Fans of worker placement games will really appreciate the finely-tuned look at the unique mechanics of these great games. I loved this reporting style much more than a Top 10 list which treats all worker placement games in a general way. What a great video!
This is a very fine list. You managed to add something to the discussion of Worker Placement games while also showcasing some great examples. I wish all top ten lists were as well thought out as what you've done here!
I'd have maybe called this Top 10 Innovations in Worker Placement Games, but this title and the content of the vid gave me a REALLY pleasant surprise. I love Worker Placement and learned about a lot of neat mechanics from this one.
Wow, absolutely LOVE this kind of video! I mentioned this in the Kickstarter as well (if you who haven't yet backed, HURRY!), really happy to see another video like this!
I know Myrmes doesn't come with player screens, but I highly recommend you try the game using them during the first and second phases of each season. Just have everyone simultaneously perform the larvae and nurse allocation behind their screens (combine these two phases as well), and after everyone is ready for the third phase, simultaneously reveal. This not only hinders the players looking at each other's boards and endlessly adjusting theirs, it adds the cool simultaneous selection-reveal your two #1 games had.
Absolutely enjoyed this video and how you focused on the creative and innovated uses of this game mechanic. This perspective is very refreshing and insightful. I hope you enjoyed making this type of top ten list and there are more to come. Many thanks!
Rahdo, many great new worker placement games have come out since this 2014 list..please make a new one. I will be looking for that list! I just got Myrnes. Love your vids, keep up the great work.
I'm not saying it's a perfect game, at all... but it has one of the 10 best uses of worker placement in gamedom, so that's why it made the list. Kind of the same as Archon, which I don't rate as a 2p game very much, but still made the list :)
You always talk so fast... but you're as eloquent as fuck. Really, I almost had a brain hemorrage, but I felt with so much awesome information after wathing this. Damm...! Congratulations!
I ended up deciding to buy Tzolk'in and Targi after watching this. Thanks! Though to be fair, I had already played Targi once and was well aware how awesome it is.
I think what he points out to be a special thing in Euphoria is a core idea of Hansa Teutonica, a game that, by the way, Euphoria's designer is fond of.
Great list -- thought provoking! I really appreciated seeing Archon: Glory & Machinations on there. I wish you could have shown the box and board because it is spectacular. The ability to "customize" your workers or turn them into different types of magisters with different abilities is a really nice feature of the WP element of the game. In addition, the strategic element of deciding which cards to play from your hand (and guessing what cards your opponent will bring out and when) is, as you noted, a really interesting aspect of the game as well. It is a wonderful game. I'll have to look at some of these others you have described on the list, now.
The worker placement game Worker Placement just got funded on Kickstarter. Hopefully that will be one you enjoy. Ha! I've never played any of the games on your list- I'm interested in checking some of these out.
I haven't seen the whole video yet so I don't know if you've mentioned it, but I'm bummed Walnut Grove wasn't on the list. I coincidentally got it just before watching your runthrough of it and I love it. The individual worker placement board with Carcassonne style tiles you lay is really great. Plus the town board where you're basically fighting other players for position to get upgrades and more workers. Solid game.
excellent game. I thought about including it, because I really rate the "get to place workers a 2nd time in the same round", but it didn't quite make the list :)
***** Ended up playing it multiple times before buying it. The thing I like is it doesn't feel cramped even with 5-6 players. And even if you're behind toward the end of the game, there's always plenty of time to finish some quests and catch up. You don't have to see or plan the end of the game before you even start playing (like Agricola)
Have you ever tried Magnum Sal? That is a game that has an interesting worker placement mechanic, specifically when you're taking the salt blocks out of the mine, having to pay other players for their help in moving the stuff to the surface.
yeah, MS is a very cool game. i forgot all about it, and i think it might have warranted serious thought about inclusion on the list! shame it's not very good with only 2p...
Nice top ten. As for paying a penalty have you ever played Leonardo Davinci ? In that worker placement you send workers to town to get actions or materials to build inventions and if you are not the first one there you have to pay money to get that same action. The third one there pays one more money than the second person and so on for more players in line there. Kind of reminds me of Madeira's penalty.
10 is not enought for best worker placement games list....you have have the same title but include also the half positions like 9.5; 8.5; 7.5 :)....in this case for sure it will be room for other best games, and from my point of view will include also Praetor.....and i want to tell thank you for all those videos i really appreciate your effort...
Note to Que Parker: Palaces of Carrarra is only 33 euros at spielematerial.de. And for me (USA) the shipping was reasonable. Reliable company. Good luck.
I disagree with you about Euphoria being a passive aggressive blocking. They actually removed the "passive-aggressive" element by making the interaction positive instead of negative. Instead of being an obstructionist move, which is a defining passive-aggressive behavior, they made it a positive interaction (someone gains from the interaction, rather than inherently losing). The markets are the same way, you can't bump, but you typically must work with other players to build something. Yes someone is denied, but the interaction is primarily positive, and if you can't join in the building, the benefit is tangible enough that is doesn't feel like someone is screwing you over to hurt your strategy and then go "oh, well I did need that". It was really interesting to hear you say that the space denial, which drives me crazy, you see as a more active aggressive element to games. Maybe I should try to bring that attitude towards more Euro-style games and I will get more enjoyment out of them. Typically, I see a lot of games as negative interaction games, which, when not openly aggressive, come across as detrimentally passive aggressive, due to their obstructionist nature.
Good list, although I can't agree with the title. Top 10 Worker Placement? Nah. Top 10 Different and Interesting Worker Placement. Sure. Keep up the great work!
-> Myrmes = ant ( in greek ) /// Myrmecology = study of ants. -> Key Market = Richard Breese said on Aug.30 2017 on BGG : 500+ Looks like we're on. Thanks all for your support. I have arranged to meet up with David so we can discuss the game again and review the post publication comments from the first edition. At the moment I am working on Keyper (2017) and Key Flow (2018), but hope to get this to Kick Starter in the first half on 2018 and in your hands later in the year. Technically I have some work to do on the game as the older graphics packages I used previously are no longer appropriate. However I am optimistic that the re-issue can move forward smoothly. Please help ask a reprint here: boardgamegeek.com/image/779996/key-market
… Pillars of the Earth? I was quite surprised this didn't make the list or even have get a mention. Have you played it before? If you haven't, I would recommend checking it out. It is one of the early worker placement games (2006), and each round has (sort of) 2 sets of worker assignments. The first is assigning your "grunt workers" to gather resources, and a second to assigning your master builder workers, which uses a innovative mechanic of drawing workers from a bag and placing them at a cost to determine placement order.
It's a good point. We had played it and thought it was nice, but wasn't super compelling (especially because it was not very good with 2p). When we found that Archon wasn't good with 2, we were gutted and really regretted it. When we found PotE wasn't good with two, we were like "oh, okay. Nice game but no big deal"...
Where is Age of Empires IV? The quintessential worker placement game also with worker differentiation(very unique), trade, war, and area control. By far one of the most eloquent and formative worker placement games ever made.
Absolutely NOT. Tzolkin is extremely replayable! Deep strategy, possibilities and challenging every time again... It's one of the harder games, so, put some effort in it (and also in your strange and non-arguments "comment").
Richard - Thanks for a great list of games. So many to choose from for my wish list. I was just wondering why some games here are much lower on your BGG ratings than some of the others. For instance, Bruxelles 1893, which sounds like you really enjoyed on it's run though is below, Myrmes, Lords of Waterdeep, and Madeira in your BGG rankings. Is it just not as fun of a game even though it includes a lot of unique ideas?
well anything that's 7-8 is really good, and anything from 8-9 is GREAT, and 9+ is AWESOME SAUCE! for the ones you mentioned, b1893 is a really great game, but I put myrmes over it because we really enjoy the super intense challenge it offers, waterdeep becuase it's such an amazing gateway, and madeira because it's got even more really cool innovative mechanisms, which is hard to believe becuase b1893 already has fantastic innovative mechanisms! :)
Hello Rahdo: Do you remember the game that had a store wheel as a mechanic? I believe you took random cubes out of the bag and placed the cubes on the Wheel, and you alternated turning the wheel between each player to get your resources, and the longer you left resources on the wheel the cheaper they become. I can't remember the game name to save my life. I believe it was a worker placement game. ***UPDATE*** I found the game, It was called Palaces Of Carrara. So my question is can you recommend a game that plays similar? I can't afford $150.00 on Amazon for a game. : (
I am a bit disappointed that Russian Railroads didn't make the list, despite your very positive runthrough some time ago. I understand that you wanted to feature games that do something new and interesting for the genre and Russian Railroads is not very innovative. Although it has the engineers which are player exclusive placement fields. I don't think many other games have something like this. I played half of the games on your list. Myrmes and Fresco are nice but didn't leave a big impact on me. Euphoria is really good and I love Targi (which I discovered from your runtrough). I liked the mechanism in Vasco da Gama where you not only need to consider the spatial placement of your workers but also a temporal aspect through the ordered tokens, but everything else about this game is really uninteresting. I also feel that Russian Railroads, despite beeing less innovative, is actually way more fun than any of these games.
RR is a fantastic game, and I'd agree, evaluated as an overall game experience, it would rate higher than some of these on the list. But like Agricola, it's very bog standard worker placement. What makes that game special not not its worker placement component, so I didn't think I could say it was one of the 10 best examples of worker placement games of all time. :)
***** I totally agree that RR is standard stuff, but the list is called Top 10 BEST WP games not most innovative ;-). Still a good list and your picks make sense. I need to play your Top 5 (besides Fresco), these all seem interesting.
Guybrush79 i mentioned down below that there's a thread on bgg if you'd like to hear my justify my choices in greater detail... www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1154463/top-10-worker-placement-games
Well done Rahdo ! Please give me an advice or create new video Top worker placement in the gateway area ( also language independent ). Why ? Because I want to play with my kids and after the Fresco hit the table they want more and more...We play often coop games but I want to start new adventures. With LoW we have the written in english issue and also with all written cards ... Stone Age had some troublesome to calculate the points ( the kids ) and they want accurate scoring track like in Fresco or TTR ...I try with Augustus, who also is nice game but, always but they want rich theme ( like FRESCO ) full of ...Kolejka we have in our native language ( nice and real game ) but the artwork it's leaden like the theme but kids dont understood "the history" ...Me and my wife love this game because we lived in those dark times and for us is a " Do not forget" , sad but true. So when you have some time plese give me some hints. I looking after you in the near future. Keep up the good work !
Hmm, interesting! Okay, well you might want to check out Agricola All Creatures Big and Small though you can only play that with 2 but still great! Trollhalla not a true worker placement, but I bet kids would love it Gear & Piston building cars! Ninjato Ninjas!!!! Atlantis Rising Worker placement co-op, great for families, challenging Ark & Noah Building the ark, collecting animals, probably another hit
Thank you Radho ... Great as always! Atlantis Rising is on my list, also Agricola All Big & SMALL, gateway to big Agricola ( already on IOS ). About others games I will check out. I'm not fixed on worker placement mechanics. I'm open mind to all boardgames who will rise my expectations and demands. Great artwork, immerse theme, no word ( almost ), easy calculate scoring track and family oriented. For example we play Castel Panic with written cards but the coop game mechanic eliminate the cards issue who in "real games" the knowledge of cards is very important to play the game. I'm folowing now your new video post Mice and Mystics an of corse others in the near future. Cheers...
Question 1: I have played 3 player Fresco, and there was the added guess at where to go on the 'out of bed' section at the beginning of the turn. Isnt this lost through a 2 player? Does it not remove something from the mechanics? Question 2: Also as 2 players if 1 person goes towards one set of inks, doesnt the 2nd player go towards the other inks.... then its just a race. Where as 3+ players adds more to the mix. Question 3: Which of your top ten works best with 2 players (me and the wife only) thanks
1) well remember, in a 2p game, there's still 3 players with the dummy player, who is controlled by one of the two players. so there's still a fair bit of tension as to how it's going to pan out :) 2) again, the 3rd player ('leo') mixes things up by taking tiles that might be sought after by different players 3) well i guess that would have to be targi, since it's designed to only work with 2 :)
Do you mostly play these top 10 worker placement games with 2 players. My girlfriend and I are the primary board gamers in our nerd base. Looking for two player WP games.
Travis D. Williams no need for that, one of the stretch goals on my kickstarter was her appearing in 12 videos over the next year. though i doubt she'd do more top10's... but you can expect to see her in the eventual rampage video, i expect :)
I have to agree with another commentator below: Fresco, in my mind, is really a simultaneous action-selection game. Though, I think it's really just a matter of semantics, so I won't get into an argument over it. Let's just respectfully agree to disagree. Still, love the game and happily own/play it. :) But aside from that, we have VERY similar tastes! I own an love all of your top 10 games on this list, except for Myrmes, Keyflower, Madeira, and Dungeon Petz.
Hi. Could you explain how does this "I won't pay my fee, so you'll be charged more because of that" mechanism in Madeira work? I can't find anything about that rule in rule book. Thx
+rahdo Thanks for the answer, especially under such an old post:). However, I still am quite confused. I read the manual twice and I can't find any mention about extra penalty for players who decide to pay when other decide not to. You talk about it around minute 24. Maybe I misunderstand you, but it sounds like me backing out makes other not only pay what's due, but also cover my debt. Could you explain?
@@rahdo Oh. Well, I recommend it. It's by Eric Lang. You send out your thugs to shakedown businesses and family members to aim for more control over those areas. Player with the most people in an area take control. If you own that "turf", you get paid when someone else goes there. Get supplies to do jobs which give you money and 1 time abilities (bonuses for doing the most of a type), bribe (blind bid auction) for cards that give you more abilities, and set aside money in a suitcase. Only money in your suitcase at the end is counted, most $ wins.
I don't see the point of having more than one wp game. I think only 4 games in my 100-games collection count: viticulture ee, Tiny Tokaido, mint works, maquis. Aside from mint works, which is boring, all others are gray-area wp. and only use it as a part of the game. There seems to be an intriguing relation between AI and WP. Tried agricola acbas but hated the sterility of it, same with tPoH. WP is not for me.
Matheus Eduardo it'll tell you for each game on boardgamegeek how much text you have to read in the game. going from memory, i think your right that most of these have very little reading requirements :)
snowdonia is a brilliant game, but not becuase it's a particularly awesome example of worker placement. and i've played euphoria about a half dozen times, at all player counts, and haven't noticed any big imbalances...
Thanks for putting your list on the comment section unlike some other Gamer Channels.
Fans of worker placement games will really appreciate the finely-tuned look at the unique mechanics of these great games. I loved this reporting style much more than a Top 10 list which treats all worker placement games in a general way. What a great video!
This is a very fine list. You managed to add something to the discussion of Worker Placement games while also showcasing some great examples. I wish all top ten lists were as well thought out as what you've done here!
I'd have maybe called this Top 10 Innovations in Worker Placement Games, but this title and the content of the vid gave me a REALLY pleasant surprise. I love Worker Placement and learned about a lot of neat mechanics from this one.
Wow, absolutely LOVE this kind of video! I mentioned this in the Kickstarter as well (if you who haven't yet backed, HURRY!), really happy to see another video like this!
I know Myrmes doesn't come with player screens, but I highly recommend you try the game using them during the first and second phases of each season. Just have everyone simultaneously perform the larvae and nurse allocation behind their screens (combine these two phases as well), and after everyone is ready for the third phase, simultaneously reveal. This not only hinders the players looking at each other's boards and endlessly adjusting theirs, it adds the cool simultaneous selection-reveal your two #1 games had.
ooo, very cool idea! thanks :)
Absolutely enjoyed this video and how you focused on the creative and innovated uses of this game mechanic. This perspective is very refreshing and insightful. I hope you enjoyed making this type of top ten list and there are more to come. Many thanks!
And the top 10 worker placement games are:
10. Myrmes (1:47)
09. Targi (4:58)
08. Vasco da Gama (7:33)
07. Euphoria (12:17)
06. Archon: Glory & Machination (17:17)
05. Madeira (21:12)
04. Bruxelles 1893 (25:18)
03. Keyflower (30:14)
02. Tzolkin: The Mayan Calendar (34:08)
01. Dungeon Petz/Fresco (tie) (36:29)
Rahdo, you're great! Keep up the great work, hope to see your videos for a long time to come yet
Rahdo, many great new worker placement games have come out since this 2014 list..please make a new one. I will be looking for that list! I just got Myrnes. Love your vids, keep up the great work.
Positively surprised to see Euphoria on the list, i thought that the frustration of the double rolls would overshadow the mechanisms novelties
I'm not saying it's a perfect game, at all... but it has one of the 10 best uses of worker placement in gamedom, so that's why it made the list. Kind of the same as Archon, which I don't rate as a 2p game very much, but still made the list :)
You always talk so fast... but you're as eloquent as fuck.
Really, I almost had a brain hemorrage, but I felt with so much awesome information after wathing this.
Damm...! Congratulations!
its his passion
I ended up deciding to buy Tzolk'in and Targi after watching this. Thanks! Though to be fair, I had already played Targi once and was well aware how awesome it is.
Great list.. I love Euphoria and bought it partially because of your run through. I need to push keyflower up my to buy list.
I think what he points out to be a special thing in Euphoria is a core idea of Hansa Teutonica, a game that, by the way, Euphoria's designer is fond of.
Great list -- thought provoking! I really appreciated seeing Archon: Glory & Machinations on there. I wish you could have shown the box and board because it is spectacular. The ability to "customize" your workers or turn them into different types of magisters with different abilities is a really nice feature of the WP element of the game. In addition, the strategic element of deciding which cards to play from your hand (and guessing what cards your opponent will bring out and when) is, as you noted, a really interesting aspect of the game as well. It is a wonderful game. I'll have to look at some of these others you have described on the list, now.
Very informative. Only really knew about 1 of the 10 games before watching this video
The worker placement game Worker Placement just got funded on Kickstarter. Hopefully that will be one you enjoy. Ha! I've never played any of the games on your list- I'm interested in checking some of these out.
I haven't seen the whole video yet so I don't know if you've mentioned it, but I'm bummed Walnut Grove wasn't on the list. I coincidentally got it just before watching your runthrough of it and I love it. The individual worker placement board with Carcassonne style tiles you lay is really great. Plus the town board where you're basically fighting other players for position to get upgrades and more workers. Solid game.
it's a wonderful game, I agree, but the worker placement stuff isn't what really makes the game, imo
but we do love it! :)
i'm not a connoisseur of worker placement, but I just played Lords of Waterdeep at Pax east and it was awesome
excellent game. I thought about including it, because I really rate the "get to place workers a 2nd time in the same round", but it didn't quite make the list :)
*****
Ended up playing it multiple times before buying it. The thing I like is it doesn't feel cramped even with 5-6 players. And even if you're behind toward the end of the game, there's always plenty of time to finish some quests and catch up. You don't have to see or plan the end of the game before you even start playing (like Agricola)
Have you ever tried Magnum Sal? That is a game that has an interesting worker placement mechanic, specifically when you're taking the salt blocks out of the mine, having to pay other players for their help in moving the stuff to the surface.
yeah, MS is a very cool game. i forgot all about it, and i think it might have warranted serious thought about inclusion on the list! shame it's not very good with only 2p...
Nice top ten. As for paying a penalty have you ever played Leonardo Davinci ? In that worker placement you send workers to town to get actions or materials to build inventions and if you are not the first one there you have to pay money to get that same action. The third one there pays one more money than the second person and so on for more players in line there. Kind of reminds me of Madeira's penalty.
Interesting! I'll keep an eye out for it :)
nice, letting the beard grow out. looking forward to hear these
I'd love to see you update this.
I really think You should mention in title of the video that This is from a 2playet perspective! Great video's btw
IGC i would have to mention that in the title of every single video i do ever :)
I wish I could come up with the same numbers haha, keep up the good work!
10 is not enought for best worker placement games list....you have have the same title but include also the half positions like 9.5; 8.5; 7.5 :)....in this case for sure it will be room for other best games, and from my point of view will include also Praetor.....and i want to tell thank you for all those videos i really appreciate your effort...
Note to Que Parker: Palaces of Carrarra is only 33 euros at spielematerial.de. And for me (USA) the shipping was reasonable. Reliable company. Good luck.
I disagree with you about Euphoria being a passive aggressive blocking. They actually removed the "passive-aggressive" element by making the interaction positive instead of negative. Instead of being an obstructionist move, which is a defining passive-aggressive behavior, they made it a positive interaction (someone gains from the interaction, rather than inherently losing). The markets are the same way, you can't bump, but you typically must work with other players to build something. Yes someone is denied, but the interaction is primarily positive, and if you can't join in the building, the benefit is tangible enough that is doesn't feel like someone is screwing you over to hurt your strategy and then go "oh, well I did need that".
It was really interesting to hear you say that the space denial, which drives me crazy, you see as a more active aggressive element to games. Maybe I should try to bring that attitude towards more Euro-style games and I will get more enjoyment out of them. Typically, I see a lot of games as negative interaction games, which, when not openly aggressive, come across as detrimentally passive aggressive, due to their obstructionist nature.
Good list, although I can't agree with the title. Top 10 Worker Placement? Nah. Top 10 Different and Interesting Worker Placement. Sure. Keep up the great work!
There's a thread about this on BGG if you're interested: www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1154463/top-10-worker-placement-games
-> Myrmes = ant ( in greek ) /// Myrmecology = study of ants.
-> Key Market = Richard Breese said on Aug.30 2017 on BGG : 500+ Looks like we're on. Thanks all for your support.
I have arranged to meet up with David so we can discuss the game again and review the post publication comments from the first edition.
At the moment I am working on Keyper (2017) and Key Flow (2018), but hope to get this to Kick Starter in the first half on 2018 and in your hands later in the year. Technically I have some work to do on the game as the older graphics packages I used previously are no longer appropriate. However I am optimistic that the re-issue can move forward smoothly.
Please help ask a reprint here: boardgamegeek.com/image/779996/key-market
Love the sign at the beginning - your art work should be a stretch goal! ;-)
… Pillars of the Earth? I was quite surprised this didn't make the list or even have get a mention. Have you played it before? If you haven't, I would recommend checking it out. It is one of the early worker placement games (2006), and each round has (sort of) 2 sets of worker assignments. The first is assigning your "grunt workers" to gather resources, and a second to assigning your master builder workers, which uses a innovative mechanic of drawing workers from a bag and placing them at a cost to determine placement order.
It's a good point. We had played it and thought it was nice, but wasn't super compelling (especially because it was not very good with 2p). When we found that Archon wasn't good with 2, we were gutted and really regretted it. When we found PotE wasn't good with two, we were like "oh, okay. Nice game but no big deal"...
Where is Age of Empires IV? The quintessential worker placement game also with worker differentiation(very unique), trade, war, and area control. By far one of the most eloquent and formative worker placement games ever made.
good point, I tend to forget about it because Jen and I didn't enjoy it (too much attacking). still very smart and innovative game! :)
Aha yes it does have very direct conflict which I know you guys don't like. I can see now why it wouldn't hit the list.
tzolkin is nice for 6 games, after that it just takes up dust on the shelf.
Absolutely NOT. Tzolkin is extremely replayable! Deep strategy, possibilities and challenging every time again... It's one of the harder games, so, put some effort in it (and also in your strange and non-arguments "comment").
Richard -
Thanks for a great list of games. So many to choose from for my wish list. I was just wondering why some games here are much lower on your BGG ratings than some of the others. For instance, Bruxelles 1893, which sounds like you really enjoyed on it's run though is below, Myrmes, Lords of Waterdeep, and Madeira in your BGG rankings. Is it just not as fun of a game even though it includes a lot of unique ideas?
well anything that's 7-8 is really good, and anything from 8-9 is GREAT, and 9+ is AWESOME SAUCE!
for the ones you mentioned, b1893 is a really great game, but I put myrmes over it because we really enjoy the super intense challenge it offers, waterdeep becuase it's such an amazing gateway, and madeira because it's got even more really cool innovative mechanisms, which is hard to believe becuase b1893 already has fantastic innovative mechanisms! :)
Hello Rahdo: Do you remember the game that had a store wheel as a mechanic? I believe you took random cubes out of the bag and placed the cubes on the Wheel, and you alternated turning the wheel between each player to get your resources, and the longer you left resources on the wheel the cheaper they become. I can't remember the game name to save my life. I believe it was a worker placement game.
***UPDATE*** I found the game, It was called Palaces Of Carrara. So my question is can you recommend a game that plays similar? I can't afford $150.00 on Amazon for a game. : (
hmm, maybe die staufer, or porta nigra or firenze?
Thank you so much, you are truly the board game master. Porta Nigra is a perfect match.
I'm kinda surprised Troyes didn't make the list. That's an oddball worker placement game.
I am a bit disappointed that Russian Railroads didn't make the list, despite your very positive runthrough some time ago. I understand that you wanted to feature games that do something new and interesting for the genre and Russian Railroads is not very innovative. Although it has the engineers which are player exclusive placement fields. I don't think many other games have something like this.
I played half of the games on your list. Myrmes and Fresco are nice but didn't leave a big impact on me. Euphoria is really good and I love Targi (which I discovered from your runtrough). I liked the mechanism in Vasco da Gama where you not only need to consider the spatial placement of your workers but also a temporal aspect through the ordered tokens, but everything else about this game is really uninteresting.
I also feel that Russian Railroads, despite beeing less innovative, is actually way more fun than any of these games.
RR is a fantastic game, and I'd agree, evaluated as an overall game experience, it would rate higher than some of these on the list. But like Agricola, it's very bog standard worker placement. What makes that game special not not its worker placement component, so I didn't think I could say it was one of the 10 best examples of worker placement games of all time. :)
*****
I totally agree that RR is standard stuff, but the list is called Top 10 BEST WP games not most innovative ;-). Still a good list and your picks make sense. I need to play your Top 5 (besides Fresco), these all seem interesting.
Guybrush79 i mentioned down below that there's a thread on bgg if you'd like to hear my justify my choices in greater detail...
www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1154463/top-10-worker-placement-games
Well done Rahdo ! Please give me an advice or create new video Top worker placement in the gateway area ( also language independent ). Why ? Because I want to play with my kids and after the Fresco hit the table they want more and more...We play often coop games but I want to start new adventures. With LoW we have the written in english issue and also with all written cards ... Stone Age had some troublesome to calculate the points ( the kids ) and they want accurate scoring track like in Fresco or TTR ...I try with Augustus, who also is nice game but, always but they want rich theme ( like FRESCO ) full of ...Kolejka we have in our native language ( nice and real game ) but the artwork it's leaden like the theme but kids dont understood "the history" ...Me and my wife love this game because we lived in those dark times and for us is a " Do not forget" , sad but true. So when you have some time plese give me some hints. I looking after you in the near future. Keep up the good work !
Hmm, interesting! Okay, well you might want to check out
Agricola All Creatures Big and Small
though you can only play that with 2 but still great!
Trollhalla
not a true worker placement, but I bet kids would love it
Gear & Piston
building cars!
Ninjato
Ninjas!!!!
Atlantis Rising
Worker placement co-op, great for families, challenging
Ark & Noah
Building the ark, collecting animals, probably another hit
Thank you Radho ... Great as always! Atlantis Rising is on my list, also Agricola All Big & SMALL, gateway to big Agricola ( already on IOS ). About others games I will check out. I'm not fixed on worker placement mechanics. I'm open mind to all boardgames who will rise my expectations and demands. Great artwork, immerse theme, no word ( almost ), easy calculate scoring track and family oriented. For example we play Castel Panic with written cards but the coop game mechanic eliminate the cards issue who in "real games" the knowledge of cards is very important to play the game. I'm folowing now your new video post Mice and Mystics an of corse others in the near future. Cheers...
Manhattan Project!!
Ah, you snuck it in at the end! Good man! :-D
Richard, if you redid your list today would the Gallerist make it?
well, effectively it did because it's a worker bumping game, so i definitely would have mentioned it alongside euphoria :)
Question 1:
I have played 3 player Fresco, and there was the added guess at where to go on the 'out of bed' section at the beginning of the turn.
Isnt this lost through a 2 player? Does it not remove something from the mechanics?
Question 2:
Also as 2 players if 1 person goes towards one set of inks, doesnt the 2nd player go towards the other inks.... then its just a race. Where as 3+ players adds more to the mix.
Question 3:
Which of your top ten works best with 2 players (me and the wife only)
thanks
1) well remember, in a 2p game, there's still 3 players with the dummy player, who is controlled by one of the two players. so there's still a fair bit of tension as to how it's going to pan out :)
2) again, the 3rd player ('leo') mixes things up by taking tiles that might be sought after by different players
3) well i guess that would have to be targi, since it's designed to only work with 2 :)
Thanks..
Do you mostly play these top 10 worker placement games with 2 players. My girlfriend and I are the primary board gamers in our nerd base. Looking for two player WP games.
i play 99% of all my gaming, just me and my wife :)
Thank you.
Great videos. To bad your wife doesn't do more of the play throughs with you. Bribery?
Travis D. Williams no need for that, one of the stretch goals on my kickstarter was her appearing in 12 videos over the next year. though i doubt she'd do more top10's... but you can expect to see her in the eventual rampage video, i expect :)
I have to agree with another commentator below: Fresco, in my mind, is really a simultaneous action-selection game. Though, I think it's really just a matter of semantics, so I won't get into an argument over it. Let's just respectfully agree to disagree. Still, love the game and happily own/play it. :)
But aside from that, we have VERY similar tastes! I own an love all of your top 10 games on this list, except for Myrmes, Keyflower, Madeira, and Dungeon Petz.
top 100 board games that use a board :)
Hi. Could you explain how does this "I won't pay my fee, so you'll be charged more because of that" mechanism in Madeira work? I can't find anything about that rule in rule book. Thx
+Tomasz Ziembicki it's all on pg 12 of the rulebook. that entire page is devoted to the feature :)
+rahdo Thanks for the answer, especially under such an old post:). However, I still am quite confused. I read the manual twice and I can't find any mention about extra penalty for players who decide to pay when other decide not to. You talk about it around minute 24. Maybe I misunderstand you, but it sounds like me backing out makes other not only pay what's due, but also cover my debt. Could you explain?
Would you consider "The Godfather: Corleone's Empire" to be a worker placement game?
never tried it, don't know much about it
@@rahdo Oh. Well, I recommend it. It's by Eric Lang. You send out your thugs to shakedown businesses and family members to aim for more control over those areas. Player with the most people in an area take control. If you own that "turf", you get paid when someone else goes there. Get supplies to do jobs which give you money and 1 time abilities (bonuses for doing the most of a type), bribe (blind bid auction) for cards that give you more abilities, and set aside money in a suitcase. Only money in your suitcase at the end is counted, most $ wins.
I don't see the point of having more than one wp game. I think only 4 games in my 100-games collection count: viticulture ee, Tiny Tokaido, mint works, maquis. Aside from mint works, which is boring, all others are gray-area wp. and only use it as a part of the game. There seems to be an intriguing relation between AI and WP.
Tried agricola acbas but hated the sterility of it, same with tPoH. WP is not for me.
Do any of the games on this top 10 have a language barrier ? I mean, most worker placement games use only symbols.
Matheus Eduardo it'll tell you for each game on boardgamegeek how much text you have to read in the game. going from memory, i think your right that most of these have very little reading requirements :)
Sorry I mean AOE III Durr..
Snowdonia is not in your top 10?
Also, I can't see how Euphoria is on the list considering how unbalanced it is.
snowdonia is a brilliant game, but not becuase it's a particularly awesome example of worker placement. and i've played euphoria about a half dozen times, at all player counts, and haven't noticed any big imbalances...
Should be top 10 worker placement mechanics not games
You always talk so fast. It's hard to follow when you're explaining a game.