It’s the time of year for Top X lists and as a sucker for the format I couldn’t help but doing one myself. Now look, let’s get this over with straight away: I obviously haven’t played every game that came out in 2022. In fact, I’ve played barely any. I only just got really into historical wargaming this year, so I’ve had a big back log of games to experience. I’m not going to even pretend to list the best games that came out this year. Instead, this list will be my top eight games that I played for the first time in 2022. I chose eight because I’m one of those people who likes to arbitrarily pick a number between five and ten for my top X lists, no other reason. Ranking them has been painful, and if you asked me again in January I’d probably change the order, but at time of publication these are my top eight games that I played this year!
8. Waning Crescent, Shattered Sword by Andy Loakes
If these games were ranked by how much time I spent thinking about them this one would be a lot higher. Instead I have elected to place it at the bottom not as a reflection of its quality, but rather because it’s not actually a released game and so it feels a little cheeky including it on the list at all. Legion Wargames were nice enough to put me in touch with Andy and he then very kindly spent several afternoons showing me the game and playing through several turns of it. While I only saw a fraction of what this game will be in all its glory (we are still technically playing a PBEM continuation of that game, but I am seriously derelict in taking my turns!) I am now fairly obsessed with this game. When I decided to spend a month playing games about The Great Siege of Malta I didn’t really expect to find something that did such a good job at capturing the scale of the siege as well as all the messy details. This is definitely one of my most anticipated games of whatever year it eventually comes out, and I make no promises not to cheekily include it on that year’s end of year list as well.
This is a playtest version of the game map, not final art. I really like how it focuses on the main bay where most of the siege took place but also makes room to include Mdina and other more peripheral elements. This is essential to they systems that can allow you to deviate from the historic plan the Ottoman commanders used.
For a full explanation of the game I recommend my preview of Waning Crescent, Shattered Sword but I will attempt to summarise one element that stuck with me so strongly over the months since I played it. I’m obsessed with is how it handles its card play. The push your luck element of deciding how many cards to draw is engaging and creates great decisions out of something that is just automatic in most games. I think it really captures the ebb and flow of a siege, where some weeks are very active while others are bogged down in logistical frustration. I love this system so much I tried to steal it for my game design during the Consim Game Jam 2022, but it didn’t quite fit our game so we ended up having to discard it and come up with our own version.
7. Men of Iron by Richard Berg
I’m following up a cheeky entry for a game that’s not out with another cheeky entry, but this time for a whole series rather than a game. This could potentially have finished higher but I think based on the dubiousness of my classification it ought to be placed near the bottom to be fair to the entries that I did actually restrict to just one game. The games that collectively make up the Men of Iron series are my second most played game this year and easily the one I have spent the most time thinking and writing about. Men of Iron is also responsible for this blog’s very existence. I saw a copy of the Tri-Pack for a relatively cheap price on the website of an Irish board game retailer and decided to just take the plunge - not expecting to go much further than just pushing some counters around on my own a couple of times this year. Ten months later here we are, and it would unreasonable not to include the game that started it all somewhere on this list.
Bannockburn is probably one of the best scenarios from the original Men of Iron box - where many scenarios can be a bit one sided both in terms of outcome and in the amount of actual movement that has to be done, Bannockburn is dynamic and exciting pretty much the whole way.
In terms of what I like about Men of Iron, it’s complicated. I have my issues with the system, that’s for sure, but while I’ve found systems that feel like better games nothing has quite given me the same sense of scale as Men of Iron. It feels the most like watching these famous battles unfold before me than any other game I’ve played, and that makes it stand out. It also triggers that bit of my brain that is fascinated by interpretations of historical events - I enjoy playing the battle but even more I think I enjoy examining why the battle was designed that way and what that says about how Berg is representing history.
Going into the new year I’m looking forward to playing more Men of Iron and in particular I’m excited to play more of the later games in the series. The original box contains the battles I’m most interested in but based on my dabbling with other entries I think mechanically it may be the one I like the least. I’m particularly excited to play more Arquebus, so here’s hoping I can make time for that game’s epic scenarios.
My many, many posts on Men of Iron: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Men+of+Iron
Live play of Poitiers on the Homo Ludens YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/3EaL6WBezp4
6. Shores of Tripoli by Kevin Bertram
The Shores of Tripoli was my most played game of 2022, in no small part thanks to the tournament organised by Fort Circle Games on Rally the Troops. This was also the first game I actually reviewed rather than just writing a post with my first impressions. I had intended to write a first impressions, but I blinked and suddenly I’d played 5 games and it felt a little too late for that. This is a devilishly clever little two player card driven game about an obscure but interesting piece of American and North African history. It’s a great entry level wargame but offers a lot to more experienced players as well. I had a great time playing Shores of Tripoli this year and the more I think about it the more I’m tempted to start up another game of it soon..
The Shores of Tripoli as represented on the excellent website Rally the Troops. This is how I played all my games and I cannot recommend it enough!
To pick a favourite aspect of Shores of Tripoli, I think it’s how it resets the decks partway through the game. You know exactly when your discard will recycle into your deck and planning around this becomes an essential part of your strategy - if you can ensure the game lasts that long. The game’s pacing and how you slowly learn the merits of each card in your small deck is fascinating. My advice would be to go in knowing very little about what’s in the decks and just learn through playing. Sure you’ll lose a lot initially, but the experience of discovering the game’s strategies is very rewarding and when each play can be done in around 30-40 minutes it’s not even that much of a time sink to do it!
My review of Shores of Tripoli: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-shores-of-tripoli
5. Warriors of God by Makoto Nakajima
I love Warriors of God. I’m not prepared to say that it’s an amazing design, it certainly has its flaws, but its charm far outweighs any issues I might have with it. This absurd take on the Hundred Years War gave me a gaming experience unlike anything else this year. I always had a blast whenever I played it and while it’s absurdly random and definitely too long I am still basically always up for reliving the version of the Hundred Years War that Nakajima has created.
Warriors of God’s visual design is a little underwhelming. It’s very functional, which I appreciate, and left me rarely needing to consult the rules but I wouldn’t call it pretty.
Obviously my favourite mechanic in Warriors of God is the random leader death table. At the end of each round both players roll to see which leaders have died during this phase of the war - either from old age or disease. Leaders that only just arrived at the start of the round still have a chance of dying, and this creates some truly chaotic outcomes. Your best leader finally shows up only to die after just one turn! In my first game every claimant to the French throne, both French and English, died the same round they arrived creating a very weird narrative experience. It’s a really fun and interesting way to represent the length of this conflict and I kind of wish more games would experiment with something like it. Not just one of my favourite rules of the year but possibly one of my favourite rules ever.
My first impressions of Warriors of God: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-warriors-of-god
My appearance on the Homo Ludens podcast where we discuss Warriors of God: https://anchor.fm/homo-ludens9/episodes/May-22-Warriors-of-God-collective-review--Monthly-debrief-e1jihh4
4. Richard III: Wars of the Roses by Tom Dalgliesh and Jerry Taylor
I decided to be mean and not allow myself to select an entire group of block games and instead have chosen what is, much to my own surprise, my favourite of the batch. In the past I had a long obsession with Hammer of the Scots, staring mournfully at its expensive box that I couldn’t really afford and wasn’t sure anyone would play me even if I could. Earlier this year I decided to take the plunge and buy a Columbia block game but Richard III was available at a much much lower price and in the end I couldn’t fully justify the difference. I played Richard III and really enjoyed it and then thanks to Rally the Troops I was able to play many related games, including Hammer of the Scots, and enjoyed them too, but in the end even though the Wars of the Roses isn’t really my thing I wound up preferring Richard III to the others.
I also really like the map in Richard III. The layout creates interesting decisions for how you move your blocks and is very functional in terms of tracking what you need to. The card art is a little bland but overall I think it’s also a fairly attractive game.
I think some of this is that Richard III feels a little more like big dumb fun. The combat is that little bit more vicious but I think it’s really how the Campaigns work that makes me feel this way. Since there were generally years separating the periods of active warfare that made up the Wars of the Roses, Richard III offers something close to a full reset between its three rounds. Unlike Hammer of the Scots, where attrition is key and you only get a few measly points to recover each round, blocks are restored to full strength in Richard III and are even summoned to the map like that. I think this makes it less punishing to go for a big attack because if it goes wrong all you have to do is last until the next round and then most of your losses will be recovered. I don’t know that this makes Richard III a better game but for me anyway it has made it extremely enjoyable. I do think the game could use some minor balance tweaks, mostly around how hard it can be to retake the throne as Lancaster, but overall it’s just a great time.
My first impressions of Richard III: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-richard-iii-by-columbia-games
My overview of several Columbia block games, including Richard III: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/columbia-block-wargames-review
3. A Distant Plain by Brian Train and Volko Ruhnke
This was a difficult slot - I knew I wanted to pick a COIN game but which one to pick? In the end while I have really enjoyed Pendragon I don’t feel like I’ve gotten the full experience out of it yet, having not played a four player game, and I preferred A Distant Plain to Andean Abyss. A Distant Plain is also benefiting a bit from context - I played it at Chimera Con in Dublin where I could devote the whole day to playing the game with no distractions. It was my first time at the con and my first time playing with any of my opponents and it was a really great experience. While A Distant Plain felt like a more interesting version of Andean Abyss it came with some issues, most notably the topic is very heavy, particularly for someone like me for whom the invasion of Afghanistan was a defining moment of my teenage years. I expect this is really down to personal context, I have less of a connection with the conflict in Andean Abyss, but while I found A Distant Plain to be mechanically phenomenal I’m not sure I’d buy my own copy because I can’t see myself engaging with this subject matter more than once a year or so.
Our in progress game of A Distant Plain - I have to confess that while it is very functional I don’t find this board very attractive. Thankfully the game was engaging enough that I didn’t mind spending a whole day staring at it!
My favourite element of A Distant Plain, and the thing that really pushed it above Andean Abyss for me, was the relationship between the Coalition and Afghani Government players. While at their most effective when they cooperated, their diverging victory conditions and shared resource pool meant that strife was inevitable. I wasn’t even playing either faction, but just watching their initial positive relationship degrade over the course of the game was such a great experience and so evocative. I really liked how A Distant Plain placed everyone on pseudo-teams, encouraging you to cooperate a little, but not too much. It really makes me want to explore more games in the series, particularly ones that have this dynamic.
My first impressions of A Distant Plain: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-a-distant-plain
2. Nevsky by Volko Ruhnke
I’ve said before that I think Levy and Campaign is one of the most exciting things happening in wargame design at the moment, but as someone obsessed with operational medieval warfare how could I think anything else? Arguably Almoravid could be somewhere else on this list, but I decided to limit myself to just one game in the series and as I wrote in my Almoravid review right now Nevsky is my preferred Levy and Campaign experience - at least of the publicly announced ones, there are some in development games using the system that I am very excited about. With its extreme emphasis on logistics and painfully tracking how long your troops are willing to actually fight for you before going home, Nevsky really gets at what made medieval warfare tick and also makes it an engaging gaming experience. When it is finally implemented on Rally the Troops I intend to start far too many games of it and completely lose my mind. I love Nevsky but I’m also so excited for what is coming down the pipeline in terms of Levy and Campaign.
Nevsky is also very pretty and makes a strong first impression I must say.
How do I pick a favourite mechanism for Levy and Campaign? I think, gun to my head, if I had to pick it would be the calendar. A system that places so much emphasis on the temporal nature of military service during this period was always going to be close to my heart. I think many people struggle to imagine what it was like before militaries were professional, but in the Middle Ages commanders generally only served for a fixed period of time before going home. These weren’t wars that had to be fought non-stop until somebody won, but rather extended sometimes multi-generational conflicts with periods of activity paired with extended periods of inactivity. I love how Levy and Campaign brings this to life and to me it is one of the most interesting aspects of the design.
My first impressions of Nevsky: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-nevsky
Honourable Mentions:
Great Heathen Army by Amabel Holland: In many ways a better game than Men of Iron, I’ve had a ton of fun playing it (especially the expansion that includes the Irish) this year. While in terms of gameplay I think I prefer the battles in Great Heathen Army they don’t quite get my history nerd engine revving quite as much as Men of Iron’s do and so it was beaten out by Berg’s classic for a slot on the main list.
Gettysburg by Mark Herman: An excellent and light take on the battle of Gettysburg. I loved the focus on maneuvering and movement in the game and the simple combat system that didn’t bog the game down. I’d love to play this a few times against a real opponent and maybe if I had it would have made the list.
Pendragon by Morgane Gouyen-Rety: This one almost took the COIN slot on my list. It was the first game in the system I played and it is the one I’ve played the most - but like with Gettysburg above I still haven’t played it with real opponents and I think until I do I won’t know the full wonder that this game holds.
1. The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey
I honestly didn’t see this one coming. Until a few months ago I didn’t know this game existed and it was an out of context picture someone posted on Discord that drew my attention. Long out of print I was lucky enough to get a copy from a generous Swede and I went from reading the rules to playing a game all in the course of a single afternoon. While I still haven’t managed to make the time to set it up and play again, I cannot stop thinking about this game and how it chooses to represent the limitations of pre-modern command structures. An obvious response to hex and counter games that let players act as God, manipulating every piece with total freedom, Flowers of the Forest makes you feel the painful limitations of having to move large blocks of soldiers without any means of even medium distance communication. The fact that your orders can fail to reach a formation forcing you to place a lone herald on the battle who has to slowly jog the rest of the distance, delivering the order when he arrives whether you still want it or not, is fantastic. This game is absolute chaos in the best way.
This map is so long I had to play it on my coffee table, which was a little challenging and slightly messed up the lighting for photos. Still totally worth it though.
It is also a decidedly and purposefully unbalanced game, the English are just better equipped and the Scots are in for a bad day. It is not impossible for either side to win - just unlikely. It also includes very different set ups based on two very different historiographical interpretations of the battle, which immediately warmed me to it.
The Flowers of the Forest makes a strong first impression. Those long counters that span multiple hexes immediately let you know that this is a game about movement and the difficulties therein. The counters themselves are very endearing and help to evoke the era and its combatants. I also just really like the layout of the map with the central battle space flanked by tables to show the disposition of units within your larger formations. It’s a game that will make you stop and take notice of it, and there’s a lot to be said for that. It’s the whole reason I played it in the first place after all.
I’m not sure that The Flowers of the Forest is a game I will still be obsessed with in five year’s time. It is just a single battle and with it’s pronounced imbalance after a while I’ll probably have more fun showing it to people than I will just playing it on my own. It’s very likely that other games on this list will better cement themselves as eternal favourites in my heart, but this is the game I played in 2022 that I’m the most fascinated with right now. I’ve never played anything quite like it and I’m not sure if I ever will again, but I certainly hope to.
My First Impressions of The Flowers of the Forest: https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impression-the-flowers-of-the-forest
Hey, if you’ve enjoyed what I’ve written on this blog this past year and are interested in supporting me to do it for a second, there are two ways you can help make that happen!
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