Inspired by The Dice Tower and their top 10 lists, I put together my top 10 games for 2015 as well. Note that these are games that I have played for the first time in 2015 not necessarily games that were released in 2015. With all the games that I already have, I got another 110 games plus expansions last year. Some were gifts, some were purchased at the thrift stores and conventions, some were from Kickstarter, and some were new.
The new games were A World Aflame, Assassinourm: Execution Force, Axis & Allies: 1914, Axis & Allies:D-Day, Bring Out Yer Dead, Batman The Miniature Game, Camel Cup, Cash ‘n’ Guns 2nd ed., Colt Express, CN Fluxx, Dead Money, Deadwood Studios, Don’t Take My Word, Dust Tactics, Dux Bellorum, Escape From Elba, Fight City, Fighting Sail, Fish Cook, Fleet Admiral, Frag: Gold Edition, Frag: PVP, Iota, Just Desserts, Kill Doctor Lucky, King of Tokyo, Love Letter: Batman, Magic the Gathering: Arena of the Planeswalker, Monsterpocalypse: Voltron Defender of the Universe, Nanuk, Of Gods and Mortals, Ronin, Save Doctor Lucky, Scoville, Sheriff of Nottingham, Spree, Star Trek 5 Year Mission, Star Wars Risk, Straw, Survive: Escape from Atlantis, Sushi Go, Ticket to Ride Europe, Uncle Happy’s Train Game, Veritas, and Winner’s Circle.
The ones I picked up not new were 1313 Dead End Drive, 4000 AD, Ablaze!, Admirals, Air Charter, All My Children, Avalanche, Battleship Live, Beat the Parents, Blink, Blue Line Hockey, Boom-O, Blurt Card Game, Cannakeena Caper, Chief Herman’s Next Big Thing, Cineplexity, Clue 24, Clue DVD, Conspiracy, Davinci’s Challenge, Daytona 500, Disney’s Treasure Planet, Dixit!, Double Crossing, Electronic Mall Madness, Exago, Gambler, Hangman, High Hand, Hordes: Primal, Jungle Speed, Kuuduk, Last Chance, Lord of the Rings Strategy Game, Malarky Card Game, Manga Manga, Master Labyrinth, Mine a Million, Overboard, Probe, Risk Transformers, Rubik’s Magic Strategy Game, Scrabble Express, Scrabble Up, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, Smess: the Ninny’s Chess, Starship Troopers, Stay Alive, The Honeymooners Game, The Hunger Games: Training Days, The Incredibles, The Inventors, The Perilous Parlor Game, There’s a Moose in the House, Treasure of the Lost Pyramid, Tuf, Upwords, Ur: The Royal Game of Sumer, Vampire Hunter, Warmachine Prime: Remix, Warzone, Wide World, and Win, Lose, or Draw, Yahtzee: Free For All.
A lot of these did not hit the table this year. Some games from previous years were finally played.
Games that I played for the first time that did not make my list were:
Back to the Future, Bring Out Yer Dead, Dixit!, Exago, Frag Gold Edition, Iota, Jungle Speed, Just Desserts, Overboard, Pit, Quiddler, Star Trek 5 Year Mission, Straw, Ticket to Ride , Tsuro of the Seas
The ones that just missed my top ten were:
13 – Pandemic – We were finally able to play this. You play as scientists trying to stop outbreaks. We lost, of course, but found it interesting enough that we will need to try this again. It seems like it could suffer from an alpha gamer leading everyone but that might be what is needed to be able to beat it.
12 – Get Lucky – A very simplified version of Kill Doctor Lucky. Once we realized that most of the text on the cards could be ignored this went better.
11 – No Thanks – A very simple game with very simple rules. It is very easy to teach, and one game usually leads to a few more. It has a nice level of thought for how quick it is.
10 – Love Letter: Batman – It only has one rule variation from the regular Love Letter but that change greatly improves gameplay. It doesn’t hurt that the retheming makes this game more palatable to our group.
9 – Wits and Wagers Family – a trivia game where you do not need to know the right answers yourself. As long as you are able to pick out the best answer from those supplied by the other players you can still win.
8 – Colt Express – It has simplified programmed movement – most of the time you can see what the other players are planning. You play as western bandits robbing a train. Plus the 3D train model is really cute.
7 – Resistance – I was finally able to give this a try. It is a good intro to hidden role games and it plays well for larger groups. It wasn’t as complex as it seemed – we were able to pick it up very quick.
6 – Camel Cup – A race game where you are wagering on which camels are in the lead in each leg and the overall outcome of the race. It plays fast with up to 8 players and hits a lot of the same buttons as Circus Imperium. It seems quite simple but does have a bit of strategy in it.
5 – Daytona 500 – This is an older race game. You bid on cars each race based on your cards and play those cards to move them. However, most of the cards will also move the other cars as well. This would have been higher if it allowed more than 4 players.
4 – Scoville – You are pepper farmers planting, harvesting, and selling peppers as well as making chili recipes. The set up and play appear very complex but it actually makes a lot of sense as you play through it. It seems to have a lot in it with many different options of play to lead to victory.
3 – Sushi Go – a simple, quick little game. It easily deserves the reputation it has as a fun, quick, little card game. It’s also a good way to introduce people to card drafting.
2 – Cash ‘n’ Guns – second edition – You are mobsters dividing up the loot after a heist. This allows up to 6 players and plays very quick. The foam guns are fun and went over very well with our group.
1 – Survive:Escape from Atlantis – This game can be brutal. You try to get your islanders to shore while sinking other player’s islanders. It fits in to the mood of our group and allows up to 6 players with the expansion. We played this one early in 2015 and nothing else we played was able to top it.
Our modifications - My wife doesn’t like the onions so she was skimpy on the onion layer.
For a dish this size, we added more rice – about a cup.
She also doesn’t drain the peas, but we did add a canned corn that we mostly drained.
We used a bit over two cans of soup for the topping.
We covered it in foil wrap. It did require a bit longer cooking (I don’t believe they preheated the oven) to cook the rice properly.
