In this installment, I'm going to be ranking and talking about my favorite Doctor Who portrayals from the modern era. Fun fact, I haven't seen the old ones and am probably a heretic to true Whovians, but I don't care. Keep in mind that if you have not gone through the series yet that there will be some...
New day, new series here on my blog. Sometimes you just get the bug to write about something and need a platform to do it, so here is my new series where I write about whatever I want, website topic be damned. In this installment, I'm going to be ranking and talking about my favorite Doctor Who portrayals from the modern era. Fun fact, I haven't seen the old ones and am probably a heretic to true Whovians, but I don't care. Keep in mind that if you have not gone through the series yet that there will be some... Now, as they say: Allons-y!
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This is the beginning of an intermittent series where I will be discussing various topics in board gaming as they relate to the real world. The topics could include hot button issues in the hobby, how gaming affects people, the personal influence gaming has had on my life, or anything else remotely related. So without further ado, let us dive into the first topic of many to come: Board Game Evangelism. What is Board Game Evangelism?In the past few years, board gaming has become my primary hobby. As so many others do with their various hobbies, I think of mine as a wonderful use of time, effort, and brain power. To use an off-color, almost sacrilegious comparison, I am a born-again board gamer. I have found my way from the false pretenses of what so many believe to be board gaming: Monopoly, Sorry, Life, and their evil brethren. Thankfully, I have seen the light of true board gaming; that is, games which are modern, enjoyable, and require some amount of thought.
And we're back for the second half of my most surprising games list. My #10 through #6 picks can be found HERE in case you missed it. Let's just get into the Top 5, shall we? #5: Blood RageSo in my humble and often nerdy life, I've set certain boundaries that I refer to as "Nerd Limits". This arbitrary term refers to anything that I consider too nerdy for me, and a line of nerdiness that I will not cross. I don't judge others for crossing this line, but it is just my limit. Some of these things include: LARPing, Magic the Gathering, and miniature gaming (Warhammer 40k, etc). I looked at Blood Rage and the HUGE amount of miniature figures and immediately thought: "I'm never going to play this game, this isn't for me".
I've often found that in my time in the board gaming hobby, that I come across games that catch me off-guard and surprise me. While this can be both positive and negative, I'm going to stick with games that have positively affected me in the spirit of the new year and new beginnings. For this list, the games are ranked in how much they have surprised me, either because my expectations were low, or there was just something about the game that just took me by surprise. Without further ado, here is #10-#6: #10: Settlers of Catan (or just Catan)This one is kind of a catch-all for all the games I played when I just started getting into the hobby, and Catan was the first. Until this point, all the games I'd ever known were the standard games everyone grew up with: Monopoly, Phase 10, Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, etc. In walks Settlers of Catan. This was the game that opened my eyes (and lots of others') to what board games could be and are in today's board gaming renaissance. The roll and move style of game was gone and instead you were watching dice roll, trading resources, finding multiple paths to victory, building your own mini-empire, trying to out-think your opponent at every turn.
It was amazingly refreshing to see that this style of game existed. As time has gone on, Catan has come under fire for having some problems, and I also have jumped on the hate train a bit. However, I recognize that this was the game that showed me what was possible and left me jonesing for more. It was actually kind of difficult to round out this list because I really enjoy playing games in general, but these top 5 really get my metaphorical goat. These are 5 games that you're probably going to have to work to convince me to play, and two that are almost certainly going to be a flat-out NO! But I digress, here's #5 through #1: #5: We Didn't Playtest This At AllLike most hobbies, eventually you run into things you really don't care for that some people rave about. Even more unusual, most board gamers have played all of their least favorite games when they were kids, finding out much later what board games could be. I easily could have made this a list of classic games, but I saved my vitriol for only my least favorite. This is a backwards list, so #1 will be my most disliked game of all time. Honorable Mention: Cargo NoirThe reason Cargo Noir just missed out is because I actually like the game, I just dislike it more. I realize that doesn't make any sense, but my love/hate relationship with this game is complicated. I think it's a fun, albeit tense, game that has stellar component quality but it makes me more angry than any one game should. It has elements of bidding and worker placement, which I love, but manages to make them so stressful the game isn't worth it. It's an extremely mean game where a feud with another player will certainly lose the game for both of you and let someone else win. Good game, but I will usually pass given a choice.
GenCon is the largest board gaming convention in America each year that is the release date for some of the most hyped games of the year. Games come out sporadically during the year, but publishers push to have some of their biggest games out in time for GenCon to generate as much buzz for their products at once. Since the convention is a little more than a week away, I thought it would be a good idea to look at some of the most hyped games that are due out this year! Note: I only included games that are releasing at GenCon, not ones that are already out in stores or games that are demo
Board games are typically organized by their mechanics, and I covered a few in my first Board Game Jargon post from a few days ago. These mechanics vary wildly and are often found in combination with several others to form the modern type of board game. Thankfully, a couple of terms have sprung up to clearly define a game without having to list all of its mechanics, given that you know what the terms entail: Euro Games (aka European games, German games, or designer games) and Ameritrash (aka Amerithrash or Thematic games). These two broad categories are the board game equivalent of comedy or tragedy, a quick sorting of the game to give a player a general idea of what the game is going to entail having not heard the rules or mechanics involved. So what makes a game a Euro or a Thematic game?
I spend a lot of time writing up different articles and reviews, and a lot of those views come from people who don’t even play board games. While I try to keep my writing accessible for those that haven’t fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole, I realize there is some board game jargon that is inescapable and a couple of articles describing some of it would be helpful. So part one of the series will be focusing on game mechanics, or basically the processes in place that help categorize a game based on the way it is played. I will use examples of each type of mechanic in both modern and, if there is one available, classic board games for reference. Without further ado, let’s learn some jargon! Mechanism #1: Roll and MoveNo filler text, let's just get right to the list! Honorable Mention: Star RealmsThis is the second list in a row where Star Realms doesn’t crack the Top 10. It’s unfortunate, but don’t get me wrong I will play Star Realms anytime, anywhere. The reason I love this game is its variability and focus on tactics. You can’t go into Star Realms with the idea of: “I’m going to get all the green ships because they help me destroy my opponent”, because with the limited amount of cards available each round, there’s no guarantee that any will come up for you. It’s a game that keeps you on your toes and forces you to adopt new strategies that you didn’t consider before.
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AuthorScott Marshand: Engineer, Board Game Enthusiast, Roller Coaster Addict. Archives
February 2021
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