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At Least They’ll Get Some Shade
Here’s a situation for you to puzzle through. You’re a wealthy patrician seeking to consolidate your power over a kingdom that was recently annexed by a great empire. The surest route to success is to control the spoiled heir to the puppet throne, but there are two problems. First, the boy’s childhood governess is trying to do the same; and second, you don’t actually know the brat — though you do know a Socialite who knows a Florist who knows a Monk who knows the Prince.
How do you go about influencing the Spoiled Heir?
Best Week 2013: The Index
I do these index posts for two reasons. First, because I’m a bit obsessive about indexing. I just love it. Mmm, indexing. And second, because every time I write a multi-part series, there are one or two people who request that I compile all the parts into a melange of linky goodness. I’m going to pretend the second reason is the one that actually compels me to do it. Sure isn’t my OCD, nuh uh, nothing to see here.
Anyway, with 2013 days behind us, now is probably a good time to do the index of all my best-of and top-games stuff from last year. Before I forget. And also before it’s completely irrelevant. So here it is: all my favorite games from 2013, plus some from 2012 that came out at the tail end of the year or that I just counted as 2013 games for some reason. Enjoy, and here’s to 2014!
Best Week 2013: The (Other) Games of the Year
Ahhh. The fifth and final day of Best Week 2013. Breathe it in. Breathe it. You smell that? That’s the scent of the ten best games of the year, not counting the genres we’ve covered thus far; so no fillers, expansions, solo, cooperative, or head-to-head games. Everyone on today’s list is playable with three or more players, occupies at least a couple hours, and — here’s the important part — is one of the best games of the year.
Also, we’ve got some investigative journalism for you. That’s right. You can find it all below.
Best Week 2013: Head-to-Heads
Here we are on day four of Best Week 2013, and we’ve finally arrived at my favorite topic: head-to-head games. Dueling games. Nobody-else-to-save-you games. Can’t-blame-your- teammate-when-you-lose games. Two minds locked in ultimate combat, the only other people at the table mere spectators, holding their breath and occasionally mumbling unwanted advice before your backhand slap shuts them up again.
Because this is my favorite genre by far, in place of the usual top five list, today we’re looking at the top ten. Buckle up.
Best Week 2013: Expanded
Was this a good year for board game expansions? I have no idea. There sure were plenty of them, including a bunch of interesting additions for Netrunner and the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Even so, when it comes to figuring out which expansions were my favorites this year, there’s hardly any contest.
Best Week 2013: The Appetizers
“Filler games,” as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, are those delicious appetizers that are played nearly every game night while you wait for the one or two friends who always show up late. As such, they’re designed for a small group and take an hour or less to play, and they’re as simple as possible to avoid the awkwardness of finishing the rules explanation the moment your tardy friends arrive.
My gaming group has about five of those consistently belated buddies, so while this best-of list is limited to a handful of 2013 releases, it was tempting to include all of our favorite fillers we played this year: Stone & Relic, Master Plan, Infinity Dungeon, 7-Card Slugfest, Titanium Wars, String Doomworms, and The Agents. For all intents and purposes, we’ll pretend these fall under a runners-up category — though they really don’t, since a little bit like the Highlander, there can only be five.
Best Week 2013: Alone / Co-Op Time
“What’s this Best Week all about, sir?” I was asked last week by the orphan pulling my rickshaw through the fictional streets of Malgudi. I considered not answering, as talk shortened his breath and subsequently lengthened the journey, but some Christian nook of my heart compelled me to tell him anyway. Perhaps it is because I believe all peoples everywhere should know about Best Week. It is, after all, the most joyous five days of the year, in which all the best board games are compiled, considered, and listed. And everyone loves lists.
Today, on the very first day of Best Week 2013, we’re going to examine the five best solo and cooperative games of the year. There are some natural limitations — I cannot, for instance, award the title of “Best Solo / Co-Op Game of 2013” to a game I haven’t played, and there are one or two games that didn’t come out in 2013 at all. So okay, it’s subjective. But I’d love to hear your input, dear readers, for Best Week is not only about my favorite games — it’s also about yours.
Trust Only in Betrayal: The Agents
With its focus on a pack of untrustworthy super-spies set adrift by the disappearance of their organization (which indicates to me that it was an exceptionally effective secret agency), it’s almost as though Saar Shai set out to create a game that appealed directly to me. I love secret agents. I love double-crossing. I love card games. Certainly that means I’ll love The Agents?
Or were my expectations… betrayed? (duh-duh-dummm!)
BattleLore ’44
I fear I have to begin this review with a disclaimer: The only other “Commands & Colors”-style game I’ve ever played was Memoir ’44 (and only one time), so if you were hoping for any comparative insights into the merits of the brand new BattleLore Second Edition relative to the other games of that family, I’m afraid I’m about as useless as a blue herring at a mystery writer convention. If, on the other hand, you want to hear me talk about four things I really like about BattleLore — four things that just maybe are double-edged swords — then I’m your huckleberry.
Quantum Roll
Chances are whenever you see the word “quantum,” that rather than bearing a passing resemblance to the actual meaning of the word, it pretty much means whatever the author needs it to mean to get the plot rolling. And in Quantum, the new board game by Eric Zimmerman, that rule is taken to the extreme. Why is it your goal to plop cubes down onto planets? Quantum. How is it that your ships can reconfigure into entirely different forms, transforming from a tiny scout to an indefatigable battleship without so much as winking in the direction of the law of conservation of mass? Quantum. Why is the logical endpoint of your imperial research program to suddenly become nomadic? I’ve said it already: quantum.
SPACE-BIFF! 