Three game recommendations from me:
Yamataï gets too little of love. It’s a game with a beautiful table presence and with interesting mashup of mechanics that are really on the lighter spectrum.
Mechanics:
- Action Drafting
- Contracts
- Increase Value of Unchosen Resources
- Modular Board
- Network and Route Building
Architects of the West Kingdom is my favorite game for a long time and even without the Age of Artisans expansion.
Mechanics:
- Contracts
- Open Drafting -Solo / Solitaire Game
- Variable Player Powers
- Worker Placement
Radlands is currently my favorite two-player card game. It plays smoothly, has a vibrant color palette and although I would appreciate the game mat I enjoy the game on the clean table as well. I like the action queue mechanic in the form of ongoing events, back-and-forth dynamics and energy (water) management.
Mechanics:
- Action Points
- Action Queue
- Hand Management
- Take That
- Variable Player Powers
I happened to play freshly bought My Lil’ Everdell.
It is marketed as a kids’ game, but I can confirm there is space for a little bit of strategy.
The game works well both multiplayer and solo, and it can also be added in fewer player counts to raise the tension a little bit
I already had few ideas for variant that would raise strategic decisions one can make, but I’ll need few more playtests to throw it into the BGG forum’s variants thread.