End of Year & Top 100 (2024)

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30 — Caverna: The Cave Farmers

2022 #78
2023 #64

While I really enjoy the variety that the cards give you in Agricola, there’s more to do in Caverna. And the expansion can really shake things up if you need it. But we recently played the base game by itself and it was still a lot of fun. And it’s really satisfying to cover your whole board.

29 — Rurik: Dawn of Kiev

2022 #13
2023 #26

I had expected a bit more of a drop, but I just enjoy this one too much. That action board is so fun and unique. And it’s such a clean design. I really want to try some of the expansion modules next time.

28 — Pokémon Trading Card Game

New in 2024

When Star Wars: Unlimited was out of stock everywhere, I decided it was time to try out Pokémon instead. I had played the online client a few times and enjoyed it, but wasn’t sure if my friend would be into it. Turns out he loved it. We had a blast playing through our Build & Battle decks this year, opening packs and changing things up, then pooling it all together and making decks from scratch. I’m probably not going to go too crazy with this one; the design and deck-building make casual play very limited to the Build & Battle decks (since the Stadium boxes are no more). Most of the many, many other products they make just don’t make sense for us.

27 — Critical IF Gamebooks

2023 #20

It’s been a while since I last played, and I still need to get more from this series. That said, it’s still a very clean system for a gamebook, and the writing is far more mature than the very kid-friendly Legacy of Dragonholt. In fact, of any kind of tabletop game with a narrative element, Dave Morris’ works are still head and shoulders above most.

26 — The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game

2022 #5
2023 #61

Though this one still hasn’t come out for our 2-player gaming, I played it back in the day when it first came out. I also found a pretty solid solo variant online last year. The game does an admirable job of feeling like Lord of the Rings with relatively streamlined rules (for a CCG of the era; they hadn’t become super streamlined yet). I look forward to finally bringing this back out for some 2-player games.

25 — Core Worlds

2022 #24
2023 #25

This is the most consistent game in my top 100. I have no idea how it’s landed in nearly the same spot for 3 years. And now that the solo expansion is finally back in stock, I’ll probably be getting it back to the table more often. It can be a bit long multiplayer, but it’s well worth the time for me. A great deck-building game.

24 — BattleTech TCG

New in 2024

I played this once in high school and loved it, but hadn’t gotten to play it again until this year. I bought some cards, made a couple rough, basic decks, and played it with my friend. This was maybe a bit too complex in the rules for him, but he actually ended up enjoying it. If it was a little more available, I would have dived deep into it. I love the resource mechanic of building ‘Mechs over time instead of needing to pay all at once, and the combat and tactics of where to send your ‘Mechs and which ones to attack with are fun to puzzle over. I just wish I had more cards. I might still get some more, and there’s a fan-made set coming up next year. I hope whatever they have isn’t too expensive.

23 — Unmatched

New in 2024

When my friend and I had started getting into 2-player games, both of us had our eyes on Unmatched. So when they announced a Japanese-themed set, it was the perfect jumping-on point. My friend has since bought most of it, and we’ve played a handful of times, including the co-op mode. I really look forward to the TMNT release for more bad guys. That’s the only problem I have with the co-op releases is that while the characters from any release can be plugged right into it, you have to use the bosses that come in the co-op mode. But there are only 2, and they’ve been a bit slow releasing more. Maybe at some point, they’ll release a smaller product that’s just a couple of new bosses and their respective maps.

22 — The Witcher: Old World

2023 #37

I thought this might go up since last year, and it did! Still haven’t played solo, but I really enjoyed our recent game of it. What’s crazy is, that while the recent game took over 4 hours, we all enjoyed it anyway and didn’t mind the length (other than the fact that it actually took too long for how much time we had). Next time, we’re going to try and resolve our encounter cards on our own instead of having someone read it out loud for the active player. They just slow the game down too much (as is the case with all of these adventure games like this one, Near and Far, Now or Never).

21 — Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd Edition

2023 #9

I miss running this one. Such a fun system with lots of great supplements. If you just want to wander around in the Warhammer setting, this is the best way to do it. Someday I’ll get back to it, as a player or GM.

Top 100: 20-11
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

5 thoughts on “End of Year & Top 100 (2024)”

    1. It’s mostly the rules that are listed in the rulebook, but there are a couple of extra variant rules in the Wizard’s Companion (including how to generate a point threshold for winning). It’s very easy to run.

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