2019: The Games I didn’t Play

No, this isn’t my promised writeup on the best games I played in 2019.

This is my thoughts on the new games I didn’t actually buy or play last year.

Why on earth would I waste time on games I never actually played? Because these end of the year lists are often notable for what games aren’t there. When I see a top 10 list I often ask myself why a comparable but perhaps better game isn’t listed. The answer, often as not, is that the writer didn’t play the other game.

But why? Perhaps there’s more to the choice than the bland truth that there are a lot of games and you can’t play them all. So here goes an odd experiment: I’ve listed both the games I really wish I’d played, and the ones I’m glad I didn’t, done in that cliched 10 to 1 style list. I didn’t put on any games which haven’t released in the U.S. yet and weren’t available from the publisher or via Kickstarter – so Marco Polo II doesn’t make the list, for instance. (My last game on the second list probably breaks this rule).

The New Games I Most Wish I’d Played in 2019

10. Circadians: First Light

I enjoyed SJ McDonald’s 2018 collaboration with Shem Phillips, Architects of the West Kingdom, and happily backed their followup, Paladins of the West Kingdom, but somehow I didn’t back Circadians: First Light, McDonald’s other euro that was also on Kickstarter at about the same time.

This was a promising midweight euro from a designer I respected, with mechanisms which seemed a great fit for me – worker placement combined with a spatial element for a more interesting collection of resources. So why didn’t I pull the trigger?

Perhaps it was because I thought backing more than one Garphill game at once was onverindulgent, perhaps it was the game’s odd childlike art, perhaps it was that I knew I could eventually get the game from Renegade at a better price point, or perhaps it was my fear that that the simultaneous action selection (each player chooses their worker placement dice in secret each round) could prove unsatisfyingly random for a longer eurogame.

Whatever my reason, the game has been fairly well received so far, and after enjoying but not loving Paladins, I’ve had the creeping sensation that I backed the wrong SJ McDonald horse this year. The game has finally appeared in a retail version, so I should get a chance to find out.

9. Aquatica

Another Kickstarter that I almost, but didn’t quite, pull the trigger on. I love underwater themes, the art looked fantasic, the foundational card tucking mechanism looked intriguing, combined with solid Concordia style action selection, and the game’s publisher, Cosmodrone Games, had recently delivered a surprise hit with Smartphone, Inc.

So why didn’t I back it? It may have been simply that I’d bought a bunch of games near the time of the campaign and didn’t feel great about it, financially. It may have been the sense that often these lighter euros seem good, but not great, when I eventually play them, and that the gameplay, while solid looking, wasn’t making my heart beat faster.

When I saw many folks talking about great experiences with this at BGG Con, those regret pangs knocked on my heart, especially when I realize Cosmodrone doesn’t release games right to retail after a Kickstarter campaign, and that it might be a long time before I got play this.

8. Watergate

When this first came out, I said that this probably was a very good game, but not for me. I don’t player two player games very often, and when I do, they’re not usually tight and punishing – I grew up playing a lot of tight and punishing two player games, often wargames, and my return to the hobby has been characterized by an enjoyment of more relaxed, forgiving games.

So despite every reviewer under the sun (particularly Man vs Meeple and Tom Vasel) lavishing praise on this game, I was unmoved.

I think my first pangs of regret came later, after the initial hype, when I realized that this was from Capstone Games, and that basically everything they’d put out this year was a huge hit (spoiler – this is not my only game from Capstone on this list).

Then I discovered Watergate was designed by Matthias Cramer, whose Rococo and Lancaster are two of my favorite games, and I realized I’d probably made a mistake.

At the same time, I’m not sure I want to buy it, since it takes a truly great two player game to get me to open my tight wallet, since I don’t play at two much, but I regret not getting someone else to buy it and play it with me. In other words, I regret not being more manipulative. Perfect for the theme of this game.

7. The King’s Dilemma

I was immediately taken in when I heard the premise of this one – players represent noble houses who must vote on the kingdom’s key decisions, which are often tough moral quandaries. Each house has their own secret goals, but the real fun seemed to be in the story, which would permanently branch depending on the player choices.

I’m not always interested in story games, mainly because they’re often games I’d play solo, and I prefer a story experience to be more collaborative, and that’s exactly what this obviously was.

Furthermore, the designers had an impressive pedigree, having between them been responsible for Photosynthesis, Potion Explosion, Dragon Castle, and Railroad Inc.

I didn’t buy it when it was available at Gen Con for two main reasons: 1) it was expensive, and I’m cheap, and 2) it clearly required a stable group to play through through the entire campaign, and I was going to move in a month, and I didn’t know when I’d be settled down again.

But when a game group at my new location pulled this out to continue their campaign a few weeks ago, I was deeply jealous. The sounds of their spirited negotiation over the night’s dilemma made me want to sit down and start arguing with them, and I usually don’t like negotiation games.

There’s perhaps a lesson here – if make your decision entirely for practical reasons, rather than for simply whether you’d love the game or not, you may really regret it. After all, Gloomhaven wasn’t practical for me, and we somehow finished a campaign over two years and close to a hundred scenarios, and it was maybe the most memorable gaming experience of my life. This one only has a dozen or so scenarios – I probably could have pulled it off somehow.

Fortunately, it’s not too late for this one – the game is out and available, and I’ll probably pick it up soon.

6. Pipeline

I was not particularly taken with this game when I first saw it on Kickstarter. The theme did absolutely nothing for me, and I heard that it was a rich-get-richer style engine builder, which I tend not to enjoy unless the game is very short (I’m not a huge fan of Food Chain Magnate, for instance).

My opinion was perhaps reinforced when a certain member of my game group bought and espoused it, one who I, somewhat unfairly, have pigeonholed as someone who buys games that are longer and more complicated than they are worth.

My opinion changed a bit when my co-host, the occasionally brilliant and often ignorant Pat Flannery, espoused its virtues, emphasizing the spatial puzzle of building the pipeline itself, something I soon realized I would probably love – I do enjoy how a spatial puzzle mixes with more standard euro-y elements in a game.

Then I realized it was another Capstone game, which by now I’d realized could do no wrong in 2019, and I had a bit more regret (and again, this won’t be the last Capstone game on this list).

This is not a game I’m necessarily going to rush out and buy, but I wish I’d at least gave it a chance when it was right in front of me – my game group friend and Pat both offered to teach me when I lived near them in Chicago, and I turned them down.

5. Cthulhu: Death May Die

This first showed up as a safe pass for me when I heard about the Kickstarter campaign. While I love me some Blood Rage and Rising Sun, there are even more Lang designs that aren’t for me, and I’m not particularly a Rob Daviau fan either. Furthermore, with the exception of Gloomhaven, I’ve never been into cooperative games, particularly big, expensive campaign based ones with a lot of minis, and dice chuckers are also not my bag – I’m a eurogamer at heart. I’d played the Others and it was fine but not for me, and this seemed something like that, albeit with a perhaps even dumber theme.

So I had no regrets whatsoever until I heard certain reviewers talking about their experience of it. It’s not simply that they were positive about the game, but that they sounded joyful when discussing it. They also described it as cleaner than I expected (The Others had more micromanagement than I cared for). All of a sudden I found myself wishing for the game’s experience, not necessarily as a buyer and backer for that high price, but to play someone else’s copy a few times and having some memorable experiences. It will probably never happen, which is perhaps increasing my regret a bit.

4. Glen More II

Matthias Cramer is back on the list! This is the holy grail of midweight eurogamers, that supposedly magnificent design which has been out of print almost a decade, and finally returned thanks to Kickstarter.

I was a millisecond away from backing the campaign when I was stopped by my own calculating greed.

The campaign seemed quite expensive, perhaps double the cost of a typical eurogame. This was in part due to Cramer throwing in a lot of extra modules into the base game, but also the Kickstarter just wasn’t a very good deal. I was clear that when Renegade sold it at retail (and they usually do so fast after Kickstarter releases), it would be much cheaper, and if it lacked a couple of those modules, well, I didn’t care.

However, the Kickstarter campaign has apparently delivered, and the retail release is nowhere in sight. [Insert F bomb].

Late note: I just saw this at Cardhaus. Off to buy.

3. Egizia: Shifting Sands

Everything I said about Glen More II applies to this one as a white whale, a mythical out of print fantastic euro returned to Kickstarter.

Except I backed this one. The price was right, and I went for it.
However, at the time of purchase I didn’t know where I’d be living, and the same held true for when shipping addresses were locked in. So I sent it to an old gamer friend who lived in New Jersey. Now that I’m in Des Moines, I’m just too cheap to spend the $17 to have it shipped out here – I already did that with a couple of games, and I both don’t want to pay and don’t want to bother him, especially when I should be seeing him in a couple of months.

I spied the game in the bag of someone who comes to game nights out here and I’ve been working on them to teach it to me. Soon, my precious!

2. PARKS

This family weight set collection game with stunning, fantabulous art somehow came out when I wasn’t looking – I somehow missed the Kickstarter, and now it costs $63 at retail or Amazon, which seems very pricey (remember, I’m cheap).

My family loves the outdoors, and great art, and this would have been the perfect game for some of them to enjoy, and get into modern board games – but at $63 a pop, it might not be happening.

1. Crystal Palace

Capstone Games wins the day. This worker placement game got my immediate attention when I heard about the mechanism of choosing dice faces, and getting value based on the strength of those faces, but having to pay for each pip in a super tight economy. Positive reviews helped cement my optimism.

I haven’t been putting games on this list which have released only in Europe, but it was on the Capstone website for a hot minute and I missed it, hence my regret.

It has just gone to retail and I’ll be ordering it soon. (Note: I did pre-order and get Maracaibo from Capstone, so I went 1 for 4 as far as getting their games this year).

Games I glad I missed

Regretting games you didn’t buy is only part of the story. There are the games you almost buy, and end up delighted you didn’t for one reason or another. Since regret is a more enduring emotion than relief, this is a much shorter list.

Please note that I don’t claim access to the God’s truth about the quality of these games, since I haven’t even played them, and that these aren’t reviews, and many of the comments below may be unfair, since they are based on video impressions and hearsay.

But the intention here, and for the games above, is not to give fair judgments, but more to give insight into my heuristics – weighing the cost of valuable time and money vs. potential reward – when deciding to buy, or not buy, a game.

5. Pax Pamir

Okay, now I’m not just hating on Cole Wehrle, as critical as I’ve been about his theories of game design (kingmaking as a feature, not a bug).

But I was genuinely interested in giving this one a go. The history of Afghanistan is fascinating, and playing as local factions rather than colonial powers seemed like a great choice. The subtle card play, in which one’s influence with one faction could backfire with another faction, seemed to indicate that the negative interaction went beyond take that into something truly skill based.

And then I saw the cards. Holy wall of text Batman. Look, I know that games originating with Phil Eklund are a mess with a huge learning curve. But I believed, naively in retrospect, that this edition had smoothed out the rough edges and delivered a much more approachable game.

Here’s a personal pedantic rule: any card based game where the total card text seems longer than the rulebook itself is not a fit for me. I don’t want to invest a huge amount of time learning and teaching with little certainty the game will even be understood, let alone enjoyed. Call it a game weight issue if you will, though I do enjoy lots of heavy games – they just all tend to have clean iconography and rulesets.

Note: a comment has pointed out that the dense text is simply flavor, revealing the idiocy of not only the above paragraphs, but of judging games without playing them generally. Such is life.

4. On Mars

There was a time when the games of Vital Lacerda excited me. I played the Gallerist and Lisboa each a couple of times, and while the rulesets were challenging, I felt there was something truly engaging going on behind all the myriad mechanisms.

Now, I’m not so sure.

When I first saw On Mars appear on Kickstarter, I was strongly considering backing it. I was intrigued to see what a dense resource management game about Martian colonization would look like.

Then I saw Rahdo’s runthrough of the game, and I quietly scratched it off my list. If the biggest criticism of Lacerda’s games is that they are mechanisms within mechanisms solely for mechanisms sake, then Rahdo’s video was a parody of that critique. His 31 minute video ran through exactly one turn for two players.

“But wait! That’s not all!” Rahdo would say after each move. “In addition to placing that cube and having the option to move up that track, you can spend two resources to now take a bonus executive action, extras of which you can get through creating blueprints which you fulfill on earth, which you can optionally move to after fulfilling your main Mars action!”

It wasn’t that I couldn’t follow the chain of what was happening in the game. It was that I couldn’t conceive of how any action would improve one’s position and actually lead to winning the game.

And I realized that this was why I wasn’t playing Lacerda’s games more despite their obvious beauty and intelligence. I want to be grappling with strategies and tactics, not mechanisms. I want to know how what I’m doing is helping me progress and win.

“Just play thematically and you’ll do all right,” advises Pat, my overenthusiastic co-host. Look Pat, if I wanted to play a game where I didn’t get too deep into the details and just played thematically, it sure wouldn’t be a Lacerda game.

Truth be told, I don’t know if On Mars would eventually be an enjoyable game for me. Maybe the strategy would become less obtuse if I actually played the game.

But that’s the point of this list – looking at whether it’s worth learning, teaching and playing a game based on what I know without playing it. And this game, described by a prominent game designer as one which “makes Kanban look like a filler game”, just seems like too much of an investment for a game I might not enjoy.

3. Cloudspire

I hadn’t played Chip Theory Games’ previous release, Too Many Bones, but it seemed impressive based on reviews and gameplay videos. At the very least, it was an incredible production, and the same was obviously true of their latest Kickstarter release.

This seemed like an impressive mashup of MOBA style play, dudes on a map fighting, and hero adventuring, all done in a gorgeous display of armies represented by poker like chips, to the point where I almost clicked the back button on several occasions. Even at Gen Con this year, I was close to buying the game – only the fact that I’d gone
over budget before even reaching the Chip Theory booth prevented me.

When the game was delivered and early reviews came in, I had an immediate wave of relief, not unlike that for On Mars, that I hadn’t spent large sums of cash for this game. It wasn’t so much the reviews, as the notation of a few key items: 1) the rulebook was long and kind of a hot mess, 2) the game itself was long and would have severe downtime with more than 2 players, and 3) at these high player counts there was also apparently a kingmaker issue.

That sealed it right there. Maybe it was a great solo experience, but that wasn’t what I was looking for – I was hoping for a unique multiplayer dudes on a map game, but that didn’t seem to be where the game shined. Pass!

2. Edge of Darkness

I was excited about this game even before Mystic Vale was released. Card crafting style deckbuilding as part of a big hairy euro fantasy game with worker placement and guilds and more seemed like a hoot.

My enthusiasm was only slightly lessened when I didn’t particularly enjoy Mystic Vale. After all, my criticism of that game – that there wasn’t much there beyond the card crafting gimmick, and that I wasn’t much of a fan of pure deckbuilders – wouldn’t apply to the more involved game.

What stopped me from backing the Kickstarter was the price first and foremost – the full game, not including expansions, was $100 for shipping, more than I wanted to pay for a euro. That and the box size – space is at a premium for me, and I didn’t want another Gloomhaven size box unless the game was, well, another Gloomhaven.

When reviewers like Tom Vasel called the game confusing and overwrought, I didn’t give it a second thought.

1. Orleans: Stories

I’m one of those eurogamers who loves Orleans and its ability to allow for a host of different bag building strategies. Even though I have some balance qualms about the base game (the best strategy may involve never using the board at all), I’m interested in all things Orleans, and a story/scenario mode which gave new puzzles and variety to the base game sounded amazing.

Curious, then, that despite the early excitement, after this game released at Essen, no one was talking about it.

I hunted down comments here on BGG and elsewhere, and it seemed like it might be a gigantic miss. Apparently, the freedom to take any worker building path one wished, the best feature of the original game, was gone – instead you had to follow specific paths to fulfill specific goals. And if you failed early, you could be virtually eliminated, not exactly a selling point in a eurogame which could last up to 3 hours.

For reasons like the above, this game has graced a couple of ‘Top disappointments’ lists, and I’m glad I’d abandoned my silly notion of having the game muled back to me from Essen at an exorbitant price.

That’s it for this experiment! Some of you may think I’ve been unfair to some of the games above, and that they may reveal more about my own bias against heavier games than any fair critique, but that’s exactly the point. Doing these lists, particularly the second one, has made me realize that I’m much more skeptical of heavier games with long learning curves than I am lighter ones, since they require such a significant investment of precious time.

In a perfect world, where I’m sipping rum drinks eternally on a tropical island, I’d try and play massive, complex games forever. But in the real world, where resources are limited, I need to be pretty sure I’ll love a heavy game before I commit a huge amount of time to it.

What about you? Where do you see I’m wrong about my evaluations above, or what games do you regret not buying or are glad you missed out on? And what does it tell you about your taste in games and what drives your purchasing decisions?

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