My Top 10 Boardgames Published in 2022

   

Here's a look at my 10 favorite games published in 2022.

(Or else made available in North America so late in 2021 that there was no way to really play them before the calendar flipped.)

#10

TURING MACHINE (designed by Fabien Gridel & Yoann Levet, published by Le Scorpion Masqué)

Think of Turing Machine as a multiplayer Mastermind: the machine is holding a code of five digits (each of them a number between 1 and 5) and players try to figure it out. But they're not asking each other for clues—they're questioning the machine itself. No app is required, it's all done through punch cards made out of cardboard, and it really works.

The only reason Turing Machine doesn't sit higher on this list is because I know it's not the kind of game I'll be playing all the time. But it is without a doubt one of the most clever designs I've encountered in my entire boardgaming life.

#9

CLANK! CATACOMBS (designed by Paul Dennen, published by Direwolf)
I remember instantly liking the original Clank! when it came out, because it combined two mechanics I love: dungeon crawling and deck building. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the fixed board, which always provided the same layout, game after game. What I really wanted was a cross between the deck-building fun of Clank! and the "let's venture into the unknown," leap-of-faith sort of dungeon crawling one experiences in a game like Dungeonquest.

Well, I got my wish!

Quick and always fun to play, Catacombs is begging for expansions. And I'll be first in e-line to buy them when they come out.

#8

ENEMY ACTION: KHARKOV (designed by John Butterfield, published by Compass Games)

John Butterfield was already creating exquisite solo wargames when I was still a wee lad, but he's not done creating classics, or entire new series of incredible games, for that matter. And for this second dish on the Enemy Action menu, chef Butterfield proposes the tank-heavy battle of Kharkov, which is really three games in one: you play solo as the Russians, or solo as the Germans, or even a two-player game against a flesh-and-blood opponent (if you still have one of those lying around). Kharkov is a little simpler to grok than its sister game Ardennes, so I would recommend new players take a bite of this one before moving on. The solo engine is a masterclass by itself, and the game is a blast.

Tough, but oh so tasty.

#7

A MOST FEARFUL SACRIFICE (designed by Hermann Luttmann, published by Flying Pig Games)

I have yet to meet a Luttmann design I didn't take a liking to, and this is one of my favorites.

The game introduces the Black Swan system, a card-based "chit-pull" engine that makes playing the entire battle of Gettysburg a thrilling and fairly painless experience.

But beware, for AMFS is one of those sprawling American Civil War games. My ACW buddy has a massive gaming table—the kind you build your house around, and then never move out of the room it's trapped in—and the full board barely fits! Thankfully, most scenarios only use part of the map.

#6

MESSINA 1347 (designed by Vladimir Suchy & Raul Fernandez Aparicio, published by Delicious Games & Rio Grande Games)
Care for sick people, get rid of the plague, and rebuild (and repopulate!) Messina, all in a day's work.

It's a great game that was plagued (...) by a bad rulebook, which drove scores of players away. But it's a real shame: Messina 1347 is both fresh and brilliant, and deserves a much wider audience than it ended up with. 

(You can read my flash review here.)

(You can also download the errata I compiled.)

#5

BOONLAKE (designed by Alexander Pfister, published by Capstone Games)
The first of two Pfister designs on this list (!), Boonlake is an action-selection game that feels like a blend of many favorite mechanics—each with a clever twist on top. It's got that classic Pfister feeling of "going somewhere" while offering innovate options when it comes to the simplest of decisions, such as producing resources. 

(You can read my flash review here.)

#4

WEATHER MACHINE (designed by Vital Lacerda, published by Eagle-Gryphon Games)

(Yes, two "machine" titles on the list...)

Lacerda is back with his usual mix of brain-bleeding and adrenaline-pumping mechanics, this time wrapped up in a fantastical theme: what if you could control the weather?

It's another winner in my little worn out book, and definitely a game you don't pull from the shelf with slightly inebriated family members during the holidays; just setting up the game would induce spasms.

(You can read my flash review here.)

#3

BROTHERS AT WAR: 1862 (designed by Christopher Moeller, published by Compass Games)

I've played my share of American Civil War games, and not many of them manage to model those old engagements in such a (relatively) simple, exciting and dynamic manner. This chit-pull title is as close as you'll get to a tactical ACW game at the brigade level, with innovative mechanics and four complete battles in a single box!

I hear an 1861 version is in the works, and I'll be looking forward to it.

(You can read my flash review here.)

#2

GREAT WESTERN TRAIL: ARGENTINA (designed by Alexander Pfister, published by eggertspiele)

The original Great Western Trail has long been a favorite of mine, so I had doubts about this new take on the system. What would change? Would it be better, or just different?

Turns out it's both. GWT: Argentina makes a few clever tweaks to the solid engine introduced by its older sibling, and adds a handful of new mechanics that elevate the entire game. You're still driving cattle across the land, but this time there's more to do once the cows are shipped off.

I think I like Argentina a bit better than the original GWT, but don't tell it I said that.

(You can read my flash review here.)

#1

HEAT (designed by Asger Harding Granerud & Daniel Skjold Pedersen, published by Days of Wonder)

My #1 usually ends up being some deep, complex game with intricate moving parts and a mind-buster factor in the high 90s. Not so this year: this is the simplest game on the list!

Heat is F1 racing 1961-style, with a basic game that can be explained in minutes, while remaining super tense and fun. Throw in a few "advanced" modules on top (weather, car customization, sponsors!) and Heat becomes much deeper, without adding any real complexity at all. A brilliant (and again, very simple) bot system rounds out the package, which turns solo races into exciting sessions, and makes running races with a full roster of cars a no-brainer.

A well deserved #1 spot, and the first time in ages I've been seduced by a Days of Wonder title.

(You can read my flash review here.)

DISAPPOINTMENTS
I define "disappointments" as games I expected a lot from, and which failed to deliver.

Here are the "top" three from 2022.

The subject matter was really speaking to me, and the components were stunning—I mean, you're using inks and actual reversed types to "typeset" the print jobs you have to get done! 

Turns out the game design itself is uninspired, with the promising "interlocking gears" system broken by a stupid rule that lets you remove a gear and put it back in any position you like.

Feel free to let this one go out of print.

With a fresh take on the Battle of Britain, 303 Squadron seemed like a slam dunk to me. But no amount of inventiveness could make up for the truly messed up rulebook that shipped with this.

Still, it feels like there is a good game underneath all the wreckage, and that's the only reason I haven't gotten rid of it yet. But my hopes for a v2 of the rules are diminishing as we speak.

I thought this one would be a fine, comfy, classic eurogame. But I should have learned my lesson by now, right? Leo Colovini has nice ideas, but his games are never really great. So you play them for a while and have fun, and then you wonder why you should keep playing them at all. (The best ones I played from him, Carolus Magnus and Cartagena, hit that wall just like the others.) 

Old London Bridge was falling down from the get-go.

STRAGGLERS
Let's end on a high note with three games that would have made the list had I encountered them back in the year when they were published.

When I first heard about this one, it sounded like a rip-off of the Alien franchise, bloated with plastic miniatures just for the hell of it.

But I discovered this year that I had been very wrong.

Oh, it's definitely an Alien rip-off, but it's the best damn Alien game out there. Stop wasting your time with licensed crap designs like my top disappointment of last year (Another Glorious Day in the Corps) and start playing Nemesis right this minute.

(You can read my flash review here.)

This game languished on a shelf for years before I played it, and I only dove into it after suffering a severe concussion and having my doctor say I should try learning a complex game to retrain my brain.

Again, I'd been a fool for not playing it sooner. And I was so impressed that I grabbed of copy of EA:Kharkov (see above) as soon as it hit the streets. If Butterfield keeps making 'em, I'll keep buying 'em.

But I'll pass on the concussion next time.

No, I haven't owned my copy of Attack Sub since it was first published, back in 1991. But it was gifted to me by a friend a few years back, nonetheless... We finally got around to trying it this year. And it's a lot of fun!

Think of it as the Up Front of submarine combat (by the same designer) and with components that take you way, way back to the early '90s. 

Can't wait to play it again.

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