In this fantasy board game, you must change the landscape to your favoured terrain, and expand while others attempt to do the same. There are many choices of bonuses in each of the six rounds of play, and various advances you can develop, in addition to your own Faction’s benefits.
Strategy Rating: 9 of 10
Number of Players: 2 to 5
Age range: 13+
This is a worker-placement game with tons of options: four columns and 16 rows in the base game, and a fifth column in the expansion.
The idea is that you want to earn tiles and place them to cover up negative point spaces on your game board, and you can acquire bonus tiles by placing tiles, as well.
There are many paths to victory, although we feel that in the base game, the fourth player to start is definitely at a disadvantage. We found, however, the the Norweigan Expansion solved this problem.
Strategy Rating: 8 of 10
Number of Players: 1-4
Recommended Age Range: 13+
You play the role of a farmer in this strategic board game. A farmer? Yes – of grain, vegetables, sheep and cattle. But surprisingly, the amount of strategic depth to this game is staggering – in addition to Occupation and Improvement cards, more and more action squares become available as the game’s 14 rounds progress, and there are many ways to gain points.
Strategy Rating: 10
Number of Players: 2 to 5
Recommended Age Range: 13+
This is a cooperative fantasy game with cartoonish art. You play the role of a hero, fighting against monsters and bosses. You can gain items, level up your character, and collectively attempt to defeat the final boss in each quest line. Quests can be mixed-and-matched for more variety.
Strategy Rating: 6
Number of Players: 1-4
Recommended Age Range: 10+
We really love the unique game-board of this competitive worker-placement game. While there are some balance issues (which I identify in the main article), there are many paths to victory, and plenty of variety in the game.
Strategy Rating: 7
Number of Players: 3-4
Recommended Age Range: 13+
More to Come:
Ticket to Ride – Europe
Better balanced than the original North American map, but still has some balance issues: some “long routes” are more advantageous than others, in our experience.
Through the Desert
Dungeon Lords
Dungeon Petz
Carcassone
Last Will
Airlines
Mechs vs. Minions