The nominees were announced, the votes were cast, and the winners have been chosen. We are proud to present to you the winners of our 2014 Board Game Awards. Each member of our editorial staff has cast their vote along with a vote from our readers. Thanks to the hundreds upon hundreds of you that took the time to make your voices heard. There were many standout board games produced last year and we’re always happy to take a bit of time to highlight some of the best. Congratulations to all the nominees and the winners!
2014 Board Game Award Winners
Best Cooperative Game
Dead of Winter
Plaid Hat Games
Designer: Jonathan Gilmour, Isaac Vega
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Dead of Winter was a highly anticipated game from Plaid Hat Games and it sure didn’t disappoint. The game can be rough to win (always a staple of cooperative games) but it always seems to be an absolute blast to play. The excellent crossroad mechanic was an inspired design decision and we’re excited to see this mechanic appear in their games in the future. Despite how you feel on the zombie theme, many of us can agree that Dead of Winter is truly a great cooperative game.
Runner Up: Pandemic: The Cure
Best Tactical/Combat Game
Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Fantasy Flight Games
Designer: Justin Kemppainen, Corey Konieczka, Jonathan Ying
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Star Wars: Imperial Assault was in the running for many awards this year and for good reason, it’s a fantastic game. With a giant pile of great looking miniatures, including the towering AT-ST walker, Star Wars: Imperial Assault is as much fun to play as it is to look at. The rules allow for both campaign mode and one-off skirmish mode, so this one has already seen plenty of time on our gaming table.
Runner Up: The Battle of Five Armies
Best iOS Board Game
Star Realms
White Wizard Games
Developer: White Wizards Games
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This one was a close contest between Star Realms and the runner-up. But in the end, Star Realms won the day with its cross-platform compatibility, excellent multiplayer support and the overall polished interface. There isn’t much to complain about with Star Realms and since the first campaign is free, there is no reason not to give this great little deck builder a try.
Runner Up: Galaxy Trucker
Most Innovative Game
Alchemists
Czech Games Edition
Designer: Matúš Kotry
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The integration of a digital app with the board gaming world has been met with a decent amount of pushback. Traditionalist love their analog games and don’t want anyone to mess with that. However, Alchemists created something special with its app integration. The app allows the game to flow smoothly, gives it more replay value and overall, just makes it a better gaming experience without being any kind of distraction. Plus, it’s also a great deduction and worker placement game.
Runner Up: Tragedy Looper
Best Game Expansion
Viticulture: Tuscany
Stonemaier Games
Designer: Morten Monrad Pedersen, Jamey Stegmaier, Alan Stone
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We’re fully convinced that Stonemaier Games hates money because Tuscany could have easily been sold as 3 or more expansions for their already stellar game Viticulture. However, instead of doing that, they packaged almost a dozen modules into one box of varying complexity. That gives Viticulture a lot of legs and improves on the base game in such a way that we don’t every want to play the game without the expansion again.
Runner Up: Eldritch Horror: Mountains of Madness
Best Production Values
Abyss
Asmodee Games
Designer: Bruno Cathala, Charles Chevallier
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This was probably one of our closest races in all of our award categories. The winner could really have gone to any of the nominees, but in the end of the day, we felt like the fantastic artwork, combined with the clever use of the pearls as currency really went above and beyond what we’d expect in a cards game. Asmodee Games also printed 5 different covers for Abyss, one for each of the races found in the game. Overall, this was a fantastically produced product and a great game as well.
Runner Up: Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Best Thematic Game
Dead of Winter
Plaid Hat Games
Designer: Jonathan Gilmour, Isaac Vega
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The only game to win two of our awards this year (joining Freedom: The Underground Railroad as the only game to win more than 1 BGQ award). Dead of Winter provides a pretty great thematic experience thanks to both its solid mechanics and its unique crossroad cards. Surviving in this frozen town is no easy task and the game really keeps you on the edge of your seat as you have to deal both with the walking dead and also your fellow survivors secret motivations.
Runner Up: Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Best Strategy/Euro Game
Roll for the Galaxy
Rio Grande Games
Designer: Wei-Hwa Huang, Thomas Lehmann
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One of the last games to come out in 2014, Roll for the Galaxy seemed to come out of nowhere. However, this dice rolling game ended up being a fantastic spinoff of the well received card game Race for the Galaxy. With a quick playtime and a lot of variety to make every game feel different, I’ve not heard very many complaints with this little gem from Rio Grand Games.
Runner Up: Imperial Settlers
Best Card Game
Imperial Settlers
Portal Games
Designer: Ignacy Trzewiczek
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Imperial Settlers flew off the shelves at its Gen Con debut (sold out in 20 minutes) and I’m not surprised to see why. With four different factions in the game that each play a little differently, this one almost begs to be played over and over. From the multi-use cards to the unique artwork, Portal Games really hit this one out of the park. And with the recently announced faction expansion, it seems like this great game will be getting new content for a while to come, which is a good thing in my book.
Runner Up: Star Realms
Best Family Game
Splendor
Space Cowboys & Asmodee Games
Designer: Marc André
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New this year for the BGQ awards is our Best Family Game category. These are accessible games that should be easy enough for gamers and non-gamers alike to pick up. While there were many great nominees this year, we think Splendor stood above the pack with its solid components and easy to learn mechanics. While it might not be the deepest of games, the smooth flow of its game play has allowed it to hit our gaming table quite often no matter the crowd.
Runner Up: Camel Up
Game of the Year
Five Tribes
Days of Wonder
Designer: Bruno Cathala
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This was probably the hardest choice to make this year as all the nominees were outstanding in their own right. But Five Tribes from veteran designer Bruno Cathala ended up claiming the top spot. From it’s absolutely stellar mechanics to its wonderful production values, there is a lot to love with Days of Wonder’s first “gamer game.” Not only does Five Tribes have a lot of replay value thanks to the variable setup of the board, but the various ways to score points allows for many paths to victory. Five Tribes is easily turning into one of those games that we’re always willing to play.
Runner Up: Imperial Settlers
Oh yeah, so glad for Five Tribes! Love it 🙂
Five Tribes by far is the best game for me. Not really too much into Dead of Winter, quite overrated in my opinion. Imperial Settlers would get a close second for me as well.