I remember playing Terra Mystica for the first time and thinking “this is about as good as a game can get.” But then Gaia Project was released and improved the Terra Mystica formula. While this does have one of the longer teaching times and drier themes it’s still worth the investment to keep this mid-weight euro on the shelf and played at the table. The tension between available resources and relative costs to get worker spots that you want to have been the main reasons why this game has a permanent place in my set of answers to “What should we play?” Adding in small expansions to change up starting resources has made the base game even better. I love building satisfying engines, and this game has quite a few to try out depending on the state of the board. Lorenzo il Magnifico is still in the Top 100 on BGG and continues to deserve the recognition it has since its release in 2016. 2-6 Players Ĭombining a tableau with worker placement, navigating the luck of the die roll, and mitigating the effects of debilitating punishment from the Pope every other round is the most fun I’ve had during the years of these board game releases. For me, there is no finer experience for a Saturday afternoon of gaming. The setting, the economic mechanisms, and tradeoffs, and even the playtime speak to me as that compartmentalized epic offering of space conflict, discovery, research, and delicate calculations that great space 4X games are meant to be. If you’re new to BoardGameQuest, it’s no secret that Eclipse is still my favorite even after 10 years of focusing on board games. And I can’t forget to mention the art and production quality are both phenomenal.
Finally, three really strong (and a couple of not-so-strong) expansions keep it feeling fresh well after 50+ plays. While the game is by no means combat-heavy, the ever-present threat of combat is unique and tense. Plays are quick, downtime is low, and every decision feels like it matters. Scythe is the perfect “next step” game for those that are looking to get into medium-heavy games. A blend of euro resource management, area control, and oh-so-satisfying engine building come together in a tight and compelling package. Scythe sits atop a lonely category of games that tried to please every type of gamer with a wide variety of mechanics and thoroughly succeeded. Best Board Games from 2015-Present Scythe As I mentioned, we are looking at the best games (in no particular order) released in the last five years, because there are some fine games to discuss.
It’s easy to see that more people are playing games today than ever before and more releases are hitting shelves as a result. Even condensing it down to just the last five years as we have for today’s Quest List, games released from 2015 to 2020 makeup 68 of the Top 100 games on BGG. Many would consider from 2010 and on to be the decade to see some of the best board game released.