Another year, another awards thingy. Might as well keep the traditional alive cause everyone does love lists! It definitely has been an interesting year for gaming this year. Once again I am only looking at games I have played in 2018. Some of these games might’ve not come out last year but I will try to stick to the latest games if I can help it!

Now to the games!

Best Solo Game

–The Draugr

This is a small, BGG game with cardboard like cards in an envelope. You move around and use the town(people)’s abilities to try to defeat the six Draugr invading the town. Quite fun little thing and the components go well with the game.

Runner-Up
-AuZtralia

 

Best Team/Co-Op Game

-Village Attacks

Will this game be one of those two year things. It is my rules but still, this game is quite great. As monsters, you have to work together to kill all the pesky villagers who are invading your castle. Light-tower defense, heavy action. Cooperate or your castle heart will fall.

Runner-Up
-Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters

 
Best Party Game

-The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31

If Tortuga 1667 worked last year, this has got to work this year. People loved playing this before and still request to play it. I include it as a party game because it is pretty simple to play. There isn’t too much more added to Avalon/Resistance to flesh out the gameplay. And you either win or lose, don’t need to add up points!

Runner-Up
-Black Hole Council

 

Best Worker Placement

-Space Park

While I have a host of other games in this genre, I must say none have grabbed me as much as this one. It feels unique and easy to jump into a game. A slight twist on how the worker placement works but it feels so elegant. I am a big fan of this game.

Runner-Up
-Dinosaur Island

 

Best Game Insert

-7th Continent

This game is all about the cards. Cards to go here and there. Sorting this would be a nightmare if they didn’t have something set up nicely. All the cards have sleeves to slide into and there is a shelf for the miniatures included in the game. Throw in dividers for all the cards and I have yet to have the game slip out anywhere which is more than I can say for some other games.

Runner-Up
-Railroad Ink

 

Best Expansion

-Bloodborne: The Card Game: The Hunter’s Nightmare

This expansion is essential to this game. These is quite a lot in this expansion. It adds passive abilities that make each hunter unique, penalties to dying (to make you really second guess on risking it), more devastating weapons, more baddies, and crazy bosses. Some of the weapons I could see taking out since a lot of the new ones are geared towards hitting other hunters but that adds more fun, right?!

Runner-Up
-Root: The Riverfolk Expansion

Biggest Disappointment

No PAX Unplugged Press Pass

This is more of a joke but this is where I can do my hot takes. Having this happen was a bit disappointing.

 

-Legacy of Dragonholt

This is probably the real one. I was looking forward to this adventure/story-driven thing and what I got was pretty much a choose-your-own adventure where you can’t die. They mention you can get hurt but I’m not even sure how that is possible and I am at the end of the game.

It even looks like you can potentially miss adventures/scenarios. Hope that isn’t true!

Runner-Up
-Impulse

Biggest Surprise

-Railroad Ink

This game might be taking place of Karuba. I picked this up on a whim on small business Saturday and it has hit the table many times. That is just with the base game, I haven’t even started including the special dice that makes this version unique.  Curious how that starts changing things up in future plays.

Runner-Up
-Monster Slaughter

Most Unique Game

–Alone

This game is like Dead Space like I was thinking. It may seem like just another dungeon crawler but the unique ways its gameplay works makes it stand out all the more. The way the board is added and removed from the table and the different options available feels great. Having one or more people playing the monsters and one playing the survivor puts a new spin on the game too.

I hope to talk about and show this game off a bit more next year.

Runner-Up
-Age of Towers

Best Game of 2018

–Root

You knew it, I knew it.

This game was going to be my Biggest Surprise since it is so good but I knew it was good when I played it at the first PAX Unplugged. There are many ways to play as I discussed before, it feels like a pretty unique experience each time. Couldn’t think of another great game from the year of 2018.

Runner-Up
-Myth: Dark Frontier

There you have it, my awards for 2018. How do these rank with you? Is there another category you think I should feature in the future? Let me know!

Instagram – Twitter – MeetUp – Facebook Page – Facebook Group

If you wish to support NTBoardGames, we have a Patreon page set up for facilitate that.