The mission will outline the background of the story and where the dungeon is located as well as how to set the board up using the games double sided hexagonal modular tiles. Players and the overlord are then each given their specific win conditions — which are conflicting meaning only one side can emerge victoriously. The overlord player then gets to strategize and choose which monsters will be lurking in the dungeon — making for some pretty crazy battles.
One thing to note is that players in Descent cannot die. This means that the game is about strategy and is effectively a race against the clock. Players need to use their stamina and skills wisely as there is a detrimental fatigue mechanic. The game also has a cool companion app that you can download for your smartphone.
This allows solo play although I have not tried it yet as well as coop play if you instead would like the app to control the overlord. This is a great touch to an already awesome board game and means it gets spot number 2 on my list. Descent is by far one of the best modern dungeon crawl board games on the market.
It has great mechanics, mission stories and components including artwork that make it a top tier fantasy themed board game. The addition of Fantasy Flights companion app is the cherry on top and opens up a whole new way to play an already awesome game.
Mice and Mystics is a fantasy themed board game that is great to play for the whole family. It has an awesome story that players play through and is easy enough to teach the younger gamers how to play yet is still fun to play for us adults. The game is a silly and whimsical light hearted RPG , where players cooperatively play through missions, upgrade gear and special abilities. I am a sucker for games with great lore and storytelling and the story of Mice and Mystics is really really cool — and most importantly for this article — is super full of fantasy themes!
As mentioned before, Mice and Mystics is a game all about the story. It is the overarching theme to the game and players essentially play through each chapter of a book that comes with the game.
The story revolves around a group of humans the players who live in a sort of a medieval fantasy world. All players were confidants and trusted advisors to a king who has fallen ill because of the evil plans of this sorceress named Vanestra and her army of black-clad warriors.
Vanestra overthrows the king and all players are thrown into jail. Lucky there is a wizard in your party who can transform everyone into mice to escape the prison. Unfortunately, however, turning back into humans is not so easy and you basically have to go through a series of adventures to try to save the kingdom and finally hopefully return to your prior human form.
Because the game revolves all around the story, I am not going to go into too much detail so as not to spoil anything other than to say it is really well thought out and really gets all players involved children and adults.
Like Descent, Mice and Mystics also comes with a companion app I love technology. The app does a great job of setting the scene and reading out the story components of the game as players work their way through. Players need to work together to play through each different scenario chapter of the game. Each character in the game has a unique ability and stats that can be level up and improved as players progress.
Now, because it is a story, there will be some chapters where some characters are not available OR a character has not yet joined the story, allowing players to also try out different characters and play styles as the game moves forward. Whether you are after a board game that is light hearted and fun to play or are just after a really great story — then Mice and Mystics is a great option. There are also expansions available to the game which offer continuations of the story and new characters!
If you are a fan of detailed miniatures I know I am! In Blood Rage, players take on the roles of competing Viking clans who are all battling for the control over provinces — which, coincidentally are also systematically destroyed as the game progresses.
In the box you will find a really nice set of miniatures. Each player gets their own warriors 2 different types , a ship and a leader. The heroes are hilarious — the men are all different shapes, sizes and builds… whereas the women all look like they have come straight from a bikini shoot with an uncomfortable but equally as funny amount of under boob forgive my maturity.
The game is played over 3 ages, with each player trying to pillage as many villages as possible with their army to earn glory points. At its core, Blood Rage is a combination of miniatures on a map, action selection and card drafting.
All familiar mechanics and all implemented in a polished form in game. The idea of the game is simply that the world is coming to an end… so you may as well prove that you are the best clan of Vikings before it all comes to a close.
Play is split over 3 ages, each with 5 phases — with the winner being the clan that amasses the most glory points at the end. Play then begins with a drafting phase. A hand of eight cards is given to a player, who then chooses one of the cards and passes it on to the rest of the players who also take a card.
This continues until everyone has six cards. Cards that can be drawn vary from quests that bring glory points, upgrades to your clan or battle cards which replace dice during combat. Each card has a particular theme and is named after a certain Norse god. Each god is unique and offers a certain style of play which becomes evident through their cards — For example: Thor awards points for fighting, whereas Loki likes watching his subjects your troopd die.
This opens up a really fun way of developing strategies and focusing on a certain way to play the game — I particularly like sending my troops to Valhalla because I am evil like that! If players both have warriors in the same zone — they are forced to fight. This is where the strategy comes to play. Battles are determined based on warrior strength as well as the battle cards played face down by each player. For instance, if I play a Loki battle card, I am incentivised to let my warriors lose so that I can reap certain bonuses from the victor.
One region is completely wiped off the board and any units in that region die — earning victory points to the clan they came from — this is by far my favorite mechanic in the game. Points for having your miniatures destroyed by the gods! This is done over 3 rounds, with the player to earn the most points at the end emerging the victor.
Blood Rage is a super fun and high-quality fantasy board game, with some very unique mechanics which complement the theme in the perfect way. If you like Vikings, mystical creatures and a bit of silliness , then Blood Rage is a great game that has a ton of replay value and is perfect for a game night with a bit of Ale! Runewars is an epic fantasy area control game designed for 2 to 4 players by Corey Konieczka and published by Fantasy Flight Games.
In the game players set out to conquer and negotiate their way to controlling regions of the board. The game is set in the same fantasy world as Descent which we looked at above — Rune Age!
The modular, dynamically constructed map sets the scene for the game and contains highly sought-after dragon runes The key to winning the game. The players objective is to locate and protect as many of these ruins as possible and prevent other players from doing the same, and they need to do it within 7 years rounds.
Each year in game, consists of the four seasons Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring with each season containing a number of ongoing effects that challenge players in their race to victory. The game has four distinct fantasy factions for players to choose from with each faction having a unique set of units that you will use to battle, as well as unique abilities providing different play styles and strategies.
The game is hugely in depth and because of that the play time is massive. At the start of the game each player chooses which faction they will play — Elves, Humans, Undead or Uthuk. Like I mentioned earlier, the main goal of the game is to collect dragon runes. However, to do that you will need to have a good army that can defeat theirs if a fight breaks out…. The game is played over a 7-year period which are the rounds of the game yes its very long!
With each year broken further into seasons. During each season a card is drawn from the corresponding season deck. This card will contain special events that outline the circumstances of the season and the effects on players. A full list of the rules can be found in this PDF. A cool aspect of the game is that if you have a copy of Descent — they use the same hero miniatures. So you can have more hero minis to add to your Descent game! It is a masterpiece of a game that is fun to play and boasts incredible plastic miniatures, beautiful artwork and high-quality cards and tokens.
The gameplay relies purely on strategy rather than luck, and the use of action cards forces players to think ahead. There is also a healthy dose of player interaction and the ability to forge alliances and betray one another — which I personally think is great fun! Small World, as the name suggests, is a fantasy game, whereby players all fight to control a world that is too small to accommodate them all.
At its heart, Small World is an area control war game with an awesome fantasy theme painted over top. Players take control of orcs, elves and trolls as they attempt to have the largest area controlled on the map by the end of the game. The game is very light hearted and social, where most of the moves are made outside of the game itself.
Small World is super nice to look at and is super easy to play — and is suitable for the younger gamers as well as the old! At the start of the game the map board is placed on the table and assembled depending on the number of players. Gameplay is very simple. Players win the game by having the most victory coins at the end. Victory coins are typically earned by controlling regions. On a players first turn, they will select one race in the form of a card from a list of fantasy creatures and a trait to go along with that race.
Every race and trait has special powers that could help you conquer areas of the map faster, defend better, or gain more victory coins. Picking the race at the top of the pile is free, while picking the race below it costs 1 victory coin, the race below that 2, and so on. Starting on any edge or coastal region of the map, players begin to take over a region by placing 2 tokens there plus 1 for every extra piece of cardboard on that region.
Some races or traits will make conquering easier: for instance, the mounted trait lets you take hills or farmlands for one less token than usual.
If you run out of tokens, but want to capture a region, you can roll the reinforcement dice once. If it lands on a number that is higher than the tokens you require you can conquer that region. Once the turn ends player rearrange their tokens on the board for defence making sure at least 1 token remains on each region they control. Now the next player may select his race and conquest. Like the first player they can start taking over regions with their tokens, and if another players region is adjacent to one of theirs, they can take it over by simply placing more tokens than those defending the region.
Players are also able to swap out races and are able to control 2 one active and one passive at any one time. As you can see the game is not at all complicated, but can become super competitive to play. Small World is a short and light hearted fantasy war game with simple rules, streamlined gameplay and an awesome fantasy world setting. The game is a great gateway board game for new gamers or to play as a family as it is really fun and super easy to learn and there is no player elimination to trigger the little ones!
Chaos in the Old World is a board game in which the players play as gods and must compete against each other to corrupt the world to your liking. In other words, the game is all about who can be the most powerful bad guy! Players assume the role of 1 of 4 unique gods, each with different abilities and outlook on the world. The idea is to use action cards to summon armies, battle enemies the other players armies and corrupt the land.
Chaos in the Old World has a great fantasy theme — albeit a bit on the darker side as you are playing as malevolent gods. Stupid expensive but cool! We play A LOT of trivia in our household. We are usually too lazy to actually take the game board out, and instead just go through the cards, but it still counts. Geek trivia and party games :. World of Warcraft Trivial Pursuit. Star Trek Scene-It. Harry Potter Scene-It. Geek Out this too was on our Geek Gift Guide last year, and is still a big hit for us.
Geek Battle. Trivia game for general geekdom. Munchkin Zombies. Now with more zombies. Magic the Gathering duh. Redshirts Card Game. Star Trek Uno. Yes, Uno. Smash Up. Cards Against Humanity. Not specifically geeky, but always awesome. Adventure and other games. All the real tabletop geeks raise your hands! Firefly The Game. Can never be cancelled. Star Trek Catan. Game of Thrones. Backstab everyone you know. What do you think? A separate game called Caverna is also available which is basically the same jut bigger and newer, also a great choice!
You can buy Agricola from Amazon , Walmart or your local board game store. Atlantis is a player hand management type strategy game where the goal is to get your peeps off the sinking island of Atlantis. You need to follow a pattern when placing the tiles but you can orient them anyway you like. This allows for curvy, jagged, circular and other imaginative playing layouts.
You start the game with a number of cards you can use to jump your peeps to specific tiles on the game board. Wherever you jump, you pick up the tile behind the destination which counts as points.
If you get an Atlantean onto land, you get a bonus, so it seems that getting one across as fast as possible would be the best course of action. On the other hand that leaves your other guys further behind which could cost you. What I really like about this game is how it mimics the story with gameplay. As your Atlanteans jump around tiles are taken from behind them, eventually leaving water.
As time passes more and more water shows up — this is the island sinking. Buy Atlantis from Amazon or your local board game store. The board and the cards a brilliantly designed, fans of the Discworld series will spend more time picking out little details than actually playing.
The board consists of 12 areas which you can occupy and control. Depending on your character, your aims and actions will differ as well. You may want to simply be present on a number of areas, control a number of areas or work towards other goals. Gameplay consists of playing cards from your hand. Cards allow you to place your minions, remove other minions, build buildings and other special actions.
This simple mechanic gives rise to interesting rounds of play every time. What makes Discworld special is the constant attention you have to pay to everyone. If you suspect that an opponent is close to winning you might want to gang up on him. Up to 4 players can take part , games span hours, we usually finish in about 90 minutes. You can buy Discworld from the Discworld Store , Amazon or your local board game store. The goal is to establish yourself as a trader and get access to the coveted golden city itself.
Each round has a sub-goal which — when met — will award the player additional points. At the end of the game, the player with the most points the most powerful trader wins. Other players can annoy you by taking good spaced but there is no combat and no head-to-head competition. The variation due to how the game is played provides plenty of fun for a solid replay value.
You can buy it from Amazon or your local board game store. This unassuming little box holds one of the best little puzzle games ever. The name of the game is pattern recognition. All you need to do is find sets of 3 cards from 9 where the symbols are either all the same or all different based on shape, color and shading.
Sometimes you will the sets to reveal themselves but nothing happens. Sometimes you just glance at the 9 cards and find one. Practice means you get better but it makes your opponent better as well! This cheap little deck of cards can be played by any amount of players , a round takes about 15 — 30 minutes depending on how quickly you find sets.
You may be familiar with this game due to the huge popularity of iOS game. The board game precedes the release of the iPad app by around 8 years, and what a great game it is. The idea is to build railroads from point A to point B. The rules can be learned in under 15 minutes, yet the game poses some strategic challenges which take some gray matter to solve.
There are also a number of expansions available. Check out the 10th Anniversary Edition which contains some expansions for more bang for your buck. This little game is a strategic nightmare in a good way. Boomerang has extremely simple rules and will challenge your strategy and phsychological skills. You play as hunters vying for the same animals on the hunting ground. You use your boomerangs to buy your way into hunting first. By hunting first, you get to choose the type of hunting ground you grab animals from.
In addition, hunting in second place may yield the same results depending on which animals you need. Does he want to be first this turn? Is he willing to spend enough boomerangs? Should I drop out and collect the boomerangs on the table? Grabbing Boomerang or Bumerang as it is titled mostly may be a bit difficult.
As far as I can tell it is only published in Europe. You should check your local board game shop for more info. Do you think all the great unique board games were made recently?
Think again, Acquire is 51 years old , made originally in by Sid Jackson. On the surface, the board looks pretty boring with the board resembling a bingo ticket. The play area actually represents companies growing over time, signified by placing tiles on the appropriate squares. Acquire is all about investing in companies and maximizing your profit at the right time. Unsurprisingly, the goal is to amass the largest fortune.
You can grab Acquire from Amazon , you can even get a vintage version which is pretty cool. You actually build the board with your opponents as you play , which was jaw-dropping to me as a board game newcomer at the time. The goal of the game is to build castles, roads, have the largest pastures and other similar constructs. You use your little minions to control various bits of tiles and then continue placing tiles to grow your controlled areas.
By now, Carcassonne has a kajillion expansions which add extra depth to the game. From dragons to wizards, towers and catapults you can add more and more if you like the game. Carcassonne is a great introduction to the board game world because it has a completely unique play style compared with standard board games but the rules are easy to understand.
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