I am so happy to have stumbled upon your channel. This was a wonderfully entertaining and thoughtful review on your top games. Subscribed and am looking forward to seeing more. Heck yes for Nemesis. 👽
Great video again ! I admire the way how you film these close-ups of the games. The video effects throughout the video are also cool, often even very funny... Again, great to watch, thanks for all the work that went into producing these vids !
Great Western Trail was my #1 game. Then I got Argentina and it fixed things I didn't even realize needed fixing. It jumped to #1 immediately. Definitely purchase.
Awesome list guys. Glad to see Gaia project getting some love, it's my #1 Also, it seems like very few reviewers are fans of Vital Lecerda, so it's great to see some of his games on your lists!
I love Gai have started playing it on BGA solo for now and enjoying it! Great game I can’t seem to get into Terra Mystica probably because I prefer the space theme.
Thank you both for sharing your list. Just found your channel and enjoyed it. My top 5 are: 1. Everdell 2. Terraforming Mars 3. Champions of Midgard 4. Architects of West Kingdom 5. Hadara
Nice work, guys. Enjoyed your top 100. ATM my favorite game is Kingdom Builder. In theory, Castles of Burgundy would be my #1 OAT, but Kingdom Builder is my second most played game of all time (after 7WD) & continues to be my first choice game to grab off of the shelf with other or to play on BGA. I also haven't really enjoyed a lot of heavier games that have nitty rules or take more than 90mins to play. You guys have any suggestions for "easy to learn, difficult to master games?"
Yes we do have games like that and now I think we need to make a top 10 of that! Great idea 💡. Will get back to you. Kingdom Builder is a great game. Just been a long time since I have played it but sitting on my shelf 😃 - Brad
Excellent top 10 both of you ! Do you prefer the second edition of GWT? I have the first edition and I'm on the fence to replace it with the new edition. Cant wait to hear what you think about that :)
I don’t think you have to upgrade. I like the new one. If you wanted a new twist Argentina looks cool and I will get that tabled soon so watch for that to see what you think - Brad
Interesting to see the differences in this list. Your videos look and sound good now, not sure what they were like before but on track currently for sure.
Thank You I really appreciate know what you think about how the videos look and sound 😁 Thanks for taking the time to watch our top 10 and I hope you enjoy out channel. - Brad
I would enjoy your thoughts on more Pfister games given how much you love great western trail. Maracaibo is one of my favorites, not only by him, but of all time.
Nice list. I've just find your channel but I must say according to your lists that our game preferences match. GWT, Brass Birmingham, Spirit Island, Terraforming Mars, all great games. I'm intrested even in the games I haven't played from your lists.
Awesome super happy to have you with us ! Always nice to find people who like similar games 😁 I hope you get a chance to play the games you haven’t played yet.
You probably mentioned this in your review, but do you see any major reason to upgrade to great western trail second edition? I have first edition and expansion. And the small rule tweaks do not seem worth it to me. Thoughts? Thanks for the video!
It is a little more stream lined buy I don’t think you have yo upgrade. I would look at GWT Argentina if you want something new. I am going to try yo play that this month a few times to be able to review it vs the current edition.
Really enjoyed the series guys great work. My wallet might argue with the content, will have to look further into Scythe and terraforming mars down the road. Really enjoying playing marvel champions for a lighter game and top game for me is marvel united. The game is simple enough i can play it with my 6 year (big reason its number 1) Coming from a hobby background painting the minis is fun as they are larger than the 32mm I normally would paint.
Having games with kids is great. I always looked for fames as mine where growing even now 😊 I enjoy painting as well but filming seems to be cutting into painting time hehe. - Brad
Newbie gamer here and have loved watching these! So glad to hear about the Horizons of Spirit Island. Looks like it's at Target for 29.99 now, so glad for an easier and more affordable option of this game!
Toph here. For 29.99, it's still worth it! The spirits are a very slight bit less complex (not easier game play, just less complexity to understanding and using the spirits' powers) and the pieces aren't quite as nice as the base game, but if you're ok with carboard chits that are still good quality and a set board instead of the modular board (neither detract from game play, IMO), then you get Spirit Island for half or a third of the price. When I picked it up, I played it nonstop before I pulled the full game off the shelf again.
Thank you so much for this video series. At the moment my number one and two are Marvel Champions and Zombicide. You both have peaked my interest with Great Western Trail. Keep the great content coming.
Lots of games that made both lists***********!! Great Western Trail *********** Nemesis Marvel Zombies Brass Birmingham *********** Star Wars Rebellion Marvel Champions (Solo Game) Cthulhu Death Must Die *********** Kanban EV *********** Gaia Project Everdell Terraforming Mars Lisboa Brass Birmingham *********** Scythe Pandemic Legacy Season 1 Cthulhu Death Must Die *********** Kanban EV *********** Great Western Trail *********** Arkham Horror Spirit Of Island
Superb top 10! So many great games. Nemesis is an experience to remember for sure. Marvel Champions and Arkham Horror great games and I own both and each one has its space in the collection. When I have more time and want to go through a story AH, if I just want to sit down and fight some baddies MC. I am still afraid of trying any Lacerda games tbh. I like Everdell a lot as well, and Marvel Zombies is very high on my wishlist. So I think I am #teambrad in the top 10. And congrats for the 2k subscribers! Maybe by end 2023 you will get to 10k. 🎉
Hey Daniel! Thanks for the comments, even if you are team Brad for this list 😂 Definitely don't be afraid for a Lacerda. They're heavier, yes, but something you can likely get. My advice, find someone who has one and can teach you. Also, don't start with On Mars or Lisboa. Kanban EV is a bit lighter and fantastic. The Gallerist is even lighter and also good. Brad just got Bot Factory and it's even lighter and also good. Akin to a medium plus Kanban EV. Thanks for joining us at the table and sticking with us! We're glad you're here.
Crazy that Marvel Zombies is so high on the list for you Brad. I hope the KS version holds up to the retail edition. I went all in on the KS (Save for Galactus) having never owned a zombicide so this gives me a lot of hope that it'll be worth it because our tastes seem to align more often than not. Thanks for the top 100 guys. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Jason! Ya it is fun and the kickstarter will give you a lot of options. Plays well solo and with others. Usually like to play three heroes solo and then 2 for each person in a multiplayer game. So limits the number of people but still fun.
Thank you for sharing your top 10's! Your energy is so perfect and production quality fantastic. My interests align almost exactly with Toph with a sprinkling of Brad =) my 10 number ones today are spirit island, praga caput regni, terraforming mars, paladins of the west kingdom, hadrians wall, concordia, Glen More Chronicles II, marvel champions, brass birmingham, scythe. Honorable mention for basically all Uwe Rosenberg, specifically feast for odin, caverna, & hallertau. I dream of getting lisboa & kanban ev one day!
Uwe love... woot woot! Also, #teamtoph... nice! You have some great games, including a few I haven't played. Really want to give Glen More Chronicles and Paladins. Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to hear how your venture to the heavier Lacerda games goes.
Loved this series! Some games I missed: - Domination Species: Marine - Imperium: Classics/Legends - Troyes - Trajan - Agricola - Tapestry - Roll Through The Galaxy - Beyond the Sun - Space Station Phoenix - Pipeline
I've only watched your top 10 and skimmed through the rest of top 50 so you may have mentioned the games I will bring up shortly: 1. Carnegie- this is my surprise hit of 2022. I bought it initially because I'm a sucker for gimmicks. The gimmick was in the player board design where you had 4 straps of cardboard that you insert into your player board. Anyway, the gameplay was amazing. In the game, as you build up your company, you add more departments (each allows a different action) and hire more employees (essentially act like workers). Not only that but you have to send your workers throughout the US to bring in the money and goods. You also are trying to expand your company throughout the US by capturing regional markets. Carnegie, in real life was a philanthropist, so you have to be mindful of giving to charities. A really great game that you should experience. I think Toph may appreciate it more than Brad. 2. Roll for the Galaxy- so this is the Dice game version of the cardgame, Race for the Galaxy. I played RaceftG around 5x because my friend really enjoyed the game. However, every time we played it, it gave me a severe case of AP. If not in the Action Selection, then in the discarding cards to pay to play a card. Then there is the iconography. Don't get me started on that... Roll for the Galaxy still retained the action selection but made more sense of it (how many of you hated the order of delivering and picking up goods in RaceftG?). Well, it makes much more sense in RollftG. The problem with iconography has been fixed in RollftG as well. Each tile has an easy to understand iconography but just in case also explains the action on the tile. The best part are the Dice. At its heart, it is a dice building game (think deck building but using dice instead). 3. Scholars of the South Tigris- this was released near the end of last year so its understandable not many have had a chance to play it yet. This is a heavy game. The 1st time we played, we were totally lost on how to begin (the choices initially felt overwhelming). For me, it wasn't until my 2nd game, that it started clicking for me. In the game, you are exploring the lands around Baghdad. You will be building a tableau of land, sea, and sky cards. You will also be picking up townsfolk cards that will facilitate certain actions you may want to take also. There are 2 types of workers. One are the workers in the form of dice. You can control the Dice through the use of the caravan which is part of your player board. You do this by upgrading your caravan. Your board have starting actions you can activate by placing your die on it. The other type of workers activate actions on the main board. These workers act like migrant workers. Once one player uses these type of worker, any other player can than scoop them up and use them for themselves.
I got to play it in January. I learned it and then taught it because one of our group had the deluxe from kickstarter on his shelf of shame. We enjoyed it. Need to get a few more plays in to really give it a rating though. Toph missed that night unfortunately. Thanks for watching and commenting we really appreciate it. - Brad
Yes to Kanban EV, Stat Wars Rebellion, Brass Birmingham (I will never grow tired of the game), I feel bad for you Brad, you have not one this game. I hate losing at this game! My partner fight over this game, when we got it, I won the fist few games, then he came back and won the next few for a while, and now I am winning all our game, I hope the can do an expansion. I like Toph's number 2 Lisboa. I like it too, only played it once, have to play it more. Thanks guys. My top 5 are: Brass Birmingham, Clans of Caledonia, Agricola, Terra Mystica and everdell.
Toph here. So glad you enjoyed the list and share in our interests. Hopefully Brad will start winning Brass Birmingham, although that means I'd have to lose... 😂 Great list!
We do love it. I did not like it the very first time I played it but that was at gencon and the person teaching us how to play did not help so we died quickly. Thanks for commenting and watching! - Brad
We have quite a bit of crossover in our top 10s. 1. Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles 2. Spirit Island 3. Brass: Birmingham 4. Anachrony 5. On Mars 6. Tekhenu 7. Great Western Trail 8. Yedo: Deluxe Master Set 9. Scythe 10. Kanban EV
Nice and we have some Of those a little higher on our lists hehe. Thank You for commenting! We need to play anachrony more I am sure it will rise on our lists. Brad
Thank you guys for an awesome top 100! Great work on the B-roll as well! :). You guys have so many great games in this top 10 that I have wanted to try, but haven’t had the chance to (Brass, Lisboa, Great Western Trail, Scythe, Marvel Champions)! I have to go team Brad on the top 10 for Star Wars Rebellion, Nemesis, and especially Everdell! Here is my top 10: 10) It’s a Wonderful World - My Favorite drafting game, this excellent game incorporates engine building, resource management, and hard decisions of do you draft a card to build it, or to trash it for its resources! Plays fast at four rounds that cycle the direction of the draft back and forth, then uses a ratchet mechanism to go down a resource production path where you get the resources needed to build your cards! 9) Unmatched System - The Unmatched games are my favorite tactical skirmish battle games. If I had to choose one set, it would have to be Cobble and Fog for the neat map and Sherlock’s interesting deduction powers. Each player chooses a character that comes with a mini, possibly ally disk(s), and a deck of cards (for movement, character(s) stats card, attack cards, and defense cards). On character stat cards you will find stats for their health, their movement speed, attack style (ranged or melee), and a special ability unique to them (as well as their ally’s stats if they have them). Some cards have a small number in a circle on their middle right that can be played to boost their base movement or a cards attack or defense value if that card can be boosted. Cards can only be used by your character whose name is on its top left (i.e. Any cards can be used by anyone, Sherlock cards can only be used by Sherlock, and Dr. Watson cards can only be used by Sherlock’s Ally Dr. Watson)! Each round begins by having the player draw a card before they can move. If a player cannot draw a card for movement, the take 2 points of damage! Melee attacks work by being on a space next to an opponent, while ranged attacks work by you needing to be on the same color as an opponent (each space has 1, 2, or 3 colors on it). This line of site rule was taken from the old game, Tanhauser, while the rest of this game is restored by Restoration games from Star Wars: Epic Battles. Beat your opponent or outlast them to win! 8) Mission: Red Planet (2nd Edition) - My favorite area control, simultaneous action selection game! I actually beat my nephew at this, and he usually wins all non-luck heavy or party games we play! Each turn players choose one of 9 character cards to play to get their steam punk astronauts to areas of Mars or its moon and gain points there for majority. Each card is only played once, but one card lets you pick up all previously played cards, so timing it’s use is big. Other cards let you move astronauts from one area of the moon to an adjacent one (if you think you have a better majority chance there), and another lets you blow up a rocket ship that has not landed on the moon yet! There are rockets on the platforms that are launching to the different areas of Mars that launch automatically when filled to capacity, so cards that let you put astronauts into rockets are also key, and one even lets you launch a rocket before it hits capacity. This game is great and feels like mixing the chaos of programming with area control! 7) Creature Comforts - A wonderful worker-placement/Dice-worker speculation Game with cute, family friendly theme and art of critters trying to make their homes comfy for winter! There is something neat and unique about placing workers where you want to get resources or draft a card, but only knowing what you have on your two family dice before the first player rolls the community dice that everyone shares to see if you can actually grab all you wanted or have to take a lessons learned token to use to adjust dice on future turns! It’s also great that the three board game comforts you can build are similar thematically to this game! My on recommendation is don’t play this at five players or 8 rounds! Goes way too long then. 6) Sniper Elite - I Love this bag building hidden movement/bag building game of sneaking around a base, bluffing at where you are at by pulling more sniper chips than needed to take out enemies, and winning by completing two objectives before taking two damage! On the base guards side, the captains powers, the respawning when taken out, and the tenseness of trying to track down where the Sniper is feels great! I love how both sides can fight and feel powerful instead of one side just running away from the other AND that it is fairly fast! 5) Nidavellir- A great bidding/drafting, set collection game of drafting dwarves to fight the dragon Fafnir. It has the neat bidding mechanism of using a 0 coin to go later in drafting dwarves from one of the three taverns in order to trade the higher bidding coin you didn’t use that round for a coin from the treasury equal the value of the two unused coins summed together! Dwarves score by lining them up with you player board for purple and green, blue sums their value, orange gain you points equal to their values times the number of bars they have on their top left, red scores more for having the most, and blacks have special scoring. Gain bonuses after finishing the age 1 deck, then have the most points after the age 2 deck is gone through to win! 4) Tenpenny Parks - My favorite theme park building game! This is a great worker placement/ polyomino laying game with awesome Vincent Dutrait art and rides that actually matter what you build! (Many others just repeat the same ride or attractions in different colors)! Cut down trees to make room for attractions, get loans to afford your rides, use advertising of your rides to gain money to build next round, go up on tracks to gain points (or drop back on them to gain bonuses like the powerful first player marker that breaks endgame ties)! Get the most VP (Visiting Persons) to your park to win! 3) Cosmic Encounter - Wonderful classic game of negotiation, back-stabbing, and unbalanced asymmetric player powers! Get five colonies to win! Be the only winner or (possibly) be the only loser! Fantasy Flight’s version includes a great player aid on the bottom of the alien cards! 2) Blood on the Clocktower - This excellent Social Deception game destroys werewolf by giving every player a power and a lot of behind the scenes fun to the storyteller/game runner. The variability of the different scripts of possible roles in the game really makes for more fun and different games. If you die, you stay involved in discussions and even have one chance left to vote out the demon! Good wins if the demon is executed and Evil wins if only the demon and one other player remains (generally)! :) 1) Everdell - I love ❤️ this cute worker placement, tableu building game that seems like it is impossible to build 15 cards into your city in round 1! I love how certain constructions let you build certain critters for free and others share a space! I love the variety of the forest spaces and special goals on the upper tree. And I love the tree that most complain about because it keeps my huge deck of sleeved cards from sliding all over the place! Brad, if I would suggest one expansion for Everdell for you to try, it would be Mew Leaf! It gives you new end game goals, a train where you can get extra resources, tokens to reserve cards in the meadow, and most importantly, a place you can go to that lets you clear out the cards in the meadow and the three that go on the New Leaf board in order to cycle through the deck more to search for certain cards! Thank you guys again! Love and appreciate your channel!
I will have to check out that Mew Leaf expansion sounds up my alley. Cosmic Encounter is just a great game ! You have some good games there as well. I want to try Clocktower but doubt I will by it. Also Mission Red Planet sounds like one I would like.
Uff great top 10, I still need to play any Lacerda, Spirit Island and Nemesis. For now my top 2 games are, The King is Dead 2nd edition and Scythe. Definitively I have GWT on my top 10 along with Blood Rage and Empires of the North, but I don't know which order.
Well as you can tell we like Lacerda and Nemesis for sure hehe. Going to have to check out the king is dead now! Thank You for watching and commenting much appreciated!!
my top ten are: 1. Pax renaissance 2. Troyes 3. Pax Porfiriana 4. Terraforming Mars 5. Lignum 6. Tyrants of the Underdark 7. Kemet 8. Madeira 9. Great Western Trail 10. Capital Lux 2 Generations If you haven't played one of these, check it out- you might find a new favourite game
You both have sold me on great western trail. I’m officially going to buy a copy. Also, I think terraforming mars is a great game but it seems to be hit or miss for people.
Toph here. Definitely let us know what you think about it! And yes... TM is a major hit for me, but a miss for Brad. Funny, when we like so many similar games.
The theme of Western Trail doesn't really do it for me, plus its historical presentation is dubious. I do love Maracaibo though, but of course, its theme is dubious as well! I've tried many of your guys' top tens, and there's a lot to agree with here, and some others I still need to try. Thanks!
@@BadatBoardgames Ya, I own it, gotta play it still. Although I disagree a little that it doesn't have issues: all humanity "owns" the moon. I not sure we want to go chunking it up into real estate and ripping it up for natural resources. That said, I will play on the asteroids side of the board once I'm into the game. Asteroids suck! Stupid failed planet. 🤪
I HIGHLY agree with both top 10's My favorite game of all time is Twilight Imperium 4th edition! We play in a group with lots of deals backstabbing negotiations etc which for me makes it that much more fun!
That is a game I wish I could table every 3 months and have a group like yours! It is not for Toph but I need to teach it to a couple more people and see. Thanks for commenting!
OK, maybe it's not quite 85 pounds, but it is heavy. In the box is the base game, Wind Gambit, Invaders, RoF, and a mini factory. Everything is painted. It also has the extended board, metal coins, realistic resources, and upgraded objective markers, influence tokens, action markers, and Invaders tokens. it also is all sleeved. What am I forgetting? LOL Such a GREAT game!
Top Game for me is also Terraforming Mars. Pretty much always play with Prelude, and Venus Next, and if not with new players then Colonies is included. My son loves Turmoil, but others in our group don't so it's hit or miss for that expansion.
@@BadatBoardgames ^__^ I was just curious. I was debating for a long time which of the two I would want to add to my collection. They're two of those... clearly distinct but also sort of overlapping games for me. Personally I went with Concordia, mostly because we already have quite a lot of heavier games, and Brass seemed a little heavier to me than Concordia.
@@lystic9392 ya Brass is Heavier than Concordia. Concordia is a great game though. One of our viewers sent me solo rules and I hope that helps me table it more often.
Chris, first, great name... Second, I respect your preference. TM:AE is a great game. My kickstarter expansion should come in soon. But as Brad said, I do prefer TM. Obviously stating the obvious if you watched the video lol. I'm rambling. Good game! -[Chris]Topher.
I passed on Ares because I did not care for the action selection mechanic and I thought it really dumb of them to have a vestige of the central board. If you are going to make a cardgame version of TM, then make a pure card game version of it! Why have a central board if it adds very little to no value to the game experience? After suffering a severe case of AP during action selection in Race for the Galaxy, I tend to avoid that mechanic in other games. While TM is not my #1 (no boardgame is clearly #1 for me but I have not really thought to rank them thus), I love playing the central board. It really adds to the feel of you and the other players working together to terraforming mars and yet competing to push through your own agenda towards it. I disagree with the notion that Prelude is a must to enjoy it. What is a must to enjoy it is to use the alternate rule of drafting cards. It definately increases the time invested in playing TM but it is worth it. My friend, who initially disliked the game, changed his mind when we went with that alternate rule.
This was my number one for SOOOO long. Absolutely love AH:2E. It's still highly rated, I just struggle to find people to play it with me. I can talk for ages about it, but I'd like to know: why do you love AH:2E?
@@BadatBoardgames I play it solo 😊 Honestly it is the stories the game tells when playing, Eldritch Horror comes close, but nothing elseI have tried does. Narrative games are too long and wordy for me 😊
I have EH, but I don't find it anywhere near as good as AH:2E. I don't know if that's nostalgia or that it's not as good as a game, to me, at least... but that's my thoughts. 100% agree with the comment on story telling. The tension it builds, the stress of going to certain locations where you know something will happen to you, the alterations to stats and need for healing, the feel of actually modifying my own skills to last through scenarios. All great! Have you played AH:LCG yet? I was so hesitant, but the card game really has turned out to be great, as well. I'm enjoying it solo, a lot.
The dude in the hat does not even tell what the games are about. Other than he liked it a lot. We are watching it to learn more about the games. Was it hard to tell us ab little bit what the games are about???
Dude in hat here, we are getting better check out some of our deep dives on on channel about our top 10 favorites. Thanks for taking the time to watch. Hopefully newer videos help you out more. - Brad
