The Gamefound Feast

Gothic: A Shadow’s Quest by THQ Nordic

This one is based off of a video game. And THQ Nordic is actually the company who is the creator of the video game, so they are doing their own game. It’s interesting to see them doing it themselves. The only other thing I know like this is when Riot Games made Mechs vs Minions. So I find it cool. I don’t know a ton about Gothic or really anything. But this looks like my type of games, a lot of minis, standees, monsters, and it looks fun. I like a dark gothic setting for a game.

The video game is an adventure RPG, so the board game is going to be like that as well. And that sounds like a lot of fun to me. I like that you play on three different levels in this game, explore the world, get missions and level up in camp, and then if it’s a combat quest, you are going to be doing more tactical combat. It’s extremely interesting to me because this is really my type of game.

Follow the Gothic: A Shadow’s Quest here.

Sword & Sorcery on Teburu

This isn’t a new game, it’s Sword & Sorcery a campaign game that I like. However, Teburu is a digital board for your game. That means that with the app and Teburu you are going to be play it without all the book keeping that was part of Sword & Sorcery. However, I will say, this one isn’t that much for me. I thought that Sword & Sorcery was fine, but I didn’t love it. Maybe it would make it easier, but you’d still have so much stuff to pull out and set-up. But if you’re up for it, it’s going to be good for a lot of people.

And while I’m not going to get it because there is the cost of the Teburu system. But the enemy AI definitely was a bit annoying. So maybe it would make it smoother and make it simpler to get to the table. But like I said, it’s rebuying a game that I sold and it’s buying technology which I’m interested in, for the Vampire the Masquerade game, but less so for this.

Follow the Sword & Sorcery Teburu Campaign here.

The Megan 2.0 Gaming Table from Geeknson

Not a board game, but Geeknson is one of the big board game table company out there. I don’t need a board game table, I have a Jasper from AllPlay/BoardGameTables, and it’s great. So I will just say this, I like board game tables. And I think as long as you get one from a good company, Geeknson, AllPlay, Wyrmwood and others, you are going to get something that’s great and that’ll help.

Follow the Geeknson The Megan 2.0 campaign here.

Empress Deck and Companion Book for 5th Edition D&D by Weird Works

This is going to be an addition for D&D. It’s just going to be a way to mess with things like initiative, and more as well. This sounds like an interesting addition but not something that I feel like I need. It’s basically a custom tarot deck that is going to be able to help with “problems” but it’s something that could be a bit of fun to do. Like I said, though, not going to be for me. The companion book sounds slightly more interesting, but not that much more interesting. It’s going to be some more content with probably how to use the deck.

Follow The Empress Deck & Companion Book here.

Ascendency: Underworld from OneMoreTurnGames

This is an expansion to Ascendancy. This game looks like it has a lot going on with it. Ascendancy is an area control 4x style of game. And it is a game that can play solo. For me, it’s one that I looked at when the first campaign came out. I’m not super sold that it’s going to be a game for me, but there are elements that are really interesting about it. But do I need a huge game like this, maybe? It’s so tough because I want to play games like this, but there is so much.

Follow Ascendancy Underworld here.

Nanty Narking: Rise of Cthulhu from Phalanx

This is bringing back the game Nanty Narking. I know really nothing about this game. It was originally Discworld, then it became Nanty Narking. I don’t know much of anything about the game which is interesting. Mainly because I feel like I know about so many different games. From what it looks like, this is still a competitive game, now the players can lose together with Cthulhu driving madness. I’m not feeling this game too much though.

Follow Nanty Narking: Rise of Cthulhu here.

Dark Rituals Malleus Maleficarum from Maki Games

I am not familiar with Dark Ritual. This is a reprint of the game. It’s a one versus all game and it’s not super interesting to me. Yes, the game is cool and dark looking, but if you like one versus all games then it might be for you. But it’s an easy pass for me.

Follow Dark Rituals Malleus Malefacarum here.

Grimdark Future: Broken Truth by One Page Rules

This is going to be a miniatures game. I know nothing about this setting or system of the Grimdark Future universe. This is the first time that they are doing minis. It’s a miniatures war game which is not my cup of tea. So sure, it’s probably interesting and the minis look very solid. But it’s not for me. If you want a one page rules to get into the game, it’s going to be an easy one to get into as the rules are free online.

Follow Grimdark Future: Broken Truth here.

Starside: Promethean Crusade from Archon Studio

This is another miniatures sure. If I wanted to jump into a miniatures game, there are a lot of options. This is going to be a fleet command game, so that’s different. I do like the idea of a space game I think more as a miniatures game. That said, I’m not diving into playing miniatures game. But with Starside and Grimdark Future there are two solid options for people who want to jump in.

Follow Starside: Promethean Crusade here.

Dare the Unknown: A NASA Board Game from Space Delirium

This one is interesting, this is one that is based on reality. The crazy part is that is truly NASA licensed. You want to bring back your rockets to earth, be the first one to get them back. It is their first board game, though they have done other crowdfunding campaigns. I like that it’s licensed by NASA but it’s not going to be game that I’m super excited for. I do think it’s going to be a nice family weight game potentially or at least that is going to be the target, which is great for a theme like NASA.

Follow Dare the Unknown: A NASA Board Game here.

Fear Itself – Shattered Veil Edition from Pelgrane Press

This is another table top RPG game. I think this is going to be a chance for people to play in their favorite horror films. They say that it’s great for a one shot game. I know it’s not going to be one that I want to back. I like my D&D and I want to keep it at that. And really, I don’t have much time to dive into more when it comes to RPG, D&D keeps me plenty busy. But if you want to play a horror film as an RPG, Fear Itself is going to be great, from the sounds of it, for that.

Follow Fear Itself – Shattered Veil Edition here.

Lying Pirate – Cities of Greed Expansion from Nordic Pirate Games

Okay, first off, isn’t that company name mainly Vikings? I am not familiar with the original game, though it had about 5,000 backers. This is going to add more to the game. The aesthetic looks great to me. The game is going to be party weight game with some deduction to it, which I’m guessing is going to be like a Liar’s Dice elements to the game. The one thing that concerns a little bit about the game, which does have a good BGG ranking, is that the game, as a lighter/party/Liar’s Dice style game is that it’s an hour in length.

Follow Lying Pirates – Cities of Greed here.

Star Realms Conquest from Wise Wizard Game

This is going to be one that you know if you want or not. This is a deck building game. It’s going to be a core set. This is going to be a game that you can jump into at this point if you want. Or you can mix it in if you are already familiar with the game. That’s fun that they keep on giving new launch in points. I need to play more Star Realms before I’d consider backing this one. The nice thing is that this is a pretty small box and that means that it’s easy to get and keep adding to the game that I already have.

Follow Star Realms Conquest here.

Which Excites Me Most?

I think it’s the first one. Gothic looks like my type of game a lot. There are some other fun ones, but with more of a mix of RPG, the table, and then miniatures games, this is one where there were fewer that I was interested in. Ascendancy is probably the next highest for me, or even Sword & Sorcery Teburu, though, like I said, I thought that Sword & Sorcery was just fine. It’s more, I want to get a Teburu game sometime. The Vampire the Masquerade one is probably the spot that I’d jump in at though.

Let me know which one interests you the most.

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Fortunately there are board games that can give that feel or smaller pen and paper experiences that might offer more of a one off game play. And you can do a one off game play with Dungeons and Dragons as well a one shot, but that might not be what you are looking for.

Fiasco

Fiasco is a pen and paper RPG, but it is one that is meant to be played in a single sitting. It is also one that you are meant to play with everyone as a player. So you lose the need for someone to be leading the story and basically having a different experience than everyone else.

Fiasco leans into the roll playing side of an RPG with impro focused prompts and collaborative story telling. It is also a game where things aren’t supposed to go that great. As the same, Fiasco, would suggest, the situations you are in and the story that is generated generally aren’t the best for the characters.

Spire’s End

Spire’s End is going to offer you more of a mechanical combat in a game though very luck heavy. In this, you and another person, or just playing solo, delve into a spire that has appeared in your town. Of course it isn’t full of nice things. In fact, it is where almost everyone in the town is being held. So can you explore, fight monsters, and find an end where you save the day?

Thus far, that is beyond what I’ve been able to do, But if you want to see how it plays, you can watch my game play below.

Legacy of Dragonholt

One that I had in my collection for a while, Legacy of Dragonholt is a choose your own adventure story combined with some character building. And I think out of all of these, it might be the most RPG like well, after Fiasco, but Legacy of Dragon holt has more of a standard feel to it.

Now, my one knock on it is that the writing is just okay. It toes a line where it seems like it should be more serious in it’s story. And sometimes it is serious, but it is meant for families to be able to play. Mom, Dad, a kid, and you can pass around the book and let people read passages. You spend tokens and players take turns making decisions. But one that I think is pretty solid. I’d love to see a new version or a new setting just with better quality writing.

Destinies

Now for something with very good writing, we have Destinies or soon coming out The Dark Quarter. You can still late pledge that one. But Destinies is a competitive game where each player is trying to fulfill their destiny. You explore the world, unlocking more of the map, rolling dice to complete challenges, and interacting with story.

Destinies uses an app to tell the story. Now you might not like apps at the table, but it does a great job. Mainly, it can keep answers to the story hidden while you play. And it can be played solo, that you can play without spoiling yourself. The app also allows for simpler interactions with items. You don’t need a massive book to cover every combination, just the data in the app.

Clank Legacy

Next up is the most board game out of all of them. Clank Legacy is going to be a game built upon the Acquisitions Incorporated crew from Penny Arcade and elsewhere. But this is a legacy style game which means to get the full story you and a group need to play it several times. However, it isn’t as long as playing a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons or something like that.

At the heart of it, Clank Legacy is a game where you build out a deck of cards as you play. Using those cards you are going on quests, maybe, I don’t know all the details for Legacy. But in the regular version you delve into a dungeon trying not to make too much noise. But the legacy version adds on to that.

Dungeon Party

Finally, if you want something silly, and a number of these are silly, Dungeon Party is a great option. It is a dungeon crawling game where you just get to go in and beat up monsters. But you do that by playing quarters. You bounce your token, though recommend you use actual quarters, to get to land on monsters and defeat them.

As you defeat them you get treasures that give you new abilities that you can use. This is not a drinking game, but it could easily be made into one. And that is kind of the point of it. A chance to just be goofy and have a good time around the table with that fantasy theme.

Final Thoughts

RPG’s are hard to emulate the whole experience outside of a big game. And I kept games like Gloomhaven, Folklore The Affliction, Tainted Grail, and Sword & Sorcery off the list because they are all games that require more commitment.

But I think that they are good options. And even the longer ones here, Legacy or Dragonholt, Destinies, and Clank Legacy are all shorter than your standard campaign. Plus, there is some level with them that they are easy to get to the table. For someone who wants that feel but doesn’t want to remember a plethora of stats and abilities, these attempt to make it easier.

What are some experiences that feel like an RPG without that big time commitment. Let me know your favorites in the comments below.

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If it’s not obvious, I clearly love campaign games. I have a lot more on my shelf from Pandemic Legacy Season 0 to Midarra: Unintentional Mallum Act 1, to Destinies, all that need to get played. Plus there are more on the way including a massive game, Frosthaven, the follow-up to Gloomhaven. Yet, compared to a lot of gamers, I’ve played a lot of campaign games. So how do I get a consistent group together?

Talk About Campaign Games

Talk with people about playing a campaign game. It sounds obvious, but I think a lot of gamers forget to do this. I forget to do this with people who might be interested in a campaign game. I own many other games that aren’t campaign games, so I sit down and play those with a lot of people. People who might want to play a legacy game or a campaign game, but I don’t mention it.

Now, it does come with a balance. I have one friend who I could play a campaign game with, but I don’t. Why, because while we had fun playing Sword & Sorcery, I realized I wasn’t playing my other games as much. So now I game with him every other week, and it’s just pulling games that maybe don’t get play that much off the shelf. Heavier games that are a one off, or teaching him new games that I’ve gotten. So it is a balance, but if you don’t mention campaign games, people won’t know it’s an option.

Define a Schedule

This one is tricky, especially as you get older. When I was in college I probably could have gotten stuff together easier. Or played campaign games more often. If I’d played Dungeons and Dragons then, I probably would have played for an eight hour session every week, or maybe every two. Now my schedule doesn’t permit that. The same is true for the people I game with. We have work, other activities, and kids in some cases. All of those things eat into gaming time.

On the flip side, we now need to get it scheduled more than before which means that we play more consistently. When younger, it is easy to go months if you aren’t thinking about it. You play for hours, but when you stop, you might not play for a long time again. Because I need it on the calendar to know I can play, that means we have a consistent schedule.

For both campaign board games and Dungeons and Dragons, I play every other week. The Gloomhaven/Tainted Grail group meets every other Tuesday. Dungeons and Dragons is every other Thursday. I keep, or try to, them on opposite weeks. That means that the one player who overlaps doesn’t have two evenings in one week are taken up and the same for me.

It is important to define it also so people know the commitment level. A full Saturday once a month might be what you need, or even weekly. Figure out what works for you and your players.

Be Flexible

This goes against what I said, or might seem like it, but I don’t think it does. Flexibility is scheduling is important. There are different reasons that people cancel and flexibility is important for that. I’ve had my Dungeons and Dragons game shift by a week multiple times, and that is fine. We know the schedule, every other Thursday, and try and make that work, but adjust when need be.

Now, there are more valid reasons for being flexible sometimes. If someone keeps on missing because they just don’t feel like it that day and that causes you to cancel, that isn’t being flexible. That’s them not being interested and they can be dropped from the group. Likely, campaign games weren’t for them. But lie things, working overtime, a kid who is under the weather, car troubles, those sorts of things need to allow flexibility.

Know Your Campaign Players

Finally, know who your campaign players are. I talked about before how I have one person I game with regularly not with campaign games. He’s played them with me before, but doesn’t always love a long campaign. He dropped out of Dungeons and Dragons recently because it’s too long for his focus and style, which is fair. Dungeons and Dragons is a massive commitment. I’d play a shorter campaign board game with him, and have with Sword & Sorcery, but I know he isn’t my big campaign game player.

On the flip side, I’ve played Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon and Gloomhaven with the same two people. And that’s taken us years to get through, I think coming up in February will be four years of us playing games. Gloomhaven took up most of that time, but Tainted Grail will as we wait for Frosthaven. I know I can campaign game with them.

I also had a group I played Pandemic Legacy games with, but I don’t think I’d campaign game with them anymore. They were always hard to pin down in terms of scheduling. And lately, they’ve been even harder. One of them was part of the Charterstone group and even with just one, they were still hard to nail down for that. So I moved away from playing campaign games with them. Knowing who will be consistent enough is important.

Are They Worth the Effort?

Clearly for me they are worth the effort. Campaign games give great experiences at the gaming table. They are completely different than playing a one off game because the story emerges around you most of the time. There are twists and turns that simple cannot exist in a regular game.

That isn’t to dismiss other games. Normal single session games still give very good and I still play them a lot. There is just something about a campaign game and a shared experience that is different. This can be a legacy style campaign game or just a campaign game, either are very good. And you get to know that feel of the group you are playing with. You know all your styles and really develop how you play a campaign game.

Have you gotten through a campaign game or are they on your radar? Have you found a good group to play with?

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Culling Games

This is sort of a Marie Kondo thing that has been everywhere. The idea is to downsize the things that don’t give you joy. Though, people often take it too far. They clear out a ton of things in their lives and then realize that they wanted some of that or have to get some of it again. This is very true in board games as well.

There most definitely is something freeing about getting rid of stuff. Having too much stuff can feel oppressive and overwhelming. And people often get on a roll of culling games or things from their life. With board games people often use the standard of, have I played this recently, which isn’t a great standard. But they do other things as well, do I like other games better that do the same thing is one of them.

Let’s talk about these two standards for culling.

Have I Played This Game Recently

I don’t like this standard, some of it is because I probably have enough games and expansions to play one game a year without repeats or close to that. But even without that, let’s look back at the past 14 months. How many party games have gotten played, how many social deduction games have gotten played? The answer is, probably not that many for a lot of people. So while people have had time around their house to go through and cull collections, if it is based off of play, there are certain games that just won’t be played.

Taking this logic as well, some games, Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea for example, will get played less often for me. It is a big long game. If it gets played once every two years, that’s often enough for that game, I think. For some people they’d play it more, but for me that isn’t going to be the case. Still, it’ll stay in my collection as a 4X fantasy game.

But let’s go onto a way I like better for culling games.

Do I Have Other Games I like Better, That Do The Same Thing

What does this one mean? Let me give you an example. Splendor is a very simple tableau and engine building game. I think it’s okay, I wouldn’t pull it off the shelf. If I want that engine building experience, I have Space Base, Century: Golem Edition, and Homebrewers that I like better as engine builders. So I will pull them off the shelf first. Now, in all fairness, I haven’t gotten rid of Splendor, but this is an example of one that I could cull. If it wasn’t one that my wife liked a lot and can teach herself, I’d probably get rid of it.

The concept is basically, would I reach for this game on my shelf over other games of the same type? Ask me if I’d reach for a game like Claim over Gloomhaven, no, I wouldn’t. At least most of the time I wouldn’t. But they are two massively different types of games. So compare within a type. Gloomhaven versus Sword & Sorcery is a good example. I wouldn’t pick to play Sword & Sorcery again over playing Gloomhaven again. So I ended up selling Sword & Sorcery.

How Do You Downsize Without Culling?

There’s one main way that you can downsize stuff. And that’s condensing boxes which can be done in a couple of ways. With small games it’s about removing them from the oversized boxes, or moving expansions and everything into fewer boxes. Let’s dive into each of them.

To A Smaller Box

This is one that I actually haven’t done yet, but I could do with a number of games. I know of it more from The Dice Tower where they have a lot of small games in photo boxes, basically hard plastic shells, and then those in larger photo storage boxes, so you can get a lot of small games in.

Going to small boxes works because of how sales and shelf space work. A small game is going to get overlooked more often on a shelf of a store. People will glance over it and buy the bigger game that costs more. So companies smartly so, put stuff into boxes that take up more space and catch more attention.

However, at home, I don’t have all the shelf space in the world. So a game in a bigger box than need be, that eats into how many games I can reasonably fit. Now, that might be a sign to cull some games, but fairly often smaller games getting culled barely helps this situation. Instead, you can store more small games compactly by putting them into photo cases or something like that to free up room.

All To One Box

This is the one that I tend to do, which is look to see how many boxes I can get rid of for my board games. Often times inserts that are well done, or poorly done, will eat up room within a box, and then you get an expansion for a game. The biggest one I can call out for this is Marvel United. They had great inserts, but that means that there were 8 total boxes. By removing inserts and moving stuff around, I easily fit it into 3 boxes. I went from 8 game boxes to 3 boxes. That’s a huge difference when it comes to shelf space.

I am going through my collection to see what I can do that with. I’ve found some other games, all the small expansions for Aeon’s End can fit into their respective big boxes, so that frees up room. But beyond that, eventually I’ll be able to put Aeon’s End into even fewer bigger boxes. Ascension went from 3 boxes down to one by adjusting the an insert, and I can probably even make it fit better by completely removing the insert and creating one of my own for the game.

This is a really easy way for a lot of games to free up a chunk of room. It kind of goes that shelf space thing again. Some games will take up more space if you keep your expansion box. Just condensing down a handful of games frees up a lot of space. With that said, it also means you need to know how and where the expansion stuff is to split it out, which sometimes is easier said than done. So that is a downside, but some games like Marvel United or Sentinels of the Multiverse or even Marvel Champions it doesn’t matter much.

How Do You Downsize Space Without Culling Games?

Are there any other ways that you can free up space, without getting rid of games? A lot of gamer habits, putting sleeves on cards and upgrading games with fancier bits can cause it to take more room. But are there other ways to make games take up less room that you’ve found? I guess trimming boxes shorter so that it more accurately fits what is in side would be a way as well, but I haven’t heard of people doing that. Let me know your ideas in the comments below.

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I get the desire for this at least to some extent. The people I see complaining about it shouldn’t be the ones complaining about it. I’ll explain what I mean here, they own a ton of games. They might play games often, but if they want to play a different game every day of the year, they can. Who cares about variability then. But for people with smaller collections and more limited resources to grow a collection, I get it. I would want me games to feel different each time.

So What Makes a Board Game Variable?

I think that this is what trips a lot of people up in this topic. There are a lot of people who want variability but also don’t want randomness. Random events, die rolls, things like that, those create a different game each time. Unless I’m the luckiest person in the world, I won’t have the same things happen over and over again.

There are other things as well. For example in a game like Pandemic, yes there is randomness of the cards you draw, but in the base game there are something like 6-8 different characters you can play as. So playing two players that is a ton of different combinations of powers you can play around with. Lords of Hellas is another game that allows you to pick your starting character, then you can add powers as you go that are randomly dealt out.

Other games do it with modules. The concept here is you have 4-5 different modules, or more, in the game. But you only play with two at a time. So that again creates those different combinations to explore. It helps if, for example, the modules have a lot of cards. Now you can swap out cards and still not see all the cards of a given module. That again keeps the game more variable because you don’t know which cards you will randomly see.

But Do Games Really Need This?

Yes, and no. It’s not a great answer, but I honestly do think that some games need it. For example, Pandemic, I think with four characters, that game would get stale pretty fast because you wouldn’t have combinations. Catan and Dominion without variable set-ups, those wouldn’t be too interesting.

Other times, the limited variability is just fine. I don’t know that Ticket to Ride needs more. The randomness of route cards and colors of train cars coming up works. It also helps keep the game simple. So for that reason, I don’t want a ton of variability in gateway games. If there is more, that means that I have even more to teach.

But sometimes with some of my favorite games I do wish that they had more. I want to continue playing them, but I feel like I’ve seen everything. I think it’s something that is often overstated by a lot of people. Something that doesn’t really matter for most games.

What are Some Games I Always Want to Play And Are They Variable?

Dice Throne

This one is definitely a game that I am always up for playing. I played it 4 times in the past three days in fact. I like it because it is variable with 16 different characters to take up against each other. It gets it’s variability in a number of different ways. There is dice chucking, so you won’t have the same results from that, but more so the characters each play differently.

The Gunslinger has a quick draw defense that can cut down damage by a lot. The Barbarian heals on defense and the Treant mainly prevents damage. And that’s just how three of the 16 characters play on defense. Plus what you draw cards makes a huge difference. If I get a lot of upgrades, I can hit more attacks, but might have less choice over which attacks. If I can modify my dice, then I can get better attacks on some turns but have less upgraded. The game is really good in terms of making each character feel unique and play differently.

Gloomhaven

Now, I think Gloomhaven has less variability than it might seem. There are a ton of different characters you can play, like Dice Throne, and those characters are variable. But you play with a single character potentially for quite some time. This is a good thing though. I found, as did the people I was playing with, that it took some time to learn your character. So having that time with just one character definitely makes a difference.

Now, there is variety in a lot of different areas. Different monsters and their AI’s based on the scenario. Scenario set-up, and how the modifier cards come out. But for how the characters attack and interact, there is limited variability as you play a character repeatedly. That’s not a bad thing because if it was more random or the puzzle of what you did changed up every time, it’d make it much harder to keep track of a pretty complex game.

Marvel Champions

This one is interesting when talking about variability. There is a ton of it because it is a deck building game. Sure, there are rules as to how you can build decks, more than Magic the Gathering anyways, but it is deck building. The bad guys you can mix and match with different henchmen, so there is a ton going on. However, once you have a deck set-up that you like that deck is going to play out fairly consistently, at least it will if you’re a good deck builder.

So the variability in what happens, that happens before the game, when you are constructing the decks for the most part. And yes, Wasp feels different than Hulk who feels different than Black Panther. But Black Panther is always going to feel like Black Panther when you play him. This again, like Gloomhaven, is a good thing. I don’t want Black Panther to feel like I’m playing the Hulk. I get Marvel Champions because I can be the superheroes who I have seen in the movies and read in the comics. Being a generic hero wouldn’t be nearly as fun..

What About Games That Might Not Have It?

Sword & Sorcery

I’m just going to give one example of this. And the reason I am picking Sword & Sorcery is because it has a lot of randomness, but I feel like not that much variability. When I played through the base game, I enjoyed it well enough, but the longer I played, I realized it was missing something. Whereas Gloomhaven gave you different feeling bad guys in droves, Swords & Sorcery was limited. While Gloomhaven had story that went all over the place, Sword & Sorcery was limited. All of that is fine but for one thing.

The Characters.

The issue I had with Sword & Sorcery was with how you played the characters. I don’t mind the dice chucking, that is fine. But what you did was really obvious. Once I had an ability that was better than the rest, I’d use it, let it cool down, use it again. Or when I got two actions, non-combat, to take on a turn, I moved and aimed, that was it. Most of the time other actions were pointless. So there was a certain element of the characters just playing themselves. In Gloomhaven, I had choice in what cards to play and I could create my own solution to my puzzle. In Sword & Sorcery, the solution was given to you.

So Do I Look For It?

Yes, and no. Another kind of answer to the question. A game with variability in what happens in it is a lot of fun. But do I really need it to have tons and tons of it? No, most games don’t need that. I haven’t played Ticket to Ride in a little bit, mainly because I play with family, but I don’t need to get special powers for the players and all sorts of crazy stuff to make it more variable. If I got that, it would make it harder to get to the table.

So there are some games that it matters and others it doesn’t. I think games with strong mechanics inherently in the game need less variability because they will present more options as to how to win. Plus, going back to what I said at the top, how often do you play games. I could play one game per day and not repeat for a long time, so how much variability do all these games really need?

What are your thoughts? Do you have a few games you love to play over and over again because of their variability?

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Why You Wouldn’t

There are obviously some reasons that you’d be unlikely to play campaign games again. A lot of them tell a story that is important to the game play as you go along. Once you know the story, it won’t be fresh or new again. You will see parts of the story over again even if the story does have some branching narrative paths. And that removes some of the fun of the game knowing what is coming up.

You also might have more campaign games to play. Honestly, this is what will keep me from revisiting something like Gloomhaven with another group soon. I have a lot of other campaign games to get through from Tainted Grail that I’m playing now to Reichbusters and Apocrpyha on the shelf now, and games like Middara, Frosthaven, and Oathsworn coming in probably this year. So it isn’t like I’ll be running out of games to play in the genre.

Why You Would

Now, there are reasons to again. I talk about how you might have seen a lot of the story, but you won’t have seen all of it. For example, I have played the first chapter of Tainted Grail 5 times now, twice solo, and then two different groups three times. I know I haven’t seen everything. I know that the group that I have played it twice with, I’ve done different things than before. So if the story is highly engaging and offers a wide variety, then there is reason to go back through it.

Mechanically if the game is interesting I’m more tempted to go back through it as well. For example, Gloomhaven, I love how that game works mechanically. I love the card play in it. I see going back to it eventually if my kid grows up to like board games. It is a big game, but it’d be something to share experience over, or if I have another group of players who really want to play it. I won’t get bored, even though I’ve seen a lot of story, playing through it again, because there are still classes I haven’t played.

Finally, bonding, board games are something that bring people together. And a campaign game can bring a group of people together more consistently. It is like Dungeons and Dragons that way, you can set-up a standing time where you play. It grows friendships and gives people a reason to get out and see people, which in Minnesota in the winter, you sometimes need. That is why I tried to keep it going, and we did a solid job of it, throughout the pandemic playing on TableTop Simulator or games via Zoom.

What Games Would I Wouldn’t I Play Again?

I think it might be useful to talk about the campaign games that I have played, the two I’ve finished and the one I’m going through now and see if I’d play them again and why. It is easy to explain that there are cool things about them, or I really like them, but is that enough to keep them around.

Tainted Grail

Let us start with the one that I’m playing. Mechanically the game is solid, but that isn’t the reason I have played it so many times. Some of it, thus far, is because it is hard. But the story is the element that really draws me back to it. I know, like I said, that there is more yet to find in that game. We finally made it to chapter four last night, and I’m seeing all sorts of new things that I didn’t know about before. I am going to new locations on the island of Avalon and fighting new monsters. For Tainted Grail that openness of the world and story is what keep me coming back to it.

Sword & Sorcery

Now, I sold this game, it might give you a hint. There are two things that kept me from wanting to come back to it. The story itself is fun, but it doesn’t branch much. So you play the story once, you know what will happen. And mechanically, it is a bit lacking at times as well. I love leveling up, getting new abilities, and fighting in new ways. But that doesn’t happen that often. So it ends up being the same thing, find a monster, use an ability, aim, and attack. You roll dice, and it’s just the same combos over and over. It is just missing that umph that Tainted Grail has.

Gloomhaven

Finally, Gloomhaven, that one is my #1 game of all time. It is staying in my collection, and I would gladly play it again. It doesn’t have the most in depth and branching story. But what it does well is give you enough story to keep it interesting. And it gives you a ton in it’s game play. Mechanically with all the different classes you can play, it is so much fun. We saw all of them in my play through, but I haven’t played all of them. So Gloomhaven gives you a lot to go back to, and you can just play randomly generated scenarios as well, which is cool.

Would you go back to a campaign game? What has made you go back if you have before? What do you look for in one that you think you might go back to?

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Nemesis

This was one of the first games by Awaken Realms that I took note of. I didn’t actually back it the first time around, so I’m waiting on my copy from the second Kickstarter for it. Plus, this one is available in retail now, still might be tricky to find. This is a semi-cooperative game where each person has their own secret objective. In the game you are trying to survive an alien incursion onto your space ship, kill them off, and pilot back to earth. But of course, the aliens are out to get you and the engines and navigation are off-line. Plus, you might not want to end up on Earth, but to go to another planet instead, or you might have a rivalry with another character, so you won’t kill them, but you won’t help them in an alien flight. This game looks beautiful on the table with all of it’s minis and the game play is good as well.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Another game by Awaken Realms, this one you’ll be able to find on the secondary market only, as I’m not 100% sure it’ll ever come to retail. But this is an epic campaign/adventure game in a wyrdness filled lands of Avalon, where the Menhir that King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table lit in the time of legends are starting to go out. A group was sent out from your town to explore and try and find somewhere or someone who could help in the lands, but they’ve been gone a long time. Now you and you and a few others in your town are being sent out to find them as the wyrdness and the tainted creatures start to come closer to the town. Can you survive? This game has a great story and is extremely hard as you push through it, trying to figure out how to survive, when to fight the monsters, when to run away, when to push into exhaustion and when to stop and rest. Overall, an amazing game, but like I said, it’s going to be harder to find.

Folklore: The Affliction

Maybe you want something that is a bit more standard fantasy, this game of ghosts, werewolves, and vampires, is definitely that, and definitely more D&D like. Greenbrier Games has created a DM less RPG type game, with set piece battles, travel and exploration and story that you can unfold as you go. This one is for that person in your life who is a bit more of a crunchy gamer as this really does straddle that line of being Dungeons and Dragons like with the dice you roll for attacks and damage. This one definitely has some challenge and survival to it, but as compared to Tainted Grail the difficulty level is easier and the story while dark is less dark. This one also doesn’t have the minis, though you could get them, and same with Tainted Grail actually, not that many minis. This one is also available via Greenbrier’s site, so one that you can get, it also might be available in some retail locations. There are a lot of small add-ons you can get as well for it, or big ones, such as minis.

T.I.M.E. Stories

This one is kind of a campaign game, but not really. In this game you are going through different scenarios in time and a multiverse, almost like an escape room. You are trying to figure out puzzles, deal with threats that come up, and interact with characters. You’re doing this as you race against the clock. Granted, only your consciousness is being sent back in time, into another body, so you can always try again. I know that some of the scenarios (and there is theoretically a campaign throughout, but not really) aren’t as good, but the four that I’ve played thus far have been a ton of fun. The puzzles are engaging, and while it can be a bit slow playing through part of the game that you’ve played before, it gives you a chance to checkout new parts of the story and world and decide what direction you want to go. I know that I always loved to delve possibly further in that I should have to see what I could find. Overall, a really cool game that has a lot of interesting scenarios.

The 7th Continent

This one has two different versions, there is a Kickstarter version that might be fairly hard to find, though I’ve started to see more show up on the secondary market, and there is a retail version. Both are going to be good, the retail version is just going to have some less content. In this game you awaken on the 7th Continent, an interesting land, knowing that you’ve been cursed. You then have to utilize cards, push your luck and explore the lands. Basically no minis in this game, but what is really interesting, and Tainted Grail does a similar thing, is what you explore the map as you go, and each curse might drop you into a different part of the map, but you’ll know what might be off in one direction if you head that way in future plays of the game. The first curse, for that reason, is extremely expansive and takes you all over the map and can take a very long time while ones after that are a bit more focused, so I will say, if you get this one or give this one, if the first curse is taking forever and you’ve sunk what you feel like is enough time into it, move onto the next one.

Now, i could go on further. Pandemic Legacy (any of the seasons) and Gloomhaven are two that I’ve talked about before that would certainly be epic games. Clank! Legacy, Aeon’s End Legacy, Reichbusters, deep Madness, Apocrypha, Dragonfire, Blood Rage, Zombicide, Mansions of Madness, Marvel Champions, Sword & Sorcery. All of these games have an epic feel to them at times and in their own way. So if none of the ones I’ve mentioned sound that interesting, you can spend some time going through those to see as well what might work best for yourself or who you’re giving the gift to.

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The Premise

The Characters

The Bosses

The Guilds

The Levels

The Boards

Like a lot of dungeon crawl-esque games, this game isn’t going to have one central board that you go around. In fact my current thought process is that you will have no central board that you play off of. Instead, we’re going to use what something that I’ve seen in games like Forgotten Waters, Stuffed Fables and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, which is a book.

There are a few reasons for the book, but the biggest is that we want the different levels to feel varied. The amount of tile pieces would be epically high to make a completely varied board. There are a lot in Gloomhaven, and those can seem somewhat limited at times, so to make something feel truly unique for different levels, you’d need a ton of pieces of terrain, and map tiles, and more to really keep it varied, but in this, I want to make it so that each level can be unique. Especially for the boss battle, I want to work with the idea of space in the game. I think that the new Descent game does an interesting thing with that where you build up vertically at times and can push people off of towers and things like that, I want to be able to do that. And some of that can be done with negative space on a map that’s drawn easier than map tiles that just create more random empty space on the table.

Besides the boss battle, it’ll help me be able to change up the level part of the floor, where players can go on quests, fight monsters, shop, and recruit to their guild. I could completely drop off one of them if I wanted, or I could add in additional spots where players can send people to go questing. This will allow each level to again feel different than the previous ones and give hints as to what might be more important for a level, or I really like the idea that some levels might not allow you to do things, maybe like recruit, so you need to plan accordingly, and you might not get that researched or figured out, but you need to have that in your mind that the next level might not have everything you want, or it might mean you can all go questing and pick up story and lore of the world.

But there are going to be a few actual boards in the game. The first will be the player boards. Each character is going to have their own board. This will have their stats as to what they are good at on it. Those stats are going to then influence how good they are at other things. Someone who is average at everything might do okay on all the tasks and tests, but they aren’t going to get the best outcome and I’ll be talking more about that in the future. But players will have ways to keep track of their stats, but along with that, this is where you’ll keep track of skills and equipment, conditions, and things like that which are common for dungeon crawlers. In my mind I want something closer to the Neoprene mats from Midarra versus something like the paper board from Sword & Sorcery. Gloomhaven does it a little bit better, but I want to build even upon that, because I’ve seen some nice custom ones for Gloomhaven that would hold things better. Also, with cool down and tracking skills, I feel like that’s something that Sword & Sorcery tries to do decently well, but ends up not really doing that well, so I’m curious to see how I can improve upon that.

The other board is going to be the guild board, and this one I have more of an idea of what I want on the board. This board is going to be fairly simple. You are going to keep track of a very few things on here. The two primary ones are going to be guild members and morale. Morale is going to be important for a few things, it’ll be about the attrition that you have with the guild or maybe how it’ll grow naturally. The better your morale the more that you’ll also be able to recruit on a floor. The other big thing, as I said, is guild members. Tracking them will be important because as you hit numerical points, that’ll give you more groups of guild members to use on levels. So if you have a ton of them, you’ll be able to cover a lot of ground, but you’ll also be sacrificing opportunities to level up by doing that. Again, building that tension, but also we’re on boards here, so that’s going to be important to track for that reason. Finally you’ll be tracking a few other things, gear level of the guild, statuses that you’ve found, deaths in the guild, and population left in the world. The statuses that you have found as a guild pertaining to the game can influence your options going forward. Gear will make a difference in battle, deaths in the guild will influence left total in the game, so important things, but will be less often you’re checking those things.

For a game this large there was always going to be a bunch of things to keep track of, but I want, with the book for the board, to make it so that part of the game is an easy flip out and play because that’s going to make the game way more accessible to players if they only have to keep track of their own stuff instead of helping set everything else out. I do think that there’ll be some tokens for the boss battle, such as placing on terrain, though I’d love to be able to make as much of that 3D terrain as possible, either 3D molded terrain, but that might be an add-on if it goes to KS or carboard pieces that can be put together to create height and visual appeal. I might pull a bit from what Oathsworn is doing where you can either get minis for the bosses or you can standees as well, but keep the bosses, and any terrain items, hidden away in either envelops with punch out stuff, or something like that, but ways to bring more surprises to the game. But that’s probably something for another time to talk about.

What do you think of the game thus far, definitely still in concept phase with this one, but I’m going to try and tackle some more specifics this week.

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• 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

80. Lift Off! Get me off this Planet!

This game has the honor of being the first game that I backed on Kickstarter. When I backed it, I did so without really having the gaming collection that I have no or the experience gaming, I just thought that the game looked fun, and, well, I was right. This game is pretty simple, you move around aliens to get them off the planet, but there is some challenge, because you need the right stuff to get them off the planet, and you need the moon to be in the right phase to get them off the planet at certain locations. So while the game is simple and very cute, there is some strategy, there is some timing, because if you don’t have enough resources placed at the right time for the launch, you might have to wait for the moon to travel around again. The game looks great on the table, and while it’s not one that I pull out and play a ton, it is a fun one to play.

Last Year: Not Ranked

79. Codenames: Pictures

Now, you will not see Codenames on the list, I’ve come around on it a little bit, but I don’t enjoy Codenames that much. Linking the words can be done, but there are some issues with it, people need to know all the words and all the possible meanings/slang for the words to really make it work. With Codenames: Pictures, there are just a whole lot more interesting ways to connect the pictures. It makes the game faster, a bit easier, but also has more memorable moments and memorable clues where you can get a lot of answers. Codenames: Pictures just has more of the party feel to the game for the weight that it’s at and I like it for that.

Last Year: 75

78. Dead Men Tell No Tales

I’m a big fan of cooperative games, and Dead Men Tell No Tales is a fun pirate themed one where you are going onto a cursed and burning pirate ship to try and grab all the treasure and leave before the ship burns and you get cut off from either the treasure or your escape. The game can get to you in a lot of ways with the fire, the guardians, the skeletal crew and just a nice challenging feel that has a bit more going on than base Pandemic, so is a bit less of a gateway game. But if you have someone in your life who likes games and pirates, and is even just familiar with modern gaming, this is a really enjoyable game. Not one of the cooperative games that gets played most often, but one I like quite well.

Last Year: 81

77. King of Tokyo

When we talk about gateway games, King of Tokyo has to be one of them that comes up. It uses a Yahtzee style dice rolling in a fun way as you all take on the roll of monsters who are battling it out over Tokyo. The game plays fast and you can either win by knocking out all the other monsters (the most fun way), or by getting points (also fun, but less punching). You can improve what you do by getting power and buying cards. And you can go into Tokyo where you can punch everyone, but the issue is everyone can then punch you. The game is fast, it’s pretty silly, and while there is player elimination, that rarely happens and then the game continues for a long time. Overall, just a fun gateway game that works best at the higher player counts.

Last Year: 37

76. Sword & Sorcery

I promise you this isn’t the only dungeon crawler on the list. It’s the first just because compared to some of the others on the list, the story isn’t as interesting. But there are some parts of the game that I really like. I like the leveling up mechanic and I like that you have two sides to each character. It makes the game feel like I could play it again with the same characters and it would play differently. And this is a true Amerithrash game where you have a big handful of dice for an attack or defense and you better roll well or you might be in trouble. And while the game has a massive rulebook and a few trickier rule things, like who a boss monster might target and how that changes, the game is actually pretty easy, you just move, explore, and fight basically, and fighting is done with the dice. I wish the story felt like it had more choices to it, but that’s about my only knock on it.

Last Year: 25

75. Skull

A very different type of game than most on my list, this is a push your luck bluffing game. Each player has a hand full of cards, a bunch of roses and a skull. Players take turns putting down a card in their own stack, face down, until someone bids on how many cards they can flip over without hitting a skull. The trick to it is that you have to flip over all of your own cards first. So if you’ve placed your skull in your stack, can you bid, just to push someone else’s bid higher so that they’ll hit yours and bust, or will you bust yourself because you’ll be stuck flipping over your own skull. There’s some interesting strategy in how you play and how you bid, but really it’s about reading the other players at the table to figure out what they’ve done.

Last Year: 99

74. Risk Legacy

First Legacy game on the list and just first overall legacy game in the hobby. While this game doesn’t have the story that the more modern ones do or try to have, the game play is still a lot of fun. It’s risk, but there’s more, you aren’t just fighting over the world, you’re fighting over bases and you’re trying to complete missions and if you can pull them off, you get victory points and the first person to hit the victory point threshold wins. Plus, all of the factions are different. And you get to decide how they are different as you add stickers to them, so you can make them better at attacking or better at defending, or maybe you get more troops to start. There’s all sorts of different strategies that you can take, but it still feels like classic Risk for the most part, it just goes much faster. Overall a fun time especially if you like Risk but can’t play it too often because it lasts too long.

Last Year: 79

73. Pandemic Legacy Season 2

Back to back legacy games, Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 is a bit further down on my list than Pandemic Legacy Season 1. I think that it tries to do a lot of new and different things, and while I think it does most of them well, it bogs down a little bit with all the new things you need to learn. That said, for being quite different than Season 1 and base Pandemic in what you’re trying to do, the mechanics seem really familiar and can get going on the base game quickly, there’s just a twist on to everything. So if you haven’t just gone from one type of Pandemic to the other, you’ll probably be able to pick up on those changes quickly. The story is very interesting, and there is a lot of legacy content in the game.

Last Year: 84

72. Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate

I like all of the Betrayal games, this one is just a bit further down on the list, because while I like the D&D theme to the game, it just doesn’t seem as epic and as good a thematic fit as horror does. This one does have some cool features though, class powers are awesome. I like that about 1/5 of the scenarios have no betrayer, there is just some monster or something that you have to do as a group, that makes it easier to keep track off since some of the haunts (betrayals) can be a bit tricky to understand and if you’re the betrayer you don’t have anyone to ask. They also fix an issue that can arise in the regular game where the haunt happens too fast. It’s still swingy and tricky to understand all the haunts, but I like it a lot and I like the silly random moments that you can have in the game, and the great rolls or the horrible rolls you can have.

Last Year: 35

71. Magic: The Gathering

By far the biggest game on the list, and actually a game that I have sold most of what I have for it, because I don’t have a consistent group to play with for the past few years. But I still really like the game. I especially like playing EDH (Commander). I never got into the competitive magic scene, but for more casual play and people not busting the bank buying stuff, I think it’s a lot of fun. I really can get into the deck building because you can come up with all sorts of odd and interesting combos and for me coming up with something odd and seeing if it can work is a blast. I like to try strange strategies and see if they’ll work or build a whole deck off of the concept of flipping and coin and see what happens with that and how well that’ll work. A few years ago this would have been higher, it’s just not one that I’m sure I’ll get to play that often anymore.

Last Year: 60

A whole lot of moving and shaking on my list. I think some of that is because, or the ones that are dropping, I like another game that does something similar that much better so it takes a bit of a hit. At least that is what I’m guessing. Still, I was a bit surprised to see a few of the games having dropped as far as they did from the 20’s and 30’s. Still really enjoy those games, just might not be the ones I pull off the shelf to scratch that game playing itch.

What is your favorite from this part of the list?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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Let’s get to the list:

10 – Sword & Sorcery
This is a big dice chucking ameritrash campaign game where you take your group of heroes of old who have been brought back in the nations time of need. You get to level up, get new skills and attacks and generally be pretty awesome as you chuck dice and go through a pretty simple story. The game really gives you a lot of dice to chuck and a lot of cool abilities to use. Just in the base game there are plenty of characters to checkout and you can get a whole lot more in small character expansions or in the bigger box story expansions. This is probably one of the most classic in terms of story that you’ll find for a campaign. It is a bit fiddly, but the upkeep and monster actions are fairly simple and the story is small enough that you don’t feel like you’re spending all your time adjusting the board and looking up story elements in the book, but the initial set-up can be pretty slow.

9 – Risk Legacy
Probably the campaign that has the least amount of story in it. However, the board changes in a legacy style as you play and you can unlock things as new things happen in the game to create even more weird challenges. The story of this game really comes from the players as you face off against each other over and over again for points in this Risk based game that allows you to win not from taking over but by getting victory points for taking out your enemies bases and completing missions. Each game goes pretty fast, which is enjoyable, and you feel like you’ve gotten that Risk dice chucking combat done, but without it overstaying it’s welcome. Plus, unless an odd situation happens, you’re always going to be able to hope back into the game and possibly mess someone up and get back into contention, versus being eliminated. Not a ton of depth to this campaign, but a fun time.

8 – Star Wars: Imperial Assault
The Star Wars dungeon crawl, Imperial Assault offers you two ways to play. First, you can do it with someone running the empire and working within the game to create scenarios and a story that you play through. Or you can be completely cooperative and play through the game using an app that helps you with your book keeping as to everything the empire needs to do. This was the precursor to Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth in what it was doing with the app. The story is fun, and what I really like about this story is that it’s adjacent to the original trilogy story, at least out of the core box. So you don’t play as Luke, Leia, or Han, and you can’t kill of Darth Vader or the Emperor, but they might show up in your story as someone to help you or someone to run away from. It’s fun to see how they can weave that together and create a fun experience of a campaign.

7 – Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Another not that story driven one, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, has you play through a campaign of the books, getting new threats that you’re raising to finish and new bad guys you’re trying to beat. This is a deck building game that builds on itself as you play more and more games of it, there are seven total games to play out of the base box, one for each book, and you gain new abilities and new cards to build you deck in each one. It starts out simple, but eventually has you focusing more into what you can do really well. You get to play the main characters the base box has Neville, Ron, Hermione, and Harry, and take them through their times at Hogwarts. A downside is that while the game is simple, the longer you go, the more bad guys you have to beat.

6 – Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game
One that I just got into recently but this game has so many things that I love. First, there is a digital component, not that that makes the game so amazing, but because it makes it more immersive as you’re trying to “solve” the case put in front of you. Then with that, you’re also using your own deduction skills, I really like using deduction and puzzling through things, even if I’m not great at figuring out the puzzle all the time, right away. There is so much going on in this game, story wise, that you feel like you’re in it trying to actually solve this case. It reminds me a bit of procedural crime TV shows, but you get to be the main characters. And while I’m not a huge fan of those shows, being a character in that show is fascinating. And while we were investigating, we were getting cards and things to be added into future cases because of what we’d studied before so out of the base box, with five cases, you develop a whole story as these cases tie together.

5 – Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Arkham Horror is an interesting one to put on the list, because as a Living Card game it’s getting new campaigns and parts to old campaigns pretty often. Out of the base box, you have a three part story where you do the first scenario and what you do in that causes changes for future scenarios. There is a lot that I love out of this game, first you get to play through a surprisingly immersive story for something that is done just with cards. You have interesting and different characters as well in the story. And even with just cards, they do wildly different things at times. Add in that you can do some deck building in this game, not during the game but before or between, you can develop the strategy that you want to take into a case, it might be a strategy of more fighting or more investigating, or blending and balancing the two depending on your style, and unlike some of these campaigns where eventually you’ll have played through it, this one is still getting new content all the time.

4 – TIME Stories
This one has less of a through story than a lot of the campaign games, but there are certain elements that tie it together. You are always worried about another time agency that is trying to mess with time and multiverse in it, and thus far, I’ve really enjoyed every scenario. I feel like they’ve managed to change them up a bit, and while you often have combat or things that are just rolling dice and hoping to get lucky, it does work very well. Each scenario has very strong story elements to it as well as you are trying to figure out a puzzle and an optimal path through the game to win, but with that, you’re exploring and uncovering elements of the story as well. I really like the fact that you are put into “vessels” and that’s how you time travel in the game, and sometimes, you don’t do well enough and your “vessel” dies, but jumping back into the past, you can join the game again and do another run to try and solve the puzzle. It can get a bit repetitive for some, but I haven’t found that to be an issue.

3 – Pandemic Legacy Season 1
Second Legacy game on the list, and I will toss in Season 2 as kind of continuation of this if you want more content. Pandemic is a great cooperative game where you are trying to cure diseases. Pandemic Legacy offers much of the same with that, but story and a changing and expanding rule set as time goes on. The game never feels too complex, but it is more challenging than the regular game. I really like how they manage losing in the game, you continue on if you lost twice in a month, and help you balance that out by getting more useful cards back in your deck that allow you to bend the rules. And the story, while not complex is good, and it has a nice twist to it. I don’t think that the twist was all that surprising, but definitely changes up the game.

2 – Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon
This game just screams epic campaign game. You get to level up and improve your character and you get to explore a massive story as you travel through the lands of Avalon. There are some things I really enjoy about the game, first is the story element. You get to delve into so much of a massive exploration journal and find out so much about the world. This is a dark world as well, and I really appreciate that the storytelling is set in that and that there is a survival element to the game as well. This can be a punishing game that makes you travel around places and do the same things multiple times, but that’s kind of the point of the game as you are traveling through this grim dark Avalon facing off against monstes, trying to hold the Wyrdness at bay by keeping Menhir lit, and struggling to find food. It’s played out over several chapters and you definitely don’t see everything in the game, so it’s a campaign you can come back to again and explore more to see if you can do better.

1 – Gloomhaven
My #1 game of all time, no surprise it’s at the top of the list. Gloomhaven just is a wonderfully massive game. It tells a good story, I wouldn’t say as good as Tainted Grail, but beyond that, the mechanics are amazing, I love the card combat and movement that you have in each scenario as you try and puzzle out what is going to be the best and what the enemies might do. And there’s just so much content in the game, not just scenarios, but also monsters to fight and characters to play as. I love that you have to retire characters at certain points, and that then gives you a new character that feels different from other characters, there’s just so much interesting things going on in the game and there are apps to help make it faster to get to the table that are great. I’ve talked about this a lot, so I’ll stop there, but it’s amazing.

One thing I’ll point out about this list, with the exception of Risk Legacy, all the games on the list are cooperative. It’s fairly rare for there to be competitive campaign games, that I’ve seen, though there are some out there with the likes of Charterstone, which is fun, and Seafall, which is long. But most are going to lean cooperative, so think about that, if you don’t love cooperative games and you want to play a campaign game. And I have a lot more to play and coming than I’ve already played. I really want to get the likes of Betrayal Legacy, Clank Legacy! and Aeon’s End Legacy to the table as well sooner rather than later, because all of those are campaigns based off of games that I already love. Also, I left Dungeons and Dragons off the list, because, I want to keep it board games versus adding in RPG’s which are great but different experiences.

What are some of your favorite campaign games? What are some that I should checkout?

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