The Dice Tower… a fantastic board game review site… has just revealed their 2014 Board Game Award Winners!
Great Choices!!! With a long summer ahead of us, I’m ready to stock up our Game Cabinet with a few of these games. I’m intrigued by Abyss… and since Dead of Winter- Crossroads Game won THREE awards, including Best Game of the Year (and cooperative game, perfect for our family) I will be picking them up.
Take a look at this great list of games.
Best Game of the Year
&
Best Cooperative Game of the Year
&
Best Game Themeing!
Dead of Winter Crossroads Game
Does leading a band of survivors through a post-apocalyptic world appeal to you? Do you enjoy co-operative games, but also want to actually come out the overall winner? Then Dead of Winter- A Crossroads Game is for you. Great news, it’s the first of a series, so we can look forward to more!!
Best Game Components
Star Wars Imperial Assault
Naturally, the fate of the Galaxy is at stake in this tactical combat and adventure game. With two different play experiences, combat and skirmish, and a few different play environments, this game won’t get old fast. And the figures are fabulous!
Best Family Game
Splendor
Splendor is an addictive game of card development and chip playing. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops — all in order to acquire the most prestige points. As a wealthy Renaissance merchant, you want to create the most fantastic jewelry to become the best-known merchant of them all! You might even receive a visit from a noble if you are wealthy enough, which will increase your prestige.
Best Game Artwork
Abyss
In Abyss, each player is fighting to be the lord of an undersea kingdom. It’s a set collection game where points are collected through cards. Collect the right ally cards, and you can control the Kingdom… but beware of your foes who are creating chaos to stop you. The artwork for this game is absolutely STUNNING. It’s a good introductory game … around the level or Dominion or Settlers… but has enough strategy for advanced gamers.
Best Game Expansion
Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture Board Game
In the basic Viticulture game, you have inherited a vineyard in Tuscany. Your job is to allocate your workers and helpful visitors to complete seasonal tasks throughout the year. Competition over those tasks means the first worker to arrive at each one has an advantage over the rest. Using those workers and visitors, you can expand your vineyard by building structures, planting vines, and filling wine orders as you work towards the goal of owning the most successful winery in Tuscany.
Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture Board Game significantly expands the basic game with a tiered system.
Best Game Reprint
Ticket To Ride 10th Anniversary
What makes Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary special? Everyone’s favorite train game gets an update with a new oversized map, great new graphics, train tins to store the trains, and remodeled trains that are more reminiscent of the original trains of 1910. If you are a Ticket to Ride fan, this is a must get!
Best New Designer
Alchemists by Matúš Kotry
Alchemists is a game of strategy, risk assessment, and deduction. Do you experiment to get more knowledge or do you publish now to get more points? The choices you make will prove whether you are the world’s greatest alchemist.
Best Party Game
Spyfall
SPYFALL is a simple card game of bluffing, asking questions, giving answers, and suspicion. At the start of each round, players receive a secret card informing them of the group’s location, one of 30 possible… except that one player receives the SPY card instead of the location. The Spy doesn’t know where they are, but wins the round if they can figure it out before they blow their cover!
Best Small Publisher
Star Realms
by White Wizard Games
Star Realms is a 2 player combat deck building game by the guys who brought you Magic the Gathering. Expansions are available to make it a multiplayer game.
Most Innovative Game
Tragedy Looper
Deduction and Time Travel are at the heart of Tragedy Looper. A Mastermind sees what is happening on the board, while Protagonists can only see pieces at a time… then try to deduct what events to change in order to prevent tragedy from happening to one of them.
This is a highly intense brain power game.
And there you have it…
the Dice Tower list of Award Winning Board Games for 2014.
And a whole summer to play….
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