Top Whatever Boardgames

I went to resurrect the old thread where we had a chat about Shut Up & Sit Down's 2014 Top 25 and found out it was in our 2014 Christmas party thread — for who knows why — which would have really confused everyone (and would have led to at least one person showing up for the Christmas party a day late). Best just make a new thread!

SU&SD'S TOP 50 GAMES EVER, 2015!

This does make me want to play

Spoiler:

to see what all the fuss is about, though as of now it feels like a dull choice for #1.

It's trite to point it out to anyone who has spent any time on the internet and seen their share of these lists, but it really is mad to have Monikers compete with Netrunner — if you spent any number of words exploring this comparison directly it would be accidental comedy.

What I do love to see are top whatevers of specific types of thing, like a top ten 2-player competitive CCG where you could analyse what exactly it is that makes, for that person, Netrunner more enjoyable than Doomstown and Doomstown more enjoyable than Magic or Call of Cthulu. That's the sort of dissection that can uncover insightful observations.

That said, if I try not to take it too seriously it's still fun to read these guys gushing about their favourite games. Even more interesting would have been the more personal, uncompromised and eccentric individual lists of the various writers of the site, because you can see a bit of a person's character in what they choose to include.

And with that said, what are your top whatever games, SBGC?

I find the many many dice tower top 10s very entertaining, and make quite good background listening/watching whilst Im doing other things...

That said, my current top 10 games are probably the following ( in no particular order ), though it probably changes with my mood, Im happy to play any of these whenever the opportunity allows...

Lords Of Waterdeep
Eclipse
Pandemic
Above And Below
Legendary ( Any variant, Marvel / Aliens / Predator )
Shadowrun Crossfire
Space Movers
Betrayal At House On The Hill
Dead Of Winter
X-Wing

I'll just mention one for now:

Star Realms

I can't in good conscience not include this. Probably every other thing I've said on the forum before we started the league was negatively comparing Star Realms to other games, such as Thunderstone and Ascension, but let's be real: even taking into account how easy the app makes it to play, if it wasn't also pretty damn good we'd all have to be pretty damn stupid to play it this much. There is anticipation in seeing what ships the trade row delivers (especially once you know what they all are), tough and dangerous decisions to be made in choosing what ships to take and how to built your deck, and tension in the direct competition of blows as you race to be the fastest to beat down your opponent — and pretty much nothing else to get in the way of those elements.

Dominion is just as engrossing and if I had a chance to play it more I'd probably prefer it. But here's the thing: Dominion has to work hard to be good. It has to have lots of cards with interesting mechanics and make the players track their turns carefully. Star Realms is just casually awesome. It is fundamentally more exciting in concept. If Dominion had cards as simple as Star Realms it'd be crap. If Star Realms had cards as interesting as Dominion it might well be the best deckbuilding game ever.

Top 10 favourite games...
Of all time (I.e. What I keep playing over and over no matter when they were released...)

Star Wars Imperial Assault
Tigris & Eurphrates
Twilight Struggle
Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition
Animal upon Animal
Pitchcar
Dominant Species
Carson City
Blood Bowl
Peurto Rico

This year (and probably a few from 2014) only - is more difficult - and heavily weighted by purchases

Star Wars Imperial Assault
Trickerion
Waggle dance
Flick em up
One night Daybreak
5 Tribes
Tiny epic galaxies
Lewis & Clark
Cash & guns (if re-releases count .
Shadows of Brimstone

Its always tough to try to list favorites in some form of order... so I'm not going to

My (approximately current) top 10:

Firefly (+Blue Sun at a minimum)
Battlestar Galactica
The Resistance: Avalon
Colt Express
Black Fleet
Five Tribes
Forbidden Stars
Dead of Winter
Settlers of Catan
Letters from Whitechapel

Special Mention: Viticulture

Black Fleet and Five Tribes get a special mention as they weren't in any way on my radar despite having read/watched several reviews of each - at least not until I played them at the Expo back in May and immediately went and bought them

I've only played Viticulture once so it's kinda hard to make an informed decision but I enjoyed it a *lot* more than I expected - the mechanics included resolution to the areas of the Worker Placement genre that have historically turned me off the genre. Really looking forward to playing it again.

As for Star Realms... well six months ago it would definitely have been on the list but I've pretty much completely gone off it now

Struggling to name 10 games! Ones that spring to mind:

Resistance.
Avalon.
Eclipse.
Werewolf.
ONUW / ONUV.
2R1B.

Quite like:

Risk.
Settlers of Catan.

Special mention games I need to play more:

Salam.

Special mention games that take all day to play:

TI3.

Roll for the galaxy: a nice mix of shedloads of strategy and tactics (many, many little choices) mixed in with some fairly (but not too) controllable  randomness. Race ftg is great strategy but lacks fun. King of new York is great game-theory fun but lacks strategy. I love both those games too. But roll takes the best of both. Some people think roll is multiplayer solitaire. These people will lose.

Cosmic encounter. I don't do hidden role. This is the sociable game with an element of bluffing that I love. Player powers eat your heart out. It's like a hidden role game in some ways. Except there is actually a game here. Highly entertaining and massively random - the player interaction is what builds the real structure of the game, and like king of new York,  plenty of game theory in with that.

Most deck-builders to some degree. Obviously dominion and star realms (4 player!)

Eclipse - also trying TI3 and exodus proxima centauri - player powers and multiple paths to victory
Dead of winter = best co-op I've played so far. Need to find more as other half likes them.
6 tribes - different, fun, some strategy and much tactics, djinns act like purchaseable player powers
Worker placement games? Mixed feelings here. I don't want to do maths for a hobby. Liked brewcrafters and waggle dance fair enough. For me, I don't want purity. Give me some player power, cards etc. Any suggestions?
Card-drafting? I feel like more can be done here. 7 wonders is Ok. I own among the stars. Also Ok.

Would like to try some decent pick up & deliver stuff - mostly xia.

Be interesting to see how people's lists change over the year...

Aneurin wrote:Be interesting to see how people's lists change over the year...

I very much expect to love TI3. Any thoughts on Rex by the way?

psychomansam wrote:

Aneurin wrote:Be interesting to see how people's lists change over the year...

I very much expect to love TI3. Any thoughts on Rex by the way?

Well that's a given
Never played Rex... always wanted too but it seemed like a game that would rarely get played...

I've been trying all weekend to come up with my top 10 games. I can't do it, there are so many games I love.

So, how about a top 3? In no particular order:

Viticulture
Robinson Crusoe
Firefly

Oh hang on, Codenames should be in there... and Black Fleet and Star Realms, and Dead of Winter, Quantum, Cyclades, Keyflower, Gravwell, Tragedy Looper, Puerto Rico, ...

Yeah, I can't do it.

This is really tricky for me because I don't really feel qualified, I've not played a lot of the games which hit peoples top 10s and if I have played it, usually it is only once.

I don't really watch many board game videos but I do enjoy watching the Dice Tower top 10s and top 100s.

So my top 10 would probably be
1) Carcassonne
2) Dominion
3) 7 Wonders
4) Splendor
5) Pandemic Legacy
6) Star Realms
7) Havana
Citadels
9) Tokaido
10) Ticket to Ride

Honourable mentions - no 11 which would be Imperial Settlers and 12 which would be Resistance. It's really hard to make a top 10! So many great games...

Aneurin wrote:Be interesting to see how people's lists change over the year...

For sure. We'll revisit in 2016. Here are off the top of my head ten games that have given me A Thrill Like No Other (that I've played more than once):

Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Cyclades
Eclipse
Mysterium
Netrunner
Pitchcar
Star Realms
Spartacus
Terra Mystica
The Resistance: Avalon

Top 10 games (this week) -

1. Absolute Balderdash
2. Through the Ages
3. Race for the Galaxy
4. Galaxy Trucker
5. Pandemic Legacy
6. Shogun
7. Keyflower
8. Terra Mystica
9. Space Cadets: Dice Duel
10. Snake oil

Each of these could be traded out for other games depending what I've been thinking about that particular week. Except Balderdash.

steveygee wrote:
1. Absolute Balderdash

I'm hoping this is an exactly moment.

Aneurin wrote:

steveygee wrote:
1. Absolute Balderdash

I'm hoping this is an exactly moment.

I don't know what this means, but assume you are mocking me. I don't care, Absolute Balderdash is awesome.

Jamie wrote:Struggling to name 10 games! Ones that spring to mind:

Resistance.
Avalon.
Eclipse.
Werewolf.
ONUW / ONUV.
2R1B.

Quite like:

Risk.
Settlers of Catan.

Special mention games I need to play more:

Salam.

Special mention games that take all day to play:

TI3.

Diplomacy is missing.....

Sam wrote:It's trite to point it out to anyone who has spent any time on the internet and seen their share of these lists, but it really is mad to have Monikers compete with Netrunner — if you spent any number of words exploring this comparison directly it would be accidental comedy.

What I do love to see are top whatevers of specific types of thing, like a top ten 2-player competitive CCG where you could analyse what exactly it is that makes, for that person, Netrunner more enjoyable than Doomstown and Doomstown more enjoyable than Magic or Call of Cthulu. That's the sort of dissection that can uncover insightful observations.

That said, if I try not to take it too seriously it's still fun to read these guys gushing about their favourite games. Even more interesting would have been the more personal, uncompromised and eccentric individual lists of the various writers of the site, because you can see a bit of a person's character in what they choose to include.

And with that said, what are your top whatever games, SBGC?

Right then, so first of all these are 10 of my favourite games (in alphabetical order):
- Black Fleet - cracking fun, doesn't outstay its welcome and has a lot of replayability with the combinations of powers
- Catan (with Cities & Knights expansion, ideally) -
- Cosmic Encounter - terrific opportunities for temporary alliances, broken promises and ridiculous fun with a massive number of combinations of alien powers
- Dominion - so many different sets to try and build a winning strategy from
- Imperial Assault - feels like the culmination of the overlord vs everyone scenario-based tactics game with a skirmish game thrown in too
- Neuroshima Hex - like a combination of chess and a tactics game, lots of depth and lots of different factions
- Star Realms - a game with considerably more skill than it might first appear, and one that keeps bringing me back for more - quick game in a small package with a LOT of thinking involved
- Terra Mystica - absolutely terrific area control / worker placement / goodness knows what else solid Euro with stacks of wood and no randomness
- Trains - deck building with a board, so a bit of area control added in
- Twilight Imperium - amazing 4x game where the negotiation genuinely swings the game (but you also get to build loads of bits of plastic)

So I guess that's 3 deck-builders, 2 area control games, 2 tactics games, 1 4x, 1 negotiation and 1 pick up and deliver? And I think the thread running through them all is replayability!

I do agree with Sam that trying to compare games for these 'best of lists' is a bit of a nonsense (though still very entertaining and interesting). And, indeed, were I suggesting to someone on a 'limited' budget the 10 board games that they should buy which would last them for the rest of their life then I'd be very unlikely to use the list above as there are too many similar games and there's too narrow a focus.

Whilst I was reading the SUSD 2015 list I was thinking about other interesting formats and I was drawn to the idea of the 12 Bottle Bar. For those not familiar, this is a bartending concept - that with 12 bottles (spirits and other ingredients) you can make a vast array of cocktails to suit most palates - you pick one bottle of gin, one rye, one light rum, etc. So, I wondered, could we have a, er, 12 Box Cupboard? That is, 12 games which would give you something to play with most groups of people of varying ages, interest, experience, and so on.

But where to start with that? Well, it's not ideal but maybe starting with some broad categories would help? But then coming up with 12 categories is hard. One might go with number of players, or depth/length of game, or theme or any number of things. But I've gone with mechanic as at least this should produce a varied selection.

So, here's my 12 Box Cupboard. I'm not altogether happy with how it turned out, though, due to smooshing together of categories and the fact that it's still biased somewhat towards heavier games. Perhaps you can do better...?

Hidden role or Bluffing: Ca$h n Guns - it gets people doing stuff (maybe even on their feet) and gets a reaction - you cannot play this passively!
4X: Twilight Imperium
Deck-building: Star Realms
Classic Euro: Terra Mystica
Tactics/skirmish: Imperial Assault
Party: Codenames - I could play this easily with anyone in my family - quick to learn and no niche theme to put people off
Programming: RoboRally - silly fun that's easy to pick up
Deduction: Alchemists - terrific game of resource management and logical deduction (and the app integration is cool!)
Racing / Pick up and Deliver: Steampunk Rally - Not sure I've played enough in this category, but I like the simultaneous play of SR and the fact that you get to build a cool vehicle as you race!
Dexterity: Flick 'em Up - Another category where I should have played more games. Still, I like the scenarios and the way the theme is integrated here.
Abstract/maths: Splendor - optimisation game that scratches a certain mathsy itch in my brain and works nicely as a quick 2-player
Negotiation: Cosmic Encounter

PaulG wrote:

Whilst I was reading the SUSD 2015 list I was thinking about other interesting formats and I was drawn to the idea of the 12 Bottle Bar. For those not familiar, this is a bartending concept - that with 12 bottles (spirits and other ingredients) you can make a vast array of cocktails to suit most palates - you pick one bottle of gin, one rye, one light rum, etc. So, I wondered, could we have a, er, 12 Box Cupboard? That is, 12 games which would give you something to play with most groups of people of varying ages, interest, experience, and so on.

But where to start with that? Well, it's not ideal but maybe starting with some broad categories would help? But then coming up with 12 categories is hard. One might go with number of players, or depth/length of game, or theme or any number of things. But I've gone with mechanic as at least this should produce a varied selection.
[/b]

Ooh, good one. This is a more interesting list to think of as it gives you the chance to consider games you may appreciate the design of, without actually liking that much. Here's my attempt.

4x - Clash of Cultures is my current fave. It offers the 4x's, a good amount of randomness and has excellent bits, important when you're going to be staring at them for 3 -4 hours.
hidden role/bluffing - Sherrif of Nottingham for me. I love any game which allows the players to set the tone and this one does that brilliantly.
Deckbuilding - hmm. I'm going for Dominion, even though I don't actually don't like it that much. For pure deckbuilding it's hard to beat and seems to be endlessly expandable. Disclaimer - I don't really like pure deckbuilders.
Classic euro - this is tough. I love Terra Mystica for the reasons Paul mentions above, I considered Power Grid for it's elegance and Agricola for it's tension, but i'm going to pick Race for the Galaxy, my most played game. I love how quick it is, how many ways to win there are and it's classic euro style subtle, indirect player interaction
Tactics/skirmish-on the assumption that picking Malifaux or Necromunda is cheating, I'm going to say Kemet. It's quick, punchy and encourages aggresion, all things I like.
Party- so many options. I like party games that allow your friends to be funny so on that basis i've got to go for Absolute Balderdash, though with the caveat that you ignore the board and only keep track of scoring if you can be bothered. Honourable mentions for Snake Oil and Spyfall though.
Programming - yeah, Roborally. What Paul said.
Deduction - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. I can't even begin to say how wonderful this is. Even the occaisonal wonky mystery can't diminish it's greatness.
Race/Pick up and Deliver - I have 2 wildly different contenders for this. Merchant if Venus is a massive, beautiful, ridiculous mess of a game, the TI3 of pick up and deliver and I love it. However, a 3-4 hour roll and move game is not going to be to everyone's taste so i'm going to pick the much more accessable Great Heartland Hauling company. A lot of great, tactical game in a teeny tiny box. And truck meeples.
Dexterity - I love and am terrible at Dexterity games. I think for sheer, unashamed nonsense, Cube Quest wins here. Flicking plastic cubes halfway across the room has never been so much fun.
Abstract - my Knizia experience is sorely limited, but I really like Through the Desert. It seems complicated when you look at it, then appears simple when the rules are explained and then impossible when you are completely trounced in your first game. But it has that addictive quality that keeps you coming back for more.
Negotiation - Diplomacy, for when you absolutely, positively have to soend 12 hours pursuading someone that you're their friend, just so you can stab them in the back at the perfect moment.

I've slightly tweaked the categories:

Auction/bidding: Bohnanaza Simple to learn with massive replayability and some OK expansions.
4X: Eclipse haven't played it in a while and I have some issues but it is very good.
Deck-building: Web of Spies I don't like deck building games but this is great.
Classic Euro: Settlers of Catan How could you not have this in a list of all time games.
Tactics/skirmish: X-Wing Yeah, it had to be
Party: Jungle Speed Fast and fun
Programming: RoboRally Still a favourite
Deduction: Alchemists I guess. Not sure this deserves its own category. Can't think of many
Racing / Pick up and Deliver: Jamaica I love Steampunk Rally but I think this is probably a better racing game.
Fight it out: King of Tokyo Such a good gateway game with immense replay factor for me.
Abstract/maths: Splendor
Negotiation: Spartacus Such huge scope in this game for negotiation. You can haggle over absolutely everything.

Thanks, Paul!: I just spent way too long thinking about this one    Great idea, though.

I actually really like your choices. With Star Realms, Codenames, Cash & Guns, Splendor, and RoboRally I'd say it's got it's share of light games — nicely accessible for those strange non-gamers that somehow find themselves in our houses. I can't think of what would be better than Terra Mystica for a heavy euro. Star Realms covers two-player and deckbuilding. Steampunk Rally and Alchemists wouldn't be the first games I thought of but are fun choices as medium weight games.

My 12 box cupboard would look something like this:

Pitchcar
Absolute Balderdash
Mysterium
One-Night Ultimate Vampire
Ticket to Ride
Dominion
Space Alert
Chinatown
Descent
Eclipse
Terra Mystica
*empty shelf space*

Some of my reasoning:

Must have a real bluffing game, like Sheriff of Nottingham, One-Night-Ultimate-[Monster], Two Rooms and a Boom, or that-other-one. And the latter three hit the big player numbers also. I'll also need a shorter game. Vampire just adds a few more moving parts that I expect would add to it's longevity.

Space Alert beats Robo Ralley for being more fun, more thematic, and for covering the co-op and the Vlaada categories. Can be somewhat simple or somewhat complex depending on the scenario.

I'll take Dominion over Star Realms. Yes, I know what I said before! It's more flexible: you can play with more than 2 players without changing the rules, and the theme is less nerdy (there has to be one game with a bland euro theme, right? It's traditional). Plus it better represents an engine-building style of play than Star Realms.

I should play a few more games of Flick 'Em Up. Some ideas are so cool but it can be a bit more fiddly and restrictive. It's Pitchcar that seems to have the most potential for cool moves and unexpected outcomes: sliding around corners, ricocheting several times off walls, jumping sections of the board, knocking other players around. And if Pitchcar is a little simple or dry, Catacombs has some of that cool stuff along with more theme and rules. They should make a Catacombs map with curved walls. And tunnels that act like the Pitchcar tracks.

I wanted a game like Chinatown or Lords of Vegas, that takes the negotiation further than Cosmic Encounter. It could have been either of them, really, they both have their advantages. Lords of Vegas has the fun chancey elements but Chinatown has more focus on the negotiation. Bohnanza would definitely fit but I've only got so much space for simple games.

Descent over Imperial Assault purely for breadth of theme. We already have two space game and no swords and sorcery.

There's one more space for any game or area I've missed that occurs to me later.

I could drop Ticket to Ride and I'd be pretty happy with the list of ten.

There was more stuff I wanted to say, but I got a bit tired of typing last night! So, some more random thoughts.

Making a list like this makes me realise that, for all the time that I spend playing games, I've still only scratched the surface of what's out there and this is particularly evident when I try to do things by categories. Or, if I have played stuff, I've maybe only played it once or twice which isn't enough for me to have confidence in how good a game it is and put it on the list. Conclusion? I need to play more games!

Looking at this again, not sure that programming games should have their own category. Maybe this should be combined with hidden movement to allow in the likes of Specter Ops, Scotland Yard and Fury of Dracula.

Steveygee: I really enjoyed Clash of Cultures, and once I've played it a couple more times it could certainly be a contender for one of my faves. We should play it a couple more times :-) Also Merchant of Venus - still need to play that one! Sheriff of Nottingham is a great pick, as is Sherlock Holmes. And you've given me more games I should check out in Kemet, Great Heartland Hauling Company, Cube Quest and Through The Desert.

Kes: Web of Spies is pretty great, I agree. Possibly the best Kickstarter that I've backed so far. Deduction games - agree, I haven't played many and I generally hate them (Mystery at the Abbey, Cluedo, that weird spy game with the coloured balls in the phantom mask). I definitely need to play Jamaica as I've heard so many good things. And Bohnanza is a great choice (shame I suck so badly at it!).

Sam: Sorry. I realised after I spent about an hour writing that reply that I was just creating lots more work for everyone. But, hey, it's nearly Christmas! I need to play Space Alert, and I agree there needs to be a Vlaada category. Dominion - yes, but I'd want a couple of the best of expansions with it and that would take up way more shelf space (and cash) than all of Star Realms :-) I don't think I have yet played a *great* dexterity game. Flick 'Em Up is good, but I'm sure there are better games out there. I need to try Catacombs and Cube Quest. If you're getting rid of Ticket to Ride then you've got plenty of space on your shelves, so how about slotting in that massive Dungeon Lords box into your two spare spaces? Man, we should play that again.

Guys, I can't help but feel that this thread has just made me want to play lots of games that I haven't played yet and also play games that I have played a few more times. We should have some sort of weekly board games club for this kind of thing.

Kes wrote:Deduction: Alchemists I guess. Not sure this deserves its own category. Can't think of many

I guess technically you could involve all the hidden movement games in this (Scotland Yard, Letters From Whitechapel, Specter Ops etc) as most of the players are essentially playing a deduction game.

Sam wrote:

Space Alert beats Robo Ralley for being more fun, more thematic, and for covering the co-op and the Vlaada categories. Can be somewhat simple or somewhat complex depending on the scenario.

Argh, how did I forget Space Alert? I'd definitely have that over Roborally. I think Vlaada should have his own list. Here's my top 5.

1.Galaxy Trucker
2.Codenames
3.Through the ages
4.MageKnight
5.Space Alert

Oh, and Tash-Kalar. so a top 6.
And Dungeon Petz. Damn you Vlaada!

Has anyone got Pictomania?

OK, now I feel like I need to play more Vlaada games! I think I've only played Codenames and Dungeon Lords and they're GREAT.

Oh! And if we can count Xia as a pick-up-and-deliver game then I might swap that in for Steampunk rally. Though my list is looking a bit scifi heavy.