I know there's a bunch of mechanisms going on in Everdell, but I think the tableau building is the focus of the game. I'd definitely have Everdell on my list, towards the top.
@@manuelkooijman5757 since the worker placement is to get things in order to build up your tableau (and the tableau is functional), I'd have to say the worker placement is the "means" and the tableau building is the "end". Agree to disagree.
@@manuelkooijman5757 that's like saying Race for the Galaxy is not a tableau builder but rather an action selection game (based upon the card action mechanic).
RftG is still the king, baby! Not enough gets said about how timeless of a design it is. It's like someone created a modern, fast, elegant distillation of a genre, and then took it in a time machine and used it to start the genre before it even existed!
Nice bait and switch with Jump Drive in the intro :) Jump Drive is a really cool distillation of the genre. I love the new BGA implementation, so quick to play. My other favorites are RFTG, Res Arcana, Innovation, Everdell, Gizmos and Fantastic Factories.
I really enjoy the tableau building in Dwellings of Eldervale. Everyone starts with their Starter card, which allows a player to Summon, Gather or Dwell when Regrouping - from the beginning of the game. However, if you plan properly, you can go to the Dungeon and buy an Adventure/Dungeon card which will hopefully help you be more efficient (in Eldervale, for example) - and also make it easier for you to go back to the Dungeon later, expand your tableau again and get more use out of that card which you expanded your tableau, by bringing in more units onto that card, etc. Also, some of the Dungeon cards give you special abilities - but you may need to Regroup your warrior, wizard, or dragon - or use an orb - in order to use that benefit. I really like how they are all inter-connected!
Targi is one of my favorite games that contains tableau building! It's both worker placement and tableau building, so I'm not sure which one it would be classified under.
The tableau aspect is just too weak for me to consider it a tableau game. Don't get me wrong it's in there but it feels secondary or even triarchy to other mechanics.
As much as I love Targi (my favorite 2 player game), I wouldn't call it a Tableau building game. The cards you get are mostly just end game points and the passive abilities you might get are very situational and, specially, very weakly geared towards engine building. The worker placement is 90% the focus in this game.
I agree with both of you. You're doing worker placement stuff to build out a tableau that will earn you points. The tableau is how you score points, but worker placement is what drives the engine.
Like many I would've add Everdell to the list, also Wingspan. Though I haven't played many of those on the list, so I guess Tom has his reasons for not putting either on it. As for Ark Nova, I can't wait to try it.
I've been a fan of Deck/Bag/etcbuilding games, like the OG Dominion, but before the Videogame Balatro came out, i never heard of the term "Tableau Building" games, even if i played Terraforming Mars and built some decently broken engines with some synergies. Balatro as a videogame adaption of this concept and putting it in a roguelike kind of challenge (like Slay the Spire), really elevates both what a tablaeu game can do and what the roguelike genre can do to twist known concepts like video poker into something really weird and wonderful.
TfM, RftG and TtA are great indeed (haven't tried the others)!! My favorite tableau building game however is Pax Pamir, I love the player interaction and the tableau building (and destruction!) in this game. Everdell and Dwellings of Eldervale are also great and would be somewhere on my list :)
My newest favourite is Meadow, such a great game both multi-player and solo. Smallest favourite I think would be Walking in Burano. Favourite that I've only played online is Everdell - can hardly wait for the kickstarter to deliver! I've only played Ark Nova once, still waiting for my copy to arrive, but it might make my list in future after I've had a chance to play it more.
My favorite is BIOS: Origins (2ed). The rules are a bit daunting at first, but it really is a fantastic game, and one of the best civilization building games out there.
It's a Wonderful World, Spyrium, St Petersburg, Pax Renaissance, Glory to Rome, Jump Drive, Terraforming Mars, Race for the Galaxy, San Juan 2e, Pax Porfiriana
About half your list would also make my list. I'd also have Wingspan (because the tableau is central to everything you do all game long), It's A Wonderful World (maybe) and definitely Steam Punk Rally (only because it's got such an engaging and interesting tableau of cards). But I can't argue with your list...it's a nice mix of old and new, and the games do look and feel different. Great list.
Good list. I have very little to add. Those are all candidates for my top 10 tableau building games. I would add 7 Wonders, 51st State and Paladins of the West Kingdom.
0:38 And it is also usually linked with engine-building. That is, you want to accumulate cards which work well with each other - and the ORDER in which you ACTIVATE your cards MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE, because you can chain various actions together one after another.
Wow! So many good games on this list! I've played 5(6) out of the 10(11) of these games and think they're great, so I'm certainly intrigued by the other ones. As high as you've rated several of my favorite games, I'm definitely going to have to look closer into Ark Nova. Thanks, Tom!
Great list :) I really like tableau building - four of my favourite games showed up on your list (Res Arcana, TfM, Ark Nova and RftG). I thought Space Base would show up too, but maybe it is not a tableau building game
You are correct, people who like one tableau game, will like the others. As proof, I owned all 10 of these (though sold 2). For me I would kick out Saint Petersburg, Through the Ages, and Res Arcana from the list and add Macao, Bruges, and Hallertau.
I don`t consider Through the Ages a Tableau building game. The cards are for one use only or a construction you put in the table. And in that case you don`t "activate" those cards. My favorite tableu building is by a miiiiiiiiile Pax Renaissance. It is a lot of complex and the rules are hell. But if you try again and again and again, and don`t surrender, you start to notice the enormous deepness and layers that envelop this amazing game.
For me San Juan and Fantastic Factories are great tableau builders. I would also say that Meadow counts for this. You want to build your tableau so that one card interacts with the others. Would Canopy count as well? Wingspan is probably my number one. I know people call it an engine builder but I disagree. I think it is a tableau builder through and through.
Through the Ages: Civilization the board game done as a computer game, done as a Sid Meier's Civilization board game, streamlined into a card game, made faster as an app. That and Areas Expedition show how a tableau can streamline out a lot of gameplay without losing much of the experience.
I guess I'm unclear on the difference between "Tableau Building" and "Engine Building." Are those interchangeable terms? Would Wingspan and Fantastic Factories fit into one or the other categories?
I think they're distinct but often overlap. Wingspan is a good example of a game with both tableau and engine building mechanisms, but there are games that are tableau building without any engine building, and vice versa.
That's likely the best approach to take. It's interesting, though, that BGG does not have either tableau or engine building in their "Board Game Mechanics" list. It's likely a topic that would produce different responses from individuals, depending on the game.
I think tableau might be a subset of engine building? When I try to think about how these are different, my gut says the main difference is tableau’s are built of several customizable or flexible parts (usually taken into a private supply from a common supply), where an engine builder might not have those. For example, Scythe has engine building at its core but you’re not building out a tableau.
(Re: Scythe, I didn’t consider the factory card. I think that piece is technically pushing it into the realm of a tableau. Imagine Scythe without that, that’s engine but not tableau, IMHO).
Terraforming Mars and Race for the Galaxy are my 2 favorites and just really great games. Feel like I want to play Ark Nova because of all the praise and the comparison to TM. Don't really want to own it so will have to find another opportunity to play it.
Although I really like RftG, TfM:AE, Innovation, or even Everdell, my problem is all the time it takes to read the cards abilities to know if you want or need it. Sure, after many playthroughs you start to learn the cards and how they work together, but I don't feel the games are that fun until you have that knowledge, so it's hard to get to that point.
Thanks Tom for a very interesting list! I definitely want to give Innovation a try, but will wait on finding an inexpensive copy of the Eillo printing! I chose San Juan over Race, just because it is an easier game to teach. And,Castillo is very satisfying. I might add Kashgar to this list. I like how you organize your tableaux and the good decision making you are faced with. 😉
I own both Innovation editions an even though the Asmadi third edition is as ugly as the past editions... it is far more functional. They changed all the names of abilities for the worse in IELLO edition and put icons in weird spots. Last time I played it I had wished I was playing the Asmadi edition (perhaps in part from so much play on BoardGameArena but still)
I love Everdell, but I currently don't have a group that I can get it to the table with. In my estimation, it's a bit too heavy for my group. I'm also a fan of Gizmos, and It's a Wonderful World. I do own Innovation and have for a few years now. But I've yet to be able to get it to the table.
Judging by the pictures in the video, the artwork of Deus seems far better than both St. Petersburg and Through the Ages (layout and aesthetics). Haven't seen any of those games in person though. Anyone else got a take on this?
I would definitely put Glen More II in this, you're typically building a tableau more than doing anything else. Suburbia is also one I'd put in a top 10 (my favourite city building game)
I have to agree with others. When I saw the header of this video I was debating where you put Everdell in connection with Ark Nova. And I think Terreforming Mars correctly is this high up. But Everdell would be my no one in this list. Strange Tom you didn't mention it..
Love Through the Ages, fantastic game. Sadly the physical version takes about 3 hours to play (it seems like) whereas on BGA it can take under an hour. I want to table it more but motivation to is difficult
My two cents: engine building can be a part of tableau mechanisms, but the tableau you are building doesn't necessarily need to be an engine. In general when I think of tableau games, I think the end product is an aggregate of all actions, whereas with engine building the end product is to make an efficient engine. For example, I'd consider everdell a tableau building game insofar as you are laying down cards to improve the aggregate value of your little town. There are some engine building mechanics via the chaining critters off of built structures, but otherwise I think it's weak on the engine building.
Really odd not seeing Wingspan on here - it’s definitely a tableau building game. That said it feels like an easy category to define but it’s not - saw a comment about engine vs tableau building and those overlap, as tableau’s are often about driving combos between cards and those combos may or may not also result in an engine being built depending on the game (ie one hit combos less so). That raises the question about tableau’s that work the same way as many of these but don’t use cards e.g. isn’t Suburbia effectively a drafting and tableau building game too? Can’t win I guess!
I would say that Suburbia would be more likely to be called a tile placement game rather than a tableau building, but I can see that argument coming down to how exactly you define a tableau
@@CaptLoquaLacon exactly - it is blatantly a tile placement game as you place tiles however the scoring and way the tiles play off each other is otherwise exactly like a tableau builder! In particular, unlike in Carcassonne or many other tile placement games your tiles in Suburbia are placed in your own personal tableau of tiles to drive score combos - the only reason cards wouldn’t work is that relative position matters and that’s hex based.
@@gregbroxterman it shouldn’t be though: one dictionary def of tableau is: 1 : a graphic description or representation : picture winsome tableaux of old-fashioned literary days- 2 : a striking or artistic grouping : arrangement, scene. An arrangement or scene can absolutely be about position as well as combos and more crucially imagine a non gaming tableau where you took all the parts of a picture and just slung them randomly on the canvas etc - you’d likely not call it a tableau any more as it wasn’t deliberately arranged into a scene or order… It’s a bit of a confused term that one!
Well I just came to the realization I don't like tableau builders haha. I either dislike outright or think these games are overrated. Except through the ages that one is amazing
Great list! 51st State Master Set could be considered paired with Imperial Settlers. Fantastic Factories has also been a hit with my group and for solo.
I know there's a bunch of mechanisms going on in Everdell, but I think the tableau building is the focus of the game. I'd definitely have Everdell on my list, towards the top.
Have to disagree with you on this one. The main mechanic is worker placement although tableau building is probably the 2nd most important.
Im with Iceman...Tableau Building is the focus and main mechanic of Everdell.
@@manuelkooijman5757 since the worker placement is to get things in order to build up your tableau (and the tableau is functional), I'd have to say the worker placement is the "means" and the tableau building is the "end". Agree to disagree.
I would replace Though with Everdale.
@@manuelkooijman5757 that's like saying Race for the Galaxy is not a tableau builder but rather an action selection game (based upon the card action mechanic).
Solid list. Mine would be very similar, but it would have Its A Wonderful World very near or at the top.
Wingspan! I really love how the birds are activated throughout the game when you take other actions. Tableau and Engine-Building goodness!
RftG is still the king, baby!
Not enough gets said about how timeless of a design it is. It's like someone created a modern, fast, elegant distillation of a genre, and then took it in a time machine and used it to start the genre before it even existed!
That's a very nice way of putting it. If RftG gets a new edition with better graphic design I'll buy it immediately.
A deluxe version with new art on Kickstarter for Rftg would absolutely kill it
+1 for Everdell. Definitely would prefer playing Everdell over most of this list.
Nice bait and switch with Jump Drive in the intro :)
Jump Drive is a really cool distillation of the genre. I love the new BGA implementation, so quick to play.
My other favorites are RFTG, Res Arcana, Innovation, Everdell, Gizmos and Fantastic Factories.
I've really enjoyed all of your "other favorites" list, but never played Jump Drive. Guess I better fix that!
We need a top 10 board games with most climactic ending!!! Love the channel! Thanks for all the hard work.
Millennium Blades will have to be number 1 for me! Really thought it was going to make Tom's list here too
I really enjoy the tableau building in Dwellings of Eldervale. Everyone starts with their Starter card, which allows a player to Summon, Gather or Dwell when Regrouping - from the beginning of the game. However, if you plan properly, you can go to the Dungeon and buy an Adventure/Dungeon card which will hopefully help you be more efficient (in Eldervale, for example) - and also make it easier for you to go back to the Dungeon later, expand your tableau again and get more use out of that card which you expanded your tableau, by bringing in more units onto that card, etc.
Also, some of the Dungeon cards give you special abilities - but you may need to Regroup your warrior, wizard, or dragon - or use an orb - in order to use that benefit. I really like how they are all inter-connected!
Targi is one of my favorite games that contains tableau building! It's both worker placement and tableau building, so I'm not sure which one it would be classified under.
The tableau aspect is just too weak for me to consider it a tableau game. Don't get me wrong it's in there but it feels secondary or even triarchy to other mechanics.
As much as I love Targi (my favorite 2 player game), I wouldn't call it a Tableau building game. The cards you get are mostly just end game points and the passive abilities you might get are very situational and, specially, very weakly geared towards engine building. The worker placement is 90% the focus in this game.
I agree with both of you. You're doing worker placement stuff to build out a tableau that will earn you points. The tableau is how you score points, but worker placement is what drives the engine.
Like many I would've add Everdell to the list, also Wingspan.
Though I haven't played many of those on the list, so I guess Tom has his reasons for not putting either on it.
As for Ark Nova, I can't wait to try it.
I've been a fan of Deck/Bag/etcbuilding games, like the OG Dominion, but before the Videogame Balatro came out, i never heard of the term "Tableau Building" games, even if i played Terraforming Mars and built some decently broken engines with some synergies. Balatro as a videogame adaption of this concept and putting it in a roguelike kind of challenge (like Slay the Spire), really elevates both what a tablaeu game can do and what the roguelike genre can do to twist known concepts like video poker into something really weird and wonderful.
Thanks for the recommendations Tom!
Where is Everdell!?!?
TfM, RftG and TtA are great indeed (haven't tried the others)!!
My favorite tableau building game however is Pax Pamir, I love the player interaction and the tableau building (and destruction!) in this game.
Everdell and Dwellings of Eldervale are also great and would be somewhere on my list :)
My newest favourite is Meadow, such a great game both multi-player and solo. Smallest favourite I think would be Walking in Burano. Favourite that I've only played online is Everdell - can hardly wait for the kickstarter to deliver! I've only played Ark Nova once, still waiting for my copy to arrive, but it might make my list in future after I've had a chance to play it more.
does walking in burano contain tableau builder in it?
@@boeta9778 yes, you draft cards from the middle to build your own tableau in front of you - boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/257769/walking-in-burano
My personal top tableau games
Everdell
RFTG
Terraforming Mars
Dwellings of Eldervale
Roll for the Galaxy
Ark Nova
Nice to see Ares Project (presumably the one by the Engelsteins) get some recognition here
Mine is easily Pax Pamir 2nd Edition. Such a phenomenal game by the designer of Root, Cole Wehrle.
Better than Through the Ages IMO.
LOVE LOVE LOVE your #1 pick. In fact, we played it together on Virtual BGGcon.
My favorite is BIOS: Origins (2ed). The rules are a bit daunting at first, but it really is a fantastic game, and one of the best civilization building games out there.
I'm surprised that you didn't put Roll For The Galaxy with Race. Both are great.
It's a Wonderful World, Spyrium, St Petersburg, Pax Renaissance, Glory to Rome, Jump Drive, Terraforming Mars, Race for the Galaxy, San Juan 2e, Pax Porfiriana
Pax Renaissance is the best game ever made!
deus is vastly underrated
About half your list would also make my list. I'd also have Wingspan (because the tableau is central to everything you do all game long), It's A Wonderful World (maybe) and definitely Steam Punk Rally (only because it's got such an engaging and interesting tableau of cards). But I can't argue with your list...it's a nice mix of old and new, and the games do look and feel different. Great list.
When you got to #1 I knew I was either going to be very happy or very mad. Race for the Galaxy is amazing! It is one of my absolute favorite games.
I would think Everdell should be on here somewhere 😮
Good list. I have very little to add. Those are all candidates for my top 10 tableau building games. I would add 7 Wonders, 51st State and Paladins of the West Kingdom.
it is more of an engine building than tableau one, but my favourite is Gizmos
Heck Yeah!! I friggin love Race for the Galaxy
Props!!
Great list, Tom
Not mentioned but one I'd put on a top 10 tableaux style game would be Sidereal Confluence.
I love that Tom Lehmann had 2 games in the list. 👍
It should be 3 with Roll For The Galaxy.
0:38 And it is also usually linked with engine-building. That is, you want to accumulate cards which work well with each other - and the ORDER in which you ACTIVATE your cards MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE, because you can chain various actions together one after another.
Wow! So many good games on this list! I've played 5(6) out of the 10(11) of these games and think they're great, so I'm certainly intrigued by the other ones. As high as you've rated several of my favorite games, I'm definitely going to have to look closer into Ark Nova. Thanks, Tom!
My favourite are: Race for the galaxy, Furnace, Gizmos. I'll try Ares expedition.
Res Arcana for two, The Bloody Inn sticks in my mind because it's so different, and probably Furnace when my copy finally arrives.
All of these work well as solo tableau builders- It’s a Wonderful World, Fantastic Factories and Meadow.
"Deus is a game." Thanks Tom!
After this list, I know that tableau building is one of my favorite game mechanics.
Great list :) I really like tableau building - four of my favourite games showed up on your list (Res Arcana, TfM, Ark Nova and RftG).
I thought Space Base would show up too, but maybe it is not a tableau building game
Really surprised Tom didn't include Le Havre on this list
Mine would be Everdell, Santa Monica, Ark Nova and Res Arcana. Great list 👌!
That's how it's done! Straight to the point, images of the games, fun ⚅
You are correct, people who like one tableau game, will like the others. As proof, I owned all 10 of these (though sold 2). For me I would kick out Saint Petersburg, Through the Ages, and Res Arcana from the list and add Macao, Bruges, and Hallertau.
I would go with:
1. Terraforming Mars (+Ares)
2. Everdell
3. Wingspan
4. Gizmos
5. Old West Empressario
I don`t consider Through the Ages a Tableau building game. The cards are for one use only or a construction you put in the table. And in that case you don`t "activate" those cards.
My favorite tableu building is by a miiiiiiiiile Pax Renaissance. It is a lot of complex and the rules are hell. But if you try again and again and again, and don`t surrender, you start to notice the enormous deepness and layers that envelop this amazing game.
For me San Juan and Fantastic Factories are great tableau builders. I would also say that Meadow counts for this. You want to build your tableau so that one card interacts with the others. Would Canopy count as well? Wingspan is probably my number one. I know people call it an engine builder but I disagree. I think it is a tableau builder through and through.
I would vote for Dwellings of Eldervale. The tableu you build for when you recall your workers is great.
Energy Empire also has great tableau building (same designer)!
Throwing some love towards Master of Orion the board game
I want to play Deus, but I REALLY want someone to do a Deluxe reprint of it. I would instantly back that.
Race for the Galaxy is the classic, it is the GOAT of tableau/engine building games... the benchmark!
Marvel Champions. The upgrades and supports do a pretty good job feeling thematic for a card game.
Through the Ages: Civilization the board game done as a computer game, done as a Sid Meier's Civilization board game, streamlined into a card game, made faster as an app. That and Areas Expedition show how a tableau can streamline out a lot of gameplay without losing much of the experience.
Tnx for yet another good video.
I must say Dwellings of Eldervale is a very cool and good game with this mechanic (with 3 players).
2 years later.. res arcana.. still a great game , ark nova - rolling through .... Ares Expedition ... freakin lovet it ! :)
I haven't played Everdell or Terraforming Mars yet. My favorite tableau building game at the moment is Fantastic Factories.
I agree. It one of my favorites as well.
Wingspan, Agricola and the upcoming game call « Earth ».
Yeah Everdell would have been top of my list as well.
feel free to disagree but i feel res arcana and furnace are primarily engine builders.
Race for the Galaxy is truly the best 8D
Res Arcana has far more interaction than Race for the Galaxy in that you're "racing" to get the stuff in the middle. RFTG is relatively solo
Wingspan and Everdell should be on this list
Everdell and Wingspan for me
I guess I'm unclear on the difference between "Tableau Building" and "Engine Building." Are those interchangeable terms? Would Wingspan and Fantastic Factories fit into one or the other categories?
These are the two that I was thinking about.
I think they're distinct but often overlap. Wingspan is a good example of a game with both tableau and engine building mechanisms, but there are games that are tableau building without any engine building, and vice versa.
That's likely the best approach to take. It's interesting, though, that BGG does not have either tableau or engine building in their "Board Game Mechanics" list. It's likely a topic that would produce different responses from individuals, depending on the game.
I think tableau might be a subset of engine building? When I try to think about how these are different, my
gut says the main difference is tableau’s are built of several customizable or flexible parts (usually taken into a private supply from a common supply), where an engine builder might not have those. For example, Scythe has engine building at its core but you’re not building out a tableau.
(Re: Scythe, I didn’t consider the factory card. I think that piece is technically pushing it into the realm of a tableau. Imagine Scythe without that, that’s engine but not tableau, IMHO).
Terraforming Mars and Race for the Galaxy are my 2 favorites and just really great games. Feel like I want to play Ark Nova because of all the praise and the comparison to TM. Don't really want to own it so will have to find another opportunity to play it.
you can play Ark Minima, a 18 card shrinked free PNP version on BGG File section
Although I really like RftG, TfM:AE, Innovation, or even Everdell, my problem is all the time it takes to read the cards abilities to know if you want or need it. Sure, after many playthroughs you start to learn the cards and how they work together, but I don't feel the games are that fun until you have that knowledge, so it's hard to get to that point.
Thanks Tom for a very interesting list! I definitely want to give Innovation a try, but will wait on finding an inexpensive copy of the Eillo printing! I chose San Juan over Race, just because it is an easier game to teach. And,Castillo is very satisfying.
I might add Kashgar to this list. I like how you organize your tableaux and the good decision making you are faced with. 😉
I own both Innovation editions an even though the Asmadi third edition is as ugly as the past editions... it is far more functional. They changed all the names of abilities for the worse in IELLO edition and put icons in weird spots. Last time I played it I had wished I was playing the Asmadi edition (perhaps in part from so much play on BoardGameArena but still)
@@cursivecurses Thanks for the heads up......I need to try it on BGA.
Pax Pamir is the greatest tableau builder of all time
Everdell
I love Everdell, but I currently don't have a group that I can get it to the table with. In my estimation, it's a bit too heavy for my group. I'm also a fan of Gizmos, and It's a Wonderful World. I do own Innovation and have for a few years now. But I've yet to be able to get it to the table.
RFTG is also the top-1 of mine.
Tom will unintentionally get some data visualization crowd from this video.
Judging by the pictures in the video, the artwork of Deus seems far better than both St. Petersburg and Through the Ages (layout and aesthetics). Haven't seen any of those games in person though. Anyone else got a take on this?
I would definitely put Glen More II in this, you're typically building a tableau more than doing anything else. Suburbia is also one I'd put in a top 10 (my favourite city building game)
Also surprised Everdell wasn't on here. Another one I enjoy is Ora et Labora.
I have to agree with others. When I saw the header of this video I was debating where you put Everdell in connection with Ark Nova. And I think Terreforming Mars correctly is this high up. But Everdell would be my no one in this list. Strange Tom you didn't mention it..
Anachrony is a wonderful tableau building game (It really is all about the buildings...)
Good list. Too bad Meadow didn't make it.
Love Through the Ages, fantastic game. Sadly the physical version takes about 3 hours to play (it seems like) whereas on BGA it can take under an hour. I want to table it more but motivation to is difficult
So is tableau building and engin building the same thing ?
My two cents: engine building can be a part of tableau mechanisms, but the tableau you are building doesn't necessarily need to be an engine. In general when I think of tableau games, I think the end product is an aggregate of all actions, whereas with engine building the end product is to make an efficient engine. For example, I'd consider everdell a tableau building game insofar as you are laying down cards to improve the aggregate value of your little town. There are some engine building mechanics via the chaining critters off of built structures, but otherwise I think it's weak on the engine building.
For me it’s
Everdell
Ark nova
Terraforming mars
Wingspan
Those are my favorite tableau games
All of these are amazing.
Innovation (Deluxe) and Race for the Galaxy are still kings of tableau builders IMO ;).
I was really surprised to see Jump Drive in the opener but not make the list, surprised or disappointed :(
It's a Wonderful World does it for me.
I was expecting to see IWW in this list, since they gave it the Seal of Excellence
Is engine building the same as tableau building? Would Splendor count as a tableau builder?
My Favourites from this list:
Res Arcana
Empires of the North
Ark Nova
RTFG
Ares Expedition
Hmmm ... Terraforming Mars you just end up sitting with tunnel-vision on your own tableau. Close to multiplayer solitaire
I was expecting Everdell somewhere
Number 2 is favorite game of all time really puts a monkey wrench in number 1
Really odd not seeing Wingspan on here - it’s definitely a tableau building game.
That said it feels like an easy category to define but it’s not - saw a comment about engine vs tableau building and those overlap, as tableau’s are often about driving combos between cards and those combos may or may not also result in an engine being built depending on the game (ie one hit combos less so). That raises the question about tableau’s that work the same way as many of these but don’t use cards e.g. isn’t Suburbia effectively a drafting and tableau building game too?
Can’t win I guess!
I would say that Suburbia would be more likely to be called a tile placement game rather than a tableau building, but I can see that argument coming down to how exactly you define a tableau
@@CaptLoquaLacon exactly - it is blatantly a tile placement game as you place tiles however the scoring and way the tiles play off each other is otherwise exactly like a tableau builder! In particular, unlike in Carcassonne or many other tile placement games your tiles in Suburbia are placed in your own personal tableau of tiles to drive score combos - the only reason cards wouldn’t work is that relative position matters and that’s hex based.
I think an aspect of tableaus is that position within it doesn’t matter, which would disqualify a lot of games
@@gregbroxterman it shouldn’t be though: one dictionary def of tableau is: 1 : a graphic description or representation : picture winsome tableaux of old-fashioned literary days- 2 : a striking or artistic grouping : arrangement, scene.
An arrangement or scene can absolutely be about position as well as combos and more crucially imagine a non gaming tableau where you took all the parts of a picture and just slung them randomly on the canvas etc - you’d likely not call it a tableau any more as it wasn’t deliberately arranged into a scene or order…
It’s a bit of a confused term that one!
Tom, where would you put Earth on this list today?
Does Space Base not count? Surprised that didn't make the cut
Surprised there was no Lorenzo il magnifico!
Well I just came to the realization I don't like tableau builders haha. I either dislike outright or think these games are overrated. Except through the ages that one is amazing
No mention of 7 Wonders!?
No Glen More? That is almost entirely a tableau-building game and you've said you really enjoy it. I'm surprised it's not here!
Eh, I don't really consider it in this category.
I like Fantastic Factories
Aww no Elysium. I like it more than Deus, but I do like Deus too.
Great list! 51st State Master Set could be considered paired with Imperial Settlers. Fantastic Factories has also been a hit with my group and for solo.
I still don't understand the love for Ark Nova. I am not saying it is a bad game, I was just underwhelm by my plays of it.