Yes, you’ve started doing the research and you want to play your first campaign game. But it turns out there are a lot of them out there. So I want to look at less which game you pick, but how you go about picking a game. Some of the things will be obvious, others you might need to dig a bit more to find out the answer for, but doing so will help you track down the campaign game that is right for you.

What You To Pay Attention To When Picking a Campaign Game

This list isn’t in a particular order. Each of these things can matter, and a lot of them matter less than you’d think. I’ll explain as I go, but all of them are things to consider when picking out a campaign game.

Ideal Player Count

We’ll start with the player count. I think that this can often be an overlooked part of the game. The reason for that is that some games play at four. And then if you play with less, you have dumbed down versions of characters available. This might be a well implemented system, or it could be clunky. The main reason to find that ideal player count is that you don’t want to play four handed solo, unless you want to play four handed solo. Some campaigns will give you true solo, others will require you to play two or four handed.

Theme

This one is probably already in your consideration. Theme often is the first thing you can kind of tell from the box. But it is worth digging into further. Sometimes a game will be lighter or darker in theme than the cover looks. The easiest way is to use examples. Sword & Sorcery has a somewhat dark looking cover, for the most part that is a lighter and simpler story. Tainted Grail has a dark cover, that is a dark game. Know what sort of theme you are getting into.

Set-up and Tear Down

Now we’re onto one that is harder to find. How easy is the game to set-up and tear own. The simplest way to know is if there are inserts for the game. Now, some games just get inserts to get everything into one box. But if there are third party inserts to make the game easier to table, it’s probably heavy to get the table.

Now, this isn’t always an issue. I have a co-worker who has room at the end of a table to keep a game set-up. That speeds it up a ton. Or I own a gaming table so that means I keep a campaign set-up on the bottom player and put on the topper to play other games. But those are specific situations. If you can’t do that, then this is a bigger question.

Tutorial System

Next up is one that will depend on you again. But I appreciate that more games are coming with tutorial systems to get you up and playing the game. Sleeping Gods walks you through a few turns, Tainted Grail has a tutorial and same with ISS Vanguard and Jaws of the Lion teaches you Gloomhaven in five scenarios.

Is this needed, not always, but it depends on the complexity of the game. And campaign games are often more complex. That means that tutorials really do help get the game to the table. When you learn the game by playing the game it sticks better. And when you use the rule book only as a reference, it reduces the barrier to entry.

Game Length

To go with set-up and tear down, the question is, how long does a game take to play. In Gloomhaven, for example, it took about an hour or so per scenario when we knew what we were doing. We would get two done in an night and be done prior to 10 PM. Others it’s whole night, generally at a relaxed pace, from 7:30-7:45 until 11:30 for the game.

So know how long you have, this one is subjective again because you might have kids and need to check on them or have a babysitter so until 11:30 might not work as well as 10 PM. Know your situation when picking a game. And factor in that set-up and tear down time because if it’s a two hour session and thirty minutes to set-up and thirty to tear down, you really have a three hour session.

Campaign Length

This is different than the game length, and maybe what you thought I was going to talk about when I said game length. But this is how long is the overall campaign? Is it 12-24 sessions like Pandemic Legacy, or 50+ sessions like Gloomhaven?

This one is again one that will depend on your needs. There is no hard and fast rule, really with any of these, only things to think about and figure out what matters to you. But if you can’t commit to a very long game, don’t do so. Gloomhaven might be too long, but does Jaws of the Lion work for you as a shorter smaller box version? Know what sort of commitment you have from yourself and if playing with others, the group.

Complexity

Finally, and that again doesn’t mean least important, know the complexity of the game. I would recommend using Board Game Geek to get the weight of a game, but know that it is not always the most consistent. Meaning that a war game that is a 3 is probably much heavier than a board game that is a 3, and a campaign game that is a 3 is probably more complex than a regular board game that is a 3.

The reason for this is that people who rate those games, the war or campaign games, are used to that type of game. The difference between a campaign game and a regular game will be less though. I recommend using that number in comparing within the style of game. Figure out how complex you want to go for the game.

And know that a campaign game is likely going to be more complex. Something like Legacy of Dragonholt is pretty simple because it’s basically choose your own adventure. But that is an outlier when you look up campaign games. Most are going to be a bit more complex, just decide how complex you want to go. And know if there is a tutorial because that can help make it simpler to learn.

So What Game Do You Pick?

That’s such a good question. And while I gave you a lot of things to look into, that won’t always make it easier to pick. There are a ton of campaign games to look at out there. And some of them might be for you, others might not work out for various reasons.

I think the last piece of advice or two pieces are less around about the game, and more about researching. So with my list it is looking at the specifics of a game. Here is about your picking or starting that digging in process.

Firstly, narrow your scope. All of them might look great. But ask yourself some basic questions, how many do I play with and filter the results to match your player count. What theme do I want? Filter your results even further. Get it down to 3-5 that look really good and dig into those.

Secondly, while Board Game Geek and Nerdologists.com will give you some advice, it is words, generally. Or video reviews on Board Game Geek, and that doesn’t show you the game as much. So I recommend tracking down game plays. Malts and Meeples and Meet Me At The Table are two I recommend for actual game plays.

Hopefully this will help with picking a campaign game. There are a ton of them out there and I’ve played a number. So if you are curious about one, leave a comment or question one of the ways below. I tend to respond quickest to Facebook or Twitter.

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