Tuesday 26 August 2014

Neil's top 10 Board Games (For now)


Well here I go, I have a top ten and I have put it into a rank from 10 to 1. However I have decided to re-play my top ten to see where the final standings will fall, I'll post those findings under this heading but as part 2 and so on. Keep checking the page for updates.

First off some notable games that missed out that definitely deserve a mention.
Trajan, Runewars and Nothing Personal. One game in my top ten has only being played once (Caverna), and may be pushed out by one of these. 

Number 10: Blood Bowl: Team Manager
A game that I thoroughly enjoy, I feel like I shouldn't enjoy this one as much as I do. Theme and game play just draw me right in. Very good with all player counts, great for when you have an odd number of players as some games just don't work with 3 for example.

Does give me the feel of playing blood bowl but with out all the painting of models, etc.

Number 9: Bruges
Stefan Feld, number one for me. Tons of re-playability. Loads of characters that you will not be even sure will be in your game. You have a choice of around 6 different things you can do with the cards each turn. Do you cash it in, build a building, canal or put the character in a building. The choice is yours, but each round 5 dice are rolled corresponding to the colours of the cards meaning values will be different. I must have played this 5 times now and I haven't won once, close but not yet. I look forward to playing more of this.

Number 8: Le Havre
Uwe Rosenberg (Designer) and Klemens Franz (Artist) are a great combination. Love Uwe's games, his non card ones at least. Think I have them all to date. Plus the starter pic I've been posting and my avatar were drawn by Klemens Franz especially for me. In this you acquire goods that you can later convert into
upgraded versions of the same item (Sort of) to sell and/or build or use buildings. Very thinky, but very intuitive. For me at least. I'd like to not have to think about feeding people, but unlike Agricola its not as harsh. With plenty of special buildings, there is tons in the box. You can get an expansion that gives you even more too.



Number 7: Caverna
The one game on this list that I have only played once. Art, theme and game play are brilliant. Game is very much like Agricola with a few notable exceptions. Dwarfs in a mountain, exploration and the feeding is so much easier. Plays up to 7 (7 Dwarfs) but likely better with 4, very good interaction and its not so bad if you are cut off by someone. Very pricey game, however it weighs a ton.

Number 6: Game of Thrones
First off play this with 6, if you do not block off the zones that you would create as dummy players as this
game is all about the interaction between players. You have to co-operate to a certain extent but beware that knife in the back, it will happen. There is an element of Diplomacy, but thankfully without the tiresome order sheet.

Battles are not entirely random events with a dice roll, down to the strength of the units in the battle plus a card you play from your hand. Sometimes you may know exactly what the player will play, but generally it will lead to a very intriguing situation. For not always the two players involved.

Number 5: Spartacus
When I first got hold of this I didn't expect it to be any where near as good as it is. Wow, it blew me away. Played maybe 8 times and loved each game, the narrative is so strong. Has a slight economic twist, lots of intrigue, combat and gambling. You find yourself pushing your luck each time and you are either rewarded or
feel gutted as you missed out by one gold...

I have the expansion for this and feel like it is a must buy for the fact that it adds two more players. For me the more the merrier. Go and play this, add it to your want to play list if you have not already.

Number 4: Cosmic Encounter
This game didn't look appealing to me, but so many people discussed it and said they loved it. I even saw it played at the club once and it didn't still look appealing. But with so many people saying its great their must
be something about it, so I did a bit of research and watched some videos on YouTube and low and behold its the type of game I actually really like. You have a random alien race out of a selection of tons. The game mechanics are very sound, but your race breaks a rule in some way and you have to utilise and maximise the social situation at the table to get 5 colonies. You can even win hand in hand with other players. Definitely worth a play.

Number 3: Civilization
Only 3 plays of this game, long game, but very rewarding. 4 ways you can win, but you need to keep your eye on the other players to keep them in check to ensure you can win. Very thematic and great graphics design all round. Plays like the civilization computer games, but closer to revolution ones rather than the
typical PC options. Nice way you deal with armies with having a card combat mini game, some people don't like this, but its unique to this game and means you don't have a sprawling amount of miniatures. 

Number 2: Euphoria
Well this was a surprise too, didn't expect it to be thrown all the way to the second spot in my top ten list. But this game fires on all cylinders. Art, graphics, game play and components. Worker placement at its very
best, maybe not the very best one in regards to game play, but from the social situation created at the table it definitely is. Having hidden workers that come out in the middle of the game and you are not sure if your are helping someone more than you are yourself is brilliant. Not had a bad game of this yet. Real shame the great Kickstarter components don't come in the regular box, buy the treasure chest, also from the same company to get some very similar components. 

Number 1: Twilight Imperium
I have painstakingly painted each and every ship in my version of the game, took me 3 years of doing on and off, but I finally got their a few months back. I host a full day of this game each year, not happened for the last two because of painting the ships. This year their will be 3 full games happening at the same time. Very long game, but let it go long. Do not be pushed into speeding up as the game is all about diplomacy,
sometimes that means an extension into military diplomacy. That is what this game is all about. Your building up of forces, worrying about your opponents on your borders possibly attacking. Laws being put into place that hinder your race. Take the time out to play this even once, if your local to the Lancaster area and would like to join us for this years day, post below. hopefully something could work out to get even more people involved as we probably have room for 8 games at once.

Hope you have enjoyed reading my top ten, as I stated above some may move around. As it is very hard to pin down what your favorites are, let alone say what order they are in. They are all brilliant games and any not in this list likely still deserved a place, I've played hundreds of board games and own a lot. These just happen to be my style to a tee. I gravitate towards worker placement and negotiation, they are more than likely going to be enjoyed by me. Please post below to let me know what you think.

1 comment:

  1. A fantastic list of great, meaty games. Have played some on your list and loved them, and want to play the rest!

    ReplyDelete