TableStop's Top 100 Games - #90-#81

Welcome back to the TableStop, thank you for joining me for the second lay over on this journey through my favorite games of all time. 

Today I run through my #90 to #81..

#90

GOLD WEST - J Alex Kevern rarely disappoints with his designs and this is my favorite. It is the Gold Rush and players are out competing for the best spots of land. The game is driven by a great action system which has you placing resources in slots on your play mat and mancala style you pick up one slot, dropping off as you go. Then your remaining resources determine what you can do on your turn. Spread out you empire, send gold, silver and copper off to be trading or complete contracts to win! I love the forward thinking of where I put my resources to plan future turns when I get to pick them up.

#89

DEAD OF WINTER - Using the great crossroads story system this great game from Plaid Hat places players in charge of survivors fighting off zombies and battling the freezing conditions. But there is a chance one of you is a traitor with their own hidden agenda. This is a tough co-op game that inspires stories which I have enjoyed many times with my family.

#88

UNDERWATER CITIES - A wonderfully deep blend of hand management and worker placement, where cards act as worker and you have opportunity to trigger more than one action on your turn if you can. Building up your network of resource building domes as you strive to develop your personal underwater city. Such a great design, I'm a huge fan of the strategic hand management that is needed throughout the game.

#87

BUMUNTU - I feel this game is overlooked and under appreciated in the gaming community. It is totally an abstract game that has you trying to set collect groupings of animals off a gridded board, each animal has a different action that will affect your movement as you try to pick them up. It has great depth for a lighter teach, move and pickup is all you do, but the choices you and your opponents make can affect the board state and even how well each animal will score at the end of the game.

#86

GUGONG - Worker placement is often one of my favorite mechanics, but I do love when a game puts a twist on how that works. Gugong is another splendid example of that. This time your 'workers' are represented by gifts you have on cards in your hands, the gifts help you influence the action spaces on the board so you can use them. The game has a great balance and multiple ways to score at the end of game.

#85

TEOTIHUACAN: CITY OF GODS - I do love me some heavy games, and this one brings brain burning to a max. Players have worker dice who grown in strength each time they get used, and the action selection uses an awesome rondell style as you move around the outside of the board. A great twist is that once your dice reach max strength they ascend and you have to give birth to new worker. The table presence is further enhanced by the pyramid that is growing in the center of the board, players are working together to build it up.

#84

SUPER MOTHERLOAD - Imagine if Dig-Dug became a board game and you have this one. Using deckbuilding players improve there hands of action cards so they can place tiles on the board representing them drilling down under the surface of a planet in the search of the motherload. Scoring through the cards and achievements that are next to the board, this really feels like a video game converted to cardboard.

#83

MISSION: RED PLANET - I absolutely love the action selection method in this game, players choose a character from their hand, each one has a value 1-10, then first player begins a countdown and when it hits your chosen number you reveal and do your action. The actions help you get astronauts on ships, so you can send them to Mars to fight over the minerals and regions on the surface. This has some great back and forth between players, as you vie for control of the regions and even send opponents rockets to the wrong locations or even send their astronauts into the great beyond.

#82

ZHANGUO - 'What's your game?' really know their games and this heavy euro is not exception. Using action cards in your hand, you can place them to trigger certain actions, depending on value you may get bonuses to your actions. Players are competing emissaries of the emperor helping to build up the Great Wall of China and gain support for the emperor from the many regions of China. This game leads to awesome decisions and satisfying outcomes as you play your cards in the right way.

#81

RES ARCANA - This tableau builder from Lehmann hits all the right spots for me, quick playing and easy to understand rules. The ability to build up combos in front of you as you race against your opponents to build up to the score that is end trigger of the game. Clever card play will always get me intrigued in a game and this has it in spades!

NEXT STOP: The countdown, or count-up, continues with #80 to #71, so buckle in and join me again in a couple of days.

TableStop's Top 100 Games - #100-#91

Seems like the past year came and went, I did not get into the mode of posting more often or sparking joy, 2020 needs to be the year forgotten and lost. 2021 needs to be year we return to normal, or close to and get back in that groove.

I want to start the year, although belated, with my Top 100 games of all time, of course with usual caveats - I have not played everything and there is so much I would love to play, that could be a whole other Top 100. I know I have said in the past it is hard to equate placings for games I love, other than perhaps the top few games, but I found myself with a little extra time and pubmeeple's game ranker was close at hand. So as of the end of January 2021 what follows is my favorite hundred games, so let's begin...

#100

LORDS OF WATERDEEP - This was my very first encounter with worker placement and one of the few games that got me into the hobby. This is still a fantastic entry level game, with simple rules. You are competing Lords in the DnD universe trying to gather up party members to complete quests, the rounds go quickly and it has two great expansions that add a little more depth to the simpler gameplay. This will always be a goto game to teach new people in the hobby and those transferring over from RPGs.

#99

THE QUEST FOR EL DORADO - From prolific game designer Reiner Knizia comes this great race game. Players are explorers headed into the deepest darkest jungles in the search for the legendary city of El Dorado, using card play and deck building you must be the first to reach the gates. Yet another game to teach newer gamers, easy and smooth gameplay.

#98

TRAMWAYS - Blending into his own world of Small City, Alban Viard feeds on his experience of creating expansion maps for Age of Steam and gives it his own full blown take on pick up and deliver. In this your actions are chosen from a hand of cards that you draft each round, but the stand out for this game for me is the unique turn order bidding that can control your destiny in this. 

#97

BLUE LAGOON - A brilliantly colorful abstract game as players compete to claim items across the islands on the maps. It is easy to teach and has great depth with the clever use of the two main game phases, Exploration and Expansion. Where you place your villages during the opening phases can affect how well you can compete in the second half of the game. With many ways to score and quick turns this is a gem of a game.

#96

TAKENOKO - You see there is this panda and he loves to eat bamboo, much to the annoyance of the Emperor's head gardener who is just trying to grow the bamboo in the correct patterns to impress his boss. With gorgeous components you really feel like you are growing out a bamboo garden and each player is working on set collection goals to win the game. Simple and smooth, with a cute theme.

#95

SAGRADA - Following in a theme of games that just look beautiful on the table comes this dice drafter that has you trying to complete the best stained glass window. Placing dice based on color & value you try to score points based on open goals on the table. Easy to teach and another great introduction to modern gaming.

#94

AZUL - I keep doing this, great components lead the way but it's the simple to teach gameplay that will get people around the table for this one. On player's turns they draft tiles to place onto playmat so that you can decorate the palace, bit don't get too many tiles or they may break costing you precious points.

#93

THE GRIZZLED - The first co-op game on my list, Grizzled is themed around the harrowing horror of being in the trenches during World War One. Fighting against seemingly impossible odds, players have to work together with limited communication to successfully complete missions. 

#92

DECEPTION: MURDER IN HONG KONG - This social deduction game is one of the best out there, players take on hidden roles as detectives investigating a murder although one of them is the murderer trying to escape being caught. Each round there is a Forensic Scientist who must give limited information clues to the rest of the players at the table to help them figure out the truth. This plays quickly and often ends in great discussion as players try to work out who among them is to blame.

#91

FIRST CLASS - Taking a little influence from his earlier game Russian Railroads, Helmut Ohley has designed a great card drafting game that allows players many options on scoring the points needed to win. Further depth to the game is added by having several decks of cards from which you choose two each game to blend together to help create the card pool. A great overlooked game.

Join me in a couple of days for #90-#81... 

TableStop Thoughts: Faith and Gaming 2020

Happy New Year all!!

2019 was a blur! The last words I said about moving into 2019 was that I was going to push away my social anxieties and take the reins. I feel like I kept my word. For the full details and my feelings about 2018 I suggest reading this first: TableStop Thoughts - Faith

I feel alot of people, including myself, will often prefer to forget the past. Leave those mistakes and mis-steps out to dry. I have certainly learnt to look back and use the perspective to help guide me on my journey. If you can truly see where you have come from, you can turn forward and see where you are headed.

There are a few highlights I want to take from 2019, carry with me as I step forth on the adventures that 2020 will hold.

MY FAITH
First and foremost this is the most important part of my life. If it weren't for my belief in my Lord and faith that He provides me with all I need, giving me opportunities to grow in love, grace and hope it wouldn't have led to my other moments of this past year. Christ died so that I can live. So that I can share. So that I can find my way back to God. It truly is a personal experience that I pray and hope for all to share at some point in their lives.

Part of my growing faith and pushing myself came from the church this year. I am now helping facilitate a new men's group at Life Church. This was me taking the reins for sure, getting outside my comfort zone. I see MoMENtum (catchy name eh?) as one way for me to share my faith, what I have learnt, accountability with others.

MY LOVE
After many years of building a chasm in my relationship with my wife, Cindy, we have built many bridges and are closer now than we have even been. We still have our moments, but I believe we have built renewed trust and understanding in one another that will be hard to break in the years to come. We have shared the best year of our lives for a long time, if not ever.

MY FAMILY
Our kids are all at home, of this past year they have been our biggest worry. My son, our youngest, had his first girlfriend and all the worries that come along with that. But I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. I see growth everyday in all my children and look to 2020 with hope in my heart for a blessed year for them.

MY "FAMILY"
Be it all the new friends we have at Church and all the new friends I have made through gaming this past year. I consider myself blessed every day with all the awesome people I now know and begin to know that little bit better each time I see them.

MEXICO
Tying the above with the below. Thanks to G3 and a wonderful 24 hour charity event, Cindy & I were blessed with a joining our church's mission trip to Rocky Point. It was a humbling experience to behold.

GAMING
Really considered calling this the Clocktower Corner. Taking the reins again and getting past my social anxieties I made it a point to get to gaming conventions this year and run games. Mainly games of my new hotness Blood on the Clocktower. This game has led to meeting many of our newest friends.

I have stated before how I feel that board gaming can be used to create community and experiences like no other hobby I have had. It brings me great joy to teach new people games. To see the excitement on their faces when the game clicks with them. To see them ordering and purchasing their first hobby board game after playing.

I want to push myself in my this area a little more. Either through blogging or creating content to share. I want to stop procrastinating over it. Grab it. Spark joy!

May you all be blessed in this 2020 and enjoy all that you endeavor to do. 

G3 Marching on

Moments in time are strange things.

Taken out of context some could wonder what is going on.

A group of people collectively yelling "yyyaarrrghhh!" like time displaced pirates celebrating with the last pint of grog.

Two people fighting over Jacarandas, Cassias and Poplars while making terribly plant based puns.

A whole table deciding that one person is always evil rather than take him on his word.

Others are assigned roles to protect the earth from invading aliens, waiting for their orders from a glowing iPad screen.

One man standing pointing at those around him, one after another. Fascist! Fascist! Fascist!

Roles are assigned. Alliances are made. Points are awarded.

Raucous. Rowdy. Unruly. 

Yet all the while there are smiles, laughs, pats on backs and the occasional hand shake. Good game. Shared experiences that will hopefully bring those people back to the same place again.

Moments in time are strange things.

Remember all the ones you enjoy.

Winterborne Review: A Year in the Life of a Viking Clan

You will be amazed by the things you can achieve when you put your mind to it. 

At least that is how our vikings must think in Winterborne, designed by Brian Suhre and published by Talon Strikes Studios. We have just a year to bring the most honor to our competing clans. How do we achieve this?

At the start of the game you are given a deck of six cards representing your clan. You are handed your province tile on which your three main characters reside. The Warrior, who you will use the conquer and build. The Shaman, who will help you trade, tax and pray to the Gods. Finally, an Explorer, who quests to find you new cards and raids to bring back food. With these components you will use a mix of deck-building and action selection that is spun seamlessly around a roundel movement system. 

On your turn you draw four cards and play all you can to trigger actions. One card will activate the character you wish to use and a second card will give them movement. The character then sets off clockwise around your province, where they finish movement may affect certain actions concerning the colored region they finished in. 

It is in this that you will find the core of your decisions in Winterborne. If you are looking to trade, each different region will offer different choices, or if you wish to explore you may have different cards you would like to bring to your hand. There is a puzzle to the efficiency you need in your card play, as the game contains very little player interaction it becomes about how well you can play with what you have.

Also with this kind of card play, it almost always feels like you are making headway, a great feeling of momentum. Very rarely did I find myself without an option that wouldn't gain me anything. If you did end up that way it most likely came from your own poor choice in card purchasing earlier in the game. For example ending up heavy handed with explorers and no way to gain the goods needed to do any actually exploring.

It is through exploring that the games internal time clock is set, as you pick up cards to improve your deck you are also pushing the game toward the finale. Spring turns to Summer, turns to Autumn and before you know it you are in Winter. Once Winter hits you only have three turns before the end and you better have been prepared. This also marks the time a unique ability for each player gets activated and you can turn in your favor from the Gods to unleash it. Knowing your power from the beginning should play into how you planned out your game, so you can take the maximum advantage of it.

Having played Coldwater Crown I am not surprised that Suhre has put together another great game. It sits on the low end of medium for weight and I could see teaching this to someone who is wanting to get deeper into the hobby. There is plenty of the decision making that I enjoy in games, without breaking my brain completely.

Overall, this has the feel of an old school euro and I can see this becoming a mainstay in any collection.

*photos of art may not be final product

The Gaming Con Beyond the Pines

PineCon 2019

A trip to Flagstaff. 
An escape to the north. 
Leaving the metro expanse behind for the weekend. 
A chance to experience games with friends with no distractions.

Now you have to say that is all very tempting, so why not jump at the chance. Taking an extra day off from work we headed up Thursday night, with all these promises laid out in front of us. I can say that all of them delivered.

I could speak to all the games that I got to play, but you can read reviews of those games and understand what there is to love about them. Card playing, worker placement, action selection, decisions, calculations, failures and successes. But all the talk on how good a game is does not speak to the other's that enjoy that experience with you.

Our gracious host promised an awesome weekend and he delivered. He played his role dutifully scooting from table to table making sure we were enjoying ourselves all weekend. Major kudos to the man who can keep his energy going while all others around him are waning and then still managing to serve up an Italian feast to keep us going.

Yet, all this may have come crashing to the ground if it weren't for the bravado and camaraderie of the other 12 guests in attendance. Feeding off the joy that the host enabled in all of us we set upon the 72 hours before us with salivating passion for games. The pure abundance of cardboard delight that was before us was overwhelming. The united gaming cry of "Oh, I want to play that.." reverberated repeatedly through the house, a multi-tongued promise that will never be kept.

These empty words echoed around your head, and you realize that no matter what you play it is really about the who you are playing with. The table filled with chits, cards and plastic pieces just becomes the experience hub for shared conversation. Building relationships and finding common ground beyond the world we live in.

The essence of why we game.

TableStop Thoughts: Faith

It's a new year people!

This blog felt like it wasn't going to happen, going round and round about what to write about in the first post of the new year. After plenty of thinking and pray I have decided to take a moment to get more personal with my thoughts and where I see 2019 going.

Over the course of 2018, the continual growth of my faith has impacted my thought processes and in turn has affected how I view my hobby in gaming.

I often find that current cultural awareness and my own social shortcomings make it hard for me to talk directly and openly about my beliefs. Looking at it objectively I find it funny that it is easier for me to nerd out over board games then it is for me to talk about how God has affected my life in the past couple years.

Life events and hard truths coming to the surface at the end of 2016 into early 2017 caused me to take a deeper look at my life. I fully believe that God created humans with a hole within them, then he set us upon the world with free will. We would choose how to fill that hole. We misdirect ourselves to the material to meet that need. Money, power, sex, hobbies. I look back at how heavy I was into my hobby, but without Jesus in my life that was my replacement for everything. It began to speak louder to how I had neglected my marriage and my wife.

I won't delve too deeply into details, needless to say, over time our marriage had become broken and disillusioned. We weren't talking through issues and were assuming a lot of one another without discussing it. I placed all my energies into my hobby, making that the love of my life instead.

Through a series of events in early 2017: 
An abortive attempt at counselling from my parent's pastor.
A mechanic detailing my marriage into a triangle with God at the peak. 
Being urged to undertake the 30 day challenge, in which you listen to christian music for a month.
A failed promotion attempt at work, impacted by my own emotional state. 
Through all this I was led to get myself back to church, and a friend who I had made through gaming also happened to be the son-in-law of a pastor at a local church. I went with an open heart and a mind to listen.

Now, it's not like I didn't already consider myself a christian. I had spent my late-teens in churches in the UK with my parents. I had been baptized in Phoenix, AZ in the late 90's after my brush with cancer. The wife & I had attended a few different churches in Arizona since arriving, but nothing would stick. My walk gradually moved apart from Jesus. I had checked him off my list, thinking I was good to go. Much like the reason I had a mechanic talking to me, I had failed to maintain my life. Not up keeping the spiritual oil had caused my life to corrode on the inside.

So there I was finally in a position to treat going to church seriously and I had a place picked out. Amazingly at this new church they also had a marriage school that was starting out. Over the rest of 2017 I began to take a good look back, looking at all these small details, these coincidences, pushing myself and my wife on a journey. A journey that is obscured to you until you take that step back and look at it from God's view. Seeing all the falling dominoes in our lives that had led us to that breaking point and what God had prepared for us to help mend the broken parts. Not coincidences anymore, just the path that led us to the right place.

Almost two years later now, and I am stepping up in marriage school. Offering to help lead teaching. Which is a huge step for me. Deep down it is definitely something I'm not fully comfortable with, but I honestly feel this is an opportunity to give back and share. Share the joy and hope I've felt through the process.

This is a culmination of my prayers in regards to the direction my life is to take. As to what is my place in God's plan. What is His purpose for me?

How does this cycle back to gaming? In the past I think I was using my hobbies as my escape. A selfish tool to forget my own problems. Now I want to concentrate on the outreach aspects of gaming, sharing this hobby and the relationships I have found through it.

The amazing church family I have found has a message. Live, Love and Share. Live like Jesus, Love like Jesus and Share his message everywhere you go. I want to be able to show the love He has shown me to others around me. I am feeling called into a form of leadership or even ministry, and my knowledge/love of gaming could allow me to use that as a tool.

Even in this, an area I am very comfortable in, I still have my own anxieties and fears. I find myself reminded that God has often used people who were themselves reluctant, nervous and broken. Even a great leader like Moses, as God asked him to go speak to the Pharaoh and demand the release of the Israelites. Moses asked who he was to be given such a task. God simply replied "I will be with you."

So as 2018 closes and I reflect. I see it as a year I began to find balance and comfort in my faith. I look into 2019 and have hopes that it will be a year I push away my social anxieties and take the reins.