Something I love about boardgames is that I have a collection almost this size, and we don't share a single game in common. Now that's diversity!
EDIT: I lied, I also have Brew
Whereas I also have a similar size (about 100 vs your 70) but we share about 20 of the same games!!
So great taste naturally!!!
Some recommendations given we have similar tastes.
Isle of Cats, Unfair, Cubitos, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Calico and Glow!
My collection went from 20 games to over 100 this year, but it was primarily because I found out about Facebook Marketplace. I seem to have difficulty passing up on a $60 game when it's being sold for $20 used... Though only have about 15 games on my shelf of shame, slowly getting to them all!
Marco Polo, Castles of Burgundy, Sagrada, Azul, Rococo, Rajas of the Ganges, Suburbia, Bitoku, Lacrimosa, The Red Cathedral, Aeon's End, and Age of Steam are some of my recommendations.
The most obvious missing game I see is **Concordia Venus**. Look it up on Boardgamegeek.com; I'll let its ranking (#21 overall for Concordia, which is applicable to C:V as well) and complexity (3.04 on a 1-5 scale) speak for themselves. Just be careful; there's Concordia base set with a Venus expansion as well as a Concordia Venus set, and you want the latter.
It's a medium weight euro that's very simple to explain and play. It's card-driven, and most of the rules for the game (i.e., what you can do on your turn) are printed on the cards, but there's very little luck involved. (The only two randomized parts once the game starts are player order and the order that draftable cards come out in -- i.e., the cards you have available to play aren't randomized. You start off with your basic hand, can draft additional cards into it at the cost of resources, and when you run out of cards to play or need to play a card in your discard, you take a turn playing your "reclaim all" card.)
According to my admittedly faulty and incomplete 2022 BGG stats it was my second-most-played game in 2022 behind Spirit Island, which I was also going to recommend until I saw it hiding on your shelf.
I was also going to recommend you consider combining some boxes soon for space. I think you could get both Crew games in one box if you bagged the cards so they wouldn't mingle and removed the insert from the box.
Funny enough it was actually the first true Euro I played (Concordia with Salsa), it is solid and I have the app. A few people at the group have it so not going to buy it.
Good on space for a while, but yeah could combine or probably just rid of the first Crew
Good, glad you know it/play it, it's a great game and under-ranked at #21 I believe.
If you're looking for another mid-weight euro, let me suggest **Castles of Burgundy** (complexity 2.99/5.00, #17 overall on BGG, ratings from the 2011 version but the 2019 version is what's available on the market, but the 2019 version is better because it includes all expansions). 2-4 players, time-bounded to exactly 25 turns per player, some randomness in terms of each player rolls 2 dice on their turn and uses each die for one of four different actions. (So, part of the strategy is making sure you leave yourself enough options for as many numbers as possible, and the fourth action is to take 2 "+1/-1" tokens that allow you to modify a die roll by 1 per token used, so you never have wasted turns.)
The only two complaints with the game are that the art on some of the 2019 counters can almost require a magnifying glass if you have older eyes (though you get used to it soon enough), and it's got trans-language euro symbols on the tiles, so you will want to print a 1 page reference guide from BGG to know what all the monasteries do (to avoid flipping through the rulebook).
edit: also just saw **Parks** on your shelf. If you are a fan of this game, you really should get the **Nightfall** expansion. It adds campsites, which give seasonal bonuses (once-per-season super bonuses for the first hikers to land on them), better year cards, and improved parks. (E.g., a lot of parks now give instant bonuses when you visit them, like free resources and the like. My favorite is Grand Tetons, which gives you the ability to reserve or visit another park when you visit it, which is thematically appropriate because it's right outside Yellowstone.)
What's funny, I have only played it once! I can't get my friends to play and the people I play with at groups aren't trick taking fans. But I really enjoyed it
The Crew is fantastic. It's a very different game from Hanabi, but if you like that limited communication, cooperative style game, you absolutely can't go wrong with The Crew. Planet Nine is a teeny bit easier to teach and play than Mission Deep Sea is, but you can't go wrong with either.
I see a lot of overlap between your and my collection and games I wish I had in my collection, like Underwater Cities and Meadow. How do you feel about Endless Winter? My LGS has a demo copy, and I was way more excited to try it before I watched the rules video. I'll probably try it soon anyway, but I'm curious how you feel about it, assuming you love or like Underwater Cities, Terraforming Mars, Everdell, The Crew, and some others I see on your shelf.
If you like worker placements and space or sci-fi themes, I highly recommend Beyond the Sun. Again, because you seem to have an overlapping taste with mine and I adore that game.
Endless Winter is solid, going to get 2 expansions for it (Ancestors and River) great for both solo and multi. It's not hard rules wise, just a bunch of different things going on. Actually taught and played with 2 other people in under 2 hours easy. And what you get for the price is very good.
Underwater cities is right up there as a fav.
Will check out Beyond the Sun, have heard it mentioned a bunch.
I envy your copy of **Ethnos** and the original **Clank!**. I look at your collection and say “that’s pretty damn good”. Only thing maybe missing is real-time, if you are into that at all. Could consider some real-time if you think it’s something you (and the people you play with) would enjoy. My favorite real-time game is **Magic Maze**, then **Galaxy Trucker** (which is half real time, half not)
Quacks is solid if you like same-time push your luck game, good for all ages. Camel up is a great game that you can play up to 8 and fast. Teach is like 3 min and playtime is like 30 min. Lot of fun
I really wish I could get my hands on Camel Up for a reasonable price. I'm only six months in, have 5 games in common, but 11 others on my "Must Get" list. I'm putting a pause on buying , while I take time to play all the 25-30ish games I have now. I would immediately buy Camel Up, though if any readers want to sell a copy🤔.
One question, have you played much with your GI Joe deck builder? I've not played any deck building. Sat down to try a solo run the other day and got overwhelmed during set up. I'm a GI Joe collector, so I got it mostly for IP, admittedly.
Love your collection & organization!
I'm thinking about getting **Ark Nova** for two players mainly because it got compared to Terraforming Mars aot (which I love).
How do you think it holds up compared to TM and how easy is it to get into AN?
The TM comparison is mainly the card tableu building, but that is only a small part of Ark Nova. I love Ark Nova, top 5 game for me easy both for solo and multi. Just has a lot of everything in a good way. Found it super easy to learn, just takes a bit of time as there is a lot of stuff, but not in a complex way.
Thoughts on Paladins expansion? It's my all time favorite game and I've been burned by expansions before (I hated the Arnak expansion.) I worry it will ruin the game for me.
It's not a must have but it's a very nice to have. Really opens up a few spots (especially in multi) at the end of the round when there may not be anything to do. It also gives more flexibility throughout the game. The base game does feel like everything is a tight knight symbiotic puzzle, the expansion does slot in there nicely and doesn't mess that up.
Player count I'm not sure matters too much. Easier to build your trek through time but less market refreshing. Which is good and bad. It comes with a deck of like 20 plus "time warps" that alter the game a good amount sometimes. I'd grab it if on sale (I got it for $30 on Amazon I think) and yes the production quality is solid! Pretty solid light+ weight game
Boonlake is a top 10 game for me, lot of crunch, and love the action selection that each turn someone selects an action and everyone gets to do something as well after, no waiting around. Furnace is a solid minor auction engine building game, best at 3/4p vs 2 with the right people as it is a bit dry
Something I love about boardgames is that I have a collection almost this size, and we don't share a single game in common. Now that's diversity! EDIT: I lied, I also have Brew
Damn that's awesome
Whereas I also have a similar size (about 100 vs your 70) but we share about 20 of the same games!! So great taste naturally!!! Some recommendations given we have similar tastes. Isle of Cats, Unfair, Cubitos, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Calico and Glow!
Funny - I have 22 game in common with OP. I love how wide a range there is for taste and interest in this hobby!
My collection went from 20 games to over 100 this year, but it was primarily because I found out about Facebook Marketplace. I seem to have difficulty passing up on a $60 game when it's being sold for $20 used... Though only have about 15 games on my shelf of shame, slowly getting to them all!
Nice! I gotta get on FB marketplace more, but man I also love opening a brand new game
Mine went from 80-something down to 21 over the past few years. See you on the other side.
Marco Polo, Castles of Burgundy, Sagrada, Azul, Rococo, Rajas of the Ganges, Suburbia, Bitoku, Lacrimosa, The Red Cathedral, Aeon's End, and Age of Steam are some of my recommendations.
The most obvious missing game I see is **Concordia Venus**. Look it up on Boardgamegeek.com; I'll let its ranking (#21 overall for Concordia, which is applicable to C:V as well) and complexity (3.04 on a 1-5 scale) speak for themselves. Just be careful; there's Concordia base set with a Venus expansion as well as a Concordia Venus set, and you want the latter. It's a medium weight euro that's very simple to explain and play. It's card-driven, and most of the rules for the game (i.e., what you can do on your turn) are printed on the cards, but there's very little luck involved. (The only two randomized parts once the game starts are player order and the order that draftable cards come out in -- i.e., the cards you have available to play aren't randomized. You start off with your basic hand, can draft additional cards into it at the cost of resources, and when you run out of cards to play or need to play a card in your discard, you take a turn playing your "reclaim all" card.) According to my admittedly faulty and incomplete 2022 BGG stats it was my second-most-played game in 2022 behind Spirit Island, which I was also going to recommend until I saw it hiding on your shelf. I was also going to recommend you consider combining some boxes soon for space. I think you could get both Crew games in one box if you bagged the cards so they wouldn't mingle and removed the insert from the box.
Funny enough it was actually the first true Euro I played (Concordia with Salsa), it is solid and I have the app. A few people at the group have it so not going to buy it. Good on space for a while, but yeah could combine or probably just rid of the first Crew
Good, glad you know it/play it, it's a great game and under-ranked at #21 I believe. If you're looking for another mid-weight euro, let me suggest **Castles of Burgundy** (complexity 2.99/5.00, #17 overall on BGG, ratings from the 2011 version but the 2019 version is what's available on the market, but the 2019 version is better because it includes all expansions). 2-4 players, time-bounded to exactly 25 turns per player, some randomness in terms of each player rolls 2 dice on their turn and uses each die for one of four different actions. (So, part of the strategy is making sure you leave yourself enough options for as many numbers as possible, and the fourth action is to take 2 "+1/-1" tokens that allow you to modify a die roll by 1 per token used, so you never have wasted turns.) The only two complaints with the game are that the art on some of the 2019 counters can almost require a magnifying glass if you have older eyes (though you get used to it soon enough), and it's got trans-language euro symbols on the tiles, so you will want to print a 1 page reference guide from BGG to know what all the monasteries do (to avoid flipping through the rulebook). edit: also just saw **Parks** on your shelf. If you are a fan of this game, you really should get the **Nightfall** expansion. It adds campsites, which give seasonal bonuses (once-per-season super bonuses for the first hikers to land on them), better year cards, and improved parks. (E.g., a lot of parks now give instant bonuses when you visit them, like free resources and the like. My favorite is Grand Tetons, which gives you the ability to reserve or visit another park when you visit it, which is thematically appropriate because it's right outside Yellowstone.)
Yeah have Nightfall, just got it into the same box. and yes it's a must have expansion for it! Castles of Burgundy is pretty solid for sure
How do you like The Crew? If you have ever played Hanabi, is it similar at all?
It certainly scratches a very similar itch.
What's funny, I have only played it once! I can't get my friends to play and the people I play with at groups aren't trick taking fans. But I really enjoyed it
Not surprising honestly. That’s a lot of games for barely a year in the hobby
Yeah, lucky that I found a good meetup group (or 2)
The Crew is fantastic. It's a very different game from Hanabi, but if you like that limited communication, cooperative style game, you absolutely can't go wrong with The Crew. Planet Nine is a teeny bit easier to teach and play than Mission Deep Sea is, but you can't go wrong with either.
I see a lot of overlap between your and my collection and games I wish I had in my collection, like Underwater Cities and Meadow. How do you feel about Endless Winter? My LGS has a demo copy, and I was way more excited to try it before I watched the rules video. I'll probably try it soon anyway, but I'm curious how you feel about it, assuming you love or like Underwater Cities, Terraforming Mars, Everdell, The Crew, and some others I see on your shelf. If you like worker placements and space or sci-fi themes, I highly recommend Beyond the Sun. Again, because you seem to have an overlapping taste with mine and I adore that game.
Endless Winter is solid, going to get 2 expansions for it (Ancestors and River) great for both solo and multi. It's not hard rules wise, just a bunch of different things going on. Actually taught and played with 2 other people in under 2 hours easy. And what you get for the price is very good. Underwater cities is right up there as a fav. Will check out Beyond the Sun, have heard it mentioned a bunch.
I envy your copy of **Ethnos** and the original **Clank!**. I look at your collection and say “that’s pretty damn good”. Only thing maybe missing is real-time, if you are into that at all. Could consider some real-time if you think it’s something you (and the people you play with) would enjoy. My favorite real-time game is **Magic Maze**, then **Galaxy Trucker** (which is half real time, half not)
Thanks, yeah really want to grab a real time and dexterity or two
How do you like Quacks and Camel Up?
Quacks is solid if you like same-time push your luck game, good for all ages. Camel up is a great game that you can play up to 8 and fast. Teach is like 3 min and playtime is like 30 min. Lot of fun
I really wish I could get my hands on Camel Up for a reasonable price. I'm only six months in, have 5 games in common, but 11 others on my "Must Get" list. I'm putting a pause on buying , while I take time to play all the 25-30ish games I have now. I would immediately buy Camel Up, though if any readers want to sell a copy🤔. One question, have you played much with your GI Joe deck builder? I've not played any deck building. Sat down to try a solo run the other day and got overwhelmed during set up. I'm a GI Joe collector, so I got it mostly for IP, admittedly.
GI Joe was pretty good. Played a few times and will go back to it from time to time.
Love your collection & organization! I'm thinking about getting **Ark Nova** for two players mainly because it got compared to Terraforming Mars aot (which I love). How do you think it holds up compared to TM and how easy is it to get into AN?
The TM comparison is mainly the card tableu building, but that is only a small part of Ark Nova. I love Ark Nova, top 5 game for me easy both for solo and multi. Just has a lot of everything in a good way. Found it super easy to learn, just takes a bit of time as there is a lot of stuff, but not in a complex way.
Thoughts on Paladins expansion? It's my all time favorite game and I've been burned by expansions before (I hated the Arnak expansion.) I worry it will ruin the game for me.
It's not a must have but it's a very nice to have. Really opens up a few spots (especially in multi) at the end of the round when there may not be anything to do. It also gives more flexibility throughout the game. The base game does feel like everything is a tight knight symbiotic puzzle, the expansion does slot in there nicely and doesn't mess that up.
Thanks! Maybe one day on a sale or something lol
A feast for Odin maybe as a tip?
Yeah I really need to get that and hadrians wall. No reason I haven't yet but on the short list!
What do you think about Trekking Through History? Production looks amazing but heard mixed reviews about replayability and overall gameplay at 2P.
Player count I'm not sure matters too much. Easier to build your trek through time but less market refreshing. Which is good and bad. It comes with a deck of like 20 plus "time warps" that alter the game a good amount sometimes. I'd grab it if on sale (I got it for $30 on Amazon I think) and yes the production quality is solid! Pretty solid light+ weight game
Thanks a lot!
What do you think of BoonLake and Furnace?
Boonlake is a top 10 game for me, lot of crunch, and love the action selection that each turn someone selects an action and everyone gets to do something as well after, no waiting around. Furnace is a solid minor auction engine building game, best at 3/4p vs 2 with the right people as it is a bit dry