3 ms·

It’s funny how different everyone’s definition of “of 2022” is; I play enough board games that I expected this to be all about 2022 releases, but most of the co

It’s funny how different everyone’s definition of “of 2022” is; I play enough board games that I expected this to be all about 2022 releases, but most of the conversation is about 5-20 year old games! In 2022 I’ve been focusing on very fast games, to add to my group’s repertoire of mostly mid-to-heavy games. Nidavellir and Jumpdrive both have been fun, here. My favorite game of the last 5 years is Res Arcana with or without expansions; it’s a fun enough engine builder to appeal to most folks, but has high enough returns to skill to feel like it’s worth investing more plays in. The most surprising hit for me this year is Star Wars: Rebellion. I’m not generally an Ameritrash fan, and I usually prefer 3-4 player evenings, but if you’ve got 2-3 hours with a single friend and even mildly enjoy the Star Wars atmosphere, it’s an asymmetric game which has felt epic every time I’ve played, win or lose.

solardev 4y ago
I've heard good things about Rebellion. Can you describe it in more detail? What do you like or don't about it, and are there any games it's similar to?
- mercutio2 4y ago
  It reminds me of Scotland Yard, adding a surprisingly satisfying dice combat system, worker placement, and crazy espionage. Basically the empire gets awesome amounts of production, great battle units, and a lot more territory. But they have trouble finding the rebel base, and even if you do, you have to bring enough ground units (or a Death Star) to defeat the rebel base before they up and move the base somewhere else. Really gets the flavor of the original trilogy, and the workers you place are themselves iconic leaders of the Star Wars universe, not just flat meeples. I didn’t realize I wanted to routinely see Han Solo counter an offensive move by Palpatine instead of blander workers, but yes, yes that does make the game more satisfying. Downside is it’s really a 2 player game (there’s a 2v2 4 player variant that just seems dumb to me), and until you know the game well, setup takes half an hour.
mcv 4y ago
I too took it as 2022 releases, not older games. Otherwise, I'd ask simply for "best boardgames". There were a ton of fun releases this year, well worth a post and a discussion.

solardev 4y ago

I've heard good things about Rebellion. Can you describe it in more detail? What do you like or don't about it, and are there any games it's similar to?

mercutio2 4y ago
It reminds me of Scotland Yard, adding a surprisingly satisfying dice combat system, worker placement, and crazy espionage. Basically the empire gets awesome amounts of production, great battle units, and a lot more territory. But they have trouble finding the rebel base, and even if you do, you have to bring enough ground units (or a Death Star) to defeat the rebel base before they up and move the base somewhere else. Really gets the flavor of the original trilogy, and the workers you place are themselves iconic leaders of the Star Wars universe, not just flat meeples. I didn’t realize I wanted to routinely see Han Solo counter an offensive move by Palpatine instead of blander workers, but yes, yes that does make the game more satisfying. Downside is it’s really a 2 player game (there’s a 2v2 4 player variant that just seems dumb to me), and until you know the game well, setup takes half an hour.

mcv 4y ago

I too took it as 2022 releases, not older games. Otherwise, I'd ask simply for "best boardgames". There were a ton of fun releases this year, well worth a post and a discussion.