And now for the big payoff! This is the fourth post in my “Obligatory
Favorite Games 2015 Edition” series.
Before reading this post, feel free to check out the first three. The first post is a guest blog from my wife
who counts down her top 5 games. The
second post is my first favorite games post, my honorable mentions. Finally, the third post is the bottom half of
my top 10 games list. Check those posts
out at the following links:
Em’s Top 5 Games (2015):
http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/03/favorite-games-2015-edition-post-part-i.html
My Favorite Games, Honorable Mentions (2015): http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/03/obligatory-favorite-games-2015-edition.html
My Favorite Games, Games 6-10 (2015): http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/03/obligatory-favorite-games-2015-edition_27.html
Also, I love to pimp my wife’s blog at www.tastymess.org. There you’ll find her wonderful writing with
a foodie/recipe-sharing theme. Also, she blogs about
the appetizer recipes she uses at our game nights. Now, shameless plugs aside, on to the top 5
games on my favorite games list!
#5 – Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island
(Z-Man Games)
The first game to be mentioned is an incredibly thematic,
co-operative game called Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island. This game was designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek
and is (spoiler alert!) one of two games he has designed on my top 5 list. I think this game does a great job in mixing
the thematic flavor of Ameritrash-styled games with the mechanics of a
Euro-styled game. This game does a fantastic job in immersing
you in the theme. Every time I play
Robinson Crusoe I feel the tension as I’m trying to survive on an island that
I’ve been stranded on. This is a common
idea in Trzewiczek’s games as he tends to start with the themes and build upon
them. This is why he has many successful
games, and Robinson Crusoe is just one of his great designs! On another note, this game now has an awesome
looking expansion by the title of Voyage of the Beagle. This is a five scenario expansion that places
you on the ship with Charles Darwin as he researches flora and fauna. I own it but haven’t gotten this expansion to
the table yet but I can’t wait!
#4 – 7 Wonders (Repos Production/Asmodee)
7 Wonders is a game by the consistently great designer Antoine
Bauza. This game really helped to push
the game mechanic of card-drafting into major game design. Now, card-drafting is a common mechanism and
it is one of my favorites. This is the
first “card-game” in my top 5 and you will find that it is a common theme. I absolutely love card-driven games and
really love it when I get to build a tableau with them! This is the first of three (spoiler-alert!)
games with the tableau-building mechanic and this is one that I’ve played a ton
and it never gets old! You get three
ages with six rounds each where you draft a card and place it into your
tableau. I love that this game is
winnable with whatever route you take.
I’ve won with military, sciences, public buildings, and guilds! This is a great game with three expansions
thus far, Leaders, Cities, and Babel. The
latest expansion, Babel, looks awesome and I hope to obtain it relatively soon
to add it to our games!
#3 – Mage Knight Board Game (WizKids Games)
Mage Knight Board Game is a board game by the fantastic
Vlaada Chvatil. This is an implement of
the miniatures-styled game Mage Knight also released by WizKids in 2000. Chvatil created such an incredible game with
this IP! It is somewhat hard to really
describe what this game is/does as it has a bunch of different mechanics that
just come together is such a beautiful way!
This game is another that melds Ameritrash with Eurogame so well! The theme is there and it has beautiful
card-driven mechanics. You use these cards
to does movements, attacks, blocks, spells, and other cool things. I think that this game would probably be
higher but it is a very lengthy game and takes a long time to set it up and
tear it down. There are two expansions
out for it now, The Lost Legion and the Krang Character Expansion. There has just been a third expansion that
has been announced and should be out this summer or by GenCon at the latest!
#2 – Imperial Settlers (Portal Games)
.JPG)
Imperial Settlers is the second game by the fantastic Ignacy
Trzewiczek that makes its way into my top 5 list. This is a re-implementation of Trzewiczek’s
engine building games, 51st State and New Era. He took the ideas that he created in these
games and really streamlined the mechanics into this wonderful game! This is another tableau-building game that
has a minor civilization building theme.
You have a deck of common cards as well as a desk of faction specific
cards. These faction specific cards
really give flavor and replayability to this game. Each of the four factions, Egyptions, Romans,
Barbarians, and Japanese, has a very different feel to them and I love playing
each one of them! As well as being a
super-fun game, this game also has beautifully fun art by Tomasz
Jedruszek. There is already a small pack
expansion entitled, Why Can’t We Be Friends, out now and Trzewiczek has stated
that there will probably be one more small pack expansion and one large
expansion with a new faction coming out this year. I can’t wait for more cards and more factions
for this game! It can only improve an
already amazing game!
#1 – Seasons (Libellud/Asmodee)
And my current, favorite game is Seasons by Regis
Bonnessee. This is just an awesome
game. Spoiler alert! If you haven’t check out my wife’s top 5
games list, this is her number 1 game too.
We both absolutely love this game.
It is the third game on my top 5 that is a tabeau-building game that is
card-driven. But, unlike the other two
games, this one also has a very important dice-drafting mechanic. You roll these big, chunky, absolutely
beautiful dice and then each player drafts which die they would like during
their turn. You use these die to do your
actions each turn and then use resources (called energy in this game) to put
out the magical items and the magical familiars that you drafted in the
beginning of the game. This game just
hits all of the great things that I love in gaming! For those who love expansions (like me!),
this game also has two already out. The
first was Enchanted Kingdom and the second was Path of Destiny. The best thing these expansions do is adding
more cards (and thus more replayability) to the game while also have some new
mechanics if you choose to use them. Seasons
is a great game with absolutely gorgeous art by Naiade.
And there you have it, my top 5 games! I will always leave this list with a caveat;
it could change at any time. There are
so many great games that I have never played and so many great ones that I
would love to play!
I may do one more
post in the series of some games that I think could crack the top 10 list. Other than that post, I have some unboxing
posts that will be coming soon of some games that should be in my possession
soon. Until next time, game on!
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