Top 10 Board Games of 2023

0:11 hey everyone Brody here with our Channel let's table it where we get games to the table it's that time again where we do the top 10 board games this year it's 2023 now my list is probably a little bit different because I've played different titles than everyone else other channels that you've watched and so my list is based upon games that I've played that were published in the year 2023 I also took a little break at the beginning of the year and then decided to continue doing videos and so halfway through the year I convinced Sarah and Drew to do this Channel with me so you've probably seen some of their videos and it's really hard starting a Channel with no subscribers when you once had a Channel with almost 3,000 subscribers so help me out here and as we grow we hopefully will earn your subscription to our channel to keep on watching these games we appreciate that you do that but as we grow we will hopefully be able to show you more and more games okay enough with that stuff let's get into the top 10 board games of 2023 according to me on this video number 10 is leaf by weird City Games I did a preview video for them for this game I got my final copy of the game and it looked great I'm very excited to play that game again after after having the prototype for a little bit this is a tile laying game where players are laying down leaves of different shapes and colors forming the forest floor players play cards to play a specific

1:42 type of leaf and then they place that leaf so that the tips touch the other Leaf tips you gain actions from the different tips from other leaves that your newly placed Leaf touches and each color has its own little bonus then and that's the way you gain points as you play throughout the game it's geometry in the game is amazing um placing the leaves so that they touch the most tips is just really fulfilling and it almost creates a great picture when you're done playing the game so for me I think the Deluxe Set would have you know made it maybe a little bit better I received the retail version which is still great but I think the upgrades would be well worth it I'm not one to usually like or need the Delux version but maybe things are changing and maybe I do again that's number 10 Leaf by weird City games all right number nine this goes to life of the Amazonia by bad comet oh you can see it back there this is another game I did a preview video for I think the animal mles are pretty awesome in this game you're placing down animals and tiles and trees and flowers and you're creating a jungle but also doing it in a way where you get the most points each player has their own bag where they're trying to buy better tokens to pull out to do more powerful things this might be coins leaves water or fruit and as you pull these different resources out of your bag you can use them during your turn to take as many actions as possible there are nine different actions you will upgrade your resource tokens add tiles on the map add

3:13 trees add flowers add animals according to their terrain type that it can be in this is probably the best way to gain points plac in those animals you can expand how many tokens you have to keep at the end of the of your turn or obtaining nature cards for point points for in-game scoring the map will grow with actions and everyone will get better and better resources to use to do better and better on their turn it's it's such a beautiful game again this is number nine life of the Amazonia by bad comet number eight is Sky Team by scorpion mass games this is a two-player only Cooperative game where you go through scenarios to land an airplane together with your partner but you can't talk to your partner you both use dice placement from your rolled Dice and whatever values are shown on them to take actions and many times your actions depend on the combined value of both you and your partner's dice in that section so you are worried about the elevation how you know your wings are tilted your speed other airplanes in the area and then you got to you know get ready to land with all the landing gear to get that out in time it's a very tense game my wife is not a huge fan so that's maybe why it's number eight and instead of higher because it's a really good game and I really like what it does um it's one of the best two-player Cooperative games that I've ever ever played again this is Sky Team by scorpion mass games number seven is

4:46 Halls of higra by tomet games now this is a solo only game which usually isn't my forte but from what I read about this game I was super excited to see in action and after receiving it I was glad that I made a video for this game because it's just an awesome game I think more people need to be talking about this game especially for those who like solo games this is a worker placement war game where you send your units out to take action and as the game develops your actions will change it gets harder to ready your units again continuing going on and your goal is surviving against the German forces for a set amount of rounds and you will have actions to do things to help you prepare but will it be a enough you know now I'm not a solo gamer by any means but this is my number one solo game for a Euro gamer it ramps up great there are different stuff in the game to keep you occupied you're rolling dice with some things there's just tons of things that you can do and you got to choose what things to focus on on that moment to be able to survive and I mean really you should watch my how to playay video on this to see what the game does because you probably will want to try it out again number seven is Halls of hegra by tomet games all right number six guildies of valyria there it is all right I'm not sure why not a lot of people are talking about this game because it has its stuff together and this is my new favorite Valeria game now

6:17 I think each time they come out with a new Valeria game it gets better and better and now this is my new favorite one of all of the ones but in this game you are building up yourm to graduate students to then fulfill quest for points tiles are added to your player boards to get better ways to require certain types of students to get you resources or actions and the students are dice in this game you will need to draft professors and use your students or the dice the best way by manipulating the values on them to place them on certain tiles but then also trying to increase their values past six so that they graduate then you can use them for quests during the game you will also place out banners on spaces on the upper Council to gain ways for in-game scoring according to how they will be doing that um for their goal the art is amazing components are lovely and the fun dice to use throughout the game is just fun so again number six is guildies of Valaria all right my number five is bloodstones by Wallace designs now I'm a fan of Martin Wallace games and he started his own publishing company and this is his first title coming out from it first of all everyone who has received their game is so impressed with the components and the quality of this game the game uses cloth Maps it has tiles like dominoes for its units and each has their own bag this is a war game using multi-use tiles each faction has their own special rules for how it

7:47 works and compared to others and what they can do but it's not a complicated change between factions just a couple of rules and units that are different for each faction but players will draw six tiles from their bag at a time to use them to pay for placing other ones out on the map for moving on the map or placing their Villages out which are worth points to do so players then battle with each other and players get points for defeating in combat also for the amount of villages that they have out on the board at the end of the game of course other players are going to come and attack those Villages as well to get them more points so you have to secure those it was a big surprise for me and I hope to find more players to play this game with me because that's my most concern with it is finding someone to play the game with me again number five bloodstones just a wonderful game by Wallace designs of course it's my top 10 list so they're all wonderful designs my number four is the White Castle by D this is a very quick Euro game that is played with each player taking only nine turns total on a turn a player will choose one die from one of of the Three Bridges and then perform its action and the color of the die will determine the type of action that you can take and the value of the die will be associated with the chosen action either for the cost to take an action or with the amount that you will receive for that action and then if you decide to take the lowest value die you also be able to gain a

9:18 reward but your action might not be as powerful as if you took the higher die so you'll place your chosen die and then take the associated action according to its color so it's kind of of crazy how an action space can have different costs depending on the different action depending on the color of the die and you're trying to get the most points by taking these actions on the board you have options in this game when playing it and it's a very quick game which is like a dream come true for a lot of people you can also set up for future turns and a chance for some good combos as well and well this is the second game in its Trilogy and I can't wait to see what the third title will be again this one is my number four game the White Castle by Dee games number three is Earth by inside up games this was a lot of people's number one's game it's my number three game this is a game that took me all year to play and I finally got myself a copy and then Sarah was able to teach it to us in 2023 she also had the upgraded components which also made it look a lot better this is a tableau building card game where you have a 4x4 grid where you can place cards some cards give you actions when someone else takes a specific action others will give you points for doing something like placing it next to other types of cards in your Tableau or having a way to score more points by putting in a specific location you also then have sprouts and growth tokens on each card

10:49 that is listed and you will strengthen your actions and then find combinations that will give you more abilities each player will take a turn on each player's turn but the ACT to player will choose the action and their action is more powerful it's a great design for a game with a great theme I heard the rumors of an expansion so that's great but again this is number three Earth by inside up games number two is Maple Valley by kids table board games there it is you can see it on the shelf right there yeah it's not a secret that we really have enjoyed the ktbg games that we have owned we don't own them all we wish we did but those that we have we have absolutely really enjoyed I did a preview video for this one and it's a better design for us than Creature Comforts mostly because of the time involved in playing the game but we still love Creature Comforts players move around on the board by using different types of movement to gather resources or take actions where they land on the board and as you make friends you gain more cards to move with similar to Creature Comforts you also are gathering resources or types to craft items for points you know add those in to Grant more points for matching certain items together it has great components like you would expect from the publisher as they always do and even my kids will play this one with me so it will continue to get to the table for sure over and over again and because of that again it's my number two game Maple Valley by kids table board games

12:21 and now my number one game of all the board games of 2023 that I have played should be no surprise but this one is Darwin's journey by Thunder Griff games and I also did a preview video for this and received my own copy this year and it's been great it's a worker placement game with so much going on with it you have choices that you know you can create combos with decisions that can help you on later turns players are picking up goals to you know unlock bonuses or points at the end of the game placing workers to take actions to move on their map move their boat add letters you know down for bonuses or take seals to place on their workers to make them more powerful players also find species while exploring there on the island that they can take to research to publish they will gain money or points doing this and each worker also has seals corresponding to it which will determine what actions that those workers can take out on the board you will move on the islands jumping over other players to try to get further and be granted with better action you move your boat so that you can score those round goals and gain more points that way there's a lot going on in the game but it's oh so so good and oh so fun this is not a game for a beginner but it's perfect for a player who loves euros and wants an experience with everything so combined together there's you know something that will affect something else it's just very

13:52 welld designed and I'll tell you if you haven't looked into this game you need to watch some videos see what it is why people are talking about has a great theme mechanics are amazing I enjoy the components that came with it the worst thing for me is that it came with so much extra stuff that sometimes I get a little bit confused of all the extra expansions and the pressure of trying to get those to the table because I've only played the base game so far because it does so well that I haven't needed to move on yet but I will I will one day I'll get bored of that stuff and move on to the to the extra stuff so again my number one game is Darwin journey by Thunder Griff games and that's my top 10 games of 2023 I hope to do this again with some great games for the next year in 2024 please again like And subscribe to our Channel we are new and working hard to bring to you videos like this one so you know if these games are ones that you want to get to your own table and