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.