As 2022 starts, things are super busy here. As always, the holidays and the new year occupy much of the calendar, and this year, the continuing rise of COVID and Omicron keep things at work as busy as possible. We haven’t had as much time for games in the past few weeks as a result, but there are some games I still wanted to talk about. Continue reading
I’ve been playing Eurogames regularly for over 20 years. Like many gamers, there are certain designers I really like and others I avoid. But what’s interesting is that this changes quite a bit over time. Part of that may be alterations in my tastes. But I think a lot of it is that it’s hard for creative people to consistently maintain a high quality of work over an extended period. In addition, they may switch from creating one type of game (a type I like) to another class of titles that I’m less fond of. Whatever the reasons are, I find that when people ask me who my favorite designer is, one of the questions I have for them is “from when?”.
Something else I’ve noticed when I look back at my years in the hobby is a phenomenon I call the “Hot Designer”. There are short, 2-4 year periods when certain designers are exceedingly productive and produce a huge number of games I love. Knizia had a period like this in the late nineties; Wallace did something similar ten years later, and there are other examples. It’s as if they’re amazingly inspired over those years. The thing is, no human being can continue that level of quality for too long. So the hot periods aren’t extended, but they sure are great while they last.
Anyway, I was thinking about this and I thought it might be interesting to examine the ebbs and flows of various game designers over the years. I’d love to do an objective study of something like this, based on some Geek data or something similar, but I haven’t figured out how that would be possible. So instead, what you’re getting is a list of my favorites from 1990 to the present. That’s less universal, but still should be of interest to folks with tastes similar to mine. More to the point, I think it illustrates how much the gaming landscape changes through time, probably much more so than those new to the hobby realize. Continue reading
Reiner Knizia has seemingly designed about a million games. OK, that’s a bit of hyperbole; it’s probably no more than 240,000. Over his career, he has dabbled in nearly every genre of Eurogame that I can think of (well, I’m trying right now to think of a Knizia Dudes on a Map). I feel that 2021 is the year of the Knizia Point Salad game.
For the last decade or so, I’ve intermittently published my Best New (to me!) Games list each year… and, when I missed a year or two, added the missing lists to the most recent post.
However, before we get properly started with my list for 2021, we need to cover a few games that were excluded from the list for various reasons but still warrant attention being paid to them.
Sometimes, I’ve put expansions under #10 on a list as a group… this year, I decided to break them out. Expansions specific to a game on the list (see:) will be dealt with under their entry.
Marvel Champions: A Whole Bunch of Stuff
I know this was on the list last year… and I’m just going to say the exact same thing again.
“I’m not even going to try and list all of the Marvel Champions packs that were released this year… the expanded list of heroes and the greater variety of villains made the game even more playable. I’ve been using some of the deck builds from the online community of Marvel Champions fans… since my enjoyment of the game is not in the tweaking of decks but in the play of the game.”
Tobago: The Volcano
Not that anyone had to sell me on expanding a game I love… but the combination of the cool-looking volcano plus the ability via lava to mess with certain “easy lay-up” plays for those who’ve played a good bit of the original game makes for a winner.
Terraforming Mars: Big Box
Because, let’s face it – playing with cool 3D pieces is kinda awesome.
Wildlands: The Ancients
A big box expansion for one of the best skirmish game system designs of the last few years… complete with new maps, a new “super-powered” faction (the titular Ancients), and a great solo/cooperative mode.
Continue reading
The original Kingdomino won the Spiel des Jahres back in 2017. The simple domino laying game was elegant in its simplicity, yet gave players a great challenge in drafting the right tiles and then finding the right places to place those tiles. There have already been a number of expansions and extensions to the Kingdomino family, and I’ve played (and kept) most of them. Continue reading
Happy New Year from the OG – our New Year’s Resolutions
Happy New Year to everyone! It’s been a tough year all around, but hopefully things will be better in 2022. A few of the OG have been willing to share their Gaming New Year’s Resoltuions with you!
Dale Y – I really hope to be able to travel again and see my gaming friends. I have not been outside of a 100-mile radius from my house to hit a convention or game day since October 2019!
Continue reading →(anonymous) – I want to be able to playtest games in person again. Doing stuff online works, but it’s just not the same.
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