I thought this year was pretty damn solid. Lots of good standout games and you did hand out a good amount of 8-10s. I think the issue is every single year more games came out than the last and so that naturally means more mediocre euros flooding the market. Plus, did you know Arcs came out?! Arcs is currently on track to cure cancer.
Luke you have to give Endeavor Deep Sea a shot. That game is really tight and very good. Same system, minus the theme bs, and flat out better than the original.
Another great episode! I feel pretty similarly to you regarding this year. I do wonder how much of my opinion is a feeling that I've reached a saturation point in my collection. I'm less drawn to new games and it has to be a singularly unique theme or thematically innovative for me to want to add it to my collection. I researched and passed on SETI, Unconscious Mind, Endeavor: Deep Sea, Harmonies, Daitoshi, Ada's Dream, Inventions, etc. But I do think there were some amazing standouts for me, personally. Most of these were designers that I already like and have a proven track record with: Inventors of the South Tigris, Ezra and Nehemiah, Shipwrights of the North Sea Redux, Windmill Valley, Sankore: The Pride of Mansa Musa, and the Matcha expasion for The White Castle. Despite these, I did feel like it was a down year compared to 2023 and 2022. (I'm primarily a solo gamer and that informs a lot of my opinions/decisions)
Not bought many games at all from this year, most haven't really grabbed me but I'm also trying to save money and play more of the ones I already have. Bought a two player pack of Star Wars Unlimited a few boosters and some cheap singles, works well as a 2 player family game. I really like buttons and bugs, never got into the other versions as they were to expensive. Hope you have a great time away and would be nice to see some pics if you get time to upload them 🙂
I agree that this year was not amazing, from the list you showed I don't think I want to play again the first 5-6 games. There were a few great ones (Ezra, Men Nefer, SETI) but overall I think it was weaker then the last two years. Enjoy your break!
Endeavour deep-sea is definitely better than the original endeavour. This is the only new title I bought in 2024. It’s been a horrible year. I looked into war for arrakis, arcs, galliei, Civolution, Black Forest, unconscious mind. Crossed them all off my list. Really getting tired of multiplayer solitaire being a thing. The one remaining game I am interested in is SETI, and I am buying that with trepidation because it apparently doesn’t work with two players. But at least I know I can quickly sell it for what I paid for it. I spent most of the year buying older games on Facebook for $10-$30. I just picked up the gallerist for $30.
Have a great trip, it sounds amazing! It's still quite early to really dig into 2024 board game releases and their numbers. SETI for example has barely released in EU and doesn't have wide availability and has not released properly in US yet, but US is the single biggest group of BGG users. The hype drum is real, people are discussing it, but most don't have access to the game yet. Andromeda's Edge fulfillment just happened recently, it has no chance against Wyrmspan or Harmonies which released early in the year. The numbers really settle few years down the line.
Enjoy the cruise! Thanks for your review on Galeio; I was thinking of preordering it but will put it into the hopefully someone else will buy category. As for SETI; I am waiting for my US preorder to come so maybe it will shoot up when it gets released here.
Yeah I agree most of the mainstream games coming out are as generic as they get. There are lots of decent games, but how many times do we want to see the same rehashed euro being released?
I started this hobby in the beginning of 2019 and now I own 41 games (23 of which were created after 2018). In the last two years, Hybris: Disordered Cosmos, Crown of Ash, and Fall of Lumen have become the only three games that have been added to my collection. It's been a very disappointing couple of years for me to discover new games with intriguing mechanics in this hobby since only three other games were added in 2022. However, this just might be a case of me now having the experience of knowing what I like and don't like, and also not feeling like I need to own anything new. Hot takes section: I agree Slay the Spire is overrated, there are so many better card game roguelikes out there (Vault of the Void, Trials of Fire, Roguebook, Alina of the Arena, Gordian Quest, etc.) I'm one of those freaks who hasn't enjoyed a single game designed by Cole Wehrle, I genuinely feel like all his games can be renamed to "Lucky Mouth: The Unbalanced Kingmaking Game".
Good luck on your cruise! I hope you have a wonderful time and that it’s the relaxing time you are hoping for. Is there a small solo game you are bringing or are you going cold turkey?
I have games on my mobile so I should be catered for if I ever feel the need. Something like the NEXT games could be good travel fare. But I definitely won't be spending a lot of time at all on games.
I get what your saying about a few belters then a gulf to meh. For me its been a great year. Harmonies is great, this will be my go to shorter game instead of Azul. Seti is great. Wyrmspan is great. Better than Wingspan, worse theme Then new to me games Trickerion, top ten game. Underwater Cities, top ten game. Nusfjord, maybe top 20 game. Pulsar 2849, solid game. Castellans (of Valeria) expected average and was surprised. Not normally into area control but it works well. I would recommend you try some of Daily Magics games. Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is a great game that deserved a lot more buzz than it got. Always look forward to your content. As long as you dont burn out and enjoy doing it keep it coming 😁 Hope you enjoy your break!
Luke, why don't you ever give the views stats for your podcasts, which I love and think you should do weekly. No editing needed. Just press play and do your thing!
Man, sucks is the last one of the year with a month still. To bad, have fun. Don´t know if it was a bad year, Movies was, thats for sure, so many bad ones. But at least we got SETI, unconscious mind, Black forest, inventors of the south. Andromeda Edge? maybe, hopefully is good, just bought it. If at least we have 10 good games a year, thats fine by me.
Hard disagree...this has been a terrific year for games...Arcs, Slay the Spire, Andromeda's Edge, Seti, Civolution, Burning Banners, Shackleton Base, Dune: War for Arrakis, Endeavor: Deep Sea, A Gest of Robinhood, and Salton Sea have all been real bangers for me!
You were very negative about ratings on this episode. I think you have overlooked the time lag that happens from a game releasing and then being played before someone goes on bgg to vote. SETI arrived to most people two weeks ago. It will be much higher than it is now but you need to give it time. Harmonies came out early in the year and was available on bga. You can't compare their performance and complain about BGG as a system. Your expecting a game released 14 days ago to be as voted on as much as a game released 300 days ago. I think with a bit of consideration for release dates, release formats, digital availablity etc it would have led to a lot less negativity on this episode when talking about where game currently on the BGG rankings. Also you shouted out Arcs and Slay the spire. We have to accept in our hobby that if SUSD shout out your game or if you have an IP it will gain attention and votes. It's great marketing for any game.
I have played Powerboats. And Joyride. Joyride's movement rules are a pretty direct copy of those in Powerboats. The fact that the publisher of Joyride was originally interested in licensing Powerboats, and then went on to "design" a substantially similar game, is immoral, unethical, inimicable and a generally Poor Show.
Praise for Harmonies is warranted. That little game is awesome.
"for people who have got more money than sense" not exactly a blurb for the box cover!
I thought this year was pretty damn solid. Lots of good standout games and you did hand out a good amount of 8-10s. I think the issue is every single year more games came out than the last and so that naturally means more mediocre euros flooding the market. Plus, did you know Arcs came out?! Arcs is currently on track to cure cancer.
Luke you have to give Endeavor Deep Sea a shot. That game is really tight and very good. Same system, minus the theme bs, and flat out better than the original.
Completely agree! Fantastic game and plays very quickly, 4 player in less than 90 minutes easily.
Have a great time on your break. Thanks for all you do!
Thank you!
Another great episode! I feel pretty similarly to you regarding this year. I do wonder how much of my opinion is a feeling that I've reached a saturation point in my collection. I'm less drawn to new games and it has to be a singularly unique theme or thematically innovative for me to want to add it to my collection. I researched and passed on SETI, Unconscious Mind, Endeavor: Deep Sea, Harmonies, Daitoshi, Ada's Dream, Inventions, etc. But I do think there were some amazing standouts for me, personally. Most of these were designers that I already like and have a proven track record with: Inventors of the South Tigris, Ezra and Nehemiah, Shipwrights of the North Sea Redux, Windmill Valley, Sankore: The Pride of Mansa Musa, and the Matcha expasion for The White Castle. Despite these, I did feel like it was a down year compared to 2023 and 2022. (I'm primarily a solo gamer and that informs a lot of my opinions/decisions)
Hope you enjoy the trip! Never been but heard that part of the world is gorgeous. Happy Holidays, Luke!
Not bought many games at all from this year, most haven't really grabbed me but I'm also trying to save money and play more of the ones I already have. Bought a two player pack of Star Wars Unlimited a few boosters and some cheap singles, works well as a 2 player family game. I really like buttons and bugs, never got into the other versions as they were to expensive. Hope you have a great time away and would be nice to see some pics if you get time to upload them 🙂
I agree that this year was not amazing, from the list you showed I don't think I want to play again the first 5-6 games. There were a few great ones (Ezra, Men Nefer, SETI) but overall I think it was weaker then the last two years.
Enjoy your break!
The Arctic trip sounds great. I did a sailboat trip in Greenland a couple of years ago - and it was a trip of a lifetime.
The cruise sounds amazing, you’ll have to give us some highlights when you return. Thanks for a great year of content!
Endeavour deep-sea is definitely better than the original endeavour. This is the only new title I bought in 2024. It’s been a horrible year. I looked into war for arrakis, arcs, galliei, Civolution, Black Forest, unconscious mind. Crossed them all off my list. Really getting tired of multiplayer solitaire being a thing. The one remaining game I am interested in is SETI, and I am buying that with trepidation because it apparently doesn’t work with two players. But at least I know I can quickly sell it for what I paid for it. I spent most of the year buying older games on Facebook for $10-$30. I just picked up the gallerist for $30.
Seti is better with more I will say.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you Luke. Hope you have a good holiday and see you in the new year mate.
Have a great trip, it sounds amazing!
It's still quite early to really dig into 2024 board game releases and their numbers. SETI for example has barely released in EU and doesn't have wide availability and has not released properly in US yet, but US is the single biggest group of BGG users. The hype drum is real, people are discussing it, but most don't have access to the game yet. Andromeda's Edge fulfillment just happened recently, it has no chance against Wyrmspan or Harmonies which released early in the year. The numbers really settle few years down the line.
Have a good holiday.
Hi Luke. Which pattern did you get on your Asda travel mug? Some lovely designs I see 🥰
Enjoy the cruise! Thanks for your review on Galeio; I was thinking of preordering it but will put it into the hopefully someone else will buy category. As for SETI; I am waiting for my US preorder to come so maybe it will shoot up when it gets released here.
Speakeasy looks good, but I’ll have to wait 10 years for that to drop in price to $50 used. I will never pay $200 for a board game.
If we stop talking about Arcs, The Savior of Gaming Cole may never make another game.
Cole saved my marriage! He is our generations Mozart.
🤣
@@TabletopTurtleMaybe this gens Weird Al Yankovic
Yeah I agree most of the mainstream games coming out are as generic as they get. There are lots of decent games, but how many times do we want to see the same rehashed euro being released?
I'm coming here to give you a like and hear a bit so you get a view, but do know that I'll listen to all of this via the podcast :-D
Appreciated!!
I imagine we don't see a lot of people talk about Frosthaven and other campaign games is due to spoilers meaning people don't post much.
I started this hobby in the beginning of 2019 and now I own 41 games (23 of which were created after 2018). In the last two years, Hybris: Disordered Cosmos, Crown of Ash, and Fall of Lumen have become the only three games that have been added to my collection. It's been a very disappointing couple of years for me to discover new games with intriguing mechanics in this hobby since only three other games were added in 2022. However, this just might be a case of me now having the experience of knowing what I like and don't like, and also not feeling like I need to own anything new.
Hot takes section:
I agree Slay the Spire is overrated, there are so many better card game roguelikes out there (Vault of the Void, Trials of Fire, Roguebook, Alina of the Arena, Gordian Quest, etc.)
I'm one of those freaks who hasn't enjoyed a single game designed by Cole Wehrle, I genuinely feel like all his games can be renamed to "Lucky Mouth: The Unbalanced Kingmaking Game".
Good luck on your cruise! I hope you have a wonderful time and that it’s the relaxing time you are hoping for.
Is there a small solo game you are bringing or are you going cold turkey?
I have games on my mobile so I should be catered for if I ever feel the need. Something like the NEXT games could be good travel fare. But I definitely won't be spending a lot of time at all on games.
I get what your saying about a few belters then a gulf to meh. For me its been a great year.
Harmonies is great, this will be my go to shorter game instead of Azul.
Seti is great.
Wyrmspan is great. Better than Wingspan, worse theme
Then new to me games
Trickerion, top ten game.
Underwater Cities, top ten game.
Nusfjord, maybe top 20 game.
Pulsar 2849, solid game.
Castellans (of Valeria) expected average and was surprised. Not normally into area control but it works well.
I would recommend you try some of Daily Magics games. Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is a great game that deserved a lot more buzz than it got.
Always look forward to your content. As long as you dont burn out and enjoy doing it keep it coming 😁
Hope you enjoy your break!
Luke, why don't you ever give the views stats for your podcasts, which I love and think you should do weekly. No editing needed. Just press play and do your thing!
The views stats, sorry?
@TheBrokenMeeple How many views do you get for your podcasts. Talk about that during your intros.
@CarlosRodriguez-ez3ls On UA-cam it varies a lot but it doesn't feel like I get much from the RSS feed
Man, sucks is the last one of the year with a month still. To bad, have fun.
Don´t know if it was a bad year, Movies was, thats for sure, so many bad ones. But at least we got SETI, unconscious mind, Black forest, inventors of the south. Andromeda Edge? maybe, hopefully is good, just bought it. If at least we have 10 good games a year, thats fine by me.
Hard disagree...this has been a terrific year for games...Arcs, Slay the Spire, Andromeda's Edge, Seti, Civolution, Burning Banners, Shackleton Base, Dune: War for Arrakis, Endeavor: Deep Sea, A Gest of Robinhood, and Salton Sea have all been real bangers for me!
You were very negative about ratings on this episode.
I think you have overlooked the time lag that happens from a game releasing and then being played before someone goes on bgg to vote. SETI arrived to most people two weeks ago. It will be much higher than it is now but you need to give it time. Harmonies came out early in the year and was available on bga. You can't compare their performance and complain about BGG as a system. Your expecting a game released 14 days ago to be as voted on as much as a game released 300 days ago.
I think with a bit of consideration for release dates, release formats, digital availablity etc it would have led to a lot less negativity on this episode when talking about where game currently on the BGG rankings.
Also you shouted out Arcs and Slay the spire. We have to accept in our hobby that if SUSD shout out your game or if you have an IP it will gain attention and votes. It's great marketing for any game.
Not so much the IP but sadly the SUSD effect does exist and people just yum it up.
I have played Powerboats. And Joyride.
Joyride's movement rules are a pretty direct copy of those in Powerboats.
The fact that the publisher of Joyride was originally interested in licensing Powerboats, and then went on to "design" a substantially similar game, is immoral, unethical, inimicable and a generally Poor Show.