BGG Top Games – 1000 Through 1100 – Thoughts

Recently the “This Game is Broken” podcast did a “Higher or Lower” game based on games in the Boardgame Geek rankings from 1000 to 2000.

(You should really check them out, by the way. Hilarious boardgame podcast)

During the Covid lockdowns, in order to get some actual articles posted, I did some posts about the Top 300, but I stopped there.

These posts were about how many I’ve played and how many I would like to play, but I didn’t really go into too much detail and I stopped at 300 so any games in this one will be new!

We talk about the Top 100, or even the Top 1000, but don’t always realize that there are some really good games down deeper in the rankings that we don’t really think about as often.

Today we’ll be talking about numbers 1001-1100. (keep in mind that BGG rankings do change and it’s very possible that one or more of these will not be in this ranking group if you’re reading this blog a year from now)

Of course, considering there are 1710 pages of games on BGG and this range is on page 11, I think it’s safe to say that even these games are well-regarded.

I’d like to highlight a few and bring them to your attention.

Just to give me something new to write other than reviews!

Let’s get started!

In checking this list, I discovered that I have actually played 17 of them, so I’ve spoken about them a little bit, at least in a “new to me” post.

A highlight of what I’ve played (other than Combat Commander Pacific, at number 1037 currently, but you’ve heard me rave enough about that game) has to be Sniper Elite: the Board Game (currently number 1087).

I first played that at Bottoscon in 2022 and it is a great hidden movement deduction game.

It’s designed to have one Allied soldier and a team of players trying to catch them, but BGG’s users have said that it plays best at 2 (and you know BGG’s users are never wrong) so I guess we played it best!

That’s because it was just me against the owner of the game.

I was the Germans trying to capture the sniper/agent (really, the missions look more like covert operations than they do a sniper, but whatever).

I was able to deduce just enough to stop him right before he was about to get around me and onto his second objective.

It was a lot of fun.

If I had more opportunity to play longer 2-player games, I might have to try and pick this up.

But at least I have fond memories.

There are also two games on this list that I have “kind of” played.

By that I mean I have played them, but I played them asynchronously online so I don’t “count” them as a “play.”

(And my use of “quotation marks” is kind of “excessive.”)

Both of them were great games, though one I sucked at and the other just really doesn’t work well asynchronously, but I’d love to play on the table.

The first one is Friedrich, a grand strategy game set during the Seven Years War with Prussia facing off against multiple opponents (Austria, Russia and France) simultaneously.

This is the Anniversary Edition, which I assume is the one we played?

We played this on the excellent Rally the Troops web site.

The mechanics of this one are really interesting, point to point movement with multiple armies, with each side controlling not just their main side but also a minor country (the Prussian player also controls Hanover, for instance).

Combat is done using cards of the four basic card suits (Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds), but the cards you use depend on where you are fighting and what that region’s suit is!

I loved the game, but I bounced hard off of how to play it with any kind of efficiency.

I think that might be a factor of learning it online and just reading the rules, because while I understood how to do things, I had no idea how to do things well.

I’d love to try it on the table just to see if I might finally get it.

This was played with my good friends Michal (The Boardgames Chronicle) and Clio (Clio’s Board Games) along with a friend of (I think?) Clio’s.

It’s always fun playing those guys online.

The second game in question I also played with Michal & Clio (but in two separate games, since it’s a 2-player game).

1989: The Dawn of Freedom (Number 1006) is a really interesting game that plays like Twilight Struggle but with a major addition.

It still has the “great power” conflict between the Soviet Union and the US-led powers, but it’s focused on the end of the Cold War in Europe instead of the global conflict.

It’s still card-driven, with players playing cards for either Operations Points (to do various actions or place influence in various territories).

You still have a place that, once per round, you can ditch an opponent’s event card. Here it’s the Tiananmen Square track instead of the Space Race.

However, there are also Power Struggles in various countries that utilize their own cards and their own mechanics, as you play back and forth one card at a time.

This game is also on Rally the Troops right now and it’s a godsend to play it there.

Except that the Power Struggles work terribly in an asynchronous game.

The game drags out over a long period of time as you just go back and forth playing a card.

That’s it!

Playing it live would be great and I did really enjoy the game in general.

I was terrible at it, but it was fun!

I have my own copy of it, so one day it will get played.

There are a few other notable wargames in this ranking group, none of which I have played at all (though one I could, as it’s also on Rally the Troops!)

Wargames don’t typically get really high on the rankings because I think they are more of a niche market.

Washington’s War is a game I would like to try at some point, though my ability to process complex rules without the game in front of me right now is kind of waning.

I’m sure the Rally the Troops implementation is fantastic, though, and I know Clio and Michal have played it there.

Maybe soon?

This is an American Revolution game that is also point to point movement and card-driven.

So combining both of those first two!

(not really)

I also have to note that I have played Castles of Mad King Ludwig a bunch of times, but the Collector’s Edition (which I also own but haven’t even broken the shrinkwrap on because I’m too intimidated by it) is number 1085.

Thus, it counts as an unplayed game! But only because it’s a separate BGG entry from the original game.

Of course, in this game you are building a castle by buying room tiles and connecting them into your castle, hopefully getting proper rooms next to each other so you can score maximum points!

That also applies to Yedo: Deluxe Master Set (Number 1083) except I’ve only played Yedo once (not a huge number of times) and I don’t actually own the deluxe set.

Sometimes when a game gets a separate entry on BGG and when it doesn’t can get really annoying.

It’s a shame I haven’t played this game since 2015, though (2015? Holy shit!) because I remember it was an interesting sort of Lords of Waterdeep game with extra cool bits in it.

You’re in 1605 Japan and has to with clans vying for power with the new Shogunate.

I should track this down again one of these days.

Especially because the original game is also in this ranking group, at number 1045!

A game I used to own but could never get to the table (but wanted to) was Adrenaline (number 1084).

This game apparently has that online first-person shooter game feel to it, even though it’s played in turns.

I love how you’re moving around the map from room to room, picking up ammo for your guns and stuff, and trying to knock out the other players.

When you do, though, they respawn so they’re not out of the game.

The game avoids the “pick on the same person all the time” trap by having you get fewer and fewer points each time you kill the same person.

I’m not sure why this never made it out. Maybe it was my game group not finding the concept interesting?

I may not have sold it enough.

This is going to sound weird, but the rectangular longish box didn’t really fit well in my bag that I always bring stuff to game day in, which may have contributed as well.

Anyway, if somebody sees me at a con or something and wants to bring this bad boy out, I’d love to play it!

Or maybe get it on BGA?

Hint hint.

Finally, what game that I haven’t played yet would I really love to play?

I think it would probably be Coffee Traders, though that might be my only play of it.

It’s been played a few times on Heavy Cardboard and the playthroughs looked interesting.

It is an economic game of sorts, so I often bounce off of those.

I’d just like the experience and to be able to say that I had given it a chance.

I like the blurb:

“In Coffee Traders, set in 1970s Central and South America, Africa, and Asia, the delicious Arabica coffee beans farmers harvest are sold in Antwerp — and all over the world — to coffee roasters large and small. Work with your competitors to develop the regions you see fit for the best coffee beans while keeping a watchful eye on the market. Construct buildings to help your Fair Trade coffee plantations thrive while enhancing your network for trading coffee. Will your plantations fall to ruin, or will you rise to the top and become the world’s greatest coffee trader?”

Sounds intriguing!

Have you played any of these games?

Do you want to?

Anything else in this range that you really like?

Let me know in the comments.