Larry Levy:  My Favorites from Last Year

A wise man once told me never to do anything halfway.  So I say, if you’re going to be late, be really late.  Anyway, that’s my philosophy with my 2005 Top Ten list.  It’s an unwritten rule in the gaming biz that everyone has to announce their favorites from the previous calendar year.  I resisted when the bulk of these documents appeared, since there were so many notable games that I hadn’t tried yet.  It’s only in the last couple of months that I’ve been able to fill most of these holes.  I’m still uncertain about a few of the games in my list, but if I waited until I was sure, I’d probably be releasing my list in the middle of Essen!  So I guess I’d better publish now, while the concept is only slightly ridiculous.

Overall, I thought 2005 was a below average year for games.  There were two excellent games at the top of the list, but the quality dropped quickly after that.  Don’t get me wrong, I fully intend to keep playing a lot of the games I mention here.  It’s just that other years have had deeper and broader outputs.  Last year was certainly better than the dire 2003 and nowhere close in quality to the sublime 2004.  It still brought plenty of good gaming entertainment, but, as I said, just a bit below the average of what we’ve come to expect.

Anyway, here are my ten favorite games from last year, starting with my pick for Game of the Year.  My rating for each game (on a 1-10 scale) is provided after each description.

1. Louis XIV – For the second year in a row, I gotta go with a Dorn design as my top choice.  This is an excellent game from top to bottom (well, maybe not the bottom—I could do without that shield endgame mechanic), as you’d expect from a Dorn/Alea pairing.  My favorite part of the game is picking up a hand of cards each turn and figuring out how to be play them to best accomplish your immediate goals.  Adjusting to the other players’ actions and anticipating their strategies is a lot of fun as well.  This plays great with three or four and the two-player version is also pretty good.  9

2. Caylus – Now that I’ve discovered Speed Caylus, I no longer have any concerns about playing time and can confidently say that this is an outstanding game.  Ironically, the design’s strongest point—that it’s a different game every time you play—may be keeping me from rating this even higher, since it means you really have to play this a number of times to get a strong feel for the strategy and I haven’t gotten there yet.  Still, even with my occasional flailing around, the game’s quality clearly shines through and the many bite-sized decisions you make each turn contribute to a consistently enjoyable experience.  8.5

3. Hacienda – It’s a reasonably steep drop to the game in the No. 3 slot, but I still think this is a winner.  This is the kind of game Kramer does very well and it definitely meets expectations.  Hacienda plays fast, has lots of ways to win, and the economic aspect keeps it from feeling too abstract.  The three and four player games are probably the sweet spot, but it also plays well with two or five.  I continue to beat the drum for the first variant in the rules and of course, the beginner’s dog-bone board should be avoided.  8

4. Antike – I’ve only played this once, but it impressed me enough to earn a high ranking on my list.  The Rondel isn’t just a gimmick, it’s a clever innovation that affects every aspect of play.  In my game, fisticuffs broke out about midway through, so I didn’t experience any of the endgame stagnation some have complained about.  More plays are needed, but this is one of the better “Civ liteâ€? games I’ve played, albeit much less ambitious in scope than the Tresham classic.  8

5. Elasund – Klaus Teuber’s best game in quite a while and a welcome return to his usual high interaction ways after a surprising foray into some multiplayer solitaire designs.  This may be too nasty for some, but of course, that’s what I like about it!  As with most Teuber games, this is a polished design that features some interesting subsystems.  In particular, the building permit mechanic works very well.  This has proved consistently enjoyable for both three and four players.  7.5

6. Kaivai – I’ve only played this twice.  My first game was excellent; my second one was too long and rather frustrating.  Consequently, I’m not sure how this will be judged in the end, but the core system has such potential that I’m giving it a pretty high ranking.  This might be one of those games where the learning curve is almost too steep, but the challenge of mastering the game’s economic cycle seems worth it.  Hopefully, the game’s length won’t be an issue once the players master the mechanics, at least not for three players.  Fans of economic/infrastructure building games should seek this one out.  7.5

7. Palazzo – We now enter the Reiner Knizia portion of our program.  First, Palazzo.  Despite more luck than I usually care for, this game just works.  It features plenty of decisions, has a nice light touch, and just zips along.  It does a good job of packing a solid playing experience into a relatively brief period of time.  All the players are involved on every turn, so the downtime is practically zero.  Another winner from Knizia and Alea—what a shock!  7.5

8. Australia – Kramer and Kiesling prove that there’s still room for innovation in the old Area Majority genre.  This is a very tactical game, but finding high scoring combinations is such fun that even strategy game fans should like this.  I have some definite preferences for this game:  five players is too many (three is probably best); everyone but the most casual of gamers should use the RGG rules and play with the draw piles face up; and you might as well use the Windmill rules, since it adds a nice added dimension to the game, at a cost of little additional complexity.  7.5

9. Beowulf – As I mentioned last week, I have a few concerns about this highly polarizing design, but nothing that will keep me from playing and enjoying it.  This is essentially a card/risk management game and players that enjoy those subjects should be able to look past the controversial Risk mechanic and find the game to their liking.  Plus, the linear and deterministic course of play really rewards those who like to plan for a game’s critical moments.  7.5

10. Pickomino – Ah, Pickomino, I may have found some sexy new dice game paramour (Um Krone und Kragen), but that doesn’t mean I love you any less.  This can be played as a fun dicefest, but those of us who like to play with probabilities will find lots of fascinating decisions on each turn, particularly when you’re trying to maximize your chances of swiping an opponent’s tile.  With three or four players, the game doesn’t come close to overstaying its welcome and combines excitement, hilarity, and analysis in one very nice package.  7.5

Other notable games from last year that just missed the list are Shadows over Camelot, Control Nut, Kreta, Ars Mysteriorum, Amazonas, Il Principe, Alexander the Great, and Ark.

Perusing the list, I see the games fall into two groups:  those from big name designers (and you’ll have to excuse me if I consider Dorn a big name, because he certainly is for me!) and those from totally unknown designers and tiny publishers.  I think one reason for this may be the continuing effort by the mainstream German publishers to release games that will appeal to a larger portion of the public.  One way of doing that is to rely on established designers (less risky) and leave the heavier designs to the indie publishers, who can focus on that smaller slice of the market.  As long as these heavier games remain accessible, I have no complaint.  Still, I hope that the Heavy Game doesn’t become an endangered species among the large publishers—there are a lot of talented people involved in those companies, and while middleweight games are fine, it would be sad if that was the only kind of titles they were applying their talents to.

So that was the year that was.  As I mentioned, not the best of years, but far from the worst.  There are several games that should continue to see play and that should remain enjoyable twelve months from now.  2006 is off to a good start (although the Heavy Game is still AWOL, for the most part); hopefully, it will wind up bettering 2005 by the time we’re through!

© 2006 Larry Levy

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