Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VIII: Top Interests of 2016: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Okay, now we move on to the juicy stuff, my top 5 game interests of 2016.  These five games are ones that are most likely going to be bought quickly when they come out.  They are all amazing looking games and have really struck a cord either in look, style, mechanics, designer, publisher, or some other reason.  Before we move on to the list feel free to check out my previous seven posts in the “End of 2015” series.  You can click on the below links to check out the previous posts.

Obligatory End of 2015 Part I: Final Statistics from 2015

 
Obligatory End of 2015 Part II: The “Late-ies” Awards(Best of 2015)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part III: Top Interests of2015: Honorable Mentions

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part IV: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part V: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VI: Top Interests of2016: Honorable Mentions

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VII: Top Interests of2016: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Alright, everyone back?  Good!  Now time to move on to the main event.  What follows are the top 5 games on my top 10 of 2016 list.  I’ve noticed that in these top 5 games they were probably chosen because of their designers and publishers.  I often get excited for games that are created by designers that I really like.  Keep reading to find out what those games are…and enjoy!

#5 – Victorian Masterminds (Space Cowboys)

Victorian Masterminds is a worker placement game where the great Sherlock Holmes is dead and you are a villain running amok in Victorian England.  This game is designed by the amazing pair of Antoine Bauza (of 7 Wonders, 7 Wonders: Duel, Takenoko, Tokaido, Samurai Spirit and Hanabi fame) and Eric Lang (of Blood Rage, Dice Masters, Quarriors, Arcadia Quest and Chaos in the Old World fame) and is published by Space Cowboys. 

Victorian Masterminds will use worker placement as each of the players is vying to be the greatest villain in post-Holmes London!  Each of the players will have five agents that they are going to be able to take out into the world to destroy buildings, kidnap scientists, complete missions and collect resources that will allow them to build their ultimate death-dealing machine.  I like how each player takes their agent tokens and places them face down in the different action areas in order to complete the tasks.  This game is high on my list because of the amazing theme and incredible designer duo of Bauza and Lang.  Unless it majorly flops (which I highly doubt), this will be a must buy on pedigree alone!

#4 – Chronicles: Origins (Artana)

Chronicles: Origins is a Legacy game where each player will be creating whole civilizations throughout multiple different boxed games.  It is designed by the duo of Dirk Knemeyer and Rob Daviau and is published by Artana.  This game will use a ton of different mechanics throughout it multiple games in order to create these civilizations, worlds, and whatnot.  Mechanisms range from role playing, storytelling, variable player power and a chit-pull system, to territory building, worker placement and partnerships.  All of these mechanisms will appear in the two separate games that are included in this box and throughout the boxed games that will come out at a later date. 

This game uses the “new hotness” known as the Legacy system.  This means that the game will end and leave lasting impressions that you change the upcoming games in the system.  This game also uses Knemeyer’s idea known at the Echo System.  This is the Legacy idea where it will leave “echoes” that will make every game play different as what you do in one game will change what happens in the next.  This is an incredibly ambitious idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

#3 – First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet (PortalGames)

First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet is a game that re-implements the highly rated and loved co-operative game, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island.  This game is designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and is published by Portal Games.  It will use worker placement, co-operative play, modular board, variable player powers and an electronic app in order to give the players their chance to survive what Mars has to throw at them. 

This game rocketed up to the top 5 of my list as soon as I heard about it.  I am an admitted Portal fanboy and love most of what they put out there.  My wife and I completely enjoy the stuff that they put out as they are all highly thematic and fun to play.  This game will take a lot of the fiddly parts of Robinson Crusoe (which I personally didn’t mind) and put them into the app to streamline a lot of the more difficult to control mechanics.  Besides the mechanics I think the theme is great.  I can’t wait to take on all the Red Planet has to offer!

#2 - Ein Fest für Odin/A Feast for Odin (Z-Man Games)

Ein Fest für Odin is a worker placement game that is set in a Viking settlement.  This game is designed by the amazing Uwe Rosenberg (of Agricola, Caverna, Fields of Arle, Ora et Labora, La Havre and Patchwork fame) and will be published in the United States by Z-Man Games.  This game will use worker placement and pattern building as its primary mechanics as each player is trying to create the best board and thus get the most victory points.  

I love how this game takes on the Viking theme (which is super popular right now!) and takes a slightly different look at said theme that other boardgame currently are.  It also appears that Rosenberg is using some of the ideas of this incredible two-player only game, Patchwork, in Ein Fest für Odin.  Players will use a board in which they will build the patterns out of different shaped tiles which will get them different incomes in order to gain victory points.  I love this idea as my wife and I absolutely adore Patchwork!  Anytime Uwe puts out a new game I take notice and this one looks to be an amazing one!

#1 – Seafall (IronWall Games/Plaid Hat Games)

Seafall is the long-running, highly talked about, and vastly-rumored Legacy game coming out around Gen Con 2016 this year.  It is designed by Rob Daviau and will be published by Plaid Hat Games in conjunction with IronWall Games.  Seafall will use hand management, variable player powers, trading and a Legacy-style campaign as each player will take control of a mainland empire as they discover more seafaring technologies. 

You will take the empire and discover new islands, explore, develop trades with different empires, take place in combat and send out parties for raiding and other such activities.  This game has been number 1 on my list ever since I heard of it.  I love the Legacy idea (Pandemic Legacy is amazing!) and the fact that Daviau is the originator of it just makes it all that much more exciting.  The game will evolve throughout the entire campaign and I just can’t wait to see what type of adventures we will have playing through what I feel will be an amazing experience!

There you have it everyone.  These are the top 5 games that I’m looking forward to coming out in 2016.  There are just some many great looking games coming out this year and it’s looking to be an amazing 2016!  Feel free to check out my previous posts in my “End of 2015” series.  This is the final post in the series and my next multiple post series will be mine and my wife’s top 10 games, 2016 edition!  It should be a fun series of posts although it may be somewhat stressful trying to narrow them down!  Thanks so much for reading and feel free to comment.  I’d love to hear what games you’re looking forward to this year!  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VII: Top Interests of 2016: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

With the honorable mentions out of the way, it is now time to move on to the top 10 games coming out in 2016 (hopefully!) that I’m looking forward to.  This first post will be games 6-10 of my top 10 upcoming 2016 releases and the next one will tackle games 1-5.  These are all games that have really interested me in some way, shape, or form and I can’t wait to try them out or at least get more information regarding them!  Before moving on to this list please feel free to click the links below and check out posts 1-6 of my “End of 2015” series.

Obligatory End of 2015 Part I: Final Statistics from 2015

Obligatory End of 2015 Part II: The “Late-ies” Awards(Best of 2015)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part III: Top Interests of2015: Honorable Mentions

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part IV: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part V: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VI: Top Interests of2016: Honorable Mentions

Alright, with all of that information out of the way we can now move on to the main event.  Again, this will be my top 10 of 2016 games that I’m interested in and this particular post will feature games 6-10.  Enjoy the read!

#10 – Bear Valley (Stronghold Games)

Bear Valley is a game where you are trying to be the first to survive the wilderness as you are attempting to reach the safety of your camp.  This game is designed by the fabulous Carl Chudyk and will be published by Stronghold Games around April of this year.  The game uses card play and tile-placement as well as some other mechanics as you are attempting to move your pawn to the safety of the camp before the other players.  After all, you don’t need to beat the bear, you just need to beat your friend!  It appears as though there will be an easy mode and a more advanced mode in the game which I always like.  You will draw a card and then move your pawn in an attempt to get closer to the camp without getting lost.  There are ways to avoid the bears that you will come across on your journey.  This game is on my radar simply because of the pedigree of Carl Chudyk and the great publishing of Stronghold Games.  I have high hopes for this game and hope it is a solid push-your-luck card game!

#9 – The Networks (Formal Ferret Games)

The Networks is a 1-5 player game where you are taking control of the scheduling of a television network in order to create the best lineup of prime time shows.  This game is designed by Gil Hova and is published by his company, Formal Ferret Games.  This game uses hand management and card drafting as its primary mechanisms as you are attempting to create the best television programming and beat out your competitors.  This game was Kickstarted in September of 2015 and so far is on schedule to hit backer’s doors either later spring or early summer, before the major convention season.  I saw the Rahdo runthrough of this game and was hooked.  It looks like a great, lighter (but still with plenty of difficult decisions!) game that we will be able to play ourselves and also break out with friends when they come over for a game night.  The art and cards are witty and keep with the light and fun nature of the game.  To be honest if I hadn’t Kickstarted The Networks I think it would be even higher on this list.  I have no doubts that this game is going to be wonderful and it even has the chance to be one of my favorites of 2016!

#8 – New Bedford (Greater Than Games/Dice Hate Me Games)

New Bedford is a game where you take control of a whaling crew and build the town of New Bedford into a thriving whaling community.  This game is designed by Nathaniel Levan and is published by Great Than Games’ imprint, Dice Hate Me Games.  This game uses resource management, city building, and worker placement as its primary mechanics while you are building up the town of New Bedford into a community of great wealth and prosperity.  Players take their two workers and will place them on different buildings during their turn in order to take different resources and actions as they are vying to be the best whaling crew.  You are able to build the town larger as you add more buildings and get better, more powerful actions with said buildings.  The art direction really improved with the updated Kickstarter and they did a fabulous job with the running of the campaign.  I think this is going to be a big hit in our house and I can’t wait to give it a try when it reaches our doors (hopefully!) this summer.

#7 – Colony (Bézier Games, Inc.)

Colony is a game where you will be building up a fledgling colony and trying to make it the best out of your competitors.  It is designed by Ted Alspach, Toryo Hojo, and Yoshihisa Nakatsu and is published by Bézier Games, Inc.  This game uses dice rolling, dice/pool drafting and trading as its primary mechanics as you are creating your colony of the future.  Each player will be constructing and upgrading their buildings as they are attempting to manage their resources in the most efficient way.  The dice are used as the resources which sounds really cool.  Each side/number will represent different resources and some of them will be stable and able to be used in later rounds while others must be used right away.  Buildings that are built will add new capabilities for the colony and capture victory points which will be what the players are looking to gain.  This game looks really cool and may be the first Bézier Games’ game that we get.

#6 – Quadropolis (Days of Wonder)

Quadropolis is a new city building game that is coming out in the next couple of months.  This game is designed by François Gandon and is published by Days of Wonder.  This game uses tile placement, set collection, and city building and you create your city SimCity style from tiles on a common board.  This is the new Day of Wonder production which means that it is beautiful and the mechanisms in the game are rock solid.  I’ve seen a few playthroughs and reviews and this game appears to be right up our alley.  It has cool city building with some great decision making all wrapped up in the beautiful Days of Wonder package.  I would be very surprised if this game wasn’t on our shelves by the end of the year.

And there we have it ladies and gentlemen, my game 6-10 of my top 10 interests from 2016.  I am really looking forward to these 5 games and they aren’t even my top 5!  Keep your eyes peeled for my next post which should be up either tomorrow or soon thereafter.  It will contain my top 5 game interests from 2016…and these all look amazing!  Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post and feel free to comment below.  I’d love to hear what games you’re looking forward to this year!  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VI: Top Interests of 2016: Honorable Mentions

Hey all, we’re back!  Now I’m going to move on to the next part of my “End of 2015” series with the games that I’m looking ahead to in 2016.  Obviously we are already a little ways into the year but most of the really good stuff and the ones that I’m really interested in aren’t until later on this year.  I’m going to take the next three posts to go over these games and I’m really excited about these posts! 

My first one is going to be my honorable mentions and the next two posts will be games 6-10 and games 1-5 respectively.  These aren’t necessarily the games that I think will be the best, but the ones that I’m most interested in.  There are also some games in here that are lower than they would have been but I’ve already Kickstarted them and thus lower the interest level somewhat until they ship out and I actually get my hands on them.  Before getting into my honorable mentions, below are the links to my previous 5 posts in the “End of 2015” series.  Feel free to click on the links and check out what comes before.  They are my final statistics, the “Late-ies” Awards, and my top interests of games I haven’t played from 2015.

Obligatory End of 2015 Part I: Final Statistics from 2015

Obligatory End of 2015 Part II: The “Late-ies” Awards(Best of 2015)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part III: Top Interests of2015: Honorable Mentions

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part IV: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part V: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Alright everyone, there are my previous links.  Now that we have that out of the way it’s time to move on to the list proper.  These are the 5 honorable mentions (as well as a bunch more at the end that look really cool as well!) that just missed out on my top 10 interests of 2016.  Enjoy the read!

The first game to make it on my honorable mentions list for 2016 games I’m interested in is Scythe, designed by Jamey Stegmaier and published by Stonemaier Games.  This game is touted as a 4x style game with economic, farming, and area building/control that is set in an alternate universe as created by the beautiful artwork of Jakub Rozalski.  This is easily one of the most anticipated games of 2016 and I can understand why.  The art and the idea of the game are very cool.  You take your faction and attempt to spread out on the gorgeous board in order to get more goods, defeat your opponents, and score victory points on your way to winning.  

I like the clever action selection method where you are unable to make the same move two times in a row.  You are forced to take different actions in order to get back to the action that has been blocked on the previous turn.  The miniatures are looking really good so far and I can’t wait to try them!  This is a heavy engine building game which is really something that I love in my games.  I really hope that Stegmaier nails this one and from early buzz it looks like he did and will have a major hit on his hand.

The next game to make it on to my honorable mentions list is Piwne Imperium designed by Filip Głowacz and Ireneusz Huszcza and is published by Board&Dice.  This is a dice rolling, economic, worker placement game where you are running your own brewery.  One of my favorite games from a couple years ago is Brew Crafters and this game seems somewhat similar but different enough that it has turned my head and gotten me interested.   

Filip and Ireneusz created this game back in 2013 and they are going to be Kickstarting it in what appears to be a different edition and with better mechanics and streamlined gameplay.  I am really excited to see what they make of this game and the original looked really interesting and technically came out before there was an influx of craft beer boardgames.  I think if done right this game could be quite a hit for the Board&Dice crew!

The third game that makes its way on my honorable mentions list of games from 2016 that I want to try is Anachrony designed by Dávid Turczi and published by Mindclash Games.  This game comes from the publishing company that just released the worker placement game entitled Trickerion: Legends of Illusion which has already become a beloved game by Euro-style game fans.  I was (and still somewhat am) very interested in Trickerion for its mechanics and very cool early magician theme.   

Anachrony is another worker placement game with variable player powers and a time track mechanic that is found within the box.  This game contains a 2-tiered worker placement system where you will place different types of workers as needed for the mission along with exosuits and the like that you’ll need to complete said missions.  You are also able to manipulate time in order to “reach back” to an earlier self in order to give them certain resources.  This game also looks to have an awesome art style and direction.  I’m really interested to see where this game goes.

The fourth game to find its way onto my honorable mentions is Covert, designed by Kane Klenko and published by Renegade Game Studios.  This game is going to feature tactical dice placement, set collection, worker placement, and hand management as you control a network of spies who are out to gather intel and break codes.  Apparently each player will roll their dice and then take turns allocating them to different actions that they will use during the game.  I love a good dice rolling game where you have a pool of dice and then use them.  This game looks like it has the potential to be a really good game and I’m looking forward to what it brings to the table.

The final game (making it the closest game to just missing the top 10) to make it onto my honorable mentions list is Spirit Island, designed by R. Eric Reuss and published by Greater Than Game under their Fabled Nexus imprint.  This game is a co-operative experience where you take control of a spirit of this island.  These spirits are trying to keep humanity from taking over their island and spreading their blight across the land.  To do this each player will be drafting different powers from their decks to use with their asymmetrically powered characters.  They will then use the quick and long timed powers in order to move the humans, move the natives, and do other cool things in order to keep their island at the status quo.   

I love the theme of this game and how you are taking control of these spirits who just want to keep their island beautiful and free of the blight of humanity.  It is an interesting theme that matches with some really cool co-operative gameplay.  I would be surprised if this game wasn’t on our shelf sometime this year.

So there you have it, the five games that just missed my top 10 list.  While these were the games closest to cracking my top 10 list there were many more that were on my radar.  Below I have 24 other games that I sincerely thought about hitting my list.  Let me know what I missed!

- 7^th Continent (Ludovic Roudy)

- 51^st State: Master Set (Ignacy Trzewiczek)

- Brasil (Nuno Bizarro Sentierio/Paulo Soledade)

- Broom Service: The Card Game (Alexander Pfister/Andreas Pelikan)

- The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game (Stefan Feld)

- Caravan (Emerson Matsuuchi)

- Cry Havok (Grant Rodiek/Michał Oracz/Michał Walczak)

- Dice Forge (Régis Bonnessée)

- Dragon Keepers (Vital Lacerda/Catarina Lacerda)

- The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game (Eric B. Vogel)

- Fantasy Fantasy Baseball (Daryl Andrews/JR Honeycut)

- Fight for Olympus (Matthias Cramer)

- The Great Chariot Race (Matt Leacock)

- Great Western Trail (Alexander Pfister)

- Knit Wit (Matt Leacock)

- Lisboa (Vital Lacerda)

- Millennium Blades (D. Brad Talton, Jr.)

- Oracle of Delphi (Stefan Feld)

- Quests of Valeria (Isaias Vallejo)

- Terraforming Mars (Jacob Fryxelius)

- Valeria: Card Kingdoms (Isaias Vallejo)

- Via Nebula (Martin Wallace)

- Villages of Valeria (Isaias Vallejo/Rick Holzgrafe)

- World of Yo-Ho (Farid Ben Salem/David Calvo/Tristan Genevet/Ryad Godard/Julien Hognon/Etienne Mineur)

And there you have it, my honorable mentions (and 24 others!) for the 2016 games that I’m interested in.  Stay tuned as I will soon have up my next two posts which will be games 6-10 and 1-5 of my top 10 list.  Feel free to comment below and let me know what I missed!  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part V: Top Interests of 2015: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

And now we move on to the final part of my top 10 games from 2015 that I haven’t played yet and am very interested in.  These five are the ones that really jumped out at me and made me turn my head.  Before we move onto the main event, feel free to click on the below links to read about the previous four posts in my “End of 2015” series.  The first is my final play statistic from 2015, the second is my “Late-ies” Awards for my 2015 categories, the third is my honorable mentions of games from 2015 and the fourth is my games 6-10 on the Top 10 of 2015 I’m interested in.

Obligatory End of 2015 Part I: Final Statistics from 2015

Obligatory End of 2015 Part II: The “Late-ies” Awards(Best of 2015)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part III: Top Interests of2015: Honorable Mentions

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part IV: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Alright, now with the preamble out of the way we can move on to list proper.  Below are the top 5 games on my top 10 games I want to try from 2015.  Enjoy, the read!

#5 – Kraftwagen (ADC Blackfire Entertainment)

Kraftwagen is an economic game where you are working a rondell in order to take the tiles and actions in order to make the most money.  This game is designed by Matthias Cramer and is published/distributed by ADC Blackfire Entertainment.  This game uses time track/rondell, economic, and action tiles as its primary mechanics while you are building up your cars and engines.   

I love the way you use the rondell to take actions.  If you move too far ahead on the rondell then your opponents can come up and take multiple actions before it gets back to your turn.  This really gives a cool feel to trying to get what you want but not giving up too much to get that specific action.  You then are trying to manipulate a market of consumers in order to convince them to buy your cars over the opponent’s cars.  This is done in a clever way and makes the game very interesting.  Lastly, I love that they theme this in the very early 1900’s as German car manufacturers were vying to be the top company.  I am excited to try this one and every time I see that gorgeous cover I want it more!

#4 – Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game (Fantasy Flight Games)

Warhammer Quest: ACG is a co-operative card game where you are taking your specific character and running through missions in a certain amount of time trying to complete your objectives.  This game is designed by Justin Kemppainen, Brady Sadler and Adam Sadler and is published by Fantasy Flight Games.  It uses hand management, variable player powers, co-operative play and dice rolling as its primary mechanics as you are trying to complete your missions.  I love how each of the four characters that you get in the base box play completely differently from each other.  You will use them and “tap” your cards as you use the specific powers.  I also think that it is clever how you will roll dice for each enemy that is engaged with you and it gives them a chance to hit you during your turn.   

Also, one of the main reasons that this adventure card game is ahead of Mistfall which is essentially an adventure card game is because of its time.  It is very streamlined, whereas a game of Mistfall can apparently take up to 2 or more hours to play.  All in all, the design on this game is super clever and it looks to be an incredibly fun adventure card game!

#3 – Champions of Midgard (Grey Fox Games)

Champions of Midgard is a worker placement game that is set in a mythological Viking theme and finds the players setting up their camps and going out on adventures against trolls, draugr, and other monsters.  This game is designed by Ole Steiness and is published by Grey Fox Games.  It uses dice rolling, worker placement and set collections as its primary mechanics as you go on your adventures in order to score points.  This game has often been likened to Lords of Waterdeep in its use of worker placement.  Since I have never played either game yet it is hard for me to comment on that but I will say that I’ve always been interested in playing Lords of Waterdeep and since that is also a well received game it seems to be some pretty good praise.  

 I also love the idea that you take dice with some of your workers and they are your warriors which you take into the adventures.  I think this dice rolling really gives the game a different feel from a lot of other worker placement games.  It is a very thematic tie in to think that your warriors may have been slightly off in their battle and thus died epically instead of defeating the scourge.  The art and graphic design of this game is also top notch.  All in all this game ended up moving up my list and landing at the number three spot.

#2 – The Voyages of Marco Polo (Z-Man Games)

The Voyages of Marco Polo is a Euro-style game with dice rolling that puts you in the shoes of the explorer or someone in his sphere of influence as you travel along his journeys and score points.  This game is designed by Simone Luciani and Daniele Tascini and published/distributed by Z-Man Games.  It uses dice rolling, worker placement, variable player powers and point to point movement as its primary mechanics as you are going down the Silk Road and scoring points.  Each player takes their set of five dice, rolls them and then uses them in worker placement style action selections.   

This game, however, mitigates the rolls of the dice by allowing players to place their dice on other players dice to take the same actions.  However, when they do this they must pay a certain amount of money to piggyback on the action after it has been chosen the first time.  The board and art are absolutely beautiful and colorful and that just adds to my interest in this game.  I would be surprised if this game wasn’t in my hands sometime this year!

#1 – Baseball Highlights: 2045 (Eagle-Gryphon Games)

Baseball Highlights: 2045 is a card game that puts players in the future, when baseball has been dramatically changed into a different game altogether where all of the “boring” parts have been taken out and all that is left is the action.  This game is designed by the wonderful Mike Fitzgerald and is published/distributed by Eagle-Gryphon Games.  This game uses hand management and deck building as its primary mechanics as you take your team through the end of a season and the playoffs in an attempt to win it all.  This game has taken off in the past few months as people have really been raving about how good it is.   

I love the theme and the designer is an amazing card game designer.  These things all add together to make this a must buy for me.  The only thing that has really held me back is the slightly high price point for what is essentially just a card game.  In the end this doesn’t matter because I will eventually break down and get this game as it hits all of the points I am looking for in a great game.

Well folks, there you go.  These are my 1-5 games on the top 10 games from 2015 I have yet to play but am looking forward to.  These are the crème-de-la-crème and at least a few of these will be on my shelf sometime this year.  On deck is my three part post that will conclude my “End of 2015” series.  This series will be the games I’m looking most forward to in 2016.  Come on back soon and check ‘em out!  Thanks so much for taking the time and reading this post.  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part IV: Top Interests of 2015: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

So here we are, officially at the beginning of my Top 10 List of 2015 games that I have yet to play and that really interest me.  These are all games that have really interested me in some way, shape, or form and thus have made it onto the list.  Before I continue feel free to click the below links to the first three parts of my End of 2015 posts.  The first part is my final game play statistics from 2015.  The second part is my “Latie-ies” Awards for my Best of 2015 categories.  Lastly, the third part is the honorable mentions of 2015 games I haven’t yet played.

Obligatory End of 2015 Part I: Final Statistics from 2015

Obligatory End of 2015 Part II: The “Late-ies” Awards(Best of 2015)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part III: Top Interests of2015: Honorable Mentions

Are you all back?  Great!  Let’s move on to the main event for today’s post, games 6-10 of my top interests of 2015.  This post will be the last five games on the list while my next post will include the top five games on the list.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think I missed!

#10 – Exoplanets (Board&Dice/Greater Than Games)

Exoplanets is a tile-placement game where you are building up a solar system of planets and the life that is contained on each of these planets.  This game is designed by Przemysław Świerczyński and was originally distributed/published by Board&Dice.  It was just released this week that Greater Than Games obtained the license for Exoplanets and will be doing a Kickstarter this year to create a second edition of the game.  This game uses tile drafting, tile placement, and area influence as the primary mechanics while building and creating your solar system.   

You will draft tiles and place them with planets in such a way as to build the system in a way as to score you the most points.  Each tile will give you tokens and create specific climate conditions which will give you the ways to create and grow life on that planet.  You want to get as much life on each planet so that you will control the majority and thus score more points.  I love the look of this game and it looks to be a fairly simple game to learn and to play while having some great decisions to make during it.

#9 – The Bloody Inn (Pearl Games/Asmodee)

The Bloody Inn is a macabre themed game where you are luring customers to your inn where you will hire other people to help you kill them, bury them, and take their money.  This game is designed by Nicolas Robert and is distributed by Pearl Games and Asmodee.  This game uses hand management, multi-use cards, and tableau building as its primary mechanics as you are building your macabre engine.   

Each round different visitors will come to your inn and you will draft them into rooms along with the other players.  You will then make the decision whether to kill them, hire them, or use their places of work/homes as places to bury bodies of your victims.  From there you will need to launder your money in order to make the most by the end of the game.  I will admit that much of my interest in this game stems from the awesomely macabre theme, but a lot also stems from the card play.  I am a huge fan of great card games and I think that this one has the opportunity to fit that bill.

#8 – My Village (eggertspiele/Pegasus Spiele/StrongholdGames)

My Village is a dice rolling game that finds each of the players using dice in order to build up their village to score the most victory points by the end of the game.  This game is designed by Inka Brand and Marcus Brand and was originally published/distributed by eggertspiele and Pegasus Spiele and will be distributed in the United States by Stronghold Games this summer.  This game is a follow up to the worker placement game entitled The Village.   

My Village uses dice rolling, card drafting, and dice drafting as its primary mechanics where you are building your village from the ground up.  This game uses the current hot mechanic, pool (dice) drafting.  This is where you roll a pile of dice and then draft from the common pool in order to take your mechanics.  You will draft cards and place them out in your village in order to build it up and create very cool combos where you are able to take multiple actions during your turns.  This also uses the idea from The Village where some of your people will die but you will be able to score points with them depending on where you are able to place their burial plot.  This game looks like a great dice rolling/pool drafting game and I am looking forward to getting a chance to try it.

#7 – Mistfall (NSKN Games/Passport Games Studio)

Mistfall is a medium to heavy card game where players co-operatively use their cards and characters to go through different missions and areas in order to defeat monsters and win the day.  This game is designed by Błażej Kubacki and is published/distributed by NSKN Games and Passport Games Studio.  This game uses hand management, co-operative play, and deck building as its primary mechanics as you are taking your specific character and building up their stats with deck building.   

You start off with a character and each one has a different hand of cards which really lend to the thematic part of the game.  Each of the characters plays very differently from each other.  While a barbarian may hit very hard and want to go head to head against each monster, an archer or sorcerer may want to stay away and attack from a distance.  I love the way the cards are not only your weapons, armor, and actions but also double as your life points.  I love card games and this looks to do what a really good adventure card game should do, and that is use clever card play in order to create a thematic and entertaining experience.  I am looking forward to trying this one although it may be one I would play solo more so than with others.

#6 – Signorie (What’s Your Game?)

Signorie is a dice rolling game that is set in 15^th century Italy and finds each plays in the roll of a lord of a prestigious family of the Renaissance as they attempt to shape the country’s future.  This game is designed by Andrea Chiarvesio and Pierluca Zizzi and is published/distributed by What’s Your Game?.  This game uses dice rolling, set collection, worker placement, and the new hotness, pool (dice) drafting in order to take actions with your family.   

The players start by rolling the common pool of dice and will choose a color of die which will allow them to take that type of action.  The number that is on the die will give them a discount but if you have a sum of less than 13 with your total dice count then you can get a reward during that round.  I love that the money seems tight but it seems like an intuitive and fun game.  I love dice mechanics and am super interested in the pool drafting mechanic that is making its way around board games right now.  This game may be one I will have to break down a buy sooner than later and would definitely have a chance to move higher on this list with more research.

And there you have it, my game 6-10 on my top 10 boardgames from 2015 that I have been (as of yet) unable to play.  These games all appear to be really good and have some themes and mechanics that I am really interested in.  I can’t wait to get my hands on some of these in order to be able to try them out and see if they are for me.   

Come on back in the next couple of days (maybe even tomorrow!) and I’ll have the final post from my 2015 interests before I move on the next three part series of the games I’m looking forward to in 2016.  Thanks so much for reading and let me know what I’ve missed or what you are interested in from the year gone by.  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part III: Top Interests of 2015: Honorable Mentions

So 2015 has rolled on by and it was a fantastic year of gaming.  I must say that I was able to get the majority of the games that really interested me.  However, that being said, there are some out there that are at least somewhat interesting still!  The next three posts in my “End of 2015” series will be my top interests from 2015.  These are all games that I am still interested in that I have yet to play and/or buy.  These are all games that were available in some way, shape, or form in 2015.  For these to make this list they have to have been available in some way to buy easily from a game shop, Amazon, or a game online retailer within 2015.  Before we get on with this list I will leave links just below for the first two posts in my “End of 2015” series.  The first of them is the final statistic from my 2015 game plays and the second is my Late-ie awards.

Obligatory End of 2015 Part I: Final Statistics from 2015

Obligatory End of 2015 Part II: The “Late-ies” Awards(Best of 2015)

Okay, now with that information out of the way we can move onto the main event.  There are five games that I will talk about in this post (as well as a few at the end that just missed this post) that are essentially my 11-15.  These are the games that just barely missed the top 10 but that doesn’t mean that they don’t deserved to be mentioned…and thus the honorable mentions post!  Read on and enjoy!

The first game to make it onto my honorable mentions list for the games I’m most interested in trying from 2015 is Forbidden Stars, designed by Corey Konieczka, Samuel Bailey, and James Kniffen and distributed by Fantasy Flight Games.  This is a very cool looking area control, dice rolling, hand management game that is set in the Warhammer 40k universe.  

Each of the players takes control of a different race (the Ultramarines, Eldar, Orks, or Chaos Space Marines) and fight to gain control of the Herakon Cluster.  One of the coolest parts of this game is where you choose tokens and put them upside down in an area and then resolved them in a specific order when it comes around to that phase.  This is apparently a similar mechanic that was used in StarCraft: The Board Game.  Then, you have very cool card play when resolving battles along with the dice rolling.  This game looks very thematic and like a ton of Ameritrash fun!  Also, bonus, it is apparently just as good with 2 players as with the full cadre!

The next game to roll its way onto my honorable mentions list is Dice City, designed by Vangelis Bagiartakis and distributed by ArtipiaGames and Alderac Entertainment Group.  This is a dice rolling, worker (dice) placement, city building game with some very cute but still very cool artwork.  You take turns rolling your five dice and putting them in the matching color and number spot on your board.  You are then able to mitigate the dice rolls by throwing out unneeded dice, taking resources, and buying other, more powerful buildings during your turn.  

This just looks like a fun city builder along with dice roller that would be a great game to bring out with newer modern board game players.  This is also a very cheap game and has an expansion coming out soon called All That Glitters which looks to expand the coolness of the game.  We are looking forward to trying this game out!

The third game to the miss the top 10 list of 2015 interests is Elysium, designed by Matthew Dunstan and Brett J. Gilbert and distributed by Space Cowboys and Asmodee.  This is a card drafting, set collection and tableau builder game that has a Greek gods theme with outstanding art.  This game was nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres for 2015 along with Orleans but they both ended up losing out to Broom Service.   

In this game you are drafting cards that you will use for their abilities before you get them into your Elysium.  This is where the set collection comes into play.  You are trying to get certain runs of cards and types of cards into your Elysium in order to score them.  It is very cool because you are taking eight decks of cards (each one aligned to a specific god) and from them use five to create the deck for the game.  I find this very interesting as it would change the feel and the combos that are available throughout the game.  I’m very much looking forward to trying this game as I think it will appeal to my love of good cards games!

Next game up on the block is Nippon, designed by Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro and Paulo Soledade and distributed by What’s Your Game?.  This is an economic, Euro-style game that uses some area control and trading as its primary mechanics.   

The buzz around this game has been very good as it came out of Essen Spiel 2015 with a ton of fans.  Sentieiro and Soledade have been on a roll as they’ve created such hits as Madeira and Panamax.  This one has some interesting ideas of how you take meeples and place them and when you take them away can lose more points if you have a greater amount of colors.  I think the strategy in this game looks fascinating and hope I get a chance to try it this year.

The final game (thus making it the game that just missed the top 10) up in my 2015 interests yet to be played is Potion Explosion, designed by Stefano Castelli, Andrea Crespi, and Lorenzo Silva and distributed by Cool Mini Or Not and Horrible Games.  This is pattern and set collection game that has a very cool gimmick involved in the game.  It comes with a marble dispenser that gives this game an element to create a similarity to app-style games like Bejeweled or Candy Crush.   

You are able to take these marbles which causes them to slide down and make runs that you are then able to take.  It is a very cool element that has moved this game into a must-buy for me as it would be great to get others into our hobby with something different.  I can’t wait until Cool Mini Or Not releases their version of the game later this year.

These are the five games that just missed my top 10 interests that I haven’t played from 2015 as of yet.  They may not have made the list proper but I still feel they should be looked at and given some love as they look very cool.  There are other games that deserve a look and below are twelve more that I considered but just missed the honorable mentions.

Adventure Land

Blood Rage

Discoveries

Favor of the Pharaoh

Grand Austria Hotel

 The Grizzled

 

Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King

Mombasa

Simurgh

Star Wars: Armada

Steampunk Rally

T.I.M.E. Stories

And there you have it, my honorable mentions from the 2015 games I haven’t yet played but really want to!  Keep an eye out as in the next few days I’ll have up my top 10 list starting with games 6-10 and then going on to games 1-5.  After that I’ll have out a few posts on my top 10 games I’m interested in coming up in 2016.  As always, thank you so much for reading and feel free to comment below or at BoardGameGeek with any questions.  Until next time, game on!