I think your best #1 says #3 again in the text below

“Rising Sun was the worst game I played this year.” Me looking at the $500 I spent this year to get everything: Hmm, interesting.

Thanks for a great year with great content! Looking forward to y'all's continued growth and hoping for some more Daniel screentime (his tastes seem to most align with mine). Hooray for Shelfside!

Great video. Looking forward to what you do next year.

Continue to love your reviews! You guys have had a killer year! You've grown so much and put out such consistently great content. Here's to another great year!

Great video as usual! In terms of quality of course but this is also just an awesome idea for a vid as the year ends. Personally I'm looking forward to playing some Brass with my brother and dad over Christmas! Cheers

For scoring Brass there is a procedural way to make it streamlined and easy. For the links, have one person pick pieces off the board and call out the point value and another person move the marker up. Go player by player so the person moving the score marker only has to move one at a time. After you score the links, have everyone pick up their flipped industry tiles off the board and score their own points. If its the canal age, only pick up flipped level 1 tiles. And after you do that, score any remaining 2+ tiles by "tapping" them sideways while calling out their point value and having someone else move it, similar to the links.

Wow so glad to see that I'm not the only one who didn't enjoy Rising Sun, played it once a few yrs ago and was so turned off that I never felt the desire to play it again, Blood Rage is much better. And I totally agree with that The Godfather Corleone's Empire is so much fun, played with a new group the last time and one of them pretty much went out to buy a copy the next day! On the other hand, I just couldn't get into Brass at all, felt like I had no idea what I was doing the whole game :P Have you tried Barrage? Now that was an economic euro that I really loved and ended up being one of the best gaming experiences for 2021 for me! Happy new year!

High quality video as always! :)

Great video! As I am finding myself less able to meet up with my friends for s boardgame night. I am waiting for Mage Knight to be restocked. I can't wait to get into some heavy solo gaming!

Love the video! Thanks for your commitment with the War of the Ring video. Your little bits are hilarious. I think Root has climbed super high for both Max and I this year! Great asymmetric area control game!

Thanks for the thoughts. You mentioned podcast? Love to hear it.

Your video on why you dislike a game makes me want to play it more! Not sure how you did that, but wow I'm sold!

Woo hoo! 2021 was better. I got to start playing games with friends again, but next I want things to get to the point of feeling safe for conventions again. Roll on 2022!

Fantastic video. Your revelation with Brass was like me with Prett a Porter 3rd Edition. Would love to see your take on that if it interests you

Ankh definitely has some of the best looking components out there. Eye candy for sure. The extra effort was definitely seen on the War of the Ring video! Quality content as always!

Wait, what? You have a podcast?? Do share please! Would love to listen to more of your content! And as always, awesome job!

got brass b. this last Christmas, really incredible. love it

Personally picked up oath and pax pamir recently, excited to play both but muh covid lockdowns.

Brilliant video [again], have you tried 'Seize the Bean', 'Red Rising' or '1840: Vienna Tramways'?

Great video.i am glad you liked brass :). Did you play civilization new dawn? How you compare that to civilization?

Really enjoyed and appreciated the idea of best gaming experience! I find that more useful than simply "best game of 202X". Thanks, and keep up the great work!

That War of the Ring video is how I found (and subscribed) to this channel.

I really like your Videos! I am completely new into board games. I have spirit island and I love it. I am thinking about getting TI4 next plus a third Game. Aß a third game I am thinking about Civ, 7 wonders or Brass. Maybe civ ist too similar to TI4? Maybe I should get get Civ instead of TI4? Or maybe something completely different?

Very sick

i actually went out and got Godfather after watching your review, literally within the hour I had secured a copy for myself. Gameplay was marred by a sore loser but I can't wait to get it out again without that player. Cheers to more content and gaming for 2022!

Top 10 playing experiences this year for me: 1) Project Elite 2) Destinies 3) Mechs vs Minions 4) Unmatched 5) Flick of Faith 6) Pinball 4-Cade 7) Raptor 8) Catacombs 3E 9) Century Golem 10) Cube Quest Honorable mentions: Flip Ships, Regicide, King of Tokyo Dark Edition, Dice Throne, Sprawlopolis, Food Chain Island, Raiders of the North Sea, Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion, Smallworld Thanks for the great video!

Awesome !

If you had to choose War of the Rings or Star Wars Rebellion and you equally loved both themes, which game would you go with?

"People can blitz wins.. in a couple of hours" 😂🤣😂 Such a blitz in a couple of hours

If you like Civ games you should try clash of cultures. They just came out with a reprint called monumental edition.

There's a new Dominion expansion coming out!? I'll have to make some space for it in my apartment even if it means losing another piece of furniture :p all a person needs is a bed, table, and games right?

Love the Pandemic joke there. I totally agree with your choices of top games I want those 3 for myself especially TI4, though Brass Birmingham kind of scares me a bit. I'll need to wait for more stable cash flow coming in though. If you did not like the control monsters mechanic of Rising Sun I wonder how you would feel about Lords of Ragnarok, I backed that on Kickstarter and don't really know how it will play in person vs on TTS (free there). Lords of Hellas is the previous game in that series. I don't normally write a script when I was doing my videos but then again I just want to enjoy the game as opposed to taking things further (also I procrastinate so nothing would get finished in time). Overall this all just goes to show how much time and love you put into your videos yet you still manage to answer your comments, great work and keep the good work going. Still anticipating a Scythe and expansions review though but you do what you have time for and what you wish to do. Keep in mind though Scythe has a campaign that can be easily spoiled as its got a story and a rule book that tells you not to go beyond like page 3 or you will ruin the surprises!

Ooh, boy. I'd love to get my hands on Civ. Some of Kevin's designs in that one are genius. Old school Fantasy Flight did some real groundbreaking games back then. Forbidden Stars comes to mind as well from that time period. Such ambitious creativity! Certainly, not games for everyone - or for every occasion - but still stellar designs non-the-less.

I like Dune: Imperium a lot too. I have a lot of games and enjoy deck builders, but DI feels unique to me. I have that same feeling with Rurik, another game I like a lot.

I subscribed because you said Blood Rage was bad :)

Have you tried clash of cultures?

The behind the scenes for War of the Ring was hilarious. For me the best game I played this year is Obsession, it's a unique game for sure.

Ashton, I don't know what it is - but that jacket looks great on you man. What is it?

I actually love riding sun. I house ruled the take hostage action for monsters and that’s it.

Definitely need to give POKs another try. TI4 is my number one game and PoKs for me is essential. I can't play without it now.

Shelfshide: rising sun is not the best game. Me: Minis go Brrr

That civ game is awesome, definitely underrated.

Twilight Imperium looks so cool, yet so incredibly daunting to learn and overwhelming to play.

Huh I completely missed Dune: Imperium. I saw it at the store and just glossed over it thinking it was another reprint of the OG Dune game. I'll be awaiting your review. Also recently got Brass Birmingham to the table and can't wait to get back to it again. After the into game, I swept the table by focusing on getting as many tier 2+ buildings out on the first era...well that and the luck of drawing every brewery card in the second era. He who controls the beer, controls the Industrial Revolution.

Kevin Wilson's Civ is one of my favorites, good pick. It's the best board game adaptation of Civ that isn't named Twilight Imperium.

I did not get Rising Sun because the tea ceremony/yin yang thing when making an alliance felt pretty cringe. The rest of what you mentioned makes me steer farther from it.

15:56, bro you can only have 1 building with a star per city. 🤣

rising sun bad? 👀 hMmMmMmM

I love rising sun!! lol

Rising Sun's 1st play is just auto for practice

I think I played more board games this year than last year, had more people over. best games I played this year - a lot of these games didnt come out this year but I played for the first time this year: the crew, res arcana, oath, and arkham horror lcg (innsmouth conspiracy is what we played through and loved) special mention goes to cash n guns. its not a game id play with my core group, but it has been overperforming as the game I play with friends/family who have no interest in board games. they just point guns at each other and laugh. worst game I played this year was Xenoshyft dreadmire. On paper, it sounds great, sounds like something I'd love, but I bounced off pretty hard. Its like a tower defense deckbuilding game, but it never really quite felt like I was building a deck, just buying whatever I think I need for my hand. I really feel like they have a cool idea on their hands but it doesn't quite work right. Biggest problem I have with this game is that I like legendary encounters: alien so much more.

Taverns of Tiefenthal was a surprise hit for my wife and me. We also picked up Ticket to Ride for $25 and that was pretty fun too. We have Kohaku coming today and The Crew and Potion Explosion coming this week, so we'll see how those go.

Rising Sun is probably my favorite "Dudes on the map" game. To address couple of points you brought up. I think you really missing the spirit of the game. It's all about Japanese culture 1) You are not taking the monster hostage. The monster agrees to become one. To prove this point, there is a card in the game called "Respect", that increases the hostages by 1. So, people respect you so much, that more people become your hostages. Very different connotation. 2) Same for Betray mandate. YOU are not betraying anyone. THEIR FIGURES betray their masters and become your figures. Yes, there is some wonkiness with monsters betraying and becoming different monsters, but I hope you see my point about different connotation. 3) Harvest mandate is definitely not the strongest in the game. Why won't you receive 4 points? Because there is a good chance this is one of the two (or the only one) mandate you play this season. Don't you want to build a stronghold, that enables you to recruit more the rest of the game? Don't you want to pick the card that provides you bonuses the rest of the game? Don't you want to recruit last and guarantee the spot on the temples that will provide you multiple benefits for the season? All of the above are much more powerful than 4 victory points, trust me. 4) 4 things to bid in the war phase may cause analysis paralysis, that's fair, but only in the first 2-3 games. After that it becomes "Ok, how much do I want this? I can guarantee this one thing, but I can't allow to give this opponent this many coins". It really balances itself out, depending on how much you want that region, these units killed, these coins spent, etc. Overall, it really feels like you have not played the game enough, but I understand that not everyone can think like me :)

Compare to 2017?

It never fails to make me cackle when I hear the criticisms of Rising Sun. “I don’t like that my dragon can be taken hostage.” Then control the Take Hostage action, you goober. “Harvests are too powerful.” It’s an area control game. The point of the game is to control areas. “How is it a betrayal if you can screw over someone that isn’t your opponent?” Because the game is giving you agency instead of making you mindlessly break an alliance because it would be a dead draw otherwise.

Dammit, Ashton. You MADE me order War of the Ring. It had better be good.

And the best game of 2021 is.... a game from 2012... WHAT? it has the same numbers! Is this a troll?

Poggers

I played Rising Sun once, it was full player count, all expansions and it took hours. I have not played it again and will be ok if I never play it again.

Honestly did not enjoy this, no offense but I just find that your taste is so different than mine and I was excited to see what you thought, but I disagreed with everything you’ve said.

Ok rrr to

I can still guess - ti4 number one just like always 🤦🤦 For every category 🤣😭😭

I wish I had an Asian family to game with me all the time 😒

As all years , best gem this year was Cosmic encounter. Game is addicting once you have a good group

Oh good I wasn't the only one who thought Rising Sun was blah. Sold mine within weeks after I got my Kickstarter. I barely see anyone play the game anymore.

Top3? You only played 3 games of 2021? :) Ok, let me take that back, you played 0

Yep, Rising Sun is great to look at but terrible to play

This guy is high AF. Let me hate popular stuff because that makes me cool.

Dude, your takes on Rising Sun are so misleading to people who don't know the game. Units being taken held hostage usually just affects the one battle and then you get it back before the next rounds start. It's not that big a deal, though maybe your issue is more the weird flavor of kidnapping a kaiju. And yeah, the harvest action can be good but you have to get somewhat lucky for it to be really good and besides, 3 of your 4 action choices are handed to you by the previous player... so if they're not your ally then they'd have to hand you the harvest action... and money moving around from combat round to combat round is part of the point and you can often predict it a lot better than you're indicating. I'm not even that big of a fan of Rising Sun but this felt almost like a bad faith review because of a few bad plays of the game...