And that was 2023!

Another year of gaming is over and we say goodbye to 2023.

It’s been a week since the ball dropped and a million and one fireworks were set off across the world.

I thought I’d take a look back over the last 12 months and pick out some highlights from among the Kickstarter arrivals, new games played, and awesome people we’ve met.

JANUARY – JANUARY – JANUARY

Kickstarter Arrivals

POWER PLANTS – This was the first Kickstarter arrival of the year (Jan 18th). While the Deluxe version looks really nice with those wooden tiles and the playmat, the game felt more complicated than it needed to be. The complexity of the variables (10 plants with light and dark abilities) meant that it would be a lot of ‘learning games’ before we had a good handle on it. And at 2-player it just didn’t work for us, so the game was sold off just before Christmas after only two plays many months ago.

ON TOUR: PARIS AND NEW YORK – After getting into Roll ‘n’ Writes, I knew ON TOUR was a game I really wanted to try. When the sequel popped up for Crowdfunding with the original game as an add-on, I didn’t hesitate. The funny thing is, while we really like the original and play it quite often, we’ve only just gotten around to trying the Paris and New York follow up, which was mostly due to it being on this years 20×5.

Best New Game Played

THE TAVERNS OF TIEFENTHAL – This game had sat in our collection for 2 years and 13 days before we played it, and it was an immediate regret . . . that we hadn’t played it sooner! A great dice drafting game with a bunch of variabilty added to it thanks to all the additional modules.

Highlight Of The Month

The unexpected arrival of FROSTHAVEN – Not only was I not expecting my retail Pre-order to arrive for months and months, but the fact that I’d seen the price skyrocket above what I’d paid almost a year earlier on a whim made me very happy that I’d got in early. Of course getting the sequel for one of our all time favourites to the table has been another matter altogether in 2023.

FEBRUARY – FEBRUARY – FEBRUARY

Kickstarter Arrivals

MOTOR CITY – We’d been enjoying THREE SISTERS when this campaign appeared and I decided to continue and expand our growing Roll ‘n’ Write sub-collection. On first play it was a good game, but I was immediately aware that our first play was hindered by not knowing the best stratergy. You really need to know where else you’re going and then focus or you could be spread too thin. Unfortunately we’ve not played it again since it arrived.

Best New Game Played

SAGRADA – We borrowed a copy from a friend and couldn’t stop playing for weeks. I think it entered our top 5 most played games of 2023, even without owning it until a week before Christmas 2023. And because we now own our own copy, I think it’s going to get played even more.

Highlight Of The Month

THE CASTLES OF BURGUNDY is one of our favourite games, but it’s also one that’s complex enough and long enough that I struggle to win it (a problem I have with most of our bigger games due to the way my brain works). But on the 14th February, after 6 previous attempts, I finally got my first win. And it sure felt good.

MARCH – MARCH – MARCH

Kickstarter Arrivals

TINY EPIC VIKINGS – Since Dinosaurs went super super small, I’ve been backing the Tiny Epic series from Gamlyn Games. And this one looks like one we’ll really like . . . if we ever get round to playing it. It currently sits gathering dust on our Shelf Of Shame.

Best New Game Played

FINAL GIRL – I’d missed two Kickstarter campaigns for this, but it kept calling to me. When the good folks at Out Of Town Games posted that they had some copies in stock, I thought it was as good a time as any to try it. I didn’t know then after that first play how far I’d fall down the rabbit hole, but it was very quick to become my favourite solo game. And nine months later it sits as my favourite game of 2023. And I have all the features to date. And I have everything extra too. Oh, and I’ve backed Season 3.

Highlight Of The Month

March 2020 was when I met and fell for my awesome Player-2. It was just as the Pandemic hit. While the world was turned upsidedown, we stuck together through it all and ended up moving in after less than a year since that first message. So what better way to celebrate our 3 year anniversary? Well, how about sneaking an engagment ring into our copy of HIVE (the first game we played together in real life) and then popping the question. She said yes and our wedding is in three weeks. This is not only the highlight of March, but of 2023.

APRIL – APRIL – APRIL

Kickstarter Arrivals

SOLAR 175 – I love the folks at Cogito Ergo Meeple. We backed their second game (FLOATING WORLD) based soley on the Japanese aesthetic and it’s one of our favourite games. After meeting the couple behind the game at UKGE 2022 (hello Madeleine and Joseph) and being taught GONZA INDEX, I was super looking forward to their epic Sci-Fi campaign game SOLOR 175 arriving. When it turned up it looked more amazing than I’d expected. Yet we’ve still not gotten it to the table. It’s a big commitment to learn and play this regularly, and I’d say it’s less that we are afraid to start it, and more that we want it to be perfect. I’m hoping to carve out some time this year and finally dive into it as it looks awesome.

FOR NORTHWOOD – I’d already grabbed ORCHARD and GROVE via Crowdfiundng as two interesting looking solo card games. The next project from the team was FOR NORTHWOOD, which is a solo tricktaking game. Perhaps this shouldn’t work, but some how it does. I’ve played a small number of times since it arrived, but it’s now on my Solo 10×10 for 2024, so I’ll be getting much more stuck into it.

NATUROPOLIS – I really like SPRAWLOPOLIS, and it’s what caught my attention for ButtonShy Games. I’ve since backed the two followups, NATURIOPOLIS being the third in the series. This is my favourite of the three in terms of art and colours, We’re still to do the whole ‘combining all the games’ thing yet but I’m really keen to try it.

Best New Game Played

HEAT: PEDAL TO THE METAL – Sometimes games get hype and then it all dies down and the game becomes forgotten. Sometimes games get hyped and they turn out to be a little meh. HEAT: PEDAL TO THE METAL is neither. I was late joining the party but it was well worth the wait. The best thing about it is the autonoma which makes even 2-player games feel exciting. I recently sold FORMULA D because this makes it obsolete for us. And now I’m keen to grab the expansion when it comes out.

Highlight Of The Month

Up until April, I’d only gamed with friends and family. And not a lot of either are gamer gamers. So, despite my anxiety and over thinking brain, we finally made the step to meet new people. First was a local board game group in our area which we continue to be part of almost a year later. The second was going along to an Instagram group meetup. While I was extremely tense the first hour or so, it slowly became an amazing experience. Not only was it nice to meet folks in real life that I’d only spoken with via social media, but since that weekend we’ve been to other meetups, visited folks, and gotten some really great friendships out of it.

MAY – MAY – MAY

Kickstarter Arrivals

A lot of Kickstarters were being delayed last year. I had several months where the predicted number of arrivals was nearly double figures due to them all being backed up. This led to May being the only month where I did not have any new crowdfunded games being delivered, despite expecting quite a few.

Best New Game Played

MILLI FIORI – Never have I taken a gamble on a game and discovered such a gem. I barely knew anything about it but it continued to call to me whenever I saw it pop up on other gamers posts. So when I placed an order online for something else, I chucked it in the virtual basket without really thinking it through. But this game has turned out to be a firm favourite, not only with us, but with friends we’ve taught it to since. It went straight into my Top 10 for 2023, it’s that good.

Highlight Of The Month

During the Pandemic we brought a lot of games. A lot. And despite our best intentions, rising building costs have meant we’ve had to put a our planned house extention on hold (which was going to be a purpose built games room). So with space running out we looked at our collection, realised that not all games are created equal, and then began the tough choices of . . . selling some! It’s been difficult, and I stuggle with the process of taking payments and boxing it all up to post. My stress and anxiety go through the roof until I get a message from the buyer saying it’s all arrived safe and sound. But it’s also made me pickier over what we add now that I see some games are all flashy with no staying power.

JUNE – JUNE – JUNE

Kickstarter Arrivals

THE ISLE OF TRAINS – Since meeting the nice folks at Dranda Games back at UKGE 2021, I’ve kept an eye on their games. After their sci-fi romps through SOLAR STORM and SOLAR SPHERE, they switched tracks (!) and launched THE ISLE OF TRAINS. It’s a small box game that would give the Tiny Epic series a run for it’s money in terms of content and shelf space, and I like the interesting mechanic where cards have all the information on them to be used in three different ways.

Best New Game Played

SPOTS – After trying SPOTS on BGA, we grabbed a retail copy and it’s become another game that we teach to anyone that sits within 5 yards of us. The dog artwork is super cute (this coming from a Cat person) and I really like winding my fiancee up by pushing my luck when I probably shouldn’t.

Highlight Of The Month

It’s another first win highlight for June, but it is TICKET TO RIDE, a game I’ve played for years. It was in classic style as we finished counting up routes and I was second in a well played game. And then someone remembered the Longest Route card and I’d smashed that and ended up winning by 5 points. I was ‘chuffed’ .

JULY – JULY – JULY

Kickstarter Arrivals

WAYPOINTS – It was another light month for Kickstarter arrivals. The only thing that did turn up was a bit of a non delivery due to it being the third Print & Play from Postmark games. So, no postman required. Just e-mail and printer. We’ve still not gotten around to playing this one, but the first two games they did are really good (VOYAGES is amazing) so I’m eager to try this too.

Best New Game Played

CROKINOLE – At the 24hr Board Game Marathon we were lucky enough to be taught Crokinole. Members of the ‘Whose Turn Is It Anyway‘ podcast not only lent us their board and taught us, but then spotted us later and asked if we wanted to play again. Now to save up and get our own board.

Highlight Of The Month

Potentially my number one gaming experience of all time, The 24hr Board Game Marathon was absolutely amazing. It’s without a doubt the best board game meetup event I’ve ever been to, and we can’t wait to go back again in 2024. Lasting the full 24 hours, making new friends, being in a Blood On The Clocktower session run by Ben Burns, playing the last game of the event with Luke Hector, and playing games on stream with the amazing people of my favourite gaming podcast. Hard one to top, that’s for sure.

AUGUST – AUGUST – AUGUST

Kickstarter Arrivals

RIVER WILD / ANCIENT REALM – More ButtonShy games added to the collection and it was a little hit and miss. RIVER WILD has a distinct art stlye to it and a similar vibe to SPRAWLOPOIS (laying cards down to expand an area while maximizing the scoring the cards offer), but it fell quite flat with me and isn’t anywhere near as good as it’s cousins. ANCIENT REALM on the other hand is definitely in my Top 5 ButtonShy games with it’s clever card mechanics and thinky puzzle.

POINT CITY – This evolution of POINT SALAD was an immediate back from me (and ended up being one of three AEG KS projects within a very small window). It does exactly what it’s predesesor does and then adds to it with a few bells and whistles. City is now my preferred of the two, but I’d still use Salad for new non-gamers.

CURSED THRONE – This is an expansion to NIGHT OF A HUNDRED YOKAI. It’s a beautiful game with cool little meeples that we’ve enjoyed. I wasn’t sure if we needed the expansion as much, but there was the promise of the insert holding all the content so far, something that did interest me.However, it looks like it’s potentially possible but quite the effort and now I’ve got two boxes when I only wanted one. We’ll see what the expansion adds and decide if we need to keep it or move it along.

Best New Game Played

LEGACY OF YU – I skipped over this during it’s time in Crowdfunding as I wasn’t doing much solo play. But with the career change and having a little more time at home on my own now, I jumped in and PreOrdered the retail release. It’s from Garphil Games, whose releases I really enjoy, and it’s a sort of campaign game (easily resetable). And it’s super tough. It seems to split the communtiy between those that find it too easy, and those that find it too hard. Well I struggle with it, but I like the challenge. It’s on my Solo 10×10 for 2024 so will see a good amount of play.

Highlight Of The Month

Bit of a joint Highlight this month. After spending much of the year planning big changes in my life, I finally quit my job as I prepared to become a full time student. This job that I did and the place that I worked were giving me all sorts of mental helath issues, some new, others pre-existing but exacerbated. With the support of my fiancee, and the best wishes of those I did call friends at my job, I handed in my notice . . . and haven’t looked back.

In regards to board gaming, August also marked my 100th Always Play Blue Review. I’d saved my all time favourite game to review for this milestone; GLOOMHAVEN. A game of that size required not 1, not 2, but 3 posts to even come close to doing it justice. Can’t believe I made it to 100 (currently on 121). But there is no sign of stopping yet. Instead I want to branch out to full reviews on this Website as well as YouTube content.

SEPTEMBER – SEPTEMBER – SEPTEMBER

Kickstarter Arrivals

UPRISING: TITANS OF THE FIRST AGE – September was an epic month for Kickstarter arrivals, and what better way to ‘kick’ it off than with an expansion to the absolutely epic UPRISING: CURSE OF THE EMPEROR. This adds more cool stuff and also came with the added Deluxe Components set. The game already looks amazing, but all this just turns it up to 11.

MOON – Following on from Haakon Gaarder’s VILLAGERS and STREETS, this one rounds out the trilogy by heading to space. It’s a more technical version of SUSHI GO! with card drafting and engine building. There are a few complications I’d perhaps remove (the heart tokens are a big fail and I’m not keen on the power cards in a two player game) but it’s my favourite of the three for sure.

KEYFORGE – This is a card game that I saw my fiancee and me getting into at the start of the Pandemic. MAGIC: THE GATHERING was too big and intimidating at this stage, but KEYFORGE was newish. Unfortunately it struggled to make a lasting impression on the world, but this meant that I was soon able to grab quiet a few decks for a small amount of pocket change (at one point I found Worlds Collide decks for about £1.75 each!). But when the game returned from beyond the grave as a Gamefound campaign, I took a gamble and grabbed a bunch of stuff including a mat and some co-op sets. And I’m impressed by what arrived. Unfortuntely the team now behind it weren’t the best in Post campaign and I, as well as many others, agreed we’d not be returning for the follow up content. But I’ve got enough to now enjoy the game and great storage for it thanks to Tesseract Games.

TINY EPIC CRIMES – Another game in the Tiny Epic series and I continue the trend of not getting it to the table. If I’m honest this one didn’t appeal to me like the others before and since, but I have issues and being a set complitionist is one of them. Hopefully when we get round to it, it’s fun.

DREADFUL MEADOWS – Following on from Arkus Games AZUL-like game SHELFIE STACKER, I was interested in what they did next. And that turned out to be DREADFUL MEADOWS. It’s a great little resource management game with really nice production value on its components, and the art is striking. I’m not sure if it will stay in the colletion though as I didn’t particularly gel with it after a handful of plays.

Best New Game Played

SOLAR SPHERE – We didn’t take too many new games on our relaxing weekend away (see below), but one that we did, and one we really liked, was SOLAR SPHERE from Dranda Games. It’s an interesting Worker Placement game with players viaing for control of the titular sphere while fighting off Space Pirates and hiring crew. And it looks really nice all set up on the table.

Highlight Of The Month

Every year we try to go away for my Birthday weekend and this was without a doubt the best yet. An airbnb on the edge of a peaceful lake. Even the rain couldn’t ruin it as we sat indoors, binged One Piece on Netflix, and played a whole bunch of games. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous and I could quite easily live there for the rest of my life. Not having to return to my stressful job upon my return also didn’t break the chill factor that I managed to get.

OCTOBER – OCTOBER – OCTOBER

Kickstarter Arrivals

ABOREA – At a time when I was trying not to double up games from our collection with that of a friend, she got to BITOKU first, so I backed ABOREA instead. We’ve still not played this mix of BITOKU art astyle and TZOLK’IN time mechanics, but I’m looking forward to it soon.

AGE OF COMICS – Comic themed Worker Placement game? Well, that has ‘me’ written all over it. And besides the theme and mechanics drawing me in, this is one of the best looking games, component wise, that we own. The insert, the wooden pieces, the original ‘homage’ comic cover tiles. It’s all so nice when the game is set up and being played. And my fiancee liked it so much, I think it was her first choice to include on the 20×5 for this year.

SENJUTSU – Most of the campaigns I’ve backed have gone pretty smoothly. This one, though? This was bad. Delays, lies, poor communication. It had the lot, and then some. Which is a shame, because the game itself looks pretty damn good. Hoping to try it soon (yes, that’s becoming a catchphrase here).

Best New Game Played

THE WHITE CASTLE – All I can say is wow! This was a no brainer for my number two game of last year. At all counts it just works for me, and I actually seem to have a nack with working this out that I don’t have for similar or heavier games. We played it three times in fives days when it turned up, and all I want to do is play it with everyone we sit down with. An amazing game.

Highlight Of The Month

After six weeks to undo the stress and depression I got from the job I quit in August, it was time to get stuck into my Uni studys as my course began. It was a little bit overwhelming to start as I’ve been out of education for *cough* years, but I’m doing better than expected, and that’s all I can hope for.

NOVEMBER – NOVEMBER – NOVEMBER

Kickstarter Arrivals

PIONEER RAILS – It’s another Dranda Games kickstarter, this time a Flip ‘n’ Write with a clever Poker card mechanic. The suit indicates which area of your map you can add to as well as building towards a five card Poker hand at the end of each game phase. I was fortunate enough to play a demo during the campaign, and while our little Print ‘n’ Play have served us well, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the final version with the nice quality cards and additional dry wipe boards.

SLEEPING GODS: DISTANT SKIES – We had such a great time playing the original SLEEPING GODS that I just threw my money at Red Raven Games when this sequel was announced. And it’s quality matches its predessesor. We also added the spin off smaller version, PRIMEVAL PERIL which we’ve already gotten to the table and enjoyed. It’s to SLEEPING GODS what JAWS OF THE LION is to GLOOMHAVEN. A nice little bite sized version that can be run through in a single session.

Best New Game Played

CYBERION – I’ve enoyed playing the Oniverse over the last few years and was over the moon when they started releasing new games in the series. And the lastest release, CYBERION, is without a doubt my favourite of the lot. A perfect mix of simplicity to set up and play but enough crunch that I have to slow down and think about whether I should make certain moves and sacrifice certain cards. It’s one of those games where a close loss is as satisfying as any win.

Highlight Of The Month

I’ve wanted to play D&D since I was in Junior school, but I’ve never run in the right circles to experience it until about three years ago. While I had fun as a DM running a five session campaign, I wasn’t confident to run games with people I didn’t know as well as that starting group. As their interest wained I was lucky enjough to bump in someone online who let me join as a player in several remote One Shots over the last couple of years (thank you Todd). But I still hungered for a campaign, for a character to journey with and fellow adventurers to share the highs and lows. Well in November of 2023 a couple of my fiancee’s friends said they would run something for us all, and we’ve now begun our first proper D&D campaign. And it’s been amazing. Our DM is fantastic and the group I’m with are great at bringing the right amount of silly while also taking the game seriously enough so we’re not stuck going nowhere. The only downside now is all that horrible wasted time between sessions. I need to find a way to make it go away.

DECEMBER – DECEMBER – DECEMBER

Kickstarter Arrivals

GUILD ACADEMIES OF VALERIA – I love the Valeria games and have worked on getting my hands on all of them. Guilds is the latest one to arrive (with Castellians coming later this year) and it also came with an expansion for SHAOW KINGDFOMS OF VALERIA as well as some Valeria Folded Space insets.

THE GIG – I’d missed the campaign for this interesting looking Roll ‘n’ Write, but after seeing a post from good Instagram friend Kay, I jumped into the Late Pledge and got a copy.

SCHOLARS OF THE SOUTH TIGRIS – I can’t get enough of the Medieval Trilogy series from Garphil Games. They keep getting better. And after spending a year playing loads of Paladins in 2022, and then getting stuck into Wayfarers last year, we now have the second Tigris game for 2024.

Best New Game Played

TERRAFORMING MARS – This is in on a technicality. I’ve played TERRAFORMING MARS once before, but the circumstances were all wrong and I went on to turn my back on the game, not seeing why everyone raved about it. But some good friends of ours were kind enough to show us the game proper, and while it isn’t something that would smash into my top 10 of all time, I really enjoyed playing, and if it came up again I would join a game in a heartbeat.

Highlight Of The Month

I’m not the most outgoing and social person in the world, but before I get married this month I wanted to do something resembling a Stag Party. And so it was that I gathered three of my good friends and we marched into Dice, Portsmouth for an afternoon of gaming. It got fiesty straight away with games like SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM, SURVIVE: ESCAPE FROM ATLANTIS, KING OF TOKYO and more. And to top it off, the fine folks of my FLGS even gifted me with a game that been on my Wishlist for years. ; THE ANCIENT WORLD. It wasn’t a typical Stag Party, but it was perfect for me and my mates, so much so that we’re going to make it an annual meetup now.

2023 IN STATS

Since January 2020 I’ve used the BGStats app to record my plays and last year was no different. Here are some of the stats from my 2023.

• Total number of plays – 868 (across 267 different games)
• H-Index – 10
• Total Time played – 476 hours
• Most Played Game – YAHTZEE (76plays)
• Number of wins – 394
• Month with most plays – April with 102 (across 58 different games)
• Number of new games to me – 135
• Number of different people played with – 91

LOOKING FORWARD INTO 2024

So where does that leave things for this year?

Well, we have our three challenges already on the go. There’s the annual 52×1 Challenge to encourage us to average more than one new game a week. We also have the 20×5 Challenge for which we’ve both picked 10 games we really want to play this year that haven’t been involved in our challenges before. And then I’m also doing a Solo 10×10 Challenge.

The most important event of the year for us will be the wedding, which is going to have many nods to board gaming as that is what got us together in the first place. Expect a seperate post on that after the event.

Later in the year we’re very much hoping to take part in our second 24 Hour Board Game Marathon.

RPG wise we’ve got the continuation of our current Call Of The Netherdeep D&D campaign to contend with as well as just recently starting a Numanera Campaign with a different group of friends. And I’m once again doing a little solo variation and getting stuck into my own Colostle Campaign which I’m considering posting journal entries here on the site depending on how it goes.

Other than that it will be about selling to make more space for incoming Kickstarter and Gamefound games. Below is a list of the top 10 games I can’t wait to turn up.

• AGEMONIA
• ANDOMEDA’S EDGE
• CASTELLIANS OF VALERIA
• EZRA AND NEHEMIAH
• FINAL GIRL SEASON 3
• NOTORIOUS: OUTSIDERS
• PLANET UNKNOWN
• SHIPWRIGHTS OF THE NORTH SEA: REDUX
• THE ELDER SCROLLS: BETRAYAL OF THE SECOND ERA
• UNCONSCIOUS MINDS

And of course I can’t wait to meet up with our great gaming friends and play a whole bunch of classic and new games.

So that’s it. That was a highlight reel of the last 12 months of board gaming from the Always Play Blue household. Thank you for taking the time to read this post, I hope it was okay being longer than the usual.

Next up will be the Wedding Post, followed closly by a look back on January 2024.

Until then, enjoy your gaming.