It's December! It's the most wonderful time of the year! Polishing off that list of games on your wishlist and finding out what that special boardgamer in your life is hoping to see under the tree, what could be more fun?

Here's the top five games we're hearing the most buzz about so far this month. This time they are all new releases, enjoy and happy holidays!

My City

A 2-4 player family game, My City is a competitive legacy game where you build a city on your playing board through the ages.

The game has 24 episodes, starting with the development of a city in its early preindustrial stages and continuing through industrialization. In each game, players customize their experience by placing elements to their personal boards and adding cards to the game. Players' actions and choices made in one session carries over into the next session, making a personalized gaming experience.

For players who don't wish to experience My City as a legacy game, a double-sided game board allows an alternate set-up for repeatable play (some elements in the legacy game play are required for repeatable play game, players can unlock these elements by playing through the first 4 episodes).

Buy My City online now!

Lost Ruins of Arnak

In uncharted seas, on an uninhabited island, explorers have discovered evidence of a great civilization. Now you will guide an expedition to explore the island, secure lost artifacts, and face fearsome guardians, all in a journey to learn the island's secrets.

Lost Ruins of Arnak is a strategy game for 1-4 players, it brings together deck-building and worker placement in a game of exploration, resource management, and discovery. Along with traditional deck-builder effects, cards are also used to place workers, and new worker actions are available as players discover the island. Some actions need resources instead of workers, so creating a solid resource base is necessary. Players must choose carefully on their one action per turn received. What action can you put off for later, and what action will assist you the most now? Assuming another player doesn't play the action first!

Small game decks, and the games randomness is mitigated by the wealth of tactical choices offered on the game board. The set-up for each game is unique, with the help of a variety of worker actions, artifacts, and equipment cards, allowing players to explore new strategies to meet the challenge.

Buy Lost Ruins of Arnak online now!

Hallertau

In Bavaria, Germany the Hallertau is the biggest continuous hop-producing area in the world. It prides itself for being the first in Middle Europe to cultivate hops. Hallertau the game is set in 1850, where the Hallertau became what it is today.

A small Bavarian village chief, in the Hallertau, players goal is to increase wealth and prestige in the view of the world. To obtain this, you are required to supply local craft folk with goods from agriculture and sheep breeding. Play your cards right, place your workers and allow your village to prosper!

Buy Hallertau online now!

New York Zoo

Animal breeding with puzzles: Popular designer Uwe Rosenberg does not disappoint! In New York Zoo, players are building an animal park. Construct animal enclosures, bring in new animals and raise their offspring. The game is straight forward with only two turn options: Collect new animals to populate your animal encounters, or puzzle a new enclosure tile to your zoo. However, be sure to properly time your actions as you want your zoo to take part in as many animal breeding's as possible.

Buy New York Zoo online now!

Beyond the Sun

A space civilization game where players choose together the technological progress of humankind at the beginning of the Spacefaring Era, while also competing with each other to be the leading faction in economic development, science, and galactic influence.

Game play lasts until a number of game-end achievements are collectively claimed by the players. The winner is the one with the most victory points, which are gained by researching technologies, improving their economy, controlling and colonizing systems, and finishing various achievements and events over the course of the game.

On a turn, players move their action pawn to an empty action space, taking that action. They then perform their production phase, either producing ore, growing their population, or trading resources for another. Lastly, they can claim up to one achievement, if possible.

As players perform actions, they research new technologies, coming in four levels. Each technology is one of four types (scientific, economic, military, commercial), and higher-level technologies require to match one of the types of tech that lead into it. Therefore, players make their own technology tree per game, using these actions to increase their military strength, to jump to different habitable exoplanetary systems, to colonize those systems, to increase their resource production, to create android tech that allows growth without population, and more.

Buy Beyond the Sun online now!