Catch up on previous videos here

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61
60 through 51
50 through 41
40 through 31
30 through 21
20 through 10

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – Top 10

10. Aeon’s End

• Published by Indie Boards & Cards in 2016
• Defend the town of Gravehold against a Nemesis and their minions by slinging spells around

To kick off the Top 10, let’s talk about one that has been in my Top 10 for a while and one that I have basically everything for. I’m guessing I’m missing a few promo cards, but Aeon’s End is one of my favorite deck building games.

This is a deck building game, tower defense, and boss battler all wrapped into one. The name of the game in this one is variety. There are other elements I like too, but variety is huge. Each mage is unique, each nemesis is unique and the market of cards that you create is unique. Everything about the game can be mixed and matched and give endless replayability. I also like that this is a cooperative game.

And, finally, I like this game best as a solo or two player. I know that it can play more, but with the turn system, it works better at lower counts. You draw to see whose turn it is. In the deck there are two nemesis cards, and one per player at four players, or two at two players. So you get these fun moments where it swings from the players getting four turns in a row to the nemesis getting three and now things look dangerous. It makes the game feel more exciting, it just works best at two players though because of that.

Buy Aeon’s End

9. Roll Player Adventures

• Published by Thunderworks Games in 2021
• Explore the lands, beat monsters and complete skill challenges in a world that remembers what you did

Now to a really big game we have Roll Player Adventures. They took the Roll Player system, tweaked it and gave us a story and adventure game. And I think that it works really well as a game, clearly, as it’s my #9. Though, like Aeon’s End, I’ll give a caveat that difficulty changes based on player count, which, isn’t a bad thing, but it something worth noting.

In this game you play through chapters of an adventure. To do that you are fighting monsters, doing skill checks, and reading story. Whenever it’s a right or a skill check you are spending cards and resources, your health, in different stats to try and complete a dice puzzle. You need to get dice of certain colors and certain numbers into specific locations. But, the game is smart and it limits you in how much you can do that, and it is what they try and use to scale, but like I said, I think that it’s easier with more.

The story is also a lot of fun. There are games on my list that have a bigger and darker story. And I like dark stories, dark fantasy can be a lot of fun, but it’s also fun to have stories that are maybe a bit sillier at times. And, I will say, they manage to create a story where it feels like it matters and continues along with the choices that you make.

Buy Roll Player Adventures

8. Dice Throne

• Published by Dice Throne Inc. in 2018
• Fight in a Mortal Combat style tournament by chucking dice and leveling up attacks

My #8 is “Battle Yahtzee”. By that, I mean that it is Dice Throne. This is a game that is played either as a head to head battle or as king of the hill. You get a hero, or character, that you play as. And they have specific abilities that you can activate by rolling dice Yahtzee style. By that I mean you get three roles, you keep some dice each time, and you see what you get at the end.

But Dice Throne is more than just a lucky game. Yes, there is an element of luck with rolling the dice. But the game often comes down to how well you can mitigate that luck. If you manage to get off your ultimate attack, well there isn’t much your opponent can do, of course that does mean that you roll all sixes. That’s very unlikely to just happen. But with cards and your combat points you spend to play them, you are able to manipulate dice, turn them to different sides, or get rerolls to try and land those attacks.

Plus the game offers a ton of variety. The first set is more standard fantasy. But then you get into other characters like a Tactician or an Artificer who do different things. And I own the Marvel set and am waiting on the Marvel X-Men set to come as well. You pick your favorites to get, or if you’re like me, you get them all.

Buy Dice Throne

7. Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns

• Published by SunTzuGames in 2025
• Change the galaxy with a unlikely group of heroes in an epic sci-fi adventure

Now for a game that isn’t even out yet. Why do I have it on the list, because I have in my collection a prototype of the game. And I’ve even played it on Malts and Meeples. The game is basically set, through there are elements of the game that will change, but that’s mainly around components not around actual game play.

I love Rogue Angels. You know that by now because it’s on every list of Crowdfunding game that I’m waiting for. And yes, it will be again at the end of this year, most likely. This is another story, adventure, and combat game. And I really enjoy the story in it. I like having some campaign games that aren’t just another fantasy setting, and Rogue Angels gives you a good sci-fi setting. And I love how the combat, or mission element of the game works.

I want to say that this isn’t a game where every scenario is a go and beat someone up. No, this is a game where you might want to dive into combat. Or you might want to sneak through, and it all depends on the scenario. I love that for a game because I don’t always want to beat up the bad guys. And with how the game activates the bad guys, well, getting rid of the wrong bad guys at the wrong time just means you’ll be dealing with the other ones all the time.

Late Pledge Rogue Angels

6. Floriferous

• Published by Pencil First Games in 2021
• Create the best scoring group of flowers in this drafting game

Now we have the smallest game in my Top 10 list. But Floriferous was there last year and it is staying there again this year because I love what the game does. I enjoy a good drafting game, and I think that drafting makes sense in a lot of different games. But how Floriferous does it works for me because it combines drafting with building out your own scoring.

And the drafting itself is clever. You either draft a flower or you draft a scoring card from a column. The scoring cards are always at the bottom of the column, though, which matters for drafting the next column. Because the turn order for that next column is determined by the previous column you drafted from, aka, the higher you are up in the column the sooner you draft again. So yes, you need scoring cards, but that means you draft later next time.

I also want to call out drafting the scoring. I like it when a game does that because it offers a great decision point. When I draft, I might want that scoring card, but if you don’t have enough flowers, it won’t do much for me. And on the flip side, if I draft too many flowers I’m not going to be scoring anything.

Buy Floriferous

5. Slay the Spire

• Published by Contention Games in 2024
• Climb the spire, fight monsters and can you defeat them all in this cooperative deck building game

Next up is a new one to the list and it’s debuting all the way up at #5. Now it’s not the last new one to the list, there is one higher, though just barely higher. Slay the Spire is a video game that I love to play. In fact I’ve been on a kick of playing it recently. It’s a rogue like deck building game where you climb a tower.

The board game is the exact same thing. But it takes a solo video game experience and makes it multiplayer. In fact, while the solo is fun, I think that it’s even better two player or two handed. And I want to play it with more. Because you figure out a strategy of who wants to attack which enemies. Because each player has their own enemies that will attack them, but you can attack the other person’s enemies. So you might have more defense and handle it as well.

With all of that said, the game does change one thing. How some things activate is changed, so you’re not needing to keep track of “every seven turns” or “every three times you shuffle” but it makes it easy to keep track of. And they scale down everything. I like that because I don’t want to be keeping track of six enemies with 50 health each. So while the math is very much the same, the numbers are just lower.

Buy Slay the Spire

4. The 7th Citadel

• Published by Serious Poulp Games in 2024
• The Citadels are in ruins. How can you rebuild society and deal with the threats?

The other new to the list game and debuting at #4 is The 7th Citadel. I should have put it at #7 just to make it a bit more fitting. But I love this game and you can see me playing it for some sessions on Malts and Meeples YouTube.

This is an adventure game. These Citadels have fallen and now in a dangerous and post apocalyptic feeling world, though uniquely so, you need to survive. You play as leaders of a settlement has has formed out of the 7th Citadel. And now you need to deal with some threat that is coming.

The main mechanism is the same as The 7th Continent. You spend cards to try and complete checks, fight monsters, and deal with challenges. And the cards are going to be your life. Plus you are flipping over cards and exploring areas of the map and dealing with encounters that happen. But the game gives you more direction than the 7th Continent does as the threat gives you missions to go on as you build up your settlement for whatever that coming threat might be.

Late Pledge The 7th Citadel

3. Stars of Akarios

• Published by OOMM/Open Owl Studios in 2022
• Explore space, fight battles, and unravel the story of why you were attacked

This is the one that launched into the Top 10 last year and it’s sticking around. I love this game, clearly, but it’s another one of those big campaign games, and it’s one that’s set in space. But this game feels different than so many others. I don’t know why, but it gives me the feeling of stories like Ender’s Game and Space Dandy all wrapped into one with obvious nods to other sci-fi stories as well.

I really enjoy how they created a game that is split into three different element. The one, space exploration, is a bit weaker. There is some randomness to it, and I feel like I never found anything major on it. But I love the other two element. You get to have a 7th Citadel/7th Continent style exploration on planets. But instead of playing cards for checks you roll dice. And it’s a really fun time, but the biggest part of the game is space combat.

And I wasn’t sure how much I’d love the space combat. But I really enjoy it, it’s this great tactical puzzle as you use special abilities that you can only use so much. And then you spend dice to maneuver and you need to figure out how to even get into range to shoot the enemy and ideally in a flanking position. I love sitting there looking at the dice and trying to figure out how to make it work.

Late Pledge Stars of Akarios

2. Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon

• Published by Awaken Realms in 2019
• The lands are returning to Wyrdness, you’ve been sent out to help Avalon survive, if you can

Now or one of a few campaign games that I’ve completed, at #2 we have Tainted Grail. And this is the base game and the two expansion campaigns. I love them all. I need to play Kings of Ruin as well, but I’m not sure when I’ll get to that because of, well, my #1 on the list.

But this game, let’s start off with the highest praise, has the best writing of any board game I’ve ever played. The story that it tells is amazing and for that reason we did play in story mode to be able to experience as much of that story as possible. I’ll talk about why in a little bit. This is a grim dark game, but it manages not to dwell on the darkness to the point where it’s overbearing but creates this amazing fantastical and dangerous world to deal with.

And let’s talk about that story mode and why we played that way. One of the criticisms of the game is that it’s too hard. There is too much grind and too much survival. That is what the game was advertised as, so why people thought it was bad, and not just not for me, when they got what they knew they were going to get, I don’t know. But story mode makes it easier, but not too easy. So you do need to engage with that survival aspect of the game, but you can delve into the story more so. If you find the game, get it, and I do recommend playing on story mode.

Buy Tainted Grail

1. Gloomhaven/Frosthaven

• Published by Cephalofair Games in 2022
• Battle monsters, explore lands, and build up the town in this epic campaign

Finally the number one stays the same. The #1 on the list is really Frosthaven, Gloomhaven and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. I don’t think it’s fair for them to be separate on the list. While Frosthaven does build on Gloomhaven and add in some elements like the town management, the core loop of the game is the same. I do think the added element of the town management would push it even a little bit higher than Gloomhaven for me though.

But the main part of the game is going into scenarios and trying to complete their objectives. This almost always includes killing some bad guys, and often times the win condition is kill all the enemies. Though in Frosthaven that is less often, though still the most common scenario goal.

The element that is the best about the game is the characters though. I love how every character is unique. And from the cards that you get to play, it feels that way. Sometimes you want to be that tanking character, or a fast damage dealer, or a support or healer character. And the games offer all of those.

And then the card play where you might want to go fast, so you can get in and out dealing damage quickly, or maybe you want to go slow to draw the enemies towards you, there is a lot of great strategy. I love picking cards, too, where I might plan to use the bottom and top halves in one way but then give myself the flexibility to change it. Needless to say, I love my #1 game.

Buy Frosthaven

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule. It’s not just all my Top 100 Games (of all time).

• Monday night, time varies, I play different small solo games, though I might be looking to start up a campaign again. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to be my 200 through 101 next week. After that I’m going to do some videos looking back on 2024. So expect to see my Top 10 Games of 2024 and probably Top 10 crowdfunding games I backed in 2024 as well.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Top 5 Board Game Companies I Always Checkout

5. Awaken Realms

No surprise that Awaken Realms makes the list. They’ve made two games that I really like in Tainted Grail and ISS Vanguard. And while I did sell my copy of Etherfields, I am still regularly tempted to track it down and get a copy of it again. And I need to play my copy of Nemesis. Not all Awaken Realms games are for me. When they did STALKER, that one didn’t interest me. Or they do fancy versions of euro games, also not that interesting. But whenever they announce something new I’m curious.

Right now I’m waiting on Dragon Eclipse because it seems like a fascinating game that I really like the aesthetic of. And then they have a huge open world RPG type of game coming to crowdfunding later this year, also excited for that one. And they also have a one shot boss battler type of game with the Grimcoven as well, so many games that I’m intrigued by. Not always the cleanest games, but always something epic.

4. Chip Theory Games

Chip Theory is another one that makes a lot of epic games. But not with a lot of minis, instead with chips as the name suggests. I’m always intrigued by what they are putting out, though I rarely jump on their games right away. The only one I did right away was Elder Scrolls game that they have coming. And that was because it was a system that I knew already as it borrows from Too Many Bones.

But their games all offer something different and unique. And I also appreciate that almost all of their games can be played solo. One that I want to get to the table more after having an amazing time at GenCon playing it is Burncycle. I love the system of that game and the challenges of managing the burncylcle so that you can get the actions you want taken care of. It’s a tough balancing act of a game with a bunch of rules to learn to start, but not that bad when you get into playing it.

3. Open Owl Studios

Next up is Open Owl Studios and their games just really hit with me. Stars of Akarios has been one of my most fun gaming experiences with a big epic tactical space combat to getting down on planets and exploring the story. There are elements to that game that work so well for me. And then there is Mythwind a cozy game that feels like something different. It isn’t a game that I’ll binge all the time, but once that I will come back to a lot because it’s just easy to sit down and play. They call it a cozy game and it really is that.

Then there is Stonesaga their next one coming out. It helps, probably, that I know one of the designers. But he reached out to me because he knew it would be my type of game. And it really is. And I’m not sure what they have coming after that, there was just a reprint and expansion for Mythwind. But whatever it is, I trust that there will be a unique experience playing the game, because that’s what their games feel like to me.

2. CMON

Honestly, an odd one on the list, but I’m always paying attention to CMON. I could combine CMON and Steamforged here because I follow both of them for similar reasons. They both make beer and pretzel style games. Often that means grab a handful of dice and chuck them. But they also get a lot of interesting IP’s. CMON keeps on putting out Marvel games. And I know a lot of people will say it’s a cash grab. There is an element of that, but the games are also a ton of fun. Do I need all the characters and alternate sculpts, definitely not. But I want them, and like I said the games are a lot of fun.

CMON is also easier for  me to pass on. They revisit a lot of things. So when I hear something new is coming out, then I look to see if it matches something that I already have. And rarely do I replace it. Zombicide Undead or Alive go replaced by Marvel Zombies, but that’s because of the theme. I’d not replace Marvel Zombies with the newest Zombicide style game. I just pick the one that is best for me.

1. Pencil First Games

Finally we have the oddest one on the list. All the rest, easy to see what is similar. Big games, sometimes story and epic in nature. But Pencil First Games put out the first game that I crowdfunded and it’s a cute game. I got rid of my copy, but now they are putting out games that I really enjoy. Floriferous is the biggest, but then games like Skulk Hollow as well are great.

Why I’m always checking out Pencil First Games is that they tend to put a lot of interesting decisions into a package that isn’t too big or too complex. They are a company that is 100% on my radar for those games that are easy to travel with, easy to teach, but still really engaging. And while there are other companies who do that which I find their games interesting as well, Pencil First Games has a special place in my heart.

Honorable Mentions

Two honorable mentions, only. I thought about more, and maybe I should have done a Top 10. But the two are Cephalofair Games and Serious Pulp. I didn’t put them on the list because for both of them it’s a specific game line that I’m interested in. Obviously Gloomhaven, one of my favorite games. And you can see me playing The 7^th Citadel over on Malts and Meeples YouTube and I’m loving the game. But they have their lanes for their games and generally stick with them.

Who Do You Keep an Eye On?

Alright, a few more bonus board game companies. 25^th Century Games, Reggie Games, Indie Boards and Cards with Astro Knights and Aeon’s End, Roxley Games, though that’s mainly for Dice Throne, and Dire Wolf with their Clank games. And Thunderworks, probably should be a true honorable mention. Like I said, I could have done a top 10board game companies.

But let me know who you keep an eye on. I still even kind of keep an eye on Fantasy Flight Games. But for them it’s a bit more specific. I care about games in their Arkham Files line and if they do anything new with their IP’s like Marvel, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings. They are a company that I wish I could keep an eye on more, but it’s been so hit or miss lately.

Let me know who it is for you down in the comments below. Is there a board game company that stands out?

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

I have a few companies like that where I generally will pay attention. And for me, that doesn’t mean back or buy everything. But it does mean that I will always check it out in detail. Rarely, if ever, will I just gloss over a game from these companies. So here are my Top 10 companies I’m always interested in

Top 10 Board Game Companies

10. Fantasy Flight Games

Fantasy Flight Games is probably a company that’d have dropped off for a lot of people. They used to come out with a whole lot more games and a whole lot bigger announcements. But I still am interested. When I saw a Twilight Imperium Roll and Write, I was interested, even with a long play time. And Marvel Champions I still buy everything for that.

I wish they would come out with something more. A new version of Star Wars Imperial Assault? I would love to see that. Or something more original from them. Maybe a smaller version of a Descent 3.0 to go along with Descent: Legends of the Dark.

9. Thunderworks Games

Thunderworks is also just on that edge if I check everything out. I will look at any announcement because I am curious about anything set in their Roll Player World of Ulos. However, anything, like Tenpenny Park, those I’ll look at, but generally aren’t what I’m interested in. But I see them because I am curious if it is more stuff for Roll Player, Roll Player Adventures, or Cartographers.

8. CMON

CMON is either on your list or not. There is no in between I feel. Some people wait anticipating what CMON is going to announce next. Other people pledge $1 so that they can complain. That is basically how it goes on everything that CMON does. And I understand some of the complaints, I also don’t care on some of the complaints. They end up being complaining for the sake of complaining. But that isn’t the point of this article.

I wait to see what CMON comes out with next. And there is no company where they can announce a game and I will always back it or buy it. But when CMON announces a Stranger Things Game, see here, I get really excited. On the flip side, I like the idea of a big Dune battling over the planet game, but it is not one that I will back.

7. Chip Theory Games

Chip Theory Games is moving up the list for me. The more I see and mess around with their games, the more interested I am in their games. I enjoy Too Many Bones, and I think the more I dive into it the more I will like it. Then I almost backed Hoplomacus Victorum because it was a solo version of a game that I thought looked cool. And Burncycle, after watching a Brother’s Murph play through, see below, I really want to get it. Their games aren’t cheap though, so I need to pace myself.

6. Horrible Guild

Probably the biggest break or one of them, from the big games on the list is Horrible Guild. Horrible Guild does some campaign or legacy games with King’s Dilemma and then Queen’s Dilemma coming to Kickstarter. But I like their small games. Stuff like Potion Explosion, Railroad Ink, I’m so excited to be getting Tiny Turbo Cars, stuff like that.

They make games with amazing toy factor to them. And I just really enjoy sitting down and playing them. They also make games that are accessible. Railroad Ink is a bit challenging for a roll and write with Railroad Ink Challenge, but it’s not hard to teach. Same with Potion Explosion or Similo. Plus with so much fun in their games, I always want to see what they make.

5. Mythic Games

Getting back to big games, we have Mythic Games. Mythic Games has made such games as Reichbusters and Solomon Kane, but the one of theirs I play the most is Super Fantasy Brawl. I really love that game, but I mainly pay attention to their big games. Now, with that said, I don’t back a ton of their games on crowdfunding. I have backed Super Fantasy Brawl and HEL: The Last Saga, but that is it.

One of the reasons is that their rule books first time around tend to be poor. You need to get, and they do send out, a new rule book. But also because their games are big and epic and tend to have a lot with them. They are like CMON in some ways, I might want to back all of them, but I certainly don’t have room to back and store all of their games. Just between Super Fantasy Brawl and Solomon Kane that takes up a lot of space on top of a Kallax shelf.

4. Roxley Games

Last game on the list that makes that many smaller games. Though, when you get everything for Dice Throne, it certainly isn’t that small. And Dice Throne is the reason Roxley is so high on the list. They have some heavy euro games, I am not interested in those. But I want more Dice Throne. And their lighter games, I am interested in.

I really only own two games from Roxley, Dice Throne and Radlands and I need to play Radlands still. But when Santa vs Krampus came out, I backed immediately. When Marvel Dice Throne was announced, I knew I’d be all in. That is going to be case whenever they come out with anything new.

3. OOMM

OOMM is a very new company to the list. And honestly, I should likely keep them lower on the list, but we’re not talking about backing everything, we’re talking about being interested. I bought Stars of Akarios because of what it looked like after the fact. I backed Mythwind because the game looked so different.

OOMM really does something that I love in creating games that feel unique. Mythwind seems really different than anything else out there. Stars of Akarios is a big space campaign game. Do I need more space campaign games, not really but I want them. And the new legacy game they announced looks very cool as well.

2. Awaken Realms

Awaken Realms maybe could be #1, but it’s at #2 because there is Awaken Realms Lite, technically it’s own company I believe, but a lot of the same people and process. But the last two on the list, I will always look and almost always back whatever they do.

There are two exceptions for Awaken Realms. I didn’t back The Great Wall as it is a massive euro game. It looks cool, I’d love to try it, but I wouldn’t buy it. And I didn’t back Lords of Ragnarok from them. Why, because I already own and love Lords of Hellas. Lords of Ragnarok might be better, but I don’t need to own both.

1. Cephalofair Games

I doubt that this is a shock. I went all in on Frosthaven. And I love Gloomhaven. I never looked at Founders of Gloomhaven once I realized it was a euro. But Cephalofair announces something, I am interested. I hope it is more for Frosthaven, after that has been out for a bit. Or another big box game, but really, anything at this point. Even with my #1 company that I will be intrigued to hear whatever they announce, not every game will be for me.

Still, I can’t wait until Frosthaven gets here. And I even started a campaign of Gloomhaven Digital recently. It is just a fun experience to play that game and it is fun to dive back into it. And I will for sure dive heavily into Frosthaven almost right away when it shows up. I suspect we’ll be done with the final Tainted Grail expansion by then, but we’ll see.

Final Thoughts

Firstly, I’d love to know what companies you are generally interested. Which ones make games that seem fun to checkout or different. I want to know what gets you excited. And as I said, I don’t like every game from all of these companies. In fact, there are some that just miss completely for me, even though I love the company.

And that is very fair to not like everything. I talk about how CMON is polarizing, the people who love CMON don’t like everything from CMON. The people who dislike CMON will never know what they are missing out on. I think it’s more important to remember that some games are going to be for you and some won’t no matter the company. And even if you enjoy all of them, some will be better than others.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

How to Play Marvel Dice Throne

Marvel Dice Throne is the same game as Dice Throne. So a head to head or king of the hill style battling game. In it you pit your hero against other heroes (or anti-hero with Loki) to see who will come out on top.

You do this primarily through a dice mechanic that is based off a Yahtzee. You roll dice and then re-roll up to two more times. Using the faces of the dice, either numbers or symbols, you then activate an ability to attack your opponent. Your opponent rolls a defense blocking some damage, dealing damage back, or getting tokens to activate other powers and abilities. First player to knock their opponent to zero health is the winner.

That might sound very simple and it is quite simple. But there is more going on than just rolling dice. You get combat points, your currency for the game, and cards. These cards can be a lot of different things. They can remove negative effects from you. They can upgrade abilities or give you new dice combinations to activate attacks off of. Or it can block attacks or manipulate dice. So if you plan it out well, you can possibly set-up a great turn.

What Doesn’t Work?

I don’t really have any issues with the game. I’m bummed that there are no plans for the Geek Bit upgrades, but also it’s a Marvel based game, so that would have to go through them. And I doubt that it’s worth it to do that or it might not even be possible. Otherwise I got no complaints.

I can see people complaining that it is lucky. Which it is to some level. You are rolling dice, but you end up with options to mitigate. You play cards to affect the dice, so that is the most direct way. But all the characters also can upgrade abilities. This means often that you add in new combinations you can roll. So there are ways around the dice.

What Works

Marvel Dice Throne is very good at bringing out the flavor of the characters. With Thor you manipulate Mjolnir for damage and abilities. For Loki you play out illusions. Scarlet Witch manipulates the opponents dice. And Doctor Strange launches spells. Each character is thematic in some way. I love that about Dice Throne in general how every character is different. Marvel Dice Throne keeps that going strong.

Who Is It For?

This is a game for people who like dice. They don’t hide the fact that dice are important when you name your game Marvel Dice Throne. But more than that, Marvel Dice Throne is going to be a game for people who like Marvel as well. It is a pretty casual game and that should make it more accessible to most gamers or even people who are just interested because of the theme.

Should You Get It?

This is a slightly different question than the last one. Mainly because I do think that Dice Throne is not a game for everyone. Let’s face it, even though I might rate a game or game system a 10, someone else might not like it so much.

If you think that Dice Throne, with the fantasy characters, is just fine. Marvel Dice Throne might not be for you. If you love Marvel though and you think Dice Throne is just fine, this one might be better for you. It still won’t make it a great game. Marvel Dice Throne is just another version of Dice Throne. But if you love Marvel that might move it up a bit for you and make it worth your while.

Marvel Dice Throne Final Thoughts

I love Dice Throne and I love Marvel. So Marvel Dice Throne was a no brainer for me to back. And I’ve played it six times already, like I said. I haven’t played all the characters yet, so I’m still ready to dive in more. Thus far I think that Scarlet Witch is my favorite. Doctor Strange is up there and I enjoy Black Widow a lot as well.

Thor, for me, feels a bit more standard in how he plays but I think throwing and retrieving Mjolnir could be a lot of fun if I figure out his character a bit more. And Miles Morales Spider-Man as well as Captain Marvel were cool as well. Captain Marvel is maybe my least favorite, but she can punch really hard at times.

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

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Pros

• Proven company
• Proven game
• Not a Big Campaign
• Upgrade Pack for Season 2 Included

Cons

• Box Price
• Dice Throne Adventure Content

The Page

Roxley has been around for a while in the Kickstarter space. And they have just started and are getting close now to finishing delivering Marvel Dice Throne. Which actually delivered I believe on time. So they have a really good track record.

The biggest Dice Throne miss, thus far, was Dice Throne Adventures, for some people. And it wasn’t even a miss for everyone. I sold mine without playing just because I like the head to head or King of the Hill style of the game enough that I didn’t feel I’d ever play it. Of course now there is a DTA (Dice Throne Adventures) bonus pack that comes with this pack.

And let’s talk about price a little bit. Roxley is giving a very cheap price for shipping. They say that they are subsidizing it, which I believe is true. However, some of that does appear to be coming in the cost of the single box. Granted, that does come with the DTA bonus pack and if you want the free upgraded boards for some Dice Throne Season 2 characters. It isn’t a bad price, but if you want to get the box later at retail, then you can just get that box cheaper then.

The Game

The game is one that I’ve talked about a lot. Dice Throne is always high on my Top 100 list. And I believe that this will also be high on the list. I like the idea of taking characters like Santa up against a Gunslinger or Krampus against Doctor Strange. That’s the great thing about Dice Throne is you always have that mix and match ability. And who knows, maybe one of these characters will make my Top 10, you can see my pre-Marvel list here.

But let’s talk a bit about how the game is played.

Dice Throne sometimes gets called battle Yahtzee. In this game you are playing down cards to upgrade abilities. Then you attack your opponent using Yahtzee style rolling rules. Three rolls and keeping dice as you go. You use whatever you end up on to activate abilities that either get you tokens or inflict tokens with your roll or deals out damage.

Then your opponent can possibly roll defense and either prevent some damage, deal damage back, or again get some tokens. The goal is to get your opponent down to 0 health and first player to do so wins the game. It might seem like a lot of luck, but there is strategy that goes into what you keep and building up to turns where you can mitigate the dice more.

Back or Brick

I love Dice Throne so Santa vs Krampus is an easy Back for me. Plus it’s just a new character box, so it’s less of an investment which is very nice. I think it’ll be fun to play with these two characters.

I also get if someone might not love the game. There is an element of luck. And while I don’t find the luck too bad in the game, I could see others not liking it as much. I do think learning how to mitigate your dice and when to keep back cards is important. But for some it might be too random. But let me know if this is a Back or Brick for you.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Pros

• Marvel
• Company Track Record
• Proven Game System
• Price

Cons

• Price
• Exclusives

The Page

Roxley has some of the best pages out there. That’s do the artwork of Manny Trembley. His artwork is just amazing and I want to call that out because he got to draw the Marvel characters. Now, I think that Marvel is somewhat free with who can do artwork as long as they approve it because we have chibi Marvel characters in the CMON games Marvel United and Marvel United: X-Men. But Manny’s artwork really makes the game pop.

They also do a good job of showing off everything in the game. They even do what I want everyone to do. The how to play section is at the top of the page. It’s not that hard other companies, let me know how the game plays, unless you have 200 minis and I’m just going to paint them and not care about the game, I want a good how to play section.

The timeline is one last thing I want to talk about for this game. It is an aggressive timeline that I’m quite confident on. Roxley just delivered on Radlands, a head to head card game. I did not back Radlands, but that wasn’t on Kickstarter that long ago. While this timeline is aggressive, I don’t think it’ll be off or at least that far off. This is a finish product, so it’s less about needing the money to develop the game, more about needing it to make the game.

The Game

The game itself is one of my favorite games, it hasn’t shown up on my Top 100 yet, but I’ll give you a spoiler, it will at some point in time. This uses the same system as Dice Throne, but it’s done with Marvel characters. So I think it’s less important for me to talk about the game and how it plays on this one. Dice Throne is a game that is in the market already, so you can get your hands on a two character pack now to see if you want to try it.

I’d actually recommend doing that. If Marvel Dice Thrones interests you, get your hands on one of those duel packs now. You have a chunk of time before this Kickstarter is done. So you’d be able to play the game and see if you like it. Because, while the characters are different, the game play is the same. If you don’t like the game play, having your favorite Marvel characters will likely not change it for you. I will say, if you don’t like the randomness of dice, this does have some mitigation but might be too random.

Back or Brick

Let’s get down to this really quick, this is a Back for me. But today I want to ask, should this be a back for you? Because I think that is more of a question. Like I said, you have a chance to test out this game pretty cheaply if you buy a duel pack. But let’s even talk about price.

The Kickstarter does, kind of, have a discount off of MSRP. However, there are a few things to think about, a lot of online retailers you won’t have to pay shipping when getting everything. At that point with the shipping added to the Kickstarter the value is less there. So it comes down to if you want the extras. And thus far, the extras are mainly that it’s in a single box and a metal Mjolnir. Now, they are revealing more so the value should increase, but will the big box be better backing now, that’s a question you’ll need to answer.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

The Focus of Crowdfunding Futures

Like I said this is meant to allow you to know about what is coming out. It isn’t going to be a breakdown of a Kickstarter or Gamefound like my Back or Brick articles are. Instead this is going to be touching a little bit on what I know about the campaigns. Also why I am looking at the campaigns.

I won’t be covering all of the Kickstarters coming out. If you want lists of what all might be showing up in the next month there are some great YouTube channels that cover that.

BoardGameCo

Tantrum House

Liege of Games

Maybe I’ll eventually get to the point where I cover crowdfunding as much as I do, but now I want to highlight the stuff that I’m interested in and that might not be only games that you expect.

Marvel Dice Throne

No surprise here, I was stoked when this was announced. You can read my news article on it here. Dice Throne is a competitive head to head, vs or team based battling game. But it’s mainly meant to be head to head. In it you upgrade your characters characters, roll dice, and deal damage. Marvel Dice Throne takes the base game and with all new characters and abilities gives it a Marvel twist.

What to Expect In This Campaign

Going off of what Roxley has done before, I think it’s safe to assume to that there will be eight total characters. The first two seasons had eight characters each, though season one initially launched with six. This is also a game that you’ll be able to get after that fact at retail. The bonus to backing on the Kickstarter will be that they do swirly dice that are better looking than the normal ones. It isn’t a major thing.

You are probably looking at about $80 for the big box version of it. You might have the option to just pledge for a duel box or two as well. With shipping you are looking probably over $110 or so, which in my opinion is reasonable. The game has a lot of replay value and combinations for fighting. Also the quality of Roxley games is extremely high with Game Trayz and very nice dice.

Lords of Ragnarok

This one you’ll be able to find over on Gamefound, and if it sounds interesting I highly recommend checking it out here. The reason you’ll want to check it out is that Gamefound campaigns tend to give you a bonus for signing up to get notified. In this case that’s going to be a free $8 hero expansion if you back the game.

Lords of Ragnarok is going to be a reworking and improvement of the Lords of Hellas systems. The main concepts remain the same but it should streamline and focus more on the aspects that people really liked. It’s a game where everyone has different things they can do better but you are pivoting and becoming more unique as time goes on.

What to Expect In This Campaign

This is Awaken Realms, this is going to be a big campaign. And it’s going to be a campaign where it could be very expensive. I do appreciate that Awaken Realms tends to keep the base price pretty reasonable, but if you want it Sun Drop painted it’ll cost you a pretty penny, and it does look nice. Also be aware that there will likely be two wave shipping. If you select one save you’ll get it with that second wave which means waiting longer.

But expect a lot from this campaign. Awaken Realms games always have a lot of things in them, and it’s great. There will be lots of stretch goals and add-ons and mostly the add-ons will be cosmetic, which is really nice. Generally they’ll do an all in game play bundle which will save you a little when all is said and done.

Grove

A completely different game from Side Room Games. It’s not a big company, but that’s fine because they don’t make big games. However, Side Room Games makes my most played game of this year, Orchard. This is going to be another small solo game, which, I am hoping, is as simple to play as Orchard and maybe even uses similar mechanics, but puts a twist on it. Out of these three games the one I know the least about.

What to Expect in this Campaign

This is going to be by far the cheapest of all of them. They are saying that this game is going to cost $15, which makes it pretty easy for me to want to back it. Now, with shipping I expect $20-25 total because of container costs but it’ll still be cheap.

Honestly, beyond that I don’t expect much from this campaign. I’m not sure what was done for Orchard, if there were any exclusives, and I’m fine if there aren’t. This is going to be coming to Kickstarter, so no sign-up bonus. But if I just get the game and can help support the company that is what I care about more than getting all sorts of fancy things on a smaller Kickstarter.

What Upcoming Crowdfunding Are You Looking Forward To?

There are going to be more bigger ones coming this year. I know that Slay the Spire might even still be hitting this year, it is just in the process of being refined and playtested even more. It’s one that I’m going to be very curious to see what that game is like.

Are any of these three ones that you will be backing?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Thanks For Listening

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are ways to help support us. Firstly, sharing the podcast with your friends always helps. You can also help by subscribing or leaving a rating and review. You can do that over on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, or Stitcher. Any of those ways help grow the 10 Minute Marvel community.

I also have a patreon. You can find at Patreon.com/nerdologists. The money from there goes to help improve the quality of the podcast as well as the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel and Nerdologists.com Website. Thank you for considering supporting us with your time and money. It really means a lot to me.

Comments/Questions?

Let me know your thoughts on What if? How do you think it’s going to wrap up? Will it play into the MCU as a whole in a significant way?

You can let me know in the comments below. Or you can do so over on Twitter. Tweet your thoughts to me about What if to @TheScando or with #10MinMarvel. And let me know what you want covered next. Next week will probably be some thoughts on What If as a whole but after that we have a little bit until we get to Hawkeye in November. Though, I wish Hawkeye was starting sooner, and Eternals at the start of November. Should I cover the Eternals some more?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

The Games

The games that got unboxed yesterday varied from new ones that I’d gotten via Kickstarter, ordered from the company, an Amazon purchase and from my FLGS, friendly local game store. So a wide variety of content for the stream.

From Amazon I purchased Adventure Land from Haba. This is a game about collection treasures, fighting monsters, and more. But it’s done in a very abstract way. You move your adventurers down and to the right, never back up or towards the left. That means that you need to figure out when to push forward to get that one treasure or when to hold back an adventurer to move later in the game.

At my FLGS, I picked up Space Base from AEG. Some call it a Machi Koro killer, it is all about building that tableau of cards in front of you and them activating. This one seems to have more going on in it than Machi Koro did. I expect that it’ll be less of an introductory game to the genre of engine or tableau building.

Direct from the publisher, Breaking Games, I joined in on the hype for Dwellings of Eldervale. This is a massive worker placement, fighting, exploring game. I almost get a little bit of a Lords of Hellas vibe from how it does a little bit of everything, and I really like Lords of Hellas. It’s a big game, and I love the noise making monster bases.

Finally, from Kickstarter, but really from Roxley Games, we have Dice Throne Adventures. Dice Throne is one of my favorite games. I love the one on one, or king of the hill battling and dice chucking. This makes it cooperative as you explore portals and fight bosses.

Patreon Announcement

I talked about this yesterday, but on my stream I went through my Patreon again. In particular, I ran down all the different levels and why I am doing a Patreon. I’m going to be mentioning this from time to time and I’ll be talking about it briefly probably in every stream that it exists. But if you are enjoying my content and want to help support it getting bigger and better, Patreon, right now, is the only way to do that. Any money that I get through it will go into improving the website, the Malts and Meeples livestreams, and the 10 Minute Marvel podcast. Thank you so much for checking out the content and even considering the Patreon. I know a lot fights for people’s attention and money, and I hope that you enjoy what you are getting from the site, streams, and podcast.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Pros

• Aesthetic
• Quick Game Play
• Price
• Quality of Components
• Pedigree of company
• Theme

Cons

• Two player only
• Collectible Card Game feel

The Page

Roxley knows what they are doing when it comes to Kickstarter, I have Dice Throne Season One, all the duel boxes for season 2, the Treant and Ninja for Season 1, and Dice Throne Adventure from them. Their quality of game is not something that I’m remotely concerned about, and they have my interest every time that they create a Kickstarter.

The art on the page and in the game is just amazing. Manny Trembley, who did Dice Throne as well, is one of my favorite board game artists. He and Damien Mammoliti did an amazing job on the page and on the game creating artwork that really evokes this Mad Max or Warriors almost setting.

And Roxley always does a good job of highlighting their quality as well. The Synth cards are really cool and I want to know what they feel like. Beyond that, having seen their other games, I know that the tokens will be good quality and that box seems really nice. I even like the playmats a lot, though that’s mainly for the artwork versus because I think that the game needs them.

The Game

So, like I said, when Roxley makes something, I’m going to be interested. And I am interested in Radlands because I like how quick the game plays. I’ve watched two playthroughs over on GloryHoundd’s YouTube channel and it plays really quickly both of the times, and the games play out differently through multiple plays.

I put it in a con, but I like that it’s two player, kind of. If it were more than two player the game would take a lot longer to play because there would be more bases to destroy, players would be trying to slow down whomever was in the lead, and things would just kind of pass around and people would have more time to build up defenses and such.

I’m less thrilled with the CCG feel of the game. Now, thankfully it’s not a collectible card game. Everything you need to play the game is in that one box, and while I’m sure they can expand, I wouldn’t imagine that they’d ever consider doing something like Magic: The Gathering. However, the comparison is there a little bit as to how the game plays, and for me, that’s a hard sell. I can tell that the game is balanced and interesting to play from what I have seen in playthroughs, but is it one that I’d play a lot?

Back or Brick

But that was getting into the area to answer to my question down here, is it a Back or a Brick? For me, unfortunately, this game is a Brick. Not because I don’t think it’s a good game, I’m guessing I’d love the game. However, as a two player game that can feel a bit like a CGG, I don’t know when I’d played it, or who I’d play it with. The game would probably hold resale value, but I don’t want to get a game to then just sell it in a couple of years after it’s been sitting on my shelf looking pretty and maybe getting played a couple of times. I highly recommend this game for most people, but I’m not sure I have space for it on my shelf.

How about for you, is this game a back or a brick?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.