2018: A Year in Reviews

2018 comes finally, graciously to an end. It’s been quite the year for, well, all of us I’m sure, but for me especially! I got married this year! Which is pretty much one of the biggest achievements for a year one can have I suspect. I also started doing a lot more board game design, and grew the Youtube channel a very reasonable amount! And of course, kept the review train rolling. Though it has certainly been difficult, it has not been that way because of the games. And that, is where this list comes in!

As in previous years, I don’t do a traditional Top 10 of 2018 list, there’s still about 20-30 games released this year that I’d like try first! So instead, I look back through the many reviews I’ve written this year, and pick out a Top 10 list from those! So these are definitely games I’ve played enough to judge favourites.

Honourable mentions

As always, there are more games that I’ve enjoyed than could fit into a single top 10 list so here are some other games I’ve reviewed this year that were also amongst my favourites!

10 – Castell

Castell is a towering beast, a structure greater than the sum of its parts. And it has a massive bag. The game of titular human towers is an incredibly challenging and unique Euro that really demands serious thought from its players. Far more than you might expect from its colourful setting and relatively simple ruleset!

9 – Rising Sun

The game that gave me every reason to dislike it, every stick to beat it with, and yet it retains that most important feature: fun! Epic in scope with miniatures to die for (I’m fairly sure this isn’t the only reason I like this game…) Rising Sun offers a play park of cool combos to ride upon and leaves you to figure out the best way for the given set up and game state. It’s crazy, but there’s something endearing in that craziness.

8 – Lowlands

A triumphant twist on the classic Rosenberg farming simulator, Lowlands ditches the veg and all the animals bar one: the humble sheep. Then threatens your woollen wonders with total annihilation with a flood and rising sea levels. I know. It’s positively baaa-rbaric! The singular focus does the game wonders and the semi-cooperative element of the dike building is implemented superbly!

7 – Raids

Pillaging itself a lucky number seven spot Is Raids! (Lowlands tried to take it but Raids threw some Vikings in the water and Lowlands didn’t want to get it’s sheep wet) That was quite a funny aside if you know that Raids involves lots of sidling up to other players boats and booting them out of their spots by throwing Vikings overboard. It’s a Tokaido-like game of visiting spots on a track, with a welcome layer of combative squabbling. These elements mutually interact and create real interaction amongst the players that is just a delight! Especially with such a polished production.

6 – Detective

I was expecting to be somewhat dismissive of this title after reading a few passages of its text and yet… here we are! The puzzles, cases and overall experience of Detective more than made up for its shortcomings. My wife and I had a simply fantastic time playing through these cases – easily lifting into one of my favourite gaming experiences of the year.

5 – Through the Desert

Through the Desert was one of my first reviews of the year and it absolutely blew me away. Not with flashy miniatures (although those camels…) or complex interwoven mechanics. For it’s pure simplicity. And the tension and depth that arises from those simple rules. It really was a breath of fresh air in amongst all the modern games, which really says a lot.

4 – Majesty

Majesty got overlooked by many and unjustly panned by some (I’ve sent my soldiers after them, don’t worry). I loved Majesty. Extremely fast, delightfully simple yet always offering an interesting choice. Key to this is using the same market as Century Spice Road, but with content that encourages big plays, large exchanges of resources, and tough sacrifices. A real favourite that keeps getting played long after my review went out! (This is a tragically rare state.)

3 – Clans of Caledonia

Some might say this is just Terra Mystica in Scotland and they’d sort of be right about that. But it’s also an economic Terra Mystica, with markets and goods rather than magic and terraforming and it makes for a nicely open and challenging game. The mix of resource management and board control is great. The player clans are fun and imaginative without being completely game defining as they are in the TM. It’s an all round fantastic package. Raising a dram to Clans of Caledonia today.

2 – The Mind

The Mind was a real love it or hate it game. I fall hard into the side of loving it! The uniqueness of the game is a big selling point, but it’s the way the game makes me feel like a magician that really fired it to the upper spots of this list. The Mind is so easy to get played and is so easy to teach to everyone, even non-gamers, that it has easily been my most played game of 2018.

1 – Twilight Struggle

I wasn’t sure whether to include this as it technically only appeared on Which is Greater, not in review form… but screw it. Twilight Struggle was an absolute revelation for me as it has been for so many players before me. A powerhouse of a design so endlessly fascinating that even when trying to film the video I just wanted to stop and play it instead. It’s length and complexity make it a difficult game to get to the table, but it is an incomparable joy whenever I do. Don’t ever let the sun set on this game!

And finally… some games that didn’t technically qualify but would have probably been on this list if I had written reviews for them!

Brass – both counties. Holy wow have I been blown away by these games! Coming to a Which is Greater near you soon.

Gaia Project – a truly excellent sequel to a legendary game. It’s more complex, but I might prefer it…

Sidereal Confluence – I really enjoy negotiation games and this one is almost certainly the best implemented, if sadly the least good looking.

So you’ve read about my favourites! What has been your favourite game this year? Drop me a comment below!