Brittni’s Top 5 Games of All Time
I think someday a game will come along and dethrone my favorite game. Someday. Eventually. However, U2’s With or Without you has been my favorite song since 1994, so, maybe not. But alas, as of mid March 2021, these are my top 5 favorite board games.
5. Dune (2019)
I have played a lot of games that have touted great theme, but none of them have come closer than Dune. When I played as the Bene Gesserit, I felt like the Bene Gesserit, predicting which house would dominate and quietly moving them in the direction of their ultimate domination, and of course all of this will benefit me in the end. All of the character houses are asymmetrical and everything that everyone does is thematic. There is no banker, you have to pay the Spacing Guild every time you need to move troops, or the winning bids for treachery cards goes to the Emperor. So wonderful.
Part of the impressiveness is the length of this game. Even though it touts 2-6 players and 120 minute playing time, it should be played with 6 players and never, ever be played with 2 or 3. And with 6 players it can end up being an all day event. I think it took us 5 hours the last time we played. So, 2-6 and 120 my ass.
Gale Force Nine, who also did Firefly, Doctor Who Time of the Daleks, and Aliens, despite my complaints for all of those games, have taken care of all of the IPs like they were fans themselves. Even though this is a remastering of a 1979 game, it feels fresh and looks beautiful and would have been right in time for the new movie, you know if the plague hadn’t hit.
4. Scythe: The Rise of Fenris (2018)
There is a distinct possibility that you can love a game more because of the people you play with and the group we played Scythe: The Rise of Fenris with is a really great group of people. And playing this game was one of my favorite board game experiences.
The base game of Scythe deserves it’s own spot somewhere in my top whatever games. The asymmetry with the different player powers as well as the starting tiles makes Scythe unique. I also really enjoy the different ways to get victory points. The art is absolutely gorgeous, really being the jumping off point for the design of this game. The art actually came long before the game. However, the biggest complaint I have about Scythe is that the theme doesn’t really go beyond good art.
But the almost Legacy game play of the Rise of Fenris expansion adds the much needed story element to a wonderfully executed game with great mechanics. And I’ll admit, I took to heart one mission, so much so it became a detriment to me actually doing well during that session. But it was worth it to get to open that box!!
3. Flotilla (2019)
On the surface Flotilla is nothing to write home about. It’s a fairly straight forward deck builder and a pick up and delivery game. Each person plays a group of survivors of a Water World-esque post-apocalyptic world who have made their home on a floating city. You start off as Sinksiders, blue collar salvagers who dive under the water to the old cities and bring up stuff. Sometimes really useful things like engines or planes and sometimes less than useful things like a record player or worse yet, radioactive material. These salvagers bring their wares back to the Flotilla to sell them.
You can play and win the game as a Sinksider. Or you can go topside and start to dabble in the world of economics, politics and growth of the floating city. If you decide to become a Skysider, you give up your boat and your team of cards flips to take on different jobs. You are then purchasing the goods Sinksider’s bring in and work on building your little empire on the ocean.
The shift in the game play is so unique and executed so well, I have enjoyed playing as only a Sinksider as well as switching over to a Skysider. It’s a great game.
2. Pipeline (2019)
I don’t tend to like games that I have to think too far in advance. I don’t have the greatest memory and I’m easily distracted. I’m more of a reactionary player. However, I love Pipeline. It’s a brain burner for sure, and I know that’s not usually something I enjoy, but every time I play Pipeline, I want to play it again right away, whether or not I just won.
In Pipeline you are building your pipe network, buying oil and processing oil to meet contracts. The minimal art is very pretty, however it makes zero difference in this game. You are concentrating so heavily on your own pipes and trying to decide if you have enough money to buy oil or more pipes to even notice the art. You don’t by the way. You never have enough money to buy what you need. This is such a tight economic game and there are so many different decisions that it is hands down the heaviest game I have ever enjoyed.
1. Blood Rage (2015)
I once said that playing Blood Rage was like meeting up for lunch with your best friend. You’re so comfortable and relaxed and then you crush them with your troll and send their ass to Valhalla. And I stand by that statement. First of all, I feel like that’s the hallmark of a great friendship, but also a great game. Despite the name, and the sometimes confusing cover (I have played this game so many times but I still have a moment where the cover looks like the Penguin from some random Batman cover, the shield-his white belly and the axe-his umbrella … *shrug*) Blood Rage is not a wargame. It’s a card drafting/area control game. And even though there are all out battles, sometimes it’s better to lose than win. LOKI STRATEGY!
Blood Rage is a game that rewards multiple plays. Knowing which cards are out there and knowing that if someone is going Loki you better make sure they don’t get passed any more of the Loki cards. Hate drafting is a thing in this game. I always love teaching someone this game, but it really shines with the 5th player expansion with all 5 players really knowing the game.
Cool Mini or Not does an amazing job with the miniatures. They are so detailed and, although not as terrifying as Blood Rage’s successor Rising Sun, they are pretty scary and very cool looking. I would pay a lot of money to get a giant Sea Serpent mold to hang on the wall in the Geekhouse.
