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)
I hope folks are enjoying this format for the top 100.
I’m trying to keep the rambling to a minimum and get you to the bit you are interested in as quick as possible.
With that major hint to myself here are the games that make up the sixties.
61 Alhambra (Up from 84)
62 Tokaido (Down from 34)
63 Trekking Through History (New entry)
64 Splendor Duel (New entry)
65 Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game (New entry)
66 Trekking the World (New entry)
67 Splendor: Marvel (New entry)
68 After Us (New entry)
69 Port Royal (New entry)
70 Roll for the Galaxy (Down from 27)
I know I’ve played a lot of games since 2017. And if I’m being totally honest purchased the odd one or two as well.
But still I was taken aback a bit by the share number of new entries this top 100 has.
Here’s the bit you are interested in the most the games that make up the seventies.
71 Brazil: Imperial (New Entry)
72 Skull (New Entry)
73 Charterstone (New Entry)
74 7 Wonders Duel (Down from 9)
75 51st State: Master Set (Down from 29)
76 No Thanks! (New Entry)
77 Vampire: The Masquerade – Rivals Expandable Card Game (New Entry)
78 Adrenaline (Down from 24)
79 7 Wonders (Down from 45)
80 Cryptid (New Entry)
And I’m back with the next ten of my updated top 100 games of all time.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge, and a lot of games since I first did my top 100 in 2017.
So it feels good to have gone through this process of finding out what games made the cut.
Let’s give you the games that made it into the eighties…
81 Love Letter: Batman (Down from 58)
82 Wildlands (New Entry)
83 Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (New Entry)
84 Sushi Go Party! (New Entry)
85 Dice Town (New Entry)
86 Riverside (New Entry)
87 DOOM: The Board Game (New Entry)
88 Eminent Domain (Down from 83)
89 Pandemic: Iberia (Down from 37)
90 Nations: The Dice Game (Down from 51)
It’s been a longtime coming but it’s finally here thanks to me using the rather wonderful game ranking site by pubmeeple.
Using this website instead of finishing my Python code has enabled me to do this a lot sooner than life would permit me otherwise.
There are some differences to our approach I think. The main being this uses just all the games in my collection, even if I’ve not played them. Whereas my code excluded unplayed games that I owned.
Right enough waffle here are the tail end Charlie’s of my Top 100 games of all time:
91 Alhambra: The Dice Game (New Entry)
92 The Flow of History (New Entry)
93 Targi (New Entry)
94 Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age (New Entry)
95 Rolling Realms (New Entry)
96 Silver & Gold (New Entry)
97 Jaipur (New Entry)
98 Porta Nigra (Down from 71)
99 Smash Up (New Entry)
100 Twilight Inscription (New Entry)
Each year (usually a bit later than this post) I choose my game of the year (GOTY) from the new to me games that I have played throughout the year.
I’ve decided to shake things up a little this year by dedicating two posts to it.
There is this post giving you the contenders for this year. Which will be followed by a post announcing my GOTY.
Let’s start by using the cool 3×3 image the bgstats can generate of the top 9 played new to me games of 2023.
I should point out that being in this 3×3 is no guarantee that the winner will be one of these games.
What surprised my with this 3×3 is Stonemaier Games account for a third of the games in this top 9 played.
Ok it’s time for the raw data showing all the new to me games played in 2023.
Technically I have only played 43 new to me games in 2023. Bgstats records Dice Masters as a new to me game. Which we all know it isn’t. But my plays of Dice Masters was before I had started using the bgstats app to record all my game plays.
I also shouldn’t include 51st State Ultimate Edition as a new to me game. It’s just a new edition (no changes to the game, it’s just a fancy version) of a game I’ve already played.
So excluding these two games narrows the field only slightly. It doesn’t make the decision any easier.
Which of these would be your GOTY?
Another Friday write off.
However thanks to Dave Saturday was saved.
We met up at the community centre to play Dune Imperium Uprising.
Yes it was a two player game. So we used the Dire Wolf app to act as the second player. It’s a quicker and easier to run version of the House Hagal deck. And also why there are no photos in this post.
Naturally we played with the optional CHOAM module. I can’t see why you wouldn’t. It adds no overhead to the game play. Just a little to the setup. Which is shuffling the contract tiles, and adding four cards to the Imperium deck.
We also carried over the house atomics token as a house rule.
Usually I like to make a note of our leaders and share them here. But I forgot to do that yesterday.
Our rival that the House Hagal deck was driving was Rabban Harkonnen. He was one of the recommended streamlined leaders. Which means in a two player game the players have less to do running the rival. Something I thought was ideal for our first play.
This was only the second time I’ve played a two player game of Dune Imperium. It’s fine with the House Hagal “third player”. But I’d much prefer real players.
Also during setup each player gets a random objective card (a new addition to the game which I’ll talk about later).
Playing Uprising had a feeling of both being familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
The flow of the game, of a turn, were the familiar bits. That hasn’t changed at all.
The game board had that dual feeling of looking familiar but not. The board spaces have had a major overhaul. Water is even harder to get. There are more spaces on the board that require two influence in a particular faction before they can be used. Plus the cost of using one or two of the spaces has gone up or been added. Naturally the benefits have been adjusted/tweaked on some, or even changed totally to support some of the additions to the game. We also have
The mentat has gone. It has been replaced by being able to recall an agent from one of your other spaces on the board.
Other board changes I like are the space for buying the swordsman (aka third agent) once a player has bought a swordsman it then becomes slightly cheaper for all the other players. I think of this as a little catch up mechanism. They also tweaked the high council space. Once you have claimed your seat at the table you can now revisit the space on subsequent turns and get a benefit instead (I forget what it is exactly). I like this as it’s turned a space that once visited is then dead on the board to one that can be useful later on.
I like the addition of the makers/worms, and the shield wall. Having a worm (in your forces) in a combat that you win gains you double benefits. I also like that the shield wall negates their use in combat until it has been destroyed.
I also felt it was harder to gain influence with the various factions because there were less cards with their icons on. Those cards were a premium and ones I tried to but to increase my chances of using those spaces.
The spies are an interesting new addition. They also seem very powerful allowing you to use a space regardless of if an opponents agent is on it. Or you can draw a card.
Although I didn’t get or complete any CHOAM contracts (Dave did) which cost me a victory point at the end for an end game scoring on an intrigue card. I did like their addition.
The objectives and completing them by matching symbols on combat cards you win gains you a victory point is a nice new source of rare victory points. Well the first time. But after that pairs of combat cards with matching symbols gain you a victory point. So combat becomes a way to gain additional victory points, and a way to deny opponents. Obviously knowing that you need to win a combat to deny an opponent that cards symbol adds new tension to combat.
Overall I loved the new bits that Uprising adds to the game.
I want to play the game a few more times before adding in the expansions or using some of the base game cards. That’s a nice thing about Uprising that the expansions can be used with it.
Sadly Dave beat me by a point in the end.
It looks like my only gaming for December was this session with Dave. A big thank you to Dave.
I don’t usually buy books on board game design.
However I do own one or two on video game design (which is natural considering I taught the video game units on the now defunct BTEC National when I was teaching at local colleges). One of the books in that collection that I loved and used a lot to support my teaching was Level Up! by Scott Rogers.
I found Rogers style very accessible and informative.
So when I found out Rogers had a new book out on board game design I had to get it.
To be honest I hadn’t really thought about designing my own board game. I have play tested one or two games that friends have created and given honest constructive feedback (well I hope it has been). So I may not be the target audience for this book.
The book includes chapters on creating your game, writing a rule book, play testing, and selling your game.
If you work your way through the book from cover to cover, and create the games in the book. By the end you will have created as the book promises six board games. But you are encouraged by Rogers to make the designs your own.
Right from the go by the end of the first chapter you have created a simple game and modified it.
I like that Rogers wants you to learn by doing.
The chapters all have a similar format where the game mechanic is discussed, followed by creating and modifying a game based around that mechanic. With a recap of the main points wrapping up the chapter.
It’s that mix of “theory” and creation (with explanation) that makes Rogers approach within the book so effective. I think he’s got the balance just right.
I love the idea from the first appendix of creating a toolkit for prototyping games with. One that is portable, that can be carried with you.
The book finishes with a second appendix with example sell sheets.
Scott Rogers has written another great book that if I was running a game creation course that had a board game design element would be just as influential as his previous tome Level Up!
The book has also inspired me to not only put together a prototyping toolkit. But also to think about designing my own dice game!
In the comments for the 100th episode of A Double Double ‘n Dice I left a comment asking if the hosts Jocelyn and Kim could give some suggestions for Christmas gift ideas for the Dice Masters player in your life.
I was not expecting episode 101.
Since coming across this great Dice Masters podcast, Jocelyn and Kim have read out my comments during the podcast.
All I thought Jocelyn and Kim would do was read out my comment and make one or two suggestions.
That is not what happened!
Not only is the majority of the show a response to my comment. You get a musical treat (I think that’s the word I’m looking for) and twelve great present suggestions.
I have ordered one of the dice bags that Jocelyn makes via her Etsy store. I won’t spoil the surprise of the fabric design I went with. Hey it’s a present to myself I’ve been promising myself since getting back into Dice Masters.
I know Jocelyn and Kim have mentioned my blog and linked to it on an episode. But I’m not sure they have visited/read any of my Dice Masters ramblings.
There were a couple of points mentioned during the gift ideas, such as one of their friends using draft packs to play with their friends. Then after playing but the cards and dice back in the draft packs to be used again at another time. This is basically what I’m doing with Dave, Marcin, and Diego. But I’ve taken it to the next level of building a cube with the cards and dice I have.
The other point was about Dice Masters being a 1v1 game. But I have suggested ways to play Dice Masters as a multiplayer game. So far only had a game like this using the Hunter format.
Naturally I’ve already left a brief comment on episode 101, plus this much longer blog post.
Listen, and share with family and friends to give them some ideas of what to buy you as a gift. Some of these are great ideas even if you don’t play Dice Masters.
Well it looks like December will be a very bleak month for gaming for me.
December has gotten off to a rotten start.
My first Friday evening off and unable to rustle up a game. No one seems free or well enough either to play anything today.
Saturday looks like a write off too.
Monday and Tuesday the community centre isn’t open. So my usual two days off (my weekend) no gaming happens.
So at the moment my only opportunities for gaming this month are three club sessions.
It’s a little disappointing. I’m dying to get Dune Imperium Uprising to the table since it arrived Thursday. Play a game or too of Dice Masters.
During such a busy period at work, down time is more important than ever. Doing something that you get immense pleasure from even more so.
Sadly I think I’m going to be having to draw upon the reserves to get through the upcoming period, and hope the new year starts off better.