The Collection

Numbers

A’s – B’s – C’s – D’s – E and F’s – G and H’s – I, J and K’s – L’s

M’s

Mage Knight Board Game

This is one of the most popular solo board games out there, which is why I picked it up when I could used. This is not the ultimate edition that has all the expansions, just the base game. From what I know of it, it’s a quite heavy game made even heavier by a fairly poorly written rule book and a tutorial that kind of tries to teach you the game but doesn’t do a great job at it, but it was a lot of things that I like, Deck building being one of them and it is said to have an RPG like feel as well. It’s one that I need to spend some time learning and get to the table.

Status: To Be Played

Magic: The Gathering

This was one of the games that kind of got me into modern board gaming again, or helped me diversify my gaming because the group that I joined in with. Magic is a good deck construction game that I don’t get to play all that often anymore. In fact, I sold off the majority of my cards, but I still had to keep a few decks around because I know that eventually I’ll play it again, especially Commander. I think I kept three or four commander decks around because that style of playing can be expensive, but you only need one of each card in the deck. And it allows you to deck build in more interesting ways.

Status: Played

Mansions of Madness: Second Edition

I like my Arkham games from Fantasy Flight, but Mansions of Madness: Second Edition is my favorite. The game play is really enjoyable as you are playing through an app guided scenario. Since it’s app guided, it means that the game will be different each time that you play it, or could be, which is a lot of fun as well. And the scenarios are really different, some have just trying to stop a summoning in a mansion while others have you running around trying to escape a town that’s been already taken over, and there’s a scenario with time travel as well. Fantasy Flight has done a lot of things with the game which gives it a lot of replayability.

Status: Played

Mariposas

Last years big hit of a game was Wingspan from Elizabeth Hargrave, and she followed it up this year with Mariposas. Mariposas is a game about butterflies and their migratory patterns, which doesn’t sound that interesting, but the game play itself looks very interesting. You push as far north as you can all while sill needing, in the last season, to get all the way down to warm weather again to score more points. So it’s a push and pull of which objectives you want to get and which ones might be worth passing on because of how you’re set-up. It seems like clever game play and is an interesting theme, though not the only butterfly themed game that I have.

Status: To Be Played

Marrying Mr. Darcy

Sometimes you just want to play a light filler game about finding your ideal suitor in Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice. And sometimes you mix in the undead expansion if you want to play Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. This game is one that my wife actually picked up on Kickstarter, and it’s been a hit at the table. The game, I will say overstays it’s welcome a little bit considering how simple it is, but it does always provide good laughs as you try and set-up your best match and hope not to end up an old maid. The humor in the game is solid as well, it is just a bit too long for what it is.

Status: Played

Marvel Battleworld

Marvel Battleworld is kind a game. In a lot of ways it is more collectible than anything else, but not really being collectible. You are rolling dice to defeat enough locations before Thanos gets them. But the game is mainly about these Thanos Stones, something made up for the game, which are basically just a blind bid pack. You crack them open when you beat a Thanos Stone location and you have a new hero that you can play with. The heroes do look great, and the game play is meant for kids, so it’s not a knock on it, it’s about getting you to buy more packs for the kids in hopes that they get their favorite character, like frog Thor or cat Captain America. And there are rarer packs to sucker in the adults. But it’s a fun five minute little game thing, which is what it looks like.

Status: Played

Marvel Champions

Continuing the run on Marvel games we have the game that if I split it up into expansions as well, it could have been it’s own post. Marvel Champions is a deck construction card game where you are taking a hero up against a villain in a scenario, or multiple heroes in multiplayer. This is another Fantasy Flight game and is a living card game, which means that they are releasing new things for it all the time. I have 11 expansions for it, but you don’t need them all, or really any, there is a lot to play with in the base box, and after that you can just pick and choose your favorite heroes to get. What I really like about this game is that you go back and forth between your hero and alter-ego side, so Spider-Man and Peter Parker, for example. If you are in the Peter Parker form, the bad guy won’t attack because they don’t know who you are, instead they’ll scheme a way. But on the flip side, they attack and scheme less, so you need to balance it out so that you can beat them.

Status: Played

Marvel United

The final Marvel game on my list, this one is a simple cooperative game (all the Marvel games are cooperative). But Marvel United has amazing Chibi figures. This game has a ton more expansions coming with it sometimes in 2021, but just the base game is enough to get started with. This is a very straight forward game of dealing with a bad guy who is scheming away. But it has a really cool twist. On your turn you play down a card and use it’s actions and the ones from the card played before you. So it is that super hero team-up feel that people think of from the Avengers films.

Status: To Be Played

The Mind

The Mind was everywhere last year. It was a simple game that showed up and was very polarizing. Some people consider it less a game and more of an activity while other people say it’s a great game. For me, it’s an okay little bit of filler. In the game you play down cards in ascending order, not that tricky. But you can’t speak, so you have to be in everyone else’s head trying to guess what they have and wait it out before you play. I’ve only played The Mind a little bit, and I don’t need to play it that often. It’s an okay sitting around and drinking game, but overall just an okay time and it will fall flat at times.

Status: Played

Munchkin: Zombies

If you asked a lot of people what some of their first games to get into board gaming were, I’d expect a lot of people to say some version of Munchkin. I played base Munchkin first, but the version I got was Zombies. In Munchkin, you are kicking down doors and fighting monsters while everyone one else is trying mess you up. The game is very much a take that game and for that reason isn’t going to be for everyone and really isn’t even for me anymore. I keep it on the shelf because it is a good introductory weight game, and nostalgia at this point.

Status: Played

Alright, that’s all of the games that I own which start with M. There are a number of them, though not as many as starting with L. What is your favorite game that starts with the Letter M? What game should I add to my collection starting with M?

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100 to 91

90 to 81

80 to 71

70 to 61

60 to 51

50 to 41

40 to 31

30 to 21

20 to 11

Plus a few notes on how I’ve put together the list:

• These are my favorite, you want what people consider best, see the Board Game Geek Top 100
• If a game you love isn’t on the list, it might be be coming, I might not have played it, and if I have, it’s 101
• If a game looks cool, I have links to buy it from CoolStuffInc or Amazon, or you can grab most at your FLGS
• There are a few games, Destiny 2 Player versus regular Destiny where if they are basically the same thing, I only do one of them

10. Pandemic Legacy Season 1

Starting here, we have a game that has dropped a little bit for me. Some of that is because I haven’t played it recently nor is it one that I can play more often than once every three or four years, because it is a legacy game. So there is a story element to the game that even when I played it the second time, I generally remembered the story and when the moments happened, though not always perfectly. The game play is really good, and even though it’s a legacy game, it is very much worth playing. It is a good building off of the main game, and it adds in surprising moments and some good twists along the way. The game is mechanically sound as well with nothing really throwing the game out of balance. Overall, it’s a game that is a great experience every time you pull it out while playing through the story, and at the end, even though you can’t use the board game, it doesn’t feel like a waste and you feel satisfied with how much you’ve played it.

Last Year: 3

9. Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

New comer to the list, and one that I want to get to the table more. It might be the game that we play next after Gloomhaven because I think we’ll be able to play it pretty well over Zoom. In Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, this is a dark fantasy game where you are exploring story, going across maps and finding new lands, fighting monsters, all of this while trying to survive and keep giant statues, Menhir, lit, to hold back the Wyrdness that is threatening the land. This game has so much story to it and it is really well written, the minis are great in the game, the game mechanics are really interesting, most of them are pretty straightforward, but the combat and diplomacy encounters are done in a really interesting way. This game really shines because of how much it offers in story, and with two more expansions coming from this Kickstarter, there is going to be tons of hours of game play to get through the whole story of this world. I’m very excited to get it back to the table.

Last Year: Not Ranked

8. ICECOOL

This one shot up a long way, but I think that last year while ranking, I might have left it lower because it is just a light and silly game. But ICECOOL is a game that I love playing every time I get to the table. Whether it is just having a goofy time at a board game night or playing it somewhat more seriously at GenCon in a tournament, ICECOOL is always a blast. What is basically just a little flicking game, this game just works so well. The box is incredible as it comes apart to make this 3D high school (Ice cool, get it). The little penguin pieces are really nice, and the whole flicking thing just works so well. This is really a kids game, but it’s a lot of fun for adults, for kids, and for basically any setting. This is one that I’d definitely recommend to anyone, gamer or not, as a really fun time.

Last Year: 21

7. Dice Throne

Another one shooting up the list, this is one of my more played games last year. And it helps because there is a nice TTS (Tabletop Simulator) version that works well, and I was bummed because I was hoping to do a tournament of this game this year amongst my friends, but with Covid that hasn’t happened. Dice Throne is a battling dice chucking game where you are playing different types of characters, you might be something as simple as a Barbarian or a Paladin, you you can play a Seraph or an Artificer. While core mechanics might be similar in what you are trying to roll or what rolls are better, the game play for each character seems different. You’re looking for different things and trying to get that set-up right and the statuses on players at the right time or get them off yourself before you’re taken out. I like this game at two players probably the best, but I’ve been playing a lot of “King of the Hill” style with three players and that has been amazing as well. The game plays fast, and you feel engaged with it throughout. I am also really excited to see this battling style board game turned into more of an adventure game in Dice Throne: Adventures coming real soon.

Last Year: 19

6. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Another new game to the list, and almost into the top 5, I’ve played Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game exactly 5 times, once for each case in the base box. And with that, I can’t really play the base box again. Well, I could, but I would more have to run the game for other people, which I think could be a lot of fun, make it into an almost role playing style experience for them. But even with that this game has expansions, I have two of them, and the game play and story itself were so good. You feel like you are in an NCIS or some sort of show like that, but while watching 13 season of something like that can get dry and repetitive, these feel unique and interesting. This is much more than just a procedural sort of mystery, it’s an experience as you unravel story old and new, and the database that you use, being able to look up real events online, and the story deck, all of it just works so well. If you like deduction/mystery style games, I cannot recommend this one highly enough, and if you want something that is easier than five tied together stories, there is a Season One with fewer cases and ones that aren’t intertwined as well.

Last Year: Not Ranked

5. Mansions of Madness: 2nd Edition

Moving up a few spots, we have Mansions of Madness: 2nd Edition. This game, every time I play it, shows me something different. Yes, I can play different scenarios that are obviously going to be different, but even playing the introductory scenario, while I might know the story, how the places are laid out is different. This is my highest ranked Lovecraftian game, though I do want to try Death May Die, and I have Arkham Horror 3rd Edition waiting to get played on my shelf. This one I love because you have stand alone scenarios of different lengths and difficulties, and you can just pull out an app and tell it what you have, it’ll show you what scenarios are available and you can jump into playing so quickly. Now, there is some work when it comes to the set-up of characters and you’ll have to spend time to the board, but the app walks you through that and you discover and explore more as you go. This game has just been consistently good for me, even though my win loss record isn’t that great.

Last Year: 8

4. Betrayal at House on the Hill

Now for a lot of people, this game will seem way to high. There are scenarios that aren’t that well balanced, it’s true. If a betrayer has all the good items or none of the good items, it’ll be over quickly when the haunt happens, also true. But there is just something about this game that I like so much and that just works for me. Some of it is because it just feels like a campy horror film as a group of misfits whom never should have gone into a haunted house together just have everything go horribly wrong and find something disturbing around every corner. And I like both parts of the game, the exploration part and the haunt when it happens. This game just scratches that bit of a horror in gaming itch that I have pretty often and that most games can’t scratch.

Last Year: 4

3. Marvel Champions

New one to the list, will be it be the highest, yes it will. But Marvel Champions has been a wonderful game for me. I won’t lie, I have a little bit of bittersweet feeling around it, though I do love it every time I play it, because it was the last time playing a game at a game shop before everything got stopped because of Covid. Even with that, I have played it a few more times, and I most certainly have picked everything up for it. This game is the superhero game that I wished Marvel Legendary was and completely knocked Marvel Legendary off my list. It’s not that I don’t have room for multiple superhero games, I do, and I love the Marvel theme, this one just makes you feel like you are playing a superhero instead of having a team of them that you build kind of at random. Here you can still have allies that help out, but you’re really playing Spider-Man/Peter Parker or Black Panther/T’Challa. You can flip between the two sides, hero and alter-ego, and you can play them in different ways. I haven’t gotten into the deck construction yet, but I know that’s something I want to explore as well. This game just is what I’ve been looking for in a superhero game.

Last Year: Not Ranked

2. Blood Rage

Not moving at all from last year, we have Blood Rage. This game is just an amazing game. There is area control, there is conflict, and there is card drafting, you go on missions, you recruit monsters and send them in to wreck your enemies, all of this while trying to balance out increases to your action points and to be able to get more troops on the board and get more glory for the battles that you’ve won. I also like that there are some different strategies you can take in this game, maybe you can draft missions well and end up scoring a lot, maybe you’ll get many a point in victory in battles. Or maybe you’ll do the Loki strategy and get into battles and let your clan die and go to Valhalla and get points from them when they leave. Depending on what you draft, that can determine what you’re going for in an age, and while you might want to focus on something, the other players can also draft to block you. This game is always fun for me and even having played it a number of times now, it feels like there is still so much more to explore.

Last Year: 2

1. Gloomhaven

Staying at #1 as well is Gloomhaven. This game is just about perfect to me, and most of the issues that I have are from the Forgotten Circles expansion which I’ve just about wrapped up, we’re on the final scenario. This game has so much that I love, there is a massive story campaign, there is a dungeon crawl focus and interesting monsters. It’s fully cooperative, and fighting in a given scenario is so interesting based off of the character that you have. You level up your characters getting different combat cards in, unlocking new abilities and generally changing up how you play until you retire and then you play a new character and get to discover everything they can do and how they play all over again. I think I’ve played over 200 hours of this game, probably easily over 200 pushing 300 at this point, and we haven’t done all the side scenarios or all the scenarios and story in the expansion, so there is just so much in this game. I can’t say enough good things, and honestly, I hope by the time I’m doing this next year, this is bumped to #2, because I’m so excited for Frosthaven and the city building piece of that as well.

Last Year: 1

So we have the top 100, I’m going to be putting up another article today with links to all the Top 100, look at what is new on the list, what is are the biggest movers and ask you your favorites overall. But in my Top 10 games, what are your favorites?

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So, what is a Dungeon Crawl?

A dungeon crawl game is generally going to be a one versus many or game versus many sort of game where the players are going through a dungeon and clearing out the monsters in that dungeon while also trying to possibly complete additional objectives depending on the scenario that is given. Generally you’ll have your character, the monsters, and anything else important on a map and you’ll use in the scenario. Generally these sorts of games are going to have a fair amount of combat. This combat can be done through card play but very often Dungeon Crawl games are going to have you rolling a bunch of dice to see if you hit or how much damage you do. That will be how you defeat traps and sometimes you’ll use different skills for things like overcoming obstacles or disarming traps as well.

One thing to note is that when we say Dungeon Crawl, it doesn’t have to be a dungeon per se. There are games out there where you’re going through a mine in the old west or fighting through a lab to get some secret plans. Dungeon Crawl definitely comes from fantasy and RPG roots but it’s something that’s been placed onto a lot of different settings. The term really refers to the idea that you enter the scenario at one point, you fight the monsters or bad guys, and you complete the objective.

Dungeon Crawls also generally fall into the broad category of Ameritrash games. This means that most Dungeon Crawl games are going to have some higher level of luck to them. Most often this will be in combat where you are rolling dice to see if you hit or not. For some people this can be off putting because if they roll poorly they might not be able to do anything about it. But a lot of these games also have something known as dice mitigation. This basically means that you have ways to manipulate the dice, either by rerolling them to see if you improve your result or the ability to change the face of the dice. Also, I would say, a lot of these dungeon crawl games have moved away from a simple pass or fail on an attack. Yes, an attack might not hit, but even on a miss they generally try and supply some sort of benefit.

Let’s talk about some games that fall into the style:

Gateway Games

Mice and Mystics – Now this is one that I actually haven’t played but that I’m quite familiar with, and I think provides an interesting feel and a good introductory point for a dungeon crawler. This game is not a massive game like a lot of dungeon crawlers are and the theme is really targeted towards kids and families, which is ideal for a gateway game as that means that it is going to be rules lighter. In this game you play as a band of mice who are fighting off monsters and completing a storybook of quests and missions. This works well as well because everyone is working cooperatively together against the game.That means that for younger players or people who might not be following all the rules, it’ll be easy to help them mid game, just don’t end up taking their turn for them.

Medium Weight

Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition – Now, I think the 1st Edition is hard to find at this point so I probably don’t need to specify, but I still like to anyways. In this game it’s a more story immersive dungeon crawl as you are going to a location to complete a specific story driven element on the game. You’re trying to solve the mysterious goings on at a mansion, or people disappearing at the seaside, or maybe even there might be some time travel. But there is something going on. This is another fully cooperative game as there is an app that directs you in what you need to do for the monsters and how the board changes as you reveal new map tiles and explore finding cultists, monsters, or clues that you need to stop the disappearances or ritual. This game has more complex rules, though most of your actions are pretty simple, but the app with the game makes it so that it walks you through a lot of stuff that could be a potential downfall. It’s a really fun game with a lot of expansions and scenarios.

Heavy Weight

Gloomhaven – Now, I was tempted to put Gloomhaven as the medium weight game on my list. I do not think that it is highly complex, but compared to Mansions of Madness and Mice and Mystics, it is more complex and just because of the volume of stuff in Gloomhaven, it is way more intimidating. This one, unlike Mansions of Madness which is one off scenarios, is a massive campaign game as well as you go through scenarios which are intertwined together to create a massive story of monsters, mystery and destruction. In this one the combat is less random because you have a modifier deck that you are using. Yes, you could still hit your null and do no damage, but you can improve the odds of doing well as you level up your character.

There are a ton more Dungeon Crawl games out there, I mentioned wild west, Shadows of Brimstone, if that theme is more interesting, there’s Reichbusters about being a crack team going in and basically fighting Nazi zombies. Or you could play through missions in Star Wars: Imperial Assault around the events of the original trilogy or play as Gimli and Legolas in an adventure in Lord of the Rings: Journeys In Middle Earth. So there are Dungeon Crawls for everyone out there and some are very complex and have massive rule books, while others are more simple.

What is your favorite dungeon crawl game? Are there any that stand out to you as being better than the rest? If you haven’t played a Dungeon Crawl game, what’s keeping you from playing one?

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10 – Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Do you want to play through the Harry Potter books? That’s what Hogwarts Battle gives you as you can play from Ron, Hermoine, Neville, or Harry himself as you go up against he-who-shall-not-be-named. Though, you need to deal with the likes of Crabbe and Goyle, Quirrel, and others first. To do that, you need to build up your deck so that you can deal with the threats before the plans of the villains get too tough to deal with and you lose the game. The game grows in complexity as you advance through the various books until you get your NEWT’s and you can specialize your skills even more. And there are more challenges that you need to tackle. There’s even an expansion to add in some of the monsters that live in the forest and Luna as a playable character as well.

9 – Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate
D&D Theme here which is kind of odd to have a game that’s based on an RPG and Video Game. But there’s a game that is actually based on Betrayal at House in the Hill. In this game you’re going to explore the city of Baldur’s Gate and there are odd things going on, crazy events, and omens, and items. Eventually someone is a traitor and everyone is going to have to deal with their betrayal. You get that classic D&D sort of feel as you have all your different character classes that you can play and all of them do something special that makes sense for their class. The cleric heals, the wizard has magic missiles, and it’s a very fun time. While it is a big generic in terms of what people expect from fantasy now, the game is a lot of fun and more balanced than Betrayal at House on the Hill.

8 – Lord of the Rings
There are a number of Lord of the Rings games, this isn’t the Living Card Game or Journeys in Middle Earth, this is the game that came out in 2000. This one is all about playing cards in a such a way that you can complete legs of Sam and Frodo’s journey to Mount Doom to destroy the ring. It allows you to go on that journey and play as Pippin, Merry, or Fatty Bolger if you’re playing with five players. It’s fairly abstracted but overall a bunch of fun and punishingly hard as you reach towards the end of the game. The artwork in the game is beautiful and fully cooperative, though, there is a Sauron expansion where someone can control Sauron.

7 – Hats
Not all games with an IP are going to have a ton of theme to them. Hats is definitely one of them as you’re trying to create you best collection of hats. Now, that’s all around the Madd Hatter’s tea party and his hat collection and which hats you should be wearing, but it’s really a card based game where you are collecting hats and trying to set yourself up to score the best that you can. It’s a fun abstract game with a vague Alice in Wonderland aesthetic to it, but that’s about it. It’s a fun fast game that has some clever things around it when you consider which hats you’re trying to collect and which you’re playing down that might help your opponent. Definitely a stretch for an IP, but technically it has one.

6 – The Grimm Masquerade
There are a few of these that are using public domain IP’s. The fairy tale characters that you get in this hidden role game are all out there for anyone to use, but they are a theme that has been added to the game from a previous work. In Grimm Masquerade, you are at a masquerade, unsurprisingly, and you are trying to figure out who all the other players are. You do that by giving them gifts and taking a gift for yourself. If you’re Cinderella you want to get a glass slipper, but there is one that is going to be bad for you and if you get that, it outs who you are as a character and you’re out for the round. But you don’t have to just give gifts, you can accuse as well. And if you correctly guess who someone is, you get more points. There’s an interesting amount of strategy to this generally lighter style of game.

5 – Star Wars: Rebellion
Star Wars in a box, this game is all about playing that original trilogy and seeing of the Empire is able to find and destroy the rebel base or if the rebels are able to sabotage the empire’s plans and outlast them. You get to play with iconic characters and write your version of the trilogy. Maybe it’ll be Yavin that gets blown up or Endor. Will the rebels capture Darth Vader, or maybe the Emperor himself will be leading the Death Star into battle. It’s a big game of cat and mouse that takes a while, but it feels like a Star Wars movie each time you play it.

4 – The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game
Probably one of the more abstracted games on the list, the theme still comes through well, especially if you’re familiar with the books. You are taking your team of investigators, combatants, and possibly werewolves to try and solve the case from a given Dresden Files book. Each book has it’s own balance of advantages you can get, obstacles you can overcome, and most importantly cases to solve and villains to beat. If you can solve more cases than there are villains left, you win, but you might be dealing with the final encounter where you can use some abilities, but hope that you got things close enough so that with a lucky roll you can defeat that last villain you need to defeat or solve the last case at the last minute.

3 – Arkham Horror: The Card Game
One of two Lovecraft games on the list, and since you haven’t seen the other one, you know that it is going to be higher. This game allows you to play through scenarios, trying to avoid going insane and be able to solve the mystery presented before you with basically just cards and a few tokens. It has some good mechanics some of the randomness and mechanics, and I really like that you can tailor your experience where if you want to enjoy the story more, you can play on easy, if you want it hard, you can play at an extremely difficult level. It works well, with that, for like I said if you just want to experience the story or for learning the game, being able to play on an easier level.

2 – Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition
The second game on the list based around Lovecraftian mythos and they come back to back. Mansions of Madness just does a better job with it’s app integration for doing the book keeping of moving the story along nicely. In both of the cases, you can play very different types of stories, but they are all set in the Lovecraft mythos, or at least adjacent to it. Lovecraft’s works were less pulp detective than the Fantasy Flight Lovecraftian games are, but it still has some of the theme of the monsters, and a game that is just about madness and dread wouldn’t work extremely well, you need something for the players to do.

1 – Marvel Champions: The Card Game
Top spot goes to Marvel, this game a lot of fun, and it really uses it’s IP well. You have your superhero, Spider-Man for example, fighting Rhino. Well, if Rhino has been hitting Spider-Man too much, he can always flip over into Peter Parker, and Rhino will stop attacking and go back to scheming on his great plan to rob a bank. So it really feels very thematic and you come in with a web swing and kick Rhino to eventually beat him, it feels like you’re playing as Spider-Man. The art helps the theme as well, and even the graphic design on things like the “Tough” and “Stunned” cards have a great comic book look and feel to them.

There are a lot of fun games with good IP’s on them that don’t have to be a generic fantasy or sci-fi setting. A lot of these games, while some are a bit more complicated are going to be good things to get people who maybe aren’t big game players who really love a theme. I think that all of these are fun games, and I really wish, looking at the list, that I had some time to play some of them right now, but thankfully some of them, Marvel Champions, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle can be played solo, or with Lord of the Rings, my wife enjoys that game as well. There are a lot of good games with IP’s now after it just being generic roll and move games.

What are some of your favorite games with an IP?

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Before I get to the list, let’s talk about some of the criteria, if it’s mythological, is it fantasy? Generally, unless there is that more fantastical element that the game leans into, then I’d lean towards it being a fantasy game, but if there’s less of that, then not. Also, if I liked Dominion, it has a witch, it has curses, technically those are fantastical type elements, but Dominion is medieval and themeless, so it wouldn’t be on the list even though it has some of those fantasy adjacent elements. Or something like Lost Expedition won’t be on the list even though you have the Fountain of Youth and a werebeast in the expansion. Finally, if it’s clearly more of another genre and some elements are just fantastical at times, Betrayal at House on the Hill, for example, it won’t be on the list. Yes there are magical and fantastical things that can happen, but that is a horror themed game.

But with all of that out of the way, let’s get to the list.

10 – Ascension
Now, theme is going to be a bit of stretch for this game, not that it doesn’t have a fantasy theme, but that the theme really matters all that much. In this game you’re doing deck building and creating combos to buy better cards and then defeat monsters. So it’s kind of themed around your slinging spells, fighting horrific monsters, and playing out magical constructs, but it’s really much more just cards. That said, this is a really fun game, I love the changing market as people buy cards and defeat monsters new cards and monsters come out. There are different strategies you can take in the game, and while some are extremely powerful, depending on when you see cards it can really change up how things go. Definitely a fun one with a lighter fantasy theme.

9 – Village Attacks
In most fantasy games you’re playing the epic heroes who are going to be able to take on anything and everything. In this one, you’re playing the monsters who after a hard day dealing with uncooperative villagers just want to relax and enjoy their evening. Then the villagers show up with pitchforks and torches and they are just going to make this a long night, you know. And you must protect the magical heart of your castle where you are able to regenerate, because if you don’t and you die, you will never be able to come back. It’s a fun twist that uses a fairly horrific looking art style, but plays much lighter than it looks in terms of theme.

8 – Deranged
I’m really waiting for this horror fantasy game to come out. I think that this one walks the line more so than Betrayal at House on the Hill does. In Deranged you are fighting off monsters as you are trapped in this remote village, but not just because of it’s remote location but because a magical force is keeping you trapped in the town, but there is a way out. Unfortunately to leave, you cannot be cursed, and you are cursed. But if you die, you become a deranged monster which can help you stop someone else from escaping but is going to end up giving you more curses. This game has really interesting card play and was supposed to be coming out in the US quarter one, but I’m hoping will be coming out here in quarter two.

7 – The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game
I have already talked about that this is one of my favorite series, so I was excited for a game that let me play through the books in the series, and this one gives you that feel of the series. It’s tricky, you’re probably not going to win on the first try, and there’s luck to the game, and that’s a lot of how the books feel as well. This is straight up urban fantasy that leans into the fae and fae courts for some of it’s magical history as well as an interesting take on the 30 pieces of silver that were given to Judas to betray Jesus, and other fantasy elements, including unique vampires. The book series is amazing, and the game is good, but probably best if you’re a fan of the series.

6 – Dice Throne
You’ve been summoned to a tournament, the winner will get to face off against the emperor who has been undefeated for over 5000 years, I believe. Are you going to have what it takes to rise through the ranks? That’s the backstory for this game that is really more of a one on one dice chucking battle game where you could play a raging barbarian or a pyromancer slinging fire spells to a vampire or a cursed pirate. This one tells less of a story than a lot of fantasy games, more just pitting fantasy characters against each other to see who might come out on top. The quality of this game is off the charts, and the characters feel like they are unique even though a lot of what you are rolling for is similar, straights, matching numbers, etc.

5 – Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Hard to put on the list, but there’s another Lovecraftian game coming up. This one feels more investigative than it doesn’t fantastical, but you’re still fighting eldritch monsters and crazy cultists bent on summoning in elder gods to destroy the world. And you can sling spells if you want to or focus on more conventional means of investigating. And the system lends itself to going more fantastical or less fantastical, it’s up to the scenario that you are playing through. Definitely one that just made the list, but has strong enough elements of fantasy and in particular urban fantasy.

4 – Aeon’s End: War Eternal
You’re mages of the breech who are tasked with the job of defending the town of Gravehold against the mighty titans and their monstrous minions. Can you hold them off, this is a spell slinging cooperative game where each player plays as a breech mage. These mages are fairly standard looking, but have interesting powers and there are a lot of them in the base game. Plus, you get several Titans all who have their own different minions and schemes that you have to go up against. This game really is interesting and works well, the world that they’ve created for the series is fairly tightly focused but they’ve done a good job of creating lore around it, and I’m excited to try Aeon’s End: Legacy coming up here sometime.

3 – Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is not a magically heavy, but it definitely has heavy elements of fantasy with crazy monsters that have been warped by the Wyrdness, magical Menhir that are driving back the Wyrdness giving the humans a chance to survive in a little pockets. It’s a grim fantasy setting but I really have enjoyed how it can be dark, but not too dark, and that it is very hard. The story is well written as well, I say that some of these games have more generic style fantasy stories, but this one, even though it’s based on Arthurian legend feels fresh and unique and horrifying, but it always leaves you wanting to explore more and find out more in the world that Awaken Realms has created.

2 – Mansions of Madness: Second Edition
This one might surprise some people to be on the list, it’s not the epic swords and sorcery fantasy, but as the investigators, you can sling spells around, you are dealing with fantastical monsters, some from other parts of the universe or dimensions. There’s certainly an urban fantasy element to the game that shapes a lot of the stories that you get in it. And the whole idea of these Eldritch horrors is very fantastical in nature. I do think that you get more of a sense of adventure and investigation than you do fantasy from the game, but it doesn’t lean heavily into any theme more than the fantasy element to it, it’s just a different type of fantasy than what we normally think of.

1 – Gloomhaven
A big epic fantasy game in a box, Gloomhaven has a distinction of having it’s own original fantasy theme. Now, that’s not to say that some of the others haven’t done their own interesting things, but Gloomhaven is almost completely unique. The Cragheart, Quatryl, Vermling, and more are all unique to the world that Isaac Childres has created in the game, and that’s impressive to take such a big thing as world building and turn it into something that is specific and unique for a game the size of Gloomhaven. Each class and race feel unique and you get an interesting fantasy tale, I won’t say it’s the best written, but it’s good and the game play is great.

There are a lot of other games that I considered. Grimm Masquerade with it’s fairy tale theme just missed and Lord s of Hellas walks that line of fantasy and mythology and missed the list as did Blood Rage. One that I really strongly considered was TIME Stories. Why I kept TIME Stories off the list is that not all of the scenarios are really that magical. There’s definitely some of that, but Prophecy of Dragons is the main one that really leans into the magic.

Fantasy is certainly a popular theme in board games, and a popular theme in games that want to have that heavier story to it and even border on role playing, though if you want to go that way, you can just play Dungeons and Dragons, another highly recommended game. What are some of your favorite games with a fantasy theme? What are some that I should checkout?

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So what are my top 10 cooperative games?

10 – The Lost Expedition
Number ten on the list is the smallest game of the group but also one of the easier ones to teach and get to the table. In this, you are your fellow players are trying to lead your team of adventurers on hikes twice a day so that they can get to the Lost City of Z, but the jungles are dangerous, and you never know what might be coming up next. But that’s for you to decide as players, without discussing, you put down cards for a morning and evening hike that might get you more food or cause you to find bullets or maybe you get hook worms, and no one wants that, but there are difficult decisions to make on each card, and you can discuss that part. One of the games that really has something built into to stop alpha gamers from being able to run the game. It’s a lot of fun, and it plays fast as well, which some of the games further on the list won’t.

9 – Arkham Horror: The Card Game
The first, but not the last Lovecraft Mythos game on the list from Fantasy Flight, this one is the smaller or the two, though it packs a lot of punch. In this one, like all of Fantasy Flight’s Lovecraftian Games, you are an investigator working together with the other investigators trying to stop whatever horror is being called through by cultists. But in this you can be fighting, but much of it is investigating, and the game is just basically cards and a bunch of tokens. You don’t need a bit board to tell a big story or change up the game. The different things that the cards can do and how they can use them to create a town or house or other locations and it feels different is impressive. Now, with the base box, it’s only a 1-2 player game, but with another core box you can play up to 4, so if you have a larger group it’s something to consider. And Fantasy Flight does a great job of supporting this, as they do with all their living card games, so there is always more story coming out.

8 – Aeon’s End: War Eternal
When it comes to deckbuilding a lot of them do similar things, you add cards, you maybe buy more cards or attack, and then you draw a new hand until you can’t fill the hand and then you shuffle up your discard and repeat the process. Aeon’s End: War Eternal is unique because you never shuffle, when you discard cards, you choose the order they go so that you can create, if you’re good at card counting, a hand or combo that you want to get because it’s going to be strong. It’s a lot of fun to see how that piece of the puzzle fits together. Plus, you’re all trying to take down a nemesis who is bent on taking out the town of Gravehold. And each nemesis plays differently. I have really enjoyed both plays of this game, and it’s a good challenge, there are a lot of mages, who play differently, and there are expansions galore for the game with even more nemesis and breach mages to choose from.

7- T.I.M.E. Stories
One of the most unique games on the list, T.I.M.E. Stories has an element of an escape room game, it has some role playing aspects, and there’s a good amount of narrative to it. You are all part of a time agency who is trying to stop unwanted time incursions from happening and messing up the timeline. This means you might be going to the earth in the 90’s, or another dimension where there is magic and dragons. And it can change that wildly in each of the expansions and each time you play. Now, each scenario can only be played once, but to get through and beat the story it is at least a couple hours of excitement for 4 players, if not up to 3, and it’s cheaper than a movie at that point. Plus, the upside, and sometimes downside, is that because it’s such a sandbox, you can do anything in the games, and the creators have done a good job of doing that, creating interesting puzzles and mechanics to test out along the way.

6 – XenoShyft: Onslaught
You and your fellow crack team of marines, scientists, and medics have been tasked with protecting a mining facility from hordes and hordes of giant monstrous bugs. Why did they build a mining facility on this remote planet, money of course, but now you’re about to overrun with bugs, can you fend off the waves they’re throwing at you? This is a very tough game, even though it makes it’s deck building easier than a lot of others. You can help other people, you can give them troops or weapons that you’ve bought for your deck to help them shore up their defenses, they can give you stuff in return, or use stim packs and grenades to help you when it’s your turn to face a wave of monsters. This game is clever in what it does, and it creates a good amount of tension, plus I like that the game is basically all simultaneous so there isn’t downtime for anyone.

5 – Pandemic Legacy Season 1
Seems a bit on the nose to be playing right now (article written 4/13/2020 during Covid-19 Pandemic), but it is a really good cooperative game. I could have put down either season of Pandemic or base Pandemic on the list, and any are great options. Can you prevent the spread and find the cures to four diseases before they run across the world and destroy everything? This game is pretty simple compared to the other ones, but still offers a lot of good choices and you always feel like there are 1-2 more things that you need to do on your turn and you hope that you’ve picked the right things so that you don’t have an outbreak on your hands. Also, do you have a good combination of characters that are able to fight it off and can you use it to the best of your ability. A lot of questions, but it’s a good game, a simpler game, and one that you can play faster and with more people than some because it an easier game to pick up.

4 – Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon
When Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table came to the lands of Avalon, they were wild and untamed and the Wyrdness and Foredwellers twisted the land, but they forced it to their will, creating Menhir, but now that was long ago, and the Menhir are starting to go out and the Wyrdness is coming back over the lands. You and your fellow adventurers are only going out because those who were supposed to have saved you and your village have gone out and not come back. Can you survive the twisted lands of Avalon? This game works really well as it’s a very tough game where survival is the goal but not a guarantee, and you spend so much time exploring and discovering new things about Avalon and you might not have wanted to know. Then you go from the exploration piece of the game and jump into combat which can be tough as monsters aren’t always meant to be beaten and diplomatic encounters can turn violent if you’re not careful. There are chunks of the game that are pretty well split up where you can do daily actions separately or explore while someone else fights, but this is a grand free flowing game that tells an interesting story.

3 – Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition
You, and your fellow paranormal investigators have been called to a mansion to explore some unnatural goings on. This might be a crazed cultist leading a band of cultists and trying to summon a deep old one. It could be you’ve made it to late and a town has been overrun with Deep Ones and you need to figure out how to escape. You and your fellow investigators could get split up in two different timelines and need to work together to solve the mystery and get the one who time traveled back. There are a lot of different scenarios, and an app that helps you keep track of everything. The game is set in the Lovecraft Mythos, but it has more of an investigative feel to it, than leaning into as much horror. If you want a game that is fairly big but doesn’t feel as daunting as some dungeon crawlers, Mansions of Madness is a good option.

2 – Marvel Champions: The Card Game
This game has made it on a lost of lists and it’s working it’s way up to being one of my favorite games of all time. The game just feels like you’re in a comic fighting a villain. And you get the full comic feeling as you can team up superheroes as well as flip back and forth between an alter-ego and superhero side in order to rest and recover if the villain knocks you around to me. The game does a lot of clever things, and you can create the team-ups that you always wanted, or at least some of them, eventually Fantasy Flight will come out with more heroes so you can create any team-up you want. And they’ve managed to make the villains feel different as well as the heroes, so you can get a lot of unique games.

1 – Gloomhaven
No surprise here, though there are some slight semi-cooperative elements of the game, mainly having specific goals that you need to do in a given scenario depending off of some card draw, but for the most part it’s working together, and those goals are just perks and don’t make or break the game if you don’t get them. Gloomhaven is an epic dungeon crawling and character leveling game where you and a group of fellow mercenary adventurers go through and try and figure out what strange things are happening in Gloomhaven and the surrounding areas. The story is fun but it really shines with a puzzly sort of card based combat that makes everything work together. And it feels like there’s always more to explore in the game.

I think that one thing I really like about cooperative games is that you get so many great shared stories out of them. Even the ones that aren’t just storytelling heavy can still have great moments in them as you roll the right number to get what you needed or draw the right card. It’s such a shared victory and moment that they often stick out to me. And I know that I have so many more cooperative games sitting on my shelf that I like and that are waiting to be played again or for the first time. What are some of your favorite cooperative games or cooperative gaming experiences?

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This list is basically the opposite of yesterday’s list which was focused on small games that are going to have a small footprint, small box, and generally a smaller price. Epic board games are going to generally be in a larger box and they are going to pack a lot into the game, so whether it’s in a fantasy world or a sci-fi setting, the game is going to feel big and epic. Also, stocking stuffers are going to be more apt to be games for a newer gamer, these, you are going to want to know the person likes board games.

Aeon’s End: War Eternal – This game actually doesn’t have a ton of pieces to it or a giant board at least. It’s a deck building game, but the game feels epic as you face off against an giant monster who is trying to destroy the town of Gravehold. You take on the roll of a breach mage who is casting spells to deal damage or out last the plans of the giant monster. To do this, you are building up a deck of cards, so it’s a pretty standard deck builder that way, but, in a twist, you never shuffle your deck, so if you are clever, you can pull off some interesting combos.

Betrayal at House on the Hill – This game is different from the first in that it has a sprawling footprint. You’re building out this massive haunted house, and eventually, there will be a twist when the haunt happens and someone is going to be a traitor. This game is a really thematic game that leans into the horror theme. The best way to describe it would be that you are playing through the movie Cabin in the Woods, if Cabin in the Woods was a mansion instead of a cabin. You never know what the haunt is going to be, because an omen card in a certain room is going to take you to a specific haunt. The game is a bit swingy in that someone can, with a bit of luck be very strong or the haunts can be a bit unbalanced, but it’s very thematic.

Blood Rage – With a name like that, how could it not be epic? In this game, you are taking your tribe of Viking warriors through combat and area control in order to get the most glory. However, beware where Ragnorak is happening, because that can knock your troops off the board. Blood Rage is, at it’s heart, a card drafting game where the cards you pick at the beginning of the age determine your strategy for that age. But it feels like it plays out on the table in a massive way, with big epic conflicts, monsters on the board, and the strategies are all based around different deities from Norse Mythology. The game looks cool on the table and the minis help give it it’s epic feel.

Cry Havoc – In what turns out to be a bit of a euro-style area control game, you really get to play through a giant cinematic game of different factions warring over the crystals. Humans are able to attack from different areas in support. The mechs can build up stronger technology and call in satellite support. The pilgrims are a peaceful alien race that just cares about growing as many crystals as possible. And the trogs are everywhere on the planet, because it’s their home world, and they’re trying to fight everyone off. In this game you’re getting points for crystals in the few rounds that you are playing and scoring. But it has a tricky bit of combat and interesting card play to be able to get to other areas, fight your battles, or in the case of the pilgrims, set-up your fortified areas. It looks cool and feels a bit like Avatar.

Dead of Winter – Dead of Winter is a survival zombie game where you are in charge of a group of survivors. You need to go out and find food, deal with zombies, get medicine to heal people, deal with crisis that are happening and complete a main objective. There is a ton to do in this game, plus, beyond that, you have your own goal you need to complete and there might be a traitor in your midst. All of that is great and epic feeling as you try and figure out who the traitor might be, but there are also crossroads cards which offer you tough decisions if the right conditions are met that makes this game feel even more epic.

Gloomhaven – This is, in my opinion, the ultimate big epic board game. It’s a massive box, massive footprint on the table, a ton of characters to play. Now, it comes with a large price tag, but the number of hours worth of play, it’s worth the price. Gloomhaven has a nice story to it, but it shines in the scenarios where you have to work with your teammates in your card play to get it really ticking, because the monsters hit back and they hit back hard. It’s a lot of strategy and it’s just fun to play, plus unlocking new characters keeps the game feeling fresh. It’s like a video game RPG, but on a board.

Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition – The only Lovecraftian game on this list, I considered Arkham Horror LCG, and while it does have a great story, it doesn’t feel quite as epic. Mansions of Madness though is an epic horror game in a box. You are using an app to drive the story and provide ambiance for the game. But that doesn’t take away from the board game piece, it just enhances it and can cause the game to be set-up differently each time you play a scenario. And there are tons of scenarios out there and expansions. You take on the role of an investigator who has been called in for something odd happening, but can you stop it in time or before you become too injured or insane to carry on?

Pandemic Legacy Season 1/Season 2 – I’m lumping both of them together, but both are pretty epic stories. As a Legacy game, it means that you have a limited number of plays through the story, but the story is good, and you feel like you get your value from them. You are playing what is basically Pandemic, a game where you are a member of the CDC going out to deal with diseases. The basic game is fairly epic, but when you add in an evolving story, it becomes more epic and challenging as you have to adapt to the strategies that the changes in the game is leading your towards. It’s fun to play through, even twice, like I’ve done, because there is a good story with it and a lot of story and interesting decisions.

Root – These are cute woodland creatures, they won’t be epic, will they? Yes, they will in this asymmetric game where players take on the roles of different factions of woodland creatures. Maybe you are the vagabond who is getting new items to be able to do more things or planning out your long term strategy as the Eyrie who need their orders to be carried out in a certain way and things will go poorly if they aren’t. Or maybe you are the Woodland Alliance who don’t start with much, but need to create a strong position on the board. And then there is the Marquise de Cat and his cat troops who are trying to keep control on the areas and expand their power. It’s big, it’s epic, and everyone feels really unique in the game.

Skulk Hollow – By far the smallest game on the list and only a two player game, it still feels epic. You have the foxen heroes who all of a sudden have to deal with a guardian. The guardian of the realm probably isn’t a bad guy, but with the foxen folk there now, they seem like one. One player plays as the guardian and the other as foxen folk, each with their own goals. The foxen folk always want to take down the guardian, but the guardian might be trying to get certain tokens out or maybe kill the leader of the foxen folk, or just kill as many foxen folk as they can. The game plays fast, but it packs a punch for what it does.

Star Wars: Rebellion – The original trilogy in a box, it’s going to be epic. Again a two player game where one person is the empire trying to find that darn rebel base. The other player, as the rebels is trying to complete missions in order to subvert the empires evil plans. It’s a good cat and mouse game with all the big players that you’d expect from a Star Wars game. It’s been close basically every time I’ve played it and while the rebels can be a bit trickier to play and this is a longer game, it is engaging the whole time and not too hard. The asymmetry is pretty limited and that makes teaching the game easier than the previous two ones, even with the different character goals.

Sword and Sorcery – Another big dungeon crawl with a lot of characters, Sword and Sorcery takes you on a tighter story than Gloomhaven does, but in what is more of a dice chucking game. The story is cool, and the monsters, while limited, offer a good variety of challenges. What makes this game especially unique is the death mechanic, where if you die, you aren’t out of the game, you have limited things you can do, but you can also respawn as long as you have enough soul gems. There are a ton of characters to play, and while the story is quite linear, I do feel like it’s a game that I could play through again with different characters and the game would feel different.

T.I.M.E. Stories – This game is basically time cops as you try and police the time stream, going to Earth in different eras as well as to completely different worlds. It’s an interesting game because you run through different stories, which are expansions for the game. T.I.M.E. Stories, for everything, is the most expensive game on the list, but it’s worth checking out. The story in the base game is interesting, and it only starts to show you the plug and play nature of the system. Each story, also, has it’s own epic feel, and you get to run through the story, making better decisions each time or maybe finally going down that rabbit trail that you probably shouldn’t have gone down.

Village Attacks – Maybe, as compared to the rest of the games, you want to play the bad guys. In Village Attacks, you and a team of other monsters has to deal with pesky villagers who are coming to your lair with their pitchforks and torches. You need to protect yourself, because that’s very rude of them to attack you. Can you survive the onslaught of monsters coming? It’s a fun cooperative game and very challenging as there are so many villagers. I had a blast playing it at GenCon, and I’m super excited to get my kickstarter copy. If you want to get this game, you need to check out the possibility of a late pledge from the kickstarter.

XenoShyft: Onslaught – Sometimes you just want to squish some bugs. XenoShyft is basically Starship Troopers where you have to defend this mining facility from all sorts of waves of bugs. This is another deck building game, and it’s a tough deck building game, but you always feel like you’re getting better and have a chance. The cool and unique part of the game is the fact that you can play your cards to help other people, because sometimes you might have a lot of weapons that you can’t use, but someone else might need them, so you have to balance it out to make sure that there isn’t a weak link. This is a tough game to win, but a ton of fun.

There are so many epic games out there. If you want a longer game that you can play a lot, there are a lot of good options out there. I’d recommend starting with some of the smaller ones on the list, XenoShyft: Onslaught, Pandemic Legacy, or Aeon’s End. But if they already like epic games, and you want to splurge, Gloomhaven is a game that you can’t go wrong with. Yes, it won’t be for everyone, but it is a massive epic game and unless you want a ton of dice rolling, which Gloomhaven doesn’t offer.

Is there an epic game out there that you really love? Or is there one that is really epic that you want to get?

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But we finish off with action points. What are action points, they are points or tokens that tell you how much you can do on a single turn. Maybe you can take five actions, and then you allocate those points to specific actions you can take, like moving or attacking.

5. Dead Men Tell  No Tales
A cooperative game, in this one you are spending actions to try and find treasure on a pirate ship that is haunted and currently on fire. You have to contain the fire, try and find the treasures, deal with skeletal deck hands, and you have a certain number of actions you can take to do all of that. This game is like a lot of cooperative games in that you feel like you can never do enough. The interesting thing this game adds in with action points is that you can pass on your unused action points to the next player. So it might be that you are limited in what you can do, but the next person has a lot of useful things that they can do. You can move closer into position to set-up what for your next turn and then pass any unused action points to the next player so that they can do more. In a lot of cooperative games the action points are static but you can act upon other characters, in this one, you can’t do that, but you can pass out action points.

4. Dead of Winter
Dead of Winter is an interesting game on this list as it uses dice as your action points in the round. The dice don’t encompass every action you can take in the game, but the strongest actions, the ones that help you complete objectives are going to spend a die. Not only that, but the number you roll on the dice makes a difference as well. Some characters aren’t able to search or kill zombies with a low die roll. So in that case your die, which is supposed to be your strongest action is now made weaker and it looks like you are hurting the colony and people are starting to suspect you are the traitor more, but at the same time, they can see the roll, so they know it wasn’t great. And then you get more dice and actions when you have more survivors, but you are also responsible for more zombies showing up and more mouths to feed and making the game harder that way.

3. Arkham Horror LCG
This game doesn’t use the points as a physical token, but a lot of the games with action points don’t. Action allowance might be a good way of describing it as well, because you have a certain total number of actions you can take on a turn. Arkham Horror does this well, limiting you to two actions, and while you can do the same actions multiple times, you always feel the crush of not being able to do enough. Arkham Horror LCG is a placeholder on this list for all of Fantasy Flights Lovecraftian games as you feel the crunch Arkham Horror, Elder Signs, and Mansions of Madness as well. It’s a system that works well for them as it keep the tension high when you don’t have enough actions to do everything that you’d want.

2. Blood Rage
Action points are huge in Blood Rage as you try and get into territories, move troops around, and be able to hang in the round long enough to stop your opponent from doing what they are trying to do. What I like about the action point system in Blood Rage is that certain actions cost a certain number of action points. And the monsters, who are possibly more powerful or useful in some other way, also have action point costs. So you’re trying to balance using your action points so that you don’t run out much before anyone else, because once you are out of action points, you are out of the round at least in being able to take the large actions that are going to be most useful long term.

1. Pandemic Legacy
This game does great with action points, basically each turn the active player spends up to four action points, moving around, curing diseases, trading cards, and finding cures. Then as the game continues, you gain more and more actions that you can take. At the end of the game, you’re trying to balance out these actions in hopes that you’ll be able to survive. Pandemic does a really good job with these actions, because it evolves over time. A lot of games have more of a static action pool with maybe unique characters have special player power actions that they can take, but Pandemic Legacy, both seasons one and two, give more options as you play and unlock more of the game.

There are a ton of games that use this action point/action selection mechanic. It’s a strong mechanic for adding tension to decisions, because you’re almost always short of the action points you want to use in a round. This mechanic, however, isn’t always an ideal for players who might have AP, because it makes your choice really matter. But let’s talk about some honorable mentions:

Forbidden Desert/Forbidden Island – Cooperative exploration games that feel like Pandemic light.
Flash Point: Fire Rescue – Another Pandemic like game that also has a bit of a Dead Men Tell No Tales feel to it as well, this time you’re being fire fighters though.
KrosMaster Arena – Plan your movement and attacks in this Chibi MOBA style game. A little bit simple at times, and almost ways a best way to use your action points.
The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game – This game is all about the Fate Points, as the action points are called. It’s a pool of action points which is a very different feel from a lot of the games as you as a team have to replenish and manage that pool of points.

What are some of your favorite games with action points? Is action points/action selection a mechanic that you enjoy?

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5. Smallworld
The lightest game on the list by far, but one that has a ton of different variable powers. In fact, every race and power is unique, and those combinations are randomly generated each game. So how you play is going to change each time. Add in the fact that you will have multiple different race and power combinations throughout the game, and this game is basically just about those variable powers. However, it works really well in this game, because you get that silly area control, but you also have some decisions to actually make in the game. I’d highly recommend this or my #2 on the list as options for introductory games with variable player powers, and then work your way up to the rest of them.

4. T.I.M.E. Stories
Not one that I have put on a list before, but T.I.M.E. Stories has an interesting way for unique player powers. Because you are traveling back in time or to other dimensions, and how they do it in this game is by sending your brain back into another person’s body, you now have all of that persons stats and issues. No spoilers for anything more than the base version of the game, but you might get sent back into the body of a cannibal or someone who is addicted to cocaine, so good player powers like you’d expect. And you can change it up between jumps depending on how you want to play through the scenario. The one thing I wish it would do a bit differently though is that you need a balanced party with mental stats and physical/combat stats. It would be nice to avoid combat more often if you wanted to.

3. Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition
This one is great because not only are your characters different because of stats, such as lore, strength, agility and others, they also have different powers. You could go into a scenario with a character who can attack better, gain clues when monsters die, or maybe you have someone who can reroll when doing lore checks and has a great lore. There are support characters and there are attacking characters. While the scenarios might be the same, with the exception of slightly different generated rooms, the game can feel different depending on who you are playing each time you play a scenario. And how you go about solving scenario might change as well, because sometimes your investigators might prefer a more direct approach.

2. Pandemic/Pandemic Legacy
Both are rolled into one since I really shouldn’t spoil characters in the Legacy version, but even in the base version it’s great. The medic can do something different than the dispatcher, the scientist different than the researcher, and so on. Each role has something that they are better at, and people can pick to tailor to their playstyle if they want. Or you can just try and random combination to see how well they work. They do a really good job of balancing the characters in the main game. And in the legacy version you get to decide even more options to make your character feel even more unique which is great.

1. Gloomhaven
Each character in Gloomhaven plays differently. You might be the ranged character, a magic user, a healer, tanks, there are so many different unique options. Gloomhaven is a massive game, a huge story driven dungeon crawler, and because of the card play, the combat is less random than a lot of dungeon crawlers where you are just rolling dice. And from the start you feel like each character is unique in what they do. I’ve played three different characters so far, and while they have all kind of been support characters, they all feel different and support in different ways, they haven’t been just healers. Overall my favorite game, and just great variable powers that the player can then even customize themselves.

There are a ton of games that I haven’t listed with variable player powers. Most of the time they are in games it works really well. But there are risks that a certain combination might be too powerful in a game if not properly playtested.

A few for the honorable mentions:
Cry Havoc – Gives each race their own buildings and style for getting points. Definitely a fun option that allows people to go from Euro to Amerithrash in the game.
Imperial Assault – Each playable Star Wars character has their own stats and powers. See Mansions of Madness for how the game play works somewhat. Or at least how the variable powers work.
Arkham Horror LCG – Fantasy Flight does a good job of creating Lovecraftian games with variable powers through their investigators. This one is probably my #5, but it’s similar to Mansions of Madness, so I didn’t need a double up.

And there are so many more games that I love like this. Root, Star Wars Rebellion, Legends of Andor, and so many more that it’s hard to keep track. What are your favorite games with variable player powers? Do you find it confusing in some games or do you generally want it?

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Alpha gaming is primarily a problem in cooperative games where everyone has their turn, but really one person is deciding what everyone does. Various games try and work around it in different ways, but some of them work better than others, and you can’t always solve the problem. While I say it is an issue primarily or more commonly seen in cooperative games, or so most people would say, I would say that it is pretty common in competitive games as well. The issue in competitive games isn’t so much that they take over your turn for you, but once you’ve gone, the alpha gamer immediately talks about what you did wrong, how you’re giving the game to the person after you, and how it isn’t fair for them because of the seat they got at the table.

So in both game settings this is bad. It ruins the fun for a lot of people and can make them feel like their an idiot or not really playing the game because of what the alpha gamer is saying. We don’t want that to happen because that would drive people away from the hobby, and we want to grow the hobby of board gaming. How do you deal with that if you realize you are the alpha gamer at the table, or if you realize there is an alpha gamer at the table.

If you are the alpha gamer:
Just sit on your hands. It’s going to be tough, because you might not realize how much you do it, but once you realize you do alpha game, work hard at not giving advice until people ask for advice. And don’t complain if someone does something that’s less optimal because it’s them doing it and making the decision.

And when someone does ask for some help, especially in a cooperative game, I suggest doing what I recommend DM’s do for stuck players in an RPG. Give three options of what the person can do. This allows for two things, the player doesn’t feel like you are telling them what to do so it’s still there decision, and the player will probably be able to discern after thinking about it a bit more what the best course of action is, or at least the most fun one for them.

Also, temper your expectations going into board games. This is less in cooperative games and more so in competitive games. I know, not having played but just heard, that in Puerto Rico, if someone does a thing, there are optimal plays for everyone after them at the table. It’s game, if you have a bunch of veteran players and a new player, the person taking their turn directly after the new player has a big advantage. So as an alpha gamer, you might have to temper your expectations in a game like that where this is a new player. Or simply don’t play a game like that with a new player if you know that it’s going to be too frustrating for you. While that might mean you don’t get to play that game as often, know that it probably means when you do play it you’ll have more fun.

If you’re playing with an Alpha Gamer
There are a few things that you can do if an alpha gamer seems to be running the table and everyone’s turn. The most uncomfortable and sometimes necessary is simply talk to the alpha gamer outside of the game session and let them know that they are making it less fun for everyone because they are basically playing the game by themselves. Now, don’t be a jerk about it, but you can ask them to hold of on their advice until someone asks for it so that everyone can get a chance to really play. Hopefully the person is understanding, but if not, maybe only play with certain people with that person, or certain games with that person or maybe, if you can’t handle it, stop playing games with that person. But obviously is that hope that it doesn’t ever come to that.

So what can you do in the moment? It would be awkward to call out the alpha gamer at the table, unless in that very rare occasion that is how it works for your group. But I’d guess that over 90% of gaming groups, that would just be really awkward to do around the table. So instead focus on the other players in the game. When it gets to their turn, ask them what they want to do. If the alpha gamer starts to talk over them, suggest that we hear what the active player wants to do first. And then give them time to talk through it. You can make it your job at the table to facilitate discussion as well. Even if the alpha gamer says what they think should be done, ask the player what they think should be done, or better yet, what they want to do.

If the alpha player gets impatient while everyone else is taking their turn, give them some of the book keeping for the game, if there is any, that they also get to do. Something additional to do in the game might help keep them distracted as well and less likely to alpha game. In Pandemic, put them in charge of flipping the infection deck on everyone’s turn. If you are playing something like Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, but them in charge of dealing with combat for other players, or other challenges those players might face in the game. Something that can keep them busy so that they aren’t paying as much attention to the game and everyone else can play more of the game.

Obviously, this is something that is tricky to deal with, same with players with analysis paralysis. It’s something that you’re going to have to work out at your table, whether it’s only that the person can give advice when asked, or whatever it might be. Hopefully these suggestions can help you figure out what you want to do at the table when you have an alpha gamer there. Let me know what you’ve found to work in games that you play.

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