The Best and Worst Board Games of September 2023 - What I Played

[@timk8257]

I like Marco Polo 2 more than Marco Polo 1, but not enough to own either. And, I didn't know it was possible to hate Concordia.

[@Zenfiren]

It seems to me that everyone likes Concordia, except Luke haha

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Hating Concordia is very easy indeed! ;-)

[@mikaelhansson9613]

I agree about the Mosaic map. Imagine how bad it is for me who is slightly colour blind! Player colours are also a problem for me, so I only play Egypt (yellow). Now that might be a problem when the expansion arrive in a week or two. But I love the gam.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

it was fun, I just worry that area control is too important.

[@Justin-MeepleMountain]

Hegemony is still my top title of 2023; love that you've got the Clays in there too, since we did the same thing for cash instead of the included chits!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Clay chips for the win!!

[@jameshughes6428]

I own Voyages of Marco Polo, i wasn't massively keen on it until I added the Merchants of Venice expansion, adds so much to the game for me, especially being able to get money which enables easier travel, now i really like the game

[@iansutton7416]

I do like Marco Polo 2, which is a little more 'mobile' (and less tight) than the original. Still variable in the player powers, including one where they tweaked one post release, oddly reducing its power, when (at least in 3 or 4 player games) it doesn't feel at all overpowered. My gripes would be the dice placement rules are different and not especially intuitive, plus there can be an unholy rush for the bonus dice, especially with certain characters. Definitely one I'll be keeping in the longer term. Agree on the theme playing so beautifully wrt to 'the yard'. I can imagine the designer having a grin on their face when they landed on the combination of theme & mechanism. My only gripe is there are decent tactical options, but strategically it does feel like the fort is something you simply *must* aim to build up, with the aim of completing it first (or at the very least in the same turn as the 1st person who does)

[@alexthorne6996]

I love Marco polo 2! WhT character did they tweak out of interest? Someone on bgg released some fan made characters

[@iansutton7416]

@@alexthorne6996 It was the one that gets the bonus tiles after someone activates one. The original rule (as written in the rulebook) was they received the bonus tile when anyone took one, to use later themselves. This was later 'clarified' that the player with this character wouldn't also receive the bonus tile, if *they* were the ones that activated it. Apparently a late tweak arising from playtesting, that they didn't get updated before the rules were printed. I suspect it *might* have been an issue (as originally written) at 2 player, but at 3 and 4 player, easy enough for other players to ensure that character can't sweep up all these bonuses.

[@chadikewood2342]

@@iansutton7416 - interesting. that bonus tile character wiped the floor with us on our first play of M2 in a four player game. but he was also the most seasoned gamer. I did' not realize it was a thing. Marco 2 is still a great game, but I still prefer the original. I LOVE the tightness of it. You have to pay attention to where your opponents might go. I think it's still my favorite dice placement game.

[@aSyphodias]

As a big fan of the video game DRG was so tempting. I ended up passing because of cost and now with the expansions it's even more money! Plus these type of game never hit the table enough to justify their cost in my house.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

It's very costly for sure, not a value for money title!

[@StoneTempleGlyph]

I won Mosaic by collecting the right projects and getting the most Golden Age and Civilizational Achievement tiles. The other players were focusing on map presence. Empire scoring happened twice because the game ended on tiles. At end of game scoring I overtook the leaders by a good margin. So it is possible to not be too concerned about area control and win. I own the retail version which I picked up for a reasonable £40. I spent some money buying coloured wooden cubes to mark ownership of cities of wonders - the most important landmarks to easily recognise - and I had player colour plastic overlays made on etsy for the player board resource trackers (£30 something for 6). The most essential quality-of-life upgrades; so glad I didn't get the ashlar block sized and weighted monumental edition, the card artwork evokes the civ theme well enough.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

But in your case you only scored 2 empire scoring cards like me. If a 3rd comes out which is the most common resolution to the game, the area control players would have easily eclipsed you.

[@PestiferousJoe]

Fort and Hegemony are *chef's kiss. As for Marco Polo 2 it's definitely one to check out.

[@mkitten13]

From someone whose top 10 list includes both Voyages of Marco Polo and Marco Polo 2, I'll list how they differ, in case that helps you decide if 2 could be more up your alley or not. I am happy to hear you are at least slightly more positive on the game. Seeing the game in the thumbnail I was VERY curious to hear how your opinion might have changed, lol. I think you would appreciate the balance 2 has between traveling and contracts, because you now have specific contract cities out on the board, so to get contracts you have to travel, and you can only pick contracts from places you have trading spots in when you do the take contracts action. So you are far more incentiviced to travel in 2 than you are in 1 (I personally love to travel regardless, but it is now strategically more balanced). The powers in 2 are mainly not as overpowered as the ones in 1, though I will admit there are a couple that feel more powerful than others, so I guess you will still find issue with the balance there (I personally am not bothered, but can recognize that others may have that issue). The market is very different in 2, there's a few permanent spots, but the rest changes between rounds (you always know what will be coming in at what spots in the next round, though). There are also two city card spots that rotates every round. And the travel action is now 3-tiered and most of the travel cost is now printed directly on the board, so it's no longer about saving up for longer treks, but more about making multiple shorter treks to rack up city spots for bonuses, income, contracts and action spots. There are some other things too, but the rest would more be going into what's new, rather than what's different.

[@ezeekiel101]

Sounds like you think two is the better game?

[@mkitten13]

@@ezeekiel101 I love both of them. 2 is definitely the better base game, but 1 with some of the extras (particularly one of the expansion modules and the mini-expansions) is really great too, especially since I really love the powers in 1

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

2 does sound better overall, but I suspect the game will still be above average for me, dry Euros have to work harder to really win me back constantly, but thanks for the information!

[@mkitten13]

@@TheBrokenMeeple I figured, I'm like that with games that depend too heavily on the theme (happy to have theme if the game mechanisms back it up, but if it expects me to roleplay the theme or whatever to make it work, then I'm out)

[@garylaframboise2721]

I own the Clossus edition of Mosaic and love playing it solo. I backed the expansion but have yet to play it. This game will stay in my collection. Even with the inserts, it still is a commitment of time for setting up. I will usually set it up and leave it on my table for a week and get several games in. Thanks for the video and take care.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Too much investment and space for a solo only game. And that's from me owning stuff like Frostpunk, Street Masters and LCGS!

[@stacie_everdell]

Nice mash up for September. I had a chance to dive into Lands of Galzyr. I like it, even though it feels the least like a game of all my games. :D Also finally got to try Radlands, Canvas, and Canopy, plus My City roll&build, and Evergreen---all new to me. It was a good month for that. Hope you're playing some good once this month!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

With the aid of Essen and Handycon, most definitely

[@martonferenci]

oh no we agree on Fort as well - what is happening. Looking forward to playing Hegemony together! Mosaic fell so flat for me after 3 plays.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Agreeing is good....... Join us...... 😈

[@grassnibbler2026]

Mosaic is currently my No.1 though it should be noted that I have a huge natural bias for it, exploration (in this case unrevealed bonuses) plus techs plus light interaction hits a lot of the right notes for me. I'll definitely check out hegemony.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I wouldn't really call flipping a tile for an unrevealed bonus that much "exploration" really.

[@Southfloridelphia]

A friend in my group has Marco Polo and he loves it. I always thought it was okay. I found a cheap copy of Marco Polo 2 and figured if I didn't like it I would just give it to him. We love it and my friend who loves the first one agrees 2 is better.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

many agree 2 is better, but I doubt it will suddenly make it great for me.

[@WernerFernandoOroxonRamirez]

On mosaic I got a bag with the tokens so I grab and put face up, one person sets the tokens and other removes the x of completed regions, still a chore but faster

[@TheGatorDude]

Retail Mosaic doesn't have any score tracker and takes about twice as long to setup. Mosaic is about a five minutes setup with the organizers in the Colossus edition which is the main reason I ended up switching to it.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

You cannot get out all your pieces and set up that monster of a map board with all those tokens in five, that's crazy.

[@TheGatorDude]

The Colossus Edition you just pull out the inserts/plastic trays as it's already organized. I think you're right for a first teach if 1 player is setting it up, but we each do a region with the random tokens and that only takes a couple of minutes, then just place the random goals and everything else stays in the inserts. Additionally we use the variant now without using the starting technology cards, so the shuffling is cut down too! @@TheBrokenMeeple

[@CheeseDud]

Fort is still sitting on my shelf of shame - this might convince me to get it off!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Oh man please do!

[@ragnabob]

"Area control is one of the least interesting mechanics", finally, someone says it. I have no particular fondness of it either. Mosaic still looks interesting though. Regarding Marco Polo, used to be a huge fan of the first one. Having played the 2nd game now a few times, it definitely replaced 1 for me.

[@Tr1n1tyNZ]

I really enjoy Marco Polo. I used to own the colossus version of Mosaic, regrettably as setup too long and didn’t enjoy collecting icons, plus box size was ridiculous. I was just hoping to get to empire scoring to get to the end of the game tbh.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Yeah both versions of the game have problems.

[@DumahAtreides]

Regarding Mosaic - and this is a point you won't like, if the third empire scoring doesn't come up and the game ends via the other triggers (ages / achievements / wonders) then you still do a third scoring just without that card. I don't agree with your point in general that it's only about one way to win, because you can just sort of turtle in one or two areas to get points and do pretty good if you are aiming for other end game bonus points. I'd say that's an easier strategy to pull off in my games relative to those who try to dominate in area control specifically. Regarding the versions - there's a sphinx version that has the QOL stuff without the minis. Just wish that was available outside of the crowdfunding. It's the one I have. I actually converted to a dry erase way to keep up with icons and resources to make it easier at any time to know where things sit. It is a setup chore, but i use a bag to seed the tiles which helps.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Ugh yeah I'd rather it wasn't all about the map control.

[@DumahAtreides]

@@TheBrokenMeeple I get it - though the style of control is a lot less confrontational than most. I've had it work with a lot of gamers where that's not a game type they prefer. I see your point though in wanting a path of victory that isn't at least partially reliant on that.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

@@DumahAtreides yeah as I went for weird money making in bulk with the Artist, yet felt that despite doing very well at that Im somehow not scoring points just because I didn't go and claim a bunch of regions on the map

[@Althemancayer]

3 out of 10 for Marco Polo would be a bit ridiculous, that’s Monopoly range

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

No Monopoly would be 1 :P

[@shatnershairpiece]

Too bad hegemony won’t work with 2. Would have checked it out.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

It does work at 2, but you don't get the full feel until 3 players at least. But if you have the expansion you can use a Simple AI for the 3rd player.

[@GardeningPropaganda]

Marco Polo II is in our top 10. We don't play the first one anymore.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

What does it change or do?

[@330nate]

Waiting for that Apiary review 😁😇

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I don't have the game and I doubt I ever will. I put a first thoughts up on my Instagram channel back during essen and basically thought the game was seriously overrated.

[@Co-opGuild]

I love Deep Rock Galactic board game. Definitely has some flaws but it's always a blast to play. The board game got me to play the video game and I play similarly in each a great game to boot up and do a quick mission or two.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Only main flaws are FAQ/rulebook related, which are a pain, but if the new KS now fixes that with the 2.0 version then fantastic!

[@crazydave..]

when does the DRG come out? i can’t seem to find many people playing it and it’s not in stores.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Not sure when but they did say a retail is coming.

[@TheBigCrab89]

Man I don't like fort at all :p part of what I like in a deck builder is working towards a strategy... It's much harder to do that when people can steal my cards! I appreciate why people like it (it's definitely a personal preference thing - it's not a bad game at all) but for deck builders I'm quite happy with some multiplayer solitaire!

[@Kensai_]

Basically the difference between a strategic and a tactical game. Tastes and all that

[@TheBigCrab89]

@@Kensai_ 100%! I don't mind more "on the fly" decisions in other genres (worker placement being the most obvious example) but for deck builders much prefer the other way

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Definitely more of a tactical game but I love those kind of games.

[@thomassawicki6103]

I'm glad you liked DRG, It is a nice looking production. I got it for my son who is the PC version DRG fan, but we both found the Board Game version just plain Boring to be perfectly frank. Fortunately I was able to trade it away.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Awww that's a shame, I've been enjoying each play!

[@AngelofBOOM]

Anyone who dislikes Concordia is dead to me.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀😋

[@uplift-yourdailypickup6424]

Mosaic was fairly good but not good enough that I felt like I had to own jt. Went a bit long- we were trying to end the game. It did make me realize that I want a civ game in my collection. I’m going to give Civ New Dawn a shot next.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Civ New Dawn is fun but better with expansion.

[@arronthrossell3434]

I've just brought marco polo 2 so hope it is better than the first. Not played mosaic but I love clash of cultures which I'm running a game of at gridcon, if people want to play.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I noticed yeah, I think I'll be too taken up with teaching games.

[@tcdrx]

Do you know the game Dungeon degenarates? I think the game deserves more love.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Nope sorry.

[@WhatsDaveUpTo]

Ever try MP 2, and if so, what did you think?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

No still haven't.

[@WhatsDaveUpTo]

@@TheBrokenMeeple I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. People say its very different than the first one and fixed a lot of the perceived problems of the first one. I didn't like the first at all. Felt stuck most of the time. But 2 is one of my favorite game. I love dice worker placement.

[@elainetyger]

Well Duzzy? 😂😂😂

[@gianfranco4789]

GWT NZ was a 6/10 on my first play. Sits now at 9/10 after 4 plays. Don't bother with Marco Polo 2. It's not that much different. The feel of the game is exactly the same. Still, it is a 7/10 for me, either MP1 or 2. Wanna give Barrage a 2nd try? Lol I'm surprised you hate it. It gave me Whistle Mountain vibes. Building on a shared map, etc. Whistle is a 9/10, and Barrage WITH expansion is 10/10 for me... Btw, it's not as mean as it seems once you understand that the strategy revolves mainly around your construction and machinery management.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Ugh Barrage will never be a game I want to play again, I wouldn't put it in same ball park as Whistle Mountain. I'll try NZ at some point.

[@alexthorne6996]

I love marco polo 2 luke!

[@uplift-yourdailypickup6424]

Marco Polo 2 is better. I have played both several times and the first ones travel is just a pain that I don’t like it. The 2nd one fixes a lot of stuff. It’s not my favorite hero but def a keeper for me.

[@uplift-yourdailypickup6424]

I think Fort went under the radar because Tom V didn’t like it. I tried it and yeah it’s pretty good.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I can't believe he didn't like it, it should be up his alley.

[@Mauricio_Castaño]

I just bought my Oceania expansion and now I can play 5 player games without having the base game, how? Well, have everything else, the other expansions and the deluxification tokens. hahaha. Now I don´t know if I want to buy the base game now.

[@sincitysir1]

Hate Concordia?!?!! Power grid?!?!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Oh yes......... ;-)