November bangers! 8 board games to add to your Christmas list

Lots of board game releases this month of November, which have just added to an October already well stocked with big bangers of la muerte del fuego. I have prepared for you a small, very subjective selection of the best games of this month of November, so that you can start writing a few titles on your purchase lists!

My sure guys

I'm starting this list with the safe bets, those games that I have played or in which I have 100% confidence!

Behind

The hybrid investigation and puzzle game arrives in November with 3 scenarios/puzzles. Tiles, logic, deduction in 3 different universes illustrated by the 3 artists Pierô, Martin Vidberg and Maud Chalmel. By matching tiles, which involves understanding the logic of their assembly, you will solve a puzzle. Once resolved, turn over all the tiles and discover the overall image thus reconstituted.

I found the proposal quite innovative and the edition of the game well put together.

gift

A little favorite of the Vichy Festival, Kado is a party game that seems cute and innocent, but which is a real engine for trickery between friends. It's a simple tableau building game on one hand, but it's the distribution of the cards that makes it so interesting. Each turn, a player will draw gifts and distribute one to each player, including himself. Then, each player learns of his gift and one by one, can accept it and include it in his game, or offer to exchange it with that of the player who distributed.

But for that, he will have to guess the type of gift (from 4) or the color (from 4) of the desired gift. Suddenly a mind game sets up between accepting a bad gift or trying to recover an unknown gift. Kado is a game by Antoine Bauza so trust him to have implemented some well-crafted mechanics in it!

Unsettled

Unsettled is an immersive co-op survival experience. No need for big enemies with tentacles in the confines of space: the slightest lunar geranium, the slightest atmosphere of corrosive methane is enough to make you understand that you have nothing to do there. Each game begins with a series of tasks necessary for survival, such as repairing a malfunctioning system on the ship or finding new sources of food.

A bit like in a Mass Effect you will have to play a crew, and the skills of its members. Challenges, scenarios, and already 5 expansion planets make Unsettled a must-have for those who love coop and exotic geraniums. We'll see over time whether the game is completely crazy or “just good”, Americans tending to overrate the big figurine games on BGG.

Niwashi

Very small, super kawaii format for this Niwashi, a game of tiles based on overlaps, very refined. It reminds us of Nimalia and these fairly strategic experiments with few rules. But where Nimalia perhaps erred on the boat theme, Niwashi plays the Zen garden card and I think it looks great as a fun object.

This little two-player game sold for around €12 will fit into the range of very small boxes with clever gameplay, such as Sea Salt & Paper or even better Focus, because Niwashi is a cooperative game with limited communication. I find the whole thing super coherent and fresh.

Aeon's End Les Parias

In November the new Aeon's End is also released with this box called Les Parias (Outcasts in original version). Taking over the system Shipping initiated with Nouvelle Ere, this box offers this mini Legacy with progression in each game. The game takes 8.5 on BGG but in France the game is very niche, while what it offers both in terms of deckbuilding and cooperative experience is part of the best on the market.

With these 4 new Nemeses and as many mages, this 2020 game continues the Aeon's End saga and I'm sure it will still be just as good. Each Nemesis reinvents the game or offers a new mechanic, and the game has done this for 254 boxes and we don't talk about it enough. In addition, this game embodies my new pleasure in board games: that of finishing a game or Legacy in general. We have to deal with 4 nemeses, we find a way to beat them, and presto, we move on to something else. In short, play Aeon's End, if you like cards, the deck building and the coop hardcore.

Bangers probables

These games are most likely bangers, but I lack the perspective to call them such.

Dead Cells

I received my pledge foil and it sits nicely on the shelf, waiting to be played. But instead I'm writing this article. This is false. Well, I'm writing this article (unless we're living in a simulation and either I'm not writing this article or you're inventing your life), but I don't have anyone to play with. In short, Dead Cells version boardgame transcribes the immense roguelike from Twin Motion, with a pushed difficulty slider and die & retry on the menu.

In no world has the Kaedama team released a game on such a generous work by screwing up everything, and the feedback that I see here and there is all very, very positive. It's really my thing, to top it off, so we'll kindly put it next to Slay the Spire in the box of successful adaptations.

SETI

The new blockbuster from Czech CGE, called SETI, is released in November. This is indeed the space program for the search for extraterrestrial life, and you will listen to the sky in search of a signal. I played it in Essen and the gear is incredible, as is this crazy cover. I've only played 3 rounds of the game so I can't review it yet. But everything suggests that he has some under the satellite dish.

SETI is a big expert management game, partially card-driven, or even brothel-driven, there are so many aspects in the game. Racing, resource management, cards that are resources, complex action system… A game to love if you're invested in it I think. Afterwards it's CGE so it must be very carefully balanced.

You a book

Just for the pack of chewing gum format, I'm waiting to see what the first nano-games from Matagot will bring! Not much to say at the moment, but the simple fact of having handheld games to play on the train or on slightly flat knees, it smokes me.

So maybe?

In this category I go a little faster on each game, but I think they have banger potential, although that's not certain.

Raising Robots

The management and programming game Raising Robots is quite popular among my gaming circle, but I haven't been able to get my hands on it yet.

Superstore 3000

The proposal and the AD of this Super Store 3000 seem pretty crazy to me, and just for that I want to like it. Managing a shopping center means more to me than having to guide the benevolent spirit of a century-old Gaia tree, and Superstore 3000 offers it with a careful aesthetic. To watch!

Perspectives

If the first Perspectives had left me wanting more with investigations that were a bit too basic and a 2-player game that was not at all suitable, I nevertheless think that the formula can work. To see with this second opus called for the moment “blue box”.

Wizard’s Cup

Tested in Vichy, this auto-battler made by Seiji Kanai has a good little potential, I missed a few parts to be sure. Did the dad from Love Letter make a banger or a damp squib? Answer in November!