The Board Game Faith Newsletter, Issue 5 - Top 20 (Part 1)!
Hello, Board Game Faithful!
Daniel: We hope that this newsletter finds you all well! An amazing highlight of the year for me, as you may recall from last edition, was Kevin’s cross-country trek to come visit us in mid-November! He drove over 900 miles (one way!) to spend a couple days with us, and–in return–I ungratefully spent most of the time that he was here being sick! But…we did get to play some fun games together, including Pax Pamir (photo below), Ark Nova, Glen More II, and Telestrations. We had an awesome time, and I’m already looking forward to the next time we get together for games.
Kevin: What does a 50 year old man do? Attempt a lengthy roadtrip, evidently. It was great to see Daniel in real life, and I don’t think he has noticed that I stole his copy of Ark Nova. Also his favorite slippers. Please don’t tell him.
Coming Up
In our upcoming episode (“dropping” December 11, as the cool kids say), we are looking forward to welcoming Ali Karar as our first returning guest. Ali will join us to discuss Muslim representation in board games, as well as the role of Jesus in Islam. Have any questions for Ali? Please let us know over on our Discord server.
Our Top 20 Games!
To celebrate the end of the year, we thought we’d share with you our top 20 favorite games (as of right now)! To build anticipation, we’ll share numbers 20-11 this edition, and we’ll wrap up the year with number 10-1 in our last edition of 2022!
As is usual with these things, it’s just for fun and totally artificial. Kevin already hates his list and he just made it! Plus the lists are pretty different, which makes for some interesting conversation.
Kevin:
20. Lost Ruins of Arnak – Great art, fun theme, satisfying system of progression on the research track.
19. Oath – It’s a switcheroo Cole Wehlre game! Try to win, or if not try to suck up to the winner as their ally and stab them in the back in the next game, or live in exile to win in the future. The art is awesome and the game is super-interesting.
18. Architects of the West Kingdom –The oddest worker placement game ever – most placements can hold multiple workers and they produce more if there are more there, unless you get sent to prison by one of your opponents!
17. Arkham Horror: The Card Game – You’re going to die, but it will be tense, fun, and rewarding. There is no fear like drawing from the Chaos Bag, and the campaigns are fun and re-playable.
16. Nemesis – You’re also going to die, but it’s a cathartic death, especially if you can blow a monstrous alien out the airlock, after checking to see if you are infected with an alien egg that may, or may not, explode out of you and kill you.
15. Cthulhu Death May Die – This is more cheesy Lovecraftian horror than true cosmic horror, but it’s still good fun to slay cultists, thwart their plans, and make it home for dinner. There is a push your luck element to going more insane to get more powerful, but not going completely insane.
14. Beyond the Sun – This is a fun Euro tech tree of a game where you develop your abilities and victory points as you race to the final level, while also keeping an eye out for the space battles and colonizations to the side.
13. Cuba Libre – Who wants to learn about 1959 Cuba? It seems I do. I’ve only played this solo, but the history and ideas are amazing, and there are so many clever ideas here such as this: the government gets US support for the first parts of the game, and can use police and military forces to keep power in the cities and rural areas. Or, the rebels can convert the local populace, fight the government (and each other), and then hide.
12. Secret Hitler – My favorite party game. Hidden traitors and social deduction gone wild! Moment for moment this is the most fun we’ve had with a social game.
11. Mage Knight – It’s a combat game without combat dice – I love Vlaada games, and this one is a triumph. It’s unforgiving in its gameplay, but so much fun to attempt to conquer this land and improve your mage knight and allies.
Daniel:
20. Great Western Trail (Second Edition) – Though I struggled to get this game when I first played it, I have since fallen in love with its many interlocking gears of gaming mechanisms. Plus the changes made with the second edition to offer more diverse representation endeared it to my heart even more.
19. Fantasy Realms – Increasingly my favorite games are those with quick set up and simple rules, but also deep strategy. Fantasy Realms is a great example of this combination of traits, and it’s always a hit with new players.
18. Heaven & Ale – A fun and thinky Euro about growing crops to make ale in a monastery. Plus it’s built on one of my favorite mechanisms: go as far as you want on the board, but you can’t go back (you’ll see this again next edition).
17. Wingspan – An all-time favorite game for Kristen and me, and each expansion makes it even better.
16. Tapestry – My favorite part of this civilization-themed Euro is the town you build with miniature sculpts on the grid in front of you. It feels like playing with a really cool toy city, and I am not too old to say that I love that.
15. Oh My Goods! – A light Alexander Pfister card game that combines two of my favorite mechanisms: multi-use cards and push-your-luck. Its ability to create powerful production chains with just cards is impressive.
14. Suburbia – Another of my favorite mechanisms: tile placement. This game uses tiles to capture well the feel of the much beloved “Sim City” of my childhood.
13. Roll for the Galaxy – One of our earliest purchases after getting into the hobby, and still one of our favorites. While our love for it may involve some nostalgia, there’s also no denying the appeal of a massive pile of colored dice.
12. The Quacks of Quedlinburg – Another fantastic push-your-luck game. One of these days we might upgrade to those fancy BGG tokens, but it’s still amazing straight out of the box!
11. The Quest for El Dorado – My favorite Reiner Knizia game. It combines deck-building with map movement in a unique and highly satisfying way.
More on Merton
Daniel: After I wrote briefly about Thomas Merton (a Catholic monk who died in 1968) in the last edition, one of our readers asked which of his books would be most helpful to read to get an overall picture of his life. While I’m no Merton expert, I recommend the trilogy of Seven Storey Mountain, The Sign of Jonas, and Confessions of a Guilty Bystander–in that order. The first is an autobiography, while the next two are personal journals that detail his time in the monastery after Seven Storey Mountain ends. The three books are very intimate reflections on God’s work in Merton’s life to enlarge his heart to include more and more of humanity, and ultimately himself.
Kevin: Plus he’s incredibly readable even 60 years later, which most writers fail to do.
Media We're Into Right Now
Kevin: I had a virus for a few days last week and totally fell into Echo 3 on Apple TV+. It’s a cat and mouse rescue espionage show and SO GOOD. I’m excited for the new episode today.
Thank You!
If you haven't had a chance yet, please fill out this short form to let us know a little about yourself--we just want to get to know you better! And as always, thank you so much for being a part of the BGF community. We are grateful that you are in the world. Until next time!
(P.S. from Daniel: If anybody finds my copy of Ark Nova, please let me know. I would get up and look for it myself, but I seem to have lost my slippers*, and the floor is so cold...)
*Slippers pictured below for identification purposes....