My most played games of 2014

It's that time of year again: the time of the 'looking back' blog post. This is going to be a post like my holiday wish list post or my best 15 new games of 2014 post, it's going to be another list of great games.

This time I'm going to list the 10 games that I played the most in 2014. These don't include any expansions and also don't include iOS games, just physical board games. If I did include iOS plays Star Realms and Ascension would top the list by far.

Starting with number 10, the least of the most:

Hive - My wife and I love Hive. To me it's one of the best designs out there. It also helps that I have a rediculously good win/loss ratio in the game. For me Hive just clicks and I don't loose often.

Besides being a great game, Hive is very compact which means you can bring it anywhere. My wife tosses our copy in her purse and we play at coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, parks, wherever.

Tokaido - This one hit my best new games of 2014 list. It's such a deceptive game in a couple of ways. First it seems like the most peaceful zen game ever, until someone starts to screw the other players over and the game becomes all about backstabbing. Second, it looks very simple without much strategy, until it clicks in that taking other people's spots can be worth more to you than just taking the spot that gets you the most points. Once this clicks the becomes much more strategic.

I've picked up the expansion for this one and haven't actually tried it yet, it looks like it ads even more strategy to an already great game.

Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends - This was a game I knew nothing about, despite being by the designer behind Galaxy Trucker, Vlaada Chvatil. It was a local FLGS owner that convinced me to try the game out as it was selling very well. I'm glad he did as Tash-Kalar is one of the better games I own.

One issue this game has is that it's not what you expect. Looking at the box I expected miniatures or standees of monsters fighting it out. Instead it's a very abstract piece playing and pattern making game. You play cards to place down round markers in your colour, the cards you can play are based on the patterns already placed on the board. Each card will also allow you to remove some enemy tokens, hopefully screwing up their patterns.

While not what I expected Task-Kalar is a great abstract game and especially good with three players, something you don't see often.

Takenoko - I received this great looking game as a holiday gift from my oldest daughter last year. She really liked the Panda on the cover. Little did she know it would be one of my most played games of the year. Of course a few of these plays were with her, but it's also proved to be a very popular game at WGR events.

Awesome looking components combined with easy to teach rules and a surprising level of depth make Takenoko a really good game that's just as fun with my 7 year old as it is with a group of middle aged old school gamers.

I'm actually tempted to pick up the ridiculously expensive but awesome looking Collector's Edition.

Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men - If you told me last year I would get into a collectible game where I would be buying boxes of 60 boosters at a time, I would have laughed at you. That laugh would have been ironic though as a new collectible game hooked me this year. That game is Dice Masters.

Dice Masters is a fantastic game. It takes the basic system of Quarriors! and improves on it. It adds a much needed re-roll phase, a cleaner combat system and makes the game Player vs. Player as opposed to victory point based. All of this makes for a better more competitive and engaging game.

The second base set is out now and early availability issues appear to have been fixed. Coming soon is a DC version, a Yu-Gi-Oh version and even a D&D version.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig - This is the newest game on my list. It hasn't been out long at all but I love it and have been playing it pretty much every chance I can get. I've gotten in 3 plays just in the last week and the game is currently set up downstairs waiting to be played at my Gaming in the New Year party tonight.

Take Suburbia, improve the economic engine, add some more player interaction and re-theme it to be something much cooler than building a Suburb and you have Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

The master builder phase and the way the economy work really makes this game great.

Camel Up - If it wasn't for the Spiel des Jahres I probably would have never heard of Camel Up. It's the kind of game that I think  many gamers would have just dismissed without looking at. Which would have been a shame as Camel Up is my current favourite quick filler game. It plays up to 8 players, it's very easy to teach and people get very into it while it's being played.

The way the camels stack up, is what makes this race game. When there are camels on top of other camels and one moves, the entire stack above it, moves with it.

The look and excitement of the game is great for public play events as it never fails to draw a crowd just to watch the game.

Star Realms - even without counting iOS plays, I've played a lot of Star Realms. There's good reason for this, it's one of the best deck builders I've ever played. It takes the gameplay of Ascension and adds the player vs. player aspect of Magic the Gathering to it and the result is like peanut butter and chocolate.

Added to the great art and fantastic gameplay is the price point. Star Realms is one of the cheapest games on the market. Only $15 (or less if you can find it on sale)!

Star Realms is so good that I recently picked up two more decks of the game so that I can try playing with 4 and/or 6 players.

Augustus - sometimes called Rise of Augustus. I got this one dirt cheap on Amazon and had no idea how fun a game I was getting.

We usually call this game Roman BINGO. That is due to the fact that the basic mechanism on the game is BINGO. A caller draws tiles out of a bag and the players cover up matching spots on their player cards. When a card is complete the player says Ave Caesar and gets to put that card into play and pick a new one.

For having such a simple basic system Augustus has a solid amount of strategy. Trying to decide what cards to try to compete for, working out combos and a push your luck style scoring mechanism makes this game a lot more than just BINGO.

The Duke - The first item on this list is Hive. I have a confession. It's been a very long time since I've played Hive. The reason for that is: The Duke. The Duke has become my favourite two player game to play with my wife. It's now the game we bring with us to coffee shops or when staying at a hotel. It's my new favourite abstract two player game and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Sure it's not quite as portable as Hive but the gameplay makes up for that. The Duke is pretty much a chess variant. The biggest difference though is that after you move a piece you flip it over, and pieces move differently depending on which side is up.

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So that's it for my my played games of 2014. What games did you play the most this year? Are you obsessed with the new hotness or are you still playing some old classics?

10 games off of my 2014 holiday wishlist

My last post listed the 15 best new games of 2014. These were the best games I tried for the first time last year. Today I thought it would be worth looking at some of the games on my 2014 holiday wishlist.

These aren't in any particular order and include a mix of brand new games and older stuff I've been wanting to pick up for some time.

Star Trek: Fleet Captains - I've never really gotten into the Wizkids Heroclix games. I tried out the first Marvel game when it came out and decided it's not for me. That alone kept me away from this Trek game for a long time.

Over the years though I've been hearing really good things about this game. A variety of podcasts from reviewers I respect have said enough good things that this one got added to my wishlist this year. Added to that my wife is a big Trek fan and I think I won't have to twist her arm to play it with me.

Lords of Xidit - as soon as I heard someone say "It's like Robo Rally meets a Fantasy Adventure Game" Lords of Xidit got added to my wishlist.

I love the idea of programmable movement added to a fantasy adventure game. It's one of my favourite mechanics (I think it's the computer programmer in me) and you don't see it very often and never in a fantasy themed game.

I also really like the look of the game. Very colourful with lots of cool looking bits.

Primordial Soup - Freshly Spiced - I really enjoy Primordial Soup. A friend introduced it to me a couple years ago as his favourite game and it became one of mine. I finally picked up my own copy last year and have been playing it quite a bit at local events.

One day, when on The Geek, I noticed that there was a 5-6 player expansion. I had not realized this existed in the past and quickly added it to my wishlist.

Colt Express - this one just came out in the last couple of weeks and has been generating a lot of buzz.

A ton of this buzz is about how cool the game looks. You actually build a 3d train as your game board. On this you put a bunch of tokens and your cowboy meeple. Just to add to the look there's a traditional board with a track that even includes some 3D rocks, cactus, etc.

The other thing about this game is that it's another programmable movement game! Two new games using this mechanic in one year, I'm a happy gamer.

Star Wars Imperial Assault - I didn't actually have this one on my wishlist until two days ago. The reason for that is the fact that I didn't actually think it was going to be out in time for the holidays this year. But sure enough, over the last couple of days my Google Plus feed is filled with people showing off their shiny new copies of Imperial Assault.

It's a Star Wars miniature adventure game from Fantasy Flight. Do I really need to say more?

Xia - Legends of a Drift System - This one was a kickstarter. One that I came very close to backing. Actually it's one of the few board game kickstarters that I regret not backing.

Xia is out now and the reviews so far are all positive. It's hearing that this is replacing Merchants & Marauders and Merchants of Venus for many people that had me add it to my wishlist.

Medina - This is an older game that has been on my wishlist for quite some time. The problem was that it was long out of print.

Stronghold games recently fixed that out of print problem, releasing a second edition of Medina late this year. 

This new edition looks just as awesome as the old version. Amazing looking wooden bits and a city building game where you end up with an actual mini city when you are done.  

Yedo - I could be wrong, but I think it was Tom Vasal who said that Yedo was like Lords of Waterdeep but better. Even if it wasn't Tom, hearing that had me put Yedo on my wishlist.

I like Lords of Waterdeep but I don't love it. It's good but it's just a little too, I don't know, simple maybe. It just feels like it needs a bit more, and based on reviews it sounds like Yedo has that bit more.

I also really dig the theme. Samurai clans is pretty much just as cool as D&D's hidden Lords.

Terra Mystica - This is one of those games that a lot of people love and for some reason I just haven't gotten yet. 

It's also a game that a lot of people assume I  have. I get requests to bring it out to local events and when I say that I don't own it I always get a "what do you mean you don't own Terra Mystica?"

I figure it's probably time that I add a copy to my collection and see if it really lives up to the hype.

Amerigo - this one has been on my list since last year. I just haven't managed to snag a copy yet.

If you are a regular reader of my content you probably know that I love Stefan Feld. I've got almost every game he's written. Well this is a Stefan Feld game. Added to that it uses the Cube Tower from Wallenstien/Shogun in a very interesting way that seems very cool.

So that's 10 games off of my 2014 holiday wishlist. What's on your list this year?

The 15 best new games (to me) of 2014

It's that time of year again, time for all the look back posts and all the wishlists. All the holidays, feasts and parties. All the gaming!

This is one of those look back posts. Here I'm going to list the best new games I played this year. Note these are games that are new to me. They may not have been released this year but I played them for the first time this year.

Lastly: these are in the order I discovered them through the year, not ranked by how good I think the games are.

Trajan - I'm cheating just a bit with this one. Technically I played it on New Years Eve 2013 as part of my annual Gaming In The New Year party. That's close enough for me and if I remember correctly the game may not have ended until after the ball dropped.

2014 was the year I discovered how much I love Stefan Feld. I picked up no fewer than four other games by him this year. Of them all though Trajan remains my favourite.

Like most Feld games it's a point salad. This one has a cool Roman theme and uses a very unique mancala based action selection system that I really dig. There are so many paths to victory and so far I've yet to find 'one true way'

Thunderstone Advance Numenera - I received the Thunderstone Advance Starter set during the holidays and really enjoyed it. I had heard that Thunderstone was an amazing deck builder and after playing; I agree. It has a very cool RPG feel where you collect your heroes, get gear and allies and then delve into the dungeon to kill some monsters in order to get points and xp to level up your heroes.

The problem with the starter set is that it didn't come with enough variety. I did some research and found out that the Numenera set was the most recent core set and had some really cool new rules.

Those new rules are what keeps this on the list at the end of the year.

Space Cadets Dice Duel - I really wanted to love Space Cadets. I love the concept: playing a Star Trek style bridge crew where each player is at a different station and trying to do their best to keep the ship in one piece and complete their mission. It sounds awesome. It should have been awesome, but it just wasn't. It's a solid game but just not great. It's very long, hard to teach, and very unforgiving.

Space Cadets Dice Duel on the other hand is awesome. It's even more awesome as it's a team game. It gives me everything I had initially wanted from Space Cadets and makes it faster, easier to teach and I have to say: more fun.

Takenoko - this was a birthday gift from my oldest daughter, but that's not the only reason I really like this game. Besides having some of the cutest game pieces ever made, Takenoko is also a great game.

It looks a bit like a kids game and yes I can play it with my kids but there's more than enough here for adults to love.

This one has also been very popular at local WGR gaming events. The look of the game just draws people in and the strategy keep people coming back for more. I can't remember the last event I didn't see at least one game played.

Suburbia - I picked this one up at 401 games in Toronoto and immediately after looking at it my wife questioned my sanity. She went on to ask me what the heck I had bought and why I picked that game out off all the choices at 401.

Though it doesn't look like much and probably has the most boring art out of all the games I own, Suburbia is a fantastic game. A contender for the top 10 games I own.

It's a very tight, highly strategic, thinker that keeps calling me back for more. I love the way this game makes me think. I love the sense of accomplishment when you pull off a big combo. If you've avoided it for some reason, you really should give it a try.

Marvel Dice Masters Avengers Vs. X-Men - I was lucky to get a starter set of these highly sought after dice before they became almost impossible to find and I'm glad I did.

I hadn't gotten bit by a collectible game since Magic the Gathering, but Dice Masters bit hard. One of my most fond memories of the game so far is opening all the dice packs, in a gravity feed, at a local coffee shop.

There's a reason this one was hard to find, it's a fantastic game. Dice Masters takes what was started in Quarriors! and improves it in many ways. With the low entry cost (as long as you get the starter's that are actually in print) I highly suggest everyone give this one a shot. You may love it as much as I do.

Tokaido - the most peaceful zen game I own. So relaxing and enjoyable. A stroll through the park of a game. Until that #@#$%@! took my spot! Did you see that! That @#$%. That's it I'm totally going farming for cash, even though I don't need it, just so that 2$^@$ can't eat at the next stop! Like that shopping boy? How's starving?!?

Tokaido is awesome. The most zen pretense for a game ever. All you do is walk down the Tokaido, see things and meet people and try to have the most rewarding experience. Then it changes. Once people grok the game it becomes one of the most backstabby games out there and is a ton of fun because of it.

Tokaido was also recently featured on Wil Wheaton's Tablet Top.

Russian Railroads - I would have had no interest in this one if it wasn't for the variety of gaming podcasts I listen to. I started to hear that this was one of the best worker placement games out there and one of the best engine builders (no pun intended) ever made. I love both of those things so had to check it out. I was not disappointed.

It's now 6 months later and Russian Railroads is still my favourite worker placement game. I love the way things escalate in this game. How 5 points matters so much at the beginning and then you are scoring 280 points the last round. I find you really fell like you have built something by the end. 

Castles of Mad King Ludwig - I first got to try this at Origins 2014. I even listed it as one of the best games of Origins. This one finally came out to the public only a couple weeks ago and I jumped at the chance to buy it.

The final release copy is just as good as the copy I played at Origins. While similar to Suburbia, I currently like this one more (we'll see if that stands the test of time, the game is still pretty new to me). The theme is cooler than Suburbia and I love the way the economy works with the Master Builder,not only setting the prices on the rooms you build, but also being the person that collects the money from the other players instead of the bank.

Star Realms - this was another one that I first got to try at Origins 2014. Our demo game was so good that I bought a deck before the demo ended. I'm glad I did too, as this one went out of print by the end of the con and was going for dumb prices online.

I did up a review back in July and you can check it out for more info if you want. You probably don't need to though. If you like deck builders you should like this game. It's my current favourite and has been since July. I don't see that changing any time soon. While I type this review I'm actually playing a game of Star Realms right now. The free app/PC version is just as good as the card version and if you pay to unlock it you can play other players online. Come get me, username: gilvanblight

Fleet - this was another one I learned about on a podcast. On that show it was said that Fleet was "The most tight card game we've ever played. It's pretty much perfect." It doesn't get much more positive than that.

You know what though? That podcast was pretty much right. Fleet is an amazingly tight game. So well balanced. Quick to teach, difficult to masters. No one path to victory. It's a near perfect game, even if the theme is a bit, uninteresting. 

Caverna - I like Agricola, I really do. I don't love it though. You know what I don't like? The cards. I hate how random they can make the game. I've had games where after the initial hand of cards is dealt, I've been able to predict who would win. Accurately.

Know what would be cool? A game that's as good as Agricola, with a similar feel, that didn't have that randomness. Know what would be even more cool? If you made it about Dwarves, and you had ways for those Dwarves to not only farm but go on adventures and level up? Wouldn't that be awesome?

That's Caverna.

Blood Bowl Team Manager - This one definitely isn't new. I think it's the oldest game on my list. Why did it take me so long to try this great game?

I thought it was a LCG. One of those sorta collectible card games where you build your deck and play out a 2 player battle and where, in many cases, the player who bought the most stuff wins.

That is totally not this game. Blood Bowl Team Manager is fantastic. You pick your team, you put out the highlight real and then play your players onto each match up trying to win upgrades, star players and fans. After the season the team with the most fans wins. It's fantastic and really feels like the classic miniature game.

Camel Up - this odd game won the 2014 Speil Des Jahres. That, by itself, should be enough to make most board game fans interested. It was enough for me.

Camel Up is a fascinating, very quick, race betting game. The neat bit here is that the camels stack up, each one moves once per round and if a camel moves the camels on top move with it. As the camel move you can bet on which will have the lead after each leg and you can place bets on first and last place at the end of the race.

Very cool looking bits, with fun graphics makes this one looks simpler than it is. It's ridiculously fun and it's very cheap for what you get.

Mars Attacks - I haven't been into a miniature game in years. The last time I was playing one semi-regularly was Warhammer Fantasy Battle, I think 5th edition. Maybe even 4th.

Mars Attacks changed that. I love this game! A copy was donated by Mantic for our Extra Life 24 Gaming Event, It hooked me then and I've been hooked since. I'm currently waiting for my flaming cow minis to show up.

This is a fantastically quick miniature game with great scenery and very cool minis. What makes it for me is the brilliant gridded movement and combat system. I will never play a miniature game that needs a measuring tape again.

So that's it. These were the top 15 new games I tried in 2014. 

What did you try new this year that you loved?

The 11 best new games I played in 2013

With the time of gift giving very fast approaching (far too fast if you ask me) I thought it would be a good time to look back and see what new games I enjoyed playing the most in 2013.

Note these aren't necessarily games that came out in 2013, they are games that were new to me this year. Also note: these aren't in any specific order. I wouldn't say the first game on the list is better than the last.

I tried Core Worlds as I kept hearing it listed as various podcaster's favourite deck building game. Many of them ranking it well above Ascension which was my favourite deck building game. Note "was" The podcasters were right. This is a great game and is now really the only deck builder I've been playing. I really enjoy it. It reminds me of a mix of Race for the Galaxy and Dominion, which is a really good mix. This seems a lot more strategic and less random than many other deck builders. I've heard, but not yet proven, that it's even better with the expansion.

I got into the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game at the start of 2013. I even wrote up an X-Wing Buyers Guide that has ended up being the most popular post on this entire blog. I still think that this is an awesome game. Besides having the best looking pre-painted miniatures you will find on the market, the game play is excellent. Though I see quite a few people complain about the price, it's still one of the cheapest miniature games to get into. It really does bridge the gap between boardgamers and miniature wargamers. If you haven't tried this one out yet check with your FLGS as demo events and organized play are common.

I picked up Quarriors! with a gift certificate I received for my birthday this year and I've never regretted that choice. Quarriors! takes deck building to a new 3D level. Instead of building a deck you are building a dice bag full of dice representing spells and monsters. The basic game is quick to learn and fun though a bit broken (buy the biggest thing all the time and the first one to get a big monster often wins). There are some advanced rules that really make this game shine though. Plus, what gamer doesn't love dice?

The best big group game I found this year was The Red Dragon Inn. This game is all about the party after the fantasy adventure. What the group does with their loot after they've saved the kingdom and killed the dragon. This is fantasy RPG themed screw your neighbor last player standing card game that is at it's most fun when the players get into character. Now the base game only plays 2-4 players but each stand alone set ads 4 different characters and they can all be combined. Right now with all the sets out there you can play with up to 14 players. This one has proved to be very popular at Windsor Gaming Resource Events.

I was leery when I heard Wizards of the Coast was going to put out a D&D based Euro-Game. It's not really their niche and I'm not sure if it's their market either. I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got to try Lords of Waterdeep though. I immediately went and bought myself a copy. This is a very light worker placement game with a very solid D&D theme (as long as you can convince the players to say Fighters instead of orange cubes). The core game is easy to explain and is designed in such a way that the final scores are usually very close with no run away winner problem. I personally find the base game a bit light for my taste, but all you have to do is toss in the Skullport expansion and the game goes from good to great.

Primordial Soup is an old one. It's from 1997. I first got to try it at a friends birthday part this year. He noted it was his favourite game and I can see why. You start off this game just playing single celled creatures floating in the soup. At first you have very little you can do besides just flow with the current and eat food cubes. As the game progresses though you buy evolution cards. Maybe you gain mobility being able to go against the current, maybe you grow armor to protect you from other evolving animals, etc. A very unique and rewarding game.

One of the things I've done more of this year than in the past is play more boardgames with my kids. They are now getting old enough to really grasp how to play a variety of different games, even getting good enough to beat their mom and dad sometimes. I picked up Catan Junior based on some very positive reviews, reviews that were dead on. This is a great game to introduce kids to hobby gaming. It teaches the basics of resource management and trading and planning ahead. It's a simplified version of Catan with a pirate theme. The great part being that it's not overly simplified. It's still actually quite fun to play even as an adult. If you've got a growing little gamer in your life I can't recommend this one enough.

2013 seems to be the year I discovered Stronghold Games. Maybe it's due to how often Stephen Buonocore shows up on various podcasts. Space Cadets is a very unique game that attempts to capture the chaos of being a starship bridge crew. Each player takes a different station like Helm, Engineering or Weapons and then has to play a mini game while on a 30 second time limit to get their station ready and hopefully follow the captains orders. The games vary from dice games to dexterity games from puzzles to memory. This one isn't for everyone though, some people really dislike it. Personally I'm a fan. Now I've heard the new Space Cadets Dice Duel is better. I'm going to have to check that one out in 2014

A new toy store opened up here in Windsor: Mastermind Toys. For their grand opening they had 50% off any one item: Qwirkle was the item I chose to buy at that sale. I had recently listened to an interview with the designer and the game sounded solid. Since then Qwirkle has become my favourite abstract game. Pretty much replacing Ingenious for me. I love the simplicity of the rules combined with the rather deep strategy of play. Even better: the rules are simple enough even kids can get this one. Play a set with one thing in common shape or colour: get points based on how many tiles are in the complete set. Get a bonus for completing a set of 6. That's pretty much it.

La Boca was the surprise hit of our Extra Life charity gaming event. It was donated by the awesome people at Z-man Games and gathered a crowd every time it was played. La Boca is an interesting dexterity game that has players teaming up to try to assemble a stack of coloured and oddly shaped blocks to a pattern shown on a card. A timer is started each time and both players get points based on their combined time. The interesting bit is that the card is different from each side and only shows one player's viewpoint. Each pair is timed and the game is played round robin so that you team with every other player twice. The player with the most points at the end wins.

This is another one that we are playing with the kids and they are loving it. In Mice and Mystics you take on the role of medieval fantasy characters who have been turned into mice and despite their diminutive stature must save their kingdom from the evil sorcerer queen. The game is a highly thematic dungeon crawling game reminiscent of classics like Heroquest or Descent. Mice and Mystics is completely co-op though with no Zargon hiding behind his screen. The combination of richly detailed story, amazing components and very thematic mechanics makes this one a must buy for anyone with kids. Added to that the game is actually good enough that there's no reason you have to save it for the kids. I know plenty of adults that love this game.


So there you have it. Eleven of the best games I tried for the first time in 2013. What new games did you get to try out this year? Which would you recommend as great gifts this holiday season?