Board 8 > Paul ranks his top 50 tabletop games again

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Great_Paul
10/19/18 7:50:42 PM
#1:


Last year I did a ranking topic of my top 50 board and card games. I have played a lot more games since then and some of my opinions have changed. I figured I'd do a 2018 update and re-rank them. To help rank them this time, I used a website called pubmeeple and it helped a lot.

I will make reference to last year's list often but I don't plan to re-post it. Maybe I will after this ranking is done.

A fun fact before we start - This was 100% a coincidence, but 25 of the games on this list were on last year's list, and 25 of the games are new to the list (though not all necessarily new games). In fact, only 6 games on this list are from 2018.

After each writeup I plan to post some sort of hint/foreshadowing on the next game to come. So here we go!

#50 - This game placed in the top 10 on last year's list
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Tom Bombadil
10/19/18 7:52:32 PM
#2:


You are now tracking this topic.
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Look at all those chickens
O, the land of cloudless day! O, the land of an unclouded sky!
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Great_Paul
10/19/18 8:56:25 PM
#3:


#50: BANG! The Dice Game
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143741/bang-dice-game
Year released: 2013
Placement on last year's list: #8

Everybody is dealt a secret role card that tells them if they're the Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw, or Renegade. The Sheriff and Deputy want to kill the Outlaws, the Outlaws want to kill the Sheriff, and the Renegade wants to kill the Outlaws, and then the Sheriff. Players roll dice and the results will do things such as shoot other players, heal players, or damage the person rolling. Since only the Sheriff is revealed, it's all about the mind games and trying to figure out who is on your side.

There is a modular expansion called Old Saloon and I definitely recommend it. I don't usually play with all of it at once, but some of them I really enjoy adding. Especially the one that lets the first person to die come back as a ghost, that adds an interesting twist and makes the player elimination element less terrible for that person.

I'm not sure why I had this placed so high last time. It's a fun game to play with a big group, but there are a lot better options out there.

#49: This game's box is way too big for the amount of content inside
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Great_Paul
10/19/18 10:03:16 PM
#4:


Up
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Great_Paul
10/19/18 11:16:20 PM
#5:


#49: Splendor
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148228/splendor
Year released: 2014
Placement on last year's list: #21

Another game that placed pretty high last time and fell. When I first got this game I was really into it. It's a really simple to teach engine building game. On your turn you can take gems, or use gems to buy a card. The cards you take will make other cards cheaper, and eventually the more expensive cards will award you points.

They eventually made an expansion that includes 4 modules, but you can only play one of them each game. Out of the 4, I've only played one of them and I liked it enough. Not enough to want to get the expansion for myself though.

#48: Published by Indie Boards & Cards
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Peace___Frog
10/19/18 11:18:30 PM
#6:


Splendor is a game that i adore while playing and think about from time to time, but recognize that if i played it more often than once every few months I'd be sick of it quickly.

(Tag)
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~Peaf~
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Great_Paul
10/19/18 11:22:00 PM
#7:


I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me. It used to be a good game to quickly play at the start or end of a game session. Maybe if the expansion came out a little sooner that would've made me like it more, but by the time it did come out most of us had moved on and lost interest. One of my friends did end up getting it which is when I tried the one module that I did.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Grand Kirby
10/19/18 11:29:03 PM
#8:


I like the card game of Bang much more than the dice game, although I did find it really funny how the last game I played had the final two players, the Sheriff and the Vigilante, die at the same time due to the last dice roll triggering a shot and an Indian attack.
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Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan
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Glenn_and_Toad
10/19/18 11:31:18 PM
#9:


I haven't played Bang! the Dice game, but I'm so glad it mad the list instead of Bang! the card game. That game is awful. I played it for about 45 minutes before being eliminated, and fortunately I was at a board game shop so I was able to jump into another game with other friends. An hour and a half later, I looked over and the Bang! card game was still going. If I hadn't been able to play something else, I would have been just sitting there. I support the dice game over the card game for the length and pace of play alone.

Splendor is great for its complexity. It can be taught in under five minutes and plays like a game that can be taught in fifteen. You can definitely burn it out though.
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SC2K13 Bracket: Kefka hate hate hate hate hates my bracket!
Oracle: Team Frog and Magus
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Great_Paul
10/19/18 11:33:49 PM
#10:


Yeah I'm not a fan of the card game. I find it can be long at times which really sucks for the eliminated people. Dice is much faster so when you're eliminated you're not waiting too long to play again. My girlfriend really likes the card version though which is why I'll still play it every so often.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Great_Paul
10/19/18 11:42:47 PM
#11:


#48: Coup
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/131357/coup
Year released: 2012
Placement on last year's list: n/a

The first game that's new to this list. I had played it before I did my list the first time, but I hadn't played it enough. This is a bluffing card game where you'll have two roles face down in front of you. They all have different powers and on your turn you'll claim one of your roles to use it's power, and if nobody accuses you of lying, then you do the thing. But if someone does accuse you and catches you lying, you lose a card. If they incorrectly call you out, they lose a card instead. It's another one with player elimination but it also plays very fast because it doesn't let people stockpile their money. Once you reach 10, you're forced to spend 7 of it to kill somebody's card. It's definitely one that you can burn out on from too many plays, and I think my game group plays it just enough that I still enjoy every play if it when we bring it out.

#47: The only Tiny Epic game to make this list
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Great_Paul
10/20/18 12:05:02 PM
#12:


Up
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Great_Paul
10/20/18 1:27:30 PM
#13:


#47: Tiny Epic Quest
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/201921/tiny-epic-quest
Year released: 2017
Placement on last year's list: n/a

I've played a few of the Tiny Epic games, and Quest was definitely the best of them. This is basically the closest I've seen to a Legend of Zelda board game. It's all about exploring the land entering dungeons, fighting monsters, and learning new magic spells. It was the first Tiny Epic game to introduce ITEMeeples. These are plastic meeples with holes in their hand that allow you to attach weapons which allows the meeple holding that weapon to use a special ability. These weapons are basically all inspired of Legend of Zelda too.

While we're at it, I'll give my thoughts on the other Tiny Epic games:
Kingdoms - Played it once, it was alright. It has an expansion now, not sure if that makes it more interesting or not.
Defenders - Didn't play but I also didn't hear great things. There's a second edition and expansion that now that uses ITEMeeples so maybe that made it better?
Galaxies - This one was pretty good but I've only played it twice. There's an expansion for this too and I'm curious to see how it is.
Western - I have it, but haven't gotten it played yet.
Zombies - I'm interested to try it, the 5 different ways to play it is neat.
Mechs - The kickstarter finished recently I think, I didn't really look into it though.

#46: A 2-player hidden identity deduction game
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Glenn_and_Toad
10/20/18 1:37:57 PM
#14:


My guess is Mr. Jack or Mr. Jack Pocket. Outside shot at Inhuman Condition, but that's probably too new to be on the list (I haven't played it, but my friend told me about it the other day after playing it).
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SC2K13 Bracket: Kefka hate hate hate hate hates my bracket!
Oracle: Team Frog and Magus
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Tom Bombadil
10/20/18 1:38:17 PM
#15:


I'm in a solo boardgame group that seems to quite enjoy Tiny Epic stuff. I wanna try it!
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Look at all those chickens
O, the land of cloudless day! O, the land of an unclouded sky!
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Glenn_and_Toad
10/20/18 1:40:05 PM
#16:


Tom Bombadil posted...
I'm in a solo boardgame group


?
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SC2K13 Bracket: Kefka hate hate hate hate hates my bracket!
Oracle: Team Frog and Magus
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Shaduln
10/20/18 2:13:17 PM
#17:


Great_Paul posted...
They eventually made an expansion that includes 4 modules, but you can only play one of them each game.

I...do not believe this is true? I have the expansion and could go look, but if I remember correctly when they had us demoing it you could mix and match.
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Emperor of Board 8
A taste of your own meds. Fire in every breath. Fire inside your head, your heart.
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Great_Paul
10/20/18 2:24:56 PM
#18:


Bgg says "Each expansion is added to the basic game and they should be played separately." Maybe there are ways to mix them though.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Shaduln
10/20/18 2:26:49 PM
#19:


Yep, you're right. I misremembered.

They mentioned you could potentially mix and match, but it wasn't designed that way.

Carry on.
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Emperor of Board 8
A taste of your own meds. Fire in every breath. Fire inside your head, your heart.
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cyko
10/20/18 2:37:50 PM
#20:


Glenn_and_Toad posted...
Tom Bombadil posted...
I'm in a solo boardgame group


?


A group of gamers who mostly play solitaire games or games with single player modes. They make recommendations and share their experiences with one another. I have tried playing a few board games solo, but every time, I find I prefer playing video games solo and board games with other people.

Side note - I rather enjoyed this last year and look forward to your viewpoints again - even if most of them don't line up with mine
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Yay - BkSheikah is the guru champion of awesomeness.
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Shaduln
10/20/18 2:41:17 PM
#21:


I've found that solo board games are fun for travel as a thing to do if you'd be going crazy in your hotel room.

I know you can bring video games too, but there's something about it.
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Emperor of Board 8
A taste of your own meds. Fire in every breath. Fire inside your head, your heart.
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Great_Paul
10/20/18 3:02:46 PM
#22:


I've played one game solo one time. I'll mention which one it was when it comes up later in the list. I generally prefer to play them with other people though.

cyko posted...
Side note - I rather enjoyed this last year and look forward to your viewpoints again - even if most of them don't line up with mine


Thanks!
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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tripleh213
10/20/18 3:21:56 PM
#23:


Tag
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Green Bay Packers: 3-2-1
PS4 looks great
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SuperNiceDog
10/20/18 3:23:55 PM
#24:


Bang only at #50? wow
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Raytan wins!
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Great_Paul
10/20/18 9:42:30 PM
#25:


#46: Automata NOIR
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/225449/automata-noir
Year released: 2018
Placement on last year's list: n/a

Automata NOIR is a reimplementation of NOIR: Deductive Mystery Game. I haven't played that version so I'm not sure how different it is, but I do really like this one. There are multiple game modes but the main one is the two-player Killer vs. Inspector mode. There are 25 characters in a 5x5 grid. One player is the inspector and the other player is the killer. They both randomly pick a character to be their secret identity. Then the killer will start killing characters around them, and the detective wins if he figures out who the killer's identity is. The killer will win if they kill 10 people or if they kill the inspector. Normally in games like these I like to be the bad guy/hunted character, but in this one I think I like both roles pretty equally.

#45: Winter is coming
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Great_Paul
10/21/18 8:59:12 PM
#26:


#45: Stone Age
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34635/stone-age
Year released: 2008
Placement on last year's list: 15

Stone Age is another game that had a pretty big drop from last time. It's a worker placement game about sending your workers out to get resources. You roll a die for every worker you send out and you get resources based on how high you roll. One problem is that it relies really heavily on how you roll. There are ways to help your roll a little, but for the most part that doesn't really help you if you roll all 1s and 2s. There's also a strategy I've seen that involves not feeding your workers and taking a 10 point loss every round, which really isn't much of a penalty when you don't have to worry about food at all. I think it would be better if you just lost one worker if you couldn't feed them all. Other than that though, it's a good introductory worker placement game and I still enjoy it. I guess it dropped a little mostly because I've been preferring to play other worker placement games instead.

There's a 10th anniversary edition coming out later this year with better components and a double sided winter board that adds a more difficult variant. I don't own Stone Age so I thought about getting it, but it's pricey!

#44: There are 4 different characters in this game and the one on the cover of the box is the blue character.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Great_Paul
10/22/18 11:20:36 PM
#27:


Up for today. I'll post more tomorrow.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Naye745
10/23/18 12:16:57 AM
#28:


oh hello there
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it's an underwater adventure ride
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banananor
10/23/18 12:38:59 AM
#29:


Naye745 posted...
oh hello there

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You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured.
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redrocket
10/23/18 3:54:27 AM
#30:


banananor posted...
Naye745 posted...
oh hello there

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It's like paying for bubble wrap. -transience on Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
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Great_Paul
10/23/18 9:31:33 PM
#31:


#44: Capital Lux
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/205046/capital-lux
Year released: 2016
Placement on last year's list: n/a

Capital Lux is a card game with 4 different suits of characters. On your turn you can place one card in your Hometown (in front of you) or you can place one in the Capital (centre of the table). Placing in front of you strengthens your Hometown based on the number on your card. Placing in the centre of the table strengthens the Capital and lets you activate the ability of that colour. The thing to worry about is that at the end of each round, every Hometown that is stronger than the Capital is wiped out. It gives you an interesting way to decide if you want to work on making yourself stronger without being too strong, or letting the Capital get stronger and getting an ability. There are also ways to weaken the Capital in an attempt to have your opponents Hometown stay stronger than the Capital before the end of the round too.

#43: A worker placement game where you can get a large amount of workers.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Tom Bombadil
10/24/18 11:18:28 PM
#32:


sounds fun
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Look at all those chickens
O, the land of cloudless day! O, the land of an unclouded sky!
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Naye745
10/25/18 12:43:12 AM
#33:


i have never even heard of this game! (i feel like that's a big deal nowadays, so neat choice)
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it's an underwater adventure ride
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Glenn_and_Toad
10/25/18 1:23:54 AM
#34:


This is a good topic
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SC2K13 Bracket: Kefka hate hate hate hate hates my bracket!
Oracle: Team Frog and Magus
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Great_Paul
10/25/18 1:40:44 PM
#35:


Sorry for the lack of updates! Ill post some more later today.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Bospsychopaat
10/25/18 2:12:12 PM
#36:


Tag!

Never heard of capital lux, it sounds really interesting. Will check it out!
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Currently contemplating cinnamon
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Girugamesh
10/25/18 2:13:48 PM
#37:


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Great_Paul
10/25/18 7:10:31 PM
#38:


#43: Ars Alchimia
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160432/ars-alchimia
Year released: 2014
Placement on last year's list: #23

Ars Alchimia is another game that had a big drop from last year. I think this is due to lack of playing it much lately. Each player works in an alchemy factory. You can get up to 20 workers to send out to collect orders, gather resources, get assistants, and transmute orders. When placing at a location you can send as many workers as you want, and if someone else goes there they have to send that same amount plus at least one more. So you can spread out smaller numbers, or you can place bigger amounts at good spots to make your opponents less likely to want to go there too. It's a pretty light and quick worker placement that I need to get to the table more.

#42:The only game on my list that came out before the year 2000.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Tom Bombadil
10/26/18 8:35:57 PM
#39:


yay worker placement!
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Look at all those chickens
O, the land of cloudless day! O, the land of an unclouded sky!
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Naye745
10/26/18 9:23:35 PM
#40:


worker placement is the most overrated mechanic in board games
-change my mind-
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it's an underwater adventure ride
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Great_Paul
10/27/18 4:02:25 PM
#41:


#42: For Sale
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale
Year released: 1997
Placement on last year's list: n/a

For Sale is a card game that has two phases. In the first phase players are auctioning to buy property cards that are valued 1 - 30. Once they are all auctioned off, the players try to sell those properties for the best value. Money amounts will be revealed and each player picks a card from their hand and plays it. The highest value property takes the highest amount on the table and so on. This goes until all houses are sold. Highest amount of money wins. It's another quick game that's simple to teach.

#41: Has a fairy tale theme
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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Bospsychopaat
10/27/18 4:27:43 PM
#42:


Once upon a time?
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Currently contemplating cinnamon
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Tom Bombadil
10/28/18 11:22:29 PM
#43:


yay fairy tales
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Look at all those chickens
O, the land of cloudless day! O, the land of an unclouded sky!
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Tom Bombadil
10/30/18 6:45:10 AM
#44:


they're fun
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Look at all those chickens
O, the land of cloudless day! O, the land of an unclouded sky!
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SeabassDebeste
10/30/18 6:53:24 AM
#45:


oh hey how did i miss this topic for so --

oh, it's dead :(
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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Great_Paul
10/30/18 2:15:41 PM
#46:


Not dead yet!

#41: The Grimm Forest
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/212402/grimm-forest
Year released: 2018
Placement on last year's list: n/a

In the Grimm Forest each player is an ancestor of the three little pigs. The goal of the game is to build houses made of straw, wood, and brick. There are 4 locations full of resources and each player has a hand of cards consisting of the locations. Every round players will play a card and all reveal at the same time where they went. If one player is at a location alone, they get all of the resources there. If multiple people go to the same spot, they have to evenly divide them. There are some "take that" cards where you can do things like send monsters to locations that do bad things to the players who went there. You can also get friend cards who give you a special ability throughout the game. Each player can only have one though, so if you get a second one you can replace your old one or give it to somebody else and force them to keep it, which makes them lose their current one.

This game looks really nice too. It has great components, nice miniatures (my girlfriend painted mine for me), and a Game Trayz insert. It's all a really nice production.

#40: A word game consisting of two teams and isn't Codenames/Codenames Pictures.
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Bear Bro
It's kinda coincidental how like in most games pigs are evil.
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SeabassDebeste
10/30/18 3:21:30 PM
#47:


decrypto?
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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cyko
10/30/18 6:25:57 PM
#48:


I played Grimm Forest twice at Geek way this past year. It does look really nice, but the game play bored me.
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Yay - BkSheikah is the guru champion of awesomeness.
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SeabassDebeste
10/30/18 7:03:04 PM
#49:


big ups to for sale

splendor and FS would probably both rank higher for me

dice bang is indeed far greater than bang
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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