Toplists — 29 Dec 2024

2024's Euro Highlights

2024 had tons of good games and many of them permanently joined our collection. As usual, we found it hard to sort them in a top list, so we decided to focus on the new euros for this particular list (split up into two posts), and even then they are in no particular order. ☺️

📡 SETI

Except for SETI which is an obvious #1 of 2024! 🥰🏆 This game has a relatively low rules overhead but an amazingly large decision space. The economy of the game is quite tight, but not so restrictive that you cannot do anything. At any given turn there are many ways to do things and so many cool combos. The topic is also interesting and every game has an epic arc - by the end you will have explored multiple planets and found two distinct alien species. 😁

⛵ Saltfjord

The dice action selection of this game is sublime. You get dice to activate rows or columns of your player board, and you can expand them with new buildings/actions as you play. This is coupled with a satisfying resource management and conversion element. The theme of Saltfjord is not particularly attractive for us, but the gameplay is really convincing in exchange. 😊

🌕 Shackleton Base

A very replayable and interactive euro with lots of layers and some innovative new takes on worker placement. Where you place out your buildings is important for multiple reasons. The neutral corporations you select for each game add a splash of flavor to make subsequent games different. 😉 There is a lot to love here, and while it definitely shines at 4p, it is still fun with 2 players. 😊

🛸 Andromeda's Edge

This is one of those overproduced big box Kickstarter games, but this time it is meant as a positive. The amazing trays and miniatures are bundled with amazing gameplay that you can keep playing over and over. Turns are usually quick and snappy, but you can do some fun combos. There is also dice combat, but surprisingly, even we found it amazing. 🤩

⚓ Endeavour: Deep Sea

One of the big surprises of the year for me. I went in with low expectations but was surprised how fun this was. Very simple rules, but super combo heavy gameplay where you get something cool each turn. The tracks are meaningful and exploring the seascape is always fun. 🤿😊

🌀 An Age Contrived

We played a prototype of this last year, so I knew how good this game would be. Now that we have the final version in our hands I can safely say it is awesome. The mechanics are difficult to describe, but believe me when I say it's great! It has a distinctly different feel from most euros we own. 🙂

⚗️ Inventors of the South Tigris

The games from Garphill keep amazing us. Even though you can often see a lot of similarities between titles, there are always fresh new ideas infused to make them unique and fun, which is also the case with Inventors. The South Tigris trilogy turned out amazing. 🥰

🏛️ Minos: Dawn of the Bronze Age

A clever dice drafting action selection and tableau building with cards join forces to provide a fun euro game, together with a welcome return to an ancient historical setting. Another positive surprise, especially as our expectations weren't high. But this is great! 😉

🗾 Yokohama

This is actually a game from 2016, but the new re-release edition deserves to be mentioned as many people will finally be able to get their hands on this otherwise out of print masterpiece. The way you have to prepare for actions in advance by placing out assistants on the modular board is very engaging. 🙃