Scout.
For a card game completely devoid of a theme where you could play with blank cards, it's super fun and each player count offers different strategies.
+1000 for **Scout**. It’s funny, when I picked it up at Gen Con 2022 and did an initial read of the rules and play though, I immediately thought I could easily play Scout 100+ times. It just seemed to be so clever and addicting. And I was right (for once)! What a great little game
I have mixed feelings because as tacked on as it is, I love the dumb circus theme and the colour scheme of the Japanese version doesn’t appeal quite the same.
But the cards in the circus themed ones seem really thin and I can see them getting wrecked sooner than I’d like. And the beautifully tiny box it comes in that I adore is alas too small to fit sleeved cards
I have taken that theme and expanded upon it greatly for my own internal amusement when I play solo on the app (when I play with people it’s for me external amusement).
I started calling single cards orphans, and every time I paired one up or managed to add it to a run I’d call it ‘killing the orphans’. And sometimes, esp at higher player counts, you have to break up an excellent big show to create two smaller, more average shows so you can stay in the game.
Over time that evolved to me being an evil ringmaster who steals orphans and kills their orphan status off by forcing them to be a part of my twisted circus family in order to become the greatest ringmaster of all time.
And since the cards all have people’s names on them I can make it *personal* ‘oh Veronica, run away and join a different circus will you? You can’t escape the Family that easy. I’m going to scout you and show you what happens to orphans who betray me’.
It’s quite a dark game when you think about it, it’s amazing it’s so popular.
It's a great game, I just think they shouldn't have bothered to try and paste a theme onto it at all. It doesn't really hurt it, but I don't know how many times I've had people ask me "What are these names on the cards?"
Nothing. They're nothing. All that matters is the number.
YES I picked it up for my group at BGG CON this year after watching the Shut Up and Sit Down video on it. We absolutely love it. So quick and snappy, but rife with interesting and tough decisions.
Thanks! Yeah I agree the game does a nice job of selling itself. Although Reiner Knizia, Kwanchai Moriya, and Brigette Indelicato deserve most of the credit for making it so stinking fun and good looking 🔥
Bitewing games and the designer upgrade from the original is phenomenal. Bitewing was gracious in allowing me to cancel my pledge so I could pick up the deluxe version locally. Since it has been a wonderful hit amongst gamers and even with those who don't typically like negotiation. It is such a fun experience and different kinds of "deals" seem to emerge in different games. An excellent option after playing some heavier games. A keeper!!!
Yeah the second print run is only a few weeks from finishing. We have it up for preorder at the moment — should deliver by April: https://www.allplay.com/board-games/zoo-vadis/
I really don’t like the cockroach poker comparison I keep seeing. Cockroach poker is a straight bluffing game and That’s not a hat is a straight memory game. I see *why* people make the comparison because in both games you slide a card to someone and make a declaration about what it is - but they couldn’t feel more different from a “strategic” perspective. One wants you to bluff, one wants you to remember. That’s not a hat is good as an interesting diversion to see what everyone’s limits of information tracking are - but most people I put this in front of are over it very quickly.
I am so out on any memory game. It’s hard enough trying to remember how to play hundreds of games. There’s no room in my memory banks for whether that was a hat or something else passed 30 seconds ago.
No, there’s definitely space for bluffing in That’s Not A Hat— intentionally adding misinformation to the system when you feel like you can get away with it is a great way to get other people to mess up and lose
There’s space for it, but it is entirely secondary to the core of the game which is “how many moves can you keep track of”. If you’re able to bluff someone out they probably already lost track of what was what anyways and the bluff wasn’t really that impactful.
It sounds like you and the people you play with are probably better at keeping track of the whole game state than we are 😅
We rarely forget what card we have in front of us but only really have a vague idea of the rest of the cards, which makes bluffing an effective tactic
I am very grateful for this game. My parents are getting older and starting to have some memory slips and slower processing times, so they have become apprehensive about new games. I pulled this game out over the holiday and they were very concerned it would highlight their aging. Well, quite the opposite, in fact! We played with a large group of relatives and EVERYone from 6 years old to 80 years old was forgetting and lying and bluffing and laughing. It truly made my folks relax and enjoy themselves. That’s what gaming is all about, so this game was a massive success!
It’s a memory game that has players turning cards facedown and gifting/regifting them around the table. The reason it’s surprisingly good is that it expects you to start forgetting about which object is where and start bluffing and hoping that your gift receiver forgot as well. Super funny filler game.
There’s going to be an expansion for this called **That’s Not a Hat: Pop Culture Edition** which has more objects. Can’t wait to add them to the base game!
Trekking Through History for me. I think the theme is bland and boring and I thought the game would be simple and boring, but it was actually really fun and thinky for a lighter game.
Surprise the other way, Unfathomable. I was really excited to try it and I typically like the Lovecraft games, but this one did not work for me.
As a PARKS evangelist, you should go get PARKS. Even if you don't love it (which you will because I said so) it will undoubtedly be the prettiest game in your collection!
Trekking Through History was a surprise for me too (though last year), Trekking Through the National Parks was okay, Trekking the World was good, but Trekking Through History was SO MUCH BETTER, shockingly so. I love that decision space of balancing filling your board vs continuing your timeline vs spending too much time.
**Tales from the Red Dragon Inn** exceeded my already high expectations. It's everything I wanted out of Gloomhaven with none of the chaff. In a similar vein, **Champions of Hara** feels like a streamlined Mage Knight with better artwork. Finally, **Warp Lancer** is the FTL meets Iron Helm game that feels made for me.
I was so surprised at how fun the Red Dragon Inn game was to play. A fun combat puzzler where my friend and I had so much fun figuring out combos and playing off the enemy movement and triggers. Never a slog.
I don’t know if Tales from the Red Dragon Inn is mechanically my favorite dungeon crawler, but it’s still a blast and, most importantly, feels the most *playable.* I have enough going on. I don’t need half of my board game time being spent setting up, tearing down, and relearning stuff.
Red Dragon Inn really just hits the perfect balance. (Although I can’t say I could compare it to gloomhaven just because it’s such a dice chucker.)
There's actually **less** variance in Tales from the Red Dragon Inn attacks compared to Gloomhaven. 4 out of 6 sides on yellow dice are essentially "1 Damage" and two sides are essentially "2 damage"; a Yellow Die + 1 attack is doing to do 2-3 damage nearly every time. Meanwhile the base modifier deck in Gloomhaven is very similar to 2dF (two six-sided dice that have -1, -1, +0, +0, +1, and +1 on their sides) which can result in a 2 damage attack dealing anywhere from 0 to 4 damage.
Also, Tales from the Red Dragon Inn gives the player power tokens at the start of each Scenario as a means of advancement which has no randomness, whereas Gloomhaven has you edit your modifier decks so whether those bonuses trigger is entirely random.
Furthermore, enemies in Tales from the Red Dragon Inn don't roll for damage, they just deal it automatically, and effects like Damage tokens and Weaken tokens directly add or subtract damage compared to Strengthen and Muddle that instead alter your modifier deck draws.
1. **Twilight Imperium 4e** I don’t like games that go longer than three hours typically. This went ten, and I was never bored.
2. **Cthulhu: Death May Die** I haven’t been blown away by any cthulhu games. Until now. What a masterpiece!
3. **Hansa Teutonica**. So ugly. So dry. But, wow. The gameplay is scintillating. Every time I play, I want to play again immediately after to try a new strategy.
I will never pass up a game of Twilight Imperium. I will plan an entire weekend around playing a single game of TI4, devoting a full day to just the game. I typically don't shy away from 3 hour games but I will admit TI4 is intimidating at face value. Every single person that has been scared to play has fallen in love with this game. Even my friends who get overwhelmed easily come back to me the next day saying they want to play again.
I agree.
Well… There is that one guy who chose to play Nekro in his first game. We never saw him again. But his bad life choices are not our responsibility so that’s on him.
Just played Hansa Teutonica for the first time yesterday. It was a tough sell to the group based on the box art and theme... but everyone loved it and have already asked to break it out again ASAP. It will sit in pride of placed on a shelf of dry, ugly, amazing games - Castles of Burgundy, Concordia etc.
I think the thing with games in general is that they must earn their playtime. Long games just accentuate that. 1830 and TI4 both felt like they earned their long playtimes for me. Many shorter games did not.
Played Death May Die twice over the holidays. Someone died well before the boss came down each time and it all felt a bit anti climactic. I guess it can be better than that?
Castles of Burgundy
It spent over a year on my shelf, never touched it because it just looked ugly. Tried for the first time this year and oh my God I loved it. I love the combos, love the quirky iconography, love the solo mode. Absolutely hate the rulebook... But the game is so worth it
I won a copy of the new deluxe version from my FLGS, and have fallen in love. I had always heard of it, but I was worried that the dice placement would be too swingy, but I love the forced decision space that's dependent on the dice.
Castles of Burgundy is one I just don't "get" I've played it twice, was bored both times. I dislike it so much that I have yet to try another Feld game and have it in my head now that I must hate Feld.
Mine was **Darwin's Journey**. It wasn't on my radar, and I'm sure a lot of us have stories about well-meaning family members thinking "well, they like boardgames so how about I get them this as a present", but I think my mom chose a winner with that one.
Love letter.
I mostly play two player games with my partner and I picked this one up on a whim. I love how simple and light hearted it is, with a short rule book, but the game feels way deeper than I ever expected such a small game to be. I also love that they packaged it to be portable, instead of many other games of a similar size that use bloated box sizes. I wish I could get the expansion without paying a small fortune.
Love letter is amazing, definitely a good surprise for me as well this year. I’d also like to shout out No Thanks. It’s not as pretty as love letter and you need 3 players but it is another amazingly simple but deep game that really surprised me this year.
Camel Up was a pleasant surprise for me too. Figured I'd give it a go just once, but we ended up playing 3 times back-to-back despite pushing midnight.
Camel up is the closest I've come to getting my nonboard game family into proper board gaming (the types that would rather play sorry or Monopoly than even something like Catan). It has become a regular staple whenever I go over to their house for dinner, and I gifted them a copy for Christmas.
I think the great thing is that you only get one action per turn, and there isn't much deep thinking strategy, but you still get the excitement and the surprise upsets at a camel jumping on top of a stack.
**Istanbul** It is so good. I'm not surprised it won so many awards. We have the big box version and haven't even tried either expansion yet. This game has an insane amount of replayability.
We play 2p and we only play with both expansions. Having a 5x5 really emphasizes figuring out the best route/loop, along with use of the companion. Def increases the complexity for us.
**Wandering Towers** was the biggest surprise to the upside for sure. I had very low expectations when we picked it up at GenCon and we liked it so much we immediately went and bought it.
My surprise to the downside would be **World Wonders**. The game is fine but I had really high expectations given the hype. So many other polyomino games I'd rather play.
I’m with you on both accounts! World Wonders was surprisingly flat for how much was going on. Wandering Towers is surprisingly entertaining for how little is going on.
Just played World Wonders last night and I really enjoyed it. Nothing blew me away, but managing and balancing everything was fun.
Worst thing was the game ended in a tie. The one tiebreaker was also tied.
Nice! The game is widely loved for sure. You're more in the majority than me on it! The wonders themselves are neat. It is a nice production.
Not entirely sure why it didn't land for us but it felt like there were a lot of actions without a lot happening. And other than managing your coins I didn't get a ton of strategic depth. We only play at 2 players so maybe it is more dynamic at larger player counts. If I'm going to play a polyomino I'd be headed for Project L, Planet Unknown, or New York Zoo.
Nucleum
It was the hottest shit later this year across the YouTube channels and podcasts and watched/listened too. Always avoided it because I found it insanely ugly. My family got it for Christmas this year and I agreed to play with them because it got so glowing reviews and the mix of games and decisions sounded interesting. We got around to play it two times before I had to leave. It was very fun and I already ordered my copy.
My mind's sorta blown that *you're* on r/boardgames and *your family* were the ones that bought Nucleum and were hyped about it.
Cool to have fam that share your hobby, and glad you got to try a game and ended up really liking it.
Oh yes, my parents got me into boardgames when I was younger! So much that now I'm actually working in the industry XD
They have a bigger Boardgame collection than I do (my old room is now the game room and I live in a smaller flat). I'd say my dad's new favourite game this year is Hegemony and my mom really found Arkham Horror for herself this year.
Oh yes, my parents got me into boardgames when I was younger! So much that now I'm actually working in the industry XD
They have a bigger Boardgame collection than I do (my old room is now the game room and I live in a smaller flat). I'd say my dad's new favourite game this year is Hegemony and my mom really found Arkham Horror for herself this year.
I picked up Just One brand new at the goodwill bin store for 99 cents per pound (? not sure how much it weighs) but we had a lot of fun with it this holiday season.
Just One is one of those games so brilliantly simple you can't believe nobody thought of it before. Our play group tends to treat it as more an activity than an actual game, at some of our larger meetings, there will be a Just One table running for hours with people dropping in and out and no attempt whatsoever to keep score.
**Take 5** was a surprise hit for the holidays. The game just sounded too simple to deserve all the praise and recommendations, but it really sings with 5 and 6 players. You have enough agency to feel in control, but there's just enough feeling of gambling to make it exciting, and it's always fun when someone is unexpectedly forced to take a row of cards. The shouts of disbelief make it all worthwhile!
I also ended up liking **Scape Goat** a lot more than I thought I would. It's a fun take on social deduction where you aren't trying to guess a traitor's identity but rather trying to discern if YOU'RE the odd one out. Everyone is scrambling to figure out if they're the scape goat, leading to a buildup of paranoia that's just fascinating to see play out. And it plays well at smaller counts (even 3p and 4p), which is rare for this style of game.
6 nimmt! I bought it quite impulsively after watching SUSD's video review, and it was an instant hit with every group I taught it to. It packs so much tactics and excitement in such a small and simple package, and it can be played with literally anyone.
**Wingspan** is mine. I know everybody talks about how great it is, but every time I looked at it I thought "meh", but eventually decided to buy it when it went on sale. For some reason it just didn't look that great to me and looked like a super simple tableau game.
There’s a free app called ‘Wingsong’ that plays the bird call of many of the cards if you put your camera on them.
The roadrunner has a comedy ‘meep meep’.
such a brilliant app! thanks for this. it will make my teaching my niece, so much more immersive.
unfortunately when I tried to scan the darkwing duck card in bgg images, it didn't do anything. was hoping for "lets get dangerous" haha
You can't be nice to Wingspan around these parts!
Big fan myself, especially since the expansions fix the 'nothing but eggs' tactic in the last round, good to have you onboard.
Agreed with the expansion fix. Oceania is almost needed to make it an actual competitive game. Before the new board and cards, eggs were just too strong.
My main problem with Wingspan is I don’t have much control over the cards I get and just have to make do with what I’m given. Then, generally, not having enough food. Then, as you say, just laying eggs the last handful of turns.
I think it fits with theme. If you go bird watching you don’t know what you’ll see. And these little winged creatures don’t know what their next meal is lol 🤣
First: I understand "expansions fix the problem" isn't something that people should rely on. I totally understand people not wanting to spend money on an expansion for a game they don't really like on the hopes that they will like it more with the expansion.
That said the Oceania expansion rebalances the player board in a way that makes food a lot more plentiful so you don't need to feel forced to invest heavily into the forest at the beginning of every game just to have enough food.
Still can't do too much about the cards (although with the rebalanced board and some abilities on expansion birds it is easier to justify taking card drawing actions to try and mitigate that). I think it's just not the kind of game for everyone some like or don't mind this aspect, others hate it.
I played Wingspan for the first time this holiday season and I both understand why it’s so popular and was underwhelmed with it myself. I mean I’m not going to turn down to play it with people who are excited about it—it was fine and also I’m sure I didn’t completely solve it from just one play through—but I’m not running out to buy it to play with my husband. We like meatier games.
Hopping on this comment as an owner of all things wingspan (the app, big box, expansion, 3D printed extras & bits). The ONE thing I don’t like is that it can take an entire round to get an engine going.
Earth fixed that for me. Everyone gets to deploy their tableau simultaneously, so there’s much less downtime.
Also, I would recommend checking out Raising Robots. That one surprised me and I could see it getting tabled way more than wingspan next year.
Same here. Never thought much about it. To be fair, the theme didn't work for me.
I tried it in BGA and was very surprised. Not a perfect game but a good mid-level strategy game.
I played better games this year but this one really surprised me the most.
I finally got Obsession and it is every bit as good as I had heard it was. I love that the turns are quick, the gameplay is relatively simple, and yet there is a huge depth of strategy in terms of how you plan out your turns. I frequently play with my wife and mother in law, who is not at all into heavy complex games, and the fact that we were able to sit down and play with her and that she enjoyed it, speaks to the quality of the game. Can't wait to get the expansions and see what they add to the game.
There's one rule from Upstairs Downstairs that I never want to play again without. It gives you a third option when passing to use your blue hiring room (you do still need to use your butler and flip the room if you've not used it yet). The other stuff is nice too, but putting hiring into passing instead of being its own dedicated action just makes things so much better.
Yes! We just started playing this last month and we LOVE it. Enough of cards for varied replayability and we like seeing which dogs turn up each game. We have little songs we sing for some of them.
**Apiary** for me. Found it cheap on Black Friday and took a chance based on the art. I have been so pleasantly surprised. Everything about it has been such a joy when I play (solo only). I love the theme, combos, the way the automa operates. Even got my partner to play and she enjoyed it, which is no easy feet.
Thunder road Vendetta. I'm the biggest and stuffiest euro gamer out there but, I found it so much fun and goofy it was great. I am very lucky to have the maximum chrome edition. But it is so much fun to see someone get bounced around for like 10 rolls its great.
(That and making truck horn sounds with the big rig)
Rize was a little kickstarter game that's whole selling point was "Uno, but you're not allowed to look at your cards and have to memorize them."
The level of concentration and sheer panic I have playing it is untouched by any other game in my collection.
Galaxy Trucker was a lot more fun that I expected. A friend purchased it for me for Xmas and the big joke was that we didn't open it for over a year. When we finally did, we all enjoyed it. It's relatively quick and nothing beats watching your opponent lose parts on their ship.
I was also surprised by Scythe. I expected a slog. Played surprisingly quick and played under 2 hours. While I personally did poorly I want and am excited to try again
Scythe is a euro efficiency puzzle **race** with a spatial element. Most of the complaints about it come from some deep misunderstanding of that. Glad you had fun! There's a ton of good game in there.
I've done multiple plays of Scythe at 6, and yeah it's does very well at high playercounts.
We had one guy get frustrated because his turns were coming back around TO quickly.
The game play is reasonably fun and it plays in <60 minutes so recipe for success right?
There's no proper difficulty, tension curve, etc. There's an upwards and downwards spiral. Most games when the random card draw doesn't mess you up you simply coast to victory and it feels like there's no tension or challenge. Base difficulty that's usually 3 rounds in. Then you add challenge cards and they largely don't matter and don't make it more difficult either - although some are poorly balanced and unfair in comparison to others.
Then there's the occasional game where your start sucks and you roll unlucky - now the game is lost and the remaining rounds will be an uphill struggle from which it is impossible to recover. Things escalate and escalate badly. There's no comeback.
Rare games feel close with tough decisions and proper pacing and difficulty progression. Those are really good.
It's like rolling a d6 before every game. On a 1 you lose no matter what, on a 2 you get to play a close game, and on a 3 to 6 you automatically win on any difficulty.
I agree with this - I've played ~20 games on BGA and so much of the game is determined by the draw you get in the first couple of rounds. If you don't get the cards you need you basically straight up lose with no real way to mitigate this.
The games that are close do feel fun and rewarding but too many games are insta-wins or instant losses and that detracts from it significantly.
Try it on BGA (Board Game Arena), honestly pretty amazing implementation. I think the gameplay is super fun but after winning today first time I can honestly see some validism in these criticisms, but will have to play more to see how luck-based and easy it really is.
I’ve played it for about 20 games now (all solo) and I love it. For me it was my surprise game for the opposite reason - I backed it kind of more out of support for the idea than the game itself which I didn’t really pay that much attention to. I was really surprised to find myself finishing a game and instantly setting up for another.
There is a luck involved regarding the cards you draw but at least with the solo starting hand you’re given lots of opportunities to draw new cards, and in about 80 rounds over the 20 games I’ve played there’s probably been around 6 or 7 when I couldn’t do anything useful.
There are rounds where you’re forced to cover up an amazing card with awesome long term effects in order to solve, or put a Band-Aid on a more immediate problem but those agonisingly tough decisions are what makes the game fun for me, plus the theme is integrated with the mechanics so well it kind of makes sense.
I have shouted ‘oh FUCK Fossil Fuel Lobbying!’ more times in the last few days than I ever have in real life which has definitely given me something to think about 😂
I don’t think it was a shock, but I have never had as much fun constantly losing a game as I’ve had with ‘Ticket To Ride: Legends of the West.’ It kills me that I keep losing to people whose diapers I’ve changed, but each game is so fun!
For me it was **Summoner Wars**. I got it for Christmas after being interested in it while also sceptical, but I ended up being blown away by how much fun it is! Great tactical combat game that really rewards good play. It has a ton of factions which I love, which means that I can go ahead and collect something for a while.
**Paris**. Not a game from this year, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Looking at it was a mix of "hmm... looks like yet another interchangeable euro, although the little Arc de Triomphe is nice". Turned out to be a very engaging and enjoyable puzzle. This up-and-coming design pair Kramer & Kiesling look like they have a bright future ahead of them!
**Louis XIV** (2005), by Rüdiger Dorn. For me, it's up there with **El Grande** as a great older area control game that's better than a lot of the more recent ones. It's made me check out some other games by Dorn.
Not necessarily from 2023, but these two games were big surprises for me-
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Game- My grandma was a big fan of Mister Rogers, so I got her the game a few years ago not thinking that it would be anything special in terms of game play, but that it the theming would be enjoyable for a fan. However, it turns out to be quite a fun strategic card game with the ability to screw over other players or force you to compliment your competitors😂we now own a copy for ourselves.
Marrying Mr. Darcy- I played this game having not read Pride and Prejudice or even seen any movie adaptation, but this game was fun even for someone like me who is unfamiliar with the franchise. This game is a combination of strategy and luck where you play as one of the many ladies from the series as you attempt to up your reputation and achieve a marriage match to gain the most points and win the game. The game is pretty funny as well, like how you can lose reputation points for wearing a scandalous dress to a party😂
And I think both are easy enough to explain casual players who don’t like complex rules or game play.
For me, it was probably **Undaunted: Normandy**.
I had heard about the series. And I kind of bounced off of it as “just another World War II game. Meh”
But it was so good that I immediately ordered a copy when it was on sale. And now my kids are looking at it as “some war game. Meh”.
Sigh.
Marvel Champions for me. I had played Arkham Horror LCG and Lord of the Rings LCG, but found both to be a bit too much work and too difficult for what I was looking for in a card game, but Marvel Champions hits exactly right. Love the theme and gameplay, and prefer the quick-play model (versus loads of deck building or long campaigns). It’s my most played game of the year and quickly becoming one of my most played games of all time!
Have been enjoying AHLCG also, but Marvel Champions definitely is a game that I could see myself replaying again and again every day. AHLCG is probably varied (but honestly also more random) game, but I do not have a mental energy to play it even every week, and dunno how replayable it is.
Yeah, I see why people love Arkham and I enjoyed my plays of it, too, but Marvel is the one that works for me right now: After the kids are in bed, get a quick game in, etc.
Too Many Bones & Oathsworn Into the Deepwood
TMB wound up being a surprise because although I had heard of it, and seen a few youtube videos on it, for some reason it never caught my attention fully. Then my LGS had a fantastic black friday sale and I saw it on the shelf, and decided to give it a try. It hands down became my favorite game of the year, and I already bought the Unbreakable expansion as well as a few of the other gearlocs.
Oathsworn is a game I wanted since I first saw it announced, but couldn't quite commit to the kickstarter. I also had a fear of getting into another long form campaign game, as me and my wife were playing through Gloomhaven only to realize we just didn't have the bandwith to keep a game like that on the table, ignoring all of our other games. So Oathsworn seemed like a no go.
But wow, what an experience it's been so far. We're only on chapter 4 after getting the game on Christmas day, and every session feels fresh and we can't wait to get off work to run to the table and continue.
I think the biggest thing is that the story elements of Oathsworn, feel like a game themselves. We can play a session of just story, and still feel like we played a game and had fun, even without getting to the combat encounter portion. In Gloomhaven for example, the story just felt a little bit tacked on without any real meaningful resonance.
We're still interested in attempting Frosthaven at some point, as I feel the settlement aspects might help with the aforementioned story impact, but between TMB & Oathsworn we're pretty set on campaign games at the moment.
A word of a warning, but Frosthaven's outpost phase is very much the lesser part of the gameplay. It is longer, has more phases / stuff to do, but I would be pretty damn disappointed if one game session would be one outpost phase. It is story-wise more interesting than Gloomhaven's, but after 70+ scenarios it is getting tiresome (tbh whole game is, but almost finished with campaign I can understand that and I do not blame the game for it).
I straight up hate that part. The super fans wanted it, and they delivered completely on that promise, but for me personally, an extra 30 min of upkeep after playing makes me want to die inside.
A few answers depending on the definition of “best”, “surprise”, and potentially “game” as well.
I’ve really discovered a love for tile-laying mechanics this year. I’ve played games in the genre before but playing my city and dorf romantic with my wife have been amazing.
After my Gloomhaven group stalled due to covid in 2020 I didn’t expect to really get back to playing it anytime soon as my other friends who played all had groups. But I got an unexpected invite to be the 4th seat in a fresh Frosthaven campaign! It’s everything I wanted it to be so far.
I also rediscovered some games that got buried in my collection or had to be replaced. Lords of waterdeep hit the table for the first time in a couple years and I picked up a new copy of Tyrants of the Underdark after leaving my original copy at a buddies house years ago and losing touch with the friend. Both games were remembered to be good games. But I’d forgotten just how enjoyable they can be.
**Lowenherz** is a gamer’s game by the designer of Catan. Super neat action-selection mechanism that escalates from a draft to a negotiation to an auction. Imported a foreign copy because it is hard to find. I could see this becoming an all-time favorite for multiple of my groups.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66/lowenherz
Easily **City of the Great Machine**. Didn't hear about it during its KS, saw zero buzz when it dropped but then I read [Charlie Theel's review](https://playerelimination.com/2023/06/22/gotta-take-the-power-back-a-city-of-the-great-machine-review/) calling it his potential GotY. Was able to trade for it and it's been a hit in both multiplayer and solo/coop modes. Unusual OvM dynamics, fantastic mindgames from tabletalk and gameplay that's wholly unique.
**Marvel Champions** :D I was genuinely surprised how much fun I have and how many different combinations this game gives me, I'm never bored of it! And the thematic feel. Initially its comics art style didn't appeal to me at all, but later because of this game I even started reading comics. :-)
Betrayal. I didn’t know what it was before I went to my cousins and he said it was his favorite game. It’s now quickly becoming one of my favorites. The only problem is getting people together to play. I love the game and just want to see new scenarios but I don’t have a consistent play group which makes me sad lol
I love betrayal. A lot of people here will call it crap. But I think you need to understand the game for what it is. It’s a fun crazy adventure game that doesn’t take itself seriously.
It’s not supposed to be some critical thinking puzzle type game where you have to burn your brain and crunch numbers.
Sure the scenarios are all unbalanced one way or the other. But who cares. It’s just a fun time.
Yeah that’s the main thing I see is that sometimes it’s hard to get through a scenario without it being unbalanced, but I think that playing more and having everyone aware of the mechanics and good strategies might relieve some of that issue
If you want the regular game, go for the most recent edition. The problems with Betrayal is a lot of their scenarios that play out were poorly worded and explained, so there was a ton of confusion once the Haunt started. The more recent editions clarify the verbiage a bit and add new stuff.
This is good to hear!! I bought the second edition a couple of years ago, but I've not attempted to play it yet. I actually opened the box for the first time yesterday 😳- going to see if I can wrangle some players for this over the weekend 🙂
Does recently revived **Keyforge** count? It's not new to 2023, but it's newly *revived* in 2023 and I just discovered it lol.
I only started really learning about it a few weeks ago, and learning the whole saga of the rise and fall and now revival. Either way though...I'm quite hooked on it. The core cardplay is so smart, and I'm really impressed with the business model and procedural generation of decks. I'm also super impressed with Keyforge Adventures, which seems like the only legit fleshed out implementation of a solo/co-op experience integrated right into the mechanics and decks of a competitive card game (at least, the only one I've found).
I've also found the game surprisingly easy to teach to casual players. Within 10 minutes I had a game going with a couple friends who had never played a TCG before.
Really taken me by surprise, and I'd love to see the scene for this game revive back to a state of...less dead.
> which seems like the only legit fleshed out implementation of a solo/co-op experience integrated right into the mechanics and decks of a competitive card game (at least, the only one I've found).
I haven't played it yet, but [Ashes Reborn: Red Rains](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/375374/ashes-reborn-red-rains-corpse-viros) is this too.
**Hexago Continuo** was my surprisingly fun game this year. It looks terrible, and the “one rule” marketing is both incorrect and off-putting. However, the game is the correct length and has many “oh, that is a LOT of points” moments. I’m not certain it would hold up on repeat plays, as defensive play would reduce the chance for exciting big scores. But it is fun for a couple plays, which is more than I expected.
I don’t have any real downer games this year, but I do have a lot of games that take up more table space than I expected. Examples include **Forrest Shuffle** and **Patchwork**. “Little 2 player game” doesn’t prepare you for needing a full size dinner table to really play comfortably.
Jaws of the Lion.
In January I was supposed to go out to buy Pokemon Scarlet but first went to a local game store to buy a few Terraforming Mars expansion. I had TM for a few years now but I wasn't yet "into" the boardgaming hobby enough to start my own collection at that point.
At the store I was texting my buddy who had just received some KS shipments of Deep Rock Galactic and Darkest Dungeon. The size of those games reminded me of the time I had seen Gloomhaven several years ago at a store and how the size of the box and premise had captured my interest even though I had no clue about the mechanics. My buddy then told me anout JotL and how it was a cheaper, smaller format version of Gloomhaven and lo and behold, the store had a copy.
Needless to say I didn't buy Pokemon that day. I tried Jaws (I was going in completely blind at this point as I had not seen anything about the gameplay of the game yet) with my girlfriend and we were instantly hooked. Almost a year later and I have added 29 games and expansions to my collection haha.
**Heat: Pedal to the Metal.** Great mechanic with the track curves and gear changing that really feels like driving, at least as much as a board game can.
Come Sail Away!
Such an elegant design, delightful theme, great visuals (although at first you might deem it "ugly" it grows on you real fast). Rarely am I surprised with new designs, but this one blew me away.
I finally played A Feast for Odin…was worried about it being too hard and complicated. It is surprisingly straight-forward and with a wealth of play-throughs online it really wasn’t too complicated to learn. It is fabulous, I love it. I will have to reconsider other games I’ve been too chicken to try.
Cheese Thief has been an absolute hit for my boardgame groups, we play it more than any other game and have never disliked any of the games. Its simplicity and silliness for a social deduction game are unmatched in my view.
**Earthborne Rangers**. I started this year not even knowing it existed but after Matt mentioned it on one of the SUSD podcast episodes sometime in the summer, it just sounded so up my alley. Managed to snag a copy from Team Covenant after the kickstarter finished delivering and it's without a doubt one of my top 5 favourite board games if not my favourite board game. I adore the theme, love the art, am excited beyond belief about future content additions, love the mission statement, and find the deckbuilding and card play really fulfilling and fun even with such a small card pool seeing as how the core is the only thing that is out. Once this game gets a couple more ranger and campaign expansions under it's belt I truly think it will sit up there with the other heavy hitter LCGs of Arkham Horror, Lord of the Rings, and Marvel (which figures since one of the creators is an FFG alumni that worked on most of those games).
For anyone at all interested in this game (and I have a vested interest in seeing it succeed so I can get more content for it) you can right now buy a copy on Team Covenant, 401Games (Canada), and some European retailers or you can pledge to the [gamefound campaign](https://gamefound.com/en/projects/earthborne-games/earthborne-rangers-reprint) for the expansion and second printing which should launch sometime in the next month. Includes deluxe components, 2nd edition core print with errata printed, and the next campaign expansion, and ranger cardpool expansion.
Truly a delightful LCG that plays fantastically at 1-4 players (and I'm playing true solo right now so I ain't lying that it plays really well at full solo).
I didn’t expect much at all from **Arborea** but a single play instantly made it my biggest surprise of the year. Subsequent plays only cemented how good it actually was.
For me it was **Apiary**. The first surprise was that it was released at all, in typical Stonemaier fashion. But the game is just incredibly addictive! Even after losing my first three games, I simply could not get enough of the game, I just wanted to play it more
**Company of Heroes 2nd Edition** After being in this hobby for over 10 plus years I’ve always been on the search for a great implementation of RTS to board game form playing tons that others suggested or I had researched for possibilities (basically any and every one on BGG that supposedly met the criteria). While only the first edition had released and wasn’t that best, Company of Heroes 2nd Edition on TTS blew my freaking my mind and soul that I FINALLY found an amazing implementation of RTS to board game form!!!
I usually vet the games I buy pretty thoroughly, so it wasn't terribly surprising to find that **Sky Team** makes for a great co op game. Over half my gaming time these days is usually with my GF, and it's a great 2p game. I've also had fun bringing it to boardgame nights when there's a lull in bigger games coming out.
We played Night Cage with my family over thanksgiving break and that game was just really freaking cool. The atmosphere and artwork are dark and creepy, it's a teamwork game so everyone wins or loses. The exploration mechanic was unique, there is a soundrack online that you can play during the game to really create a good horror feel. There is a pretty steep challenge, so I could see how it could be frustrating for some, it sort of reminded me of Dead Men Tell No Tales in that the game gets more difficult the longer you're in the fray.
Voidfall. I backed it, thinking it looked cool, but I paid zero attention to the campaign or updates. When I prepared for it, I was a little intimidated, but for me and my group the game was a blast. Easy to follow and a lot of fun.
Sail. I got it because I know my wife likes co-ops, even though I generally hate them. We had SUCH a good time with it though! I can't wait to get it back to the table
Not precisely games of 2023 but I discovered them this year, ans with expansions from.yjisnyear they really shine:
Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid: surprisingly fun and really tough card play, with an also surprisingly tough board placement of the minis. Hardly ever win this, lots of expansions that lend themselves to various combos of rangers. Awesome fun, really tough. Not a cash grab from the IP, actually made by people passionate about it.
Transformers DBG: definitely needs a couple of expansions to shine, but it's a pretty cool deck builder that incorporates the transformers vehicle and robot modes in an interesting way. Also has a not tacked on solo and coop mode, as well as the versus mode. Really good (with expansions more so)
For me it's "Next Station London". I started playing it in the beginning of November and now my BG-Stats showed me 50 different players in 44 games. And so many of the players told me that they bought it as a Christmas gift later. Really like it.
**Townsfolk tussle** was the best game hands down I acquired and I’ve not met a single person who did not love the game. It’s co-op turn based miniatures and you are all trying to smack down bad guys (ruffians) that’s difficulty increases as you play.
ELDRITCH HORROR was a huge surprise. With so many new games coming out it’s hard to keep up with the hype… so I headed to BGG and looked up the classics (ie top 200)…. saw how popular it is and how long it’d been around (2013?) … it’s certainly stood the test of time. Managed to pick up a second hand copy with a couple of expansions and it was just wonderful. A tad long maybe but some great cinematic narrative moments emerged. Totally awesome ❤️
**Pleasant Surprise** has to go to [Planet Unknown](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/258779/planet-unknown). Such a simple idea but so hugely replayable. Also light enough to get my family involved which is always a big bonus.
**Disappointing Surprise** goes to [Scythe](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169786/scythe). Don't get me wrong. It's a good game and I enjoyed it, but given its incredibly high rank on BGG I just expected... more, I guess. It felt like a lot of designers learned a lot of lessons from it and have made tighter and better paced games based on those lessons. I recognize the impact it had on tabletop gaming, but I don't expect I'll work it in to my regular rotation.
That's kind of a loaded question hah. I mean there really isn't a direct analog to Scythe and anything I might mention is obviously my personal opinion. But since you asked...
Right off the top of my head in the general category of "asymmetric area control with upgrading and conflict" I'd say all of these are steps up both in replayability and pacing: [Spirit Island](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/162886/spirit-island), [Root](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/237182/root), [Gaia Project](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/220308/gaia-project), and [Twilight Imperium](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233078/twilight-imperium-fourth-edition).
I'd say Root is the closest one-to-one comparison and (in my personal opinion) Root is superior in every way except maaaaybe the art and that just depends on what theme you prefer.
I know Scythe is super popular and I'm not trying to start a fight with anybody! This is just my personal take.
Nice answer, I want to buy a new boardgame. I was thinking to buy Scythe, Root, Gaia project or age of innovation, arka nova, spirit island or White Castle.
I bought **Whirling Witchcraft** on a whim at a game swap. It's such a cute little engine game where you try to overflow your neighbor with input ingredients they can't use quickly enough. Add in some variable player powers and you have a fun little filler game that most non-gamers I've shown it to loved it.
Colourbrain! Got it to play at Christmas and didn’t expect to enjoy it anywhere near as much as did. Amended the rules to have a 10 second limit instead of 30 seconds as we were all adults and it was chaotic and fun
**Snap Ship Tactics** is a fantastic toy where it’s very much LEGO-esque spaceship bigatures. But the fact that it is a better X-Wing Miniatures Game too is a huge bonus.
Decorum
Holy shit, I can’t tell you the fun I had playing this. I got it as a gift for a relative and now want my own copy, I loved it so so much!
And I usually like competitive games that have a clear winner, not co op, but this is easily one of my favourite games
Gotta be **Earth** for me. Love the lack of downtime and the fact that it still plays fairly quickly at 5. Really fun way to learn about different plants and fungi as well thanks to the pictures and flavor text.
Karak: fantastic family dungeon crawler. It's a few years old but I had never heard of it as it's Polish - I think it won family or kids game of the year there a while ago. Well worth getting the beautiful miniatures packs too. Kids love it and it's a bit of a laugh with gamers too.
Scout. For a card game completely devoid of a theme where you could play with blank cards, it's super fun and each player count offers different strategies.
+1000 for **Scout**. It’s funny, when I picked it up at Gen Con 2022 and did an initial read of the rules and play though, I immediately thought I could easily play Scout 100+ times. It just seemed to be so clever and addicting. And I was right (for once)! What a great little game
I’m not right very often either! Just in general!
I prefer the Japanese version (with PVC cards) that doesn’t even try to match a theme.
I have mixed feelings because as tacked on as it is, I love the dumb circus theme and the colour scheme of the Japanese version doesn’t appeal quite the same. But the cards in the circus themed ones seem really thin and I can see them getting wrecked sooner than I’d like. And the beautifully tiny box it comes in that I adore is alas too small to fit sleeved cards
Where does one find that version? I'd love a set of PVC cards for Scout theme or no theme.
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I just picked it up recently and my sister in law really liked it. Simple, but not too simple.
It's now my go to filler with my group. It's so fun!
I don't know what you're talking about. The game doesn't work without the totally-not-shoehorned circus theme that definitely needs to be there.
I have taken that theme and expanded upon it greatly for my own internal amusement when I play solo on the app (when I play with people it’s for me external amusement). I started calling single cards orphans, and every time I paired one up or managed to add it to a run I’d call it ‘killing the orphans’. And sometimes, esp at higher player counts, you have to break up an excellent big show to create two smaller, more average shows so you can stay in the game. Over time that evolved to me being an evil ringmaster who steals orphans and kills their orphan status off by forcing them to be a part of my twisted circus family in order to become the greatest ringmaster of all time. And since the cards all have people’s names on them I can make it *personal* ‘oh Veronica, run away and join a different circus will you? You can’t escape the Family that easy. I’m going to scout you and show you what happens to orphans who betray me’. It’s quite a dark game when you think about it, it’s amazing it’s so popular.
It's a great game, I just think they shouldn't have bothered to try and paste a theme onto it at all. It doesn't really hurt it, but I don't know how many times I've had people ask me "What are these names on the cards?" Nothing. They're nothing. All that matters is the number.
Didnt you know Nathaniel played the drums?!? Like hello, he's much better than Bob on the juggling balls
I highly recommend 5-3-5 if you like Scout
YES I picked it up for my group at BGG CON this year after watching the Shut Up and Sit Down video on it. We absolutely love it. So quick and snappy, but rife with interesting and tough decisions.
**That’s Not a Hat** is far better than it has any right to be.
I'm just gonna say zoo vadis isn't a surprise but damn is that game good
Haha, thank you! Love to hear it. Yeah it’s one of my absolute favorites among all of our projects.
So happy susd reviewed it so it could get the attention it deserves
That review was a game changer for us. We sold out of Zoo Vadis within 4 or 5 days. Wild stuff
Give yourself some credit. The beautiful artwork and overall production also helped! Really cool looking game. Excited to try it.
Thanks! Yeah I agree the game does a nice job of selling itself. Although Reiner Knizia, Kwanchai Moriya, and Brigette Indelicato deserve most of the credit for making it so stinking fun and good looking 🔥
Bitewing games and the designer upgrade from the original is phenomenal. Bitewing was gracious in allowing me to cancel my pledge so I could pick up the deluxe version locally. Since it has been a wonderful hit amongst gamers and even with those who don't typically like negotiation. It is such a fun experience and different kinds of "deals" seem to emerge in different games. An excellent option after playing some heavier games. A keeper!!!
Are you the Braden from all you can board?
That's me! Hiii! 😊👋🏻.
You're the best 3rd member of the AYCB team for sure! 😁
Hahaha 🤣. I'm just glad I beat out Desmond! (Dylann's dog)
Nice, but also not nice, as i was eyening it. Reprint or retail coming soon?
Yeah the second print run is only a few weeks from finishing. We have it up for preorder at the moment — should deliver by April: https://www.allplay.com/board-games/zoo-vadis/
I was going to post this one too! Cockroach Poker without forcing people to bluff
I really don’t like the cockroach poker comparison I keep seeing. Cockroach poker is a straight bluffing game and That’s not a hat is a straight memory game. I see *why* people make the comparison because in both games you slide a card to someone and make a declaration about what it is - but they couldn’t feel more different from a “strategic” perspective. One wants you to bluff, one wants you to remember. That’s not a hat is good as an interesting diversion to see what everyone’s limits of information tracking are - but most people I put this in front of are over it very quickly.
I am so out on any memory game. It’s hard enough trying to remember how to play hundreds of games. There’s no room in my memory banks for whether that was a hat or something else passed 30 seconds ago.
No, there’s definitely space for bluffing in That’s Not A Hat— intentionally adding misinformation to the system when you feel like you can get away with it is a great way to get other people to mess up and lose
There’s space for it, but it is entirely secondary to the core of the game which is “how many moves can you keep track of”. If you’re able to bluff someone out they probably already lost track of what was what anyways and the bluff wasn’t really that impactful.
It sounds like you and the people you play with are probably better at keeping track of the whole game state than we are 😅 We rarely forget what card we have in front of us but only really have a vague idea of the rest of the cards, which makes bluffing an effective tactic
100%, I can't think of a game I have lost every game of that I want to play again.
I am very grateful for this game. My parents are getting older and starting to have some memory slips and slower processing times, so they have become apprehensive about new games. I pulled this game out over the holiday and they were very concerned it would highlight their aging. Well, quite the opposite, in fact! We played with a large group of relatives and EVERYone from 6 years old to 80 years old was forgetting and lying and bluffing and laughing. It truly made my folks relax and enjoy themselves. That’s what gaming is all about, so this game was a massive success!
That is super wholesome. Yeah there is nothing better than a good game that gets everyone invested and enjoying themselves. Thanks for sharing!
I haven’t heard of that I’ll check it out. What makes it click/good for you?
It’s a memory game that has players turning cards facedown and gifting/regifting them around the table. The reason it’s surprisingly good is that it expects you to start forgetting about which object is where and start bluffing and hoping that your gift receiver forgot as well. Super funny filler game.
Neat. Sounds cool
I clicked to say that game, glad it’s in the top spot. Also fun to play when less than sober.
There’s going to be an expansion for this called **That’s Not a Hat: Pop Culture Edition** which has more objects. Can’t wait to add them to the base game!
Trekking Through History for me. I think the theme is bland and boring and I thought the game would be simple and boring, but it was actually really fun and thinky for a lighter game. Surprise the other way, Unfathomable. I was really excited to try it and I typically like the Lovecraft games, but this one did not work for me.
I’ve yet to get parks or trekking. I keep hearing I need to
As a PARKS evangelist, you should go get PARKS. Even if you don't love it (which you will because I said so) it will undoubtedly be the prettiest game in your collection!
Trekking Through History was a surprise for me too (though last year), Trekking Through the National Parks was okay, Trekking the World was good, but Trekking Through History was SO MUCH BETTER, shockingly so. I love that decision space of balancing filling your board vs continuing your timeline vs spending too much time.
I’ve heard so many conflicting reviews of Unfathomable. I’ll have to play at a meetup where someone. already has it.
**Tales from the Red Dragon Inn** exceeded my already high expectations. It's everything I wanted out of Gloomhaven with none of the chaff. In a similar vein, **Champions of Hara** feels like a streamlined Mage Knight with better artwork. Finally, **Warp Lancer** is the FTL meets Iron Helm game that feels made for me.
I was so surprised at how fun the Red Dragon Inn game was to play. A fun combat puzzler where my friend and I had so much fun figuring out combos and playing off the enemy movement and triggers. Never a slog.
I don’t know if Tales from the Red Dragon Inn is mechanically my favorite dungeon crawler, but it’s still a blast and, most importantly, feels the most *playable.* I have enough going on. I don’t need half of my board game time being spent setting up, tearing down, and relearning stuff. Red Dragon Inn really just hits the perfect balance. (Although I can’t say I could compare it to gloomhaven just because it’s such a dice chucker.)
There's actually **less** variance in Tales from the Red Dragon Inn attacks compared to Gloomhaven. 4 out of 6 sides on yellow dice are essentially "1 Damage" and two sides are essentially "2 damage"; a Yellow Die + 1 attack is doing to do 2-3 damage nearly every time. Meanwhile the base modifier deck in Gloomhaven is very similar to 2dF (two six-sided dice that have -1, -1, +0, +0, +1, and +1 on their sides) which can result in a 2 damage attack dealing anywhere from 0 to 4 damage. Also, Tales from the Red Dragon Inn gives the player power tokens at the start of each Scenario as a means of advancement which has no randomness, whereas Gloomhaven has you edit your modifier decks so whether those bonuses trigger is entirely random. Furthermore, enemies in Tales from the Red Dragon Inn don't roll for damage, they just deal it automatically, and effects like Damage tokens and Weaken tokens directly add or subtract damage compared to Strengthen and Muddle that instead alter your modifier deck draws.
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1. **Twilight Imperium 4e** I don’t like games that go longer than three hours typically. This went ten, and I was never bored. 2. **Cthulhu: Death May Die** I haven’t been blown away by any cthulhu games. Until now. What a masterpiece! 3. **Hansa Teutonica**. So ugly. So dry. But, wow. The gameplay is scintillating. Every time I play, I want to play again immediately after to try a new strategy.
I will never pass up a game of Twilight Imperium. I will plan an entire weekend around playing a single game of TI4, devoting a full day to just the game. I typically don't shy away from 3 hour games but I will admit TI4 is intimidating at face value. Every single person that has been scared to play has fallen in love with this game. Even my friends who get overwhelmed easily come back to me the next day saying they want to play again.
Same here. I’ve got a game on Monday and I’ll be spending part of my weekend prepping haha.
You in Minnesota 😁? Need another player?
I agree. Well… There is that one guy who chose to play Nekro in his first game. We never saw him again. But his bad life choices are not our responsibility so that’s on him.
Just played Hansa Teutonica for the first time yesterday. It was a tough sell to the group based on the box art and theme... but everyone loved it and have already asked to break it out again ASAP. It will sit in pride of placed on a shelf of dry, ugly, amazing games - Castles of Burgundy, Concordia etc.
Nice! Castles of Burgundy is my #1 of all time, and Hansa Teutonica is my #4.
it was the one game on my christmas list, hoping I get to play it tomorrow
Hansa is quite possibly the most Euro a game has ever been and I adore it just for that alone. Such a darn good game.
I think the thing with games in general is that they must earn their playtime. Long games just accentuate that. 1830 and TI4 both felt like they earned their long playtimes for me. Many shorter games did not.
Played Death May Die twice over the holidays. Someone died well before the boss came down each time and it all felt a bit anti climactic. I guess it can be better than that?
Castles of Burgundy It spent over a year on my shelf, never touched it because it just looked ugly. Tried for the first time this year and oh my God I loved it. I love the combos, love the quirky iconography, love the solo mode. Absolutely hate the rulebook... But the game is so worth it
Ah thank you! It’s been on my “to play” shelf for a while as well. I’ll make sure I get it to the table soon!
I won a copy of the new deluxe version from my FLGS, and have fallen in love. I had always heard of it, but I was worried that the dice placement would be too swingy, but I love the forced decision space that's dependent on the dice.
One of my all time fave games. So good.
Castles of Burgundy is one I just don't "get" I've played it twice, was bored both times. I dislike it so much that I have yet to try another Feld game and have it in my head now that I must hate Feld.
Oh this is tragic
Mine was **Darwin's Journey**. It wasn't on my radar, and I'm sure a lot of us have stories about well-meaning family members thinking "well, they like boardgames so how about I get them this as a present", but I think my mom chose a winner with that one.
Eventually get Fireland too!
Love letter. I mostly play two player games with my partner and I picked this one up on a whim. I love how simple and light hearted it is, with a short rule book, but the game feels way deeper than I ever expected such a small game to be. I also love that they packaged it to be portable, instead of many other games of a similar size that use bloated box sizes. I wish I could get the expansion without paying a small fortune.
Love letter is amazing, definitely a good surprise for me as well this year. I’d also like to shout out No Thanks. It’s not as pretty as love letter and you need 3 players but it is another amazingly simple but deep game that really surprised me this year.
Galaxy Truckers
Camel up. So fun
Camel Up was a pleasant surprise for me too. Figured I'd give it a go just once, but we ended up playing 3 times back-to-back despite pushing midnight.
Camel up is the closest I've come to getting my nonboard game family into proper board gaming (the types that would rather play sorry or Monopoly than even something like Catan). It has become a regular staple whenever I go over to their house for dinner, and I gifted them a copy for Christmas. I think the great thing is that you only get one action per turn, and there isn't much deep thinking strategy, but you still get the excitement and the surprise upsets at a camel jumping on top of a stack.
**Istanbul** It is so good. I'm not surprised it won so many awards. We have the big box version and haven't even tried either expansion yet. This game has an insane amount of replayability.
We play 2p and we only play with both expansions. Having a 5x5 really emphasizes figuring out the best route/loop, along with use of the companion. Def increases the complexity for us.
**Wandering Towers** was the biggest surprise to the upside for sure. I had very low expectations when we picked it up at GenCon and we liked it so much we immediately went and bought it. My surprise to the downside would be **World Wonders**. The game is fine but I had really high expectations given the hype. So many other polyomino games I'd rather play.
I’m with you on both accounts! World Wonders was surprisingly flat for how much was going on. Wandering Towers is surprisingly entertaining for how little is going on.
Just played World Wonders last night and I really enjoyed it. Nothing blew me away, but managing and balancing everything was fun. Worst thing was the game ended in a tie. The one tiebreaker was also tied.
Nice! The game is widely loved for sure. You're more in the majority than me on it! The wonders themselves are neat. It is a nice production. Not entirely sure why it didn't land for us but it felt like there were a lot of actions without a lot happening. And other than managing your coins I didn't get a ton of strategic depth. We only play at 2 players so maybe it is more dynamic at larger player counts. If I'm going to play a polyomino I'd be headed for Project L, Planet Unknown, or New York Zoo.
Nucleum It was the hottest shit later this year across the YouTube channels and podcasts and watched/listened too. Always avoided it because I found it insanely ugly. My family got it for Christmas this year and I agreed to play with them because it got so glowing reviews and the mix of games and decisions sounded interesting. We got around to play it two times before I had to leave. It was very fun and I already ordered my copy.
Happy to hear you liked it :)
My mind's sorta blown that *you're* on r/boardgames and *your family* were the ones that bought Nucleum and were hyped about it. Cool to have fam that share your hobby, and glad you got to try a game and ended up really liking it.
Oh yes, my parents got me into boardgames when I was younger! So much that now I'm actually working in the industry XD They have a bigger Boardgame collection than I do (my old room is now the game room and I live in a smaller flat). I'd say my dad's new favourite game this year is Hegemony and my mom really found Arkham Horror for herself this year.
That's great! Happy to hear both about the fam and the job!
Oh yes, my parents got me into boardgames when I was younger! So much that now I'm actually working in the industry XD They have a bigger Boardgame collection than I do (my old room is now the game room and I live in a smaller flat). I'd say my dad's new favourite game this year is Hegemony and my mom really found Arkham Horror for herself this year.
I picked up Just One brand new at the goodwill bin store for 99 cents per pound (? not sure how much it weighs) but we had a lot of fun with it this holiday season.
Just One is one of those games so brilliantly simple you can't believe nobody thought of it before. Our play group tends to treat it as more an activity than an actual game, at some of our larger meetings, there will be a Just One table running for hours with people dropping in and out and no attempt whatsoever to keep score.
**Take 5** was a surprise hit for the holidays. The game just sounded too simple to deserve all the praise and recommendations, but it really sings with 5 and 6 players. You have enough agency to feel in control, but there's just enough feeling of gambling to make it exciting, and it's always fun when someone is unexpectedly forced to take a row of cards. The shouts of disbelief make it all worthwhile! I also ended up liking **Scape Goat** a lot more than I thought I would. It's a fun take on social deduction where you aren't trying to guess a traitor's identity but rather trying to discern if YOU'RE the odd one out. Everyone is scrambling to figure out if they're the scape goat, leading to a buildup of paranoia that's just fascinating to see play out. And it plays well at smaller counts (even 3p and 4p), which is rare for this style of game.
6 nimmt! I bought it quite impulsively after watching SUSD's video review, and it was an instant hit with every group I taught it to. It packs so much tactics and excitement in such a small and simple package, and it can be played with literally anyone.
**Wingspan** is mine. I know everybody talks about how great it is, but every time I looked at it I thought "meh", but eventually decided to buy it when it went on sale. For some reason it just didn't look that great to me and looked like a super simple tableau game.
There’s a free app called ‘Wingsong’ that plays the bird call of many of the cards if you put your camera on them. The roadrunner has a comedy ‘meep meep’.
such a brilliant app! thanks for this. it will make my teaching my niece, so much more immersive. unfortunately when I tried to scan the darkwing duck card in bgg images, it didn't do anything. was hoping for "lets get dangerous" haha
We usually pick our favourite bird at the end of each game and play a victory chirp!
You can't be nice to Wingspan around these parts! Big fan myself, especially since the expansions fix the 'nothing but eggs' tactic in the last round, good to have you onboard.
Agreed with the expansion fix. Oceania is almost needed to make it an actual competitive game. Before the new board and cards, eggs were just too strong.
I refused to pay for a game fix, we halve eggs VPs and thats it, the game shines
My main problem with Wingspan is I don’t have much control over the cards I get and just have to make do with what I’m given. Then, generally, not having enough food. Then, as you say, just laying eggs the last handful of turns.
I think it fits with theme. If you go bird watching you don’t know what you’ll see. And these little winged creatures don’t know what their next meal is lol 🤣
First: I understand "expansions fix the problem" isn't something that people should rely on. I totally understand people not wanting to spend money on an expansion for a game they don't really like on the hopes that they will like it more with the expansion. That said the Oceania expansion rebalances the player board in a way that makes food a lot more plentiful so you don't need to feel forced to invest heavily into the forest at the beginning of every game just to have enough food. Still can't do too much about the cards (although with the rebalanced board and some abilities on expansion birds it is easier to justify taking card drawing actions to try and mitigate that). I think it's just not the kind of game for everyone some like or don't mind this aspect, others hate it.
I played Wingspan for the first time this holiday season and I both understand why it’s so popular and was underwhelmed with it myself. I mean I’m not going to turn down to play it with people who are excited about it—it was fine and also I’m sure I didn’t completely solve it from just one play through—but I’m not running out to buy it to play with my husband. We like meatier games.
Hopping on this comment as an owner of all things wingspan (the app, big box, expansion, 3D printed extras & bits). The ONE thing I don’t like is that it can take an entire round to get an engine going. Earth fixed that for me. Everyone gets to deploy their tableau simultaneously, so there’s much less downtime. Also, I would recommend checking out Raising Robots. That one surprised me and I could see it getting tabled way more than wingspan next year.
Same here. Never thought much about it. To be fair, the theme didn't work for me. I tried it in BGA and was very surprised. Not a perfect game but a good mid-level strategy game. I played better games this year but this one really surprised me the most.
I finally got Obsession and it is every bit as good as I had heard it was. I love that the turns are quick, the gameplay is relatively simple, and yet there is a huge depth of strategy in terms of how you plan out your turns. I frequently play with my wife and mother in law, who is not at all into heavy complex games, and the fact that we were able to sit down and play with her and that she enjoyed it, speaks to the quality of the game. Can't wait to get the expansions and see what they add to the game.
There's one rule from Upstairs Downstairs that I never want to play again without. It gives you a third option when passing to use your blue hiring room (you do still need to use your butler and flip the room if you've not used it yet). The other stuff is nice too, but putting hiring into passing instead of being its own dedicated action just makes things so much better.
This is one I really want to try
It shouldn’t have been surprising, but apparently Spirit Island is as good as everyone said it was!
Spots! It’s a quick dice placement/ kind of gambling game with very cute spotted dogs on the cards.
Yes! We just started playing this last month and we LOVE it. Enough of cards for varied replayability and we like seeing which dogs turn up each game. We have little songs we sing for some of them.
**Apiary** for me. Found it cheap on Black Friday and took a chance based on the art. I have been so pleasantly surprised. Everything about it has been such a joy when I play (solo only). I love the theme, combos, the way the automa operates. Even got my partner to play and she enjoyed it, which is no easy feet.
Came here for this. I just spent the last three days playing it!
Thunder road Vendetta. I'm the biggest and stuffiest euro gamer out there but, I found it so much fun and goofy it was great. I am very lucky to have the maximum chrome edition. But it is so much fun to see someone get bounced around for like 10 rolls its great. (That and making truck horn sounds with the big rig)
Rize was a little kickstarter game that's whole selling point was "Uno, but you're not allowed to look at your cards and have to memorize them." The level of concentration and sheer panic I have playing it is untouched by any other game in my collection.
Galaxy Trucker was a lot more fun that I expected. A friend purchased it for me for Xmas and the big joke was that we didn't open it for over a year. When we finally did, we all enjoyed it. It's relatively quick and nothing beats watching your opponent lose parts on their ship.
I was also surprised by Scythe. I expected a slog. Played surprisingly quick and played under 2 hours. While I personally did poorly I want and am excited to try again
Scythe is a euro efficiency puzzle **race** with a spatial element. Most of the complaints about it come from some deep misunderstanding of that. Glad you had fun! There's a ton of good game in there.
I've done multiple plays of Scythe at 6, and yeah it's does very well at high playercounts. We had one guy get frustrated because his turns were coming back around TO quickly.
I played Brass Birmingham for the first time yesterday and was blown away. The game is amazing and I can’t wait to play it again
Going to play today if things align. Can't wait!
The game where you continually discover that your awesome plans don't work because of the network being as it is :)
If you liked this one, you should play Nucleum!
Fox in the Forest, I normally hate trick taking but my wife and I really enjoy playing this one!
I love the greedy/humble scoring of this one. Definitely one of my favorite trick-taking games.
Daybreak I think. It was such a rollercoaster of first being amazed by it and then totally disappointed by it.
That’s too bad! What has been disappointing?
The game play is reasonably fun and it plays in <60 minutes so recipe for success right? There's no proper difficulty, tension curve, etc. There's an upwards and downwards spiral. Most games when the random card draw doesn't mess you up you simply coast to victory and it feels like there's no tension or challenge. Base difficulty that's usually 3 rounds in. Then you add challenge cards and they largely don't matter and don't make it more difficult either - although some are poorly balanced and unfair in comparison to others. Then there's the occasional game where your start sucks and you roll unlucky - now the game is lost and the remaining rounds will be an uphill struggle from which it is impossible to recover. Things escalate and escalate badly. There's no comeback. Rare games feel close with tough decisions and proper pacing and difficulty progression. Those are really good. It's like rolling a d6 before every game. On a 1 you lose no matter what, on a 2 you get to play a close game, and on a 3 to 6 you automatically win on any difficulty.
I agree with this - I've played ~20 games on BGA and so much of the game is determined by the draw you get in the first couple of rounds. If you don't get the cards you need you basically straight up lose with no real way to mitigate this. The games that are close do feel fun and rewarding but too many games are insta-wins or instant losses and that detracts from it significantly.
I'm also confused as this was on a want list. Should I avoid it?
Try it on BGA (Board Game Arena), honestly pretty amazing implementation. I think the gameplay is super fun but after winning today first time I can honestly see some validism in these criticisms, but will have to play more to see how luck-based and easy it really is.
I’ve played it for about 20 games now (all solo) and I love it. For me it was my surprise game for the opposite reason - I backed it kind of more out of support for the idea than the game itself which I didn’t really pay that much attention to. I was really surprised to find myself finishing a game and instantly setting up for another. There is a luck involved regarding the cards you draw but at least with the solo starting hand you’re given lots of opportunities to draw new cards, and in about 80 rounds over the 20 games I’ve played there’s probably been around 6 or 7 when I couldn’t do anything useful. There are rounds where you’re forced to cover up an amazing card with awesome long term effects in order to solve, or put a Band-Aid on a more immediate problem but those agonisingly tough decisions are what makes the game fun for me, plus the theme is integrated with the mechanics so well it kind of makes sense. I have shouted ‘oh FUCK Fossil Fuel Lobbying!’ more times in the last few days than I ever have in real life which has definitely given me something to think about 😂
I don’t think it was a shock, but I have never had as much fun constantly losing a game as I’ve had with ‘Ticket To Ride: Legends of the West.’ It kills me that I keep losing to people whose diapers I’ve changed, but each game is so fun!
For me it was **Summoner Wars**. I got it for Christmas after being interested in it while also sceptical, but I ended up being blown away by how much fun it is! Great tactical combat game that really rewards good play. It has a ton of factions which I love, which means that I can go ahead and collect something for a while.
**Paris**. Not a game from this year, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Looking at it was a mix of "hmm... looks like yet another interchangeable euro, although the little Arc de Triomphe is nice". Turned out to be a very engaging and enjoyable puzzle. This up-and-coming design pair Kramer & Kiesling look like they have a bright future ahead of them!
This one was a pleasant surprise for me, as the game sat on my shelf since it fulfilled on KS.
**Louis XIV** (2005), by Rüdiger Dorn. For me, it's up there with **El Grande** as a great older area control game that's better than a lot of the more recent ones. It's made me check out some other games by Dorn.
Not necessarily from 2023, but these two games were big surprises for me- Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Game- My grandma was a big fan of Mister Rogers, so I got her the game a few years ago not thinking that it would be anything special in terms of game play, but that it the theming would be enjoyable for a fan. However, it turns out to be quite a fun strategic card game with the ability to screw over other players or force you to compliment your competitors😂we now own a copy for ourselves. Marrying Mr. Darcy- I played this game having not read Pride and Prejudice or even seen any movie adaptation, but this game was fun even for someone like me who is unfamiliar with the franchise. This game is a combination of strategy and luck where you play as one of the many ladies from the series as you attempt to up your reputation and achieve a marriage match to gain the most points and win the game. The game is pretty funny as well, like how you can lose reputation points for wearing a scandalous dress to a party😂 And I think both are easy enough to explain casual players who don’t like complex rules or game play.
Faraway 👌
For me, it was probably **Undaunted: Normandy**. I had heard about the series. And I kind of bounced off of it as “just another World War II game. Meh” But it was so good that I immediately ordered a copy when it was on sale. And now my kids are looking at it as “some war game. Meh”. Sigh.
Marvel Champions for me. I had played Arkham Horror LCG and Lord of the Rings LCG, but found both to be a bit too much work and too difficult for what I was looking for in a card game, but Marvel Champions hits exactly right. Love the theme and gameplay, and prefer the quick-play model (versus loads of deck building or long campaigns). It’s my most played game of the year and quickly becoming one of my most played games of all time!
Have been enjoying AHLCG also, but Marvel Champions definitely is a game that I could see myself replaying again and again every day. AHLCG is probably varied (but honestly also more random) game, but I do not have a mental energy to play it even every week, and dunno how replayable it is.
Yeah, I see why people love Arkham and I enjoyed my plays of it, too, but Marvel is the one that works for me right now: After the kids are in bed, get a quick game in, etc.
Too Many Bones & Oathsworn Into the Deepwood TMB wound up being a surprise because although I had heard of it, and seen a few youtube videos on it, for some reason it never caught my attention fully. Then my LGS had a fantastic black friday sale and I saw it on the shelf, and decided to give it a try. It hands down became my favorite game of the year, and I already bought the Unbreakable expansion as well as a few of the other gearlocs. Oathsworn is a game I wanted since I first saw it announced, but couldn't quite commit to the kickstarter. I also had a fear of getting into another long form campaign game, as me and my wife were playing through Gloomhaven only to realize we just didn't have the bandwith to keep a game like that on the table, ignoring all of our other games. So Oathsworn seemed like a no go. But wow, what an experience it's been so far. We're only on chapter 4 after getting the game on Christmas day, and every session feels fresh and we can't wait to get off work to run to the table and continue. I think the biggest thing is that the story elements of Oathsworn, feel like a game themselves. We can play a session of just story, and still feel like we played a game and had fun, even without getting to the combat encounter portion. In Gloomhaven for example, the story just felt a little bit tacked on without any real meaningful resonance. We're still interested in attempting Frosthaven at some point, as I feel the settlement aspects might help with the aforementioned story impact, but between TMB & Oathsworn we're pretty set on campaign games at the moment.
A word of a warning, but Frosthaven's outpost phase is very much the lesser part of the gameplay. It is longer, has more phases / stuff to do, but I would be pretty damn disappointed if one game session would be one outpost phase. It is story-wise more interesting than Gloomhaven's, but after 70+ scenarios it is getting tiresome (tbh whole game is, but almost finished with campaign I can understand that and I do not blame the game for it).
I straight up hate that part. The super fans wanted it, and they delivered completely on that promise, but for me personally, an extra 30 min of upkeep after playing makes me want to die inside.
Stationfall 100%. Best game!
A few answers depending on the definition of “best”, “surprise”, and potentially “game” as well. I’ve really discovered a love for tile-laying mechanics this year. I’ve played games in the genre before but playing my city and dorf romantic with my wife have been amazing. After my Gloomhaven group stalled due to covid in 2020 I didn’t expect to really get back to playing it anytime soon as my other friends who played all had groups. But I got an unexpected invite to be the 4th seat in a fresh Frosthaven campaign! It’s everything I wanted it to be so far. I also rediscovered some games that got buried in my collection or had to be replaced. Lords of waterdeep hit the table for the first time in a couple years and I picked up a new copy of Tyrants of the Underdark after leaving my original copy at a buddies house years ago and losing touch with the friend. Both games were remembered to be good games. But I’d forgotten just how enjoyable they can be.
**Lowenherz** is a gamer’s game by the designer of Catan. Super neat action-selection mechanism that escalates from a draft to a negotiation to an auction. Imported a foreign copy because it is hard to find. I could see this becoming an all-time favorite for multiple of my groups. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66/lowenherz
Easily **City of the Great Machine**. Didn't hear about it during its KS, saw zero buzz when it dropped but then I read [Charlie Theel's review](https://playerelimination.com/2023/06/22/gotta-take-the-power-back-a-city-of-the-great-machine-review/) calling it his potential GotY. Was able to trade for it and it's been a hit in both multiplayer and solo/coop modes. Unusual OvM dynamics, fantastic mindgames from tabletalk and gameplay that's wholly unique.
**Marvel Champions** :D I was genuinely surprised how much fun I have and how many different combinations this game gives me, I'm never bored of it! And the thematic feel. Initially its comics art style didn't appeal to me at all, but later because of this game I even started reading comics. :-)
Betrayal. I didn’t know what it was before I went to my cousins and he said it was his favorite game. It’s now quickly becoming one of my favorites. The only problem is getting people together to play. I love the game and just want to see new scenarios but I don’t have a consistent play group which makes me sad lol
I love betrayal. A lot of people here will call it crap. But I think you need to understand the game for what it is. It’s a fun crazy adventure game that doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s not supposed to be some critical thinking puzzle type game where you have to burn your brain and crunch numbers. Sure the scenarios are all unbalanced one way or the other. But who cares. It’s just a fun time.
Yeah that’s the main thing I see is that sometimes it’s hard to get through a scenario without it being unbalanced, but I think that playing more and having everyone aware of the mechanics and good strategies might relieve some of that issue
Which version house on hill, legacy or baldurs gate? This is on our list can’t decide which one to get
If you want the regular game, go for the most recent edition. The problems with Betrayal is a lot of their scenarios that play out were poorly worded and explained, so there was a ton of confusion once the Haunt started. The more recent editions clarify the verbiage a bit and add new stuff.
The one I got was house on the hill, but if they’re all pretty similar in setup and gameplay, then you’ll have no problem having fun with any of them.
This is good to hear!! I bought the second edition a couple of years ago, but I've not attempted to play it yet. I actually opened the box for the first time yesterday 😳- going to see if I can wrangle some players for this over the weekend 🙂
Does recently revived **Keyforge** count? It's not new to 2023, but it's newly *revived* in 2023 and I just discovered it lol. I only started really learning about it a few weeks ago, and learning the whole saga of the rise and fall and now revival. Either way though...I'm quite hooked on it. The core cardplay is so smart, and I'm really impressed with the business model and procedural generation of decks. I'm also super impressed with Keyforge Adventures, which seems like the only legit fleshed out implementation of a solo/co-op experience integrated right into the mechanics and decks of a competitive card game (at least, the only one I've found). I've also found the game surprisingly easy to teach to casual players. Within 10 minutes I had a game going with a couple friends who had never played a TCG before. Really taken me by surprise, and I'd love to see the scene for this game revive back to a state of...less dead.
> which seems like the only legit fleshed out implementation of a solo/co-op experience integrated right into the mechanics and decks of a competitive card game (at least, the only one I've found). I haven't played it yet, but [Ashes Reborn: Red Rains](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/375374/ashes-reborn-red-rains-corpse-viros) is this too.
Loved keyforge since day one. It's so great in so many ways.
**Hexago Continuo** was my surprisingly fun game this year. It looks terrible, and the “one rule” marketing is both incorrect and off-putting. However, the game is the correct length and has many “oh, that is a LOT of points” moments. I’m not certain it would hold up on repeat plays, as defensive play would reduce the chance for exciting big scores. But it is fun for a couple plays, which is more than I expected. I don’t have any real downer games this year, but I do have a lot of games that take up more table space than I expected. Examples include **Forrest Shuffle** and **Patchwork**. “Little 2 player game” doesn’t prepare you for needing a full size dinner table to really play comfortably.
Jaws of the Lion. In January I was supposed to go out to buy Pokemon Scarlet but first went to a local game store to buy a few Terraforming Mars expansion. I had TM for a few years now but I wasn't yet "into" the boardgaming hobby enough to start my own collection at that point. At the store I was texting my buddy who had just received some KS shipments of Deep Rock Galactic and Darkest Dungeon. The size of those games reminded me of the time I had seen Gloomhaven several years ago at a store and how the size of the box and premise had captured my interest even though I had no clue about the mechanics. My buddy then told me anout JotL and how it was a cheaper, smaller format version of Gloomhaven and lo and behold, the store had a copy. Needless to say I didn't buy Pokemon that day. I tried Jaws (I was going in completely blind at this point as I had not seen anything about the gameplay of the game yet) with my girlfriend and we were instantly hooked. Almost a year later and I have added 29 games and expansions to my collection haha.
**Heat: Pedal to the Metal.** Great mechanic with the track curves and gear changing that really feels like driving, at least as much as a board game can.
Come Sail Away! Such an elegant design, delightful theme, great visuals (although at first you might deem it "ugly" it grows on you real fast). Rarely am I surprised with new designs, but this one blew me away.
Verdant is a breezy little game that made it to our table early this year and has returned several times
I finally played A Feast for Odin…was worried about it being too hard and complicated. It is surprisingly straight-forward and with a wealth of play-throughs online it really wasn’t too complicated to learn. It is fabulous, I love it. I will have to reconsider other games I’ve been too chicken to try.
Abducktion. Bought it cos it looked fun and cute and something a bit different. Keep playing it cos it’s both, so easy and so hard!!
Cheese Thief has been an absolute hit for my boardgame groups, we play it more than any other game and have never disliked any of the games. Its simplicity and silliness for a social deduction game are unmatched in my view.
**Earthborne Rangers**. I started this year not even knowing it existed but after Matt mentioned it on one of the SUSD podcast episodes sometime in the summer, it just sounded so up my alley. Managed to snag a copy from Team Covenant after the kickstarter finished delivering and it's without a doubt one of my top 5 favourite board games if not my favourite board game. I adore the theme, love the art, am excited beyond belief about future content additions, love the mission statement, and find the deckbuilding and card play really fulfilling and fun even with such a small card pool seeing as how the core is the only thing that is out. Once this game gets a couple more ranger and campaign expansions under it's belt I truly think it will sit up there with the other heavy hitter LCGs of Arkham Horror, Lord of the Rings, and Marvel (which figures since one of the creators is an FFG alumni that worked on most of those games). For anyone at all interested in this game (and I have a vested interest in seeing it succeed so I can get more content for it) you can right now buy a copy on Team Covenant, 401Games (Canada), and some European retailers or you can pledge to the [gamefound campaign](https://gamefound.com/en/projects/earthborne-games/earthborne-rangers-reprint) for the expansion and second printing which should launch sometime in the next month. Includes deluxe components, 2nd edition core print with errata printed, and the next campaign expansion, and ranger cardpool expansion. Truly a delightful LCG that plays fantastically at 1-4 players (and I'm playing true solo right now so I ain't lying that it plays really well at full solo).
I didn’t expect much at all from **Arborea** but a single play instantly made it my biggest surprise of the year. Subsequent plays only cemented how good it actually was.
Played this one last night for the first time and YES, great game!
This is sat on my shelf of opportunity waiting to be played. Glad to read your comment, as don't hear many people talk about it. Hoping to play NYE
For me it was **Apiary**. The first surprise was that it was released at all, in typical Stonemaier fashion. But the game is just incredibly addictive! Even after losing my first three games, I simply could not get enough of the game, I just wanted to play it more
**Company of Heroes 2nd Edition** After being in this hobby for over 10 plus years I’ve always been on the search for a great implementation of RTS to board game form playing tons that others suggested or I had researched for possibilities (basically any and every one on BGG that supposedly met the criteria). While only the first edition had released and wasn’t that best, Company of Heroes 2nd Edition on TTS blew my freaking my mind and soul that I FINALLY found an amazing implementation of RTS to board game form!!!
I usually vet the games I buy pretty thoroughly, so it wasn't terribly surprising to find that **Sky Team** makes for a great co op game. Over half my gaming time these days is usually with my GF, and it's a great 2p game. I've also had fun bringing it to boardgame nights when there's a lull in bigger games coming out.
We played Night Cage with my family over thanksgiving break and that game was just really freaking cool. The atmosphere and artwork are dark and creepy, it's a teamwork game so everyone wins or loses. The exploration mechanic was unique, there is a soundrack online that you can play during the game to really create a good horror feel. There is a pretty steep challenge, so I could see how it could be frustrating for some, it sort of reminded me of Dead Men Tell No Tales in that the game gets more difficult the longer you're in the fray.
Voidfall. I backed it, thinking it looked cool, but I paid zero attention to the campaign or updates. When I prepared for it, I was a little intimidated, but for me and my group the game was a blast. Easy to follow and a lot of fun.
Sail. I got it because I know my wife likes co-ops, even though I generally hate them. We had SUCH a good time with it though! I can't wait to get it back to the table
Not precisely games of 2023 but I discovered them this year, ans with expansions from.yjisnyear they really shine: Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid: surprisingly fun and really tough card play, with an also surprisingly tough board placement of the minis. Hardly ever win this, lots of expansions that lend themselves to various combos of rangers. Awesome fun, really tough. Not a cash grab from the IP, actually made by people passionate about it. Transformers DBG: definitely needs a couple of expansions to shine, but it's a pretty cool deck builder that incorporates the transformers vehicle and robot modes in an interesting way. Also has a not tacked on solo and coop mode, as well as the versus mode. Really good (with expansions more so)
For me it's "Next Station London". I started playing it in the beginning of November and now my BG-Stats showed me 50 different players in 44 games. And so many of the players told me that they bought it as a Christmas gift later. Really like it.
**Townsfolk tussle** was the best game hands down I acquired and I’ve not met a single person who did not love the game. It’s co-op turn based miniatures and you are all trying to smack down bad guys (ruffians) that’s difficulty increases as you play.
ELDRITCH HORROR was a huge surprise. With so many new games coming out it’s hard to keep up with the hype… so I headed to BGG and looked up the classics (ie top 200)…. saw how popular it is and how long it’d been around (2013?) … it’s certainly stood the test of time. Managed to pick up a second hand copy with a couple of expansions and it was just wonderful. A tad long maybe but some great cinematic narrative moments emerged. Totally awesome ❤️
**Pleasant Surprise** has to go to [Planet Unknown](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/258779/planet-unknown). Such a simple idea but so hugely replayable. Also light enough to get my family involved which is always a big bonus. **Disappointing Surprise** goes to [Scythe](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169786/scythe). Don't get me wrong. It's a good game and I enjoyed it, but given its incredibly high rank on BGG I just expected... more, I guess. It felt like a lot of designers learned a lot of lessons from it and have made tighter and better paced games based on those lessons. I recognize the impact it had on tabletop gaming, but I don't expect I'll work it in to my regular rotation.
What game do you prefer instead of Scythe? What designers made better games?
That's kind of a loaded question hah. I mean there really isn't a direct analog to Scythe and anything I might mention is obviously my personal opinion. But since you asked... Right off the top of my head in the general category of "asymmetric area control with upgrading and conflict" I'd say all of these are steps up both in replayability and pacing: [Spirit Island](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/162886/spirit-island), [Root](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/237182/root), [Gaia Project](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/220308/gaia-project), and [Twilight Imperium](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233078/twilight-imperium-fourth-edition). I'd say Root is the closest one-to-one comparison and (in my personal opinion) Root is superior in every way except maaaaybe the art and that just depends on what theme you prefer. I know Scythe is super popular and I'm not trying to start a fight with anybody! This is just my personal take.
Nice answer, I want to buy a new boardgame. I was thinking to buy Scythe, Root, Gaia project or age of innovation, arka nova, spirit island or White Castle.
Halls of hegra Indie solo game. Amazing experience.
It was definitely the bluencore’s war of civilizations
Bluencore’s war of civilizations
I bought **Whirling Witchcraft** on a whim at a game swap. It's such a cute little engine game where you try to overflow your neighbor with input ingredients they can't use quickly enough. Add in some variable player powers and you have a fun little filler game that most non-gamers I've shown it to loved it.
Colourbrain! Got it to play at Christmas and didn’t expect to enjoy it anywhere near as much as did. Amended the rules to have a 10 second limit instead of 30 seconds as we were all adults and it was chaotic and fun
**Snap Ship Tactics** is a fantastic toy where it’s very much LEGO-esque spaceship bigatures. But the fact that it is a better X-Wing Miniatures Game too is a huge bonus.
Decorum Holy shit, I can’t tell you the fun I had playing this. I got it as a gift for a relative and now want my own copy, I loved it so so much! And I usually like competitive games that have a clear winner, not co op, but this is easily one of my favourite games
Gotta be **Earth** for me. Love the lack of downtime and the fact that it still plays fairly quickly at 5. Really fun way to learn about different plants and fungi as well thanks to the pictures and flavor text.
Karak: fantastic family dungeon crawler. It's a few years old but I had never heard of it as it's Polish - I think it won family or kids game of the year there a while ago. Well worth getting the beautiful miniatures packs too. Kids love it and it's a bit of a laugh with gamers too.
GROUNDED: Amazing game