Board Game Bonanza!

Dune Imperium
Image by Dire Wolf Digital

[12 min read]

In 2020, during the worst of the Covid shelter at home restrictions, I (like many others) took up board gaming again. With only the slightest hint of black humour, I decided to try Dead of Winter: The Long Night, a game about surviving the zombie apocalypse! 

And I was shocked at how far board games had come, given my experience in prior decades was really based around traditional party games like Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble, with a little Cards Against Humanity thrown in for good measure. Scrabble was a particularly frustrating experience when playing with my wife, given I tried to play the most grandiose words I could, and she just played the high-scoring two letter combinations that formed words no one had ever heard of! (This theme of losing tactical battles against my wife would reappear in later games too, sadly.)

But playing Dead of Winter, with its very light application of roleplaying (you choose two survivors that have unique attributes and powers), harkened me back to a time as a tween when I was obsessed with games like Talisman and HeroQuest. So when I started to build a nerd shrine of nostalgia to my favourite IP (read about it here), I naturally decided to add board games to the list of novels and tabletop role-playing games rulebook candidates for the limited shelf space on my bookcase...

The selection process

Coming back to board games in a big way in 2023 is a far cry from the early days of relying on word-of-mouth for recommendations. To curate my collection I read renowned site Board Game Geek extensively, as well as Youtube channels such as Board Game Co, The Dice Tower and Watch It Played. These helped to:

• Educate me on the variety of games out there - from dungeon-crawlers to worker placement to deck-building games
• Expose me to the best of games out there with Top X game lists, which I drew on to create my own shortlist
• Get reviews on my shortlisted games to very quickly ascertain if they were right for me (most often I would watch at least two different reviews before purchasing)
• Watch live plays to learn the rules faster than reading through the manual (which is critical given the weight of the experiences I tend to gravitate to)

Over the the space of a few months and using the approach above, I built a collection of new games, rounding out my bookcase with some beautiful boxes, and bringing much happiness to tables at home and at friend's. See my impressions below.

The games I've played

Dune: Imperium (9 out of 10)

Dune Imperium, courtesy of Board Game Geek
Image by Dire Wolf

Why did I choose it? I love Dune, with its faction intrigue set in a far future galaxy combining low-fi technology and religious zealotry. This competitive worker placement and deck management strategy game for 1-4 players really does the source material justice.

My play experience: 2 solo sessions, 1 play with 3 players, 1 with 4 players. This plays best in my experience with three or four players vs solo. The game seems well-balanced with both group games coming down to the last turn to decide a winner, which was really thrilling!

Whom do I recommend it for? Even for those with no Dune nostalgia, this is a well-crafted game of resource management and worker placement, with multiple strategic paths to victory. The rules can seem seem daunting at first, but do get easier with time, so I recommend for those into games with moderate to high complexity. 

7 Wonders (9 out of 10)

Seven Wonders, courtesy of Board Game Geek
Image by Repos Production

Why did I choose it? I'd heard about this celebrated, timeless classic, but it wasn't until a friend suggested to bring it over did it hit my consideration set. This competitive 2-7 player game of card-based resource management plays quickly (can be 30 minutes). I love history too, so building Wonders of the World was a nice bonus for me.

My play experience: 2 matches with 4 players each. This is pretty easy-to-learn game but with some depth once you understand the mechanics. The short setup and play times can make an evening of two to three matches easier to schedule.

Whom do I recommend it for? Anyone that is ok with a small step up from basic rules, and even better for those who love the idea of 'coopetition' - you compete for a high score but doing so involves trading and hence cooperating with other players, all the while trying not to advance their strategies too far whilst pursuing your own.

Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn (8.5 out of 10)

Warriors of Krynn, courtesy of Board Game Geek
Image by Wizards of the Coast

Why did I choose it? This is likely an obscure choice, given it was included in a Deluxe set of the Shadow of a Dark Queen D&D 5E adventure. This 3-5 player cooperative hero skirmish game with the backdrop of warring armies actually has a campaign that ties into the adventure itself.

My play experience: 3 solo sessions. Without solo rules, I actually played three heroes myself, which made it complex to manage, but I really enjoyed it. I plan to wait until I play through the D&D adventure in order to run through this board game's campaign.

Whom do I recommend it for? This one might score higher for fans of D&D or Dragonlance (it is only 7 out of 10 on Board Game Geek) but if you are intrigued by moving a hero miniature around a board to play out a 'quest' while also controlling an army in a mass combat wargame, then this could be for you.

The Witcher: Old World (8.5 out of 10)

The Witcher Old World, courtesy of Board Game Geek
Image by Go On Board

Why did I choose it? There seemed to be a lot of buzz about this title, give the popularity of the IP and the board game did well on Kickstarter. A 1-5 player adventure deck-building competitive game with a built in solo mode using incredible detailed miniatures for monsters? Yes please!

My play experience: 2 solo sessions is all I have had time for, and I am working up the courage to ask my wife to play against me. This falls into the long setup, many rules to keep track of, group of games, so we'll need a free afternoon to try it out. I enjoyed the roaming across the board, gambling, questing or fighting monsters and levelling up.

Whom do I recommend it for? Fans of The Witcher or the general fantasy trope of exploring and fighting monsters, and with a tolerance for fiddly setup and many rules to keep track of. The deck-building and card combat system of playing combos is very well executed though.

Radlands (8.5 out of 10)

Radlands, courtesy of Board Game Geek
Image by Roxley

Why did I choose it? This is a deeper 1v1 strategy card game where you play cards to both defend your three facilities and attack those of your opponent. It has a really great Mad Max-like, post-apocalyptic theme and comes with a high variety of card effects to change each game. 

My play experience: 2 solo sessions, 1 player on player match. We've only got started playing this, but I already like the variability of the cards and tactics, and the bright yet creepy artwork.

Whom do I recommend it for? Those looking for a fun tactical battle with short setup times and easy portability (the box is very small). 

Caesar: Seize Rome in 20 minutes! (8 out of 10)

Ceasar! Seize Rome in 20 mins, courtesy of Board Game Geek
Image by PSC Games

Why did I choose it? At the start of my board game exploration I watched a lot of 'Top 10 two player games' videos on Youtube and was drawn to this one by the subject matter (Pompey vs Caesar in ancient Rome) and the fact that it can be played quickly. It is an area control game where you place tokens of various power on the border of provinces to seize them until you have the majority of Rome.

My play experience: 1 solo session and at least 7 two player matches with my wife. This is both rules-light but feels quite tactical and generally comes down to the wire, even if you appear to be well behind later in the game. Once you get a handle on the mechanics you can add expansion content that came in the box that provides more choice.

Whom do I recommend it for? Anyone that likes strategic gameplay in a shorter timeframe. Best played with someone of equal tactical nous (once my wife understood the mechanics after three plays, she beat me every subsequent match!). Price-wise this is very accessible because the cardboard components are not the highest quality.

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth (7.5 out of 10)

LOTR Journeys in Middle Earth, courtesy of Board Game Geek
Image by Fantasy Flight Games

Why did I choose it? As a huge LOTR nerd I wanted something with iconic characters, nice miniatures, and cooperative 'questing' in the setting I love so much. This big box adventure game with light deck-building features a campaign structure using a free app where you can add content over time, something which intrigued me (wow, downloadable content in board games!).

My play experience: 10 solo sessions and 3 two player cooperative. My wife churned out after a few games because the turn-by-turn mechanics are moderately complex and the sessions rang too long for her. I am continuing solo (controlling two heroes) through the campaign, but find having an iPad at the table to show the app a little clunky when playing a board game (even though the app is done well).

Whom do I recommend it for? Since the price is on the high side (I assume to cover the miniatures and also app development) I would recommend it for those that have a group that will commit to learning the rules and playing regularly to make progress in one or two campaigns. In solo mode it does become a lot to keep tracking of by one's self.

Other honourable mentions

• Lost Cities (7.5 out of 10) - a super fun, very fast 1v1 card game where you manage your hand and 'bet' on getting a run of the same suit in your abstracted excavations set in forest, lava, snow, desert, water locations. Rules-light but still requires some smart choices to win.

• Codenames: Duo (7.5 out of 10) - a really fun 2 player cooperative version of Codenames, where you need to think laterally and give short clues for your partner to guess word combinations.

• Wrath of Ashardalon (7 out of 10) - my first big box, cooperative dungeon-crawler experience, which you can read about here. I went on to play with my wife, and she found it similar to LOTR: Journeys in Middle Earth - a little too much to keep track of.

• The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Book Game (7 out of 10) - a much more streamlined cooperative adventure game where each of the game's chapters are based on the famous scenarios in the books (e.g. the Council of the Fellowship, the Mines of Moria etc) and are like a puzzle to solve.

• Onitama (7 out of 10) an incredibly clever, easy-to-play but hard-to-master, variant on chess where the move set for your pieces changes based on the cards drawn at the start of the game, which cycle between players. My wife and I had to introduce a time limit, otherwise we would agonise over every move for too long!

The games I am yet to play

Many of the impressions above come from very few plays, so I have still a lot of mileage in the games I have already. But I also have have a list of games where I am just waiting for the right moment to try them out. Perhaps this will be aligned to a re-watch or replay of my favourite movie or video game, since I do love to immerse myself into a specific theme or world for a period of time. Look out for future impressions of the following games:

• Alien: Fate of the Nostromo for some original Alien survival horror!

• Fallout, with coop expansion Atomic Bonds which is said to greatly enhance the experience.

• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood of Venice now that the video game series is going back to its roots.

• Gloomhaven (on Steam) - a simpler way to experience this definitive big box experience.

What I learned through the process

Without stating the obvious - board games rock! The sheer variety and depth of experiences out there, both leveraging existing intellectual properties or brand new, is incredible. My exploration has been mostly around licensed games that will assuage my need for nostalgia, but included above are a few really great examples of best-in-class experiences of their type (as mostly supported by the ratings on Board Game Geek). 

A few things stand out to me as I reflect on my learn and play experiences of these games:

• Set up / tear down can be a real barrier to play, especially with the types of games I have chosen on this list. You get quicker over time, but for the first few sessions or after a hiatus, expect to spend considerable time on setup before even playing.

• The mental load of rules is a very serious consideration. If you have a busy week with work and kids like me, or friends who think that learning rules is more of a chore, than some of the games on this list should be steered clear of. There are tons of lighter, shorter experiences out there, and now I pay more attention to rules complexity before I purchase.

• Using an app is not really for me. While I was intrigued at first by the physical and digital combination promising higher replayability, I realise I like the tactile nature of board games as a way to escape the screen after spending so much time on it. Not a deal breaker, not something I want to incorporate heavily in my future play sessions.

• Solo play might seem antithetical to board games, but I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable a past time it is as an alternative to video games. It also helps to learn the rules before being the one to bring the box to game night and have to teach the other players.

So there you have it - my impressions of twelve board games all purchased and played over the last twelve months. With my nerd nook bookshelf now full and my wallet empty, my board game buying spree is over for a while. That will allow me the time to really explore this collection in detail, and with different player counts, better understand my preferences moving forward.