BGG Top Games – 1201 Through 1300

It’s Friday! Time for another look at 100 games on the Boardgame Geek top rankings.

Ok, last week’s was Wednesday, and the week before was Thursday.

It hasn’t taken its Metamucil yet.

Just go with it, ok?

It’s going to be weekly, but not specifically weekly.

Geez, everybody is so demanding.

Wait, come back! I like you being demanding!

What was that? Just get started?

Ok, I will do that.

Welcome to this week’s look at a group of 100 of the Top 2000 ranked boardgames on Boardgame Geek.

Thanks for the inspiration from This Game is Broken, a hilarious boardgame podcast that did a segment on games ranked from 1000 to 2000 on Boardgame Geek, I’ve decided to look at these games in 100-game increments.

Of course, you should keep in mind that rankings change and something on this list might actually belong in a different post if you’re reading this in the future.

Or the past, especially if the game hasn’t been designed yet.

And if you are, can I just say “welcome to the future!” and that I’m sorry?

As usual, these are going to be random thoughts on games I’ve played, some I haven’t played but want to, and some I wouldn’t touch with a 50 foot pole (because Dungeons and Dragons has expanded since the days of the 10 foot pole).

Interestingly enough (at least to me), I’ve played 23 of these games, which is only slightly less than last week.

I own 10 of them with two of them having been previously owned.

Let’s start digging into the goodness, because there are actually some good games in this list (and some…not so much).

Let’s talk about the “not so much” first, because there are a bunch of them too.

A number of years ago (he says, like he doesn’t have his BG Stats app open and knows that it was 2018), I attended Terminal City Tabletop Convention and signed up for a play of a game based on one of my favourite videogame franchises.

Yes, it was time to try out the Fallout (#1299) board game, a game that attempts to recreate you roaming the Capital Wasteland facing off against ghouls, super mutants, deathclaws, and all of that.

The game is played with a hidden world consisting of hex tiles flipped over. When you go to explore, you flip them over to see what’s there.

I don’t even remember what the point of the game was as far as victory conditions or anything like that.

I do remember that the red tiles were more dangerous than the green tiles, and that you could level up your character with powers and skill points, etc.

The only memory of this game I have is that it was tedious, long (2.5 hours for 3 players, plus setup!) and I was not having much fun.

It’s supposed to bring to mind the video game, but for me it barely did that.

Maybe another play of it, especially with the expansion, might help?

I’m not chomping at the bit to do so, though.

Another dud for me was The Game (#1287), probably the hardest game to search for on Boardgame Geek because literally everything has “game” in the title.

I can’t even search my image catalog to see if I’ve uploaded the box image before!

This is a cooperative card game where you have two stacks of cards, one going from 100 to 1 and one going from 1 to 100, and you have to play cards to each stack to try and get rid of all of your cards (after drawing more, of course, so it’s not just your hand).

You can’t really talk much, you certainly can’t say what’s in your hand.

You take turns, so if there’s a 52 in the descending pile and I have a 51, I can’t say “I have the 51, don’t play there”.

I can say “I can do really well with that descending pile” but maybe they’ll think you have the 49 and thus they’ll play the 50?

And of course, if your entire hand is crap, you’re hooped anyway, even though I think you can clear out some of the cards played if you play a card exactly 10 higher or lower (depending on the pile you play it on)?

I don’t remember, and I don’t want to.

I can’t think of a more terrible concept (ok, yes I can, but you know what I mean) and it’s no wonder I haven’t played this since 2017.

Finally, one game in this group that I’m sad to say is kind of a dud for me was Moon Colony Bloodbath (#1241).

This is a game where you all have colonies on the moon and disasters keep happening.

As cards are turned over, more and more bad stuff keeps happening but you can spend resources to build buildings (which can help you or, eventually, be the source of more population as you destroy it).

This is mitigating disaster, and nothing more than that.

It’s kind of like Empire’s End in that respect, except that the latter game actually has a set end point.

This one doesn’t.

Instead, as soon as somebody runs out of population, the endgame is triggered.

In our game, that seemed to be getting closer and closer with disaster after disaster!

And then that person would gain some population that they just had to lose again.

It really felt anticlimactic when it finally ended, as I thought the end was coming a few times.

I think this one is a bit longer than it needs to be, but remember that this was my first play.

Subsequent plays could change that.

But for now, it’s kind of a dud.

Let’s stop being negative, though!

Some really great games are also in this list.

I am a huge fan of Time of Crisis (#1202) and every time I play it, I like it more (though I do wish the beginning were more interesting, even with the expansion).

This is a kind of deckbuilding wargame taking place during the chaotic 55 years of the 3rd century when the Roman Empire had something like 50 emperors, some of them only lasting a few weeks.

Players are rival families/factions/whatever who are trying to install their own governor while maintaining governorship of outlying provinces and fighting off barbarian invasions.

There’s just so much to like about this game, from the randomness of the barbarians (which can give a player way too much to handle) to the machinations of storming Rome and taking control, holding it for a couple of turns, and then getting knocked off the throne by some other upstart.

I love playing this game on Rally the Troops and it’s the only game I’ve played (asynchronously) with Grant and Alexander from the Players’ Aid!

Those games have always been fun.

The Prodigals Club (#1241) is of course one of my favourite games, so the fact that it’s this far down (and I believe it’s below Last Will, which is just criminal).

How can you go wrong with a game where you’re trying to make everybody hate you?

Even though Dame Beatrice keeps trying to extol your virtues?

Witchcraft! (#1230) is a wonderful solo game from Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson that rockets past the also great Resist! (they seem to like exclamation marks in their titles) because of the interesting ways you can win even as you are trying to keep your witch’s coven intact.

Solo games are becoming a cool thing for me and this is a great one.

There are a few others in this list that I’ve already reviewed, so I’ll list them here.

One Smash Up expansion is here, because they are also standalone if you play them two players, are on this list.

Also, the base game is on this list! It’s #1254.

However, Pretty Pretty Smash Up is an excellent addition to the game at #1268.

I’ve also reviewed Jump Drive, and incredibly fast filler card game set in the Race for the Galaxy universe.

This has been a mainstay for the beginning of our game days while we’re waiting for our food to arrive for a while now.

Valley of the Kings (#1226) is a great deckbuilder, but somehow I’ve never reviewed it!

I’ve reviewed its two standalone expansions, though, Afterlife and Last Rites.

This is a deckbuilding game where you are acquiring cards from a collapsing pyramid and adding them to your deck.

They have their own powers when you play them, but you don’t score any points for them unless you’ve buried them in your tomb.

This picture is from an expansion but the concept is the same.

Such a fun deck-building game. I’ve traded away the base game and Afterlife, but Last Rites is still in my collection and I should probably play it again soon.

The basic edition of Rebel Princess is at #1285 and it is a wonderful trick-taking game.

I have the 2nd Edition, so my version is not on this list.

However, it is a great variation on the class game Hearts with variable player powers and an effect that will happen each round.

I love this one a lot.

Do you like Space Base? Then you might really like Bad Company (#1283), a game with some similar mechanics but different enough that I don’t mind having both in my collection.

This is a game where one player rolls 4 dice and chooses how to put them into two pairs.

They get to activate both pairs while all other players activate one of the two.

Activating your gang with the pair of dice will get you icons which will let you complete heists, or maybe steering wheels to let you keep ahead of the cops.

I really enjoy the secondary board play where you are trying to stay ahead of the cops.

Not because they’ll eliminate you from the game if they catch you.

You just will lose points if the cop is ahead of you at the end of the game.

You don’t want that.

One of my favourite games is at #1288, and it should be higher!

Rock Hard 1977 is a game where you are trying to become a rock musician.

It’s a worker placement game but has so many cool additions to it, like spending candy to get additional actions (even though you run the risk of overdosing and losing your next Daytime turn).

The Hangouts that you can go visit at nights are a really fun part of the game.

I can’t wait for the expansion to come out next year, as it will be a must-buy.

That’s all that I’ve reviewed in this list.

What games would I like to play?

Galileo Galilei (#1258) is a very well-regarded game from the Tomáš Holek, who also designed SETI.

It’s another euro where you are an astronomer discovering planets, star systems, developing your telescope and trying to avoid the inquisition (they were a bitch back at that time).

The blurb doesn’t really go into detail about how you are doing what you are doing, but let’s do it anyway!

“Use your telescope to select one of the five actions available, with you being able to evolve these actions into better ones. Collect cards of different planets and star systems. Collect lenses of the three main colors to make a discovery. Be wary of inquisitors as they might arrive unwelcomed and ruin your fame in no time. Better find a way to profit from their visit instead.“

It’s getting a lot of praise out there so I’d really love to try it at least once.

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth (#1213 and rising I’m sure) is a 2025 release that uses the classic Memoir ’44 mechanics (which are also based on Commands & Colors).

Lots of DNA!

I’ve played Commands & Colors a few times, and I’ve played Memoir ’44 on Boardgame Arena a lot!

So this Star Wars themed game of the same type is really intriguing to me.

There are more games on this list, of course. Both good and bad.

I’d love to try Comic Hunters (#1282) again!

I love the play of this game, with three different types of rounds where you are trying to collect classic Marvel comics titles.

However, I don’t need to play Flick of Faith (#1215) at all.

Dexterity games, or games where you flick discs, are not really in my field of “I want to play this!” games.

And I doubt that will ever come up in my experience, which is good!

I have no idea what this game is, but I don’t need to play it.

What have you played in this range of games?

What do you want to play?

What do you want to avoid?

Let me know in the comments.