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Pulsar 2849
This dice-placement Euro game in space is easily my most played heavier game of the year. Easily because everyone I’ve played it with has enjoyed it, and I’ve played with a bunch of different people. Everyone has wanted to play again. It has a nice balance between cut-throat fighting over hiring engineers as well as open-ended areas you can confidently not worry about anyone stealing from you, which is I think the biggest reason it’s appealed so widely. -
Imperius
This is a card game of political intrigue where you are just as often playing your opponents cards for them as you are playing your own cards. I’m premature here. I’ve only played Imperius 3 times, but I really loved all of those plays, each feeling a little less chaotic than the last. As one player pointed out last game, the core mechanic here forces you to be intimately aware of the strategy each opponent is pursuing so you don’t accidentally help them achieve it. Incredibly dramatic but carefully calculated is a rare combo in board games, and I love it. -
Keyforge
This is the unique deck-builder that’s like Magic the Gathering, except all decks are premade and every one is unique. I thought I would like this because I don’t like deck construction and assumed since this had none that all the decks would be balanced. I actually love this because learning how to play a random deck is incredibly satisfying and fun. Trying to figure out if a deck is a dud or just needs a specific playstyle to shine is surprisingly enjoyable. It does mean sometimes the games are incredibly lopsided. So this game is best when both players can laugh at those situations, and then proceed to discuss what could have changed the game state. This game is much more about exploration and discovery than intense competition, and I love it for that. -
Rising Sun
This is designer Eric Lang’s biggest dudes on a map battle game yet. Every play for me so far has been an exhausting 3 hour mess of negotiation, carefully planning, and incredible frustration. I complained a bunch about this game in the 2018 board game thread. I don’t know if I ever said a good thing about it. I believe @Shieldwolf compared it to Cosmic Encounter and it completely flipped how I thought of the game. Like Keyforge, the best part of Rising Sun is the 1-2 hour post-game discussion where all of us try and figure out what the hell just happened. Between its incredible array of setup variability and the phenomenal difference only a single coin can make, this game can go pear-shaped a million different ways, each distinctly morbidly fascinating. Playing it for discovery instead of mastery totally changed my opinion on it. -
Dragon Castle
I got really into board games that chill me the heck out this year. Dragon Castle was my favorite game to shut up and quietly enjoy relaxing with friends. It’s a 30 minute castle building game played with mahjong tiles. Every game, 2 random rules from a quite large set are added. This is just enough variability to make each game interesting, but not enough to ever make it taxing. Any night my wife or I came home exhausted or frustrated, we’d get this out, chill for a bit, and then go for a walk and talk. A great close to any stressful day.