We Ranked The Best Board Games

0:00 These are the best board games we played this month, but how good are they? But before that, we're going to tell you how these games work and what are the best and the worst parts about these games.

0:10 Exactly. And at the end, we're going to rank each of them in either my collection if you love them or other collection if it's not for us. And then, at the very end, we're going to tell you which game deserves the game of the month title. And we'll move the 20 strong away. So, let's start out with well, Lands of Ever Shade cuz well, all of you have been waiting for exactly this, right?

0:34 Lands of Ever Shade is a one to five player medium-weight campaign game that takes one to three hours per session. And most importantly, it's full of beautiful story. This board game promises to replace D&D. Well, with this.

0:51 You all will be playing characters that you create using this handy-dandy player book.

0:58 And then you set out on a journey. You read these paragraphs, make some choices, move on the board and interact with it. And then, very importantly, your choices and actions matter because the game will remember it. After all of that, you move on to the combat phase, which is the zoomed-in version of the game where you move on the map, interact with bad guys, and try to defeat them.

1:20 Yes, depending on how you create your character, you will have your action cards that you will be able to use to interact on the combat board. Just move around, roll some dice, and defeat the big bad guy. And these cards will let you freeze some traps, sneak, take aim, command, and bunch of other things that make your character unique.

1:40 And this game actually is pretty simple. The combat is straightforward, the stories are great yet simple to go through, and it all depends on well, the scenarios. I have already finished a third of the game, and well, the story holds up. It's great. This might not be for you if you're looking for something complex, rules heavy. It's not. It's actually a light experience that I loved.

2:04 Next game is Alterra from Ivy Studios. It's not out actually yet, but coming soon to Kickstarter platform.

2:10 Exactly. It's a medium game from two to four players and also quite quick, up to two hours.

2:16 In this game, you'll be secretly placing dice to place your workers to get points. Welcome to Alterra, the festival where you can get on the high council seat by collecting the most influence.

2:30 Each round, each player will secretly place their dice where they want to send their emissaries. Then you reveal at the same time and send those emissaries to the board getting rewards.

2:40 Rewards let you move up a lot of different tracks. For example, this track lets you buy new dice or this track might give you rewards at the end of the round. And did I mention there are a lot of tracks to move up?

2:52 A lot of tracks.

2:53 There are two things I really like about this game. The first one is the bag building. All dice you buy go into your bag and each turn you will draw from it and roll them, just like deck building with cards, but with dice. And I like dice more than I like cards. Yeah, I do. I do like dice more than cards. 100% man.

3:11 Worker placement spaces get changed after each round, so giving new options and replay value. And the tracks are really great interaction cuz you want to be just behind the leader because the leader is going to get the reward and go all the way back down.

3:25 But next turn you can rush for those victory points.

3:27 This game might not be for you if you're looking for a thematic experience. It is not. It's an abstract yet gorgeous game that I would be always willing to play.

3:36 Well, if you're looking for a thematic experience, this one is one. It's a 30-minute one to six player flight campaign game. And that's because all you do is read something and place a sticker on top. You've just gotten this land. Now, it's time to build a house. You literally take out your house and place it somewhere. Let's say my house will be here, right next to the river. And at that point, your story begins. You get some resources and then read a card and choose what happens. And these choices really matter because first of all, you will be able to place some stickers because of your choices.

4:22 I hope that's a good sticker. You sure about that choice? And the second thing that your choices during the first year will really impact what happens in future rounds, which means this really matters. And this is going to be a massive spoiler, so close your eyes. I'll I'll let you know when you can open them, but 1 2 3 whoop whoop. That's how much stuff you can get done. It's amazing.

4:46 Can they open their eyes now?

4:47 You can you can open your eyes.

4:48 Okay, cool.

4:49 This is a campaign game that you can play twice cuz there are two sides of the board. Also, there are a bunch of these cards that you will not see in your first play through and maybe not even a second. It's true to its name. It's super cozy because you cannot lose the game. It's just your story and story is a big part of it. It's great writing. Not a lot of it, but what is written is great. Perfect, would you say?

5:13 Yeah, I'd say it's 10 out of 10.

5:15 When you know this game is not for you, if you look at the cover and are like, "Eh, what is this?" Then this game is not for you. How it looks is how it plays. And it plays very well for me. I will place it in my collection. Again, I have a really good gaming month and most importantly, this game is great for kids. If you have kids, you're going to enjoy it and the kids are going to love it. It's amazing game. Another amazing game is Rebirth that has been nominated for the game of the year award. And Yiannis should have been here to tell you how it plays. But, it plays around an hour and two to four players and is quite light, right? Exactly what he said. That's why he also will explain to you what this game is all about. Scotland was destroyed during series of calamities, but now tile by tile you are going to restore it and watch its rebirth. You are a clan leader and in each round you will just draw and place a single tile on the board trying to score the most victory points. For example, if you place this tile you will score as many points as there are the same tiles in the cluster. So, one, two.

6:20 Easy. Or, you can place settlement tiles and that will score you points depending how big the settlement is. And then there's some area control. If you have more tiles than anybody else near the city, you gain control of it and possibly score a ton of points. The best part for me is the ease of play. You have this little tile that you keep looking at until your turn comes. And when your turn comes around, you just place it on the board, right? Simple. And then you're going to draw a new tile to look at until your next turn. Easy. It's not your turn. While this game might not be for you, it's not a very deep experience, but it doesn't matter. It's a quick game to pull out and play with your friends whenever they come around. So, let's talk about one of the most, if not the most, unique board game that we have in our collection. This is a two to four player, 30-minute game, light game about catching Pokémon.

7:08 And it's generally Splendor, just Pokémon pasted on top of it. Yet, it's very unique in that. All you have to do is collect some Poké Balls to catch some Pokémon. You'll be playing as one of the Pokémon Masters trying to get victory points cuz cooler Pokémon you get, the more points you get. On your turn, choose either pick up three different Poké Balls or two of the same or catch some Pokémon by paying with these Poké Balls. Yes, you want to be the best Pokémon master by getting to 18 victory points, which means you're better than everybody else in the world. But, what actually matters is first thing, your Pokédex. Whenever you catch a Pokémon, you mark it right here.

7:56 For example, Mr. Cyvis has already caught Kakuna, Matata.

8:01 [snorts]

8:03 And even if you lose the game because you didn't get the most victory points, you still keep your Pokédex throughout all your plays. So, you really want to catch them all. Whenever you catch Pokémon, you place them in front of you and then use them to catch other Pokémons for cheaper. As well as here, you can evolve Pokémons. It's cheaper to get Metapod if you have Caterpie. Yes, that's my Pokémon knowledge. I don't know much about things in world, but I know my Pokémon. The bad thing, this is only available in South Korea. Well, that's why it is so unique in our collection. But, if you love Pokémon, then this is a must-have. If you don't love Pokémon, well, what's wrong with you? But, also, it's in my collection. Lovely with kids. Such a good game, especially if you want to fulfill the Pokédex. Another great IP that has a board game is Last Kingdom, which is based on the Netflix series of the same name.

8:56 It's medium weight, up to 3 hours, and from two to five players.

9:00 Indeed. And it's all about politics and history. Britain, 872 Anno Domini, still divided into multiple small kingdoms. You'll take control of one of these heroes, scheming, switching alliances, all with the goal of getting the most victory points. The game is divided into two parts. In each of those parts, you will draw cards and then draft those cards for their amazing actions. On your turn, you will play one of your drafted cards for actions or use action tokens to do one of these. Those actions will let you recruit troops, move those troops around the board, move yourself around the board, or switch alliances. All with the goal of scoring the most points when the scoring comes. I got this because I love the TV series, and those were full of intrigue and politics, but this really isn't. I feel like sometimes I don't have enough actions to do.

9:55 And if we're talking about politics and intrigue, there are no hotter board games out there right now as Queen's Dilemma. This is a three to six player campaign game that's medium weight and takes around 1 and 1/2 hours per session. So, let's take over the country while the queen is away. This is the kingdom of Ankist, and you will be playing one of the ruling families there. Your family will have a backstory as well as their own personal interests. So, whenever an important topic comes up, you will try to push the country towards your interests. And the game goes like this. There is a very important topic. I say yes. I say no. I say bigger yes. I go home, and you read the consequences. And they're bad for you. Oh, no. And the resolution of all these arguments always pushes the country in one or the other direction, either diplomacy or force or tradition or progress.

10:50 And excitingly, also these resolutions will let you place some stickers on the board, making you or the country better or worse. You will play 17 games of this, all full of story and resolutions for these stories. And this is the most important thing. Yes, you care about the country, but also you have your personal agendas, your personal interests, your personal belongings. You want to be the strongest at the end of all of this. This game is not for you if you want, well, a board game. This is an experience, an epic experience, which I freaking love because my friends throw out all their principles and things to get a freaking sticker. That's why I love it. Wild Venture is wild because I would say that this is a two-player Terraforming Mars.

11:38 Which you can play in 1 hour and is meant for two players. Also, it's medium weight. It is medium weight. It's a tableau builder with a super cute theme. Welcome to the community cap where you're playing a villager trying to become the most famous villager? Most villager. The most villager of them all. To win, you have to collect the most victory points and you collect those in your score pile by adding cards to it during the game. And at the end of the game, you will see

12:11 how many of each species do you have. Your turns are simple. You will either play a card paying its value and then placing supply on it or use any of your cards by removing the supply. And once you remove the last supply from the card, it goes into your score pile. Using card actions will let you draw more cards, get more money, or move your piece on the board to get awesome rewards. Why this might not be for you is because it's just maybe too simple rules-wise and a lot of luck of the draw, but other than that, it's great and it scratches that card building tableau itch. But now it's time to the big reveal, which means we have four games in my collection and I'm saying mine because I placed all of these games actually there and Yiannis placed none of them. But can I can I at least

13:00 No.

13:00 No. You just watch me. Yeah. We have to pick one game of these to place as the game of the month. Any input?

13:09 No, that's all yours.

13:10 Okay. So, first of all, I'm going to eliminate Pokémon because, well, it's only in South Korea. Right? So, you can't get it. Then I'm going to eliminate Sticker World because it's very cute and nice and really good, but

13:25 That's all good things.

13:26 big boys. These are the big boys. And then from all of both of these, I think more people will go with Lands of Evershade. I think it's for almost everybody while this is such a great experience, but this game takes the cake for this month. All right, Lands of Evershade, the game of the month. Try it out. At least check it out. We going to do a review soon, so you will know more if this game is

13:51 Also, there might be a play through coming to our other channel, so watch out for that as well.

13:55 Thank you for watching. What are the games you played this month and really liked? But, another thing that we really like is when you support us, guys. It's not actually not about liking, it's about surviving. Without you, we wouldn't be able to do that. Anyway, thank you for watching and see you next time.