End of Year & Top 100 (2025)

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50 — The Vale of Eternity

New in 2025

The theme of catching various creatures of myth and legend (even odd ones like a Valkyrie) is pretty neat, but the game has very little theme. Luckily, it’s still a great game anyway. Tight economy, card drafting, engine-building, and a lot of fun art on top. The base game is good, but Artifacts definitely added just the right amount of new strategic decisions to bring the game up from where it might have landed. There’s a fan-made solo mode I might have to try at some point.

49 — Chronicles of Frost

2022 #3
2023 #35
2024 #46

This hasn’t hit the table in a while, but one I think about bringing out every now and then. Works great solo, but was also a pretty good length for multiplayer. It’s got a great mix of exploration, questing, and deck-building. Always a shame that it was dead on arrival and never reprinted.

48 — Speakeasy

New in 2025

Hard to say if recency bias put this above Vinhos; it’s just been so long since we last played Vinhos. But I really enjoyed this one and look forward to replaying it next year. It’s still very crunchy, but plays more smoothly than his recent games. And it’s a surprisingly immersive Euro. Maybe his most thematic? The process of placing a worker, maybe playing a card, and everything having very clear effects, and building up your properties, making and moving alcohol around the city—it’s all easy to grasp and satisfying when things line up just right. Just beware the mob when they show up.

47 — Rurik: Dawn of Kiev

2022 #13
2023 #26
2024 #29

Haven’t gotten to the expansion modules yet, but maybe in 2026. But this one’s such a great troops-on-a-map game that isn’t overly aggressive, but you can’t just sit and turtle all game. And the action board, with its mix of worker-placement and auction, is really tense and fun. The solo mode was pretty good too, though there’s a lot of checking priorities for the bot. Might have to try it again with the app. Not sure about the up-coming reprint, though.

46 — The Castles of Burgundy

2022 #39
2023 #40
2024 #42

My brother and I got our copy of the reprint (non-special edition) to the table. Given what Awaken Realms is like these days, it’s really soured me on all their stuff. Anyway, CoB is still a great game. Really easy to play, fun comboing of buildings, and set collection. And it’s pretty easy to get back to the table (well, our version).

45 — Fear Itself 2nd Edition

2023 #21
2024 #40

This investigative horror RPG is really unique, using the GUMSHOE system, which is more about finding clues and utilizing skills than chucking dice and fighting. Don’t know when I’ll get a chance to return to it, but I’d love to play it some more. A new edition is coming out, so maybe next year!

44 — Brass

2022 #33
2023 #30
2024 #36

This year, we finally played Lancashire, and I think I like both about the same, so I’ve just combined them into “Brass.” They are very similar, anyway, with a few new things in Birmingham, and a little in Lancashire that was removed. It’s a classic Euro with a tight economy, tight resource management, and card play that’s often about timing, trying to scoop up important spaces before your opponents, without overextending yourself.

43 — The Witcher: Old World

2023 #37
2024 #22

This didn’t hit the table this year, so we’ve not yet tried out reading our encounters to ourselves to speed things up. It’s just too long playing as intended. I also haven’t gotten around to trying it solo. I think it’ll be back out next year, so we’ll see how that goes. It’s a really fun system, and we all love the setting, but its length makes it difficult to play.

42 — Wingspan

2022 #56
2023 #80
2024 #74

After playing all three games in the ‘Span series, this one moved up for me. Wyrmspan didn’t make my top 100. I found it a touch clunky, and the new stuff just didn’t grab me. I’m not particularly attached to the food mechanic in Wingspan, but I like how the personal goal cards work and being able to draw more. And this one and Finspan play so smoothly. I’ve also played the app, which isn’t perfect, but it plays well.

41 — Critical IF Gamebooks

2023 #20
2024 #27

This one is still one of the most immersive experiences I’ve had. It’s a really clean, dice-less system, with great writing and a really interesting setting and story. One of the best gamebooks I’ve played. And there are so many gamebooks these days, and more board games using gamebook-like story books that players need to read through.

Top 100: 40–31
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