Just found out this week that Stonemaier Games is based out of my city! So exciting to find out that I’m supporting St. Louis when playing their games.

I do love your videos. You actually show clips of the gameboard so get an idea of what the game looks like as well as your review. Tip- if you're worried about lifting a box into its side and the items inside are going to tip everywhere, why don't you just take the lid off the box and show us the lid? We get to see the main image and size of the box still but you wknt have to worry about everything tipping everywhere. X

I have that deluxe edition of Septima and can't wait to get it to the table (I also love witchcraft themes). You mentioned Witchstone, which I own and have enjoyed a handful of times, but after playing Dwellings of Eldervale for the first time recently I think it almost completely replaces Witchstone. They feel very similar due to all the interrelated resource/VP systems, but Witchstone just has a lot less flavor.

Didn't play enough new games to make a full top ten, but I loved Earth, the White Castle, Legacy of Yu, and Distilled last year. Hoping to pick up the Fox Experiment soon; it looks really good.

My three favorites that I've played are The White Castle, Darwin's Journey, and Halls of Hegra. I still need to get Septima and Age of Comics to the table.

Enjoy your content and thanks - very facetiously - for giving me more games to buy! I've been holding back on Expeditions for a while now. The White Castle sure is pretty... Also, I bet you have wonderful friends because you're a wonderful friend. That's how friends work. 😊

I totally agree on the Fox Experiment! What a great game.

Septima was my top choice for this category. Great witchy theme and such a beautiful board and components. Well designed mechanics system with intuitive symbology.

I think my top 10 heavier 2023 releases I played, in no particular order, are: Darwin's Journey, ISS Vanguard, Distilled, Scarface 1920, Raising Robots, The Fox Experiment, Halls of Hegra, Oathsworn, Evacuation, and The Witcher: Old World. There are also several honorable mentions (Septima, Tesseract, etc.), plus a bunch that are still on my shelf of shame (Voidfall, Hegemony, and more), so this list will likely change as I get more plays in.

Oh my, we have very similar tastes! So many on my list too. Great video, thank you!

If you're looking for more witch themed games, check out Pagan, Fate of Roanoke, an asymmetrical 2 player game. One player is the witch, trying to perform a ritual, the other plays as the witch hunter trying to reveal the hidden identity of the witch. Very strategic and very thematic.

Barcelona is fantastic. Can’t wait for the expansion. White Castle is amazing. Want to play Darwin’s journey!

Great list and video! I appreciate the B-roll and letting us see the game set up and tabled. Just a thought: when you want to show us the game box maybe you could just lift off the lid and show us that. We see the same amount of information as when you stand the box up and it avoids the spilling of contents within the box. My top 3 heavy 2023 releases are: 3. Scholars of the South Tigris 2. Nucleum 1. Voidfall

Loved Evacuation, finally playing Age of Innovation this weekend. White Castle was really as was Raising Robots, oh I loved Revive too. Finally played that late last year

Thanks, great list! My top 5 heavier games 2023 are: Planta Nubo, Aelderman, Weimar - fight for democracy, Age of innovation, Evacuation 💚🎉 Love your content to learn english ☺️

I love Expeditions, The White Castle, and Scholars, too! What's your fav Shem Phillips game?

ok maybe fav new-to-us games we played in 2023: 1. Sleeping Gods Distant Skies 2. Garden Nation (we love it!!! and haven’t heard anyone at all talk about it - you might really enjoy!) 3. Tenpenny Parks 4. Spots 5. Septima

Darwin’s Journey received the Diamant d’or a few weeks ago, you convinced me to try it !

Jenna! I own 7 of your top heavy games of 2023, we have such similar tastes! I know we’ve chatted before, but we need to freakin game together!😂 I also own several of your light games of 2023. Finally, I’ll eventually own 8 of these because I’ll get the A.R.T. Project as soon as it comes to my flgs.

weather machine, frost punk, septima, some of the heavier ones i can remember from last year.

I am still trying to compile my top 10 list for 2023 to be able to do my video. I think my top 4 may be locked in at this point (order may change): Life of the Amazonia, Marvel Zombies, My Island, and Sagrada Artisans. Honorable Mention for Castles of Burgundy SE (doesn't qualify as it is a new edition of an older game).

I love The White Castle, but don't consider it heavy - and I am a rules wimp! If you like solo to explore the game (more than you like solo to beat the game) I recommend playing TWC two-handed. Each "hand" gets a random pair of starting cards, and plays where those cards takes it. That makes three ways to solo TWC, along with the solo mode in the rulebook and the community solo mode well-received at BGG.

there are only two heavier games for me that I can mention which were released in 2023 and that I really, really loved: Hegemony & Voidfall - both amazing games! :) but, I also played (among others) four 2022 releases that I really loved: Earth, Endless Winter, Frostpunk & Wayfarers of the South Tigris (I got all of them in 2023, so for me they were 2023 releases, except that BGG has them as 2022 releases..). :D

1.Spirit Island (if we count it as euro) 2. Maracaibo 3. Scholars of the South Tigris

Great video! Thanks for sharing

Please do more of these type of videos 😊🤞

20:25 There is a card game called Pagan: Fate of Roanoke.

Another witch themed game to add to the list is the solo only game Witchcraft from Salt and Pepper games. It’s similar to their game Resist. I like both games but I prefer Witchcraft.

30:03 I know there was another game that had that come matching mechanism... I forget which one - it wasn't Fresco, was it?!

My top heavier games from 2023: Bruxelles 1893 (new version) Books of Time 3 Ring Circus Amritsar The Golden Temple

nice list! have you played hegemony?

Oh in Germany, many people don ´t like Evacuation, they say it is too boring, you are just doing all the things over and over again. I like the idea of “moving planets”, so I am looking forward to playing it. But I am going to wait until this game is available second hand - in new it is too expensive for me🎉

Thanks for the video

If you like solo games I’m surprised you wouldn’t like cooperative. I understand there are issues with who you might play with but that’s why I love cooperative. Our game group doesn’t have alpha gamers and we love working together. Coop is where we start every time

Pagan: Fate of Roanoke is a great witch game too!

Inventors on your shelf 🧐

What do you think about Aquatica? I see you have it behind you 😅

Have you gotten a chance to play Voidfall? I would think it might have made your list if you got to play it!

Please review Flip Words and Mosaic (not the story of civilization, the version made by Continuum Games).

This channel is such a breath of fresh air. So tired of the pretentious Uber nerds turning their noses up at everything that isn't the latest and greatest kickstarter and the horrible attempts at sketch comedy.

6:16 Well, Age of Innovation is like Terra Mystica on steroids. AoI has everything Terra Mystica has - plus more - such as the variable faction boards and the books! But the whole idea of upgrading your economy with the buildings - going onto the map, building adjacent to your opponent for cheaper, terraforming the land, etc. is part of Terra Mystica - so in a way you kind of have played it. In fact, I would argue that if you want one - you want Age of Innovation, since it is superior to Terra Mystica in almost every way - including with added depth to the strategy. The only thing TM has is that it was the original game - which is why you could make an argument that AoI is the game which TM should have been to begin with. I see no reason to keep TM - unless you want the maps.

Hi Jenna.

Second!

I enjoyed this video, but truthfully, you lost me at Earth. We do not share the same taste in games. I've played five of your ten and I did not like most of those. Only White Castle is in the grey area. Most people say 2023 was a great year for board games, but it wasn't for me. I think 2024 could be amazing for me. I did not have this feeling of anticipation last year heading into 2023, but I'm glad I have it now.

Earth is fun... and White Castle is next up on the wishlist uuuuugh