Obligatory End of 2014 Post Part III: Top Interests of 2014: Top 10 List (Part II)

Here we go! The top 5 games on my top 10 interests of 2014! These are the games that really interest me, whether it is for the theme, gameplay, or just because it looks cool! To be honest I’m not even sure I would own all of these games, but there is something there that really pushed it up to the top 5 of my list. Before reading this you can check out my two previous posts at the links provided below. The first will tell you what my criteria was for choosing 2014 games versus 2015 games as well as give my honorable mentions. The second post has my games 6-10 of my top 10 of 2014. Honorable mentions of 2014: http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/01/obligatory-end-of-2014-post-part-i-top.html

Games 6-10 of 2014: http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/01/obligatory-end-of-2014-post-part-i-top_13.html

Enjoy the read and as always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them either here or at my BoardGameGeek handle: LateToTheTable. 

#5 – Pandemic: The Cure (Z-Man Games)
Pandemic: The Cure is a dice version of the super-popular co-operative game, Pandemic. It is designed by Pandemic designer, Matt Leacock, and is distributed in the United States by Z-Man Games. This game uses some of the mechanics from the original title and turns them around slightly to create what appears to be a super-fun, dice-chucking, co-operative game! Just like Pandemic, you choose a character which gives you a special set of dice which you use to cure diseases. As you move further in the game the action ramps up as the die seem to be continually against you! Pandemic is a game that I have yet to play but have no doubt that I’d like and Pandemic: The Cure appears to be more of the same and with dice! What’s not to like? 

#4 – Argent: The Consortium (Level 99 Games)
Argent: The Consortium is a somewhat heavy, Euro-style, worker-placement game. It is designed by Trey Chambers and is distributed in the United States by Level 99 Games. Argent is the first real heavy game that Level 99 has in their catalog of games. It is very different from the previous games, all of which were designed by company owner, D. Brad Talton, Jr. Talton is the designer of such games as Pixel Tactics (a wonderful, two-player strategy game), Noir: Killer Vs. Inspector (a small-box, deduction game), and Battle-Con (a two-player, Street Fighter-styled game). 

Argent takes a decidedly different route than these games and I think it is a fabulous one. This game has traditional worker-placement mechanisms that take on a different twist as each worker that you place has different powers that they have at their disposal. This allows you to place the worker where you want them to go and use their power to your advantage. The goal of the game is to get the board to choose you as the next headmaster of a lofty school of magic and these workers are the people you are using to accomplish these goals. Everything I’ve seen/heard/read about this game makes it look fantastic and heavy with a ton of different ways of scoring points! I am very much looking forward to playing this game! 

#3 – The Battle at Kemble’s Cascade (Z-Man Games)
The Battle at Kemble’s Cascade is a boardgame that borrows from 80’s-style, top-down scrolling shooters where you were flying through space fighting waves of enemies in order to just stay alive. This game was designed by Anders and Olle Tyrland and distributed in the United States by Z-Man Games. This game really snuck up on me this year. All of the sudden it was Gen Con and I was hearing about this game that tried to copy the idea of the old, arcade-style, top-down shooter. This was incredibly intriguing to me but I wasn’t quite sure how they would accomplish this. After watching videos and live plays this game has moved all the way up to number 3 on my top 10 interests list! I think this game looks quite amazing. Actually, what is most interesting is that the game almost plays more like a Euro-style game than an Ameri-trash style game. There isn’t any dice rolling to make attacks. Rather, you have a certain amount of energy which you can use to shoot and/or move during your turn. This turns the game into what is almost a puzzle of where to move your shoot and make attacks. I love this idea and can’t wait to try this game! 

#2 – Castles of Mad King Ludwig (Bezier Games, Inc.)
Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a tile-laying game where you are creating a castle for the mad king, Ludwig Wilhelm. This game was designed by Ted Alspach and distributed in the United States by Bezier Games, Inc. This game is another game in Alspach’s series of tile-laying games which includes Suburbia, Suburbia, Inc., and Lucas Hedgren’s Subdivision. These all have the mechanism of getting tiles and laying them in certain ways to get the most points that you are able to by the end of the game. I love this mechanism! It truly feels like you are building something and even at the end if you lose it still feels as though you’ve accomplished something. This game uses the tile-building mechanism but adds in another interesting twist that the other games don’t have. At the start of a player’s turn they become the master builder. When it is their turn they actually create the prices for the different tiles. This adds a new wrinkle to the tile-building. I love this idea! It makes it even more interactive as you get to make the prices and get money from other players. I look forward to trying this game out! 

#1 – Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients & Shadows of Brimstone: Swamps of Death (Flying Frog Productions)
Shadows of Brimstone: City of Ancients and Shadows of Brimstone: Swamps of Death are two new co-operative, dungeon-delving core sets that are set in the Wild West. They were designed by Jason C. Hill and are distributed in the United States by Flying Frog Productions. These are two core boxes, either of which could be played on their own or added to the other core set for a larger amount of possibilities. Shadows of Brimstone really appears to be an RPG in a box! This game puts you in the Wild West as an archetype as you investigate some mines where Lovecraftian horrors have begun to appear. As you dive into the mine it grows and allows you to fight, find items, and even level up. What really interests me in the campaign mode. After finishing a mission you then go back to the town and can spend money and darkstone to level up and create more powerful weapons. This game really appears to give a sense of progression and looks like a ton of fun to play!  

#1+ – Star Wars: Imperial Assault (Fantasy Flight Games)
Okay, I know that this technically means that there are 11 games on my top 10 interests of 2014 list, but I am making a special exception for this game. The other 10 games on the list I don’t own and am not sure when I will be able to play them. I put this as #1+ because it is the game I am most interested from 2014 to play. However, I didn’t put it on the “actual” list because I already own it! It is just a matter of getting it to the table to play! This game was designed by Corey Konieczka, Justin Kemppainen, and Jonathan Ying and is distributed in the United States by Fantasy Flight Games. This game is on the very top of my list (well, kind of!) because it takes the gameplay of Descent 2.0 and the IP of Star Wars and throws them together into a beautifully produced package! The plastic miniatures are beautiful, the boards are beautiful, and the mechanics appear to be beautiful! It hasn’t hit the table yet (due to time constraints), but I am hopeful that it will be very soon!

Okay, now this is officially the end of my top 10 interests of 2014. My next three posts will cover my honorable mentions and top 10 interests of 2015. Stay tuned for more and let me know what your interests are! Until next time, game on!