Top 10 Board Games that start with the letter "A"

hello everyone and welcome back to the board gaming doctor my name is Phil and I'll be your board game doctor today so I'm going to start a series of videos now in the spirit of wanting to learn more about what my top 10 games of all time are leading up to that I've also been wanting to rerank my collection as noted in Board Game Geek so all the games that I've played so far at least once and I've used criteria that I've been using in some of my videos in the past where I'll get into a lot more of these details as I go along just to save time and and so here's an example for f minute dungeon for example of the criteria that I am using for these games so starting off and I'm going to and I decided to present this in a way where I talk about each game based off of their title and you know the number or the letter and number of their title for example here I've got 39 games that I've played with the either a number or the letter a and so we're going to group all of these games into one category rank them uh and talk about my top 10 in this setting and then do the same for all the letters and so just to give you an example of where I rank all of these games uh these are my former rankings here in in the middle column and then the far right are the rankings uh in ascending order or descending I should say for all of these games as well uh not nothing you know as far as like surprising to me at least maybe it is to you uh I'll leave it there at number 11 ancient knowledge just missed the top of the the cream of the crop in this case Arboretum is really close really enjoyed that Applejack I've played a lot but you know when it comes to my favorite games of all time I do feel like a few things you know bring it down a little bit maybe it's too abstract or or you know a little bit too random whatever so I really I mean I really do enjoy Apple Jack but you know somewhat objectively I do have to rank it a little bit lower so that was probably the biggest surprise for me so without further Ado let's get into my top 10 games that either well that will start with an a because all of the games that do have numbers uh Seven Wonders duel is the highest ranking one so let's get into my top 10 games that start with the letter a number 10 is going to be adwa for me now adwa is a game that I tend to enjoy more than the average player I think this game really shines with its thematic integration and the way that its mechanisms work it is a little bit rote and so it's not the most replayable of all of rosenberg's big box games but I really do enjoy the solo mode and the challenges that it provides and I think with more time and more plays this game could pack a little bit more than what appears on the surface I think this has more replayable factor and could go up for me number nine is going to be at the gates of L young another Rosenberg title that is pretty good across the board I think it's not perhaps the most replayable but it does or at least the most variable but I do feel like it is fairly replayable just because you get to know and understand the deck of cards pretty well and base your strategies off of that the solo mode is very interesting and yeah just a very solid game by Rosenberg not my favorite but one that I have enjoyed playing almost 25 times number eight is going to be agrica all creatures big and small and even though this is uh pictured as the base game I do apply this to the big box version for the added buildings for that variability otherwise it you know it would be a lot lower for variability and replayability but with the additional content this game does become a lesser version of a grica less grandiose but it still has a lot of the same DNA a lot of the same uh you know mechanisms and approaches to the game but also and of course the Cozy and uh thematic you know integration that I appreciate in Agricola which will be higher on this list but uh so Agricola is something that I do enjoy playing the two-player aspect also is a plus for me as I've grown to really appreciate two-player games and the Dual nature of the push and you know push and poll that these kind of games provide so yeah that's my number eight Agri All Creatures big and small number seven is going to be aul now I do lump in a lot of these sequels into my thoughts about aul but mostly they apply to the base game I do play this very regularly with family members and so there's a little bit of sentimentality to this game and hence it probably adds to why I feel like this is a very replayable game but as for abstract games go the player interaction is very awesome I love the uh just the simpleness of this game yet it's very uh reactive and hard to master and so I do appreciate the depth that this game provides and I still enjoy playing this playing this game uh over 50 times now so uh number seven aul number six is age of civilization I really enjoy this game I think this game is the highest small boox game on my list I think it really knocks it out of the park for variability and hence replayability because of it because of all of the different civilization cards that you can mix and match in the game as you can see in the back of this picture here it's really uh it's a very small game but it it packs a lot of interesting decisions it's not the strongest mechanically but due to its size but I think for what you get in the box and for its price you could play this game over and over again and I have for sure on board game arena and it still doesn't get old I really enjoy this game number six age of civilization number five is ano 1800 the board game this is probably my favorite video game implementation of a game that I haven't played in the video game sense but this game is really cool I think it's fairly easy to learn especially if you play the sort of campaign solo mode which is why it receives a high Mark and I think it captures the essence of the time period but also the video game as well as could be in board game mechanisms through its theme and so that really helps it out and makes it a game that I really enjoyed playing I have played it more than once I've played it a few more times so I'll change that but I really look forward to wanting to play this game more it is one that I wish was a little bit more you know digitally available or easily playable for me but it's one that I think about a lot and want to return to and that's why it ranks so high and that's number five 18 I know 1800 number four is age of innovation a teror Mystic game this is by far my favorite uh application of the ter Mya system and I think it's because it combines the best of what I feel are of teram mytica with its static board and deterministic strategy as well as Guan project with its flexibility I think of course these systems of games have the highest skill ceiling among most games if not all of them and the variability due to the modularity of the factions that you can provide allow and as well as the technologies that you can build make this game variable enough but also deterministic enough with you know with the uh portions of teram mytica that make it so with the different objectives and the different order that you're trying to build into uh that much more interesting for me uh and so maybe you know some people will be a lot more uh appreciative and and knowledgeable of teram mytica and therefore would like it better but age of innovation I feel uh you know is not as daunting to me for someone who hasn't put in the time an effort to really understand teror mytica and so for me this is a good entry way into the whole system because I think it's mechanically very sound and I won't say perfected but but I think it it has all the right things that appeal to me at least in a game that I had respected before so that's my number four age of innovation number three is going to be arcs now this might be recency bias and a lot of it is writing off of my first impressions with the one play that I've had but knowing that this game will come to a digital format in the near future within a year or so I do feel like this rating will hold out in the long run and based off of what everyone else has said about this game I think on paper this game uh has uh ranked higher than say another game that I ranked higher last year which was civil lution which I'll talk about in a future video but I think ARS has a really big potential for having me just be you know totally immersed in and it's playing you know in with the different factions and the campaign mode that is involved I really look forward to understanding arcs a lot more so as my notes say this is probably really high on potential but right now as of now it's my number three game with the letter A arcs number two is going to be Arc Nova now Arc Nova perhaps is not the most perfect game it is a very long game and harder to learn but I think once you do get over that hump it's fairly replayable and easy to jump back into because of how easy it is to or I guess the the ease of remembering what you're doing in this game is is displayed very well with its mechanisms it's very strategic I think this game has a lot of replayability because of how strategic this game is and the fact that it it has been available on board game arena and now with the app that is being developed and in testing I feel like the opportunity to play this game and understand it is very accessible to me and for all of those to prefer digital gaming this game is one of those games that I have looked at videos and articles to get better at it's something that I will play indefinitely and I've already done so for 50 plus games and it's just you know there are a few points that make it not as uh you know perfect for my favorite game of all time but it's very darn close and that's going to be Ark NOA so not to spoil the whole list you know after I've gotten through all the gone through all the alpab band but agria is probably going to be my number one game of all time even then so this is like I say not the perfect game of course it has its flaws but it's the perfect game for me it is the game that introduced me to The Wider reality of hobby board gaming and it's the one that hit closest to me and is the bar that I set pretty much for all of the medium to heavy heavier weight games that I try to rank and where a lot of these criteria come from it has for me the perfect amount of ability replayability it's very fun strategically um the player interaction is great because of how you play this at a higher level creates a lot of interaction to uh you know block out your opponents and and the timing of it as well in my opinion is very interactive and the right kind of interaction for me the skill ceiling is off the roof you know out or however you say it I guess it is um uh it is one of the most skillful games I've ever played and I you know it's it's just a stap for me now and I don't think anything is going to beat it unless it is another Rosenberg game so agrica is my number one game and that's where I will leave this video so I went through things fairly quickly because I do want to save time for every other game that I have on the list for the different uh letters of the alphabet and so uh so thank you for joining me on this journey if if this is the beginning of it for you and I I look forward personally just you know seeing where all these rankings end up but uh but yeah so thanks for Consulting with me uh let me know if you feel Sim similarly or differently in the comments below and hope to hope you schedule uh an appointment with me and catch you hopefully on the next episode thank you