2023 in review

We are two days into the new year. So it’s time to look back at my 2023 gaming.

This post is made possible by the wonderful app bgstats. I’ve been recording all my game plays in the app since 2017. That’s a lot of data. I’ll have to do a post using that data at some point.

So let’s start off with my most played games of the year.

My Top 9 Played Games of 2023

Obviously games like MtG or Dice Masters are going to be in the top spots. It’s nice to see Dice Masters back in the mix. It’s a great game that I’m glad I decided to get back into.

Dave is the new Jonathan!

It used to be Jonathan was the person I played games with the most. But since Fenland Gamers has taken off with more people attending in the last year, the opportunities to play have got less.

In steps Dave a new member to the club who joined in August! Dave has become a great friend and opponent in such a short time.

I’m glad I can call all those I’ve played with friends.

The Raw Stats

Ok here are the raw stats for 2023 as presented by bgstats.

Very Challenging

I didn’t complete a single challenge this year. I may let them roll over for 2024. I still find it hard to believe I have so many unplayed games in my collection.

Challenge Progress

I’m excited to see what 2024 brings gaming wise.

My GOTY for 2023 is…

Happy New Year.

I hope 2024 is a better year than 2023 for everyone. Hopefully that will be the case when the Tories get obliterated at the ballot box.

After much deliberation I have finally decided which of the 43 new to me games that I played in 2023 is my game of the year.

It wasn’t an easy decision.

But before I reveal the results of that deliberation, last year I did a couple of “minor” awards. So this year I thought I’d repeat those two categories before doing the big reveal.

Roll & Write of 2023

I played 4 new roll and writes this year. A drop from last year. However these four new games were pretty good.

Here are the four contenders. They are a great demonstration of how varied this genre of board games can be.

The winner is Motor City.

Motor City is the follow up to last years winner Three Sisters. It’s definitely the most complex of the four games.

Like it’s two predecessors it can seem a bit overwhelming with its two pads. I felt it wasn’t as combotastic as Three Sisters. But it’s still a very nice ‘on the heavier side’ roll and write. It feels totally different to the previous two in the series.

Expansion of 2023

I didn’t buy many expansions this year. There were the promo packs for Rolling Realms. But I’ve not got them to the table. So ineligible for this award.

I think there can only be one winner for this award this year, and it feels a bit of a cheat. It is touted as a stand alone expansion. The winner is Dune Imperium Uprising.

I love Dune Imperium and I love the changes introduced in Uprising.

And now for the big decision, and the one you are really interested in.

GOTY of 2023

My game of 2023 is…

Lord of the Rings the living card game revised edition.

I think what swayed it for LoTR is Nathan. When I played it with him Nathan was keen to play the game and take on the next scenario. He asked to play it again.

And even though I’ve played one or two of the other contenders with Nathan also. It was that reaction and the fond memories of playing with him that contributed to the decision.

Plus as I’ve written in previous posts I’m a Tolkien fanboy. So I love the theme.

Even with just the revised core set FFG included a fun to play campaign with some nice variety in the scenarios. It was interesting to see FFG play with different mechanics.

What’s your game of 2023?

Punishing Draft

Friday evening Dave and I played some Dice Masters at the usual haunt.

As I’m still building a local Dice Masters community, and those I’ve introduced the game to haven’t invested in buying product yet (ie not building teams to play). We dark drafted (you can read about the format here) my Marvel cube.

Below are the teams and basic actions that we drafted.

My Draft 1 Team

  • Black Widow: Natural
  • Ant-Man: Biophysicist
  • Green Goblin: Goblin-Lord
  • Punisher: McRook
  • Hawkeye: Longbow
  • Wolverine: Wildboy
  • Deadpool: Assassin
  • Psylocke: Betsy Braddock

My Basic Actions

  • Invulnerability
  • Rally!

Dave’s Draft 1 Team

  • Mystique: Ageless
  • Mr. Fantastic: Brilliant Scientist
  • Gambit: Ace in the Hole
  • Vision: Density Control
  • Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme
  • Professor X: Recruiting Young Mutants
  • Nova: Quasar
  • Magik: Illyana Rasputina

Dave’s Basic Actions

  • Teleport
  • Gearing Up

Our first game was the perfect game for my team. I got both Green Goblins out along with five sidekicks very early. It was a quick game.

Game two was longer but not by much. Green Goblin still played a part in the victory.

The next two games saw Green Goblin reduced to a bit part at best. The games were longer and requiring a better use of my roster to find solutions to problems Dave was presenting.

These last two games saw a much greater reliance on The Punisher as the killer die to get victory. He does present an interesting choice for your opponent when he attacks. The chipping away of life to keep a character fielded to block bigger amounts of damage almost seems over powered.

I did feel I drafted well. Especially in the last two games. I felt I had solutions to buy for the problems Dave presented. Deadpool was a good solution in one game allowing me to swing through with some big unblocked attacks.

Dave was adamant he had something in his team and wanted to keep trying when I offered to redraft. It almost felt like that scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail with the Black Knight, “it’s a mere flesh wound”.

After our fourth game Dave finally admitted defeat for his team and agreed to a new draft.

Score: 4-0 to me

Below are the new teams we drafted. We both agreed we were happy keeping the Basic Actions as they were.

My Draft 2 Team

  • Falcon: Samuel Wilson
  • Nick Fury: Mr. Anger
  • Gambit: Ace in the Hole
  • Punisher: McRook
  • Wolverine: Wildboy
  • Professor X: Recruiting Young Mutants
  • Captain America: Special Ops
  • She-Hulk: Jennifer Walters

Dave’s Draft 2 Team

  • Mr. Fantastic: Brilliant Scientist
  • Green Goblin: Goblin-Lord
  • Mystique: Ageless
  • Magik: Illyana Rasputina
  • Spider-Man: Hero for Hire
  • Nova: Quasar
  • Doctor Octopus: Megalomaniac
  • Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme

It was my turn to be on the receiving end of a fast Green Goblin attack and his Side Kick horde. I made the call to take all the damage. Which reduced my life to 3. Yeah a brave call. But my inner magic player whispered to me “life is a resource”. Taking the damage got the threat removed for a turn or two. Give me time to stabilise and make a heroic come back.

And the plan seemed to be working. I did indeed get Dave’s life down to a level where if I could swing in unblocked I’d win. But Dave was able to use his Spider-Man to stop me blocking enough damage to get the win.

Our second and final game was another long game with dice being drafted as solutions to what Dave had drafted. Particularly his Doc Oct and its ability to stop a character from blocking. That was so annoying.

Score: 1-1

I had been thinking about refreshing the cube. Particularly in relation to Green Goblin. But Dave felt Punisher was too powerful, and I agree. So those two cards are definitely on the replace list. Now I just need to look at the card pool (the commons) and look for replacements. I need to do this before I go visit Nathan.

I love the case I got to use with Dice Masters. It’s targeted at D&D players. But works brilliantly for storing my Dice Masters stuff. I could easily fit a team in here for a tournament. But at mo I use it for the basics for two players.

Top 100 Games 2023 Edition – 10-1

Here we are the final ten games in my top 100 games of all time 2023 edition.

The top spot should not be a surprise to anyone.

1 Scythe (No Change)
2 Magic: The Gathering (New Entry)
3 Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition (New Entry)
4 Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game (New Entry)
5 Dune (New Entry)
6 Xia: Legends of a Drift System (New Entry)
7 Expeditions (New Entry)
8 Dune: Imperium (New Entry)
9 A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) (Up from 23)
10 Lords of Waterdeep (Up from 11)

Top 100 Games 2023 Edition – 30-21

Let’s cut to the chase and dive straight in.

Here is my top 100 games numbers 30 to 21.

21 Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest (New entry)
22 Viticulture Essential Edition (Down from 5)
23 Star Wars: Outer Rim (New entry)
24 War of the Ring: The Card Game (New entry)
25 Bohemian Villages (New entry)
26 The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core Set (New entry)
27 Five Tribes (Down from 17)
28 Marvel Champions: The Card Game (New entry)
29 Via Nebula (New entry)
30 The Voyages of Marco Polo (New entry)

Top 100 Games 2023 Edition – 40-31

That’s Christmas 2023 been and gone.

We are getting close now to that final top ten and my number one game of all time.

Here we go with 40 to 31.

31 Onitama (New entry)
32 Star Wars: The Clone Wars (New entry)
33 The Manhattan Project (Down from 15)
34 Santorini (Down from 8)
35 Long Shot: The Dice Game (New entry)
36 For Sale (New entry)
37 Red Rising (New entry)
38 Survive: Escape from Atlantis! (New entry)
39 Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men (New entry)
40 Three Sisters (New entry)

Top 100 Games 2023 Edition – 50-41

I hope you all had a good day spent with loved ones.

But it’s time to start the top half of my updated Top 100 games of all time.

Wait Doom appears again? Yeah the ranking site when it gives me this list doesn’t distinguish between the editions. I suppose I could have edited the list of games before I started the ranking process, removing the games I hadn’t played. I’ll probably do that next time. But for now we’ll assume that the Doom here is the first edition.

41 The Thing: The Boardgame (New entry)
42 Fields of Green (New entry)
43 Grail Cup (New entry)
44 Simurgh (Down from 22)
45 Doom: The Boardgame (New entry)
46 Portal: The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game (New entry)
47 Mechs vs. Minions (Down from 12)
48 London (Second Edition)
49 Istanbul (Down from 7)
50 Dungeons, Dice & Danger (New entry)

Top 100 Games 2023 Edition – 60-51

It’s time for the last few games before we move into the top half of my revised top 100 games.

51 Tinners’ Trail (New entry)
52 Welcome to the Moon (New entry)
53 Star Wars: Rebellion (New entry)
54 Alien Frontiers (Up from 59)
55 Star Realms (Down from 4)
56 The Others (Down from 26)
57 Awkward Guests: The Walton Case (New entry)
58 Cartographers (New entry)
59 Cry Havoc (Down from 25)
60 The Bloody Inn (New entry)