Hey guys, I love end-of-years list and was looking at my games collection and decided to make a Top 20.
It's games I love playing, not necesarily bought or released in 2014, though most are, I guess.
Would be cool if others shared their list too. You could just post a list or tell a little with each game.
So here goes my list, starting with nr 14 working my way to number 1, my favorite game of this year (or all-time?)
14.
Settlers Of Catan - horrible, I know. But I like playing this with my boyfriend every now and then, solely as a two-player game. We usually include either Sea-expansion, Cities & Knights or some of the small expansions from Barbarians. I really love the new editions that were released in Europe a couple years back and those are the editions we own.
13.
Panic Station - I don't know why, but I enjoy this game. The only bad thing is that the rules are very unclear on a couple of things, which leads to unneccesary discussions during the game imo. Because of this it doesn't get played as much as I'd like.
12.
Five Tribes - Released this year and bought it around Spiel. Great game! Lots of choices and options that could benefit your opponents.... met Bruno Cathala (designer) at Essen this year and got his signature. Very nice of him. The two games that were at the top of my wishlist for Spiel this year were both designed by Bruno (the other being Abyss).
11.
Macao - Stefan Feld game that I got summer 2013. Haven't played it a lot, but do enjoy it.
10.
The Village - bought this when it was released in 2012 and also own the expansions and promos. It's a great game, but could be very AP-prone. It also doesn't help my boyfriend is colorblind and can't distinguish the green and brown cubes from one another. I'm not colorblind, but even I have a hard time separating the pink and orange cubes. The new expansion (Harbour) changes the game a lot, which makes it interesting to occasionally spice it up a little and still have it feel fresh.
9.
Carcassonne - The game that for me, re-kindled my love for boardgames again, a couple of years ago. Thankfully my best friend and boyfriend are also into boardgames, so we meet up almost every week once or two to play a game or two. When I list Carcassonne, I mean it to include every thing in the Carcassonne series. Promos, expansions, spin-offs, standalones, etc. For every mood a different choice of Carc to play. But I must admit that for the last two years or so, I solely want to play this as a 2-player game, 3 max.
8.
Among The Stars - We participated at a ATS tournament at Spiel this year and because of that we played this game a lot during the weeks leading up to Spiel. But there are so many cards and expansions now, that it's almost impossible to play with everything. There's even a new Kickstarter coming in January for this game.
7.
Fresco: Big Box - Not really a fan of Queen Games and their way of dealing with customers, but because my parents love the 'simpler' games like Carcassonne and Alhambra, this seemed like a good choice. Turns out it's a great game, and maybe a little meatier than Carc and Alhambra.
6.
Archon: Glory & Machination - Another game from Greek Publisher Artipia Games. I just really like them. They are very friendly and have excellent customer service imo. It also helps they make great games. Archon to me is a game that borrows elements from other games I love and bring those elements together. The art is also stunning.
5.
Stone Age - I won this game at the start of this year and God do I like it. My boyfriend not so much, unfortunately, cause he doesn't seem able to beat me with this game. Which is very odd, because with all our other games it's like we both have a 50/50 shot at winning. Love the expansion as well and we almost never play without it anymore.
4.
Alhambra: Big Box - Backed this on Kickstarter during 2013 and had to go through a lot of trouble of finally getting a good copy. Queen Games was terrible to communicate with, but I will spare you all the horrid stories. Great, easy to learn game and the Big Box has 20 expansion modules to give plenty of choices.
3.
Drum Roll - Once again, Artipia Games. Simple game, but with lots of choices (like every worker-placement). Nice theme and art as well.
2.
Puerto Rico - Limited Anniversary Edition - Friend of mine bought this at Spiel when it was released (2011?). When we played it later that year, we loved it and wanted a copy ever since. When I was on Holiday in Florida last year, I finally managed to find a new copy on the BoardGameGeek Marketplace. Cost me an arm and a leg, but totally worth it.
1.
The Castles Of Burgundy - Got this for my 30th Birthday as a present from my boyfriend and this has quickly turned into my favorite and most played game. I think I have played this over 300 times now (online and reallife). I do hope they'll one day release a special edition with better components.
So, from that list only 2 games were released in 2014 (Five Tribes and Fresco: Big Box). And Stone Age was purchased this year. I do feel some of these games might be a similiar to each other, so I'm very interested in seeing what the list for next year will look like to see which of these 'survived'.
Honorable Mentions:15.
Dungeon Petz - was in my top 10 last year, but just don't play it enough. Unfortunately.
16.
Dead Of Winter - great coop/traitor game, but I could see this getting boring pretty quick.
17.
Dominion - great game, but with over 5000 cards it's a bitch to set up.
18.
Abyss - love this game, and especially the art. But I could see this getting boring pretty quick.
19.
Ticket To Ride - I've kinda outgrown this, though some of the expansions/stand-alones are pretty nice. My boyfriend still loves it and loves to play this with me.
20.
Cinque Terre - we bought this on our trip to Florida last year and enjoy this, but my boyfriend rather plays TTR. With me, it's the other way around...
Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1367.0
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January 08, 2014, 05:59:10 PM
