The Ten: 5.21
Two years on from our first post, recounting our TOP 10 favorite games, let’s revisit…
When I wrote my first blog post for House of Cardboard two years ago, it was covering my top 10 favorite games of all time. I think it’s worth mentioning that Kathleen and I try (try, albeit not always successfully) to say “favorite” rather than “best.” This is all so terribly subjective, it’s easy to lose sight of that sometimes.
On our LAST PODCAST EPISODE, we talked about our top 10 games ranked using the Pubmeeple Ranking Engine. Now, because I’m a weirdo, I actually have a reasonably live list on which I update my favorite games regularly—don’t ask my why, there is really no good reason. Before using Pubmeeple, I wrote up a post not dissimilar from my first post in May 2019, outlining my favorite games again. Below is that write up. Beneath that, you can see the lists generated for us by myriad would-you-rathers posed by Pubmeeple. It’s interesting to see how they are similar, and equally interesting to see how they differ. Make sure you listen to the pod to hear Kathleen and I discuss what may be informing our thought processes here during the pandemic. Comfort gaming abounds, for one of us, at least…
10. Newton (Simone Luciani & Nestore Mangone, Cranio Creations, 2018) > Blog Review
Newton is one of a few champions of the midweight points salad euros around our house. Kathleen and I both love how smooth and fast this game is. There are choices aplenty, and like another game on this list, Newton incorporates the variety of deck building without falling prey to the randomness of top-deck card draw, a pitfall many deck builders faces. Play a card to activate an action, and the relative “strength” of that action is equal to how many cards you currently have in your tableau with that icon on it. There’s lots to do, lots of choices, the choices feel meaningful, and the games never overstay their welcome. Newton is aces. The most surprising thing about Newton is how resilient it is. We play more and more midweight euros, and it still steady on the list.
9. Combat Commander: Europe, et al (Chad Jensen, GMT Games, 2006) > Podcast Discussion
Combat Commander was not my first wargame, but it was my first hex and counter wargame, and the first wargame that floored me. Prior to Combat Commander, I was more intrigued by the vast differences between the ameritrash and euro games I’d played previously. For me, many wargames bring the conflict of ameritrash along with the heavy strategy and complexity of big euros. Combat Commander is not overly heavy, and it incorporates a number of euro friendly mechanics, like multi-use cards and hand management. As a squad-level tactical game, Combat Commander also opened up a whole new world to me (Conflict of Heroes, Lock n Load Tactical, Band of Brothers, etc). This game is a classic for a reason, and I recommend everyone give it a try. For a peek at gameplay, I recommend Joel Eddy’s review on Drive Thru Review.
I have to admit that it pained me when #6 on this list climbed past Combat Commander, but we’ll talk more about that after #8 and 7.
8. Covert (Kane Klenko, Renegade Game Studios, 2016)
If you read my first top 10 from 2019, I am sound skeptical of dice placement games, but here in 2021 I find that I actually quite like dice placement games; Lorenzo il Magnifico is another great example. Worker placement is a genre I’ve been quite frustrated by on more than once occasion, but when it works for me, it really works. In regard to Covert, the dice placement is so puzzly and clever, and the theming is strong. It’s that midweight euro gold for me. We recently replayed this, and I fully expected to feel much more lukewarm on it. I was positively delighted that this was not the case. Covert stands up, and it’s a criminally underappreciated game.
7. Pax Porfiriana (Matt Eklund, Phil Eklund, Jim Gutt; Sierra Madre Games; 2012) > Podcast Discussion
I have complicated feelings about the Pax series of games, whether that be the Eklund family’s designs or that of the venerable Cole Wehrle. We’ll keep the background here to a minimum, but suffice to say, for me Porfiriana is my favorite. This is a heavy and deceptively aggressive card game run on a host of euro mechanics. It’s so hard to divorce Pax games from their baggage that I won’t go into here, but as a game, this is such an interesting and rich experience. I don’t think I enjoy any other game that can be as frustrating as Pax Porfiriana can be, and Porfiriana can be REALLY frustrating. That frustration comes from the fact that it is incredibly dynamic, and by that I mean your personal tableau of cards as well as the end-game winning conditions. Massive multi-turn plans can crumble in the playing of one card, so prepare yourself, and don’t go all-in on anything.
The lesson of Pax Porfiriana is thus: Stay nimble and stay bloodthirsty. Give your opponent an inch and they will turn the tide of the whole game against you.
6. The Last Hundred Yards (Mike Denson, GMT Games, 2019)
Despite how atypical Combat Commander is in regard to the genre of squad-level tactical games, it still manages to hit a lot of the sweet spots of the genre and do them very well. It’s for this reason that so many people have connected with Combat Commander. While Chad Jensen’s game touches on so many hallmarks of this well-loved genre, The Last Hundred Yards subverts them. It’s difficult to wrap your head around this game when you bring a host of preconceptions from others of its ilk, but once you become accustomed to the new ideas here, you will want to do nothing but play it. It’s difficult to include things like simultaneous action resolution in a wargame (that’s what would happen in real life, no?), but The Last Hundred Yards does it with aplomb. Once you have the rules down, you’ll find a reasonably simple wargame that is incredibly wild and exciting.
It edges out Combat Commander based on its unique action/reaction system, simultaneous firing, and much faster setup and playtime, meaning it gets to the table so much more often. Just writing this short blurb makes me want to play it again now. Excellent game!
5. Heaven & Ale (Michael Kiseling & Andreas Schmidt, Eggertspiele, 2017) > Podcast Discussion
Heaven & Ale is almost unassuming in designer Michael Kiesling’s excellent list of designs, one of three bangers that he released in 2017 alone (along with Azul and unfairly overlooked Riverboat). Heaven & Ale has the most teeth of the bunch, where money is tight and the scoring conditions can be brutal. Don’t be surprised if a mismanaged game means you could score zero points—yes, it can happen. But while the conditions are difficult and mistakes may not be lived-down in the life of one play, this is a game that is so remarkably rich in strategy. During the lockdown year of 2020, this game always felt too demanding to get to the table, because by the time we had time to play, I was too tired. Don’t take that as a negative, though. It’s simple mechanically, but brutal strategically.
Yes, that’s a compliment.
4. Great Western Trail (Alexander Pfister, Eggertspiel, 2016)
Superstar designer Pfister missed for me with Blackout: Hong Kong, and I’ve not had much interest in the games that followed, but Great Western Trail is still a hit in my book. Kathleen loathes how wide-open this game is, though, so it very rarely gets played. The board-as-rondel design here is a delight for me, however, even if Pfister presents you with about a million variables and options as to how you progress.
I referenced Great Wester Trail earlier in regard to its clever backseat implementation of deck building, and I have a good time trying to maximize my points scoring with those cattle cards. It doesn’t hit the table often, but whenever it does, I have a blast.
3. Nippon (Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro & Paulo Soledade, What’s Your Game?, 2015) > Blog Review
Nippon gets a lot of love from me for its unique version of worker placement, where you remove available workers from the main board and essentially add them to your payroll. In its way, this doesn’t feel overly different from dice worker placement, wherein the color of the meeple, not unlike random dice rolls on dice worker placements, provide an interesting variable to manage during your play.
Arguably, this game is not perfect for two, but the mechanics are delightful, and I would gladly play this pretty much any day. It is packed with tough choices, although unlike its brother from another ZhanGuo, it’s not quite as brain-burning.
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game (Nate French, Fantasy Flight Games, 2011)
‘Round here, Lord of the Rings LCG is the king of the Fantasy Flight cooperative LCG mountain—by far. Arkham Horror gets overly campaigny for me, which adds needless bookkeeping and exacerbates the repercussions of the game’s propensity for randomness, while Marvel Champions removes half of the LOTR structure, making it feel equally punishing but lighter and more repetitive. LOTR manages to be very interesting and unique in its quests, as well as avoiding the frustration that can come from the swingy difficulty found in Arkham. Yes, LOTR is swingy, too, but somehow it feels less arbitrary than the random chaos bag pulls you find in Arkham.
Lord of the Rings has a two-step action phase (questing and fighting) that really pushes you on what you do and with whom. This doesn’t exist in Fantasy Flight’s other cooperative LCGs, meaning that for me, this game presses all players to make harder decisions, and way more frequently.
1. Brass: Birmingham (Martin Wallace, Gavan Brown, Matt Tolman; Roxley Games; 2018)
Brass hit us like a ton of bricks when we first played it back in 2018. I don’t think it’s lost much steam in the three years since. The shared networks, optimized and cut-throat route-building, card play, and economic system don’t ever seem to let me down. This game is crunchy and brain-burning without feeling punishing, tight without feeling stingy, and heavy without feeling exhausting. Kathleen and I have talked at length about Brass: Birmingham on both of our Top 10 podcasts (2019 and 2021), although somehow it’s eluded getting its own standalone review. It should go without saying from me, but if you can get your hands on a copy, it deserves your time and attention.
Here’s the Pubmeeple breakdown of each of our top 20:
Kathleen: Top 20 Favorites
1. Awkward Guests
2. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game
3. Exit: The Game – The Pharaoh's Tomb
4. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures
5. Everdell
6. Heaven & Ale
7. The Castles of Burgundy
8. Agatha Christie: Death on the Cards
9. Chronicles of Crime
10. Welcome To...
11. PARKS
12. Riverboat
13. Covert
14. Brass: Birmingham
15. The Fox in the Forest
16. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
17. Disney Villainous
18. Trambahn
19. One Night Ultimate Werewolf
20. Bob Ross: Art of Chill Game
Eric: Top 20 Favorites
1. Brass: Birmingham
2. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
3. Nippon
4. Covert
5. The Last Hundred Yards
6. Combat Commander
7. Great Western Trail
8. Heaven & Ale
9. ZhanGuo
10. Pax Porfiriana
11. Newton
12. Luna
13. Forum Trajanum
14. Lorenzo il Magnifico
15. Race for the Galaxy
16. Glory to Rome
17. Riverboat
18. Concordia
19. Agricola
20. Targi
Thanks for reading. Be safe!
