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Board Games Wishlist (2023 Update)

It’s been two years since the last list and a lot has changed. I think that my wishlist actually is the smallest it has ever been and there are very few must haves. Reasons behind this are simple. I actually bought some games second hand in auctions and now I find it much more interesting to have older lesser known games. I also played some fifty different games on BGA and that made my taste and my niches a lot cleaner. I like certain kinds of train games, I like auctions and betting in general and I find most worker placement games I’ve played so far boring.

I also decided on an overall shape my library or collection or call it whatever you want of board games should have. It should contain roughly three groups of games. The core are heavier or very niche games, which can take longer to play and playing them is an experience. I would expect this group to contain games from smaller niche publishers like Holland Spiele, Splotter, Winsome, Treefrog/Warfrog or Wehrlegig. Many of these can be limited runs or difficult to get outside of the USA, so they probably would end up being permanent gems in my collection. I don’t expect myself to get my hands on more than 1 or 2 games in this category short term, so I don’t have to worry too much about space or games getting played here. The second category are games I mostly own now. This category is ideal for medium sized games with quite straightforward rules, but a lot of depth in terms of options. I prefer games with less components, which maximize player’s choices and loads of interaction. Wallace, Knizia, Kiesling and Kramer are typical examples of designers making games, which fit this category. This category should rotate a little bit more and games could get replaced easily with something fresher after some time. Long-term I’d expect it to bloat to some 20 titles and get a lot firmer. The third group are small and ideally fast games. These don’t take almost any space in comparison with previous categories. I could have a drawer full of them, dozens of games. I want to buy some of these mostly to explore possibilities of light rulesets and to be able to take one or two of them with me on a road and maybe use it in a hostel as way to meet new people.

There is one more category. I would like to create DIY versions of some of the games just to get crafty and maybe later create some prototypes of my own. There are also games like Chocolate Factory I want to talk about here, suggests ways to make it more interesting and so on. Now, lets talk individual titles still on my wishlist and let’s keep it brief. I’m not including everything. I decided to only include 5 items max in each category and these are the ones I’m the most interested in at the moment.

The Core

Early Railways Collection - Yes, the first item contains three different games released originally independently by Winsome Games and all three of them being iterations of the same system designed by Martin Wallace and considered a spiritual predecessor to Age of Steam. They are a lot less about building tracks and even more about managing your income, auctioning and delivering. They seem to be beautifully simple with a lot of depth. The first two are mostly the same with the last one (Australian Railways) adding more rules and creating a different puzzle. There are quite a few pictures of home brew version on BGG and I might consider making my own homemade version too.

Age of Steam - A lifestyle game about delivering goods via trains by Martin Wallace. I watched a lot of footage of this and I really like it and find the way the game navigates players through a relatively complicated round structure great. It’s interactive, cutthroat and filled with satisfying decision. I would like to buy the new deluxe edition, but I’m slightly worried about its big box and if it will fit among my other games. Other than that It’s a beautiful version with graphics by Ian O’Toole.

Pax Porfiriana - This one could actually enter my collection soon, because it’s very likely that a Czech version gets released this or the next year. Pax games are a weird bunch of historical games, often with weird ethics, originally with a small footprint. This one seems to be the most accessible one with the most interesting theme of civil unrest in Mexico around the reign of Porfirio Diaz. You play cards and do various stuff to improve your situation or to damage your opponent. Other Sierra Madre games could be an alternative (Greenland for example), but this one is the one I would like to try out the most.

Honorable mentions - this category has a long list of them. There are many games fitting it, but because of their availability or price, I would be happy to get my hands on any of them. There are Splotter games including Roads and Boats, The Great Zimbabwe and UR: 1830 B.C. or the original edition of Bus. Most of them are expensive and limited runs. Next on Holland Spiele with games like Dual Gauge and The Soo Line and An Infamous Traffic by Cole Wehrle. This one might actually get updated and published by his own company, Wehrlegig. John Company: Second Edition is super high on my list too. It’s just too expensive to justify the purchase right now. Oath and Arcs look interesting too. Amabel Holland also designed quite a few interesting cube rail games for Winsome games of John Bohrer. There are at least twenty interesting games from the publisher, but I guess that a more reasonable choice here would be to attend a dedicated con and play a bunch. The last bunch of games isn’t as difficult to obtain but they’re still heavier euro games. Very thematic Obsession was my game of 2022, Autobahn looks like an interesting twist on Age of Steam and Carnegie is a very fun heavier games, in which placing workers isn’t boring. Picture featured below is from the Holland Spiele’s The Vote: Suffrage and Supression in America.

The Backbone

Assyria - I mentioned this in my end of the year list, but I love how this game combines theme with mechanisms in a fairly light euro game. Every decision is interesting an important and you feel like you always want to do more. The esthetic of Assyria is also very pleasant and it helps the theme. In its physical form this feels like an ideal game to play once a year with friends.

Tinner’s Trail - I guess this could be easily replaced by other Martin Wallace games. TT is the one I’ve tried and I know I enjoy. I think I would also enjoy slightly heavier Brass and other economic games from the designer. I think that Early Railways games might actually be relatively close to this too. This one has a cool mining theme, a second edition with vibrant artwork (maybe too vibrant) and really fun auctions well tied to other mechanisms. It’s about investing the right amount of money or even losing auctions at some points to earn money. There’s also time management. Each action costs hours. Improving your mines, setting up operations or mining. And if you spend too much time on other actions, you might not be able to mine as much. And ending your round later might mean less points and so on. Mechanisms in this are really well connected and I think this game sings.

Palaces of Carrara - Palaces didn’t make a good first impression on me. But I gave it a second chance and it has become my favourite game. It’s not a complicated game. Basically, you’re collecting cubes from a wheel and pay them to build structures in various cities and race to score those cities and to accomplish variable goals. It has a ton of replayability, agonizing decisions and scoring big feels satisfying af. I would like to own the first edition in a smaller sturdier box. I might even like the cover better. The photo was originally uploaded on BGG by Daniel Danzer aka @duchamp.

The Fodder Drawer 

Age of War - Actually, I put this back on my list earlier today after looking throw previous versions of this list on this blog. Surprisingly, the little Knizia dice chucker has become a rarity and It can’t be easily purchased. Still, I find it to be great little package, easy to get into, travel with to have in my drawer. In the end I decided to make it my Knizia in this section instead of great two player games Lost Cities and Battle Line.

Bohnanza - Because Shut Up and Sit Down says so. It looks like a fun little game, it has this great wacky theme and old school illustrations and it is cheap. Another Amigo game I would consider is 6 Nimmt, which is a good party time. Bohnanza  got the spot in the end, because it’s a bluffing game and I quite enjoy bluffing.

Targi - I played this on BGA few times and it’s a great thinky game. It’s not a game I’m always in mood for, but it’s fairly easy to explain and it only takes two. Basically, It’s an alternative to chess.  Targi is dry as the desert it is set in, but it’s still little more merciful than the olde game and I don’t feel as bad losing it.

Village Rails - I still want this fairly new game from Osprey. I like the visual style, the local theme being boring in a good way and I actually quite like the designer, who also made Chocolate Factory.

Las Vegas - I really wanted to feature Rudiger Dorn on this list, because there’s a whole bunch of game he designed I would like to at least try. The obvious is Istanbul but I’m very likely buying an app here. Based on that I might end up getting the game eventually. Goa is on my wishlist too. Asante with its Swahili setting is something I would like to play too. Las Vegas is the one I thing should be here tho. The original version is small and simple and fun “area control’ game full of rolling dice and making good and bad decisions. The picture used is from the BGG user Fran F G aka @garea37.

To sum it up, I made this update more to show the shift in my thinking about board games and to show how my tastes has developed. There could be many other games listed, because there are many games I would purchase if there’s a cheap enough copy available. All of the featured games are ones I would love to own, tho.

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Survival city building games or colony sims are all the rage. Synergy is one of them. You’re trying to survive on a hostile planet and build something like civilization (technologies in this one are weird, feel inspired by solarpunk and degrowth movement and I like that). It seems to have an interesting mix of exploration and building and other mechanisms and I put it on my wishlist, because of that and because it looks stellar.

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Top 5 games I played in 2022

I wrote a bit about my gaming in 2022 in the article on games from 2022 I haven’t played. There wasn’t a whole lot of it. I probably couldn’t make a list of proper video games. However I got into digital board gaming about a month ago. I got neck deep and by now I have over 100 games there under my belt. I’ve tried 30 different digital implementations of games (I haven’t got far enough in some of them to really asses my thoughts). A lot of these are super solid games, classics and this list with one exception consists of games I would like to have on my shelf in their physical form. Or their close relative. My new passion for digital board gaming connects to another news. I bought several board games. All of them second hand and I haven’t played any of them yet. But it’s gonna be an interesting base for changes, which my appear in the next edition of my board game wishlist and overall content of posts on this blog.

This year I have quite a list of honorable mentions. These could easily make it top 7 or top 10, but some of them don’t feel like they should be on the list and that the overall number of games is too small for me to have a longer list. Let’s start with Tropico 5. I played quite a bit of it in January and had fairly good time and I would like to return to it, but there’s also a lot I don’t like about it. The central gimmick feels sometimes restrictive, sometimes I started losing after several hours and couldn’t get myself out of the hole in time. I would like it to be slightly more organic and easier to make nice areas around your island. Next on, Soma Union. I def would feature this game if I’ve managed to play more of it. I’ve started playing it some two days ago and I’m not very far. Might be on the list next year. I also want to mention three little web games I played earlier this week. Descent is a cool atmospheric horror puzzle. Karawan is a tight survival snake inspired strategy with cool visuals. Kinsplant is a weird atmospheric multiplayer game about finding and hiding and object. I love the visuals and the atmosphere. I didn’t manage to find the object, but I killed some zombies. I also want to mention some board games, which are great but not quite top tier for me for various reasons. El Grande is a great game and I would live to play it with real people at a real table. I played a turn based digital version. It took weeks and one third in I knew I had already lost. Not the best time, but the game’s good and I would like to play more. Chicago Express is a fast-paced cube rails games. I’ve only played it once but it was really fun and easy to understand. Right now, I’m in a second game with more players and I still like it. Pier 18 is a stylish 18 cards game. It’s very light and fast and the way you score is super fun. It’s just too light to have the same staying power or depth as other games further on the list.

I feel like that’s more than enough for honorable mentions. Now, the list. An aside. It’s always more difficult to find pictures for board games, especially older ones. I used some pictures from Bgg. The pictures for Obsession and Tinner’s Trail are official. Carnegie uses a 3D render provided by the publisher. Assyria uses a picture from the bgg user Colin Jennings and Kingdom Builder a picture from the user Svetlana.

5. Kingdom Builder

Before playing it I heard about Kingdom Builder that it is too abstracted and that it’s too random without sufficient depth. It might be true if you play it casually. But this very simple set of rules presents a great competitive game. Learning to use randomness and mitigate it is a big part of enjoyment. Various scoring cards and special tiles change the way the game plays and the way it scores. Merchants turn it into a game of connections (almost a cube rails game), Lords make it an area majority game. The game shines at three players. The board doesn’t feel crowded, but blocking and grabbing these special tiles is more important than with two. Also it’s less likely that you get stuck with bad cards, because it’s more likely that someone blocks off the rest of the territory or something. I like this one as a digital game but I wouldn’t mind trying a physical version with expansions or its sequel, Winter Kingdom.

4. Carnegie

Carnegie is the new hotness, the highest ranking game on BGG from 2022. There is a good reason for that. The game offers a great mix of mechanisms, fun engine building and worker manipulation and action selection and it is layered and brainy and satisfying. There’s a lot of depth to it and I know I still have a long way to make every move of mine good and satisfying, to utilize all of the rooms in your headquarters well. But learning the fine intricacies of this game is part of the fun and pulling out an occasional big move feels just good. The game looks classy too and I wouldn’t mind having a copy of this Ian O’Toole illustrated masterpiece at home.

3. Tinner’s Trail

This is a game I enjoyed the most. Its mechanisms feel thematic and you interact with other players a lot. Basically, it’s an action point game with auctions and resource extractions. Every decision feels important in more ways. It also left me curious about another Martin Wallace design - Brass. I like that production more and I feel like a little more crunchier version of this might be even more fun. Here, the board is too busy for me to like it as a physical item. Still, it’s a lot of fun with many difficult decisions.

2. Assyria

I find this to be the exactly kind of the game I would like to have in my collection to pull out once or twice a year. The game is highly interactive (most of my fav board games have that in common, I find myself disliking multiplayer solitaire and cooperative games) and actually fairly light. The combination of mechanisms make it feel, at least to me, very thematic. The way you need to feed your huts and the way they get at the end of round flushed away by floods puts me in sandals of that ancient nomadic chief. The way you score points is mildly point salad-y but in a good way. There are not many choices or decisions but every decision feels interesting and important. Even the way you can sacrifice some of your huts in order to be first one to play is interesting. This game is a hidden gem and I expect it to get a new version and well-deserved recognition.

1. Obsession

Yes, I might be slightly overhyped here, because I crushed my opponents in the single game of this I have played so far, but I like this a whole bunch starting with the production. I just want to have this on my table. Cards, tiles and wooden meeples, all of it looks exquisite and helps the overall theme. The game feels extremely thematic as you are hosting various parties and other events in various rooms of your estate and use your servants to host them. The last part are guests. You’re trying to get the best hand of guest possible, but I wouldn’t call it a deck building game. The game presents you with many options and none of them feels boring, even passing and replenishing your hand is good and rewarded with some money. I can’t wait to play more, but I also want to chat more during the game and really got into the role of Victorian aristocracy. It’s just pure joy.

And that’s it for this year. Next year, hopefully video games are back and board games aren’t just their digital implementations. Look at it, real things look so nice and tactile.

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Tiny Glade is an upcoming sandbox building relaxing game. Honestly, I would call it an activity. There are no goals and you just shape ruins of an old hamlet to your liking and cuddle sheep. From the steam page of the project: Let yourself unwind to the chill vibes, and escape into a world that feels alive. “Ivy envelops your buildings, sheep waddle through your paths, and fireflies light up the night.”

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Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, a game featuring Moomins is just beautiful and charming and that’s it. I’m not interested in its gameplay or comforting story I just want to watch it. It looks better than the old Moomins cartoon by my reckoning.

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I’ve never featured a lot of city builders here and that’s for a reason. I like them quite a lot, but usually the less stylish ones are better. Ostriv from an Ukrainian developer from Kharkov feels different. The UI is really nice and the building inspired by the traditional Eastern European architecture looks picturesque. I watched some of the footage at the start of the year and while sometimes rough around the edges, Ostriv seems to be a great successor to banished (and I know there are 2 or 3 other serious contenders). The war and the shelling slowed the development down, but luckily the team is alive and back on it now.

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Intern Inferno is a cool free game about an internship and how unfair it can be. It makes a witty commentary on the corporate world of success and sacrifices a person privileged just enough to become an intern has to make.  You get a new task every 10 seconds. Sounds like hell, doesn’t it?

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Time Flies is an upcoming fun looking minimalist “flight” simulator about a fly trying to do as many things from its bucket list before its short life ends. From the official description: “Go ahead and learn an instrument, become rich, read a book, go on tour, find yourself, get drunk, make someone laugh or enter the art world!“

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Top 10 games I missed in 2022

This was in many ways a transformative year. Or maybe that’s an overstatement and 2022 was end of an era. It followed a long term trend of me playing games less and less. I haven’t played a game on Steam since January. With that a maybe even some time prior I stopped paying attention to new releases. Until yesterday. Yesterday, I succumbed to the calling of Steam winter sales and visited my wishlist. I noticed that it was slightly messed up, because some of the games got released. After that I spent several hours looking for new releases and here we are. I admit It’s different, because many of these games are titles I’ve only found out about them being released.

Ofc, this year was massively, more than any of the previous years, influenced by board games and board game media. But getting around to actually buying some board games, I found out that the new hotness is rarely what I’m after. So, there are only 3 board games from this year I would like to own and 2 more I would like to try and write about (Stroganov’s take on colonization of Siberia could be made way better if it took a simple lesson from my n. 1 game). The three board games differ from each other a lot and video games on the list are reasonably diverse too. There are narrative experiences, Metroid and Castlevania inspired games both with jumping and without and free games I haven’t got time to try out yet. I also have one honorable mention: Victoria 3. Normally, this probably would make the list, but I don’t know enough to be excited and I’m still happy with my older Paradox games and I don’t need new ones (also, I know that Victoria 3 is beyond capabilities of my half-dead laptop).

10. Maptroid: Worlds

This is a commercial follow-up to a free game, you can still find online (not sure if flash?). It looks terrible, music probably does its job. It’s also an original and interesting take on the genre of Metroidvanias. It requires at least basic knowledge of the genre to get it and to appreciate it too. Because in Maptroid, you play on the minimap only. You explore and move around. The pacing is fast and that makes it fun. The commercial version promises more and that’s exactly what I want. Also, It’s only 2 bucks and some change.

9. Infernax

At first this looks like a straight clone of Castlevania but there’s more to it. There are choices and different endings. If you watch any footage of Infernax and like the genre of non-linear platformers you know the game is fun. It looks difficult with good controls and smooth movement. The fiction full of crosses and demons is something I can appreciate. The look is appealing too. A must play in a surely coming year of non-linear platformers.

8. Haiku the Robot

The third and final game of jumping and exploring on this list. Haiku is by far the most stylish one with beautiful sepia tones and detailed modern pixel art. It also looks like the most expansive one with many bosses, interesting puzzles and original lore. I’m afraid it might be too difficult as Hollow Knight seems to be a source of inspiration here. But without this baggage it looks like a fun and tight addition to the genre. One more thing, I like haiku.

7. Three Sisters

The first board game on the list is a heavier than average roll and write about tending to vegetable garden. The main reason this is here is the production. These warm pumpkin colored dice are just attractive and the whole game feels warm and welcoming in the similar manner. The game itself is about rolling dice and using them to tick boxes and form combos. Or if you go for the theme, and I think you should, planting seed, harvesting fruit and veggies, crafting in your garage. And that might be quite lovely when rainy and you can’t manage your garden for real.

6. Sunset Shift

This free game is about collecting and disposing garbage at a small private island. I watched some footage of it and it looks right up my alley. Basically, you drive around and the other friend is talking to you via radio giving the whole thing subtle story beats. I also enjoy games with either social or environmental message and this one seems to have both.

5. Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between

The original free Glitchhikers was one of my favourite cruising games. In it you drive on a highway while having random dialogues. This one expands it in all directions and adds many new environments and means of transport. I wonder about the message. Is it more than just more volume? Anyway, because of the original this one is on my bucket list too. Also, it’s the first game with no green or greenish pictures.

4. Citizen Sleeper

Frankly, I don’t quite understand what Citizen Sleeper is supposed to be. It’s a cyberpunk science fiction rpg controlled by dice, so there’s this tabletop element. Also, it seems to be focused on social issues, equality and such. You’re a working person and that reminds me of Cart Life, one of the greatest games ever. Jump Over the Age  also made In Other Waters, an exciting UI experience I haven’t played yet but It’s one more reason to be interested in this game.

3. Village Rails

It’s a small and crunchy card game about building tracks with bucolic tones. The second part of the Village series from Osprey and designed by Matthew Dunstan with Breet J. Gilbert in a little unassuming box with a pleasant blue frame. It got praised by all of my board gaming sources including Dice Tower, Shut Up and Sit Down and Board Game Barrage. The game’s almost a filler but the combination of different goals and a special puzzle makes all decisions crunchy. For me it looks like a kind of game I would enjoy.

2. Roadwarden

Out of the green and into the brown. Roadwarden is a game I’ve been interested for a while. I think it does something interesting and that the devs limited themselves well to make a bigger game. The illustrations in this game look great too. I feel like I might enjoy its bleak fiction too. Being this highwayman and delivering messages, burning bodies sounds mundane, but also super atmospheric.

1. John Company: Second Edition

John Company is an unwieldy game from  Wehrelig Games and Cole Wehrle of the Root fame. It’s complicated and long and an experience I want to have. I even managed to watch most of the five hours long session of Heavy Cardboard streamed on YouTube. In the game you and other players run the titular company and exploit India in order to get yourself a good retirement. The second edition tweaked almost everything and it looks great with one of the nicest board and components I’ve ever seen. Also, John Company: SE Is clear with its message and criticism of colonialism through its mechanics, something games like Stroganov ought to learn from.

All of the pictures used in this article are either from official sources or posted by the publisher at BGG(Village Rails).

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So, there is a new release from splendidland. This little splendid game with monsters and land and a very pale protagonist. It might be fun and it def won’t take long to finish. Download here.

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So, in January Aquamarine got finally released. Tbh, I stopped following it at some points, partly due to various complications during its development. The game still looks great, but I would say that the original version had slightly more subtle styles and definitely subtler colors. Gameplay wise, it looks like some people enjoy it, but it probably isn’t a must play.

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Marins Dream Garden is a little jam gem from Breogán Hackett, who also created one of my favourite atmospheric walking sims Bleakshore. This one mixes platforming with light farming and I can’t help myself but dig the vibe. The combination of relatively low poly graphics with this color palette and soft shapes works great. I also love that the description states: “There is no goal in this game.” Download Marins Dream Garden for free at Itch.io.

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Terracotta Army

I’m still not a frequent player of board games, but I’ve just watched and read some reviews of the new hot game from Dice & Board designed by Przemysław Fornal and Adam Kwapiński. Some of the reviews were just enthusiastic. That shows the game is doing something good. But more critical reviews from the Dice Tower and The Broken Meeple showed some shortcomings of the design and I would say it would be rather easy to avoid them. I don’t agree with all of the points the reviewers made and I think that for example Chris Yi wanting the game to be kinder is not the real problem, just a personal preference. But listening to all of this and observing the mechanisms I couldn’t help myself but see some of the DNA from classic games like Kiesling and Kramer’s Pueblo or Reiner Knizia’s Qin, an underrated lighter cousin of his tile laying classics. It was also interesting to look at an older Terracotta Army themed game Xi’an. That one has some very different mechanisms, but generically speaking it felt like the weight Terracotta Army should have been and as a tighter game.

The core of the problem in my opinion might be the way the game’s targeted audience. I would say all core mechanisms are solid. Limiting action selection, masters, resource management, placing statues (glorified tiles) and special statues (tiles). The problems with this game is its scoring mechanisms, which are just bloated, complicated, made the game longer, variability makes some strategies sometimes stronger and inspectors can feel mean. More than that I don’t think you need so many ways to score on top of these solid (and simple) mechanisms.

I would suggest two alternatives ways to score. The one would be to use the inspectors only for the duration of the game and score only rows and columns plus the whole board at the end. Or make the board into four quadrants and score each one at the end of the turn plus the whole board at the end of the fifth and final round. This would make planning ahead important while making intermediate decisions in each round tight. Each kind of tile would score differently. The first would score a small amount of point for each in the scoring area, the second would score majority only and the other two would be about adjacency only and adjacency plus majority. In this case the inspectors could be used for restricting placement or not used at all.

Next on, the action selection wheel. Basically, each slice can be activated once. This means you need to revolve the inner wheels to mitigate turn order and to get desired actions plus the big worker as yet another way to mitigate. Choosing the three actions you would benefit the most from might be brain burning and slow down the game, actions themselves are straightforward, tho. Basically essential actions are: 1. Collect resources 2. Place a tile 3. Activate a master

The rest is there but it could have been implemented differently or not at all. Weapons tiles are an interesting minigame and add more decision space, tho. Turning small workers into big ones is an interesting decision but having one big meeple to override full spots once every round could be enough. Masters probably should be easier to use, so engine building is more viable strategy. In case weapon tokens are removed, one or more of the masters could be used to build them. My first idea was to remove one of the rings, but at the end I find extra decisions weapon tokens can add quite juice and I probably would leave them in. Also, they are not the brain burning part of the triple wheel. So, maybe some slight adjustments to the system and make masters more balanced and equally satisfying to use. I was thinking about turning this more into a proper roundel but I think that the worker placement and depleting of the pool of possible actions gives rounds nice framing and it dictates the pace of Terracotta Army. I also like the mechanism of the clay drying out.

Special tiles I like. I think that my powers for them would be to modify scores for adjacency, manipulate the board (moving tiles around), horses are cool as they are and maybe turning points into resources? When it comes to normal resources, I like all players having a common limited pool of them. It makes it visible for what strategy other players are going in terms of placement and you might either compete or go for a different strategy. I would try to come up with different ownership solutions than these plastic base frames, but I guess tiles and putting some kind of wooden token on top would change the theme. On the other hand this solution would offer even more options for the ways you use and fight over space in the mausoleum. With a limited amount of player tokens, it would be more about grouping and maybe even dominance over other players. Something like conflicts in Tigris and Euphrates.

Coins are a clear tie breaker here.

That’s about what I wanted to write. I think that Terracotta Army might be a first step towards a less bloated classic feeling game with its interesting action selection mechanism and cutthroat “area control.”

All the pictures used are from the official Board & Dice site and can be found here. I also found them at BGG and the credit there goes to Sonia Ociepka.

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PF 2022

Another year is almost over and I’m online again to reflect it a little a to make plans for the next year. 2021 has been yet another not very active year in games for me. And it was even less when it comes to following new releases and upcoming games. There are very few future titles I’m excited about. Namely two: Tactical Breach Wizards from Tom Francis and Open Road from Fullbright. But even if they get releases in 2022 I won’t play them that year. The thing is I made a decision not to buy a single game next year. I might buy some expansions but outside of that I would like focus on chewing through my library and new free games. There’s also that option that I will spend a longer time without computer and games altogether.

What does it mean for this blog? In early January, I would like to spotlight some recently released games, which are visual candy, and didn’t make my list of missed games for one reason or other. I would like to pay more attention to free games and spotlight them here too. And I would like to focus on getting better at graphic design and this might even mean my return to some form of game development, although I don’t want to get too ambitious here. A pen and paper adventure is on the way though. I haven’t decided yet if I want to present my work here, but I might post some more in-depth articles on game design and visual components of games. Lastly, I would love to find my way back to reviewing RPG Maker games and If I do, I will repost my reviews here.

And that’s about it. Happy new year! It ought to be a good one.

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Top 8 games I played in 2021

I know the year isn’t over and there’s a relatively big chance I will play some games in upcoming days, but there’s also a probability that I will continue to play some games I started playing earlier this year. If you want to know the full list of games I played this year (and most of them were decent or good), read this thread at rmn. I decided to go with 8 games to make picking spicier and at least one choice is more of a honorable mention. In spring I spent quite some time playing cool games, mostly strategies and then I just got busy. The good news are that all of the picked games were memorable enough for me to still remember my good time with them. I would say that numbers 1-3 are games I would gladly recommend to everyone and games, which somehow widened the way I think about games.

Enoug walking around. It might be a less tight condition, but I still like all of these games and I want to share what I appreciated about them.

8. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I included this on the list for a very special reason. The game itself has charming atmosphere, great soundtrack and some old school sexism and I was far from finishing it as controls felt really clunky to me. I even purchased a mouse to be able to play it somehow, but it remained frustrating enough for me to abandon the game. But the reason I’m including it is that after watching Prince of Persia film I realized that with some changes and maybe better timing, it could be a hit and that Prince of Persia had a potential to become the next Pirates of the Caribbean. I wrote more about it here and even made a draft of my own version. I got fairly deep in lore and appreciated some of its main themes such as work with cyclical time and doppelgangers. Iranian mythology is also interesting and underused in my opinion. Ok, most of that goes beyond The Sands of Time. The first game in the second trilogy is more of a simple Arabian Nights tale. That makes it lore lighter, but I find the visuals and music to be the best as they are both very imaginative and I would love to return to the game in some photo mode and take few pictures.  

7. Echo Beach

This is a last minute addition to the list and I admit that there might be some recency bias, but I also feel that this one will stick in my mind for a longer time. The thing is Echo Beach has a lot in common with Papers, Please. I would say your stakes are lower, but I think the motivation of the main character and an inability to sabotage your work (arresting musicians as music is forbidden in future in sake of productivity) makes a more personal point and more direct critique of neo-liberalism (at least in my opinion). The game shows clear love for music with its selection of songs inspired by various artists. I gotta say that Lou Reed inspired Overcoat got stuck in my head. You can listen to the soundtrack on its own on Bandcamp. Or play it on repeat in the game on Itch, because you might need to in order to solve some of the puzzles. Puzzles are the other thing I loved about it. They are varied and you can also learn a thing or two about music on the go. Plus that hidden Blur track is amazing. The game is free and running in browser and that make it super approachable and there’s no excuse for not playing it.

6. Bleakshore

This was my favourite digital piece of land to walk around this year. The foggy haunting landscape of Bleakshore and its colour palette was super easy to appreciate for me and I liked its various corners and grey sea. It was also way more pleasant to experience it in comfort of home than my recent visit to the Baltic Sea, which was equally bleak, but the wind was hard to withstand. The narrative beats were unsettling and fit the setting well and made you an actual character. I liked that you worried a lot and got a whole lot introspective during the walk. One tends to think differently about things when walking alone in bad weather. I also liked the conclusion and that it wasn’t sad after all. A comforting piece overall and you can download it for free here.

5. Imperator: Rome

I’m a huge sucker for Paradox grand strategy games and this might have become their best one with the 2.0 update. Unfortunately, it got abandoned after it and there won’t be any new content for it. Imperator mixes roleplaying, economics, governing and warfare really well in a setting, which I tend to enjoy. It reminded me of Victoria 2 a lot but with a lot of stuff improved and appropriated for the time period. I will return to this soon and I’m even fancying an idea to make a mod for it for my Estonian megacampaign.

4. Quadrilateral Cowboy

First, a confession. I haven’t got very far in Quadrilateral Cowboy, because I didn’t have a mouse at the time of playing it and timing your actions in a 3D game on touchpad started being impossible to handle few missions in. Yet, this game is an effortlessly cool gem and it got me really hyped for heists and I even started writing a heist movie. There’s just something about it what makes it better than a summary of its parts and what I would call tight game design. Levels are extremely well designed, graphics stylish, music exciting and the most important part is hacking, which is mostly about putting text commands in your laptop and extremely satisfying. I def got a lot of inspiration from this and I want to play more. 

3. Auto Museum 64

This was a completely different experience. To be honest, It’s not a game. It’s a virtual exhibition about PS1 era models of cars. And I find it to be probably better piece of media than any of these games. First, I appreciate novelty and attention to detail. Second, It opens a dialogue about games as something we should study and maybe consider a piece of our culture. It’s also about how our culture reflects in video games. Overall, Auto Museum as a whole is more impressive piece of digital art than any of The Zium parts, which aren’t as interested in commenting on games. Download it here and walk around the museum for yourself. It’s better than words I could possibly muster.

2. Heat Signature

I tend to like Tom Francis’ games a lot. My favourite is Morpblade and I’m still expecting with hype Tactical Breach Wizards. I also enjoy his blog as he is good at breaking down design of other games. Heat Signature was on my radar for a while and It fulfilled all of m expectations. The game is extremely smooth to control and filled to brim with good compact design. You play as a rebel infiltrating ships, stealing stuff, kidnapping and killing targets. It’s usually completely up to you how you approach the boarding, but stealthier approaches are usually better and even more fun and satisfying. The game has roguelike elements, so every time you die, you lose all of your possessions and start playing as a new character. The good thing is that you don’t have to start completely over as the galaxy liberation is independent on individual characters. Playing Heat Signature was a good time!

1. Signs of the Sojourner

It’s a card game, which uses cards for communication and it pulls its premise perfectly. The game is really well written and limited deckbuilding makes it impossible to find a common ground with everyone. This leads to one of several possible outcomes and gives the game a great replay value.  Over everything else, the game bears so much empathy to it and connecting with characters felt really important to me. That’s partly due to the world being populated with reliable characters and watching their micro stories progress became an important task to me. I also recommend listening to the soundtrack on its own. The tunes are often relaxing and really pleasant.

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Top 10 games I missed in 2021

I’m back! Kind of. I haven’t touched games since September, but I’ve recently had several interesting conversations about video games and they inspired me to return to gammak, but not enough to actually do it. I just don’t have time or a machine capable of making games comfortable. It renewed my interest enough, tho, to check some releases from this year and I found out that there were more than 10 I would like to at least try. Surprisingly, after doing some research for this, I found out that despite following board game releases I find most of them less interesting than video games. There are two exceptions on this list, which I think is the same number as it was in 2020.

Let’s share some more facts first. There were several other games I considered for the list. There’s either still chance that I get to play them (Soma Union) or they weren’t really available on platform of my choice (JETT, Old World) or they were more of a free demo (Time Bandit) or they were on the list before and only got a full release (Wildermyth). There certainly were more good looking games too, but most of them just seemed not interesting for me. Either they were focused on story too much and I didn’t like the tone in the trailer or they weren’t my thing mechanically. Still, some of these might be games I will enjoy a whole lot if I ever play them. So, let’s finally jump in and talk about some games I know very little about outside of their good looks.

10. Astalon: Tears of the Earth

So, creator(s) of this metroidvania previously created one of my favourite games, Castle in the Darkness. And this is a pretty exciting offer. The game looks good and reviews are extremely positive about it being a proper Castlevania inspired fun with individual characters having game changing skills and difficulty being hard enough to be sometimes frustrating and very satisfying when the execution of all moves goes according to plan. So, lets hope I get to this, when I get around to my big run through non-linear platformers.

9. Loop Hero

I haven’t played a lot of attention to this at first. The graphics might be little too retro even for me at this point in time and the game being a very difficult roguelike isn’t exactly my cup of tea either. But I could no longer ignore how cool and compact the design seems to be and it really peeked my interest. Loop Hero probably isn’t the kind of game I would finish, but I def want to try it out and appreciate its strengths.

8. Furnace

Ok, there were more than two board games I found interesting this year. Be it a theme, visual style or both. However most of these heavier games are games I would like to spend money on and spend time finding nerds to play them. Furnace and the other entry on this list are a different case. The game looks very pretty despite having a very beige 19th century capitalist theme. It’s a card game with auctions at its core and it’s supposed to be very fast, loud and involved. I loved everything I heard about it in Shut Up and Sit Down’s review and I think I would be actually able to table it. A lot of stuff reminds me of chunkier games such as Brass, which I would never get played. Btw, credit for the picture goes to @ludus_lab

7. Toem

Everyone knowing my taste could expect this to appear. The only thing I slightly about this quirky photography games is that it’s black and white. I think it could be even more adorable with colors or at least more contrast. Maybe I’m wrong and the gimmick is also kinda thematic (Toem might remind you of an old timey photography). In comparison with more stylish Nuts, this game just looks like joy to play with a world inhabited by adorable characters and mechanics cleverly using that the game’s actually 3D (it always gets me in the trailer). 

6. Sable

I was excited about Sable for a very long time. It certainly is a looker and a premise of wandering is always an exciting one. I lost interest a wee bit when more info got out and I have shifted my visual preferences slightly, but I can’t deny that I’m always get excited when seeing content from this game. I’m not interested in playing it, I just want to experience its sandy planes. Actually, I would love to see a real desert too and this might be a great appetizer. 

5. Dorfromantik

I hesitated to put this on the list, because there’s not a lot to be excited about? The game’s relaxing and pleasant to look at, but it also has this boring vibe. In the end I decided to leave it on the list as only me locking internet payments (too many safety steps) prevented me from buying and playing it yesterday. In Dorfromantik you basically build a board out of tiles and score points, which in return unlock more tiles to play. Lovely.

4. Valley Peaks

This game looks exactly like my kind of treat. It’s fairly small, it’s free and it offers a freedom of movement. It’s about climbing and I like climbing and now I feel slightly guilty about not climbing for months. So, why I haven’t played this yet? I simply haven’t got time to try and it’s quite possible that my linux machine won’t run the game’s pretty graphics. You can download it here.

3. Whale Riders

The second board game on the list is Reiner Knizia in his best form. That means high replayability and crunchy decisions with a relatively simple ruleset. In Whale Riders you trade on a one-way journey and it all ends with interesting scoring, which brings in a lot more strategy. The game has an attractive paint from wonderful Vincent Dutrait, which makes trading a lot more attractive than let’s say a Mediterranean setting. Unfortunately, all pretty Knizia releases from Grail Games are out of print, because of change of focus / breach in contract. In other words, you can’t buy them from the publisher anymore and Whale Riders will be difficult to get second hand, because the game had a very limited market presence before being pulled off.

2. Griftlands

This game has probably my favorite trailer of the year and after playing Song of the Sojourner I’m excited for more card based games, which are trying to do something slightly different with cards and Griftlands look just like that. Ofc, the game’s probably solid just because it’s a game from Klei, but the theme, the swag and options to play out things differently and tell emergent stories in a very lucrative trash space setting are all too tempting for me to resist. Yeah, I might even buy this during Christmas and yet play it in 2021.

1. The Geography

And finally, this is a must play for me. It looks completely different than any other game I know, it looks super artsy and like an experience I want to have and which might actually inspire me even outside of video games with its approach to visuals and I might use the inspiration, when creating a poster or a visual style for a project. Tbh, calling this a game probably is wrong as it’s more of an art piece and something clearly more ambitious than entertainment focused media. At its Itch page the creator describes it as an endless album and its goal is to improve your mental state. Also, it’s Swedish and I’m a sucker for everything Swedish.

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Board Games Wishlist (2021 Update)

So, I’ve been playing video games and there definitely will be a list highlighting some of them at the end of the year, but I haven’t been in touch with new releases and my attention shifted towards strategy games and city builders in particular. I spent quite a few hours on Crusader Kings 2 and Imperator: Rome too.  Playing this kind of games got me closer to thinking about game design and narratives they present and slowly I moved back to watching reviews of board games and coming up with a prototype of my own, which I hopefully manage to transform into something to at least playtest later this year. If I get into that phase, I def will post pictures here. I’m still not that interested in playing board games myself, but I’m more interested in owning few now. So, my biggest concerns are graphic design and box sizes. Interesting mechanics or good flavour only come second. I’m making this list to showcase how my tastes developed over the last 2 years and to spotlight some newer designs, which influenced my own creativity. Out of roughly 30 games I find very intriguing, I decided to spotlight several in $100 challenge inspired by Board Game Barrage. I managed to include five smaller games, which I find to form a diverse starting collection. I used Game Nerdz for pricing, so It probably would cost slightly more locally. In addition to that this post includes a list of 10 other games I find myself attracted to for various reasons.

Pictures used in this article: 1) In the Hall of the Mountain King - Source: Burnt Island Games, 2) Fjords - Source: Board Game Geek, user Jacek Nowak, 3)Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space - Source: Board Game Geek, user Alessandro Fibbi

$100 Board Game Collection

I approached this challenge slightly differently than the BGB crew. My list doesn’t have a crunchy big game accompanied by several lighter games. All games on this list play fast and have a fairly easy set of rules. Two of these games are 2 players only and they’re all filled with tasty decisions and loads of strategy. The rest is a filler and a lighter pick up and delivery game from Reiner Knizia. Two of the games on the list aren’t properly out yet, but I believe they would fit my list perfectly.

1. Coup - I’m a fan of social deduction and hidden roles games and this one is a super easy one to pick up with nice illustrations and small packaging. I think games like this need a specific group of people, who are more into playing a game than usual social activities such as chatting or dancing, but It might be a good opener for silent groups with its high level of interaction, leading to a more interesting evening. Price at Nerdz: $11

2. Targi - Overall, I find worker placement games on the drier side. This one intrigues me because of how tight it is and before as a 2 player game, it offers more confrontation than competition. The new printing made it widely available at a very affordable price point. The small box and Berber theming are good too. Price at Nerdz: $14

3. Hive Pocket - This game is a classic and it could be easy to play it with people instead of chess. Hive consisting of sturdy tokens in a sack makes it a perfect companion for travels too. I find it that stranded far away from home, it’s way easier to have a good opportunity to play something as comforting as a board game. Price at Nerdz: $21

4. Whale Riders - An obligatory Reiner Knizia pick. It was a tough decision among several games, but I ultimately ended up siding with this pick up and delivery game, which even isn’t out yet. It puts interesting pressure on players, it plays in thirty minutes and looks awesome. The core mechanisms are something I wanted to have on this list yet. I heard that it is a tight design, maybe slightly less fulfilling than popular Knizia games, but given it’s playtime I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Price at Nerdz: $21

5. Fjords - The new edition of Fjords is currently being kickstarted and it looks gorgeous. It’s a very simple design, close to an abstract game. The first phase is tile laying, the second is go-like area control. I think this might be an excellent game to start playing very quickly and get invested into without complex mechanics obscuring possible strategies. The basic pledge on Kickstarter is $26 and It’s expected for the retail version to be more expensive (I would assume somewhere in the middle between estimated $40 and $26). The new version replaces tokens from the picture below with viking meeples and beautifies the tiles. Tbh, I find the look of the old version good with an exception of its box cover. 

Osprey Games

This category stayed from the previous list. I still like fairly unified small boxes of theirs and their excellent design. They are all relatively small and fast playing. The themes aren’t as niche as some other games on this list and that should make it easier to play them with other players too. Finally, It should be fairly easy to order all four of them as a batch. Either from one of the local resellers or directly for slightly higher prices.

1. Cryptid - Cryptid is here for its sweet look and as a game I would find easy to show other people than gamers. It’s very abstract and I think that its components could be used to create your own games too. As a teacher I might use this in class to learn children about game design. Obviously, playing the deduction game might be a lot of fun and a good brain exercise too.

2. Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space - Again, this game has great graphic design and presents a different kind of experience. This is a hidden movement game, in which aliens and humans have asymmetric win conditions. The sparse presentation helps the game to build up a dense atmosphere. It’s very close to being more of a role playing game without a need to roleplay. I think I would enjoy this stressful experience a lot.

3. The King is Dead - is a simple area control game, which plays very quickly and by limiting players’ actions to an absolute minimum, makes every decision interesting. It’s a good vehicle for creating tension and players trying to influence each other into actions. The game has a dedicated community and you can find interesting homemade versions.

4. The Lost Expedition - and yet another fairly minimalist game with interesting mechanics and immersive look. In case of The Lost Expedition the game is at its best as a harsh solo survivor. You’re trying to get through the jungle and discover El Dorado. I love that it managed to capture the atmosphere of The Lost City of Z and despite its limited mechanics it looks like it succeeds at creating great emergent narratives and loads of friction.

Other Games

These are various bigger games I find interesting. The reasons for me liking them differ quite a bit. In this category themes and mechanics are usually more of a reason for me to include them than presentation or size of boxes. All of them are too big anyway.

5. In the Hall of the Mountain King - This game is here for a special reason. I heard about it on Youtube, liked its board and theme, but also kinda disliked some of the mechanics. So, I started reading more about it, watched a playthrough and that led to me getting inspired and starting working on my own design, which takes a lot of inspiration from it. In the end, I still find the two main mechanics of the game slightly disconnected, scoring too complicated and spells unnecessary, but I also ended up liking the game a lot and I’m actually planning on buying it asap. The creators put a lot of love into it and the way you gather resources via a cascade of trolls looks like a great innovation. The parts I like the most happen on the board, tho. I find moving of statues and building of great halls very thematic and unfortunately kind of earthed by other mechanisms.

6. Coal Barons - After starting working on my design, I got more interested in mining games. There are only few interesting ones and alongside In the Hall of the Mountain King, Coal Barons from my favourites Kiesling and Kramer looks the best. It combines worker placement with action points  and set collection in superbly thematic fashion. Mining different kinds of coal and loading them on trucks and trains feels like fun in this game. The other thing I love is that despite various actions you can take, the game is fairly tight and simple. Everything makes sense, rounds are fast and diverse scoring helps you to plan your next steps. I hope I’ll manage to find an older copy of this or that they’ll reprint it.

7. Tikal - Yes, It’s another Kiesling and Kramer and the first game of their Mask Trilogy. Mechanisms of this one also fueled by action points and actions you can take simple and confrontational. I like the theme and its table presence too. Unfortunately, getting hands on this one right now is fairly difficult, but there’s always hoping for a reprint of the Super Meeple edition of the game.

8. Akrotiri - is a two player game from the designer of In the Hall of the Mountain King. The game has two main components. The first one is exploration driven tile laying and the second is pickup and deliver mechanic. Basically, you compete as traders in this very stylized ancient sea. It feels like the game is very tight and that it offers enough paths to victory for good replay ability. I’m mostly interested in fairly simple rules and the game being faster than many other trading games with worse table presence. Together with Fjords, these two games feel like much better replacements for Carcassonne.

9. Yellow and Yangtze - I definitely wanted a second Reiner Knizia game on the list and after some consideration I decided to go with this one. Firstly, I like the cover and most of its components. Secondly, It would create a nice section of Grail Games in my library. That might be visually appealing too. I chose it over Tigris and Euphrates mostly for these two reasons as the older game seems to be preferred for its clarity by most Knizia fans. Still, It’s widely agreed that this is a great sequel full of confrontation and interesting choices.

10. The Great Zimbabwe - Splotter games are known for several things. They’re expansive, usually out of print and they have a specific esthetic. They’re also very highly regarded. The Great Zimbabwe is getting a reprint this year and after watching the video below I got super hooked in. It’s mechanics are deep, clever and among other games fairly unique. I also like the theme and thematic ties being present. I even like the look of the board and wooden components on it. If I had money to spare, I probably would pre-order it.