Top 50 Board Games Part 3
30-21, Where I Find Myself Asking, Really? That Low?
30. Inis
Players: 2-4 (best 4)
Time: 1 hr - 90 mins
BGG Weight: 2.89
There are two definitive “unique dudes on a map” trilogies. CMON’s Eric Lang trilogy and Matagot’s featuring three different designers. I have, but have yet to play, Bruno Cathala’s Cyclades. I suspect it might find a home on this list. The other in this series is probably going to make an appearance soon. Really soon.
But for now, Inis is up. Featuring Celtic mythology, Inis seeing players striving to be the king of the island through three different leadership paths. Take control of six lands occupied by other players, have presence in six different territories or take control of (you guessed it) six different territories with sanctuaries.
Hand management, area control and warfare will all be at your disposal, but diplomacy is key as well. Each round you’ll draft a hand of cards that will be played or discarded and once a player has secured two victory conditions they will be crowned king.
If you show too much force too early you’ll make yourself a target and be run out of the game. If you are too passive, another player will swoop in and claim the crown. It is a really cool game that shows that dudes on a map doesn’t have to just be a dice chucking affair.
29. Great Western Trail 2nd Edition
Players: 1-4 (best 3)
Time: 75-150 mins
BGG Weight: 3.72
Alexander Pfister is probably the biggest name from Austria. Germany is still the epicenter of hobby board game design, but their neighbor is home to one of Adrianne’s favorite designers. While his games don’t resonate quite as strongly with me, Great Western Trail is undeniable.
The game combines a rondel with deck building and does the impossible. It makes being a cowboy seem fun. The game sees players working their way from Texas to Kansas City, herding cattle and avoiding disaster (both natural and manmade). As the game progresses, players will add buildings to the board to make the journey longer but also provide more opportunity to grow your herd and impede your opponents.
There are a number of choke points that will force players into tough choices. As you deliver your cattle, you’ll have opportunities to unlock new disasters and new hirelings to help you in your quest. The game has thankfully been updated to replace a problematic representation of natives with outlaws and I think it is a change for the better.
My favorite part is how quick the game plays once you understand the awful iconography. And let me be clear, the iconography in this game is needlessly confusing. It’s something that hampers the game. It was replicated in his reworking Boonlake and it turned off some of my friends from that game entirely. If they make a third edition with better iconography, it might become one of my favorite favorites.
28. Sidereal Confluence
Players: 4-9 (best 5-6)
Time: 2-3 hrs
BGG Weight: 3.53
Cosmic Encounters on steroids, Sidereal Confluence isn’t just pronounced incorrectly it is also one of the best big group negotiation games I’ve ever played. Every alien faction has it’s own goals and gameplay. There is no best strategy because of that, but there are some races that are easier for new players to grasp. And some that aren’t recommended until you’ve got some games under your belt.
I, of course, dove in with one of the hardest races on my first playthrough and was stomped. It was awesome. A good negotiation game should feel like organized chaos and this does it better than any other for me. You’ll trade resources, almost everything is tradeable. And you need to do it, because you tend to make less than you need and your opponents do as well.
You also research technologies, but once you do keep in mind EVERYONE will have access to it. This is a game about balance and negotiation. If people don’t work with you, you won’t succeed, but they likely won’t either. If you want limited player interaction, this is NOT the game for you.
27. Smartphone, Inc.
Players: 1-5 (best 5)
Time: 1 hr - 90 mins
BGG Weight: 2.76
A game about selling cellphones? Ugh. I did that for a living, it was awful. Why would I want to do that in board game form? Look at the board, who thought this board was a good design choice? It, wait…hang on, this works really well. Oh, and the way you can add features, that’s pretty neat. Is this an economic area control game? No way. Could it be something that I HATED in real life is something I adore here?
Well, indeed it is. Smartphone, Inc. doesn’t look like something I would be a fan of in almost any capacity but boy does it really nail it. Players are in charge of a cellphone manufacturer, all with different starting bases. From there, you’ll add features to your phone and spread out to neighboring markets. The better and faster you meet the needs, the more points you’ll score. The board is double layered, which comes in handy and it really starts to pop once you add your pieces.
Researching technologies makes it easier for your opponents to do the same but it is crucial for moving into new markets. You’ll have to balance production vs price point and watch out for competitors moving into your markets. The game also has a real fun mechanism where you have two boards that you overlay to dictate how your production phase goes. Everything about this game works for me, except at lower player counts. This game needs at least three people to shine.
26. Captain Sonar
Players: 2-8 (best 8)
Time: 45mins - 1hr
BGG Weight: 2.19
Real time, team based Battleship with a moving submarine trying to sink your opponent’s sub. Ideally played with two teams of 4, each player will take on one or more role. Captain’s plot a course while another player listens in on the other captain charting their movement. You’ll have a player in charge of keeping systems online and another arming weapons to disable or track the opposing sub.
Sometimes you’ll surface and give your opponents a chance to close the distance on your sub, but it will allow you to make needed repairs and get systems back in tip top shape. I can’t tell you how much fun this game is, but I will say it is arguably the most stressful board game I have ever played. And, while it has a turn based mode for lower player counts, it really shines in real time with 8 people going full tilt to sink the other sub.
Just make sure you watch out for mines!
25. Kemet
Players: 3-5 (best 4-5)
Time: 90 mins-2 hrs
BGG Weight: 3.0
Where Cyclades takes place in ancient Greece and Inis is a Celtic battle, Kemet puts you at the service of Egyptian gods, waging war in their honor. BGG users say it takes longer than an hour, but most of my games have only lasted an hour. Ten victory points come quick in this game.
Players will build pyramids of three different colors that unlock new abilities to help them wage war on their opponents and fight over crucial territories. I think what I love most about this game is that it forces players into combat. A lot of “dudes on a map” games will rely on turtling and marshalling forces. Kemet allows for such rapid movement and gives you monsters to command, so you’re never waiting too long to fight.
Points rack up quickly if people aren’t on the offense and you have to keep a watch on ALL your opponents. Defeat doesn’t mean you’ve lost, it just means you’ll have to take a different approach. Combat is resolved by playing a card from your hand that have different impacts. It’s fast, fluid and exciting. The way combat board games should be.
24. The Castles of Burgundy
Players: 2-4 (best 2)
Time: 30-90 mins
BGG Weight: 2.99
The Castles of Burgundy is arguably Stefan Feld’s biggest game. It has had two deluxe editions, a dice edition and a card edition. You have a lot of choices in how you want to play the game. I’ll say the Awakened Realms version is excellent if cost prohibitive).
Criticism rightfully abound. It is drab and the iconography can be overwhelming. The theme is pasted on. And none of that matters because it rules. I wasn’t sold until the third time I played it. I didn’t really get it, but now I do.
The game utilizes dice worker placement, where players roll two dice each round and then place drafting tiles to build out their kingdom. Different tiles give different ways to score points, from collecting animal types in farms to building little villages, to mines that give you valuable silver or castles that let you take an extra turn.
You must play tiles adjacent to others on the board and even the tiles require you to have the right dice to play them. And you must have the right space open to play it onto. There are worker tokens that allow you to manipulate the dice, which helps a lot with mitigating bad rolls.
23. Paladins of the West Kingdom
Players: 1-4 (best 2)
Time: 90 mins - 2 hrs
BGG Weight: 3.72
You might have gathered that I like Shem Phillips games at this point. This is the best of the bunch to me. You are working to save West Francia from invaders from all directions. While you share a common goal, you want to be the best of the best. You have seven rounds to enlist Paladins, build fortifications, commissioning monks and turning away the invaders.
This is another take on worker placement and it is a doozy. This is one of the few games I’ve played that left my brain on fire after the game was over. It took longer than any other Garphill game I’ve played and it made me really work to get the best solution. Most games that challenge me leaving me wanting to play another right after. When I finish Paladins, I marinate on everything I did wrong.
Few games leave me dwelling on them for days after I play, but that’s what makes this so special. It also keeps the game from being higher on my list, because it might curb my desire to play for the rest of the day or the rest of the week. I love it, but I can’t play it too often.
22. Dominant Species
Players: 3-6 (best 4)
Time: 2-4 hrs
BGG Weight: 4.04
Speaking of games that I can’t play too often, Dominant Species is probably my favorite war game of all time. There is one other game that is kind of a “dudes on a map” game to come, but this one is all about control.
The first time I played was at Dragon Con, we played a game for about an hour and realized, “Hey Cool, we need to restart this because now we kind of know what we’re doing.” I was hooked. Players take on the role of different species vying for space before the next ice age is upon us. Insects are lowly but vast in numbers, mammals are more potent but require more to survive.
Dominating as many spaces as possible will unlock new abilities and score victory points, but spreading too thin will leave you vulnerable. The species all start in harmony but discord is looming and it is beautiful when it comes. Publisher GMT is widely considered the biggest dog in the world of war gaming and this is them at their best to me.
Tragically, designer Chad Jensen passed away before the sequel saw the light of day, but it is out now and is supposed to also be fantastic.
21. Ausonia
Players: 1-4 (best 2)
Time: 30 mins
BGG Weight: 2.36
Deckbuilding is one of my favorite mechanisms in gaming. Ausonia found a home as my favorite pure deck builder. My copy came with both expansions in the box. I have barely touched them as I love the base game so much. In an alternate history 17th century Italy, players are the leaders of houses vying for power after the witchplague has ravaged the lands.
The theme is fun, but irrelevant to the game. What really makes this game work for me are the excellent combos and the raise mechanism. Raising allows you to banish cards from your deck to become permanent resources. It opens up bigger and bigger turns. You will have ways to impact your opponents, but taking the best cards when they appear is still the best course of action.
I’ve tried Star Realms, Hero Realms and Shards of Infinity. Shards is also a favorite, but in the category of small box deck builders, I find myself coming back to Ausonia every time.
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