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.

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

How to Play The Pirates of Maracaibo

Firstly, this isn’t going to be an 100% overview of everything. There are some solid videos on that. And I’ll link one of those down below because there is a lot going on in this game. The basics of the game are pretty simple. Collect the most points and you win the game after three times sailing in to Maracaibo.

Movement

To do that, your general turn action is going to be pretty standard in everything that you do. You move your ship from left to right, and you always need to move at least one column right towards Maracaibo. You can move it up to three spaces, but, like I said, one needs to be to the right and it can be up and down in the columns as well.

Then you end on a spot. The spots offer various different things. There are upgrades of three types, goods, ship, and crew that you can add to your ship. Those will give you either an immediate action or an ongoing bonus. If you buy that card, you add it to your tableau and a new card replaces it.

Or the spot might be an adventure spot, I guess I’ll call it. This allows you to place an upgrade cube on your ship and then you take an action or grab some money, depending on what the options are. This card, however, doesn’t leave it’s spot. And we’ll talk about what those actions can be in a second.

Or you might land a spot that is a residence of sorts. These have a cost associated with them, but they will give you a scoring bonus if you take certain actions in the game.

Location Actions

There are a number of location actions, but generally, they are limited to a few things. So we’ll cover the most common ones here.

You can explore. There is an exploration track that all players move on. When you explore you explore a given distance, based off the card you are activating. It might be the spot you are on, or it might allow you to move a maximum number of spaces. This can be modified by any upgrades that you have. And you don’t need to move the whole distance, so you determine the spot you end on, and that gives you a bonus.

Next you can combat. The combat is not combat against other players. It is how you get treasure in the game. So you roll three dice, one yellow, one green, and one white. They each represent a different treasure type. You select one of those rolls and you spend the pips on the dice, and any bonus you might add to it, to gain gems, points, and coins, and possibly more.

I am going to stop here. There are definitely more spots where you can go and do different things. But generally, these are going to be the ones that standout as some of your bigger options.

Scoring Points

You score points in a lot of different ways in the game. At the end of the game you get points for the treasure you have and you have buried. Burying gives you a fixed number of points per treasure. The treasure in general though, each one has a “market” that goes with it and that is going to score you points.

You also score points at the end of each round for upgrades you have. Some upgrades are going to give you money, some give you points. And each round ends when someone reaches Maracaibo.

Another way to get points is by completing quests. Quests have two different scoring options. There is a easier option and a more difficult option. The more difficult option, generally just getting more of or going further on a track than the easier option. And these are scored at the end of the game.

If you want to know more, watch the video above. But that is some of the basics as to how this game works.

What Doesn’t Work

It’s not a negative so much as a beware for the game. There is a lot going on in the game. And the strategies can very greatly. So there is a lot to keep track of and think about as you play. I’ve played quite a number of games and I’m still finding strategies and realizing things that I should or could be doing in the game. And I try different strategies often in games. But it is going to feel overwhelming at the beginning and it is going to not be for some people because of that.

The game also has potential turns where you don’t do much. Now, you generally don’t do much because you ran out of money. And the game gives you money when you can’t do anything. But it doesn’t feel as good as when you can do something, obviously. So it might feel like you waste turns, and it kind of is, if you are just grabbing money and putting yourself behind the eight ball so to speak.

What Works

All the choices work in the game. I know I just said there is a lot going on in the game. But that’s more in terms of, this might look like a pirate game that you want to play, but it might not work for some gamers. We’ll talk about that more later. But the choices are fun and all of the choices, unless you get stuck gathering coins, can help progress a strategy. And you decide which way you want to go and how deep you want to go into all of them as you play.

That said, there are a lot of choices but the game is not too complex. I appreciate how straightforward a turn is. You move your ship and you do that action whether it’s explore, purchase a card, gain treasure, whatever it might be. You need to strategize in the game, but it isn’t so overwhelming that it bogs the game down because the turns are so straightforward.

The game also is a nice length. This is something that I think could get lost in it. It says it’s about 25 minutes per player, and that seems about right. So a four player game is going to take a while, but with the number of turns that happen in the game, it isn’t going to be excessive downtime, just a bunch of turns. And for a game with this much going on, there is a chance that you could end up with a lot of downtime if you aren’t careful.

Who is Pirates of Maracaibo For?

I think this is a game for people who enjoy a good thinky game. It reminds me of the weight in some ways of Lost Ruins of Arnak. And I think I think of it some because of the theme in the game. But also I think of it because that one has a bunch going on in the game, and you need to know what they are, but generally a single turn isn’t highly complicated. If you like Lost Ruins of Arnak, I think that Pirates of Maracaibo is going to be a good game for you.

Final Thoughts on Pirates of Maracaibo

So finally, let’s talk about it, is this game for me? This is one of a few games that I’ve gotten because I’ve played them on BGA. The other three being River of Gold, Cacao and Pyramido. I very much enjoy this game and I think it’s that sweet spot for me. Now, I love Lost Ruins of Arnak. I don’t know that I love Pirates of Maracaibo that much, but it’s still an amazing game.

For me it’s that depth of strategy in the Pirates of Maracaibo. And while you start out all being the same, you quickly become different as you gain cards and upgrade your ship. That is another really nice thing. I don’t feel like I’m always fighting over the same thing as another player. Sure in four players you might, so I might prefer it as a two or three player game (and you can play solo) but at three, which I’ve played a handful of times, you don’t get in the way too much. Sometimes enough that you might need to pivot on a planned turn, but never to the point where you are locked into luck in the game.

My Grade: A
Strategy: A
Luck: D

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

Now, normally when I do these posts, I’m writing up information from a video so that you don’t have to watch an hour long video or a twelve minute video. In this case, I’m still going to hit some highlights, but reading his post is probably going to be as about as fast.

So let’s talk about this in my normal bullet point fashion.

• You start with 1-12 items that you can craft
• Crafting items for loot drops versus gold
• Buildings can be upgraded with crafting items
• Alchemist/Apothecary you can make potions
• But you won’t know what potion, use Pandemic Legacy style dossier
• Rare loot/crafting supplies
• Do you use them to upgrade buildings/buy awesome items
• Character unlocks can unlock new buildings or characters
• Unlock retirement quests in batches so never takes too long

There’s even more in there as well, but a lot of stuff that we’ve already known. We’re a week away from the launch of the Kickstarter which is crazy to thin and I’m really excited for it and for getting this game in my hands come 2021. So next week keep an eye out for that and my breakdown of the page.

So if you just wanted the highlights, there they are for you, but I’m going to continue talking about this a little bit longer, just nothing new.

What intrigues me about this post is that there is most certainly going to be more of legacy aspect to this game. Now, you’d be able to play scenarios again and go through the main story, but unless it comes base with a reusable sticker pack or as part of the kickstarter addons, you’re going to have a city that is too built up to start another play through of it just like it is. Now, I love legacy games, and if this is another 100 scenarios, it’s going to take me two years to get through, so it’s not a problem, but if you know you’re going to play this 6 hours a week every week, you’re going to get through it way faster.

But, I love that legacy aspect, and I love the idea that you are going to get something brewed and it might be poison or it might heal you, or it might be bog water that does nothing, you don’t know. And as you unlock more you’re probably going to get, minor health, power, and stamina potions or something like that unlocked, do you then push further in to see if you can get better potions faster, earlier in the game? And the fact that resources are used for both upgrading the town and making items gives you another point of decision.

I also like that the unlocked characters (buildings) are being released in batches. We started out in Gloomhaven with a Cragheart who retired after every other character because of the quest that they pulled to start and we just didn’t have the ability to do a quest that they needed completed. In this, it sounds like that problem is being taken care of, which is really nice. Granted, it wasn’t too bad, but to know that we’re not accidentally going to run into a situation like that, that’s cool.

Needless to say, I’m stoked for this game and ready to see what the Kickstarter page is going to look like. What do you think of the new news about Frosthaven, are you down for crafting?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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

When you think about it, most adventurers don’t have the law in mind when they are doing good, and they don’t do good because they are altruistic. They are going to do it for fame and glory and hopefully some money along the way. And, that is pretty chaotic. They are also going to sometimes do what they think is right, sometimes that the law or a deity says is right, but they are going to do the good thing, but it just might not be in the expected way.

This also makes it easier on the DM, because I know that I can throw out a plot hook where someone is clearly bad, but I don’t know what you are going to do. That’s going to make it more fun for me as I don’t know what is going to happen. That randomness might bug some DM’s, but as they DM more, it makes it easier as you go along. It also keeps it feeling fresh, because the players working in a somewhat random way means that I can’t fully plan for it, and I can’t fully predict what they are going to do.

And, again, I think that this idea of rewards and treasure, those are things that as the players we think about, but also, that then trickles into our characters as we divide loot and try and mechanically make our character as awesome as possible. Now, that might not seem like it’s good, but in your normal campaign, the bad guy is probably very bad, and the good guys are probably pretty good. The characters that we’re playing are those in the middle who are good, but aren’t just good for good sake and are willing to get their hands dirty taking down those who are bad.

As for what class works well, I think that the answer is any. Cleric and Paladin might lean more lawful, but there is no reason that they can’t be chaotic. The ones that jump out the most that do easily slide into this category are going to be your sorcerer, warlock, and rogue. All of them, seem to have class features that would make them more chaotic. But, like I said, this should be the default for adventurers in a good game, and you should explain your way off of it in your back story, if you want to be a different alignment. It is very similar for an evil game with the Lawful Evil alignment should be the default for an adventurer there.

I think that we all have a decent idea of what good is now, from the previous two articles, and the chaotic piece means that your motivations aren’t law or altruism. I don’t know that I have a ton more to say about this. So short article today.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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