Clicking on the game names on this post will take you to their appropriate page on BoardGameGeek.
I'm also going to include some pictures of games that I played in 2023...
...for a start, Flamme Rouge. I actually won this one. Only the second time that I have!
My Most Played Games in 2023.
1st. 32 plays.
Just One. I love word games (except for anagrams, I can rarely do them (unless they come with a clue, then I often do get them.)), and this is one of the very best. I'm pleased that this tops this list.
2nd. 23 plays.
So Clover! Another beautifully elegant word game.
3rd. 20 plays.
Codenames. In third place, yet another word game! Again, beautifully designed with simple rules. Always fun.
4th. 19 plays.
Tempel Des Schreckens. A favourite at my boardgames club, Isleworth Board Gamers, which, to be honest, until last year, I've rarely enjoyed. But I've grown to quite like it of late.
5th. 13 plays.
Escalation! A classic from prolific games designer, Reiner Knizia. Another game with a very simple premise, play a card (or set of cards) with a higher number (or total) than the previous player.
Joint 6th and 7th. 10 Plays Each.
Mists Over Carcassonne. A co-operative version of Carcassonne (one of my favourite games). I've logged each round played as a separate game, which is why it's made my top 10. To be honest,I'm not a fan. I love the original but just don't really see the point of a co-operative version.
Scout. A great card game with some interesting mechanics that tickles my numbers sweet spot.
Joint, 8th, 9th and 10th. 7 plays each.
Gizmos. I was introduced to this near the end of this year but after repeated plays still find it fun.
Undaunted: Normandy. A hybrid of a deck-builder and a wargame, with several different scenarios to play though.
Wingspan. A game about collecting birds in different habitats and building an efficient “engine” with them to gain more points than your opponents.
The end of a game of the giant version of Catch The Moon.
My Top 10 of games that were new to me in 2023. (In reverse order...to up the tension!)
10. Nigoichi. A clever word game.
9. Rome In A Day. A nice, “I cut, you choose”, territory building game.
8. Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas, Malleus Maleficarum Edition. I was after getting hold of a copy of the original version of this many years ago...but didn't! Luckily, a friend had a copy of this expanded version to sell, which I snapped up! It's really an abstract strategy game, with the theme of monks attempting to hold back the forces of darkness by collecting four books.
7. Cult Of The Death Knight, expansion for Escape The Dark Castle. I really like Escape The Dark Castle, with its Fighting Fantasy aesthetic. So was pleased that I was able to pick up the expansions that I didn't yet have, at UK Games Expo this year.
6. Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game. I haven't played the original Terraforming Mars, but I have played Terraforming Mars: The Ares Expedition, which is the version using only cards. I found TM:TDG a lot more fun. And TM:TAE, was pretty good anyway.
5. Rise Of Augustus. Fill up your cards with Legionnaires, as tokens are randomly drawn from a bag, in an attempt to score victory points. The decisions come as you decide which cards to assign the Legionnaires to, in an attempt to complete your objectives.
4. Sunrise Lane. A re-theme and update to the already very good Rondo. Well, I say re-theme, Rondo didn't really have a theme, but it did have nice tactile pieces.
3. Hard To Get. A very good co-operative party game where the clue giver has to choose between two opposite statements in order for their team-mates to eliminate cards in a tableau, hopefully leading to just one (the correct one), being left.
2. Secret Identity. A really clever, partly co-operative, clue giving/guessing game.
1. Lumen Fidei, a module for T.I.M.E Stories. T.I.M.E Stories is my favourite board game. So it's not really a surprise to me that this excellent module for it came out on top. It has an epic story set around the time of the Crusades. I played it with just one other person and although we completed it legitimately (albeit with an absolutely huge minus score), a full player count of four, may have made it easier.
The end of a two-player game of Escape The Dark Castle (without the aforementioned expansion). We got to the final boss, the Terror Of The Underworld. But were defeated by his ability to re-roll chapter dice once we'd removed them.
Honourable mentions.
(Games that I liked but that didn't make my Top 10.)
The New Game To Me With The Most Entertaining Name.
This award goes to Galaxy Cat Extension. An average game which has players attempting to build the longest cats whilst attempting to keep them safe from being abducted by aliens!
My board at the end of a game of The Castles Of Burgundy. I can't remember if I won or not (I doubt it), but I did have a fairly impressive pig farm!
Piggies!
Best Convention/Show.
This year, I attended (in order), UK Games Expo, SELWG, Warfare, and Dragonmeet.
The winner for me though is UK Games Expo. For my full round-up of it, check out my post on it here (or just scroll down to the next post on this blog).
