Latest / Pick Up and Deliver / Look Back at 2012
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to Pick Up and Deliver, the podcast where I pick up my audio recorder as I step
- 0:08out the door and deliver an episode to you while I walk the dog.
- 0:11I'm Brendan Riley.
- 0:15Well, good afternoon listeners.
- 0:22It's a lovely day here in suburban Chicago.
- 0:25It's a high 70s.
- 0:27There are cicadas galore.
- 0:28But I'm enjoying my time outside anyway.
- 0:32Today I am walking up to the library to return a couple things.
- 0:35I'm returning a book that I haven't read yet, although I did.
- 0:38It's an audio book so I did put the audio onto my phone.
- 0:42Now listen to it and then delete it.
- 0:45And then the other one is a is a movie.
- 0:48It's All the President's Men.
- 0:50Which I'll talk about in the movie roundup when I cover June?
- 0:53So you'll have to be suspenseful till that in the meantime.
- 0:59In the meantime I thought I would do another look back episode, not the 400 back, but the
- 1:05best of episodes.
- 1:07If you haven't been following on this journey, I discovered a while ago or realized a
- 1:12while ago that well I have done a top games episode for every year since I've done
- 1:16the podcast.
- 1:17I haven't done a top game episode for every year before I did the podcast.
- 1:26And obviously as we get older there'll be fewer and fewer games that I can comment on.
- 1:31But given that I played a lot of games and I sort of ravenously enjoy trying new games
- 1:37I have played a lot.
- 1:38So this is going to be Brendan's top games of 2012.
- 1:42Alright, so today I'm doing this episode.
- 1:44I went on the board game geek and I did an advanced search.
- 1:48I limited the field to board games published in 2012 and then I looked through the top.
- 1:56All the games that ranked in the top 10,000 on board game geek that were punished in 2012.
- 2:02Now each year that's fewer and fewer games.
- 2:06So I might have missed them that were below the top 10,000 but generally in my experience
- 2:11the top 10,000 is where you're going to find the bulk of the games that would be worthy
- 2:15of being considered the top games of the year.
- 2:18So that's the route that I took.
- 2:23Here it is.
- 2:24I made a list of every game that I've every game in 2012 that I've played in the top
- 2:3010,000 as well as a few games that I know I should play or want to play or know of and
- 2:35that's the list I put together for you today.
- 2:37So the cicadas are noisy this afternoon. So before we talk about my favorite games from this
- 2:43year I've got a couple caveats.
- 2:47Caveat number one.
- 2:48Alright caveat number one.
- 2:50I generally disallow for consideration in the top five games that are already in my top
- 2:5650 because if they're in my top 50 obviously I think they're the best so they would be the
- 3:00top game.
- 3:01So 2012 games in my top 50 include Android Netrunner and Terra Mystica.
- 3:10Now I will be honest with you I owe you a top 50 and I'm going to do one every two years
- 3:14it's been two years and about six months almost so not good.
- 3:19I'm overdue for a new top 50 and I've been working on one with its slow going so just
- 3:24heads up I'm working on it.
- 3:26But in the current standing top 50 Android Netrunner and Terra Mystica are both in it and so
- 3:32they are disqualified from consideration among the top five games of 2012 just considered
- 3:38their number one to automatic.
- 3:41Then I also have a number of games on my shelf of opportunity.
- 3:45These are games that I own that I have not had a chance to play.
- 3:49So much I think might end up in the top five games or the top games of 2020 if I played
- 3:55them.
- 3:56I haven't played them so we're stuck with it.
- 3:59Those games are the Palaces of Carrara, Android infiltration, Penny Arcade the game Rumble
- 4:06in R'yleh, and Kemet.
- 4:09I don't have Kemet Blood and Sand which I think is the new version of it and I do however
- 4:17have the Kemet 1.5 rules print out and those would be the ones I would use when I play
- 4:22Kemet if I ever get around to playing it.
- 4:24Alright I'm going to do my top five games from 2012 and talk a little bit about what I
- 4:29think of each one.
- 4:30Alright number five Legacy Gears of Time.
- 4:34Legacy Gears of Time is the first game from Indie publisher floodgate games.
- 4:39They're best known for Sagrada but they've also published a number of other games.
- 4:44Decorum is the one I can think of that came out recently.
- 4:48They have Kites which is pretty good.
- 4:50They have a game called Vault Wars another one called what is it?
- 4:55It's a game where you're running a vacation Epic Resort.
- 4:59Those are all interesting games that I enjoy.
- 5:02I have a soft spot in my heart for floodgate games because their Epic Resort was one of
- 5:06the first Kickstarter I backed so in my heart I feel happy about that game and like it.
- 5:13But Legacy Gears of Time is a really interesting game about it's a sort of I guess area controls
- 5:20probably the best word for it but it's a tech tree control game.
- 5:24You have a tech tree that establishes different technologies and how they were created over
- 5:30history and your goal is to control the technologies in those tech trees over time and as time moves
- 5:41forward like each round you send a time traveler back influencing the past history and you
- 5:48could take control of technologies away from other people and then new technologies give
- 5:53you points based on how new technologies emerge and every technology you control gives
- 6:00you points but any technology that other people use that you control an earlier element
- 6:06of you also get points.
- 6:08So it's an interesting game pretty weird I haven't played it in a long time but it probably
- 6:13is due a revisit so that's something that I should put on my plate for some time soon
- 6:19Legacy Gears of Time.
- 6:20Ben Harkins I believe is the designer there I don't know who the artist is.
- 6:25Number four this is a game I certainly didn't play back in 2012 I am not sure I played it
- 6:30before say 1999 or 2019 and this is but it's a perennial favorite at toggle and it's
- 6:41a game if I came across it I would definitely pick up I haven't gone out and bought a copy
- 6:46but I'm it's certainly on the wish list at some point and that is Las Vegas now they've
- 6:51done a new version called Las Vegas Royale which I actually do like the tweaks they've
- 6:56done to it I think it adds to the game just a little bit but the original is really good
- 7:01as is and you can use the Las Vegas Royale to play the original version so Las Vegas is
- 7:06by Rudiger Dorn in the game you have a set of dice you use those dice to you're
- 7:13trying to take control of different casinos each casino has a certain amount of profit
- 7:17that it's going to give out each in the round and the game is played over a certain number
- 7:22of rounds person has the most money at the end of the game wins the trick with using
- 7:27the dice to get control of the casinos is each round you roll your dice and so you know
- 7:32you start with like six dice I think or five it depends on the player playing and then
- 7:36what you have to do is you put the dice that you've rolled onto one of the casinos so you
- 7:42pick a die or you pick a value. So let's say you have two twos then you're going to put
- 7:48those twos on the casino labeled two you have to put all the twos that you have on there
- 7:56and what you're doing is buying for control of casino number two, It goes around like
- 8:01that, each round you pick one of the die values that you have and put all the dice of that
- 8:05value onto the casino at the end of the round after everyone has placed all their dice.
- 8:11Oh and then you re-roll the rest your dice at the end of the round after everyone has
- 8:14placed all their dice you look at each casino and first you get each casino first you
- 8:19look at who has the most dice on that casino. How many dice do they have? If it is a tie, if
- 8:29two people have a tied amount of dice on the casino, then all of both of their dice are discarded
- 8:36so two people have three each dice on their casino you discard all six of those and then
- 8:43you look at who's still left and who has the most dice there. So any ties you lose all
- 8:48the dice so there's this really interesting gamesmanship where if you're one behind the
- 8:54leader you could put one more and you have one die to put on you can decide to put one
- 8:59die on and sabotage just both of you but then someone else could sneak a single die on and
- 9:05take control at the end it's a really interesting mechanism that makes for a lot of fun it also
- 9:12makes the game extremely tactical and not strategic at all because you never know what dice
- 9:16you're going to have. the next time you roll so there's no control over it there's a very
- 9:21lucky dependent game but really fun and there is some strategy in choosing how to use
- 9:26the dice you have not a lot a little tactics I guess but it's great that's lost of Aegis
- 9:35next up we have the resistance Avalon now the resistance is one of my favorite games
- 9:42and Avalon is my favorite version of the resistance mostly because it comes with all
- 9:47of the stuff in it clean actually I'm gonna withdraw that I really like the resistance
- 9:52Avalon I think for new players it is the cleanest version of the game but I do like some of
- 9:59the advancements that they added to the science fiction resistance including the different
- 10:05roll cards or the different cards that augment what's happening in the game to give you
- 10:11sort of different powers or benefits as the round goes on other resistance Avalon is
- 10:19sort of self-contained I like the art style in it and the overall idea of what's happening
- 10:26if you haven't played the resistance at all it is a social deduction game in which you
- 10:31have a group of people trying to accomplish something and within that group there are a couple
- 10:35traders everyone knows how many traders but nobody nobody except the traders the non-traders
- 10:41don't know who the traders are the traders do know and have to try to hide it it's a best
- 10:46of five situation where either team wins three game is over I really like the resistance
- 10:54I think it's pretty close to a perfect social deduction game and Avalon is maybe the best
- 10:59version of it although like I said I like the slightly weirder more convoluted sci-fi additions
- 11:05they made to the sci-fi version that's the resistance Avalon my number two game in
- 11:112012 is a scape curse of the temple a scape church in the temples I'm a Christian ospie
- 11:21or I'm a Christian ospin I'm I'm an ospie and it is a hoot escape for them was a real time
- 11:30dice rolling game in which players have to try to escape a temple that is collapsing while
- 11:37the temple is collapsing music is playing and you're rolling your dice as fast as you can to try
- 11:41to escape from the temple by finding gems and opening up doors there's music playing and three times
- 11:49during the game a gong will sound when the gong sounds you get like 30 seconds to get back to the
- 11:57initial room that you started in if you're back in the initial room by the time the second gong
- 12:04sounds so there's one gong that starts the high-paced section and another gong that stops it if you
- 12:11get when you get to that second gong if you're back in the starting room no harm no foul if you're
- 12:18not back in the starting room then you if you're not back in the starting room when the gong sounds
- 12:25you lose one of your dice as I said the way the game plays on your turn it's a real time dice rolling
- 12:31game so on your turn you're going to be rolling dice there's no turns everybody is rolling dice
- 12:36and you're moving from room to room trying to save these gems you have these gongs that happen
- 12:41twice and if you aren't back in the room you lose a die when you get to the end of the once you
- 12:46reveal the escape the room that lets you escape the temple then you need to actually figure out
- 12:52how to get out the way you get out is by rolling a combination of dice the dice combination that
- 12:57you roll get smaller as you roll as you find more of the gems so as a group you want to find as many
- 13:03gems as you can or also it's very difficult to escape when you free to the final room once you do
- 13:08reach the final room then you can collaborate to roll enough of the escape symbols to get someone
- 13:14out and then when they leave you they get to give one of their dice to one of the remaining players
- 13:20who's in the room actually I don't know if they have to be in the room to get the die might be
- 13:24they can be anywhere which would be a nice bonus because it can be very hard to escape if you're
- 13:29short on dice once everyone has escaped the game is over or if the third when the third gong sounds
- 13:36that's not a gong to run back to the beginning that's a gong to get out if you don't make it out by
- 13:40the time the second sort of accelerated warning cycle happens you lose the game escape curse of
- 13:47the temple is really fun they've released a bunch of expansions for it I ended up playing it a
- 13:52couple times before I bought it and then when I bought it I bought the escape big box now they've
- 13:58since released like two more escape big boxes or something so I don't probably have everything for
- 14:03it but I have a lot more than I've played usually because I'm showing you to new people or we haven't
- 14:08played in a long time and so adding a bunch of weird expansions hasn't really been in the cards for
- 14:13us but I do like the game a lot and I think it's well worth playing occasionally so if you get a chance
- 14:19to play a scape curse of the temple you definitely should because it's a hoot I finally my number one
- 14:23game for 2012 is Lords of Waterdeep. Lords of Waterdeep is an excellent worker placement entry level
- 14:31worker placement game it is an introduction to the genre that is relatively simple I would say you
- 14:39could certainly teach it to anybody who can play a ticket to ride for example I was about that level
- 14:46maybe hint more complex but I think anyone who could handle ticket to ride could handle
- 14:52Lords of Waterdeep it's pretty straightforward it does have a little bit more complexity as you play
- 14:57but it's all something you can handle together and it's great I stand I correct that it's probably not
- 15:06quite ticket to ride simple but it's definitely in that neighborhood and it's great still holds up
- 15:15I still played at least a couple times a year and it's well worth playing if you get the chance
- 15:20that's Lords of Waterdeep so those are my top five games from 2012 what I'll do for the rest the
- 15:26episode here and I actually this is going to end up a longer episode than a lot of other episodes
- 15:31have been recently but that's okay what I'm going to do next is I have some superlatives other games I
- 15:37would I want to give different awards they didn't make my top five but they have other things that
- 15:44are worth saying about them so here we go first up we have some honorable mentions these are
- 15:50games that almost made my top five I debated it and I'm going with other games but these could
- 15:55easily have made the cut city of horror is a really cutthroat social game in which you are
- 16:04trying to get your survivors to make it through the apocalypse you have one night to survive the
- 16:12zombies before you escape and you have to get a antidote for each of your survivors in order for them to
- 16:19make it out it's a it's as cutthroat game as I've ever played it's really fun it's very silly
- 16:27and as I mentioned before in the previous episodes it is from this French company and there is some
- 16:34sexism in it that's really unfortunate I don't really know what to do about that except
- 16:40acknowledge it when it is there and I guess you could choose not to play it if you want but
- 16:43I think it's a pretty fun game it just requires a little bit of commentary about that aspect
- 16:50the other game from 2012 that I want to nod to as particularly good and this is Koo
- 16:57Koo is a light social deduction game in which players are trying to take control of a futuristic
- 17:04society the gamer reveals is actually the same society as the world of the resistance and another game
- 17:12called grifters all three of these take place in the same universe in Koo you do things by having
- 17:19relate each player has two relationships with powerful members of the ruling class
- 17:29because of the relationship you're allowed to take actions and in the game you can tell everybody
- 17:36that you have a particular relationship in order to take a particular action
- 17:40if somebody else doesn't believe you they can demand that you prove you have that relationship
- 17:45and actually improving it you lose the relationship but you build another one
- 17:49and the other players don't know
- 17:57what your new relationship is but if you successfully prove that you have one the other person
- 18:02loses one there then does not get a replacement if you lose both of your relationships then you lose
- 18:07uh it's a quick game for a larger group of like say four or five or six it could take like 15 to 20
- 18:14minutes the only downside to the game as far as I'm concerned is that uh it has player elimination
- 18:19so people get out of the game and then they're not in it anymore um and that part
- 18:25isn't my favorite uh but it's necessary for the game and the game is short enough that uh you can
- 18:32have a lot of fun with it even if people are getting eliminated all right then we have a few other
- 18:36uh superlip here because these are games these are like other titles I've come up with for
- 18:43games from 2012 that I want to include in our discussion the game with the most plays other than
- 18:49Anandred Netrunner which I already said was removed from consideration I'm gonna say love letter I've
- 18:55played many many games of love letter uh I keep it in our house that we often carry it in a bag so that
- 19:01when we go to a cafe or something we can play some love letter and it's just part of the ebb and
- 19:08flow of our family activities it's great if you haven't played love letter you definitely should
- 19:13it started the mini game craze where people took 18 cards and made a game out of it and this is a
- 19:19beginning one and it's great my love hate the love hate award these are this is a game that I love
- 19:24sometimes and I hate sometimes and I can't decide which this is zolkin the myan calendar part of the
- 19:29issue here's I've never been good at zolkin I'm terrible at it uh and thus I do badly at it when I play
- 19:35but every now and again I'll have one good game and it's like golf I'm like whoa that game was great I
- 19:40can see why people like this uh but um ultimately I did sell it because I don't play it much and when I
- 19:46do play it half the time I don't like it yeah that's zolkin the myan calendar the first of the games
- 19:51full of tracks so many tracks in that game next up we have wanted to like but didn't this is Robinson
- 19:57Crusoe adventures on curse island I took two meaty swings at this game meaty bite I learned it wants
- 20:04to plate it didn't like it put her way learned it again plate it didn't like it sold it
- 20:09Robinson Crusoe is a game full of story and frustration those are the two things it has I love the
- 20:17story part I hate the frustration part it's way too swing way too chance filled for me and perhaps
- 20:24there is a way to do better had I been willing to endure it 15 or 20 times I would have found that
- 20:30path but I was not if I feel like it Robinson Crusoe adventure I will play Friday that is another
- 20:37punishing game but more accessible and it doesn't take a half hour to set up and the rule book is
- 20:42accessible whereas the Robinson Crusoe rule book is terrible next up we have cutest game the cutest
- 20:49game from 2012 this is mice and mystics I really enjoyed my time with mice and mystics I bought it when
- 20:56the kids were relatively young I guess my 2012 was 12 years ago this 2024 now and my daughter is 18
- 21:06now so she would have been six when the game came out and we played it not when it came out but a
- 21:13couple of years later so this is definitely a game I played when the kids were young it was they
- 21:19had a lot of fun with it although it was a little slow and a little clunky so between being slow
- 21:25and clunky that made it difficult to really enjoy because it took a long time to play we had a
- 21:31lot of fun with it though and I have fond memories of mice and mystics potential for growth this is a
- 21:37game that I played a bit I recognize it as a very strong game and one that I could see myself playing
- 21:42many times over this is seasons seasons is a combo builder reminiscent for me reminiscent of as
- 21:51though it wasn't a decade before it but reminiscent of Rezartana it's a small number of cards that
- 21:58you have and you're trying to maximize how they combine and what you can do with them I really like
- 22:03the interplay of them and the art is also lovely I played a few times and I thought it was really good
- 22:09and then I kind of dropped it this would be a thing I'd love to enjoy playing over a series of games
- 22:15with somebody if there's anybody out there who wants to churn out 50 games of seasons over the next
- 22:20year or two on board game reena I'd be happy to play it with you who a robin just swooped into the
- 22:27air in front of me grabbed a cicada and got itself a big tasty dinner I feel a little bad for this cicada
- 22:33but more celebratory for the robin as far as all these things go my next award is like in the abstract
- 22:38this is a game that in my head I like it in gameplay I thought it was fine but I didn't get any traction
- 22:45with anyone else I played and this is ginkopolist ginkopolist is a fascinating game in which you're
- 22:52trying to understand a system by which cards get laid out and buildings get built I mean those
- 23:01buildings turn the engines that get you points and the cards that you lay out turns into engines to
- 23:06get you resources and some of those engines some of those get you points as well and you're kind of
- 23:11navigating the space between those to try to figure out which is the best set of ways to play the
- 23:19cards you have it's got a complex interconnectedness that I find fascinating and I really enjoyed
- 23:27but the people I played with live didn't enjoy it and I discovered it's not a game that I do
- 23:33well at playing asynchronously so between those two things ginkopolist is not in my top five I did not
- 23:41keep my copy I don't think so I think I sold my copy pretty sure but it is a game I like in the
- 23:48abstract next up best deduction game of 2012 as far as I'm concerned PI Martin Wallace's take on
- 23:55clue set in a sort of noir San Francisco you play a private detective in the neighborhood of
- 24:03Sam's speed or Philip Marlowe and you're trying to solve a murder by investigating different locations
- 24:10there is a clue like element in terms of some people have information and you're getting
- 24:16information from them based on where you go that works really well there's a hole in this bag careful
- 24:21all in all it's an interesting game that I think plays really smoothly and is worth checking out
- 24:29I regret I did have a couple opportunities to buy this and the reviews were not great so I did
- 24:36not and I wish I had because now it's not available and I've played it a couple times on board
- 24:41gameraena and I really like it but it's no longer available so I probably could get it without too
- 24:46much trouble on the secondary market but I haven't made the effort yet because there's a lot of games
- 24:51I could get on the secondary market that I would like and I don't know how how high it rates over
- 24:55those other games but I thought it was the most fun deduction game of 2012 that is PI by Martin
- 25:02Wallace published by Tree Frog Games I believe next up the award I'm giving I'm calling the area
- 25:07control extravaganza goes to Rex final days of an empire now Rex is a game I talked about
- 25:13extensively in a recent episode because it's a game about it is a re implementation or remake of
- 25:21the older version of Dune so fantasy flight wanted to make Dune the designers wanted to make Dune
- 25:27they did not have the license for it and so fantasy flight made a different game that uses very
- 25:34similar mechanisms but is set in the twilight impureium universe which of course is has space
- 25:41lines so arguably better than Dune oh I don't know if it's actually better than good but that's
- 25:46that's what was going on my last superlative is best duel and this is the two-player excellent um
- 25:54I guess you'd call it work replacement game but I would call it I don't know research gathering
- 25:58game or tactical blocking game targie targie is a game where you have a grid of cards and you're
- 26:05putting out a couple pieces to claim rows and columns and you get the stuff that's on the pieces
- 26:11on the cards that cross at the rows and columns that rows and columns that you claimed
- 26:15and you're trying to add cards to your tableau the cards have points on them as well as point
- 26:19scoring conditions and sometimes ongoing powers that reduce the cost of future cards
- 26:24it's a relatively simple idea that works very well it's excellent two-player excellent
- 26:31asynchronous game it's a play with a lot actually if you want to give it a try it's over on board
- 26:36game reenight be happy to play with you or I bet if you open up a game somebody will play it with you
- 26:41as well that's targie last two things I want to share first off I have a list of games I think I
- 26:47should play that either I've heard good things about or yes mostly things I've heard good things about
- 26:54these are not games I have my collection that was a different list oh actually I forgot to
- 26:59mention merchant of Venus is then my Charles of Opportunity so that's one was on my list that I did
- 27:04not consider here are some games I think I should try CO2 although CO2 now has a new version called
- 27:10CO2 second chance which I think is probably the one I would want to play if I could
- 27:15virgin queen keyflower suburbia the great zimbabwe which I hear lots of good things about although
- 27:23it's a splotter game so I'm a little dubious and the cave which is an exploration game from the same
- 27:29designer who made k2 which was a really good game about mountaineering which brings me to finally I
- 27:36just want to review the other 2012 games that I have played in and just so you can know what else I
- 27:42considered here's the list quickly star wars excellent miniature game I played one played this once
- 27:47not an in-depth exploration more of a I get how it works now descent journeys in the dark second edition
- 27:54legendary a marvel deck building game a greek a lot all creatures great and big and small that's the
- 27:59two-player version libertalia legends of andor noir a detective a deductive mystery game also very
- 28:08good probably gives p.i a run for its money it suffers from the problem of having too many variants
- 28:13and I'm just just want to know what's the best game not what are all the possible games
- 28:17linky zombicide chapel dixit journey to kaito yido quicks quicks is very good quicks might have
- 28:28might have made my top five if I thought more carefully about it it definitely deserves I'm
- 28:34bumping quicks up to honorable mention quicks is very good honorable mention for quicks smash up
- 28:40machi coral strike eight minute empire epic spell wars of the battle wizards duel at mount skulls
- 28:47fire and volupe of a luspa is a really good abstracts tile lane game well worth checking out if you get
- 28:55chance I can't say that about every other game than I just listed there some of those I like some I
- 29:00do not most of them have been covered in some form or another here on the podcast so why not go
- 29:06back to the archives and figure it out if you're interested thanks for joining me on my walk today
- 29:11I hope you enjoyed it if you want to let me know what you thought head over to board game geek
- 29:15guild 3269 where there's plenty of information to be had or send me a message on board game geek
- 29:21wombat 199 is my username thanks for joining me on my walk today I hope you next walk this is
- 29:26the time is mind wants bye bye
- 29:48brandens top games of 2012 so the or 2012 i don't know 2020 12 2012 uh dice
- 29:57come on there was my cicada attack number one for actually that's like number three it's the first
- 30:04one i just set out loud if you're not back in the starting room then you move all right man
- 30:11get off me brought to you by rattlebox day