YORKTON - Ah the holiday season is behind us, and a new year is upon us, so it must be time to look back at our top five new plays of 2023.
To start, this list is top-games we each played for the first time in 2023, and that means not all have, or may ever be reviewed, so there may be some surprises here.
When we first started talking about doing this again there was some trepidation for one ‘Guilder’ that it had been a ho hum year in terms of new games in his estimation but when I roughed out my initial list it was closer to 20 games than the required five.
But never say I shirked my gaming duty, so I shall forge ahead – sweat a bit – and offer my top-five.
At number-five I will slot in Rollplayer. The game does such a good job of scratching my itch to play Dungeons & Dragons when we are often a player or two short to RPG, that it has to be here. It’s dice rolling with a fun and familiar purpose.
At number four is Dragon Castle. This one is close to being a full multi-player abstract strategy game – you don’t know what lower levels look like – but you learn along with everyone else. The chunky ‘bakelite-ish’ pieces are wonderful and it looks great too.
Number three goes to Pikemen. This is a pure two-player abstract strategy game played with Icehouse Pyramids. It reminds a bit of chess and was the surprise ‘hit’ of my year.
Imhotep slots in second. There may be some recent play bias here, but I love the chunky wood cubes you play with, the neat load and unload mechanics of the ships, and the varied options of where you sail to to ‘build’.
Number one is one I agonized over, because this game comes with a pile of caveats that means it will not be for all – it is a table hog, longer play, darker-themed game – but the grand scale, of the game and it’s story really has Frost Punk as a deserving of number one.
Pathogen just missed the cut but gets an honourable mention for its surprising and innovative mechanics and game play as an abstract strategy game.
Turning to Adam Daniels’ choices and his reasoning we have:
#5 Dorfromantik – I will admit that there were probably better games I played this year. Dorfromantik however is based on a video game I really enjoy and the board game captures the feel of playing the game on my Nintendo Switch. At its core Dorfromantik is simple tile laying game where the only goal of the game is complete tasks and try to score the most points you can. That’s it everything about the game is a chill and relaxed time and you are trying to beat your high score.
#4 Fleet The Dice Game – I played a lot of roll and writes this year, and this narrowly beat out Three Sisters just based on the theme. I love fishing and while I never worked a fishing boat this made it feel like I was. The game itself is a standard roll and write, with a little bit more complexity, but not enough to take away from the gaming experience. If you like rolling dice this game is a good time.
#3 Downforce – This game always stood out in my mind because I had never played anything like it. Which in itself is something exciting, because this year was filled with a lot of games that felt the same. However, Downforce was new and fun, in the game you buy race cars and then race them, while betting on who you think will win. It was a new and fun experience, and that was a major win for this game.
#2 Arkham Horror: The Card Game – If I had to pinpoint what ignited the love of all things gaming it would be sitting on my dad’s knee when I was little watching him play D&D or Magic The Gathering. What does this have to do with Arkham Horror the card game? Well because of this I love a good card game, and Arkham Horror is a really good card game. It’s also a co-op where you are trying to beat the game and not each other, which is another thing I like about it. There are also countless expansions which gives you something new if the game ever feels stale.
# 1 Frostpunk – This was the highlight of the year of my board gaming. Everything about this game I really enjoyed. While it seemed daunting when you first open the box the game does a great job breaking it out into manageable chunks for each player. The theme can be dark and somewhat depressing, but it was a blast trying to survive while eating sawdust soup, while slowly drudging to our eventually demise. Anyone who loves board games must try this game.
And finally Trevor Lyons’ choices and thoughts:
Honorable Mention - I do love the “Tiny” Games. I have Kickstarted most of them, so Tiny Epic Vikings – Another fine game from Gamelyn Games. Every year or so they Kickstart another fine game. For a “tiny” game, it is another good area control and card drafting game. The game consists of three rounds. You deploy up to three boats and have them drop off “conquerors” to control islands, conquer troops already there, and to collect runes. Each round, draft cards, you get cards dealt to you, then select 1 and pass the rest to your left, continue until no cards left to pass. Then you play cards, collect runes, conquer lands or players, and then score points at the end of each round.
#5 Gorinto –Two- to-four player game, Japanese inspired game. Object is to score the most points. You take one of five different pieces on the outside of the board, place it on the board, and then take one or more pieces off the board according to the piece you placed on the board. Points are scored at the end of every round according to goal cards that are randomly selected before the game, as well as two element cards, also randomly selected at the start of the game. It’s a fun game that can be played by the young or young at heart.
#4 Imotep – Four-player game designed to see who the best builder in all of Egypt is. Over six rounds, players collect rocks, load them into boats and pilot the boats to a monument. Sound like fun? It is until you add the other players into the mix who are adding their own stones into the boats and can move them before you are ready to. The person with the most points after six rounds win. Each monument scores its own points for each player.
#3 Pikemen – Two to four player abstract strategy game created by Looney Labs. This is one of hundreds of games created to use the Looney Labs pyramids. Each player has 15 pieces (two player), 12 pieces (three player), or 9 pieces (four player). There are three different pieces, smallest – one point, medium – two points, large – three points. First person to capture 12 points of the opponents pieces wins. To make things a little more interesting, you can only capture a piece that is in attack formation (on its side). In addition, a larger piece can only capture a smaller piece. It is a very challenging game considering the small amount of rules.
#2 Frostpunk – Four-player game cooperative game that had us hooked right from the sight of the box. This is a dark game, so beware that your pc’s are not expected to survive. Your job during the game is to manage a group of apocalypse survivors. You have to direct them to manage resources and its people. The better your management skills, the longer you last.
#1 Pola Magnetic Game – Two-player game. Sounded intriguing when I heard about it. It lived up to its billing. It’s like tic-tac-toe, but in 3-D. To add to the challenge, there are special cubes that can replace two of the original cubes that add their own challenges for both players. It’s a fun game with the possibility to win or lose a game because you forgot that the game is 3-D.
Well regular readers those are our ‘best-of’ games first played in 2023. We hope you have had as fun a year as we did in 2023, and that you have many ‘new game’ experiences ahead in 2024 – we certainly do so keep following us for weekly reviews.
