Well 2014 draws to a close and some thoughts on my favorites of the year. I'm including games with their first general introduction at Essen 2014 as well as games released in 2014. There are still plenty of games I haven't tried yet so I'll addend this as necessary.

The English edition of The Ravens of Thri Sahashri was released at Essen 2014. I choose Ravens as mt top game of 2014, because of it's unusual theme and the mechanism of play also feels unique to me. 

„Onitama will be seeing a general release this year at Essen. This is my first impression of a great little game.“

- Lorna Dune

First off, I am a fan of abstracts, particularly abstracts that can be played in under 15 minutes. Onitama is definitely an abstract, but like Let's Catch the Lion!, I think it's short enough and simple enough to have a broader appeal.

Home again and recovering. Had a great time as usual but I didn't buy as many big games as usual, mostly because some of them offered shipping post Essen and I hope they start arriving soon.

I purchased a number of expansions this year including Hansa Teutonica: Britannia, Concordia: Britannia / Germania, Keyflower: The Merchants, Russian Railroads: Mini-Expansion, Bruges: The City on the Zwin, Brügge: Die Haustiere and of course Terra Mystica: Fire & Ice.

So, I've been thinking and playing a lot of dice games lately. They are so plentiful! I've been trying to determine what it is about some dice games that I enjoy and what I don't to help me determine future game purchases. This little exercise is to help organize my thoughts. If you think you know your dice games you can have a peek at my recent GCL geeklist here for fun.

So first what types of dice games are there?
First there are "push your luck games". These are total luck fests with little strategy except maybe playing the odds. They tend to be fillers. They have to be fun! and fast! Examples of games I enjoy: Can't Stop, Deep Sea Adventure, Lords of Vegas to some extent.