM Central Time.

I honestly don’t know how much of Sleeping Gods is left. With the introductory scenario, I believe I’ve streamed about four and a half hours. So my guess is that I have at least another month to go of game play. But I know what game I’m playing next. Just coming in this week, from Favro Games, Spire’s End. I’ll talk more about it as we get closer to streaming, but it looks like a fun one.

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