Phil Eklund usually does it for me. Stuff like Greenland (you play one of three cultures in Greenland, trying to survive the harsh climate changes, possibly converting to mono-theism, marrying or robbing daughters of other players, cultivating animals and hunting whales) or Neanderthal (playing one of three orders of ancient, developing the brain capacity, probably gaining speach) are on the more “usual” end of his games, mostly ressource management. But when you go into stuff like Bios: Genesis where you play as enzyms that might develop into basic life cycles and might even turn into bacteria, well, that’s when it gets hardcore. I love his games, even though those I played all were a bit on the super-heavy-brainburny side. He often has quite good solo rules, too.

Or how about hardcore science and space? Playing one of several space agencies in Leaving Earth gives you a pickup-and-deliver game mechanic where you have to do hard calculation of missions into space, testing equipment and managing your very limited financial ressources and tools to be the best space agency with the most successful and prestigous missions under it’s belt. Allthough in this category probably Phil Eklund takes the crown again with his High Frontier, but I don’t have that beast, only have Leaving Earth. It is fun to play if you love mental math jogging and love to brood over your turn for half an hour. I guess it might be less fun if you play it multiplayer, if everybody loves to brood over their turn for half an hour, though 😉 – yeah, I only played it solo so far. And only got it for my own guilty pleasure. I could imagine to play it with two or three like-minded people, though. Just will take much longer than announced on the box.

There are a bunch of unusual ones in the conflict simulation genre, too. One of our favorites is Wir sind das Volk, where you play as either East or West Germany, trying to build your economy in a way that demoralizes and crushes the other state (or in case of the East, you mostly try to survive, really crushing the West being mostly a theoretical option). Sure, there are more co-sims that work with political and social aspects more than with military might, but this one kinda hits the top for me, because of it’s really special take on it. Another one in that box migth be 1989, which is kinda “Twilight Struggle” in Eastern Europe during the democratization there. But WsdV is really an Euro game at heart and only borrows some game mechanics (mostly the card driven aspect) from co-sims, which makes it really special to me (games on the border of war games and euro are my favorites).

The upcoming Days of Ire will bring something similar: the insurrection against the socialists in Hungary (only short lived, as it was). It even combines it with some weird mechanics: one side of the game plays the socialist oppressor, playing a CDG against them, placing new problems on the board, while the insurrectionists play kinda a game of Pandemic, trying to put out those problems and surviving against the oppressor. One of the few “overlord” games I got really interested in, because it mechanically made sense. Totally looking forward to get that game early next year. Again, not totally unusual if you are a war-gamer or co-sim player, but for more euro-ish gamers quite a bit outside the usual fare.

Another one that I really like (well, I like all of the above, too!) due to it’s quick setup and play is Valley of the Kings, a quite compact deck builder. I usually get some flak for calling out the theme as inconsequential for the game play and pasted on. But here it’s about the theme in itself: you are competing pharao that build up their grave and collect stuff to take with them to the after world. You entomb cards from your hand (which is this games way of thinning your deck to make your engine more efficient) and play sarcophagus, masks, magical tools/signs, books and other whatevers on yourr turn to attack/manipulate your opponent, buy new and better stuff and do lots of other things. The mechanics work beautifully, but I’d call that theme at least a little bit unusual.

Another one for me with an unusual theme (allthough in a way it has been done in other word-building games) is Paperback where you are an author writing her novels, using cards to build words and using deck building to get better letters and letter combinations to make better words. Not totally unusual, but I think really novel (haha) in this form. It’s actually a damn good deck builder that is our go-to game if we have noobs at our board game night, because allmost everybody can jump right in and play on their own after two rounds, having fun and even having a chance on a decent point score.

I play both and don’t really think one using more or less space than the other. The main difference for me is that Friday is more controllable in that you usually have a good idea wether you beat a card or not, while Hostage Negotiator throws in the dice rolling that can totally hose you. Both are fun for me, but the HN “roll to check for success” can be off-putting for some people.

I play both and don’t really think one using more or less space than the other. The main difference for me is that Friday is more controllable in that you usually have a good idea wether you beat a card or not, while Hostage Negotiator throws in the dice rolling that can totally hose you. Both are fun for me, but the HN “roll to check for success” can be off-putting for some people.