145) Saga

In this game you're building up armies to conquer as many of the six different lands (colors) as possible. On each turn a player may collect victory points for the lands they control. Then they must play a card from their hand and they also have the option to purchase a card to put in their hand. The game ends when one player has played all the cards from their hand. Some end game scoring happens and then the player with the most points wins.

Getting ready to start 

My hand

Our four player game

Initially this game feels like it will ever end as it seems almost impossible to get rid of all your cards, but  somehow the end always sneaks up on me before I'm ready. I really like a lot of the mechanics in this game - my favorite being the play between the game ending when you play all your cards and having to return cards to your hand when you lose control of one of the land cards. My biggest dislike of this game is that if you forget to take your points at the beginning of your turn you don't get to take them. You'd think you would always remember to take points as thats how you win, but you can get so wrapped up in planning which card you play that it just slips your mind. All in all a fun game unlike others I've played before.

144) Bohnanza

This is set collection game that will hone your negotiation skills. At the beginning of each players turn they must plant (play) the first card and optionally the second card of their hand (card order is important). The the player flips up two cards from the draw pile and must either plant them or trade/give away these cards. Finally the player draws cards to add to the back of their hand and the next players turn begins. As you may start to notice there is a lot of player interaction through trading of cards to both get the beans you want and weed the ones you don't want out of your hand.

Our 7-player game 

One blurry coffee bean 

Quality art 

End game score

This game will always hold a special place in my heart. The people I've played with and fun times I've had playing make me partial to this game. Thus, in my biased opinion you should certainly play this game (although after playing space beans I might recommend that game over this one).

143) Caylus

This is a classic game that launched the popularity of worker placement games and is a must play for everyone (at least in my opinion). There is too much going on to give a comprehensive overview, but more generally you're collecting resources and building new locations and increasing your favor with the king and getting special actions and scoring points. All this is done through the worker placement mechanic. Needless to say there's a lot going on and its a fun challenge to try and balance everything.

Ready to start 

Should I build a house... 

...Ok, I'll build one

As you can guess from the intro I highly recommend playing this game. It is fairly in-depth and a bit complex so be prepared to put some time into your first few plays. Once you get a feel for the game you'll be impressed at how smooth the game play is and the nuances and depth that this game provides will keep you coming back for more.

142) Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small

Another version of agricola that is way better then the original. All the complications have been stripped away and you're left with a beautiful two player worker placement game where your primary goal is to breed as many animals as possible. Of course to do this you're going to need buildings and fences and resources as well as expanded farming territory.

Ready to start 

Shared central board 

Multiplying animals

This is a great two player game where you're racing to build up your farm faster then the other player. Many worker placement games have a moment of reckoning where you have to pay a price at the end of the round such as feeding your workers. I this game there is no such requirement, which means you can expand and grow and build with reckless abandon. I think that is the strong point of this game for me in that you always feel rewarded because you're always building and gaining more. And, it also has awesome ani-meeples that provide endless enjoyment. I highly recommend playing this game.

141) Morels

In this game you're collecting mushrooms as you travel through the forest. On your turn you can add cards to your hand or play cards for end game points or immediate 'money'. At the end of each players turn a card is removed from the line-up and one or two new cards are added. The goal of the game is to collect sets of the same mushroom and then cook them in a pan (playing cards from your hand). Of course there are all sorts of bonus cards that can change your hand size, give you more pans, or even count as double of a given mushroom. When you've gone through the deck once the game ends.

Ready to go mushroom hunting 

My hand 

End game scoring 

Cool artwork

I really enjoyed this game. It's very tight to the point where you're counting cards and trying to remember what is left in the deck. It's a great balance of collecting the cards that benefit you and trying to thwart the other players plans. For a two player game there is quite a bit going on and we both enjoyed this one.

140) Space Beans

This is a fairly simple drafting game that is very similar to bohnanza. The game starts with all but one person having cards in hand. The start player draws two cards then chooses as many cards in one color as they want to lay in front of them. The first color is face up, but a second color can be started face down on subsequent turns. Once the cards are played the remaining cards are passed to the player with no cards and play continues clockwise. Players can score their played cards by keeping the highest value card in their pile that does not exceed the total cards in that pile and discarding the rest.

Just as fun as it sounds 

4-player game 

Some planted space beans 

Fun artwork

I really enjoyed this game as a light starter game. It's easy to play, easy to teach and the drafting mechanic and set collection work really well together. I recommend giving this a try.

139) Hero Quest

The original dungeon crawl game. In this game there is one person who runs the game and controls all enemy units. Everyone else is playing against this one person. The game has multiple scenarios so each game will play out differently. Generally, the heros are moving around the dungeon killing enemies and searching for and attempting to complete their objective. Along the way they'll find gold and equipment that is kept from one round to the next. Gold can be spent between games to buy various items.

The box is this awesome! 

Ready to start 

Dungeon master plotting against us 

Cool pieces 

More cool pieces

All in all a fun game. My one major complaint is there is no built in clock. The movement of the heros is limited by a dice roll, but when there were no enemies on the board the heros could just cycle turns until they had the board state the way they wanted it. This can lead to some long drawn out parts in the game where the dungeon master is not doing anything. Despite this, if you like dungeon crawl games this is certainly worth a play or two.