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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If you want to see the Top 10 games on the list live, click the notification bell on the scheduled stream. I hope that you can join me then and that you’ve enjoyed the previous parts of my Top 100 Board Games (of all time) 2021 Edition. Or, if you just found it, you can catch-up with the links below.

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 Board Games 20 through 11

20. Super Fantasy Brawl

Super Fantasy Brawl is a two player (can be more but really two player) battling game where you are fighting to knock out your opponents characters and complete objectives to get trophies. The first player to get to five trophies wins the game.

This is not my normal type of game, two player only games tend not to hit my table as often. And head to head battling games are not ones I gravitate towards, but Super Fantasy Brawl is really good. All the characters play so differently, and you can create a team that does all sorts of different things. I think I have 9 or 12 different characters so you can have a ton of different teams of three.

I also like in this game that you can get trophies for knocking out other peoples characters, but they don’t go away. So it’s not too much of a blow. And you probably won’t win just be knocking out enemy characters. You need to deal with the objectives as well, if not to get them, to keep your opponent from getting trophies that way. And the game is easy to learn and play, which is great.

Buy On Miniature Market

19. Clank! In! Space!

A deck building game, Clank! In! Space! does a good job of not being too simple. In it, you are racing around a ship, hacking into consoles to get access to the treasure room, grabbing a treasure, running out, and hoping you don’t cause too much noise. Because Lord Eradikus is on the ship and if you clank about too much, he’ll find you and stop you.

This game works so well for me because there’s more going on in the game than just the deck building. How much do you push your luck and run into the treasure room. And some of the better cards you can buy in the game, that might combo with what you are doing can create more clank. When you clank you add a cube to a pool that Lord Eradikus will draw from when he actives. He might draw a neutral cube and nothing happens, but too many of yours drawn and Eradikus stops you.

Buy On CoolStuffInc

18. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

I feel like I always put this disclaimer out there, I don’t love social deduction games, but I do love Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. Why, because it gives you something to talk about right away in the game. Most social deduction games build to the point where you are maybe hazard a guess as to who the “bad guy” is. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong does that from the start.

How? Well, the murder picks a weapon and clue in front of them. The forensic scientist knows what they are, but they can only send up reports to tell the detectives. So the report might be the murder location and the forensic scientist picks from a list on a tile which one makes the most sense. The game really starts and accusations start when that first piece of information is put out.

This is also a social deduction game where being in any role, forensic scientist, murder, accomplice, witness, or a just a regular detective is a lot of fun. Everyone is trying to figure out what the combo of clue and weapon is. And even the murderer, accomplice, and forensic scientist are trying to figure out the story either to direct people to the clue or weapon or away from it.

Buy on Amazon

17. Hanamikoji

We go from a big group game to a two player only game in Hanamikoji. I talk about this one a lot because I really love the game. It’s such a fast but thinky two player game. In it you are trying to win the favor of Geisha by giving them gifts. The game, however, is extremely clever in how you give them gifts.

There are only four actions you can do in the game and each player does all four once per round, alternating turns. You can save a card to give to a Geisha face down, you can discard two gifts face down, you give your opponent the choice of three gifts and they pick one, or you give your opponent the choice of two pairs of gifts, and they pick one. You are trying to win favor with four Geisha or 11 points worth of Geisha to win.

The game plays extremely fast, but the decisions are really tough. Giving something to your opponent is always a rough decision as to what you want to even let them pick from. I feel like what you do, though, is simple enough that I can pull it out with most people as a two player game.

Not Available

16. Welcome To…

The first of four roll and write games on this section of the list. Welcome To… has long been one of my favorites in the genre. In it you are creating your perfect neighborhood. You are getting all the house numbers ready, putting in pools and parks, and building white picket fences.

Every turn everyone is playing as well, which is really nice, so there is little to no downtime in the game. It’s also fun because you are trying to optimize how you are scoring points. And the three objectives that can give you points also gives you a good direction to go in the game. This one has a fair number of rules but that makes it interesting because it’s a bigger roll and write game.

Buy on Amazon

15. ICECOOL

This game is just silly fun. It’s one that I love to pull out for a game night because flicking penguin high school students around a board to try and get fish and avoid hall monitors is a lot of fun. The game is simple, get through doorways and get fish which are points. Or all the hall monitor, hit the penguins students to get their student ID and get points.

ICECOOL works with all ages and really with all groups that I’ve played with. It’s just a silly good time for people who have been drinking or for families to get to the table. And the board, which is the box, that builds out into this big 3D board is just great. Add in ICECOOL 2, which is the same game, you can now play on a massive board with eight people.

Buy on Amazon

14. Sonora

Another dexterity game, but also another roll and write game. In Sonora you are flicking discs onto a big board. The board is split into four areas, one for each part of the roll and write portion that you fill in. The discs have numbers which determines what number of things you fill in on that roll and write portion.

What I l love about this game is that it’s full of combos. If a fill in a spot in the upper right, that might then let me fill in something in the lower left, and that might let me fill in something in the lower right. So the whole filling in things is a really interesting and fun puzzle to optimize what you are doing. And it’s always fun to complete a combo and feel smart.

Buy on Amazon

13. Railroad Ink Challenge

Another roll and write game as well. Railroad Ink was already on the list, but I prefer Railroad Ink Challenge. Why, because of the challenge aspect. Much of the game is the same, you are trying to connect routes, get long stretches of road and rail and fill in the middle. But the challenges add in a nice twist and something to focus on.

The challenges are basically objectives. It might be something like, have a full row or column filled in by round 4, and that’ll give you 4 points if you’d done it by then, fewer the longer it takes you. Or fill in nine spots to create a square. It just gives you something else to go for and think about in the game. And it’s already fairly challenging even without the challenges. I just like the extra challenge, direction that the game gives you in this version.

Buy on Amazon

12. Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade

The final roll and write game in this section, Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade is the most thematic roll and write that I have played. It somehow manages to pull off the feeling of playing a pinball machine. You get points for bouncing off the bumpers and knocking down targets. If you knock down a full group of targets you get a bonus and you’re just seeing how high a score you can get.

I like that the game comes with four different boards, as well. There is a circus one that is just a simple pinball machine. The Cyber Hack board gives you a secret location where you are doing a run and hacking into the machine for more points, but also a press your luck for how long you stay up there. Each board feels different and really fun, and having little pinballs you move around the board to keep track of where you are at is great too.

Buy on Miniature Market

11. Xenoshyft: Onslaught

Finally, we have Xenoshyft: Onslaught. This is another deck building game and a tower defense game. I call it Starship Troopers the board game because you are defending your base from wave after wave of bugs. And you are doing that cooperatively, which is fun. And it does a cooperative thing that I don’t see in other deck builders or cooperative games.

You are all setting up your defenses at the same time. So, I might have five troops but only room to put out four of them, and you might have only a single troop in your hand. I can give you one to put in your lane of defense to stop the wave of bugs coming in that side. And you can use grenades from your hand to help deal with bugs on someone else’s lane as well.

Plus, you get money every single turn. So even if you shuffle horribly and end up with no money in your hand, at the start of each turn you get money to add to your hand and deck. So you are always able to improve and add to what you have. And what you buy that turn doesn’t go to a discard pile, you can play it immediately.

Buy on Amazon

The Next 10

So no stream next Wednesday. It’s the day before Thanksgiving, but to go along with that, two episodes of Hawkeye are coming out that day. That means that I have some TV to watch for the 10 Minute Marvel podcast. Instead, the Top 10 are going to be coming out on December 1st at 8 PM Central Time.

If you want to know when I am going live, you can subscribe to Malts and Meeples and click that notification bell. That’ll let you know whenever I go live. Once I’m done with my Top 100 list, my schedule might be changing, depending on a few things, so clicking the notification bell will let you know for sure when my streams are happening.

Which of these games do you like the best, or would you want to play?

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Pros

• Theme
• Price
• Multiple Game Modes
• Art

Cons

• Multiple Game Modes
• Aesthetics

The Page

This page has both some positives and negatives for me on it. Firstly, I do love how well they lay out the page when it comes to game play. There are three modes, so not only do we get some basic game play, we get each mode of the game talked about. That said, this feels like isn’t as polished as it should be. The animations seem a little bit rough and not as smoothed as they should be.

I also think that the cards and artwork themselves seem a little bit dated in their look. I actually like the artwork quite well, it’s a slightly different fantasy style artwork, but solid looking. The layout of the card and symbols just look a bit like they belong on a collectible card game or a little bit like Clank! The Adventure Deck Building Game, which I think looks a bit dated as well. Again, I think it’s that the graphical design doesn’t look like it’s been smoothed over for the aesthetic layout. I will say, even with the aesthetics maybe needing a bit more polish the symbols are clear as to what they are.

The Game

The game modes are where I want to start, I put them as both a positive and a negative. I like that they managed to get a story mode that can be played solo into the game. A tactical battle game is interesting, but I have Super Fantasy Brawl, I’ll likely be getting some Marvel Unmatched, I had and got rid of Krosmaster Arena, so it’s a genre that I’ve had stuff for and not one that gets played a ton for me, but a story mode that I an play solo, that is more likely to get played. However, they are both a positive and a negative because I want to know how the support is for them, was the story mode/solo mode added as an after thought? I hope not.

But the game play itself seems interesting. I like the action points and how they activate different area of the cards and how clear that makes it for each character. The combat system with dice is less exciting except for the triggered effects on the dice. I like it when even a miss might do something that way the dice in the game don’t feel as punishing.

And of course, the biggest interest for me in the game is the taking of endowments. Think about being given someone else’s strength, or glamour, or agility so that your leaders are extremely powerful with lots of all of them, and then those fighters battling. Those epic points of conflict are going to be what really make this game standout as something different, I think.

Back or Brick

Right now this is a back for me. I like the book series and the premise behind it especially. However, like last week with Epic Seven Arise, I want to look more into it. Thankfully GloryHoundd and DrGloryHogg did a play through of it on the GloryHoundd channel, so I can catch up on that today to make sure it is still a back for me. I really hope that the game play seems interesting and that it feels thematic to the books. Also, it seems to have a lot of game for a very reasonable price.

Is this game a back or a brick for you? What keeps you from backing it or makes it more likely that you will? Have you read the book series?

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