My Fave NTMs of 2015

2015 is at an end, and below is the list of New-to-Me games I played in 2015. From these contenders I'll pick ten or so faves, including a Game of the Year. Anyone want to throw in on this? Probably have results later today after I play some Fallout and what not.


Abyss
Albion's Legacy
Artifacts, Inc.
Baseball Highlights: 2045
Belle of the Ball
Burgle Bros.
Byzantium
Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Ciúb
Codenames
Coup
Cthulhu Realms
Dark Moon
Deus
Eggs and Empires
Eminent Domain: Microcosm
Equinox
Greed
Imperial Settlers: Why Can't We Be Friends
Inca Empire
Istanbul
Key Market
Lanterns: The Harvest Festival
Legends of Andor
Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice
Medina (second edition)
Merchants & Marauders: Seas of Glory
Migration: Book II -- A Saga of Conflict
Myrmes
Mysterium
Nations: The Dice Game
Omen: A Reign of War
Orongo
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Paperback
Polis: Fight for the Hegemony
Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot
Red7
RESISTOR_
Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island -- Voyage of the Beagle (Vol. 1)
Roll for the Galaxy
Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition
Roll Through the Ages: The Iron Age
Rolling Japan
San Juan (second edition)
Seven7s
Sky Tango
Smash Up
Space Cadets: Away Missions
Tammany Hall
Tekeli-li
Temporum
The Ancient World
The Dwarf King
The Grizzled
The Omega Virus
Theseus: The Dark Orbit -- Bots
Thunderstone Advance: Numenera
Tides of Time
Tiny Epic Defenders
Turn the Tide
Welcome to the Dungeon

My best games of 2015 are:

Ponzi Scheme - A crazy cuttroat death spiral economic game
Nippon - Very well made euro area control game. It's been a while that a "Yet Another Euro Game" really made a spark with me, but this one did it.
Food Chain Magnate - The new Splotter that is the first real hit since Indonesia or Antiquity. Lots of deep strategies, and completely unforgiving.
Mega Civilization - This one is unfair for the year, but really, it's super awesome.
Pax Pamir - Another in the realm of Pax Porfiriana lineage, still great stuff.
Forbidden Stars - For my F:AT creds, I did like this one a lot.

Party games - I don't call this category a Game of The Year, but I did like One Night Revolution and Codenames for dumb fun.

However, if there can be only one, I would have to say my GOTY goes to: Ponzi Scheme

There are only two games really in contention in my eyes.

Star Wars Armada and Forbidden Stars

I can't choose between 'em but I can tell you what game it wasn't without qualm, compunction, or doubt and that is Cthulu Wars.

I want to call Cthulhu Wars a great big ol' pile of shit, but that's not entirely true. It's entriely serviceable a functioning game, nothing really works incorrectly about it (except how needlessly produced it is, and before you start, you're wrong, it's needless). But nor does it do anything exceedingly well. I've heard people say it's a Nexus Ops kind of game, not the CitOW kind of game I'm holding it up to be. Ok, maybe you're right, but you know what game is better in every way? Fucking Nexus Ops. It's mediocre, and given how great pretty much every other new game I played this year is (except for X-Files, that is the worst game I've played maybe ever), that's enogh for mediocrity to get thrown into the pile of shit category.

My top 5 of games that were actually released in 2015:

5. Star Wars Risk
4. Fury of Dracula 3rd Edition (I wanted to keep this to NEW games, but this is too good to not count).
3. Mysterium
2. Star Wars Armada
1. Forbidden Stars. Don't believe the anti-hype.

I think I'd go with this top 5:

5. Pandemic Legacy - I can't escape the feeling this could have been even better. As it is it's a really fun game, but the narrative really lacks a sense of danger. Still, we've really enjoyed it.

4. Codenames - This is a great game, reminding me of stuff like Dixit. But I like this one better.

3. Imperial Assault - Is this a 2015 game? Kind of on the line as I recall. I really enjoy it though. It's one of my favorite tactical games in years.

2. Shadows of Malice - Not gonna work for everyone, but it worked REALLY well for me. Just a great sense of narrative and imagination, and it does it in some really fresh ways.

1. Fury of Dracula - I love this game. Nothing else this year had such a sense of "we gotta play that again". It perfected the game for me, and made it truly amazing.

SC:AM is my #1 or #2. It hits almost every button I have. It's biggest failure (and opportunity for an expansion) is that it has no 'leveling'. If I had my moment to give Al and Dan my worthless opinion, it's that they should've started players out as Ensigns and give them special cards that upgrade their rank and give a special ability if they accomplish objectives or something.

I liked artifacts inc quite a bit (thanks again, Dave!) but I knew I would because I'm a fan of the designer. Love the (overlooked) fact that going for the area control depletes your cubes, which then limits your ability to buy, etc.

Cthulhu Wars is fucking cool. I don't care what the hipsters say. I love it. Definitely not GOTY but very fun. Too damned expensive and I agree with Josh that it would be as much fun with 32mm figures.

Epic Spell Wars is really awesome, but it really is group dependent. It really has to be played with a certain alcohol volume in your blood.

City of Horror is the top of my list. That or Zpocalypse. I prefer socially-driven games so City of Horror is my fave NTM but Zpocalypse is everything anyone could want in a co-op zombie game.

New to me is the only category that works for me. No particular order other than Flick em Up.

Flick em Up was my absolute favourite. An awesome game that is very immersive where the mechanics actually feel like the thing they should represent.

Samurai and T&E I hadn't played before and I fell for both this year. Incredible games that instantly earned a spot on my forever shelf.

SC:AM the beginning of my co-ops dudes in a hall obsession. I have a group I game with where co-ops work better and this one is a big hit.

Shadows Of Brimstone - a great game and one I hope to play more of. That same group really dug it but the leveling thing holds us back from playing as often. The drop in and play feel of SC:AM makes it more accessible for us.

Survive: Space Attack - every group I play with adores Survive and this game rejuvenated our interest in it. We still love regular Survive but this gives us an alternative... which is nice.

Wiz-War - one of my all time favourites that unfortunately I never played until this year... now I think I must have played it 50 times this year. A huge hit with me and a game I suspect can be played pretty much forever.

Queens Gambit: If Doc M didn't own this and introduce me to it I may have bought the new Star Wars Risk but now that I've played Queens Gambit and have the option to play it again with the good Dr. I have pretty much no interest in the new version.

Honorable mentions: Luchador and Epic Spell Wars - fun games with a couple of drinking buddies that aren't great by any stretch but are a lot of fun despite themselves. Epic Spell Wars is a lot better but it does take a bit longer too.

I still haven't played my copy of 504 but I'm ok with that. I'm really enjoying playing solo and just figuring out which combinations will work the best for me. There are four modules I like much more than the others and I'm anxious to try them out when I get the chance.

no NTMs this year (Pax Porfiriana has not been played yet), but rediscovering Troyes has definitely been Game of the Year for me in 2015. Can't decide if I am most looking forward to Combat Commander or Conflict of Heroes in 2016, but overall I think it's definitely Heroscape

Two games were new to me in the last week or so, and they both hit me hard: X-Wing Miniatures Game, and Pandemic Legacy. We've burned through 7 months in as many days in P:L, and I'm chomping at the bit to play more X-wing and begin collecting stuff. The other three that I've liked the most are Codenames, Evolution, and Tragedy Looper.

ARMADA #1

Playing space admiral defeats all.

Chapel wrote: However, if there can be only one, I would have to say my GOTY goes to: Ponzi Scheme

I played this at BGG.Con and really liked it. It's absolutely ruthless, and has some outstanding deal-making.

I looked into Ponzi Scheme. Seems that a small production run was done by Homosapiens Lab. I uncovered requests from people trying to track down a copy in August. Unless it gets reprinted soon it's already a collectors item

Alastair MacDirk wrote: I looked into Ponzi Scheme. Seems that a small production run was done by Homosapiens Lab. I uncovered requests from people trying to track down a copy in August. Unless it gets reprinted soon it's already a collectors item

I talked with two people who were in the publishing side that said they were both interested in picking it up for a wider printing. I bet we'll see it this year no problem.

I didn't think I played too many things that were new to me this year, but as it turns out...

Codenames
Pandemic Legacy
Favor of the Pharaoh (I had played To Court the King)
Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Suburbia 5*
The Game: Spiel...so lange du kannst!
Wiz-War: Bestial Forces
Wiz-War: Malefic Curses
Dark Moon
Dungeon Fighter: The Big Wave
Dungeon Fighter: Fire at Will
Dungeon Fighter: Stormy Winds
Dungeon Fighter: Rock and Roll
Nations
XCOM: The Board Game
Viceroy
Five Tribes
Musée
Broom Service
Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Secrets
Elder Sign: Gates of Arkham
Exploding Kittens
Hot Tin Roof
Keyflower
Krosmaster: Arena
504
Among the Stars: Revival
Antiquity
Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents
Uruk II: Die Entwicklung Geht Weiter
Dice City
Chaosmos
Blood Rage
Five Tribes: The Artisans of Naqala
Floating Market
The Grizzled
Guns & Steel
Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße
Mad City
Harbour
Mottainai
Mysterium
Patchistory
Rococo
Merchants & Marauders: Seas of Glory
Specter Ops
WWE Superstar Showdown
Spike

My favorite ten from the year, in no particular order:

Keyflower, Codenames, Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße, Blood Rage, Pandemic Legacy, Wiz-War expansions, Favor of the Pharaoh, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Dark Moon

NTM GOTY 2015: Keyflower

Played very little new games this year. I particularly like Imperial Assault, Steam (rreeaally dig this one), Ticket to Ride, and Castles of Burgundy.

Warhammer 40k Conquest is another one new to me, but I haven't played it often enough.

Intrigued by Terra Mystica.