End of Year & Top 100 (2025)

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30 — A Game of Thrones: The Card Game

2022 #67
2023 —
2024 #15

I’ve had an interesting history with this game, from playing the print-and-play demo decks back when it was releasing as a CCG, getting into the LCG when it came out, which got me back into modern tabletop games, and now playing the 2nd edition with my friend, who loves Game of Thrones. We’ll definitely be getting it back out next year.

29 — Core Worlds

2022 #24
2023 #25
2024 #25

Wow, this is consistent! I did get the solo mode, though I haven’t gotten it played yet. But we played the multiplayer again this year. It’s a shame this never got much attention. I love the depth of its system, especially back when most deck-builders were barely any different from Dominion. The end game has some really big, satisfying turns.

28 — Sweet Lands

New in 2025

This one is kind of like a lot of the Red Raven games, in that it doesn’t really do a lot of new things, but it takes some solid mechanics from other games and combines them into a really fun package. And in this case, even though it’s a very heavy game with a lot going on, the design is surprisingly smooth and not nearly as difficult to learn as most other modern Euros in this weight-class. Building up your territory is really satisfying, and I love the variety of the cards. Everything is incredibly tight, even when you think you’ve got tons of resources, they run out so fast. And the solo mode is really easy to run. And it has such a unique setting and great artwork. It can be pretty long multiplayer, though, and it needs a lot of space!

27 — Distilled

New in 2025

This looked really fun when I first saw it, but it’s a lot more fun to play than I expected. It’s got many of my favorite things; tight economics, special abilities, scoring goals, and a really unique take on deck-building, where your deck resets each round. I had worried about replayability, but we’ve already played a handful of times (partially thanks to BGA), and it’s not gotten even slightly less fun.

26 — Anno 1800: The Board Game

2023 #3
2024 #7

One of these days, I’ll have to just bite the bullet and buy the expansion at the silly prices I have to pay. This one, along with Cartaventura, really soured my views on Kosmos. I think I’m done with them. At least the game is still great, even if it does need a couple of band-aid fixes. And the solo mode was available online for a bit, though they seem to have removed it (because they weren’t already a bad enough company). Maybe someday it can be reprinted by a better company.

25 — Let’s Go! To Japan

2024 #10

Still hoping that this gets at least one expansion before they move on to more places, and I’m very curious how France will change things. One of the best card drafting games for me. Super smooth to play, and feels very different. And there’s so much tension with end-game scoring, because you have no idea what your score will look like until the end.

24 — Nusfjord

2022 #22
2023 #16
2024 #35

I haven’t yet upgraded to the big box, but I probably will. We played quite a few Rosenbergs this year, and it really highlighted, for me, why this one is so great. It has so much of his best stuff in it while remaining very streamlined. And the building cards being swap-able like Agricola, changing up the game each time, really makes it shine.

23 — Knarr

2023 #5
2024 #16

I’m very excited for the announced expansion. Thankfully, Kosmos isn’t the NA publisher, so it’ll actually come out. This is a great drafting, set-collecting, engine-building game that’s super easy to get into. And I love that you need to dismantle your engine to do well. Trading is arguably over-powered, and reputation is arguably a trap, so maybe the expansion will tighten things up and expand the options.

22 — Stroganov

2022 #17
2023 #6
2024 #18

This game deserves more love. It’s such a great game. It has a mixed economy of coins and furs, with a lot of set collection. At least the big box managed to fulfill before the publisher crumbled. We’ll definitely need to try out the new stuff next year.

21 — Caverna: The Cave Farmers

2022 #78
2023 #64
2024 #30

Another classic Rosenberg. While I do appreciate the amount of stuff there is to do in Caverna, ultimately, my friend and I enjoy the variety of Agricola’s cards just a bit more. But I still love the extra things in Caverna, especially the rooms with various abilities and scoring. Player boards are so wildly different by the end of the game.

Top 100: 20–11
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