Best of List

Year End Review 2016 Edition

Its a new year by my count and abandoned new years resolutions aside there is only one thing left to do on the checklist.  Its time look back at 2016 and make Gamersdungeon.net’s choices for the best of the year.  Like last year we are going to pick the best designer of the year, best game company of the year and of course the best game of the year.

Like last year I have asked some members of my gaming group to anonymously throw in there two cents so we will have a look to see what some of my friends think as well.

Enjoy the article!

Best Game Designer Of The Year

Corey Konieczka

It was a very competitive year, a great year for a lot of designers but the work horse that is Fantasy Flight Games greatest asset had a hell of a year.

Star Wars Rebellion is the kind of game that Corey specializes in. Big, bright and epic.

He kicked off his year with the highly anticipated Star Wars Rebellion which for most game designers would have been a lifetime achievement, but for Corey that’s just another stripe on the battle suit.  He was knocking out content for Star Wars Imperial Assault all year long including The Bespin Gambit the third expansion major expansion.   He topped that off with a number of Mansions of Mandness expansions for the new second edition while simultaneously dropping FFG’s new addicition, Star Wars: Destiny that has risen in popularity to a ridiculous degree.

Suffice to say the man had a good year and while most of the games mentioned here are not exactly what I would call my personal favorite, you can’t deny Corey’s amazing productivity.

Honorable Mention

I think its important to name a few of the up and comers who might not have the amazing support of a large company that guys like Konieczka get yet still manage to put out some amazing games.

Jamey Stegmaier for the smash hit of the year Scythe definitely deserves a slap on the ass for a job well done.  Scythe again, I find myself saying this all the time, is not my personal favorite but I recognize the amazing design work and sheer amount of testing that must have gone into that game.  Really great achievement.

The jury is still out on this one for me, but you can’t deny its hype and the love people show it. Its definitely an attention getter in 2016.

Jacob Fryxelius who gave us the amazing Terraforming Mars.  Now personally I have just played one game of this so far, but what a fantastic design.  The balancing effort that went into this game, the dynamic and unique mechanics that its based on, it all deserves praise and if this is going to be the quality of work from Jacob in the future, he has a very bright one ahead of him.

Best Company Of The Year

Fantasy Flight Games

Ok so they are getting it two years in a row from me and yes maybe I’m playing favorites here but if you look at it objectively you just can’t make this stuff.

Clearly I’m a bit biased when it comes to FFG, I love their stuff pretty much always, but there is no denying the amazing year they have had in 2016.

Not only did they complete a major merger that rose them to one of the most economically powerful table top gaming companies in the industry with world wide control, they are also responsible for hands down some of the best games of 2016, not to mention the continued growth of their existing lines, in particular their miniature games X-Wing and Armada.

Forget the endless stream of Android Netrunner, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Wars and many other LCG’s.  These countless expansions are barely newsworthy yet they amount to more content then any 5 of the top companies out there would even be capable of producing from a production stand point let alone a talent stand point.  What I’m really talking about here is the new stuff.

Star Wars Destiny, Star Wars Rebellion, Doom: The Board Game, Mansions of Madness: Second Edition and New Angeles.  I’m talking about wave after wave of X-Wing, Armada, Battlelore and Imperial Assault.  Fantasy Flight Games is a machine of productivity, yet the quality of the work never faulters and I think this is the most amazing aspect of FFG.  Most companies that get into their late “McDonalds” stage of development start to break down, in particular in the area of quality but not FFG.  The content they produce is always top notch and while I’m not always a fan of every game they put out there is no disputing how well they fair.

In my humble opinion Star Wars Destiny was near perfect with one exception that pretty much killed it for me. Its a CCG instead of a LCG. A minor difference, one that determines if I’m going to buy into a collectible game or not.

Today FFG has no less then 17 games in the top 100 games of all time on boardgamegeek.com.  Its really important to understand the significance of this number, Boardgamegeek.com is traditionally a veyr conservative Euro game audiance.  Consider that today among the top 10 games of all time you have bore fests like Terra Mystica, Caverna, Castles of Burgandy and Puerto Rico.  No offense to fans of these games, they may be great games but you can’t possibly expect anyone to take you seriously in the idea that these games out ranks the likes of X-wing, Armada and Imperial Assault just to name a couple.  These games aren’t even in the same league.

Star Wars Armada continues to get support from FFG and it had an amazing year as a game. Completely revived the game for me.

Ok I’m not going to go on a BBG rant here but suffice to say in my humble opinion no one does it better than FFG and this year they have already proven what I have already known.  They are taking over the board gaming universe, so sit back and enjoy the occupation.

Honorable Mentions

Z-Man games definitely deserves an honorable mention and its not because they had some sort of amazing year with their releases, though Feast of Odin should not go unrecognized, but its really there general support of their existing lines.  You just have to love a company who stays dedicated to the games they make and continue to support them via new content and expansions.  So many companies create great games and then quickly abandon their audience as soon as they realize that maybe its not quite as big as they had hoped.

This year Z-man put out expansions and added content for Cacao, CamelUp, Carcassonne, Merchants and Marauders, Stone Age, and Pandemic.    Some of these games are over 10 years old and Z-Man continues to support their fan base knowing its appreciate it and frankly I can’t think of too many companies that would put out an expansion for a 10 year old game, it certainly wouldn’t be Fantasy Flight Games.  Noted and appreciated!

Game of The Year

Terraforming Mars

Picking game of the year is always a tricky proposition as I did not play all games that came out in 2016 and there are quite a few on my list that might deserve this spot more then Terraforming Mars.  That said I can’t think of a game that captured my attention more then Terraforming Mars.  In fact it was on my, most anticipated games of 2017 list because I had missed it last year, it went out of print and I wasn’t sure when I would get to try it.   Well I finally did and it was love at first sight.

This is the must own game of 2016, there is no question in my mind.

I think the most notable thing about Terraforming Mars aside from the really cool theme of terraforming a planet is that its so well balanced and tested.  You can see that a lot of love went into this game to ensure its as perfect as it can be.  There is a lot going on in this game on many levels and while I would not call any of the mechanics revolutionary, I would say that they are the offspring of some really great concepts that have been evolved here.  You have elements of 7 Wonders and Race for the Galaxy put to really good use in this game.

In the end though I think the reason why I chose Terraforming Mars is because it combined fantastic mechanics with a really great theme to create a truly unique release in 2016.  As a gamer above all else I want to be surprised by a game.  I want that moment where you pick up a game because you are interested in the theme and then discover that its everything you hoped it would be and more.

Honorable Mentions

Star Wars Rebellion definitely gets a nod from me as the Star Wars story in a box game, though personally I felt that it was a little less exciting then I hoped it would be.  Its definitely no War of the Rings and while I can’t quite put my finger on it, it just wasn’t 100% fully there.  Great game none the less and I think if it was not the last minute play with Terraforming Mars I think I may have chosen Star Wars Rebellion in its place.

Another honorable mention has to be Tides of the Underdark.  This highly underrated deck builder saw a lot of play time in my gaming group this year and it was unanimously hailed as a great game, which I completely agree with.  Its a simple to the point deck builder with area control driven by a great theme.  If you love D&D this is definitely among the best board games in the line along with Lords of Waterdeep.  Really looking forward to seeing an expansion to this one in 2017.

D&D is a great franchise to base games on and I’m glad that Lords of Waterdeep wasn’t just a one hit wonder. Tyrants is a fantastic game.

 

The Crew

Like last year I have asked members of my gaming crew to throw in their own two cents here and like last year I have kept their identities secret.

Player 1

Game of The Year: Tyrants of The Underdark

Company Of The Year: Fantasty Flight Games

Designer Of The Year: Rodney Thompson (Tyrants)

All good choices, I considered Tyrants of The Underdark for game of they year myself.  I would argue that releasing one good game doesn’t qualify a person for Designer of The Year, but Rodney Thompson is also responsible for the wonderful Lords of Waterdeep which I know this player favors as well so I can understand the choice.

Player 2

Game of The Year: Star Wars Rebellion

Company of the Year: Fantasy Flight Games

Designer of The Year: Corey Konieczka

Great choices all, pretty in line with my own.  I think if we did a consensus of board gamers there is a good chance Star Wars Rebellion would be the peoples choice given the attention Star Wars has gotten in 2016.

That’s it for this year, hope you enjoyed our picks!