Three more days has passed since the scheduled publication time for the previous entry in this series, so it is time to present the three next games in the countdown… (For methodology and introduction, please see the first post in the series.)
6. Paladins of the West Kingdom (2019)
This is the game that has moved up the most on this list. 15 spots! Possibly due to two things: 1, I’ve played quite a bit the excellent solitaire variant! You can really tell that S J McDonald and Shem Philips designs this very early on in their process. ((Especially) in this case one could argue that the game really is a multiplayer solitaire, but I don’t mind that at all. (Also there are enough interesting interaction points here.)) And 2, I really liked the City of Crowns expansion!
| Game | Paladins of the West Kingdom |
|---|---|
| What | Invaders are coming from everywhere. Keep the faith and defend your homeland. |
| How | worker placement, engine building, open drafting, different worker types, … |
| Playtime | 2 hours |
| BGG Weight | 3.70 (4.14 with City of Crowns) |
5. Terraforming Mars (2017)
I enjoy less the various expansions for Terraforming Mars – the 5th most impressive game in the world. The best way to play this is still just by adding Prelude (that just give you a push in the right direction and shaves off a bit of play time) to any of the maps available. Colonies and Venus Next just clogs down the game methinks. And Turmoil does that to an even greater extent. It just just transforms the game too much and makes it way too fiddly for what it is. I would ‘never’ want to play without Prelude, though. (That’s not true. If you invite me to a game of TM without access to Prelude (but with access to enough time) I would always say ‘yes’.) As an added bonus I always feel like re-reading my favourite Kim Stanley Robinson books after a session of TM…
| Game | Terraforming Mars |
|---|---|
| What | Compete with rival CEOs to make Mars habitable and build your corporate empire. |
| How | hand management, tile placement, resource management, engine building, … |
| Playtime | 2 1/2 hours |
| BGG Weight | 3.25 |
4. The Castles of Burgundy (2011)
When I put The Castles of Burgundy on the second place in this list two years ago, I promised myself to play more Felds. Sadly, I haven’t. Much. The Castles of Burgundy is still an amazing game, though. Even if it has dropped 2 places on this ranking. (Again, it haven’t hit the table as often as I would have wanted – and the three next games are absolutely incredible.) This is one of the games that has stood the test of time the best, though, being one of the oldest on this list…
| Game | The Castles of Burgundy |
|---|---|
| What | Plan, trade, and build your Burgundian estate to prosperity and prominence. |
| How | tile placement, pattern building, dice rolling, open drafting, … |
| Playtime | 1 1/2 hours |
| BGG Weight | 2.99 |
Summary
So, there you have it, 4-6, or rather 6-4 of my countdown. In table form it would look something like this:
| Rank | Item | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | The Castles of Burgundy (2011) | ↓2 |
| 5 | Terraforming Mars (2017) | ↓1 |
| 6 | Paladins of the West Kingdom (2019) | ↑15 |
And as a triptych it looks something like this:
