YORKTON - And so the calendar turns to a new year and that means it is time to look back on the games played for the first time, and determine our personal top-five.
Last week we offered the top fives from two 'guilders; and here is part two with the views of two more members of the group.
Guilder Steven Schmidt
Aridnyk - For me this is the most unique game of my top 5. Coming from Ukraine and based on some lore of a local ethnic group it stood out to me because it posed a challenge, it involved problem solving, planning ahead, messing with your opponents (friends), fun art style and I think there’s enough “goal” cards that you could play it multiple times without it going stale. We don’t often play a game more than once in our group but we did replay this one which tells me it had something to give.
Mork Borg - Admittedly this was my first ever RPG. I have a feeling this game could go dark if the DM or the party wanted it to but I think we kept it quite light-hearted. It probably gets bonus points for being “my first” but I enjoyed pushing the boundaries of the game, and the Dungeon Master, exploring character development and role playing in a different type of fantasy world then elves, dwarves and wizards (though I’m sure there is space in this realm for those to pop up if wanted).
Unmatched - This list isn’t in any order because if it was, this would be my top pick of 2024. Unmatched is a game of strategy that involves 2-3 characters chasing each other around a board and battling it out through playing card mechanics. Each character has its own unique set of cards that allows it to attack and defend in unique ways so your opponents don’t really know what you are capable of. What I like best about this game is that while the base game never changes it can be (and has been) reskinned in numerous ways with new characters - and all these characters can be used on any board, against any other character. You can have Bruce Lee fighting Spiderman, Robin hood vs. the Witcher. Or samurais against Shakespeare.
Forest Shuffle - You and your opponent are each building your one forest. With each tree you grow you can collect animal life from bugs to bears. More animal life, more points. Confession time, I only played this game online and never in physical form, but I loved it. There were different combinations to score points and it felt like you had different paths to victory. It also included some trivia bits to feel like you were learning while playing.
Galaxy Trucker - It came out in 2007 but I played it for the first time this year. I like space and space themed games. This game takes place out in the galaxy where you first build a ship out of tiles and then put that ship to the test against scenario cards that either see you earn some credits or have your ship destroyed. Then you build/rebuild your ship again for another round of scenarios. It was fun with some good depth to the game and I understand there are several expansions to make it a game that keeps on trucking - even 17 years after release date.
Guilder Calvin Daniels
First a few quick honourable mentions -- games I very much liked and certainly would recommend. They are, in no particular order; Tripped from Game of Things, Masters of Maple Syrup by Sébastien Bernier-Wong, Union Stockyard by Duane Wulf, For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game by Wilhelm Su, and the 1961 fun Hockey card game by Ida A. Spence.
#5 Waggle Dance - By creator Mike Nudd finding things we didn’t like with this one was difficult. This in a one-to-four player Euro-style worker-placement dice game where ultimately players must create five honey to win, and it was a rather stunning surprise – very much on the positive side of the ledger. In truth we are not a group that gravitates to worker placement games often but if they were all as fine as Waggle Dance that would change.
This one is definitely one to watch for.
#4 Reforest - In a rather short time The Meeple Guild have become fans of Canadian game designer Sébastien Bernier-Wong.
Bernier-Wong caught attention with the fine two-player card game Masters of Maple Syrup, and held it with yet to be reviewed Downstream another solid two-player card game.
And then Reforest: Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast hit our table.
This one made me fan rather quickly.
Overall Reforest, while being a game with a small footprint (a deck of cards) plays big – so big it made my year-end top-five.
#3 Sinoda -- When it comes to abstract strategy games – a genre this writer particularly enjoys – a general drawback is that they falter when you look for games that play more than two.
So when Sinoda from designers Scott R. Kelly, and Bill Murphy arrived with the promise to play two, three, four or six, there was not a great deal of expectation it would deliver a good game experience in such varied numbers.
But, it happily surprised. It played well for two, nicely for three and solidly for four.
This is easily the best abstract strategy game of 2024 we’ve played, and is highly recommended.
#2 Aridnyk -- If you have not yet heard of Aridnyk don’t be too surprised. This one comes from Ukraine and is just in the process of getting its English edition – in fact our copy has the cards sleeved with an English translation, which is actually kind of neat.
Designed by Volodymyr Kuznietsov, and Andrii Yanovskiy Aridnyk from publisher Boardova the game is based on Carpathian Hutsuls' myths and legends, really adds a sense of both history and fantasy to this one.
Recommending Aridnyk is about as easy a decision as a reviewer will have.
Everything here is a cut above average, and the overall game is a gem.
#1 Earth – I look back and the opening line of the original review of Earth was “it’s only April, so eight more months to come in 2024, but I’m calling it right now – Earth will be in my top-five new games played this year.”
Eight months later this one from Canadian designer Maxime Tardiff remains the gem of the year.
As noted in April there is a fair bit going on in Earth in terms of what players can do, yet the rules stay straight forward enough we weren’t going to the rule book a lot, even in the first game, which was a pleasant surprise given all the materials on the table.
The game also lets players do things which while perhaps not ultimate moves in terms of scoring maxim points to progress each turn, at least generally keeps you moving in a positive direction.
This is a game that really should be in most collections, as it is a fulfilling play in every way.
