Top 10 Area Control Games

Rodney Smith of Watch It Played & Stephen Buonocore of Stronghold Games join Tom in listing their Top 10 area control games!

00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - Stephen’s #10
02:59 - Tom’s #10
03:58 - Rodney’s #10
04:39 - Tom’s #9
05:58 - Rodney’s #9
06:53 - Stephen’s #9
08:32 - Rodney’s #8
09:15 - Stephen’s #8
10:17 - Tom’s #8
10:59 - Rodney’s #7
12:01 - Tom’s #7
13:10 - Stephen’s #7
14:13 - Tom’s #6
15:29 - Rodney’s #6
16:23 - Stephen’s #6
18:32 - Stephen’s #5
19:55 - Rodney’s #5
21:12 - Tom’s #5
22:10 - Stephen’s #4
22:54 - Tom’s #4
23:31 - Rodney’s #4
24:25 - Tom’s #3
25:08 - Rodney’s #3
25:43 - Stephen’s #3
26:17 - Rodney’s #2
27:27 - Stephen’s #2
29:15 - Tom’s #2
30:35 - Tom’s #1
31:54 - Rodney’s #1
32:52 - Stephen’s #1

[BGBarbarian]

Tom should give guidance to the cohosts if he's going be so hung up on his definition of area control.

[dapamico]

Watching Tom internally freak out and try to politely tell his guests their lists are garbage... this was one of the most entertaining lists I've watched. Thanks!

[dasnack]

Having Rodney on anything makes it way better, but it doesn't compensate for the lack of editing with pictures of the games.

[scottgrummert]

so happy to see Rodney with the dice towers top ten

[H]

Rodney, Tom, Steven (xxx triple overlap, xx double overlap)

10 Twilight Strugglexxx, Bootleggers, El Grandexxx
9 Small World, Revolution, Medina
8 El Grandexxx, Lancaster, Hannibal
7 Cyclades, Liberte, A Game of Thronesxx
6 Carcassonne, Mission Red Planet, Blood Ragexx
5 Blood Bowl (Card Game), Dominant Species, Amun-Re
4 Forbidden Stars, Wallenstein, Nexus Ops
3 Blood Ragexx, Age of Empires III, Twilight Strugglexxx
2 A Game of Thrones, Twilight Strugglexxx, Struggle of Empires
1 Kemet, El Grandexxx, War of the Ring

[madifinley]

Great video but I missed seeing the game art/box.

[josephengelhardt]

I love that Tom's refuting of the fairly rational, well presented explanations of why the games on the other lists ARE area control basically boils down to "well, I don't think they're area control."

[windbane]

Tom, you should have said non-war game area control because yeah, most war games are area control.

[relentlessrock]

what happened to the pics of games you used to show while giving the countdown? Also no written lists appeared at the end of the video! :(

[dpotter]

Got a misplaced audio cue at 4:16. Also, no title cards?

[variableplaynetwork]

Tom meant Area Influence for this list.
"The Area Control mechanic typically awards control of an area to the player that has the majority of units or influence in that area. As such, it can be viewed as a sub-category of Auction/Bidding in that players can up their "bids" for specific areas through the placement of units or meeples." -bgg entry on Area Control

High Command Deck Building Game
Warmachine or Hordes
- Having the majority in a location long enough for you to score it
Eight-Minute Empire Series (Original, Legends, Lost Lands) - because its all about area majority
Twilight Struggle

[natelinhart]

I actually agree with Tom for the most part on his arguments except for Small World. That is definitely area control/majority.

[dustbustus]

Glad to see Rodney on the dice tower!!

[kevin]

Tom needs this type of dynamic more often. Having people outside his gaming group pushes him more. Not to mention this is the first top 10 in ages where it wasn't full of games I've heard a hundred times before on other Dice Tower top 10 sayin'

[whitenoise]

So basically, that list was Tom's top 10, and 20 choices he doesn't agree on...

[DasBreitschwert]

I like rewatching those videos, especially this before/after Top 10 War games.
It's a war game, it is about war.It's an area control game, because it is area control.
Tom being on opposite sides of those issues in these two videos.

[JaKamps]

What's w/ the overlapping voice @ 3:47 & music @ 4:16?

[FragRevel]

Area majority is area control but area control is not always area majority

[Liz]

Yes! Rodney finally admitting some of his favorite games! Thanks Dice Tower for making it happen!

[trevorcummins]

An ultra-rare peek inside Rodney's brain for some game opinions! Love it. Now that the cat's out of the bag, can we expect a regular Watch it Played segment where Rodney and Pep shout game rankings at each other until someone flips the table? Fingers crossed.