The best board games of 2016
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The best board games of 2016
1–10 of 84 posts
Re: The best board games of 2016
#2+1 for Terraforming Mars. I enjoy playing it solo as well as with a group. There is enough variety in the cards to keep it fresh and the difficulty ramps up quickly.
Re: The best board games of 2016
#3A lot of great selections here. Terraforming Mars is outstanding.
Re: The best board games of 2016
#4What a dire list. The only game that looks interesting is Imhotep. Just a bunch of branded crap and stuff from celebrity designers that sold a thousand copies before even being released. The re-issue list is equally uninspiring, and they cannot resist adding yet another Rosenberg; one that I don't think was ever out of print for a moment. Schotten Totten is a good reprint, though (of something else that hasn't really been out of print for more than a few moments.) But, come on, Ra gets a reprint and it doesn't get mentioned? Shogun?
Re: The best board games of 2016
#5I just got Scythe for Christmas. I'm just waiting for people to return from their families after the new year to give this a go!
Re: The best board games of 2016
#6What a dire list. The only game that looks interesting is Imhotep. Just a bunch of branded crap and stuff from celebrity designers that sold a thousand copies before even being released. The re-issue list is equally uninspiring, and they cannot resist adding yet another Rosenberg; one that I don't think was ever out of print for a moment. Schotten Totten is a good reprint, though (of something else that hasn't really…
Curious as I'm only a casual boardgamer now, but what would your 2016 list be?
Re: The best board games of 2016
#7What a dire list. The only game that looks interesting is Imhotep. Just a bunch of branded crap and stuff from celebrity designers that sold a thousand copies before even being released. The re-issue list is equally uninspiring, and they cannot resist adding yet another Rosenberg; one that I don't think was ever out of print for a moment. Schotten Totten is a good reprint, though (of something else that hasn't really…
Curious as I'm only a casual boardgamer now, but what would your 2016 list be?
Other than the choice of reissues, this might be my 2016 list, too, of what I've encountered. When I said "what a dire list," I probably meant "what a dire year."
The problem with year's best lists for board games is that you won't close in on what's best from 2016 until 2019 or 2020. Board games don't easily fit in with the typical revolving year of fashion; they're mathematical/economic constructs with lots of emergent characteristics, and their true values are only discovered over time, unevenly. All you generally get from a "best of the year" list is a "bestsellers of the year" list, which within the long development/marketing/shipping/marketing cycle of game production, boils down to a "preorders of the year" list.
I think boardgaming is falling into a cycle where (issued too soon) lists like these are falling into a harmonic cycle with game productions (because of their need to synchronize around yearly major gaming conferences) and informing the qualities to be looked for in next games to go into production. Luck is pushing the industry in a direction that optimizes for marketing and not quality or fun. Boardgaming has always been prone to this. Before hobby boardgaming, it was Christmas and the toy cycle.
To get a real best of list, you have to play a large selection of games from this year, and with the vast amount of games issued, you'll have to have that number filtered by lots of people whose opinions you respect before you can have a reasonable expectation that you've touched most of the best games from this year. The only people who do this are the Spiel des Jahres jury. They're going to issue the best quick recommendations, and when their picks are not that fun, it probably means the entire industry was not that fun.
Re: The best board games of 2016
#8What a dire list. The only game that looks interesting is Imhotep. Just a bunch of branded crap and stuff from celebrity designers that sold a thousand copies before even being released. The re-issue list is equally uninspiring, and they cannot resist adding yet another Rosenberg; one that I don't think was ever out of print for a moment. Schotten Totten is a good reprint, though (of something else that hasn't really…
Shogun was the game that introduced me to real board gaming many, many moons ago, but I haven't played Ikusa or the recent reprint.
I take it that you like the most recent incarnation?
Re: The best board games of 2016
#9Anyone think recent board games are becoming unnecessarily complex and deeply strategy based? It could just be what I've seen from my friends but a lot of the times you can tell from the box art and title alone that you're going to need tiles, tokens, cards a 3 page manual and a practice round before you can even start. For me, that's a slog. It's too hard to hold conversation or focus on anything other than the game. I guess there will always be a divide between people who can spend 3 hours of intense concentration on a Settlers of Catan game and people who just want to play Jenga for a few rounds. Are there any popular simple games in the latter category recently?
Re: The best board games of 2016
#10What a dire list. The only game that looks interesting is Imhotep. Just a bunch of branded crap and stuff from celebrity designers that sold a thousand copies before even being released. The re-issue list is equally uninspiring, and they cannot resist adding yet another Rosenberg; one that I don't think was ever out of print for a moment. Schotten Totten is a good reprint, though (of something else that hasn't really…
Shogun was the game that introduced me to real board gaming many, many moons ago, but I haven't played Ikusa or the recent reprint. I take it that you like the most recent incarnation?
It's an exact reprint:) The quality of what you get in the box is variable, and it shipped very, very late, but that's par for the course with Queen Games.
edit: also, not the Shogun I was mentioning, which is the Dirk Henn game https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20551/shogun which is the same game as Wallenstein, but with a different map.