Continuing the idea of introducing ourselves, I thought I’d delve into my gaming style and likes. Here we have – The Solitary Meeple’s favorites!

What are your favorite game mechanisms? Like Marti, I’m more of an omnigamer than anything else, there are few (if any) mechanics I won’t play. I also don’t really have any favorites, so here are just the ones I play the most and/or wanted to highlight.

• Deck Building. I think the reason I like deck building games so much (especially co-op ones like Legendary) is because it combines the randomness of a shuffled deck with the ability to be able to choose what goes in the deck as the game progresses. Customizing your choices based on what’s available, what you’re facing, and what your deck is lacking gives so many creative choices.
• Solo Compatible. Board Game Geek classifies this as a “family” rather than a “mechanic,” but I wanted to mention it. Since I spend most of my time alone in my tiny 1-bedroom apartment, games that allow you to play by yourself rank high on my most-played list. It excites me that so many games are including solo modes by default, and also that there are games (like some in the next section) that are designed specifically to be played solo.
• Co-op. Cooperative games are my most favorite to play with friends/family. I don’t feel like I have an unfair advantage if I’ve played it more times than the other player(s) and being able to discuss strategy and tactics to best conquer the challenge make it feel even more fulfilling when you succeed.

What game are you most excited for in 2017? I haven’t yet read up on established games coming out this year, but I have some favorites that I’ll be receiving from Kickstarter. Top of the list are Hostage Negotiator: Crime Wave and Nemo’s War: Second Edition. Both designed as solo games, and incredible designs on each, I literally cannot wait to receive these games! I recently received my pledge for Anachrony and the box is HUGE and packed full of great components; hoping to get this to the table soon. Finally, I’m very much looking forward to Tiny Epic Quest coming out this year. As you’ll see below, I love the Tiny Epic series, and Quest with its ITEMeeples that can hold little items and maps and quests looks to be another great entry!

What are your top five favorite games? I have a really hard time picking favorites, especially when it comes to something as vast as the tabletop gaming hobby. As such, I’ll simply share some games that I enjoy playing, and I won’t rank them.

• Legendary. My favorite deck builder currently in my collection, if only for the sheer amount of cards available and the variety they allow when playing. Oh, and also because it’s both solo compatible and co-op. The variety in mechanics, enemies, bosses, and heroes make for a unique experience every time, my sister and I play this more than any other game I own!

• Ticket to Ride. Competitive, but not annoyingly so. The light nature of this game makes it great for game days where you want something easy to teach and that doesn’t make people stab each other in the back (there are plenty of other games for that if your group wants it, haha). I have the 1910 expansion and it makes things so much better: more tickets, larger cards, interesting thematic modes.

• Tiny Epic Series. I think this whole series, by Scott Almes and Gamelyn Games, is spectacular. The point of the series is to be easy entry, small footprint, but complex enough to replay many times. Most of the games have succeeded in that quite well. My favorites that I play most frequently are Tiny Epic Western and Tiny Epic Galaxies (which has an expansion arriving soon for which I can’t wait). All are solo compatible which makes them even better in my opinion!

• Star/Hero Realms. As Marti mentioned in her post, these aren’t the same game but are close enough in base mechanics to warrant a single spot. My go-to competitive deck builder, these games are simple to pick up but have a wealth of diversity and complexity between games, especially if you have the expansions (which I have all of for Star Realms, and everything currently available for Hero Realms). I’m very much looking forward to the Hero Realms campaign deck coming out this year!

• Pandemic. The quintessential cooperative, save the world, game. I have all the expansions, although I don’t get to play it often enough to try out most of the modules, but the variety of events and roles make it an interesting experience every time. I haven’t been able to get a group together to try Legacy Season 1 yet (and Season 2 is apparently in the works, YAY) but I’m hoping to soon.

What are your favorite podcasts or video reviewers? I don’t watch/listen to as many of these as I’d like (and I’m hoping to remedy that in the future). My go-to for videos would definitely be Watch It Played and Man vs. Meeple. For podcasts, I usually check out Dog and Thimble as I love their back and forth discussions over games.

Game on!

Scott – The Solitary Meeple