Hi, my name is Dmitry, and my passion for board gaming came around randomly, to say the least. In fact, like for many people out there, board games were synonymous with Monopoly for me. I did not even know that other board games exist, so you can imagine my brain explode when I’ve found out how big the board gaming world is.
But let me start from the beginning. In 2012 I decided to change jobs and rather than working as an employee, I have decided to contract for some time. More money, more flexibility, why not?
After a month of search, I was hired by an international company that was present in almost every city in the world. It was a beautiful and welcome change, the one I was looking for.
Moreover, he was hosting lunchtime board gaming sessions at work, so instead of just eating, you could play and eat! It all sounded new and exciting, and since I love new experiences, I was excited to give it a go without knowing what to expect.
I do not remember the first game we played during lunch, but I guess it was either 7 Wonders or Ra. I remember loving Ra and not 7 Wonders as it felt too abstract. In other words, I was not too impressed, and it was not until one of the Thursday night after work sessions when we played Runewars that I got hooked. I must admit that all these years later and hundreds of board games played – I still feel that Runewars is the best board game ever made and no matter how hard I tried to find a new favorite, nothing can match it, not even close.
In fact, Runewars has simply blown my mind. It was still the first edition with a massive box and 3D mountains delivering a stunning presentation and thematic feel. Given that I love fantasy, combat, and models of any sort, Runewars has hit all the right boxes for me. It felt complex and overwhelming at first, but I was told that I did a good job learning the rules give it was my first crack at a game of such scale and complexity.
I remember being so impressed with the game that I told all my friends about it and have asked Bastien to recommend me the best five games he would buy today if he had none. The hype and craze took over, so we have gone to the board game shop close to our work to check out the latest releases. I have ended up buying five board games at once! It was Chaos in the Old World, Dominion, Shadows over Camelot, Battlestar Galactica, and Runewars.
That day has changed the way I look at board games, and I’ve added yet another passion to an already packed list of my hobbies. Now, having played all types of board games, I’ve realized that cooperative, RPG board game for two or three players is what I ultimately enjoy the most.
I have since managed to spread the love to my friends, relatives, and my new work colleagues. I’ve also noticed that I was getting a lot of questions to recommend good board games within a particular category, and instead of repeating the same answer, I have decided to formalize my thoughts 🙂
Moreover, there are almost no resources online (except Reddit and Quora) that address this. So I felt I could provide easier access to help people searching finding the best board games out there.
Please let me know what you think by commenting on my posts or get in contact with me directly.