Since it has been little over a year since I rediscovered my love for boardgames I decided to list my Top 5 of boardgames. This list consists of only newer games without the advantage of nostalgia and isn’t limited to only games with an actual board.
Lets get started then!
Honorable Mention:
Warhammer Quest – the Adventure Card Game
I would have liked to include this new interpretation of the old classic on the actual list but since it is out of print. And since Fantasy Flight Games lost the Warhammer license there won’t be any reprints of this game in a foreseeable future.
The game plays well and has more than enough interesting things going on. In essence it is a dice game backed up with interesting card play without any actual deck building. It has roleplaying elements and is notoriously hard to beat. The lack of future support means that there will not be any official adventures for it and this decreases the replaying value but only a bit. I know of several good fan-made adventures but have yet to test any of them.
Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game at BoardGameGeek
5 – Werewolf / Resistance
With place was a tough one to come up with. I considered Elder Sign, Eldritch Horror, Age of War and several other as well but ultimately decided to go with the game (or games to be precise) that I have played the most.
Werewolf and Resistance share this place for I consider them both to be quite similar. Their actual game play isn’t that deep. It only about making decisions as a gaming group. They handle this differently but the gaming experience (for me) in both cases is linked to how lively the group decides to play them.
Both of these games are about telling a story as narrated by the choices the players make. Will the villagers overcome the werewolves and will the resistance achieve victory. With both games the game gets better when the players are familiar with the game. Both of these games are a mainstay at our annual Guild meets.
Ultimate Werewolf at BoardGameGeek
Resistance at BoardGameGeek
4 – Potion Explosion
At first glance Potion Explosion seemed to ride on the fame of Harry Potter and smart phone games such a Bejewelled. While trying it the appearances proved accurate. But they also proved that this is an excellent game for casual fun and frustration.
Potion Explosion looks really different with marbles and wizardly esthetics. It is played by collecting the marbles to brew potions. Once a potion is brewed you get another and can drink the prepared potion at any time (during your turn) for various effects. Simple and elegant. Winning the game requires the player to plan ahead and to score the most points. It isn’t a game of extreme depths but as most of the game I enjoy this can be played as beer and pretzels game, with children or with the angriest competitive style the players want.
Potion Explosion at BoardGameGeek
3 – Codenames
Codenames is the newest game on this list for me. I had heard about it of course but it wasn’t until Solstice 2017 that I got to try it out. And I wasn’t disappointed. It’s quite simple of game of word explanations but describing how it works is actually not that simple. The game plays with two teams trying to work against each other by guessing which words their operator is trying to point to them with a single word (and a number of codenames that could link to that word).
2 – Coloretto
I bought the silly little game years ago. It is about collecting chameleons of different color. It is deceitfully a simple game of luck, strategy and rodeo (our nickname of seeing all the cards before picking a column). We have been playing this every summer on cabin vacations.
Coloretto a game that’s quick to learn but hard to master and that is the essence of any good game. For casual and fast paced beer and pretzels game and though I considered Cockroach Poker as well for this spot Coloretto won simply because it is much easier to explain to new players.
1 – Mansion of Madness: Second Edition
This is without a doubt the best boardgame I have played in a very long time. It forced me out of my boardgaming dark ages into a new renaissance. I wrote about it last summer and have since played it maybe even more than other games combined. If you are searching for a great co-op game with clean design and vivid gaming experience look no further.
Mansions of Madness: Second Edition at BoardGameGeek
