For a pandemic year so much amazing has come out, we couldn’t help, but expand the guide into multiple pages, each with their own category. Here are our favorite books and board games (and game related books) of 2021, there are also, some board games from prior years on here. Because of the pandemic we didn’t get the chance to get these to the table until more recently, so I wanted to shine a light on these now.
Runequest – Starter Set (Chaosium)
I started as a player of Call of Cthulhu in the 1990’s, but it didn’t quite take back then. A few years back I got a copy of Chaosium’s excellent starter set for that game, and have been running a twice-monthly game since. Of course, when a company makes your favorite game you tend to wonder what else they do, and that is Runequest which has a deep history in the realm of RPG. Last month the company released the Runequest Starter Set, which, is worth every single penny if you have ever been curious about this game. Like Call of Cthulhu’s set it has a solo quest, and a few adventures to get you started. It has a starter ruleset, a history of Glorantha, and basically everything to lull you into being a hardcore Glorantha dweller. Did Chaosium outdo themselves here? I’d say yes.
Call of Cthulhu – Children of Fear (Chaosium)
I know A Time to Harvest came out in PDF form as of this publication, but I am specifically looking at physical releases to give to your loved ones, and this is the big Call of Cthulhu campaign to hit in 2021. Children of Fear is a marvelously distinct campaign for the Call of Cthulhu RPG that takes a group of investigators across the Indian subcontinent, and on an adventure unlike any they’ve ever probably been on in a Call of Cthulhu RPG adventure. The book by Lynne Hardy is packed with great history, and is set up in such a way that a keeper is given so many options on how to run this one.
Dungeons and Dragons – Strixhaven – A Curriculum of Chaos (Wizards of the Coast)
Strixhaven was a recent Magic the Gathering supplement that came out in early 2021 that took place at a magical university. Obviously, the comparisons to Harry Potter were inevitable, and to a degree justified. As the last Dungeons and Dragons book of 2021, they have brought Strixhaven into the world of Dungeons and Dragons with a book that gives all sorts of delicious background details on the school, the world it’s set on, and a fantastic mini-campaign spread along 4 chapters and 4 years. They’ve also added a race called the Owlkin that seems like it might be a fun addition to play.
Everdell (Team Tabletop Tycoon)
OK, so before I get to newer game releases I have to touch down on this one, which to me seems like such a delightful game to put under under a Christmas tree, or give as a holiday gift this time of year. Everdell originally saw release in 2018, and is a game where forest creatures are trying to build up a civilization. It is a worker placement game where you are trying to build up your own city across 4 different seasons. The game itself is gorgeous, with an included 3D tree that is probably what the game is most known for. At the time of publication there is already a collector’s edition, and a number of expansions that add to the core gameplay. However, the game on its own is an excellent addition to any burgeoning gamers collection, and highly recommended this holiday season.
Brass Birmingham (Roxley)
Admittedly, I have never played the original Brass, but I got one look at Brass Birmingham, and I do mean look, just the board itself sold me on having to play this, and I knew I had to try it. This is actually one of the meatier, non-RPG games on this list, but the base game itself has a significant amount of staying power, and should offer a ton of replay value for years to come. In Brass Birmingham you play an business maven during the industrial revolution in Birmingham, England. The game is split into 2 phases the canal phase, and the rail phase, where you are using slightly different rule sets to build up your network, and thus your industries.
Terraforming Mars – Ares Expedition (Stronghold Games)
I have played the original Terraforming Mars once a handful of years ago at a friend’s house, and absolutely loved the experience. It was definitely on my list to pick up games after the pandemic passed , and I could get a gaming group together again, and then this card game version Ares Expedition showed up on my doorstep. I managed to get a single game in over the last month, and it is fantastic. It is an effective blend of what makes Terraforming Mars so great, but streamlines it down so it is much easier to get to the table. At the same time it feels like it lifts some mechanics from the earlier Race for the Galaxy. Nonetheless, I am super excited about this version of Terraforming Mars, and am no longer sure I need the main game after this one.
Crossed Words (Indie Cards and Games)
Crossed Words is the sort of games that I am mostly likely to get the table at a family game night. It’s a simple sort of game that invites players to take a pair of clues and find a way to turn it into an answer. The box shows “Hero” and “Animal” and turns it into Robin Hood, which is a good explanation of what you’re getting into here. I haven’t actually gotten this to the table yet, but will probably this weekend. I expect this will go over well, but at the same time there will be people that will lock on to what this game is doing and those that will just get stuck.
Quest (Indie Cards and Games)
Quest is a party game that is a take on the Resitance Avalon meant for 4-10 players. At the beginning players are secretly given alignments to either good or evil, and they are then they begin to determine who to send on a quest. If one evil person goes, the game is over and all is lost. This is definitely a fun one, that will come out during nights where we are also pulling out things like Ultimate Werewolf.
Radlands (Roxley)
If there is one thing this pandemic has made me appreciate it’s the 2 player game. My wife and I have picked up games like Patchwork and Morels, Wingspan has gotten plays at our table and works well at 2 players. I’m an on again, off again MTG player, that started again right before the pandemic (bad timing), so when Radlands landed at my door and offered a 2 player dueling game experience from a former MTG creator I was intrigued. Admittedly, giving me a punk looking post-apocalyptic game never hurts. I’ve been obsessed with these landscapes since seeing the Road Warrior at way too young an age. Radlands is a game where you are working to protect your remaining resources in this post-apocalyptic world, primarily water. The main objective is to destroy 3 camp cards, instead of multiple decks where you have one, and your opponent another you share a central deck that you both draw event, action, people and junk cards from. This is one that I can see getting to the table quite a bit over the next few months.
Cubitos (Alderac)
I received the Quacks of Quedlinburg as a gift last Valentine’s Day, and quickly became addicted to it’s push your luck mechanic. When I heard about Cubitos, and that it had a similar push your luck mechanic mixed with racing AND that other gaming addiction and dice rolling, I knew I had to try it out. The game allows you to pick a fun and weird character like a baseball loving beaver, that is participating in a race called the cube cup. Your racer has a team that supports them, these are your dice. Each turn your dice rolls see how far along you move, and the results indicate how many new dice you can buy, which will get you new abilities, and so far forth. However, like the aforementioned Quacks… if you push your dice rolls too much you can go bust and ruin the progress you’ve made so WATCH OUT! This is super fun, highly recommended, and a perfect holiday gift.
Fairy Tale Inn (CMON)
As a kid I loved Connect Four, but is it something I’d ever pull out as an adult unless my son asked me to (He’s actually probably too old for it at this point)? Not really. This game gives you a plastic inn which looks like a cuter version of the Connect Four board, and allows you to drop characters into it. You play an “innkeeper”, and each character is a Fairy Tale character with a certain value. Depending on where the character lands determines the value you’ll get for them. At the end calculate your total, highest value wins. This again is a super cute, super fun game, and is easy to recommend in the run up to the holidays.
Red Rising (Stonemaier)
When Stonemaier announced they were creating a board game based on the Red Rising Science Fiction novel series, I almost instantly wrote it off. Stonemaier is an often celebrated game company for their diverse and unique catalog of board games, so why would they tarnish that streak with an existing IP?
Jamey Stegmaier, one half of Red Rising’s design team and all around board game powerhouse, said that Red Rising by Pierce Brown was his dream IP. He’d spent years chasing the license to Red Rising, and more still trying to bring his favorite series to your dining room table. Given that I have spent countless hours of my life enjoying board games designed by this very man, I owed it to him to give his labor of love a shot. I’m glad I did.
All in all, the game is pretty solid. It’s a clever card manipulation game dripping with personality. My playgroup really dug finding the cool combinations, not to mention the awesome characters on every card. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes card manipulation or even just Science Fiction in general.
-Ryan Miller
Block Ness (Blue Orange)
Block Ness is great for quick game sessions. It’s easy to learn and it put a smile on the face of my play group. I imagine kids would get a kick out of it given it’s a simple game about making a big colorful monster. Overall, if any of these concepts appeal to you, I’d recommend picking this up from Blue Orange Games.
-Ryan Miller
Books
A History of Bones – John Lurie
John Lurie entered my worldview when my then girlfriend, now life lent me her Netflix’d and never returned DVD copy of Jim Jarmusch’s seminal indie smash hit Stranger than Paradise. This film quickly gave me an obsession with the actor, and the film’s leads which counted among itself Lurie, who as it turned out had made a name for himself in the NYC arthouse scene of the 80’s with his band the Lounge Lizards. This book details the 1980’s period of his career including his time with Lounge Lizards and his career in indepent films at the time.
Final Girl Support Group – Grady Hendrix
When Paperbacks from Hell ended up on my reading pile a few years ago I found an author I loved in Grady Hendrix. A year later when I got a copy of “We Sold Our Souls” I found one of the best fiction books on the subject of metal possibly ever. I was shocked to find in the press that Hendrix himself was not a metalhead. Final Girl Support Group is Hendrix’ latest novel takes the trope of the final girl and follows them after the movie is over to fun and scary conclusions.
Lovesickness by Junji Ito
In a small town in Japan, the practice of giving out love advice to strangers while covering your eyes on foggy nights becomes all the rage. Sound familiar? Of course it does! This crazy craze swept through the US throughout the 1990s. Here’s a clip of Dan Rather reporting on it. Oops, can’t find the link. Sorry! In Lovesickness, the act of pro bono relationship advice takes a troubling turn when a dark, mysterious stranger starts roaming the streets and telling people that their secret love will be forever unrequited. This kicks off a wave of suicides and that’s not even the bad news. What’s the bad news? You’ll just have to read and find out. I love how Junji Ito is having a renaissance over here in the states and his works are so readily available. Hopefully, this means more publishers will take a chance on some other horror centric manga artists.
-Richard Glenn Schmidt
NO SPEED LIMIT: THE HISTORY OF QUÉBEC METAL 1964-1989 – Felix B. Desfosses
OK, so this is one of the rare books on this list that didn’t make it into my hands this year. But I’m a huge metalhead, and this is a subgenre of metal that I’m not overly familar with, and so this is really high on my too read this. One of the things I love about metal, is that in every corner of the Earth since the late 60’s SOMEONE is making it, in garages, bedrooms, basements on their own or with a band and this book is casting a light on the Quebec scene like no book before.
Yours Cruelly, Elvira Mistress of the Dark
Elvira has been a mainstay of horror culture since the 1980’s. She just had her 40th anniversary celebration on Shudder this year (and hopefully Shudder brings her back full time now), and now we get her full length autobiography. This is an excellent read for fans of the Mistress of the Dark, and is easy to recommend.