There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
1) Terra Mystica - a little bit of everything in this. It's not quite an area-control game, not quite a worker placement, not quite a 4X, but a little taste of all of those.
2) Power Grid - A classic, and with all of the expansion maps still a favorite. Korea especially, splitting the resource market was genius.
3) Scythe - Area control with an engine builder and just a smattering of "read off your encounter and choose a response".
4) Pandemic: Legacy - I was hesitant about this at first, like many people, but the unforgiving nature of it added such a feeling of tension and importance to every scenario that it was easily one of my top games. I cannot wait for Season 2 and Seafall.
5) Eclipse - When this first came out I hated it. But the expansions have made it a much better game, and I have now tricked out my copy with everything they publish for it, a custom space mat to play on, and a ton of upgraded bits and tokens for it. It can be a long one, but it's a lot of fun.
6) Princes of Florence - Another old game, but still great, with auction and tile-placement aspects, as well as limited actions and money being very tight.
7) Dead of Winter - I hate zombies, and I think they're horribly overused, but this semi-coop is just a fun game, and the upcoming expansion looks to make it even better.
8) Pursuit of Happiness - Despite the shipping issues Artipia had with this kickstarter, I was one of the lucky ones who had no trouble, and this is a really fun and thematic "life-builder". Worker placement where your "workers" are actually time you spend out of your life.
9) Amun-Re - The very first board game I ever played (post-childhood), and the one that got me addicted. It's aged a bit, but the auction/secret bidding/building game with the twist where after half the game everything you have built gets re-bid on and can end up helping others is still one of my top 10.
10) Alchemists - Another worker-placement with a lot of logic deduction and hidden information. This can be a brain-burner, but it's a lot of fun (except when you realize that someone made a mistake and you based a lot of your assumptions on their flawed logic).