TDG: Cody's Top 100 Games 2026 (#70-61)

0:04 Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the discriminating gamer. Today I'm going to grill a chicken for lunch and I'm going to find out why you crossed that road. Ladies and gentlemen, today we're going to go ahead and take a look at my top 100 games of all time 2026. And today we're going to be taking a look at my numbers 70 through number 61.

0:37 All right, ladies and gentlemen. Uh, my numbers 70 through 61, top 100 games. Thank you for joining me once again. We're going to go ahead and we are going to jump right into it. My number 70 is a game that is a classic. It is one I think it's one of the great all-time gateway games. It's a game I've always really enjoyed and it actually came up a little bit on the list because I've actually played it a few times recently with my family and really remember just how much I love this game. Uh this is Ticket to Ride from Days of Wonder. Ticket to Ride. Uh this is my number 70. It was my number 75 the last time I did the list several years ago, but Ticket to Ride is a great game of train building, railroad building. It's a great game of take that. I mean, not as such, but it's a great game of, you know, you're competing for these for these rail lines, for these routes, and you are being mean when you're doing it because somebody's plans can be completely shattered. You've all got these cards that you're trying to build the routes, but if somebody takes one of your routes, uh, that card's positive BPs, if you complete it, become negative BPs. And it is so much fun. I actually introduced this to my wife and stepchildren oh I don't know a year or two ago and it was funny because um Anna, my youngest stepdaughter, she just mopped the first time she ever played it. She mopped the floor with everybody else.

2:05 She just she cleaned house. She was awesome and uh really loved it. In fact, not long after I think I bought her a copy of this game because we all had so much fun with it. But it is it's a great gateway game. It's a great family game and it's has teeth and it's got real staying power. I've actually got the um what was it? The anniversary edition. It's got the really cool uh trains and stuff. Anyway, I love this game. My number 70, Ticket to Ride from Days of Wonder. All right, my number 69. This is another game that I absolutely love, but I haven't played it in a long, long time, and it was my number 28 the last time I did this list, but this is from AEG Dominire. Now, Dominire is a game in AEG's Tempest series. This was a series of game that games games that had kind of an interconnected story about this kind of Renaissance kingdom. And there were all of them were great games, some better than others, but Dominire was awesome. It is a great area control game where you're trying to compete to to for the different districts in this city. And what's cool here is you actually build kind of a card tableau.

3:09 uh every round you you you put a card down and you can take an action from that card depending on the location in that tableau. It will say you can play this card, you know, in this spot or this spot or this spot and when you get to that spot, you can play that specific action. So, it is really a lot of fun with some great tough decisions here. This is this can be again another nasty game as you are competing for control of these different locations. Uh it's pretty mean, which is something I really liked. Why I like Ticket Right, too. really like mean games, but I love the artwork. I love the theme and just the great gameplay here uh of Dominire is fantastic. So, that is my number 69. Dominire was my number 28. That is from AEG. Now, here's something that's pretty interesting. My 68 this year was my 68 the last time I made the list. I didn't plan it like that, but that's just the way it turned out. This is such a wonderful game of hidden movement and terror. I I I I really get a kick out of it. is Letters from White Chapel. Um, this was released domestically from Fantasy Flight Games, but Letters from White Chapel is a game in which one of you is Jack the Ripper and everybody else is hunting him. And essentially, Jack the Ripper is going to be moving from where he commits his crimes to his hideout. And every every night, I think there's four or five rounds where you are essentially doing that, committing the crime essentially and then trying to make it back to your hideout while the police are searching for you. And of course, you have some different tokens and some different I you know moves you

4:40 can make. But I'll tell you this right now, I have never had, with the exception of this game, I've never had a game where I literally felt like I was going to have a heart attack while I was playing it. And every time I play Jack in this game, I feel like I'm gonna have a heart attack. I'm legitimately afraid to play this game as Jack sometimes. Even other hidden movement games, I don't get as scared as I do in in this one. Um, it is really scary as Jack the Ripper, uh, knowing they're closing in on you and and and and trying to outwit them and and and move and use your special moves to get back to your your hideout. But it's also great fun as the policeman as you're trying to use deduction to figure out where he could have gone and how it could have worked out. I love hidden movement games and this is one great one with a great theme. They came out with the White Hall mystery a few years later which is kind of a simplified version of the game which is really fun and I like that one too but but it doesn't hold a candle to the kind of the epic experience of Letters from White Chapel. So that is Letters from White Chapel released in the United States as from Fantasy Fly Games. That is my number 68. It was my number 68. My number 67 is a game I played for the first time just a few years ago. In fact, I'm pretty sure this came out after since I've done my last list, though it is based on an earlier game.

5:58 My number six uh 67 is Clank Catacombs. Clank Catacombs from Direwolf is a great game of exploring a dungeon. You're going into this dungeon trying to find treasure and points. But what's cool about this game is uh it's it's generated, right? as you move into it, you you place tiles, and these tiles create paths, and these paths have their own unique opportunities or dangers. And I really like that. Now, the original Clank that came out, I liked it. I thought it was a fun game, but it was just a board, and it was the same board every time. But with Clank Catacombs, as the board is kind of generated as you play it, it's great. It is so much fun. Uh, I played this with Ray. He taught me how to play it. Played it several times since I played it with the first expansion. I've actually got one of the expansions over there, the second expansion over there. Haven't played it yet. Really looking forward to it. But that is uh my number 67 that is Clank Catacombs and that is from Direwolf. My number 66 is another great two-player game. This was actually

6:59 [snorts]

7:00 um my number 25 when I played this in 21. Uh, it was still relatively new then and I and I really enjoyed it, but I I I find I haven't played it as much and I played some other games that are very similar that I think I maybe like a little bit better, but still this is a very fun game. My number 66 from Worthington Publishing. This is Freeman's Farm 1777. Freeman's Farm 1777 is a war game in the American Revolution about this battle, but it doesn't play like when you think of a typical uh war game. rather um all of the movements are kind of generated for you. You can choose to move, but you're only going to move to within very limited parameters, right? Um but you're also playing cards. You can play cards, play dirty tricks on your enemy, game, gain momentum cubes that you can spend to buy them. But then there's also uh this great combat system with dice where you're rolling the dice and you're looking for doubles. You want to get doubles and the higher doubles the better.

7:57 Really a fun game. really, you know, it's it's it's great great history, but just really fun two-player gameplay, and it's not not a very long or very complex game, but you really get into it. This was from Mari Suckling, uh, who's a great game designer. I I met him at the Circle DC last year. Super guy. Really really like him quite a bit, and he makes phenomenal games, and this one is one of his best. So, that is Freeman's Farm 1777. That is my number 66, was 25. And that is from Warthingington Publishing. My number 65 is a game that was not on the list. I think it came out uh I want to say 21 22. I can't remember when exactly it came out and I didn't play it for the longest time and I heard nothing but good things about it. And then about a year or two ago my wife bought it for me for my birthday and I again just sat on it for like a year and a half and I finally got to the table.

8:52 It's one of Ray's favorite games. So Ray kind of showed me how to play it, taught me how to play it. Now that there's a lot to it and we had a blast and then subsequently I played it with my wife and she loves it. It's one of her favorite games. Um she wins that's why she likes it. But this is my number 65 Thunder Road Vendetta from Restoration Games. Now Thunder Road Vendetta was it's based on a game that came out of the 1980s but it's kind of updated. This game is just dice chucking carnage. You're there's a race you're moving your cars along. You're trying to get to the end. You're trying to win the race but they're you're shooting at each other. You've got helicopters that come out that try to shoot at you. There's all sorts of dirty tricks. You get hit. You're rolling a dieice to see which direction you go and if something bad happens. It's it's just incredibly fun. It's it's not a very thinky game, but it is a fun fun game if you like just that chaos and it's not it's not too long so the chance doesn't wear too he way too heavily on the game, but it is great great fun. So that is Thunder Road Vendetta. That is my number 65. That is from Restoration Games. My number 64 is another game that had not come out um when I made my last list. In fact, this one came out I want to say in 23 or 24.

10:02 It's got an IP that I absolutely love. I absolutely love love love this IP so much. But this is from uh Renegade Game Studios. This is G.I. Joe Battle for the Arctic Circle powered by Axis and Allies. So this game is essentially G.I. Joe Access and Allies. You've got four factions, two Joe factions, two Cobra factions. You have some characters. You got Admiral Kehal and Snow Job and Cobra Commander and Destro. And they bring kind of unique special powers to the game, but essentially you're fighting over the Arctic Circle. Now, this is interesting in a in a in an axis and allies game because you essentially have hex's. This is kind of a hex and and hex and mini fig uh mini figure uh game, not counters, but it's very fun. plays pretty much just like an Access and Allies game except with some G.I. Joe twists to it, but it's very fun. Now, I've only ever played this game two-player, and at some point, I really want to play four player. I think this would lend itself very, very well to four player. Maybe one day we'll have to hit that. Uh, but that is G.I. Joe.

11:06 Again, I love the IP. GI Joe, Battle for the Arctic Circle. This is my number 64, and that is from Renegade Game Studios. Now, my number 63. It surprised me that it is this high on the list. I would have thought it would have been lower. Um, this was my number 24 the last time I made this list, and I still love this game. I still love it, but when I was comparing, I'm just like, I like these other games better. But this is a fantastic game. My number 63 is Black Orchestra from Tabletop Tycoon. Black Orchestra is a great game of uh attempting to assassinate Hitler. you are the German military and civilian resistance in 19 uh the 1940s and you are trying to come up with plots. You're trying to gain cards that give you plots and then you're trying to find items.

11:52 And if you can get all of these items for the plot and you can get to the right place, you've got the best chance of taking out Hitler. And it all comes down to a die roll at the end. But it's all about getting to that position to maximize the die roll. There's all sorts of perils along the way. You could be arrested and thrown into jail by the Gestapo. And there's a great they just came out uh was earlier this year they came out with the expansion to it which adds three different modes you can play it in. And I played all of the modes. I haven't played all of them together but the modes all bring some real fun and unique and interesting kind of side missions to the game. So I really really enjoy that. Whenever I do my um World Civ 2 or Western Civ 2 um classes, I usually have a game night for extra credit. And this is a game we we we play. I I bring it. Ray brings it.

12:39 Sometimes we bring two copies with two games of it going. I have a lot of games, but this one is always very very popular. So that is my number 63, Black Orchestra. And that was my number 24. That is from Tabletops. My number 62 is a game that just came out last year, so it was not on the list. Uh but it is a riff on kind of an earlier family of games. Uh this is Lord of the Rings, Fate of the Fellowship. Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship essentially is pandemic in the Lord of the Rings universe, but it feels like it's so much more. It's a deeply thematic Lord of the Rings game in which you and your friends, it's cooperative game. You take on the roles of, you know, Froto and Sam or Gandalf or Boramir, all the different characters, and you have like three quests from the books, from the stories before you can actually try to to to throw the ring into Mount Doom. And so, you're trying to go and accomplish these, but you've got all of these armies of Mordor and Sauron and Sauruman uh that are constantly threatening uh your strongholds and your people. And so you have to raise armies too in order to try to defend them. Uh so it's really a game of trying to maximize your turns um sharing resources where you can. But it's great great great fun. I really really love this game. Spoiler alert. I have not ever won it. I played this game like maybe half a dozen times and I've not yet won it. I have come very close but I have not won this game. Really

14:11 love Lord of the Rings Fellowship. Great IP. really well integrated into the pandemic system. So that is my number 62, Lord of the Rings, Fate of the Fellowship. That is from Zman Games. All right, ladies and gentlemen, my number 61. This is a game that um when I was first getting into the wider world of board games, this one really appealed to me because it was a World War II game. Um, I had pretty much played for most of my life, um, up until about 2010, 2011, pretty much all the board games I played were war games of one sort or another. And then I started playing Battlestar Galactica from Fantasy Flight games and some other non-war games and really had fun. And then I saw Fantasy Flight actually made what looked like a pretty cool war game. And this is Tide of Iron.

15:01 Now, I was originally reluctant to get Tide of Iron uh because I saw I had cards in it. And you know, coming from an Access and Allies background, I'm like, "What? Why would you use cards? It's weird." But [clears throat] I eventually took the plunge. So glad I did. I got that game. I played the hell out of this. My friends and I played the hell out of Tide of Iron. I eventually got all the expansions to it. When it switched to 1A games, I got their version of it and the expansion they made for that. So, I've got everything and it's all in a big crate right over there. I don't even have the original boxes anymore. It's got a big crate there. Um, but it is a fantastic game. I actually have not played it in a long, long time. In fact, um, when I did this list five years ago, it was number 36. Now it's number 61. But I got to play it again because it is so good. I really love this game. I love this game as a one-on-one, but I also love as a 2v2.

15:53 Great fun World War II game. You've got little counters rather I'm sorry. You've got little uh stands that you put your guys into. So like the health of that unit is actually how many figures you've actually got in that squad. You can modify them. They can become engineers or or you know flamethrowers or or what have you. Other kinds of specialists. Um but really a good squad level war game with minis. Really really enjoy Tide of Iron. And that is my 60. That is my number 61 was 36. That was from Fantasy Flight Games. Later 1A games. All right, ladies and gentlemen. So, that's my number 70 through 61. What do you think? Do you like these games? Do you not like these games? Should they be higher on your list, lower on your list? Are they right where they need to be? Let me know. I always uh really enjoy hearing back from you on on these lists and what you think of them. So, please, like I say, leave a comment here on YouTube, on Board Game Geek, on on on Facebook, on X, and please, if you haven't done already, like this video and subscribe to the channel. We really love that and it helps us out a lot. that helps us to bring you more content. Um, also too, if you like what you see here, check out my other channel that is Cody Carlson PhD where I talk about military history, books on history, fun things like that.

17:01 I even post some of my lectures there. It would mean the world to me if you would subscribe to that channel as well. And if you do really like what you see here on the discriminating gamer, I would humbly ask you to click on the super thanks button and leave a tip. Did you hear about that origami store here in town? It's too bad it folded. Somebody help me on my feet again. And I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING. And I don't know where I've been. Please somebody help me on this ground. IT'S A LONG TIME THAT I'LL BE DYING. Once a year I wind up in the I love to fight, but I don't ever mind.

17:55 We are just about to assassinate Hitler. Ray's got six dice and only have to roll three targets. I've got a reroll. I can get him. We're We're pretty excited.

18:04 Okay. [clears throat] So, I'm going to have one action left. So, I am going to sniper him.

18:10 Okay.

18:10 I'm reckless. That gets me one dice.

18:12 Okay.

18:13 I'm Abare. That gets me one dice.

18:15 Okay. I have weapons and any item for a weapon. That gets me two dice. Okay.

18:20 I have intel. That gets me one more dice.

18:24 I have this concealed pistol. That gets me one more dice. I have six dice.

18:29 All right, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it.

18:32 Now we have three.

18:34 All we need is three.

18:35 We need three targets. And I've got a reroll card.

18:37 We have plus one.

18:38 Plus one. We only got to get two.

18:39 We only need two.

18:40 We only need two.

18:41 Only need two. Successful. That's why it's gonna be an epic failure.

18:45 Okay. All right. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

18:49 Come on. Come on.

18:52 YEAH.

18:54 No eagles. No eagles.

18:56 We killed him low.

18:58 We killed Hitler.

19:00 Oh my god. Teamwork.