BGG Top Games – 2801-2900

Doing these weekly posts about these centuries of “top games” on Boardgame Geek have often been interesting because of the conversations they’ve sparked with friends and fans.

But they’ve also been interesting because I’ve seen some unexpected movement in the games I’m seeing.

For instance, one of the games I talked about last week (Age of Comics) was at #2794 in the BGG rankings when I posted that.

It’s already down to where it could be on this list, at #2805 (and then #2801 when I came back to finish this post)!

I often say that there may not be a lot of movement down this deep in the rankings, but that’s a pretty far drop considering everything.

One of the other games I’m going to talk about today, I was actually going to talk about last week but decided not to include it.

It dropped into this century.

Now I can!

Because there isn’t really much to talk about in this segment, though there are some interesting games, or at least interesting topics of games, to mention.

As for what I’ve played and own?

Meh.

I’ve also noticed something that could explain what movement there is in these deep rankings.

The first 20 games in this century range in BGG rating from 6.070 to 6.067.

That means just one slight increase or decrease and rank and a game can move quite far!

That intrigued me a bit.

Anyway, enough blather about all of that.

This week’s rankings can be found here, though keep in mind (as I went on and on and on and on about above) that rankings can change if you’re coming to this post in the future.

Even if it’s just tomorrow!

I’m just under my 300-word intro limit, so let’s begin!

Colt Super Express (#2810) is the one that I was going to talk about last week, because it was in the 2700s.

It’s now already dropped this amount, though.

I didn’t talk about it last week because it was kind of boring, but this week there’s not much else, so let’s begin here!

I like Colt Express, the programming, stealin’ and shootin’ train robbery game that is a lot of fun and still just takes about 60 minutes.

I guess they figured they needed an even quicker version of the game that takes out the best part: the programming!

You’re also not stealing over a set of rounds.

Instead, you are trying to be the last bandit standing as the train slowly disappears (which really makes no sense, but whatever).

Instead you have five cards (shoot, move, climb, flip, or a “reflex” card) that you will be secretly playing three of in a round.

You do choose their secret order, so I guess there’s a little programming?

Moving and Climbing are self-explanatory, as you’re either climbing into or out of a car, or you’re moving in the direction you’re facing.

Flip just means change your orientation.

Shooting is you shoot the first character who’s in front of you given your current orientation. They move one card in the direction that you fired. They also get knocked down.

If you get shot, then you skip your next action card and just stand up.

Unless you played Reflex, in which case you stand up and shoot!

After all the cards are resolved, the last train car disappears and any bandits on it are eliminated.

The bandit furthest back from the locomotive after that happens actually gets the car as loot.

So I guess they stole the car and put it in their Bag of Holding?

I don’t know.

Play continues until one player is left standing or all cars (not the locomotive, obviously) are gone.

If multiple players are on the locomotive, then whoever has the most loot cards wins.

This is a 15-minute game and it just felt kind of lifeless compared to Colt Express.

Sure, it’s fast and has a bit of a programming feel, but with only 5 cards to choose from, there’s not much there.

It’s fine, and I wouldn’t say no to it.

But I certainly wouldn’t suggest it.

The next game that I’ve played in this century is much better.

Via Magica (#2837) is a chit-pulling game like Bingo or Ecos, but this one is much simpler (than Ecos, I don’t think much is simpler than Bingo).

And also much shorter.

Players are students getting ready to graduate from an academy of the mystic arts and are trying to pass their final exams.

They’re doing so by trying to show their expertise with opening magical portals.

The game has one player pulling a crystal from the bag and then all players are placing that crystal on one of their portal cards.

When a portal is full of the appropriate crystals, you shout “Via Magica!” (ok, I’m making that up, though you can if you want!) and they will score that portal card.

Many will also give an ability or points, and sometimes both.

There are also objective cards that you can complete based on the portals you’ve opened.

These will also get you points, more if you finish them first.

They could be for opening a certain number of blue portals, or green, or what have you.

As soon as somebody has opened seven portals, the game is over.

If the crystal drawer draws a Wild crystal, then all of the crystals go back in the bag after using it and the next player becomes the drawer.

This gives the nice Bingo feel of Ecos without the dragged out ending, and I really enjoy it for that.

Let’s see if Abi is reading this…if you still have this, bring it out again! I’d love to play it again.

It’s also available on Boardgame Arena, so there is that.

We only played it at 2 players, but I’m sure it’s much better with higher player counts.

Give this one a try if you can find it.

However, don’t get me started on my next game played, Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama (#2862).

This one is a draw and write game where you are trying to rediscover the ancient paths to sanctuaries that have become lost.

Each round, you draw a card that shows which sanctuary you are trying to draw a path to.

This will tell you where you are trying to go.

Then path cards are turned over and you draw paths trying to connect that sanctuary.

There are yellow path cards, and after three of them have been drawn, the round ends, so you don’t know how long you will have to do the connection.

Not to mention that you can’t cross paths that are already drawn, and your path must be longer than the previous round’s path or you lose 5 points!

That does restart your “must be longer than…” requirement, so at least that’s something.

But there are only 5 rounds.

I have terrible spatial ability, so trying to plan out these routes just made my brain ache, and not in a good way.

For me, this is a terrible game.

You might like it!

But I will always pass on this one.

Finally, for games I’ve played, there’s New Amsterdam (#2882), a game that I have no memory of how to play or anything, but that I recently mentioned on Clio’s blog!

Where I said that I had no memory of how to play it, but I know that I did.

I played twice in 2014, in a 2-week span, shortly after I came back to gaming.

Since I can’t comment on the play of it, you know what’s coming…

Let’s blurb! (I will make that a legitimate verb one of these days)

“Nieuw Amsterdam was founded by the Dutch West Indies Company in order to encourage the lucrative beaver pelt trade with the local Native American hunters along the Hudson River. To establish a trading post there, they needed a town and a fort, which was built on the tip of Manhattan Island. To encourage European patrons – that is, settlers of means or noble birth – to populate the colony, they granted them both land and indentured servants. The patrons became the lords of a new feudal system not unlike that seen in Europe.

In Nieuw Amsterdam, players are those patrons, and they bid on action lots in order to build businesses, work land for both food and building materials, compete in elections, ship furs to the Old World, and trade with the Lenape Indians – a process that gets more complicated as players claim more land and push the Lenape camps farther up the Hudson River.”

I rated this game a 7 on BGG at the time, and having no memory of it, I can’t really change it because I’d be willing to try it again!

I don’t know anybody who would have it, though.

Before I get to the games that are at least semi-interesting to me that I haven’t played, I wanted to comment on one that I previously owned but never got to the table.

Richard III: The Wars of the Roses (#2824) looks really interesting. I won it in a convention raffle, but a 2-player block wargame, with all of those stickers? (This is before I took the Commands & Colors plunge and decided stickers weren’t *that* scary).

I knew I’d never get it to the table so I did pass it on to somebody else who would love it like I couldn’t.

But it does look really cool!

I am a History fan and the Wars of the Roses have always intrigued me.

I probably still wouldn’t buy it right now because 2-player wargame and all of that, but I wouldn’t mind playing it one of these days.

Yes, I know it’s on Rally the Troops, so I will get it played one of these days.

A note of interest, even though it’s not a game I want to play, is Assyria (#2840), which is mainly of interest because I now own (and enjoy) the 2nd edition game put out by Garphill Games just last year!

We only got it played once, so I’m going to have to relearn it before I can bring it out again.

There are some major differences between that one and this one, but the main concept of being desert tribes trying to develop the limited fertile area between two rivers, creating ziggurats, digging wells, and all of that.

Hopefully that one will be moving up past this one, because it is very good. But we’ll see!

Now how about we get into what’s cool-looking that I haven’t owned.

The first one is Brotherhood & Unity (#2832), put out by Compass Games in 2020.

It’s a wargame that tells the story of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992-1995. It’s a 2-3 player card-driven game showcasing all of the major events, like the siege of Sarajevo.

Players are the Croats, Serbs, or the Bosniaks, and will form alliances and take part in the war with a point-to-point movement system (no hexes).

I’m struggling to summarize this, so let’s blurb it:

“Each player gets a deck of Strategy Cards, simulating a variety of historical events. The player starts an action round by playing a Strategy Card from his hand. A card can be played as an event (Combat Card, Offensive, Interrupt, Foreign Units and Other) or as one of the game actions (Movement, Attack, Strategic Redeployment, Diplomatic Action or Reinforcement). The events and card values have been carefully created to mimic the historical events and choices. Since each game uses only a part of the available card deck, players can’t be certain which cards will be drawn during the game. That creates a “card fog-of-war” and makes the game more replayable.

Game uses Strategic Will point system to keep track of the victories and losses, and to determine the final score. It is affected by a number of things: capturing or losing regions, capturing or losing key spaces, eliminating or losing units, and as a result of events. One of the most important aspects of the game is capturing player’s own key regions – which were different for each side, and which reflects the different aims the each side had.”

It sounds really intriguing and it’s about a subject that I know very little about. At 2-4 hours, it’s probably not that hard to get done, either (though it’s probably 5-6 in reality, so maybe not).

I’d love to try it!

Right under that is Amun-Re: 20th Anniversary Edition (#2833), a new edition of the classic Knizia auction game that I’ve heard so much about but have never even seen, much less played.

I don’t know a lot about it, but the original produced one of the funniest posts I’ve ever read on Boardgame Geek, a session report about the game.

Anyway, the 20th Anniversary edition didn’t spark nearly that kind of love and it’s languishing down here at 2833 while the original game is at 600.

Will it keep moving up? It’s been out a few years now, so probably not.

Though that could be because there are so many fans of the first game?

I don’t know.

Wait, you actually want to know about the game?

Go read that session report and learn about crapping in your neighbour’s weaving hut!

Ok, ok.

I’ve never played the game, so let’s blurb this one:

“Everyone knows of the pyramids on the Nile — eternal monuments of a powerful and beautiful culture that can still take our breath away. The players (leaders of a royal Egyptian family) choose their sites, build their pyramids, and thank Amun-Re and the other gods for their bounty.

In Amun-Re, each pharaoh wants to build the most pyramids. To accomplish this, they must first acquire a province where they can trade and farm. With their profits, they can buy new provinces and building stones to erect pyramids. For all their actions, players must make clever use of their power cards and always offer appropriate sacrifices to Amun-Re.

I think you’re bidding on provinces and other stuff, making sacrifices to Amun-Re to insure you get the most glory, and stuff like that.

The game goes over two kingdom ages, and control of the provinces is lost at the end of the first age.

So you could have built a pyramid in your province in the first age and it’s just sitting there for somebody else to scoop up in the second age.

I hate when that happens.

Anyway, I’d love to play this sometime, even though I’m not a big auction fan.

Then I would reread that session report and laugh even harder.

For the solo fan in me, I actually had Silent Victory (#2852) on my P500 order list for the reprint, until the whole debacle in the US made us cancel all of our US orders.

Which is probably just as well, as I had a bunch of GMT games on my P500 list that I probably would never have gotten played.

Anyway, I’ve loved playing The Hunted, the solo game about German U-Boats in late World War II, but wasn’t able to get my hands on The Hunters (which reprint just came out but also fell victim to me cancelling all of my P500s) and Silent Victory.

These are all solo submarine games, and Silent Victory is about US subs in the Pacific

They are lots of dice rolling against different tables, but you can captain the same sub and keep the same crew (unless some of them are killed, of course) as you progress through the war.

This is a picture from The Hunted, but it’s very similar to Silent Victory in that you are loading your sub with torpedoes and going out hunting for Japanese ships.

I love these games for the stories they tell, because of course they are so random with dice rolls and tables that there isn’t much strategy or tactics at all.

You randomly run into shipping and you have to decide whether it’s worth trying to sink it or not.

Do you run after your first shot or do you try again, even though an escort ship may come after you?

Some decisions, and not nearly as decision free as Aces of Valor, but it will not burn your brain.

But I love the stories they produce!

Anyway, I’d love to snag a copy of Silent Victory, and maybe I will at some point now that the reprint is coming out.

Finally, a newish (2023) game by two of my favourite designers: David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin.

General Orders: World War II (#2861) is a 2-player, 30-minute game that sounds really interesting.

It’s a kind of area movement, worker placement game where two players are struggling to seize assets that might give special abilities, but you have to maintain your supply lines as well!

There are two sides of the map, either Italy or islands in the Pacific.

This is an image uploaded to BGG by the publisher that gives a great look at how it sits on the table.

Nice and compact!

And there’s a new version set in medieval Japan, which also looks good (though it just came out recently, so I’m not sure how highly it’s ranked).

I would definitely get this one if I was in the market for 2-player games, but with our lunchtime games being multiplayer almost all the time now, I’m now buying 2-player games.

But I’d play it!

That’s it for this century. Anything in there I missed that you want to highlight?

Let me know in the comments.