Everyone is looking back at 2014 and selecting their favorite games. We did this recently on The Geek Allstars. You can find that podcast here.
I thought I would post my list here.
11. Imperial Settlers – I’ve played this once and was so taken with it that it made my list. I enjoy its engine bulding aspect though I’m not very good at it.
10. CV – I played this way back in the summer and I don’t remember much about it. But 
liked it enough to put it on the list. The whimsy of the art is awesome.
9. Istanbul – I played it at the Gamers For Cures game marathon. I like the worker placement/pick up mechanic.
8. Castellan – This is a cool, easy to learn castle building game. It’s really an abstract / area control game. Very cool.
7. Caverna – Another late comer to the party. I played it in December and really liked it. Engine building again.
6. Viva Java: The Coffee Game: The Dice Game – TC distilled Viva Java down to a cool dice game. It’s easy to learn and play.
5. Panamax – Stronghold has a hit with this one. I liked the economic aspect and the need to cooperate to do really well in the game. I’ll be buying this one.
4. Belle of the Ball – I’ve watched Belle evolve for several years now. From something very different to the gem it is now. Daniel is on the verge of really hitting it big.
3. Lewis & Clark – I traded for this game back in August but reading through the rules proved a bit…confusing. I waited for Adam O. to teach it and am very glad I did. This is a very good and different race game. I really enjoyed it.
2. Expedition: Northwest Passage – This game is fascinating. The sun timing mechanism is sweet. Having to plan your movement timed with the freezing and thawing of the ice so you can move your boat. And you build the board every time. It’s different each time. Action selection. Random board design. It’s great.
And number one….
Russian Railroads.
By far this was the winner. I was haunted by this game. I played it more than any game except Belle. It’s action selection / worker placement mechanic is so fine. When it hit Yucata.de I played it a lot. It’s fantastic.
That’s it. My top 11 games of 2014. Do you agree? Do you disagree? What were your top games?
Go Forth And Game 
Great list Tom. I’ve played 8 of the 11 (excluding CV, Castellan & Expedition: NW Passage). Hope you’ll get a chance to try La Granja in 2015. It was my top pick of the year based on the limited Spielworxx release.
I only played two of the games on your list: Castellan – which I’ve owned for about a year and really like – and Belle of the Ball. I just bought this about a month ago after playing it at a weekly game meetup and it’s just too much fun. Great game to introduce to a group: easy to teach and provides lots of laughs. Among the Stars and Star Realms are probably the two other games I’m currently addicted to that I played last year.
Thanks for the list, there are definitely some games there we’ll want to try as we’ve only played one game from your list (Caverna) so far!