Keegan Cole

Been a while since I posted, was stuck in the void. ... So...it's been more than a month since my last post and I definitely need to hop back on to a regular cadence. But I wanted to come back with a bang and showcase everything I own for Arkham Horror: The Card Game, aka the game that never gets put in the kallax. This has been my favorite game since I started playing it about a year and a half ago. And the completionist in me went absolutely chaotic. The binders hold all of the investigator cards. The wooden crate underneath hold all of the scenario and encounter cards with dividers (except for the standalones and Edge of the Earth which are in the EotE box...only because the crate ran out of room...cuz everything is sleeved...). The wooden components are from @stratastrike and all of the wonderful tokens are from @aurbits , held within the amazing Games Lair 600+ by @gamegenicsupplies . The two part huge playmat underneath is from the wonderful @momomonsterco and the chaos bag is from...the Ren Faire. I absolutely adore this game and all of the shiny bits you can get for it. If you wanna know more about any of the components or the game itself, always help to chat! ... #arkhamhorrorlcg #fantasyflightgames #bgg #bggcommunity #boardgamegeek #ボードゲーム #boardgame #boardgamesofinstagram #boardgaming #boardgames #boardgameaddicts #boardgamer #boardgamelovers #boardgameenthusiast #boardgamelove #tabletopgames #tabletopgaming #tabletopgamer #tabletop #games #playmoregames #iloveboardgames #newboardgame #boardgamefever #boardgamesarefun #playgames #eurogames #boardgamecommunity #brettspiel

Pre-birthday post, more games duh. ... Ok, so I've played some games recently that are totally ruining this list already, but we will talk about that later. Here's the next set of my #top50 games of all time ... 40. Dale of Merchants: Even though this game can feel like a really basic deckbuilder/thinner for you experienced gamers, don't be a fool, just buy this. Honestly, this almost feels like a collection staple. You are merchants in a dale (wow right) and are trying to build stalls to sell your goods. The way you build stalls is by using your cards. Each card has a value so you use these values for your stalls (stall 1 costs 1, stall 2 costs 2, etc.) The trick is, when you build a stall with your card(s) they are now out of your deck. Your deck also has a bunch of junk (literally) that is clogging it up. You can get new cards from market to give your deck more consistency and crazy powers. The best part, there's an insane amount of decks you can combine to make the market, all decks being a different animal. You can use these animals to also make the game as random, lucky, mean, clean as you want. Amazing game. 39. Res Arcana: Another card game? What a shock! No, but really Res Arcana slaps. You have a really small deck of magical items/creatures you use to convert resources to other resources to pay for your additional cards, power locations, and high valued artifacts. You only get one action a turn, but the ways this game can build up to absolutley bonkers turns is great. I forgot to mention you have a mage card that gives you additional special abilities. If you like fast but thinky filler games, I highly recommend this one. Contd in comments

I'm a horrible magician. I vanish, but then take a while to reappear. ... Back with the next portion of my #top50 games of all time. ... 40. Horseless Carriage: Have you ever felt like a complete moron? No? Lucky you, play this game and that'll change quickly. Another fantastic Splotter game where you create, advertise, and sell cars based on what the public are wanting. You don't spend money for parts, you don't bid on car parts, you just suffer as you try to slot more and more pieces into your factory that is always ALWAYS too small, the longest phase of the game even though it happens simultaneously between all players. Food Chain Magnate you ruin your opponents, Antiquity the game destroys you, Horseless Carriage you destroy yourself. Amazing. 39. Lisboa: I used to be pretty hot on Lacerda's games and owned them all at one point, but slowly realized most of them felt like work to me and were not that fun. Except for this one. I think the theme and how it fits in with the mechanics is excellent, lots of different puzzles to figure out to try and squeeze out points, and honestly it comes down to a pretty simple play a card draw a card game loop. It does have one of my least favorite mechanics in a game, a shit ton of different scoring cards that you need to buy to actually score, but otherwise, an excellent heavy euro. 38. Bruges: An amazing Feld game with one of my favorite mechanics, multi-use cards. You use your cards to build houses to then put people into those houses that you can use to activate different abilities. Like most Feld games, there are points to collect everywhere and you have to do a bit of everything to maximize your score. The has been reprinted as Hamburg with some updated rules, and honestly, I really don't like the updates to any of it. If you're like me and love a tactical game and just have to deal with what comes up, Bruges is the better (but more expensive) game between the two.

*sticks hand up* Give me a high-five more of my #top50 games of all time ... Continuing on with the list and a slightly regular posting schedule with 45 - 41 ... 45. Sky Team: A co-op two player game where a captain and their copilot try to land a plane in a series of more difficult challenges, i.e. airports. You both roll your four dice, and based on their results you can place them on different areas of the board. The catch? Once you roll your dice for the round, you can no longer talk, just like how I imagine a real flight crew acts. The closer you get to the end of the game, the more stressful it gets. My wife and I love this one. One of the best smaller box games out right now! 44. Grand Austria Hotel: A second dice for actions game in a row? What? I don't even really like dice games that much, but look at that. You're trying to run the best hotel by recruiting guests to come eat at your cafe, preparing excellent rooms, and making good use of your staff that are highly underpaid. You roll dice for a round as shared pool, then the players use those dice for various actions. The amount of dice rolled of the same number make those actions stronger, so it's a bit first come first serve. Plays up to four, but again, is an incredible two player game. I still have yet to try the expansion, but honestly the base game is perfect as is. 43. Quacks of Quedlinburg: I mean, who hasn't heard of this one in the community yet? Just a really fan bag building, push your luck game, where you are trying to make the best potion in Quedlinburg...shh...don't tell anyone, but you really suck at it. Every round you have a chance of gaining points and money to purchase new ingredients to make your potential potions even better. Huge variety in the ingredient setup, some expansions that also add more to the game if you like, and just a blast watching your friends scream "MY POT BLEW UP!" Also, makes an excellent drinking game if your into that...you lush. Cont'd in comments

Hey, I know it's been a while, let me make it up to you with a #top50 list ... I promised to do this, and I"m here to make true on that promise. The start of my Top 50 Fav Board Games. 50-46 ... 50. Grove: A fantastic little solo game I just picked up during our trip to Colorado and it will forever be in my backpack just in case I need something to do for 15 minutes. You play with 9 cards, trying to overlap them in ways to generate fruit in your grove. After all 9 cards are played, total up how much fruit you got and that's it. There's a mini expansion in box you can play with it too to make it even more of a puzzle, but honestly even just the base game is worth it. 49. Wizards of the Grimoire: An awesome two player card drafting, spell comboing, fight to the death. Each turn you draft a spell from the market to add to your spellbook, then you utilize the mana cards in your hand to charge and cast your spells, trying to get your opponent to 0 health before you. The fun with this is that it's a shared pool you're drafting from and the spells stay faceup on the table, so you can see what your opponent is trying to do. Maybe a card will pop up in the pool that can fully counter your opponent's engine, forcing them to pivot. But the same can happen to you. Solid game! Cont'd in comments

Board Game Purge Pt. 1

This is not a surprise to anyone ... Shocker! My #top10 gaming experiences of 2023 list concludes with a tie between my two favorite games of all time. My #1 s this year are Blood on the Clocktower and Arkham Horror the Card Game. Both games always, no matter how many times I play them, give me a memorable moment or two that just stick with me. Whether it be replaying the two newest Arkham campaigns and realizing they are my least favorite in the bunch or teaching Clocktower to so many new people this year, I am constantly impressed with the experience these games foster. I won't go over rules or mechanics for these since I have multiple posts about both games in my feed, but if you ever want to talk about or ask about either of these games and why they are so incredible to me, I will always gladly wax poetic for hours about them. With that being said, happy holidays to everyone and a very happy new year. My resolution? To post more again...

Of course we need to have some honorable mentions ... Before revealing my #1 board game experience of 2023, we of course need to have some honorable mentions that didnt quite make the #top10 . War of the Ring the Card Game is an amazing game that really stays true to the LoTR story. My main issue was that the 2 player variants are not the best and the game really shines at 4 players or if you are willing to play two player but both players playing with two separate hands and decks. @ares.games Witchcraft! @saltandpeppergames I've been having an absolute blast with as a solo only game where you are a group of witches actually protecting a town from evil, but of course the town thinks you're the cause of it. Really fun and brutal game. Sky Team @scorpionmasque is a treasure of a game that I've been playing a lot with my partner. You are trying to land a plane together via dice placement, but once you roll the dice, you can't talk anymore. With missions that get more and more difficult, there is a lot in this little box. Netrunner @nullsignalgames is just always a good time and I'm finally getting back into it this year. It is probably the greatest competitive card game ever made and everyone who grew up playing TCGs should absolutely experience it Klask @klaskgame is just a wooden board of joy. Like Airhockey meets foosball. This is my go to drinking night game.

Time to innovate ya nerds! ... My #2 in my #top10 games of 2023 is Age of Innovation published by @capstone_games . Took a quick pic before we hit the road but this game is incredible! If you have played Terra Mystica or Gaia Project you'll be very familiar with this game's systems. Honestly it is a loose TM but a tighter Gaia and it is perfect for me. The fact that you also draft factions and customize your character every game just adds to the crazy amount replayability. Also if you're a solo player, the solo automa is incredible and super easy with a range of difficulties and personas. Overall amazing game and it would have been my #1 , but I have a feeling you all know what that is gonna be.

All I want are crystals and loot crates for the holidays ... It's been a few days, but I'm back with my #3 game of my #top10 gaming experiences of 2023, the incredible Revive published by @aportagames . I have a post not too far back in my feed going over the general flow of the game along with the actions you take so I won't go into detail on that here, but this is one of those few games that I fell in love with after just one play. It is so open for juicy combos and card play and I adore that in games. It gives me the serotonin kick that keeps me going. Player interaction isn't too intense (even when you play the full game post campaign unlocks), but that bit of interaction feels good and not invasive. Everyone is expanding and exploring the map together, you can use other players' abilities, you can block some spaces, and you can do a little hate drafting if you want, but otherwise that's the real extent. The solo mode is a solid efficiency puzzle that is fun to play over and over with the different factions or just to find those awesome combos you can use against your friends later. It's just a cozy point salad euro game and I can't wait for the expansion to get an actual restock and become available for the majority of us who didn't get to purchase a copy yet.

Fa La La La La, Ra Ra Ra RAAAA! ... My #4 in my #top10 gaming experiences of 2023 is the wonderful, nearly 25 year old, Dr. Knizia masterpiece, Ra, published by @25thcenturygames . I'm not a big auction gamer, but this game totally turned me around on the genre. But in all honesty, I don't think I'll ever need another auction game in my collection. Super simple set collection game where on your turn you either pull a tile out of the bag to add to the auction pool, initiate an auction for all the tiles in the pool, or spend a god tile to take whatever tile you want in the pool. That's it. But of course there are a few twists. You could draw a Ra tile from the bag, which immediately initiated an auction. There may be some tiles in the auction pool that you really really want, but there also might be some tiles that make you lose some of your other tiles. So you need to make a decision if you want to win the auction or not, because if you win, you have to take all the tiles. Auctions only go around the table once where you bid with your tokens or pass. The tricky thing is, yeah you could big your 16 and auto win the auction, but you then trade that 16 in for whatever tile is currently out, which could be a 1. So the next round now you went from having the best tile in the game, to the worst. And someone else may initiate an auction with no tiles available strictly to try and see if they can buy that juicy 16 bidding token. The more you play, the more strategy and decision space you see really open up. Also got to play this in person with @cowarnergames which was amazing to finally meet him in person. It's such a cool, quick, beautiful game that I would consider an evergreen and should be in everyone's collection.

Even the setup of this game intimidates me. ... Honestly almost didn't include this game because I knew setting it up and putting it away for a picture was gonna take so long. But doing it just made me want to play it again. My #5 in my #top10 board gaming experiences of 2023 is Horseless Carriage by Splotter Spellen (my fav publishers in the industry). In this game, you are car manufacturers trying to build, advertise, and sell cars to the public based on their specific wants and needs. The meat of the game is building your factory, and let me tell you, you constantly will feel like an absolute buffoon with every tile you place. There is some fighting with your opponents for turn order, which can be important for being able to grab certain car parts for your factory, since you can use your opponents tech knowledge, or for when selling cars if you want to corner the market. But the real battle is against yourself. I heard someone say: "Food Chain Magnate is where you will get killed by your opponents. Antiquity is where you will get killed by the game. Horseless Carriage is where you will get killed by yourself." And that is absolutely accurate. Figuring out how to make your factory as efficient as possible is the most insane spatial puzzle ever and I love it. Yeah, sure, take as many pieces as you like! Doesn't cost you anything! Except space and your sanity. It's another beautiful design by the masters at Splotter and I am so happy to have it on my shelf (updated Splotter collection pic coming soon).