But that is all great. There are still some IP’s that just don’t have good board games yet. And I think that some of them could have great board games if the right company got their hands on them. I think I could come up with more than three, but let’s pick my Top 3 IP’s that I want better board games for.

Top 3 IP’s

3. Tomb Raider

I think that there have been a few Tomb Raider games over time. But none of them have been that good. The one I that played was definitely very bad. That sad thing is that this was in 2019 at Gen Con and while I know bad games come out still, the hope is that if you’re showing off a new game there that isn’t out, you’ll make it better. They did not.

The issue with this game, and there were many, but the biggest is that everyone was Lara Croft. So it starts with something that makes zero sense. Then you try and move around a circle by playing out cards. All the cards were boring. Then you could also just mess with that other players were doing. In all, there is nothing that felt Tomb Raider like about it.

What I Want

This is clearly a narrative adventure game. And honestly a lot of IP games should be that. You have a pre-existing world, so how do you create something good for it. I think this could be perfect for Mansions of Madness style of game. Mansions of Madness does two things. It lets you have puzzles, and Tomb Raider could be way more creative with theirs. And you get to explore and build out locations.

Now, would I make this a campaign game. And honestly I’m a bit torn on it. I think that there are elements that would make sense from the franchise to be a campaign game. But a lot of the games are also pretty standalone in nature. So I almost lean towards standalone. But what I’m going to say is that I think there are game models you could use that offer both.

I like the idea of being able to get a box of the next series of missions in this case. All of those will be a connected arc. But like Fantasy Flight does with their LCG’s, and maybe that’d be a good Tomb Raider format anyways, have some stand alone packs. So you could get the core box, play as Lara and her friends, have some connected missions, and then get one off missions.

2. Sword Art Online

Now, the Sword Art Game is why I have a bit of an issue with Japanime Games. They tend to get a lot of IP’s and they don’t do well by them. The games aren’t balanced, the rules aren’t good, and it’s generally a bit of a mess. Sword Art Online: Sword of Fellows somehow manages to have a lot of rules written out but none of them explained. From when I’ve played it, and I still own it, it’s basically a Yahtzee style game of trying to roll dice and activate hits.

If you can activate all the dice, I believe it is, then you can switch with someone else not giving the bad guy a turn. That element is thematic to the show. But the issue with this game is that there’s not much of a game there. And there isn’t much that makes it feel like the show or light novels. It’s really that one thing, you can switch, and a very basic and boring leveling up.

What I Want

Sword Art Online in a Kingdom Death Monster system. I know really easily what I want. Or maybe Sword Art Online in a Frosthaven system. Finally, it could be Sword Art Online in a Oathsworn system. All of these have one thing in common. You go out to a boss battle or some scenario and then there is a town or settlement phase. I was already working on an idea for a game like this because Sword Art Online: Sword of Fellows was so sad.

But the basic idea is that you spend your time building up your guild, scouting, finding monsters, dealing with events, dealing with other players and NPC’s all leading up to a boss battle and going to the next level. And you need to balance everything, because in Sword Art Online there is no dying and loading it back up again. The whole point of it is a death game, so if you’re not careful your character might die. Of course, you can swap in other characters but obviously, it’s not the person who you were before.

This is just an idea that seems so obvious and it provides depth. But because the one game was made to make a game fast for an IP, we’re stuck with Sword Art Online: Sword of Fellows.

1. Dresden Files

Now my top IP that I’d like to see get a better board game, though this order is flexible, is The Dresden Files. This is a book series that I just love with great urban fantasy. And there is a board game out there that I own everything for the game. And unlike the other ones, I like The Dresden Files board game, but it could be better.

In the game you play through one of the books. And to do that you are either trying to take out more bad guys so that there are fewer of them left than cases you’ve solved. Or that there are more solved cases than bad guys left. And that’ll depend on the characters you play as. And then you are playing cards to beat up bad guys or solve cases, or to get back more action points to solve cases and beat up bad guys in future turns.

The game has some issues. It’s thematic, if you know the books. And the mechanisms are very inspired. It doesn’t feel like a Dresden story that way. It’s very mechanical and sometimes because of the shared action point pool you just discard cards. So you’re helping, but it isn’t exciting.

What I Want

This one I think I have the most specific thing that I want. Though Sword Art Online was pretty specific as well. I think there is more room to play with in that idea. I want the Vampire the Masquerade Chapter system with Dresden Files. It’s kind of choose your own adventure. It’s talking with people and monsters, it’s investigating crime scenes, and then it’s fighting. All of that is Dresden to a tee. You could maybe even mix in a city map and a blue beetle.

The only other option that I think could work, and it wouldn’t be as good would be a combination of TIME Stories and Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game. Both of them are about solving cases, which is what the Dresden Files ultimately are about. But there is more adventure to the Dresden Files that I don’t think that TIME Stories and Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game bring as much as what I’ve seen in Vampire the Masquerade Chapters.

So, Flyos Games, please get this IP or work with whomever has it, I want to see this game.

Other IP’s That Need Better Board Games

There are a lot of them out there. And I wanted to keep it to three so that I could dive into what I wanted to do as well. And there are some that have solid board games but could have better. Like Dungeons and Dragons has games people like, but do they feel like D&D to me? Or Harry Potter, Hogwarts Battle is a fun game, but does it feel like Harry Potter? Barely, and it’s not a game without it’s flaws.

If you could pick a few IP’s that have board games that you’d like to see get a better game, what would they be?

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The Board Game IPs

So how did I create this list, let’s start there. This is based off of a video by Foster the Meeple, which you can find here. Their list was mainly IP’s that didn’t already have a board game with them. Or they only had more mass market games. I didn’t quite do that. Mine might already have a game with them, but I want more games with that IP. Or I want better games with that IP.

Let’s run down the list quickly.

10. Mutant Chronicles

I’d want to see this as a Project Elite type of game. Mainly something where you go after lots of monsters, play real time, and just have fun scenarios and powers.

9. Sonic the Hedgehog

For Sonic, I’d like a game like Downforce where you have a specific car that is yours though and you are racing to get as many rings as you can. Player with the most rings at the end wins.

8. Shadow and Bone

Shadow and Bone, it could go two different ways. One way is playing at character level. Get into that dungeon crawl or adventure style of game. The other way would be to pit all the factions against each other in a race for dominance.

7. Locke & Key

Chronicles of Crime or Destinies from Lucky Duck Games would be the one that I’d base a game off of. Give it story and give it that dynamic element of the app. Especially with the VR element that Chronicles of Crime can add it’d really show off the weird world that can be Locke & Key.

6. Stormlight Archives

This one is coming, in some form. But another game that I think would work well in two ways, like Shadow and Bone. I think the idea of factions is even easier with the different lords you could play as and control. But there is so much rich story and history to the world, an adventure game would be amazing.

5. Keeper of the Lost Cities

Keeper of the Lost Cities has that Harry Potter like vibe to it with the displaced kid finding where they are really supposed to be. For this game idea, I’d want that adventure or dungeon crawl type of game. I think even exploring the school, Foxfire, over years as you level up your character and gain new skills would be interesting. Place some big mystery over everything, kind of that adventure type of game makes the most sense.

4. Stranger Things

For Stranger Things, I would love a Mansions of Madness style of game. Solve mysteries and fight monsters like the kids do. And the location tiles, when you eventually go into the upside down, which you might not always do, you flip everything over and on the reverse side of the tiles is the same location but just the upside down version.

3. Arcane

Arcane definitely needs to be a story driven dungeon crawl game. I think I suggested something to Middara. It’s a rich world with a lot of story to reach and choices to make. But then there is a dungeon crawl element. I’d want that dungeon crawl and campaign element for Arcane because of again a very rich world.

2. The Dresden Files

The Dresden Files, I bounced around a while where I wanted this game idea to land. I want it to be a Tainted Grail style of game. It’s dungeon crawl adjacent but really more of a of an adventure game. Give me a game set in the world of magic, monster and fey that Dresden Files has. I don’t even need Harry Dresden in it, well maybe some references to him, but a big campaign about what other wizards are doing would be amazing.

1. Sword Art Online

Finally, the IP I’d love most to have a good game for is Sword Art Online. There is a little card game but it’s not that great. The rules are definitely poor. But I want a boss battler, but not just a boss battler. A game I haven’t played yet, but is coming soon, Oathsworn or another one like that ISS Vanguard, would be solid examples. Oathsworn, in particular, has story/mystery that you play through and then fight the boss monster. That’s what I’d love for an SAO game.

Upcoming Streams

So change to the schedule. I can finally get some more games played on Thursday so I am pushing off the stream. Now, possibly, I am going to do my first Crowdfunding BIG and little on Friday. But I’ll know for sure soon. Life just got in the way of a lot of gaming over this past week, so I don’t want to miss out on more.

But tomorrow at 8 PM Central I will be streaming again. This time more Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. You can find the upcoming video here. So join me then on Malts and Meeples to chat and watch some game play.

And then next Monday there is not going to be a stream because it is the 4th of July. So no stream for the holiday mainly because I’ll probably be wrapping up driving by the time I’d normally be streaming and if not I’ll be tired out. So I’ll be streaming on Wednesday next week.

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Ranking My Fantasy Games

46: The Red Dragon Inn

This should be a game that I like more than I do, it’s basically a hand management game around drinking in a bar after you’ve been out adventuring and gambling to win money and getting in fights. And I suspect I do I like this game more than I think. I just don’t like it at high player counts. Most of the time when I play The Red Dragon Inn it is over the recommended player count, to me this is a 4 player game only. I don’t want fewer, I don’t want more. At four, it’d feel like good silly fun and not a slog.

45: God of War: The Card Game

God of War is another theme in a game that I should love, but the game around it wasn’t that great. The deck building was interesting in the game. But the card play and the monsters that you fight, those aren’t all that interesting. It feels like the game was meant for mass market without hitting mass market. Or it’s a weird area in between mass market and hobby.

44: Kodama: The Tree Spirits

This is one that barely falls into the fantasy area. Yes, it does have the tree spirits, but that’s barely part of the game. It’s more about building out trees trying to create runs of the different things that you want. In concept it’s not that bad, and in game play it is okay. Kodoma is one of those games where I think a lot of people will enjoy it, and it’s not a bad game, but it won’t be many people’s favorite game.

43: Stuffed Fables

This is a game, in Stuffed Fables, I should maybe have given more tries. The theme of a being stuffed animals and toys of a kid trying to get their blanket back that was stolen, super cute. And the game was cute when I played it, but also more complex than it should be. I get what Plaid Hat Games is doing with their adventure book games, but with changing rules it just made it more complex than I wanted.

42: SeaFall

SeaFall, people would probably put that to the bottom of their lists because it is not a good legacy game. Though, legacy games, to me, have higher standards than most other games. If I am only going to get a limited use out of it, it needs to be epic. I liked the mechanics pretty well though they needed to be less punishing. But the story was a bit too scattered, though, with some tweaking, could be made better.

41: Near and Far

Well, I just wrapped up Sleeping Gods, that isn’t on the list yet, so I like it better. For me, Near and Far is a cool concept, a cool world, and just falls flat. The game has story, and even vignettes of story like Sleeping Gods, but it’s more mechanics than anything. And I think since it’s competitive the game couldn’t get away from the mechanics as much as how you score points.

40: Legacy of Dragonholt

Legacy of Dragonholt is another one of those games that isn’t bad, but could have been better. The system for an RPG/Choose Your Own Adventure game is fun. The story is okay, and that’s what kept me from diving back into it. It wasn’t that the concept of the story wasn’t good, but the execution of it felt too YA (young adult) and not a well written YA story, but one that got published because other YA books similar were well done and popular. I’d love to see Fantasy Flight come back to this system, keep some of the ideas and just improve the writing.

39: Fae

Fae is a fantasy game in cover art only. It is really an abstract game where you are a fae creature who is then hidden from everyone else and you try and score the most points. The game is good, and I like the challenge of trying to score points but not make it too obvious so that people tank your fae’s scoring. A clever idea and very abstract.

38: Legends of Andor

Another game that was in my collection and then left. And another one that is fun, it is an efficiency puzzle of how you get through the story as effectively as possible so you don’t trigger end game too early. My issue with it is only a me issue, I have too many campaign games. I let it go when I realized I would only ever play the starting scenario at least for right now. When I have capacity for that campaign, then I might get it back.

37: Sword & Sorcery

Sword & Sorcery left my collection, but that’s because I did play through the campaign. It is a fun campaign but one that I knew I wouldn’t revisit. The depth of game play is fun for a lighter dice chucking game. And the story is also light, well, in terms of the decisions that you make. I wish the story branched more, and that your powers would change up more, because once you found a few good things, you just did those.

36: Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients

Shadows of Brimstone is one that hasn’t left my collection as a campaign game, but maybe should. The only issue is that I need to glue the figures back together. My first gluing didn’t stick as well as it should have, because I didn’t use the right glue. But also, it’s a theme that I don’t have games for, the weird west. So monsters and other worlds all messing with the old west. I love that theme and there aren’t many games or good books that I’ve found with it.

35: Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

Another campaign game, and another one that left my collection just because I wasn’t going to get to it anytime soon. But it’s Lord of the Rings, and app assisted from Fantasy Flight Games. The story was fun that I did play through. The writing was well done, which I appreciated, and you can see is something that’s important to me. Definitely a good one for Lord of the Ring fans, which I am.

34: Krosmaster: Arena

This is a skirmish game with fantasy characters casting spells, summoning monsters, and hacking and slashing away. I like that you pick and build the teams that you play with. I like the dice rolling and how you can play with secondary objectives so it’s not just knock out your opponent. But you can play just with knocking people out as well. Krosmaster is one I would keep but I didn’t have people to play it with, and now I have another skirmish game or two that I put over it.

33: Too Many Bones

This one will probably move up the list when my Gamefound comes in for the latest expansions. Not that I own any other Too Many Bones, but that might start me getting more. This is kind of a short campaign game where you fight some battles and then fight against a boss. But where the game really shines is how you build up your characters. Each of them do different things, and how you level them up gives you room to explore a character multiple times. Plus it’s a different fantasy world than anything else out there.

32: Lord of the Rings: Journey To Mordor

This is a roll and write game, but it is a fun little one. Not one that I own or one that I’d go and seek out to add to my roll and write collection. But Journey to Mordor basically has you advancing your Hobbit on their journey to Mordor while trying not to let the Nazgul get you. Very simple roll and write but it has a little more player interaction, so it feels different than some.

31: The Hobbit

Speaking of Hobbits, we have The Hobbit. This is a competitive game about dwarves trying to get treasure, which is kind of what the book is as well. I like the mechanics where you are leveling up skills based off of cards you play. But you want to balance it so everyone levels up because you can’t defeat the monsters all by yourself. So it’s semi-cooperative, but not in a way that someone is working against the group, it’s just that sometimes you let another person get the better thing.

30: Deadly Doodles

Another roll and write game, and this one I think has dropped a little on my list. It’s a good simple roll and write where you are trying to get treasures, find weapons and defeat monsters. And what you do gives you points. There are some different dungeons which add in more things to do as well, which I need to play around with.

29: The Lord of the Rings

And even more Lord of the Rings, this is the classic Fantasy Flight Game. I like how it plays through the books. And you play as the Hobbits taking the ring to Mordor. It is fairly abstracted, but the locations you go and the scenes you play through are all very Lord of the Rings, so it feels more thematic than just with what you are doing. Plus it’s a really tough cooperative game and I like those.

28: Titan Race

Normally I don’t love games that have a lot of in your face, try and mess the other person over, but Titan Race is a lot of fun. This is a fast game and a silly game with great fantasy in it. Titan Race is very silly and I like how the tracks work. You can either do a race where you loop over the same board over and over again, or you can do a grand prix and go over three boards and each board does different things. And those things make the game even sillier.

27: Claim

Claim is a two player trick taking game which is odd. Plus the first hand you play doesn’t actually give you a score, it is how you build your hand for trick taking. It’s such a clever idea and I like that it plays really fast. The fantasy theme comes in that the different suits are fantasy races. And each of those fantasy races has it’s own powers, or they might. Some of them there are just more of, whereas others have powers. A knight always beats a goblin, for example. So it puts even more of a twist on trick taking in a way I really enjoy.

26: Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler

I don’t know where this one will end up, so middle of the list is good for right now. I don’t know where it’s going to end up because I’ve only played this roll and write game once. And I liked it a lot, it’s a dungeon crawler as a roll and write. But as compared to Deadly Doodles where you go into a dungeon and cross over stuff, you do a lot more in this game. You level up your heroes, you have powers and abilities, you craft items and brew potions. And the better you do in other things, better you can explore. A lot going on, but not too hard.

25: Skulk Hollow

Skulk Hollow is a game of woodland creatures, the Foxen, fighting against a Guardian. It’s a two player only game and one that is very asymmetrical. As the guardian my goal might change from game to game, depending on which guardian I am. And the Foxen, well they always want to beat down the Guardian. And the Foxen can change up depending on who their leader is. Really cute game and fast to learn and play.

24: Silver

I think I say this every time I talk about Silver, but it reminds me of a game I played growing up with a deck of cards. In Silver you have a village in front of you and you want the lowest score possible. You know what two of the cards are in your village. You don’t know the other three. So now you swap cards out or play them for powers to get rid of cards in your village and lower your score. It’s simple, it’s fun, there’s a lot of take that, yet it feels nostalgic in a good way.

23: Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure

Clank is a fun push your luck, deck building, dungeon delving game. You want to get the best treasure that you can, but as you get cards, make noise, and well, annoy the dragon because it’s their horde, now the dragon starts damaging you. So you could jump in, grab the first thing you see and run, but if someone else can make it out, now they have more points and better treasure than you. Really fun game and easy enough to play for most people.

22: Deranged

Deranged might fall more into a horror game. But there is a magical gate and fantastical monsters who are out to get you. And you yourself can become one of those fantastical monsters if you don’t deal with your curses and get out in time, why, because you might become Deranged. The game has a lot going on, but I like the dual use cards and the theme of the game. A little horror I’m most certainly interested.

21: Village Attacks

Village Attacks is another darker themed game because you for sure are the monsters. And after a long day of terrifying villagers, you are ready to settle down. But nope, here some villagers to break down your door because clearly you’re the monsters, not the people trying to trash your place. That sounds light, and I find it silly, but it is themed dark. Still a very nice tower defense type of game.

20: The Grimm Masquerade

Themed with Grimm Fairy Tales, The Grimm Masquerade is a deduction game. You are each a masked party goer, one of the Grimm characters. You are of course looking for something, a glass slipper for Cinderella, but also have something you don’t want. Can you get what you need or make everyone else bust before they figure out who you are?

19: Ascension: Deckbuilding Game

Another deck building game, Ascension is fantasy themed. Really, like most pure deck building games, it’s about building up an engine that gives you points. I just like this fantasy theme and variability of it better than something like Dominion. But that’s not what we’re talking about. This lets you get heroes and casters and sages and constructions to fight monsters, get more income and buy more cards. I like that it offers a ton of different strategy for the game.

18: Res Arcana

Res Arcana is another in theme only fantasy games. You are basically building out an engine to get points and who can do it better to get points faster. I like it though with the theme of brewing potions and dragons and places of power. It makes it feel different, and I also like that you only have 8 cards to make your engine with.

17: The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

The Dresden Files are my favorite fantasy series. I love the world that Jim Butcher has created. The game, it does a good job of giving you the pieces of that world. But you need to know the world to connect them together. So it’s not the best fantasy game or story game for everyone, but if you know the series, it’s a lot of fun to play.

16: Small World

Small World is Risk with fantasy creatures, crazy powers, and well, a whole lot more fun. What really works is that this is a small board. The game is in your face, but it’s in everyone’s face. The option of hiding away in Australia is gone that you’d have in Risk. Plus, you get crazy combos. Flying Halflings, Seafaring Giants, Wealthy Trolls, all of them are possible. Really accessible game too for most new gamers.

15: The Lost Expedition

This one is on the list because of the expansions and promo cards. I don’t think in the base game there is anything too fantastical, but werewolves, fountain of youth, yeah, those are fantasy. This is all about surviving to get to the lost city of Z. The game is a really good cooperative one that if you have someone who is a alpha player, it keeps them from being too much of one.

14: Century: Golem Edition

This is another one where the theme is fantasy, but game play doesn’t really shine through on that. Still, the artwork and gem pieces are great, and I wouldn’t want a different theme. It’s a hand management game where you are building up cards in your hand to use them to turn gems into other gems until you get the right combinations to get golems. And the golems at the end of the game give you points. What is so amazing about this game is that turns are super fast, so while there are good decisions to be made, it doesn’t take long to get back to your turn.

13: Potion Explosion

We’ve all probably seen the app games where you get like colors to touch and that removes them from the board and if more hit, those are removed as well. That is what Potion Explosion is. You are making crazy potions by pulling dice and trying to get the like colors to hit. Light game with a great table presence.

12: Root

Root was one where I was thinking, is this actually fantasy. Well, let’s see, it’s animals fighting and building, so yes, that seems like fantasy. But really, it’s a confrontational game where you fight it out with your group trying to get points to win the game with everyone trying to keep everyone else in check. Great asymmetrical game, just know it’ll take some time to teach. And don’t let the artwork fool you, this is not a nice sweet happy game.

11: Roll Player

Roll Player is a game about making your Dungeons and Dragons (or Generic RPG) character. You draft dice to put them into various stats for your class. It’s a lot of fun as you try and match up colors and get the numbers right to score more points. Plus you buy up gear and abilities which can influence your stats or points as well. And that’s the game, it’s about building up your character.

10: Spire’s End

Spire’s End, coming soon to Malts and Meeples is a story adventure game. In Spire’s End you wake up to find a spire has appeared at the edge of your town and many people are missing. You and others go into the tower, fight monsters, make choices, and generally go on a weird and dark adventure. Really like this one as a solo game.

9: Super Fantasy Brawl

Super Fantasy Brawl, it’s in the name that it’s fantasy. Super Fantasy Brawl is a two player skirmish game where you are trying to complete objectives in an arena and knock out your opponents. Complete objectives, get trophies. Knock out your opponent, get trophies. The first to five wins. What I really like is the turn speed, you play up to three cards, one of each color and do what it says on the cards. And the cards you play determine who moves. Light game but very tactical in how you play.

8: Cartographers

The second game I have in the Roll Player world, won’t be the last. But Cartographers is a roll and write game where you are making a map of the land. And you get points for making it in certain ways. Forests surrounding mountains might give you a point or two, things like that. What makes it fantastical is that you put monsters on the map as well. And you don’t put your own down, you put them on your opponents board in the worst spot for them to make them score negative points.

7: Sleeping Gods

Sleeping Gods, well, you can watch me play this one I just wrapped it up over on Malts and Meeples. Sleeping Gods is a big adventure game where you, as the crew of the Manticore are transported to a new world. You want to get home, but in order to do that you must awaken the sleeping gods and all you know is that totems might help with that, not where to find them. So it’s really a sandbox game of exploring, finding quests, fighting monsters and more.

6: Roll Player Adventures

Roll Player Adventures, the final Roll Player world game, this is an adventure game set in the world of Roll Player, using mechanics or dice mechanics that feel like Roll Player, and it’s really good. I really like that Roll Player Adventures is an easy game to learn and a lighter game to play. A lot of the big adventure games can have a lot to keep track of and a lot of tokens. Roll Player Adventures has enough, but not too much. And the world you play in isn’t too dark.

5: Aeon’s End

Aeon’s End is another deck building game and the highest on the list. This is a cooperative game where you play as breach mages trying to fight off nemesis that come through. The game does two really interesting things for me. Firstly, you never shuffle your deck. So when you discard cards you can kind of put them in an order. And the other is that turn order is random. There is a deck, in a two player game, which has two activations for each character and two for the Nemesis. On a really bad draw you could go twice with each character and then two Nemesis turns, plus then shuffle that up again and two more Nemesis turns.

4: Lords of Hellas

Lords of Hellas is fantasy in the future, or mythology in the future. It’s a cyber world of Greek gods. An odd setting with some amazing miniatures and mechanical creatures. But a really good game with some rough edges and a lot of ways to win. To me that is one of the best parts of the game where you are able to win in a number of different ways. You might fight monsters or build and control a monument or take over areas, how you play is up to you and the powers you have.

3: Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Tainted Grail, if Roll Player is light fantasy or happy fantasy, Tainted Grail is very dark fantasy. The world of Avalon is falling apart, the Menhir that drove back the wyrdness are failing and you aren’t sent out to stop it. You are sent out to find out what happened to the people who are better equipped to do this than you. But the story in Tainted Grail is amazing and one that I highly recommend people track down, which can be hard. Also know that this is a survival game with a ton of story, if you want the story, play in storymode, I am.

2: Dice Throne

Odd one to put on the list but Dice Throne is very much fantasy. It is fantasy head to battling in almost a Mortal Kombat type setting but it is still fantasy. My Pyromancer is going to blast your Barbarian with fire or then there is a Seraph or a Treant or a Gunslinger, all sorts of things, and you can take any of them up against each other. I’m so excited, it isn’t that far out to when Marvel Dice Throne will be delivered, several months but not that far. And Marvel Dice Throne is compatible and can be played with everything else I already have.

1: Gloomhaven

Finally, my #1 game of all time, Gloomhaven, This is a massive fantasy game of dungeon crawling combat. It is amazing and what really makes it is the card play. You pick two cards to play, one will determine how fast you go. Then when you go you use the top of one card and the bottom of the others to move and attack, so you can set yourself up for some epic turns or make it flexible to cover a changing board state. And there are so many different characters that are interesting to play as.

Final Thoughts

I love fantasy as a theme. A lot of my favorite series are fantasy for books in particular. And for board games, there are a lot of games that use the fantasy theme. But when you get down to some of my favorite games of all time, the big fantasy games are hard to beat. I think that my Top 3 games are all fantasy games. And I even skipped some games, like stuff in the Lovecraftian Mythos because while they are fantasy, I feel they are more horror. Maybe I’ll do a horror game ranking soon.

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Now, I won’t complain too much about some of those themes. I like the Cthulhu or Lovecraftian stuff that Fantasy Flight Games does. Marvel, I’m clearly a big Marvel fan as you can see from here and here. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other themes or really IP’s that I’d like to see games put it, or more games coming from.

The Dresden Files

This one does already have a game. And it has a game that I like. I think that The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game is good. But the theme is something that the players bring to the game. The game does remind you about what the story you’re playing through is, but if you don’t know the story, the cards won’t help that much. I want something that tells more of the Dresden Files story.

What Would I Want?

I don’t know that I want this to be a dungeon crawl type of game. I feel like it would work for Dresden, but not be as interesting. Plus, there are other themes that I’d want a dungeon crawler. What I would love is to see a Detective: A Modern Board Game style Dresden Files game. Dresden is always puzzling out mysteries. And we already have books of short stories that are other cases he’s done. It would work well for creating new cases, and it could be a massive case tied together over 5 smaller cases.

And then you could have Harry, Murphy, and some of the other characters as the ones who give you things to activate. And using magic in the game would be interesting and different. There definitely needs to be some sort of combat mechanic which base Detective really doesn’t have, but it is something that could easily be added. But for a lot of it, and a lot of what Harry does is investigate and get punched.

Sword Art Online

Another one that technically has a board game. But it is a small game from Japanime Games that needs the rule book to be updated or just fixed. And the game gives you a tiny bit of the SAO theme. You play as the main characters, and you can switch, but that is it.

For those of you not familiar with Sword Art Online, it is an anime where the characters get trapped in a video game. If you die in the video game, you die in real life. And the only way to escape is to beat the game by climbing to the top of the tower/levels and beating the final boss. There are more seasons as well with different things, but that’s a good starting point for knowledge.

What Would I Want?

I’d want a boss battling game. Something along the lines of Primal, Kingdom Death Monster, or Townsfolk Tussle. Really, mostly along the lines of Kingdom Death Monster. If you put that theme on KDM, I’d be paying $700 to get everything for it.

Kingdom Death Monster is a boss battling game, but it also has you building up your tribe/colony, adding armor, weapons, and more. That would work well for an RPG style video game which is what Sword Art Online is. While everything you’d be doing is working towards the next boss battle, what you do outside of that matters as well. And the depth of story and world in SAO, side quests that might appear as boss battles, all of those are good. I think that you could really create a good game for SAO in that style.

Tomb Raider

Yes, another one with a board game already. Though, I should say, a board game I think. I forget what happened with it, I demoed it at GenCon in 2019, and I was severely disappointed. And there are a few others a well, but none that have made waves in board gaming. And Tom Raider is a very cool theme. Especially when you think about the newer video games.

What Would I Want?

I think I’d want this to be done in the style of 7th Continent or maybe more like 7th Citadel. I could have said Detective as well, because it is a mystery most of the time. But I think that treasure hunting, getting dropped on an island that you don’t know what is going on. Or going to that bigger set piece area, that is cool.

7th Citadel adds in more story. And I could see that working really well, because you get that exploration, but you could make it feel like a bigger story. In fact, you could drop all the base cards for health, some skills, and some characters. Then you could add in other packs to add in more stories, new treasures to hunt. Almost make it a combination of 7th Citadel and TIME Stories. But actually pay off on a big story.

Locke & Key

Maybe all of these will have a board game done on them, because Locke & Key does. But this is another one that the game looks lacking and too abstracted. Locke & Key is a horror series where there are magical keys. These keys can do all sorts of crazy things, and the Locke family is the protector of the keys. But there are almost Lovecraftian type creatures from beyond, that want to get their hands on the keys and take over.

What Would I Want?

I think I’d want a one versus all game. Maybe even with an element of questioning if someone one is infected or not. So it could end up being a Battlestar Galactica type of game or Unfathomable with hidden traitors. Like, who has been infected by the other world. But I also think it could maybe work better as a one versus all game.

But let’s break it down more so, I think we have one person who is playing an infected villain. Someone under the control of the other world. And then they are trying to get the keys from the Locke family, since they can’t just take them. And at times the Locke’s will need to figure out how to banish them and go to the Omega door, which seals away the other worldly creatures. They need to open the door to get more material to make a new key, but there is a chance someone else can be hit. And if they are hit, then they become other worldly.

Of course, it might not be obvious if they are hit. So every time you do that, you risk getting someone else infected. And if someone else is infected, they start working with the group still, but being less optimal. How do you hide it, when do you switch sides and just start working obviously for the bad guy. It’s more about trying to stop each other versus kill them.

Disenchantment

I know this one doesn’t have a game. And honestly, it is so weird, it might not work all that well. Disenchantment is about a princess who has some lousy friends who go on adventures in all sorts of weird places. And then eventually people want to kill them, everyone wants to kill them. It’s a lighter story, and a completely weird world.

What Would I Do?

This, to me is a great one for a dungeon crawler. They end up in a world of gnomes, elves, castles, hell, other castles, and more. They really get pulled around everywhere. Give it a nice world map and see where all you end up, how you can make it through challenges, and if the monsters will kill you. Or your own mother, or really anyone will kill you.

And because you can go to hell, and they do in the show, I think that’d be a fun way to keep a dungeon crawler moving forward. If you die, it isn’t the end, you just need to get back out of hell. Maybe make a hell book of scenarios. Then every time that you die you play through another one of those. It could be determined by where, or how you die, but it could also just be done randomly. And if you die too many times you eventually get stuck.

Keeper of the Lost Cities

I did just write about this. So if you want to know a bit about the series, you can find that here. But the basic idea is that a girl is plucked from her not so normal human life. She finds out that she is really an elf, she gets into elf school. She makes friends, and yes this sounds like Harry Potter, but the world is better and more interesting. And the magic, each elf has a different skill or could have a different skill. And the world is in unrest and their are secret organizations trying to mess with the status quo.

What Would I Want?

This is tough, mainly because I don’t want to repeat too much of what I’ve already done. And this is a really cool world to play in. Firstly, I would want character creation for this game, or at least some ability to pick. Maybe something like Midarra which is very story heavy and you can build out characters however you want.

The elves unlock their powers, but they also have skills that they all can do. It just depends on how well they train themselves. So really setting up stats in different ways and then picking what power you want from being an empath to mind reading or inflicting emotions on someone else. Plus so many more.

I think this would kind of ben another dungeon crawl type of game. Maybe a bit like something like Arydia which isn’t out yet and I might late back, possibly. The concept of Arydia is that you dig deeper. You spend time at the world map level, you make story decisions, and then you get down to a narrower focus.

What Theme Would You Want?

Do you feel that there are some that need more love? I could probably spend time and come up with more. Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson is getting another one, otherwise it’d be on my list. The Call to Adventure version is cool, but there is so much that could be done in that world. And there are plenty of IP’s that could be treated better. I’m going to call out Japanime a little bit here, I think that they often put out okay games with a big IP. I’d love to see some of their anime IP’s get a better developed game.

Let me know which of my ideas sounds the coolest. And let me know what you want to see a game made about that doesn’t get enough love.

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If you are interested in catching these streams live. Every Wednesday at 8 PM Central time from now until the week before Thanksgiving I’ll be streaming. There is only one more scheduled right now but I’ll get the rest up shortly. You can click the notification bell to know when I go live on Malts and Meeples.

See the previous parts of the list below:

100 Through 91

90 Through 81

80 through 71

Top 100 Board Games – 70 through 61

70. Point Salad

A game about making a salad, this game has you getting as many points as you can. You do this by drafting either cards to add to your salad or cards to help you score your salad. The game is very easy to teach and play. And it plays differently every time, you don’t always play with all of the cards, so while the number of vegetable cards is the same at player counts, what cards are drafted and what scoring is used can change up. It’s a nice twist on drafting.

Buy on Miniature Market

69. Twice as Clever! (Doppelt So Clever)

The most complicated of the three “Clever” games. This one has you scoring points in a lot of different ways, I won’t go into detail because without context it means nothing. It’s an abstract roll and write game where you try and score the most points. It’s really based off of combos and foxes. As you score more points and fill in things in areas you unlock bonuses to fill in spots in other areas. And the foxes, they score with the number of foxes times your lowest in all areas. It’s a nice way to make you focus on everything.

Buy on Miniature Market

68. Hanabi

This game won the Spiel Das Jahres I believe, and it’s a game that still holds up. You are trying to play down cards in ascending order, but you can’t see your cards. Instead everyone else is giving you clues. But you are also giving them clues, and you have a limited number of clues you can give. The game works because of how you give clues, you can either tell people a color or a number. But you need to point to all the cards of a color or a number when giving the clue.

Buy on Miniature Market

67. Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game

Most social deduction games are little, this one is big. In it you’re trying to get the Galactica to Earth after Cylon attack. But the Cylons, while most are toasters, some look like people. And some of the Cylons might not even know they are Cylon. This game works because it’s a game with the social deduction and hidden traitor aspect to it. Can you read who is the player or players who are suspicious? It’s a long game but an epic experience. I could see this getting replaced, though, by Unfathomable for me.

Not Available

66. Cross Clues

A game with a grid and a cooperative party game. This has you coming up with clues to get people to guess your junction on the grid. Clues can only be one word and need to tie together two words on the axis. So if it goes ABCD on the top and 1234 on the side, you might have A3 which gives you the words Kite and Cat. What one would would you give to get people to guess A3? Maybe tail? But what if B3 is Dog and Cat, would people think you mean that? And everyone is trying to come up with a clue to give. Fast paced and a lot of fun.

Buy on Miniature Market

65. Parade

Parade is an abstract game where you are creating a line-up of characters from Alice in Wonderland. It’s not that the theme is great on this one, it is that the game play is a lot of fun. You are playing cards from your hand to the parade. The number on the card determines how many cards you skip over. Then the number and color tell you what cards in the rest of the parade you will take, low numbers or cards of the same color. You want low points but if you have the most of a color instead of being face value for points, each card counts as one point, so some really good choices.

Buy on Miniature Market

64. The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, besides having a very long name, is an interesting game because it has theme. But you bring the theme to the game. What the game does, with the scenarios being books, how the characters play, the investigations and the bad guys all are thematic, but the story doesn’t emerge unless you know it. Then the game makes more sense as you overcome obstacles, gain advantages, solve cases and defeat villains. It’s a solid mechanical game that’s great for Dresden Files fans.

Buy on Miniature Market

63. Hats

Another abstract Alice in Wonderland themed game. In Hats you are trying to collect the hats that are worth the most points. But to do that, you are taking cards off of the table at the Madd Hatters tea party. The cards you play out from your hand have to go to the table and the ones coming off the table are your scoring. Each spot at the table scores a different number of points. If there are two hats of the same type on the table at the end, hats of that type are worth the lowest. It’s a good abstract puzzle of a game.

Buy on Amazon

62. Deadly Doodles

Another new game to the list, Twice as Clever! was the first. Deadly Doodles is also a roll and write game. In it, you are delving into a dungeon to fight monsters, find weapons and get treasure. The game in it’s base is a pretty simple roll and write game. But you can make it more complex with Deadly Doodles 2 and the different dungeon types in there. You do need both of them to be able to play those more complex dungeons. But it’s a nice one to stream and a good solo or group roll and write game.

Buy on Miniature Market

61. Similo

Another party game and another cooperative party game and another new game. Similo was a game I knew about but wasn’t interested in until I saw Horrible Guild play it on their channel. Similo is a game of giving clues to get players to narrow it down to one thing. The trick is that the clue giver can only tell you if their card they play down is or isn’t like the target card. And you have to eliminate more as you go on. What makes this so much fun is that you might be using mythical figures to get people to guess animals, or the other way around. Good simple party game to start a game night.

Buy on Miniature Market

The Next Ten

Like I said at the beginning the next ten are going to come out on Wednesday. The streams are always at 8 PM Central Time and you can click the notification bell for it here. And you can always subscribe and click the notification bell on the channel as a whole. I hope that you can join me then.

Monday streams will start coming back probably after the Top 10 list is done. Though, if I decide to do some solo gaming some Monday, maybe I’ll have a surprise stream and just go with that. Let me know what small solo-able games you want to see me play.

What is your favorite game from this group of 10, and which one do you want to play most?

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What is Completionism or Being a Completionist?

I think it’s best that we start by nailing down our premise. Completionism is the desire or drive to have everything of something. Growing up, I tried to complete sets of baseball cards, people need complete series of books or movies, or all of a television show. For board games, some people want all the games by a certain designer or in a certain series of games. For example, Marvel Champions, people get everything for that.

Is Being a Completionist Good or Bad?

I’m going to give a bit of a non-answer here. The answer can be that it’s good sometimes and bad other times. Having all of Marvel Champions, for example, isn’t extremely expensive and it brings me joy. Having all of the Dresden Files books means that I can easily read them whenever I want. Having all of the Star Wars movies means that I can suffer through the prequels if I really want, but more so, it means that I can watch the whole series whenever I want. Having all of Marvel Champions or Dice Throne means that I can play with whatever characters I want.

However, there can be bad sides of this as well. For Marvel Champions, I have all of the base material for it. However, there are promos for it that I don’t have. And for me, I do not care that I don’t have them. But other people to truly complete their collection will go out of their way to pick them up at a premium. When a board game YouTube channel runs a Kickstarter for future years and has a promo for Dice Throne in it, Man Vs Meeple had one, people will back promos they don’t need. For books, people will need all of their Harry Potter, Dresden Files or other series to all be identical. So there can be an obsessive side of being a completionist that is not as good.

How Do You Balance It?

And I really do think this is what people need to think about if they are a completionist, how do you balance it. You can’t ever have a complete collection or books or board games or movies, there are too many different ones in the world. And some things are extremely hard to find There are board games that are rare that might be part of a series or certain promo cards or game editions that might be hard to find that will cost hundreds of dollars if not more. Books can be even worse if someone has started a collection of first editions for a book series.

I try and take the approach of collecting all of a few things. For example, I talked about Dresden Files. I have all the books in that series and I have all the Harry Potter books and all of the Stormlight Archive thus far. Those book series, one of which is completed, are the series that I want all of, and I know that. However, I want all of them, I do not need them all to be the same. I have two different types of paperbacks for The Dresden Files and some of them in hardback as well. For Marvel Champions, I have all the regular cards for it, and that’s enough of a complete collection. I say that I have the complete game play collection for it, I don’t have all the extra fancy pieces. With those as well, I’ve read all of the Dresden Files books I own at least twice, and I’ve played Marvel Champions six or seven times. I want my collections that I am completing to be things I actually use.

What To Ask Yourself

So, to wrap this up here, I think that being a completionist is fine, as long as it doesn’t have to be for everything. I have 3 Ascension games/expansions, I don’t need all twenty of them or however many there are, because while I like the game a lot and I might get more, I will never need or use it all. So ask yourself a few questions as you find yourself having the urge to complete a collection.

Will I use it? I touched on this in the other section, but I’ve read all of Harry Potter and The Dresden Files multiple times from the copies that I own. I have played Marvel Champions a handful of times, sure there’s lots I haven’t played in it, but I’m still using it.

Am I fine with it not being perfect? This is I think the bigger danger zone than the other question, but I think that one is still important. I have complete collections of things, like I mentioned as well, but they aren’t perfect collections. I don’t have all the promo cards for Dice Throne or Marvel Champions, my book series don’t all look identical. And that is 100% fine with me. I will be concerned, for myself, if I start to have certain standards for how the collection must be complete.

I am curious, do you find yourself being a completionist? Do you have to have it be perfect or what are your standards? What do you find yourself needing or wanting to have all of?

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100 to 91

90 to 81

80 to 71

70 to 61

60 to 51

50 to 41

Plus a few notes on how I’ve put together the list:

• These are my favorite, you want what people consider best, see the Board Game Geek Top 100
• If a game you love isn’t on the list, it might be be coming, I might not have played it, and if I have, it’s 101
• If a game looks cool, I have links to buy it from CoolStuffInc or Amazon, or you can grab most at your FLGS
• There are a few games, Destiny 2 Player versus regular Destiny where if they are basically the same thing, I only do one of them

40. Second Chance

Dropping a ways on the list, I still really like Second Chance, and it’s such a peaceful game to play and easy game to teach that I’ve played it quite a lot. And that’s probably the reason for it dropping, just wanting a bit more variety in what I’m doing. In Second Chance you are using Tetris like shape, polyomino shapes, to fill in a grid. Every turn you have two different ones you can choose from and you goal is just to fill in as much as you can. if there are ever shapes flipped that you can’t put on your board, because the shapes are just wrong for you, you then get a second chance. That is a single card flipped, just for you, to keep you in the game. The game is very simple, very fast to play, but is a very calming game to play as well. It’s also fun to doodle in the shapes so that you end up with a unique looking board.

Last Year: 15

39. The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

I can’t really say why this one has dropped so much, I’ve even played it a number of times recently. I still really enjoy the game, I think that this is one that actually works pretty well over Zoom, especially if both players have the game. The best way to describe this game is that you are trying to beat the puzzle that is a Dresden Files book. You are trying to solve more cases than you have bad guys left standing at the end. That means you might need to beat down a lot of villains or you might need to focus on cases, plus there are obstacles to overcome and advantages to grab. The game is a lot of fun if you know the series well, and I think with the exception of the last two books, the last one which just came out, I’ve read all of them at least twice. The story is really interesting and really good, and this game doesn’t have a ton of theme, but if you know the books, you give it theme as you play through the books with the characters.

Last Year: 14

38. Cartographers

Another roll and write on the list, and one that I just recently talked about because there is a standalone expansion for it on Kickstarter. This game is all, as the name suggests, about making maps. You are score points depending different scoring cards, two for each season. You are filling in polyomino shapes again, and trying to get those to match up with the scoring. There are four different land types, villages, forest, fields, or water and they will all score in a different way, depending on what the scoring is. Plus, there are monster cards, and this is something unique for a flip and write or roll and write, where you pass your sheet to the player to the left or right and let them fill in the monster on the worst spot possible. The game has a lot of interesting elements to it with the monsters and with the scoring of the seasons, so A and B scoring cards in spring, but then it comes back around to A again in Winter, so you score it at the start and end. Not complex, but a few interesting things to keep track of and a theme that works well.

Last Year: 39

37. Star Wars: Rebellion

Dropping down the list is Star Wars: Rebellion, and that’s mainly because I haven’t gotten to play it in a long time. This is a great game and a big game. It’s “Star Wars in a box” as Sam Healy used to say on The Dice Tower. In this game one team is the empire trying to track down and hidden rebel base, all the while, the rebels are trying to cause unrest and complete missions in the Imperial systems. It’s an interesting game of cat and mouse between the two and makes a really fun time. This is a big game, and it take a long time to play, probably 3 hours, but it is very immersive and time flies by. For some people there’ll be a negative of dice combat, but there’s an expansion that helps with the randomness of that, and I don’t mind it at all, personally. Really good game, and if you are a Star Wars fan and a gamer, you’ll probably like this game.

Last Year: 11

36. Roll Player

Second Roll Player game on this chunk of the list, technically. The other being Cartographers. Roll Player is interesting because I’ve enjoyed the game every time I play it and the dice drafting aspect is a lot of fun. With that said, I always want a little bit more from the game. I know that I’m going to be getting that with Roll Player Adventures when that comes out, so I’m excited for that, and there are expansions that add more to Roll Player itself that I need to try. But in this game you are drafting dice and using them to create a D&D/RPG character. You have your stats, you are getting them from when you have place three dice, so it’s really D&D like. And for me, making characters is a lot of fun, you gear them up nicely and then you score points off of skills you have, where your stats are at, and where certain dice are placed for your background. It’s not a complex game and a fun way to do drafting.

Last Year: 57

35. The Grimm Masquerade

Now, I don’t like social deduction games for the most part. The Grimm Masquerade is a combination of social deduction and deduction that I like quite well. In this game you are all going to a fancy masquerade ball and you are Grimm fairy tale characters in disguise. You are trying to figure out who everyone else is. You are doing this by trying to either bust a player by giving them a card that they don’t want, or through process of elimination guess who someone is. All the time you are trying to collect the gift that you want. They make this work in an interesting way because on your turn, you can do a special action if you want or have the cards to do one, but mainly you are drawing a card and giving it away or keeping it and then doing the other thing with the other card. So you might accidentally bust yourself if you aren’t careful, or you might pass something away that you wanted because you have to, but can you keep a poker face while doing that? It’s a clever little game and the special powers that you can play with make the game feel different each time you play it.

Last Year: Not Ranked

34. Village Attacks

A GenCon play for me last year, this one has maintained a pretty high spot on my list while I wait for my copy to come from their most recent Kickstarter. In this game instead of playing the villagers or “heroes” standing up against the monsters, you are playing the monsters as the villagers ruin their peaceful evening in their lair by kicking down the door and trying to kill you, kill your lair, or complete some other objective. This is a cooperative game of tower defense where you are killing villagers, leveling up, killing more, and hoping you can survive the onslaught. Overall, it’s a dark game, look wise, and the monsters are monstrous, but it feels and plays pretty light. The theme somehow feels more goofy than it does dark, and it really just works well. The dice use for determining actions works well so that you can’t plan everything, and the leveling up is fun to do in game. I like also that it is scenario based, but not campaign based so you can pick it up and play easily.

Last Year: 29

33. Sushi Go Party!

This is one of my favorite big group filler style games. This is a card drafting set collection game where everyone is going at the same time, picking a card from their hand, building up their collection, passing their cards, and then once all the cards have been drafted scoring them and doing it all over again. The concept of the game is simple, but it works well because how the sets score are different and because you can mix in a variety of special ability cards that can change up how you draft cards or help you complete sets. There is a basic version of this game with out the variability of being able to switch up your cards, but Sushi Go Party! is really cheap so I recommend it instead. I think that variability is what keeps it so high on my list because it is a filler game, but for something that plays a large number of people, it is better than a lot of filler or group style games.

Last Year: 31

32. Draftosaurus

Another filler game, but this one with a lower player count. But that works because it is another fun drafting game, three on this section of the top 10. In Draftosaurus you are building you best dino park, you do that by drafting dino meeples and placing them into your park. However, there is a die rolled each turn and that determines where you have to place the dino, unless you were the one to roll the die in which case you can put it anywhere. You have a number of different pens and each scores differently. One will give you more points for each different type of dino you have in the pen, others will score you points for pairs of dinos. The game is super fast and super cute because of the dinosaur meeples, and while you are drafting from a hidden hand, the game is so fast that it really doesn’t matter if others see what dinos you have. This is one that when people see the box or see it on the table, even if they aren’t gamers, they’ll want to try it.

Last Year: Not Ranked

31. Tokyo Highway

Another one that I got at GenCon but didn’t get it to the table until after I ranked for last years list. This game is an amazingly beautiful production, and the same company that is doing Crash Octopus which I did a Back or Brick on. In this game you are building out the Tokyo Highways system. Roads going every which way, and you are stacking and balancing them. This isn’t that precarious, but when you cross over or under another road you can balance a car on your section of road, because the goal is to get your cars out as fast as possible, but you don’t want to knock over the other roads because that can cost you your pylons which you use to get your road over or under the other ones. I think that really makes this game more than just your normal simple dexterity game is the beauty of it. This looks so amazing on the table, it really is an art piece almost when you are done. And the rules and concept are simple so it’s not a convoluted game, but there’s enough going on that it’s not just a stacking game like Jenga. Overall a lovely game.

Last Year: Not Ranked

So there were a number of games in this section that I hadn’t played last year when I did my list, which is kind of fun to see all the new and fun games that are coming out. It’s interesting to see what games have moved up and down even for myself and I plan on seeing which ones have fallen off when I do a retrospective on my list at the end of this. As always, I do want to ask, what one sounds the most interesting or is your favorite in this 10?

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10 – Good Omens

I like some humor in by books and this one has a good amount of it. Good Omens is the story of an Angel and a Demon who are working together because they don’t really want to see the apocalypse come around. Unfortunately, nothing is really working like they think it will and can you actually avoid the apocalypse? Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman do a great job with this story and it’s a fast and really enjoyable read.

9 – Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

More humor, this time even more absurd as Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy asks you the big questions in life as you fly around on a crazy space ship that just doesn’t quite do what you think it will. And you’d think that the universe would have some normal parts, but that’s very questionable. Douglas Adams is an author who’s writings I generally enjoy. The other Hitchhikers books are fun, though not as good. And Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency is a new side of crazy. If you’re up for something completely absurd, anything by Adams is worth checking out.

8 – Daughter of Smoke and Bones

You’ll also see a fair amount of fantasy on the list, and Daughter of Smoke and Bones is the first one to kick it off. And it’s very different in terms of fantasy. It’s not your normal knights on horses riding off with the wizard to slay the dragon. No, this takes place partially in a modern world. The story is interestingly woven together, and while there are some stumbles in writing where it dumps backstory for too long, it’s very enjoyable. It also feels so different from standard fantasy. Laini Taylor does a good job on the story and a good job creating a world that feels unique.

7 – Swallows and Amazons

This is a series that I grew up on. We read through it multiple times growing up and it’s just a ton of fun. It’s a kids style adventure story, almost kids on bikes, but because that was really the common term for the genre. It follows three families of kids as they go exploring the lake country of England, camping under the stars, and having crazy adventures. Good wholesome fun for the whole family. Arthur Ransome really can tell a tale of adventure. Now, I will say that there is some from the times that shows up in the writing, considering they were published in the 1930’s and 1940’s, mainly in Missee Lee, and while that one is a fun romp, it is skippable in terms of the story as a whole.

6 – Stardust

Back to another story by Neil Gaiman, this one again leans into the comedy, but also a lot of fun world building. What happens when the normal world and a world of magic collide. Stardust is an absurd story of that. It has high stakes adventure, romance, and so much going on in the story. If you’re looking for something that is just a fun romp, Stardust is that, and you can blow through it quickly. Again, one that leans into that British absurdity in it’s humor like Good Omens and like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

5 – Harry Potter

I wish JK Rowling would just go away at this point in terms of her world. She’s ruining the world that she created by continually trying to fill in holes in her world and just in general, but I won’t get into that further, because the series itself is still enjoyable. Yes, there are massive plot holes, but for a series, it builds over time and they are almost always enjoyable. I like how the stories grow up with the characters, the first one is a pretty light and simple romp and story, but in the last one, they are dealing with much weightier things. I still recommend the series for kids who need something to read, and since I’ve read them a few times now, it’s something that I can breeze through quickly.

4 – The Reckoners

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors. The man is a machine when it comes to turning about books, and while I like some of his epic fantasy stuff better, you’ll have to find out what it is, I love the Reckoners series. It’s a good young adult superhero book where it isn’t just your normal superheroes out there saving the world, the powers affect the heroes negatively so that if you have powers, you are a villain, and the Reckoners are a group of people who are taking down the worst of the worst, but you have to find out the weakness of those with super powers. Really well written, some heavier things to think about, and a ton of fun.

3 – It

Only Stephen King book on the list, though, I do enjoy a lot of his stuff, and I really need to read some of them again like Dreamcatcher. But It is a book that I can just read over and over again. He does a great job of creating the horror and the tension in the book while also having a kids on bikes adventure feel to it, almost like you get in Stranger Things. Pennywise is a great villain, and there’s a lot of depth to the story. It’s a big book, but it tells such a good tale that if you’re thinking about reading some horror or want to see what Stephen King is all about, I think that this one is a great starting point.

2 – Stormlight Archive

Second Brandon Sanderson series on the list, this is a massively epic fantasy series, I mean massive. The third book in the series, the audiobook for that is over fifty hours, it’s insane. But the story in it is amazing. Sanderson weaves together several different characters into a story about the end of the world, but also about how it could be saved. There are spren, creatures that embody everything, there are wind spren that you can see when it’s windy outside, light spren, dark spren, death spren(?), and more that people research, and it’s just a unique twist to the world. I feel like there are a lot of fantasy tropes, but also so many amazingly different things that make the series worth spending the time on.

1 – The Dresden Files

I really enjoy urban fantasy which Daughter of Smoke and Bones is in some ways, and Neverwhere, which just misses the list by Neil Gaiman, is as well. But the best urban fantasy that I’ve found has been The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. He weaves a masterfully grand tale and always world ending events that keep the stakes high, but without feeling silly like so many massive series can. Harry Dresden is just a well created character, you know he’s going to win, but it’s going to be hard along the way. Nothing ever comes to him easily, and that’s fine, and he’s never going to be a perfect character, he’s written well with flaws and that makes him seem such more real, as do all of the characters in the series. Definitely a big series, definitely an easier series to read, one to checkout if you’re having trouble finding good urban fantasy.

Now, I’ve mentioned a few other books that I like as well that almost made the list, Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency is just out there and weird but really enjoyable. I have liked Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan is massive and enjoyable. Classics like Dune, Lord of the Rings, and Chronicles of Narnia all just miss the list as well. How about what, what are some of your favorite books? Have I sold you on checking out any of my favorites?

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To add in a little more detail about making the list, I’m saying that these games are best with two players, so two player games still do count. But I’m talking about games that could play up to a high number, but for some reason, time between turns, randomness of the game, I think that they work best with two players and would recommend trying them there first or that they’ll be most enjoyable at that player count.

Let’s see the list…

10 – Sword & Sorcery
This dungeon crawl game I’ve only played at two players, but I can’t really see playing it with more. Now, even at two players we’re controlling more characters, two each, but that hasn’t caused the game to bog down. I feel like, with more players, we’d end up spending more time in discussion for this cooperative game and planning to then have fairly random results on the dice. The game needs to be snappier with how you get through it, and with only two people at the table, even though I might not be taking my turn, I can always be the one rolling for monsters, and if there aren’t monsters, turns go incredibly fast. With more people, there’s just be more downtime for players, even if playing with the same number of characters. Sword & Sorcery, though, is a very fun ameritrash style dungeon crawl game where you’re chucking dice and leveling up to get through a fairly generic fantasy story with a few choices in it.

9 – Star Wars: Imperial Assault
I’ve done with solo and two players, and I prefer two players in this game, for the reason that, using the app, you need to do house keeping, and that house keeping can be a bit of a bear, but, if you are splitting the duties between two people it makes it easier. Plus, the minimum number of characters you can play with is two, so even solo you’re controlling two characters. This is the Star Wars dungeon crawl game taking place as Vader is chasing the rebels from their first base eventually leading to Hoth and beyond. You are not playing the main characters, Vader shows up as a side character whom you can’t beat, but that’s fine, the game is a lot of fun, and it feels a bit like a Rogue One type of game, but, for me, more enjoyable.

8 – Five Tribes
Now, I enjoy Five Tribes at all player counts, two through four, but I think it works best at two for one main reason. When determining play order for each round, it is done by bidding. Normally, each person has one play order marker, but in two players, each player has two. That means that you can set it up where you go twice in a row. Five Tribes is really a point salad type of game where everything you do is going to give you points, with an Mancala mechanism thrown in there where you’re moving meeples and then get to keep the matching colors of meeples to do something. So if you can see two really good moves, playing two players, allows you to bid for them and set up two good turns for yourself. Otherwise, you’ll probably only get one of them, which might mess up strategy.

7 – Skulk Hollow
First of the two player only games, Skulk Hollow is a ton of a fun as one player plays the foxen kingdom and the other an old guardian that has awoken on the lands. Each side has their own goal, the foxen trying to take down the guardian, but the guardian might have other things to consider like killing the foxen leader or maybe killing a certain number of the foxen kingdom, placing out a number of tentacles, or something along those lines, it varies as to which guardian you play. This gives the game a lot of replayability, because not only do you have the different guardians, but different leaders for the foxen kingdom. So playing the two sides gives a different game feel and playing the different leaders or guardians against each other can change things up as well. The card play is very slick in the game, and the whole thing just works well and looks really cool on the table.

6 – Hats
This was one of the first games when I thought of the list. Hats is a game that plays more than two, but definitely one that I think works better at two. At four, it’s just more random, and I’m not sure that I’ve played it at the three player count. In this game you have a hand of cards that you are playing down onto a table at the Madd Hatter’s tea party. Where you play a card gets you the previous card that was there, and you’re trying to set it up for getting the most points. At four players, the scoring is just more random. You can card count so potentially set up a scoring to help you, but with that exception of one scoring, you’ll just need luck on your side. But at two players, there’s more strategy to the play. You can go digging for cards and try and set-up what looks like poor scoring for yourself to only swap it at the end of the game to get even better scoring. It becomes much more of a strategic experience at the two player count and is a more interesting game that way.

5 – Star Wars Rebellion
Technically it can be a four player game, but Star Wars Rebellion is really a two player game where one side plays the Empire and the other the Rebels. At four players, you just split the two sides up and it’s still just two people playing the Empire and then two playing the Rebels. Keep the decision making more focused and Star Wars Rebellion is great. It’s a good cat and mouse game as the Empire tries to hunt down the Rebel’s secret base and the Rebels are trying to do missions and survive long enough to turn the tide against the Empire. You can have Darth Vader face off against Obi-Wan as in the movies, but maybe Darth Vader will run across Chewbacca or Han Solo or Wedge Antilles, you never know. There’s good strategic play, but then also a lot of fun space battles and land battles on planets surfaces that you can partake in as well which are good dice chucking.

4 – The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game
I’ve played The Dresden Files with, I believe, all of it’s player counts, and I think that I like two players the best. Mainly because it’s a faster back and forth turn taking game instead of waiting for things to get passed around between more people. You do have the interesting thing of playing two characters with their decks shuffled together, which can create some interesting situations, but overall, I feel like it works pretty well. In this game you’re playing through the Dresden Files books, and you’re trying to defeat villains and solve cases. But you have limited resources to do that, so you’re balancing keeping those resources up by discarding cards, but also knowing that you won’t likely draw any or at least many more cards, so what you have in your starting hand you’ll have for the game. The game play is smart, and I like that you’re playing through a book at a time. A very enjoyable game for fans of the series, and an interesting puzzle for those who haven’t read them.

3 – Dice Throne
Dice Throne can technically be played as teams or King of the Hill style where you go after the person who has the most life, but I like it best at two players. There are a couple of reasons for this dice chucking combat game that make it work better at that count. First, there is less downtime. Either it’s my turn and I’m playing cards and rolling dice, or it’s my opponents turn and I’m likely rolling my dice on defense. With higher player counts, it’s going to potentially put you in a situation where you don’t roll anything for a couple of turns. The other thing is that the game is just faster overall. With the higher player counts, again more turns, but to go with that, more health to get through, so you could, theoretically, have someone eliminated and then sit there watching for a bit. But at two players, once you get the other person’s health down to zero, game over and you can reset and play again.

2 – Hanamikoji
Two player only game where you are trying to win the favor of Geisha. It’s a unique theme as you are playing down cards to give them gifts, but what makes it most interesting in the card play in the game. Each player, per round, is given four actions that they can do once in a round, you can play a card secretly or discard two cards secretly, and those a fairly normal sorts of actions. But the other two are very interesting. You can play down three cards face up, your opponent gets to pick one of those gifts and put it on their side to win a Geisha’s favor and you get the other two, and then the last action is that you can put down two sets of two cards in front of you where your opponent again picks which one they want and you get the others. It offers some really brain burning decisions, and often times you need to force your opponent to decide your strategy by the cards you put down when they are choosing from them. Rounds are very fast, and the game is just a lot of fun.

1 – Marvel Champions
Now, I can’t say that I’ve played this at higher player counts than two, but I have played it at one player. From what I’ve heard with four players, the game can be a little bit slow between turns as you’re waiting for everyone else to go. But at one and two players this game is a lot of fun. In two, you can think about strategy more so, and develop interesting combos or strategies that work well together as compared to solo game play. Now, both I enjoy a lot, but teaming Captain America up with Thor taking down the Green Goblin was a blast, or you can do She Hulk and Spider-Man versus Ultron. You have a ton of different options and playing at two players it allows you to do a team up that maybe you wouldn’t normally see in the comics or maybe one that you really love from the comics that you can now play in game. Marvel Champions is just a really good card game that lets you feel like a super hero.

This list, I was worried, was going to be hard, but there are some games that are just two players that I really love and others that I really do think work much better at two players. Maybe later this week or the start of next week I’ll do a six plus player list for when things start to normalize again and we can do board game nights. I know that I have one of the big two player games missing from my list, it’s on my shelf, but I haven’t done 7 Wonders Duel yet. I’ll need to get it to the table, and there are a lot of other games that are enjoyable to very good at two players, but I just prefer them with more.

What are some of your favorite two player games? Are there some games with higher player counts that are just better at two players for you?

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – Yup, I can now put MCU on a TV show list. And this isn’t even one of the show titles that I’m looking forward to all that much, But The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be the first one out there, and I’m curious to see how important it will be for the MCU. Definitely keep on eye on my #10MinMarvel podcast (or ear) to hear any rumors about that. But I am curious to see Zemo used more fully than he was in Civil War.

Lord of the Rings – Controversial pick here, but I’m very interested in it. I don’t know what story they are going to tell and how it’s going to go, but an interesting story set in the world of Middle Earth could be interesting. I just don’t know enough about it, but I definitely am curious. More Hobbit adventures could be cool.

Obi-Wan Kenobi – Disney+ show as well, and again not much known about it. We know that we’re getting Ewan McGregor back, we know it takes place before Star Wars: A New Hope. I’m super curious about it after how much I’ve liked The Mandalorian. If it weren’t for that shows success, I don’t think I’d care that much, but now I’m excited for a new type of Star Wars, that I hope this can capture as well as the Mandalorian did.

Wheel of Time – This book series is so much, like so much of a meandering plot, so many characters, so much going on that doesn’t need to. But, I’m hoping a show will be able to adapt it into something even more enjoyable, because I do enjoy the book series. I like the diverse cast thus far, and I like the fact that I don’t know a ton of the names. If they keep close to the book plot wise, but just tighten it up, that would be great.

The Stand – Stephen King, Post Apocalyptic, I’m in. Now, I haven’t actually watched Under the Dome yet, but I’m definitely interested in anything that is Stephen King. And, since it’s him, it’s going to be supernatural in nature as well. Overall, I think that this is the one of the two Stephen King adaptations that I’m most interested in, because it’s more out there.

Locke & Key – Let’s go from Stephen King to Joe Hill. I haven’t read all of these trade paperbacks/comics yet, but I really want to. The first one was really cool and I definitely liked the horror vibe to it. I’ll be curious to see how they build it into a show, but I don’t know enough of the story to really be able to talk about how well I think they’ll be able to adapt it.

Alright, there are way more shows, and like I said, this is just new shows (some which might not come out in 2020), and I’m going to be busy watching all of these, plus shows that I want to continue watching. So, what are you looking forward to? Is there some something that you want to see adapted (cough Dresden Files cough) that should come to TV?

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