10 Board Games Being Played this Month - "People's Choice" Board Game Picks!

0:00 The people, that's you, have been gaming out of their minds this month. So, I've compiled a list of some of the most interesting, peculiar, and dare I say hidden gems making their way to the tables around the world. I do dare. I dare very much. In this month's People's Choice selections, the first game that people have been playing is Legions. Legions is a two-player game set in the Abyss universe. You know, the one with the big fish guy on the front of the box. But this time, it's a lane battling majority fighting game where players compete to reign over the districts of an underwater city and by an extension compete for the throne to the kingdom. To do this, Abyss afficionadardos will recognize a lot of the fabric of legions, but now each turn they will play a legion card on their side of the city to try and recruit a war hero and gain the majority influence of the different districts and of course obtain special abilities that are flying around left, right, and center. What drew me to Legions is more Abyss. Abyss is a fantastic game. I would almost put it in the realm of it's a classic at this point and there's load of expansions and people are always trying to find them because they're always just in French.

1:16 You know, Leviathan was difficult to get for ages. But Legions is a brand new twoplayer back and forth head-to-head game that does a lot of the Abyss stuff. You know, you really do feel like you if you play Abyss, you'll go, "Okay, I recognize this type of these type of actions." But it's it's straight up head-to-head for points where you recruit these heroes and you want to get a certain amount of these banners to be the first to do that to win. But the other way to win is just by running out the deck and getting points and all the different things get you points and all the different lanes get you points. And there's real battling in this where people are going to get rooted and the cars are going to get turned over so majorities are going to be lost. I love two-player head-to-head games. I really do like Abyss quite a bit. So, this I'm just interested in Legions.

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3:15 It's Tectonic Tribes that's been causing a stir. Next, the carlaying pattern claiming game where five tribes are trying to find their way through a mysterious land of Jolu. We know it so well. A world where the terrain is still forming and shifting and tectonic plates are consistently creating new surprises. As each tribe discovers and covers the land, they of course are hoping to secure the best areas for themselves. As cards are added to the board, areas such as forest, lakes, and mines grow. And by choosing instead to play a tribe card, you can set up camp next to these promising prospects and hopefully get access to those additions and multiplying bonus points. But also, you can play deviously, and you can cut up areas that have already been claimed by other tribes. Tectonic Tribes is another one of those games. There's quite a few of them where you've got these cards with a certain configuration of like a squares on them, like six squares, and they've got different things. You're trying to grow out a map to make different bigger areas. And there's quite a few games that do this, but this is a huge joint board, which is often different. Often the time you're making your own little one in front of you. And there's a bunch of other aspects. It has something that Hkaido had in it which is an initi an initiative track essentially where you are pseudo tricktaking in order to go first but it's not really trick taking it's kind of like it's trick trick taking adjacent I'll give it that and the cool thing here is that you

4:47 are drafting the cards because you have your hand of cards and then you pass it along this is just going to be the art is quite lovely I think but this is just going to be one of mean, cutthroat, I'm going to get you kind of games. And I do like these pattern building games and multipliers always excite me because I like board games. Now, we boldly go to Federation, which isn't a Star Trek game. Side note, there aren't enough Star Trek Euro games. Anyway, as as we all know, the universe is organized into a vast morass of federations. And one of these federations, still not fully developed, wants a new delegation to join them. And to do this, your five-year mission, which I swear is in the game and not yet another Star Trek reference, is to develop strategies, deploy tactics, take opportunities, and form alliances to prove that you have what it takes to earn the right to be among this new federation. This is all done in a very interactive Euro game kind of way by placing ambassadors out to different spaces to gain rewards, activating a host of abilities as players work their way up a just loads of tracks in search of medals, resources, and of course, prestige. I think the thing holding Federation back is that after I researched the game and then explained the game, I still really didn't have any idea about the game. I was like, "Yeah, it's a space euro. What is actually happening this?" So, I've played the

6:18 game multiple times because it's on board game arena. And I tell you what, how did I not know about this game the first time around? It's so fun. On your turn, it's a work of placement thing. You put these ambassadors out to different spots to activate different planets to get different resources to go up the tracks of those planets to get different medals. There's cards to get to boost those actions so you can do them twice. And then you actually are the workers place in space themselves is this grand senate. And you want to have majorities in the rows of the Senate and in the columns of the Senate, which again is the opposite of what I did, but you know what I'm saying. Yeah, this is it's slick. It's good. I really enjoy this one. I'm surprised it came out in 2002 2022, I think, and just kind of went a bit under the radar on that one.

7:05 But some people who watch this channel have been playing, so I get to talk about it, which makes me excited because now I've played it and it's good. Now we trade three to four player katan for two rivals in the rivals for katan which is not a new game. It's from 2010 but people are playing it here. Two rival princes are both developing their individual provinces and competing to build a more successful land than each other. Many aspects from the original game are here but a lot has been added. For starters, everything has been distilled down to carts, which is very different. And while yeah, you are you do want to gain resources to build settlements, roads, and cities as you race to a point-based goal, you'll also be hoping to augment buildings for benefits. Hire a host of characters for their skills, as well as activate powerful events. Turns in Rivals for Katan still begin with dice being rolled, but from there, the game takes the world of Katan in a very different direction. I was so happy when this came up as something that I could talk about because I am I have a huge just I have a huge heart for this game. I love Rivals for Katan. I really do. I hunted down the expansions which were very difficult. Age of Darkness and the Age of Prosperity. Enlightenment. It's called Age of Enlightenment. I I just love this game. There's the cool thing about the

8:36 expansions and in the base game is there's these different kind of I guess modules you can play different stories to play through and then you can add them all in and there's a dual princess which is a bunch of other stuff and it does a lot of the katan stuff and it feels like you're in that world but you're you know you roll your dice you get your resources you buy roads and you build your city out you doing all that and you want to compete over certain things to get that one extra point it really does have the DNA of katan in there but in a such such a fascinating game that I just really have grown to love quite a lot. I highly recommend Rivals for Katan. The the surprising thing here is that Rivals for Katan is is more indepth. It's it's more difficult to learn than Katan. It really is a different it's kind of like a not a next level as in game, but a next level is learning a game for sure. Yeah, there's something very special about Rivals for Katan. I really do enjoy it quite a lot.

9:37 Yet another two-player sequel now and the second one under the sea, no less this month. In Aquatica Duelum, we are promised that this new dual format of Aquatica means a deeper, meaner, and more intense experience. The Turtle King and the Squid Queen do not get along. We all know that. So, they are going headto-head to improve their underwater realms by playing action cards, assembling locations, and hunting for crowns. Because after decades of turbulence, it's time to decide on a new single ruler. Central to the game that has many of the features from the original Aquatica is a vortex board, a dynamic marketplace that requires different resources from different wouldbe rulers. And there's a new win condition with a strategic tugofwar, as well as cards to provide powers if activated in a savvy order. I like Aquatica.

10:29 I like two-player games. This makes sense to me. It's got really nice little minis. I guess they're minis of turtles and little squids and manta rays, but they're just cute little plastic pieces that are heavy that are like the original game. I liked everything about Aquatica and just the fun of, you know, moving up these different tracks and you're trying to you've got you're tucking cards and you've got to activate this to tuck this one to get two of these resource and then that lets you do this which lets you move all the way up to this one and you you get your cards out to get a bunch of points. That type of stuff. But the vortex board is really interesting in Dwellum because you can activate a movement of it, making the cars that you want much cheaper for you and hopefully, which is why I think they're very specific in saying that this is meaner, very specifically making cards more expensive for your opponents.

11:22 And there's a tugof-war thing in the middle, which is a win condition, but it's also a way to get a bunch of extra bonuses. So, even if you aren't going for that as a win condition, you still want to do it because you get to augment all your other actions. This looks fun. Returning to the surface now is Ahoy, an asymmetrical game where swashbucklers and soldiers are seeking fame on the high seas. The Blue Fin Squadron, company of sharks, patrol the waters, keeping order with Shot and Sword, while the Mollisk Union, I'd be in the Mollisk Union, wouldn't I? They're an alliance of undersea creatures and they fight to reclaim their ancestral home. While smugglers are factions of maverick captains who run blockades to smuggle luxuries and essentials, delivering them to those who want the most or can pay the most money.

12:14 Dice placement is used to power actions. Do battle and achieve various faction goals, but whatever actions are taken, they have repercussions for the other factions. Meaning it's key to help yourself more than helping others. Yeah. A Hoy is another fourletter named game from the people who made Oath and people who made Root and it really does have this kind of micro micro coin game feel to it because everyone's got these player boards and they've got slightly different actions. So, I can do something special, but also this faction has a deck of cards that does sneaky things. This faction gets to do the opposite of what this faction does. And there's two defining sides of the game, the smugglers and the captains, because one side wants to win by area control of the different aspects of this board, the sea, and these islands that's getting explored as the game goes on. And the other side want to win by just smuggling goods the best.

13:21 but they can also bet on who's going to win the area control portion of the game. So, they're going to get extra points and also going to try to make it harder or worse for the people who they bent on and against. There's a lot going on here. You can also battle if you've got your cannons loaded. And you can you can harm your opponent's ships, meaning that their dice action spaces are less until they repair their ship. This one looks like a lot of fun. On the other hand, Ayar is not a pirate game, so I probably shouldn't say it like that. Ayar is actually a dramatic and dynamic midway euro where players will retell the incredible origin myth of the Inca. In the beginning, we're a coacher, the creator, bought forth Enti, the sun god, and Mamaka, the moon god.

14:12 From the union of these two gods sprang forth four sons and four daughters, the Ayar. These siblings were tasked with guiding the first clans and teaching them the skills they need to build a civilization. And as players, well, we are the clans trying to learn as much as we can and learn more than the other clans. By journeying with Aar across the Andes, players must improve their skills of farming, pottery, weaving, and reed bundling. But it's important, very important to seek the approval of the sun god and the moon god, being careful not to earn the eye of one over the other as whichever one favors you the least, that will determine your final score. Aya is the final game in a trilogy of games with Sanor and MV, they're all unreasonably good-looking.

15:03 And this one's all about going up these different tracks. You're trying to go up as you go across the Andes, but the but the track that players are up the the the not the furthest the least is the word I think that is that track at the end of the round goes away. So you can't be planning and saying, "Okay, I'm just going to go here and then I'm going to jump up this track." No, you need to go up there now. That track is disappearing. And I love it when games have you get two types of points and then you win. I like Canitzia. That's why. Then you get your end game scoring is the least of those two amount of points. I find that such a interesting thing. A lot of the scoring here is you score your sum points for instance and you have to earn a level of some points that you I score some points, I get this amount of points every single time. So it ramps up as the game shrinks in. And the start of the game is the first round is by far the longest round because on the last round there's only one track to go up. I'm fascinated by this. There's a lot going on visually when you first look at the board, but then you kind of like tune your eyes in and adjust and you go, "Okay, I understand this now. I really want to play this."

16:25 Another game out of the blue is Azure, where dragon paths, lines of energy, cover the earth, all derived from four apicious beasts. By placing out stones, it's possible to run paths along these lines that build power. This is a two-player game where players play matching cards to take control of spaces on a grid to gain their rewards. The value of that space is how many cards you have to play. But those costs are high. So to offset the cost, you achieve discounts for other stones you have on the path being that grid. And those beasts, they're not just for show. They're here to help those players invoke their powers by satisfying their needs, gaining their benefits. You have to remember that dragons are fickle and they will change allegiances if you're not the player who has satisfied them the most. They'll just go to them. I've never shied away from the fact that I am a big fan of bitewing games. You can't see them, but I just they're here.

17:28 These Azure is another game in this line of the the Mythic two-player line. And I didn't realize how many two-player games are going to be on this list. I guess that's what people are able to play. But this looks like such a satisfying two-player game. Simply you're placing a stone out and then doing the action. That's your whole turn. It's not a long game, but you are trying to plan in ahead. Some of the spaces you need to play like seven cards to take it. You can only have a hand limit of three cards. So, you've got to have so many different stones in that grid. And there's mountains that block off these lines of power. And the different dragons do give you abilities such as some of them just give you straight up points and you the way you claim them is slightly different. So a lot of this game is thinking ahead to the key spots that you really want to take control of for points and then working towards that. I played Azure a few times and I found that you can really get caught up in getting the dragons and getting their powers and oh, I'm doing stuff, but if you're not just getting caught up in gaining points, you can lose to the person who has no dragons. It's an interesting back and forth that feels very classic because at its core, you have these little stones, you just place one out on your turn, that's it. But there's a lot going on there and I like games like that.

18:57 Now it's time for the first of two of my personal picks this month. Games that I've been playing and loving. Seven Wonders Dice, where we once again guide one of the seven largest cities of antiquity to prosperity. During the game, players will construct a wonder that defies time, make scientific advancements, develop commerce, manage their resources, and handle their gold wisely, or while keeping an eye on neighboring cities. Because in seven wonders fashion, they're going to be attacking you. This dice version of the game uses dry erase boards and a dice box action selection system that's shaken at the start of the round. And this jumbles up both the size of the dice shown, but also depending on the quadrant of the box they land in, the cost to take those actions. Bonuses and combos abound here as players race to finish districts, earn rewards, gain access to special extra dice, which I like, and of course, become the most wanderous. I don't know if I expected much from another Seven Wonders game. I mean, Seven Wonders Duel, one of the best games of all time in my personal opinion, but Seven Wonders Dice, I was initially interested. I was like, "Oh, dice. I like dice." And this little action selection is so fun and you can't you could rig it, I suppose, if you were like, you know, but it's pretty fair. It randomizes everything and gives you so many options to think about. The aim to end the game is to finish the different buildings. Like build all the yellows, build all the blues, build all the

20:28 greens, build your wonder, and you want to get a bunch of points during the game, but you also have to be sure to take gold because sometimes I don't take gold and then I can't do anything and I have to pass and take three goals. And it feels very bad when that happens. It really does have the fabric of Seven Wonders. It feels like you're in that world. I suppose there's slightly less of an emphasis on the wonder itself here, but there's something very special about unlocking extra dice with technology and then getting to do a bonus action. And now all of my taking dice is cheaper than everyone else's. You kind of become more asynchronous as the game goes on. It's quick, light, fast, fun. I do really enjoy this one.

21:14 And finally, it's time to talk about The Druids of Adora. The second game that again, I just bought this. Didn't even go to Essen. You can just in the UK it was just out. The Druids of Adora is a brand new Stefenfeld game that is just seems to have gone wildly unnoticed. BGG says that the Druids of Adora is a game of strategic dice placement and building maners and steel with the help of healing herbs and mysterious stones. That's it. That's the whole board game blur. How? At the time of filming this video, there are no English videos about this game. But this isn't a rant. This is the people's choice. Here, we slip into the role of enigmatic druids and mysterious priestesses and journey through an enchanted forest of winding pathways and shrines. Our aim is to use our provisions carefully as we place dice out on spaces, gaining rewards and bonuses. There's potions to brew for special abilities, plants to cultivate to build our engine of powers, dolmans to connect to gain points, amulets to fill with gems to give multipliers. All while we aim to the first to light the fires to gain powerful powerful rewards.

22:32 I'm just surprised that the Druids of Adora hasn't garnered more adoration. I can't stop, can I? This is a fascinating game of dice placement. And this kind of like dice battles because you want at the end of the game to have the most powerful dice in all the different spots. But of course, the more powerful the dice that you play, the more it costs to do it. And you really got to manage your provisions in this. And there's loads of things that kind of are going to dictate where you want to place your dice. Not only do you want the actions of the spaces that you're taking, but you want to create pathways between the dolmans for points. You want to encircle the campfires and be the first to do that so that you can get wildly fantastic bonus actions. You want to earn different resources and take different actions so you can go up.

23:21 There's a plant path. The plant path allows you to make a decision to build an engine of extra powers. And all the while, you've got to be super careful not to run out of provisions so that you aren't the one who's got to take a turn off essentially and just gain a bit of a backup reward to get you back in the game. It's a big box. It's heavy. The quality of the components seems to be really nice. I'm super excited about the druids of Adora and I know that eventually everyone else is going to be as well. But it's just very surprising. And what's also surprising is that that is just a sampling of what the people have been playing this month. What have you been playing? Let us know below. And to join the discussion for next episode, follow the link in this video's description to our Patreon to find out how to pick the games featured in the People's Choice. And to see the games on our own personal radars, continue on to this month's On the Radar episode. Thank you for watching and we'll see you over there. Bye.