Let me continue with the series of articles, summarizing the year 2022 for The Boardgames Chronicle as well as plans for 2023. In below section you can check all the articles in the series. What is the plan for today? My blog colleagues often share the new games they had a chance to play and familiarize with so taking this great example I would like to have a look what new positions hit my table in 2022 (for reference, see the cult of new to my by Dave).
Summary of 2022 and look into the 2023: The Boardgames Chronicle most often played games of 2022 The Boardgames Chronicle in 2022 – analysis
My statistics show that in 2022 out of 96 games played, 45 were new to me. That is definitely one of the best years for me – if not the best – as far as discovering the new titles is concerned. To get this in perspective, only 37 out of 67 positions in 2021 were new – but this was the second year of pandemic, and there was not so many chances to bring something new to the table.
Let me focus on some most prominent and impactful new titles of 2022 for The Boardgames Chronicle. I will do a brief intro to the most important / numerous in plays under which circumstances I had chance to get the game plus my impressions. On top of this, I will also do tabular summary of each title played at least twice. Enjoy!
“Pacific War” from GMT Games
A game which first edition had 30 years ago and is new to me? Well, why not! This was definitely the largest and most significant of discoveries for me in 2022. By some treated as monster game (over 2000 counters and 3 rulebooks), definitely suggested as “not for faint-hearted”, it really captivated me! The depth and breadth of the game is unbelievable, the steep learning curve eased enormously by well-known Mark Herman system of going from simpler scenarios / set-ups to more complex gradually (I love this approach also in Pericles) and the impressions of the Pacific War so true.
I love how thematic it is, the beautiful components as well as rulebooks written in a very interesting way, with tons of designer notes and insight. Also, this is probably one of the best deals when “price-to-performance” is concerned as you can literally play it till the end of your life and not get bored!
More about game:
“Tarawa 1943” from Worthington Publishing
A nice coincidence here – as the first and second title of my list pertain the Pacific during the Second World War. But of course, the scale is completely different – in case of Tarawa 1943 we talk about one operation, played on regimental level (still pretty high) which can be finished once you know the rules within one hour.
This game in a really interesting way depicts one of the bloodiest naval invasions of Marines in the Pacific Theater. It allows to play also the alternate version of this attack. I love how hard it is, I love the scenarios and that urge of “one more try… and maybe I will win…”
This title is one of several published recently by Worthington – many of them are great, thematic, beautiful and engrossing solitaire experiences like Tarawa 1943!
More about game:
“Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes!” from Plastic Soldiers Company
This time not a full wargame, but a very quick and replayable title in “20-minutes series”. You probably are aware of Blitzkrieg! World War II in 20 minutes! This is from the same series and same designer – Paolo Mori. However, the rules are completely different although some mechanics might seem familiar – there is hidden information regarding your influence tokens, to vie for control of provinces and who will use up first all his control tokens – wins!
That was definitely a fresh design for me as I have not played earlier titles in the series and definitely fitted well whenever we hade some spare time between larger titles. It is also very compact so fully suitable as travel wargame.
More about game:
“Almoravid” from GMT Games
Now, another great discovery of 2022. And we talk here not about one title but a whole system – Levy & Campaign – from Volko Ruhnke and plethora of co-designers who make this project so successful. I missed initial title in the series, Nevsky (waiting for reprint) and started from the Almoravid. What a fantastic experience it was – both solo and two player.
The rules are pretty unique, as they focus so much on often-omitted part of the warfare – logistics. They are greatly intertwined into the whole set of dependencies and restrictions on what your leaders and forces can do. Almoravid brings another layer of complexity – which is great IMHO – the Taifa Politics and how it influences the score of Christians and Muslims.
I am sure that when you look at “new to me in 2023” you will se another title in the series – Inferno. But this is a story for another article…
More about game:
Supplement
Below table presents full set of new-to-me games in 2022, which I played at least twice. Except for the mentioned above, I really enjoyed another Pacific-based game – Guadalcanal: Solitaire, great abstract, logical game by Uwe Rosenberg – Nova Luna or my first 18XX game – 1848 Australia.
| Game | Publisher | # of plays |
|---|---|---|
| “Pacific War” | GMT Games | 18 |
| “Guadalcanal: Solitaire” | Worthington | 7 |
| “Caesar!” | Plastic Soldiers Company | 7 |
| “Almoravid” | GMT Games | 6 |
| “Nova Luna” | Edition Spielwiese | 6 |
| “Cora Quest” | Bright Eye Games | 5 |
| “Tarawa 1943” | Worthington | 5 |
| “Keyforge” | Fantasy Flight Games | 5 |
| “Mortum: Medieval Detective” | Jet Games Studio | 4 |
| “Cascadia” | Flatout Games | 4 |
| “Blitzkrieg!” | Plastic Soldiers Company | 4 |
| “1848 Australia” | GMT Games | 4 |
| “The Battle Card: Market Garden” | (Web published) | 3 |
| “Wallenstein” | Queen Games | 3 |
| “Charioteer” | GMT Games | 3 |
| “Enemy Action: Kharkov” | Compass Games | 2 |
| “Fire & Stone: Siege of Vienna 1683” | Capstone Games | 2 |
| “Resist!” | Salt & Pepper Games | 2 |
| “GBoH – Julius Caesar” | GMT Games | 2 |
I hope to play many more new, interesting games in 2023. What I am specifically waiting for? An article about it is already being prepared!
The Boardgames Chronicle 
Some great tiles on there! We even share one, which I think is a first 🙂
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Indeed we do!
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Michael, this is a great list. You got to try many new games last year, I am a bit jealous.
Here’s to a fruitful 2023 👍🏻
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Thank you! I love discovering new titles as you can clearly see!
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