Tag Archives: Top 10

Best of List, Role-Player Game Reviews

Top 10 Table Top Role-Playing Games

The one thing I always tell people who enter the hobby, people who typically enter the scene through Dungeons and Dragons is that while D&D is an amazing game, it is but a small piece of a much larger world. In today’s list, we explore some of the amazing RPG’s that have been made since Dave and Gary penned the grandaddy of role-playing games decades ago. I have focused this list with advice aimed at Gamemasters looking for great systems, but I think players should find this list entertaining as well. Note also I have only included games I have actually played or run and obviously, I have not played everything that has ever been written. I’ve also tried to focus on games that are actually still available today, obviously giving you a list of RPG’s you cannot buy and play today would probably not be terribly useful.

10. Star Trek Adventures

Star Trek is a franchise that has seen a lot of renditions over the years in the RPG genre and arguably, many of them made a respectable showing, but Star Trek Adventures is the game to beat.

I was a little bit hesitant about adding this game to the list because frankly, it misses the mark a bit with some of my criteria for this list, but I still think for Star Trek fans this is a great game.

The issue with Star Trek Adventures is that the books are poorly organized, written in a narrative style where rules and story are blended into the text making it difficult to use the books as a reference and the rules are, well, kind of complicated with a lot of high-level concepts that aren’t easy to teach. This makes the game difficult to get to the table and it’s a bit of a chore to run as a GM.

That said, if you can get past this difficulty curve, Star Trek Adventures does an amazing job of bringing Star Trek stories to a group ready to take on the intricacies of the final frontier and I think if you are a fan of Star Trek and want to experience it in RPG form, this is your game and it’s worth jumping through the hurdles.

The difficult thing with bringing Star Trek stories to an RPG, in general, is that it requires a lot of setting knowledge on the part of the players to really bring the stories to life. The terminology, Starfleets command structure and how ships and technology work, are all core knowledge that is required to get the most out of the game. The game does teach you all this, but typically players aren’t the ones reading the books and I think sitting down and explaining the Star Trek universe to players who aren’t already fans is going to take a very long time and probably won’t translate well. As such, this game should be approached with assumptions that players are already in the know and it then comes down to explaining how the rules bring all these setting concepts to life.

Being an Origins Award Nominee is indeed an honor, but I think they could have won if the game had better editing. The books writing style and organization is one of the failures of Star Trek Adventures.

Here Star Trek Adventures really shines as the connection between the intricate setting concepts and the rules of the game are in perfect sync and really bring to life the complexities of technology in the Star Trek universe. The intricate relationships of the command structure, the unique skills of the Star Trek universe, the way technology works and all of the history of Star Trek are all embedded into the mechanics in this rather perfect union.

It’s a lot of work to make Star Trek come together at the table, it requires knowledgeable Star Trek fans and a DM willing to study the intricate rules, but when the stars align, this game is a Star Trek fans dream.

For me personally, it was worth the stretch to get this one to the table as I’m a huge Star Trek fan but it comes with the above disclaimer and certainly wasn’t easy, it’s definitely for more advanced players.

9. GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System)

GURPS has been a household name in the RPG community for decades, it’s been around nearly as long as D&D and Steve Jackson is a wonderful designer that makes a lot of really great stuff.

Published in 1986 by Steve Jackson, GURPS is a role-playing system designed to cover every setting and genre imaginable as a universal RPG system for all occasions. It was the first of its kind when it was published in a market where games were always published for specific settings and/or genre and despite decades of role-playing game publishing, it is even today a leading member of a small group of games that take this approach to role-playing.

GURPS is in its 4th edition of the game but unlike so many role-playing games that have many editions/versions, GURPS core mechanic has been largely unchanged and the 4th edition books are backward compatible with all material that goes all the way back to its original 1st edition which is a big plus for fans.

What makes GURPS special and the reason it’s on this list for me personally is that it’s a system that handles settings and stories that most other systems are ill-equipped to do so, the unique stuff typically not covered by other games.

This is the game I pull out when I want to run something really unique or very specific. In the last few decades, I have used this system to run westerns, unique science-fiction time-traveling stories, superhero games and modern police dramas.

GURPS also has amazing source material support, you would be hard-pressed to pick a topic that GURPS doesn’t have a sourcebook to support it, giving you specialized rules coverage for just about anything you can think of which is great for GM’s, in particular those exploring more unusual subjects for role-playing.

GURPS, as it promises, is well equipped to handle a wide range of stories and while it certainly can do the standard stuff like Fantasy for example, I personally find it excels more at times when you want some really specific customization and need a flexible system that can handle it.

If you are a fan of GURPS, this is a system that has coverage of settings and genres that have their own systems, for example, you can play Werewolf the Apocalypse using the GUPRS system. This is a great feature if you just want to stick to one system but try out a lot of different setting material.

Over the years I find I use it less and less often but this is because today there are so many RPG’s that handle so many specific topics that GURPS’s universal approach becomes less and less necessary. For example, I used to use it to run games like Star Trek, Dune or Aliens because games covering such specific genres and settings generally didn’t exist or were handled poorly, but today this is no longer the case and usually, when a game system focuses on telling a specific type of story or describing a specific setting, it will do a much better job of it than a universal system like GURPS can.

It’s still a great tool in a GM’s toolbelt however and I find that on occasion I still find a reason to use it. Don’t let the rumors of its complexity fool you, while GURPS is a very robust system that has great rules coverage, it is a very easy game to run with a very standardized system that is easy to teach. Great game, it earns its place at the tail end of this list.

8. Alien RPG

There really are very few games I recommend as a party game, but if you’re looking for something you can run for non-gamers, this is the one.

Free League Publishing has produced some really amazing role-playing games since their arrival in the role-playing market and Alien the role-playing game certainly qualifies as one of the good ones.

What I really love about Alien the RPG is that the people who wrote the game really understood not only the setting material but the core concept behind the Alien story. In particular, their attention to the structure of a good movie-driven story which is all about horror in space. They really get that concept of drama that rises from the unknown tension of being in a movie about Aliens that will kill everyone, but not really knowing how that story will evolve, what the details of this next iteration of the movie will be. Players that enter this game know that they are likely going to die, the question is how and of course their is always hope that, like in the movies, they will be one of the survivors.

The cinematic mode in the game is a great example of that specific design approach that really lets a GM tap into the heart of an Alien story setup. You have to realize that Alien(s) is based on a series of movies, which if you include all of the Alien movies, the expanded alien flicks like Prometheus and all of the Predator vs. Alien movies, this franchise is all about short, violent stories about humans interacting with these horrific monsters in space.

This cinematic mode is the perfect setup but if you want that tension to be something that rises over the course of many sessions, the campaign mode is a great way to slowly build up that tension to the inevitable clash with these monsters where players have an opportunity to get attached to their characters so that when that final moment comes, the horror is that much closer to home.

It’s a very simple system to learn and teach, there are some really great story modules that bring amazing alien tales to your table if you aren’t into writing one yourself and Free League Publishing games are masters of book organization that makes the whole experience that much better.

My one and only complaint about the game is that they use black gloss pages with white text in the book and I know that this is a design choice, but it’s really hard on the eyes, I wish publishers would stop doing this.

If you love the Alien movies as I do, this game handles the material beautifully and I would argue that in terms of games on this list, Alien the RPG is the king of one-shots. This is a game that is tailor-made for bringing a group of players together for an all-day event and because it’s such a simple system and game, it’s perfect for introducing the concept of role-playing to non-gamers.

Absolutely love this one, fantastic work coming out of Free League Publishing.

7. Star Wars (West End Games Edition)

The West End Games version of Star Wars is a bit more like the books rather than the movie, which is to say it’s a bit more gritty and serious version of the Star Wars Universe.

There have been a lot of games that tried their hand at bringing the Star Wars Universe to an RPG, but there is only one that gave George Lucas the middle finger and showed us what Star Wars should be and that is the West End Games take on the Star Wars.

This edition of the game ignores some of the fuzzy and often hard to swallow concepts that the movies represent like inept Storm Troops who can’t hit the side of a barn with blasters and the ridiculously stupid way the villains of the world behave when heroes come along to try to stop their evil plans.

West End Games allows Star Wars to be a bit more serious, it’s a world where Storm Troopers are elite soldiers not to be trifled with and the Empire is a serious threat that isn’t going collapse because a farmer from Tatooine learned to swing a laser sword around.

This more genuine take on the Star Wars universe is what West End Games was going for and I love it. It turns Star Wars into a more serious science-fiction setting, where a blaster to the face will kill you, where being shot at is actually dangerous and space battles are represented with a sense of realism that satisfies fans of the genre who wish the movies were a little bit less space fantasy and a bit more space reality.

I know it’s not everyone’s bag, but for me, a version of Star Wars that is no PG rated is just what the doctor ordered, this is my favorite version of Star Wars in RPG form. The system is easy to learn and teach and it makes itself far easier to bring to the table than the many efforts that followed like Edge of Empire or the D20 Saga version.

Great game, great system, takes itself a bit more seriously yet manages to nail the Star Wars universe perfectly and despite its age it’s still in print today.

6. Dungeon Crawl Classics

It doesn’t take itself seriously, but DCC has some really innovative mechanics that are easily portable to Dungeons and Dragons, the basis for this one which I consider a classic as its name suggests.

There are many variants of Dungeons and Dragons and though I think most would count Dungeon Crawl Classics among them, I would argue that it’s got its own thing going and really doesn’t quite count as such a variant.

DCC is more than just D&D, it’s Gonzo D&D, a game with some serious wackiness to it designed almost like a spoof of D&D, meant for a fun and silly approach to the fantasy adventure.

Now you can approach this game with some seriousness if you wanted to and really the system itself lends itself to that style of play as well with a great magic system and some really cool concepts for martial classes, but for me personally, I lean into the skid here. The game is written in a style that suggests that you should see it as a kind of comedy show and given how the adventures are designed, the artwork and general wackiness of the premise, everything about DCC makes this the ideal game for a sort of Mighty Python version of Dungeons and Dragons.

This game generates laughs and my friends and I were in stitches when running this one. It’s everything you love about D&D with a comedy twist and it simply asks you to let go of your inhibitions and grognard mentality and accept it for what it is, a light-hearted version of Dungeons and Dragons.

I recognize it’s not for everyone but personally, I love it, it’s a great game in particular in short stints, the funnel concept is amazing for a one-shot and there is plenty of meat on the bones to keep the laughs coming if you want to make a campaign out of it.

A metric ton of fun, yet a really well-designed game, it’s fantastic.

5. Forbidden Lands

If you are the type of GM that thrives on open sandbox and on the fly emergent story and gameplay, Forbidden Lands is the perfect game for you. Everything about this game screams improv.

The second Free League Publishing game on the list, Forbidden Lands is simultaneously an awesome concept, a fantastic take on the classic game of Dungeons and Dragons, while at the same time being a great fantasy setting all in one game.

I can’t say enough positive things about Forbidden Lands. It’s a survival game in a fantasy universe with very deadly mechanics and a really gritty feel to it putting it squarely in the OSR wheelhouse, yet its mechanics are sleek and modern, with an absolutely fantastic dynamic world-building concept at the core of gameplay.

Players are survivors of a world that has gone terribly wrong and they are charged with trying to find a way to not only survive in this harsh environment but to thrive. The world around them is completely unexplored and the players must follow dynamically constructed clues about what is out there and because the game is an open sandbox, every group is going to take its own approach on how to proceed.

Players don’t just contend with the monsters that dwell beyond the borders of their village but they must deal with the harsh realities of weather, basic necessities like food and water and the absence of proper civilization. There are no blacksmith shops to buy everything you need or taverns where you can easily access the basic necessities and comforts of life. Everything in this game is a struggle and players are always on the brink of death no matter where they turn. The only thing they can rely on is each other and this creates amazing table dynamics.

I adore Forbidden Lands and if your fan of Dungeons and Dragons, while this system is certainly wildly different mechanically, everything about it is going to be familiar nonetheless. An amazing experience, in particular in the hands of creative GM’s.

There are a few quirks in the game that I would say require some minor correcting like the Peddler class that has a way of spoiling some of the survival gameplay elements but these are easily house ruled issues that can be solved and there is a great community around this game from which you can get lots of great advice some.

Highly recommend this one if you haven’t tried it.

4. Vampire The Masquerade (5th Edition)

It’s a really well-designed game with a very poorly written book, but playing a vampire in the world of darkness is a gaming experience that is so much fun, its worth overcoming the hurdle of this terrible book.

I love White Wolf games, specifically their world of darkness setting and certainly Vampire The Masquerade has to be my all-time favorite game set in that world. The games 5th edition did a lot of housekeeping in terms of rules to give the game greater balance but really the big strength of this latest edition is how the mechanics of the game and the story of the game are properly connected. The mechanics really bring out the horror of being a blood-sucking monster in this latest edition by implementing the hunger system and trimming the fat off the disciplines to bring them more in line with a game of vampire politics rather than a game about vampires abusing each other with disciplines as was the case in past editions.

I love the new take on the game, I’ve been running this game for a couple of years and it just works to bring that Vampire story to life in all its gory splendor.

This game would be much higher on the list if it was not for the fact that the actual core rulebook for the game is an absolute nightmare to work with. This has to be an example of the worst kind of RPG editing in the history of RPG’s. Simply put, no matter how many times I have read the book and how long I have played this game, I still can never find a single bloody thing in that book. Everything about its layout and editing is completely illogical, the editors of this book should be fired immediately.

That said, it’s a simple enough game that after a few sessions you will have most of the important stuff put to memory and so really, the game has a natural flow and simple system that you can largely get away with running the game just with the storyteller screen in front of you. Being a vampire is a lot of fun and this game really gives that to you in every spectrum and definition of the classic monster.

Love it, if you have never played Vampire The Masquerade, I would argue you are yet to really experience the RPG hobby to its fullest.

3. The Song of Ice and Fire RPG: The Game of Thrones Edition

I’m a huge fan of The Song of Ice and Fire story and world and as such, I have huge expectations and demands from an RPG that tackles this setting. This game not only met those demands bar far exceeded anything I could have hoped this RPG to be. This is one of the best interpretations of a setting into an RPG I have ever had the pleasure to experience.

In the last decade, I have had a really wide range of gaming experiences, but without question one of my absolute favorites is a short six-session campaign I ran in the seven kingdoms using the Song of Ice and Fire RPG (The Game of Thrones Edition) <- Yes that is a mouthful.

The Song of Ice and Fire RPG has got to be one of the best translations of a setting into an RPG I have ever experienced, Green Ronin Publishing knocks it out of the park with this game.

All of the intricate relationships between characters, the house building and politics mechanics, the absolutely fantastic social combat rules, the gritty and really brutal combat mechanic and of course just the setting writing all come together perfectly in a game that conjures up the TV show and makes you feel like your part of it.

There is so much great writing in these books, the organization and GM advice you get really helps tremendously in bringing The Game of Thrones to life at the table. I especially love the character creation building that has the players working together to not just form an adventuring group but a sort of dysfunctional family.

As a huge fan of the books and the TV show, I had an absolute blast with this one and I’m certain I’m going to run it again in the future. Our game only lasted six sessions but it was one of the most memorable six sessions of my gaming career. In our story three brothers struggled against each other for control of the house the players built together and in that short period of time they were engaged in a Knights tournament, they fought The Mountain in combat, they fought alongside The Starks in war, they betrayed each other in cunning political games and ultimately destroyed themselves. It had absolutely everything you could possibly ask from a Game of Thrones story and this system helped bring it all to the table.

I love this RPG, it really is a work of art.

2. Alternity

Bill S. and Richard B. create magic in what is the unquestionable king of Science-Fiction RPG’s, Alternity. This is not only one of the best sci-fi RPG’s, it may very well be one of the best RPG’s ever made.

While all the games on this list I consider personal favorites I would happily play or run at any time, at this point in the list we are getting into the games that really define me as a GM and as a role-player and Alternity is certainly such a game.

There are a lot of science-fiction games out there but in my humble opinion Alternity is worlds apart, this is the single best science-fiction RPG ever written, period. The work of the super team (Bill S. and Richard B.), it is a combination of brilliant design and inspired writing.

Alternity covers all forms of science-fiction genres from X-Files style conspiracy, Near Earth, Post-Apocalypse to hard science-fiction and science-fiction opera. It does all of that under a single, flawless system that makes use of 4 core classes, yet is distinctively skill-driven.

I adore this game and have used it countless times in everything from time-traveling games to space exploration games and everything in between. It’s a very simple system, yet so robust that even though there are only 4 classes you will never make the same character twice.

The game’s handling of technological eras, concepts like mutations and cybernetics, ship combat from hard science reality style to Star Wars space opera style, is all handled with perfection in this one game.

As if this wasn’t enough, Alternatiy has some of the best supplements for an RPG I have ever read including the absolutely astonishingly awesome StarDrive campaign which I say without reservation is the single best RPG setting ever written, period. The fact that it’s supported by this fantastic system is just icing on the cake of perfection.

I know that availability on this one might not quite hit the criteria for the list, but this is a game that was over-printed so finding books in the 3rd party market is actually quite easy, you can find it on Amazon or Ebay at very reasonable prices. There is a new edition of the game that was put out, I don’t know anything about that one so it should not be confused with the original TSR version.

I have not a single negative word to say about this game, it’s perfect. If you want science-fiction, it begins and ends with this game.

1. Dungeons and Dragons

The one and only Dungeons and Dragons makes the top of the list which should come to the surprise of no one!

While my desire with this list was to expose my readers to other RPG’s for their consideration, this list would be a bald-faced lie if I did not put Dungeons and Dragons in the number one spot.

D&D has had many editions over the years, but in each era in which it appeared whether it was 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 5th edition, Dungeons and Dragons was always my number one, favorite game to play. The only exception in the last 30+ years of my gaming life when that wasn’t true was during the brief period when 4th edition D&D was the current version of the game. I really didn’t like that version and it was the only time that I would not have put D&D as my number one choice of RPG.

I consider all of the editions as members of my D&D toolbox and as a DM, I’m more than happy to run any edition (except 4th) and I would typically do so for different reasons. I will very soon create a top 10 versions of D&D list which would include various retro-clones, spin-offs and re-imagining into this category and certainly if pressed I could put the editions of D&D in order from favorite to least favorite, but all and all I have enjoyed all of these games and I consider every one of them excellent RPG’s.

I’m certain however if I was pressed today to pick my favorite version of Dungeons and Dragons, the one I reach for when a fantasy story pops into my head that I want to explore there is no doubt that “my” preferred version of the game is 1st edition BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal). Typically I would use a modern retro clone like Old School Essentials if we want to get strictly down to the specifics, but ultimately 1st edition Basic D&D for me personally is the simplest game to run, the one that sticks to the D&D concept the best and is the most fun for my players. It’s fast, challenging, easy to learn and teach and above all, fun as hell. It’s D&D in its purest form.

Some Honorable Mentions

There were quite a few games that were cut from this list and though I would argue for good reason, I do think they deserve a courtesy nod for being in contention.

Star Wars Edge of the Empire is a game that teases me with one of my favorite franchises of all time and it certainly was a contender, but in the end the narrative dice system, while clever is just too fussy and demands far too much from a gaming table. I like the ingenuity of it, but it misses the mark for me personally and certainly doesn’t compete with my favorite take on the Star Wars universe.

Warhammer Fantasy Role-play 3rd edition like Star Wars Edge of the Empire has a clever take on role-playing with its narrative dice, but I find it has the same issue as its Star Wars follow up. Too much fucking about with translating these dice to make something useful out of them at the table. I want to love the concept because conceptually it’s really good, but it’s just too impractical at a gaming table and its board game approach to RPG management distances itself too much from the hobbies traditions and assumptions. It was a good effort with a lot of really great writing and I use the game for inspiration, but it’s just not something I’m interested in running.

Pathfinder 2nd edition is another take on Dungeons and Dragons and the truth is that I actually like this one as a player quite a bit. Lots of great options for character building, a fantastic game world built into the system and a really fun combat mechanic that really gets to the heart of modern D&D gameplay. As a DM however I find the 600+ page rulebook is just severe overkill, it’s just too much, there is waaay to much to juggle as a DM and really the payout is kind of limited. Anything as a DM I could do with Pathfinder 2nd edition, I can do with D&D 1st edition, yet it will be a 10th of the complexity, for me it’s just a hard pass. I think a good, dedicated GM can make it work, but it’s too mechanized for my tastes, I could never run a game that is this codified. That said I think it’s actually an amazing design achievement, it’s a really clever game and those with the patience for this much crunch will find a lot to like.

Board Game Reviews, Gaming Articles

BOARD GAMING SUPER WEEKEND 2021 edition!

Once a year me and my friends gather in a sleepy little village called Hassela in Sweden for a 4 day board gaming weekend. It started back in the summer of 2016 but quickly turned into a religiously observed yearly event. 4 days of non-stop eating, drinking and most importantly gaming.

This years event proved to be even more significant than any I can recall as it was really the first time things felt “normal” since the pandemic started. The Pandemic has been a literal plague on our ability to get together socialize and play games and even though my gaming buddies and I have had a game night here and their, it was always filled with this sort of tension and subtle fear of becoming infected and getting sick. Now with everyone vaccinated and at least a calm in the storm as temporary as it may be, I think it was the first time I spent any time with my friends where I never gave a moments thought to the possibility of getting sick. It was a wonderful feeling and an amazing weekend.

At this years event while their were quite a few new games that were introduced, we also played quite a few games I would consider “classics” at this point. It was definitely a very Euro-Gamy weekend, though I don’t think this was some sort of conscious or intentional thing, but rather a testament to some really great releases in the last couple of years and my groups general fondness for worker placement games specifically.

I present to you this years games in the order they were played, enjoy the list!

Tapestry (2019) by Stonemaier Games
Designer: Jamey Stegmaier

A hidden gem that seems to have been ignored by the wider gaming public, I was shocked to see so many copies available for purchase for such an amazing game released 2 years ago. Grab a copy before people figure it out!

Without question it was unanimously agreed that this was a smash hit with us this weekend, in fact we ended up playing it a second time, something we rarely do on these big board gaming weekends simply because there are so many games people bring to the event. Tapestry however was so good that playing it once was simply not enough.

Tapestry is a sort of resource management and civilization building game where players effectively try to expand their civilization through successfully exploring, conquering and inventing technologies in a very “Euro Way”. Its actually a bit difficult to describe but it suffices to say the game is oddly thematic and has this very healthy presentation that gets you into the spirit of telling a story about your developing civilization while remaining wildly abstract and extremely strategic. This is a game where thinking and planning really pay off.

Tapestry has a lot of really unique and interesting mechanics, but really I think what makes it such a great game is the simplicity of what you do on your turn and the depth to which those simple decisions impact the outcome of the game. All you do on each of your turns in this game is choose to move up on one of 4 tracks (Technology, Exploration, Science and Military). This comes with a resource cost, but each step along these tracks has a unique benefit that helps to expand your civilization. Because each player draws a random civilization or perhaps better to say “culture type” at the start of the game, their interaction with other civilization results in each player adapting a very unique strategy/approach in each game. Which again is hard to describe, its something you almost have to experience to understand. You can kind of think of it like playing chess, but the layout, starting positions and types of pieces you and your opponent get are different each game, which means that all of the strategies you tried in your last game are not going to work in this game, even though the general rule (move one piece on your turn) is the same. Each time you play Tapestry the game re-invents itself, presenting you with an entirely different way of seeing it.

It does not surprise me at all that this game has fallen under the radar as I find myself struggling to properly describe it and do it justice. On boardgamegeek this game is rated 235 which is shockingly low given BBG’s affinity for great Euro games and how good this particular one is. I have only played it twice so it would be hard to justify a full review, but my gut on this one is that it has immense replayability and depth, based on these two plays I would not hesitate to recommend it. It is a fantastic game.

Blood Rage (2015) by CMON
Designer: Eric Lang

The only 5 out of 5 stars game I have reviewed for this blog, a review I stand by, its an amazing game.

Blood Rage remains the only game I have ever reviewed on this blog that got a perfect 5 out of 5 score and as it does every time I play it, it has proven that it deserves that score and all of the accolades that come with it. Blood Rage is just straight up amazing and though I would not exactly call it a “Euro” given it’s over commitment to presentation, theme and “take that” interaction, the entire game really does hinge on smart card drafting and well timed unit placement on the board. This may have the appearance of some sort of Ameri-Trash area control game, but there is very little luck in this game, the most skillfully executed strategy will win this game every time.

It’s a brutally hard game to win and certainly players benefit from experience and player knowledge of the cards, so it can be a bit tough to win on your first go against more experienced players which might actually be the only flaw I have ever seen in the game, but in my experience it’s always a very close game and all victories are hard fought and well earned.

I love this game, naturally with a 5 star score I highly recommend it and thanks to its long term success it has been in print since it was released and you can still buy it today. I do recommend getting the 5 player expansion if you can get it (that tends to be a bit harder to find) but it plays really well with 5. While I do like the Mystics of Midgard and Gods of Asgard expansions as they add some interesting added components they aren’t really necessary and might over complicate the game a bit for less experienced players.

Vampire Rivals (2021) by Renegade Game Studios
Designer: Dan Blanchett & Matt Hyra

My gaming group and I are huge Vampire: The Masquerade fans, in fact we have been actively playing the 5th edition RPG religiously for the last couple of years, so the Vampire theme has considerable meaning to us. We have also played all of the various Vampire games that have been released in the last few years including Heritage and Vendetta.

Not too shabby, really a pretty solid collectable card game, it’s not going to surprise you but its not exactly a let down unless you are hoping for something extraordinary.

Vampire Rivals is a more traditional living card game, along the lines of Game of Thrones the card game and really this felt very much almost like a kind of “based on” LCG. A lot of the mechanics and concepts of Rivals were instantly familiar to me and conceptually it really felt like the game is driven by well established card game design principles.

I think my gaming group liked this game a lot more than I did, but this may have something to do with the fact that generally speaking collectable card games for me have to do something really unique to garner my interest. I have played dozens of CCG’s and LCG’s over the years and have quite a few on my shelf not to mention some of the digital variants I play. When I clear shelf space for a collectable card game, it’s going to have be something more than just the standard fair, which is not to say I didn’t like Rivals, it was fine, but it wasn’t like Star Wars: Destiny were after one play I was ready to whip out my credit card.

I’m sure we will play this one more in the future, but I have my doubts about it becoming a thing with us and truth be told I liked both Vampire Heritage and Vampire Vendetta much better then this one, so if we are talking Vampire based card games, I think their are much more interesting options than this one. I will however say that if you like Game of Thrones the Card Game and you also love the Vampire: The Masquerade theme, Rivals is going to be in your wheel house.

Bang The Dice Game (2013) by dV Giochi
Designer: Riccardo Pieruccini

Based on Bang the Card game which I have never played, Bang the Dice game is a Yahtzee like twist on the classic hidden identity genre of games.

Bang The Dice Game got introduced to the group a couple of years ago at the big board gaming weekend and it’s been a mandated filler for the event ever since. This is a quick, wildly erratic and mostly silly dice chucking and hidden identity game and while their might be some strategy to it in their somewhere, for our group its just an excuse to goof and have a laugh, fitting nicely in between drinks and dinner. It’s a great small group party game, hitting that 5 to 8 player sweet spot. I’m not sure if it replaces games like Coup or The Resistance for me, but chucking dice is always fun and the game requires very little explanation for it to click with even the most inexperienced non-gamer. Its as universal as Yahtzee but so much more fun.

Empires: Age of Discovery (2015) by Eagle-Gryphon Games
Designer: Glenn Drover

Age of Empires is in the strictest sense the perfect worker placement game with some meat on the bones. The eye candy deluxe version I spent my mortgage money on looks gorgeous on the table, I regret nothing!

This stone cold classic is arguably Glenn Drovers Mona Lisa, though the man is responsible for a considerable amount of board gaming history including classics like Attack!, Conquest of The Empire, Railways Of The World and Sid Meier’s Civilization.

Age of Discovery to me however is an example of taking an awesome concept like Worker Placement and perfecting it. This is simply one of the best worker placement games ever made and it was during our big board gaming weekend what I would consider a main event game where we had a full seating of six players hunched over for several hours trying to figure who had the right to rule over the new world.

Age of Discovery is really a kind of race to the new world, it’s very much all about trying to squeeze the most out of the starting conditions and whatever benefits you can gather along the way. Turn order is huge in this game and its a constant fight to be first player so that you can land those key capital buildings, resources and specialized workers. Its one of those worker placement games where there is never an absence of tough decisions. The scoring rounds too are such a critical moment where suddenly everyone is simultaneously jocking for positions in the new world and the game goes from a very peaceful and humble management of your own resources to suddenly forcefully pushing everyone out of your way.

If it wasn’t for the fact that we played so many truly amazing games, I would call this game the highlight of the weekend, but alas there was a lot of great stuff that hit the table and I would be really hard pressed to pick my favorite. I don’t really know how well this game hits with the rest of the group, but for me personally, I love this game and I’m always excited to get it to the table, it has been and will forever remain on my must own list.

The Sheriff of Nottingham (2014) by CMON
Designer: Sergio Halaban & Andre Zatz

I put this one in the same category with my beloved Galaxy Trucker, is it a good game? I have no idea, you will laugh your ass off and that is all that matters.

I have no idea if Sheriff of Nottingham is a good game or not, but I do know that it is a great time in a box. At no other time during the entire weekend did we laugh as much as we did during our play of this game. The lying, bribing, threatening and posturing of this game never fails to deliver sheer and utter silliness that has everyone in tear inducing laughter. Every time I play this game it results in some eternally quotable moments that we laugh about for years after.

If you are looking for some sort of strategy in a game like this however I think you will be disappointed, trying to play this game to win is just a silly endeavor, you just have to sort of accept and embrace the absurdity of the game, let lose and play it as it is intended, with a cocktail in your hand surrounded by friends.

I love Sherriff of Nottingham, but it’s not at all because I claim its a good game, to be honest I’m not even entirely sure we are playing it properly. It’s greatness comes from its ability to produce funny situations that has everyone in stiches and its precisely for this reason Sheriff of Nottingham makes an appearance in the big Hassela weekend almost every year.

Vampire Vendetta (2020) by Horrible Guild
Designer: Martin Mottet

There are a number of board and card games based on the world of darkness setting and while I think Vampire Heritage gives Vendetta a run for its money, this is by far my favorite take on Vampire: The Masquerade outside of the RPG.

Vampire Vendetta my gaming group discovered this year during the pandemic using Tabletop Simulator. While I find playing games online is typically a considerably lesser experience, I was pleasantly surprised by this one and one of the guys ended up picking up a real copy and bringing it to the big board gaming weekend this year.

For me Vampire Vendetta falls into the, if you love the theme, you will love the game – category of games, meaning that if you are not into Vampire The Masquerade RPG and you don’t know what a Brujah is or why vampires fight over control of cities like Chicago, this game probobly will not only confuse you but seem rather arbitrarily unbalanced. For those of us in the know however, Vendetta is a perfect execution of the Vampire The Masquerade theme, nailing that political struggle between the vampire clans that as fans we find so engrossing about the world of darkness. Yes, its just as unfair and often unbalanced as you would expect the clans to be as this game designer understood that in order to be the game Vendetta needs to be, aka, a true representation of the world of darkness, those in-equalities need to be built into the game and thankfully they are.

In Vendetta each player picks a clan and gets a limited deck of cards that represent the most classic elements of each clan. There are 4 sections of the city, one of which is the princes haven and each round players are vying for control over these sections of the city. This is done by committing action cards to the zone either face up (revealed) or face down (hidden). These aren’t full commitments because in vampire feinting an action, trying to get players to over commit and tricking them into terrible situations is what the game is all about.

Part psychology, part strategy and all horror, Vampire Vendetta just has it were it counts. Simple rules, great execution of theme, well paced, highly replayable and above all else the designer knows his audience, clearly this is a person who knows his world of darkness and this game is a love letter to it.

Definitely for Vampire: The Masquerade fans only, but if you love the world of darkness, you are going to love this board game version of it.

Coup (2012) by Indie Boards & Cards
Designer: Rikki Tahta

A stone cold classic, I can’t think of any reason why any gamer does not own this game.

Coup may be the only game that has made the table at every single one of our Hassela board gaming weekends over the years and this year was no different. Easily one of my favorite fillers of all time, this hidden identity game relies almost entirely on the psychology of its players and most of the strategy of the game is about reading the other players and knowing when you can and can’t lie about what cards you are actually holding. Simple, fast and quite difficult to win, its among the best of the Ultimate Werewolf inspired hidden identity games.

Condottiere (1995) by Eurogames
Designer: Dominque Ehrhard & company.

THE best trick taking game I have ever played and really the magic of this game is that it feels like so much more than just a trick taking game. It tricks you!

Despite its 95 release making this a fairly old game, my group discovered it only in recent years but it has become an unquestionable established classic in our group. I have never met anyone who played it and didn’t like it, in fact I have bought it and given it away three times. Everyone who plays it feels the instant need to get their hands on it and its no surprise to me at all because the game is a perfect example of extremely streamlined game design.

This is a trick taking game with a area control element, but what really gives this particular card game an edge over the virtual sea of trick taking games out there is how the cards you draw are used over potentially several rounds. Because you don’t actually know how many rounds their will be with any given card set you draw you have to always think about the fight you are in now and its importance and what fights will come next. Often you are trying to get other players to commit to battles you have no intention of winning just so you can set yourself up for future victories, while other times you are just looking for opportunities to screw people or get a quick victory.

Easily one of the best trick taking games I have ever played and thankfully this game seems to always be in print. Another game on my must own list.

Tsuro (2004) by Calliope Games
Designer: Cathy Brigg & company

I’m not the best person to ask about abstract games, its just not my bag of chips, but I didn’t outright hate it which Is my usual response to abstract games so it must be really good.

I’m not a huge abstract gamer, looking at my shelf I can count the amount of games I have in this genre on one hand minus a few fingers, but every once in a while a game comes along that I find irresistible (I’m looking at you THE DUKE).

The Duke is the only abstract game I have ever played where I can legitimately claim that I love it, it’s amazing but alas for only two players.

Tsuro however was not one of those games and though I really didn’t see anything particularly wrong with it as it was clever, simple and quick, exactly what you want an abstract game to be, it’s not the kind of game that floats my boat. It’s not an issue with the game, but rather just my general gaming preferences, in fact, I would argue that if you like abstract games, this would probobly hit the spot just right. What little I know of the genre, this game seems to have that puzzle element I think abstract gamers will love. When we played it I’m not joking when I say the game took about 10 minutes to complete, it was a very quick game.

Are you dumber than a box of rocks (2016) by AMO Toys
Designer: Joe Herbert & Dave Herbert

Its a trivia game, I’m not sure how one judges that. I mean people ask me questions all the time, it doesn’t mean we are playing a game. Its a funny gimmick.

A member of our gaming group has an affinity for pulling out odd ball games for us to try and while I find that all Trivia games are basically the same, this one in particular actually had some funny elements I think Trivia fans might enjoy. For one it was a multiple choice game, essentially all questions are answered with 0, 1 or 2. Which means that you effectively have a 1 in 3 chance of guessing right. This is a team game however and your opponent is a literal rock in a box, that has 3 sides with a 0, 1 or 2 written on it. The question is asked, the rock is shaken and your effectively competing against random chance. Surprisingly enough, it was a close game and while I will admit most of us were drinking and not exactly in top form, it was kind of funny to have almost been beaten by an actual box of rocks. Its a silly concept, but as far as trivia games go, this was actually kind of funny.

Dune Imperium (2020) by Dire Wolf
Designer: Paul Dennen

I love the DUNE books, this is easily one of my favorite science-fiction settings, but while loving the setting enhances the experience this is just a rock solid worker placement and deck building game, it knocks the sea of competition in this genre out of the water and then steals the water, because you need water.. trust me!

Dune Imperium was the only other game in the line up that was played twice and for the exact same reason Tapestry got a second go, this game is straight up amazing. In fact, while 2020 was an absolute shit year for gaming because of the pandemic, hence their was very little games played in general this year in our group, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Dune is the game of the year.

A combination worker placement game with a deck building/playing element, this is one of those games that has just that perfect tightness. Games are ALWAYS close, hard fought battles. The game is really well paced, wonderfully balanced, beautifully illustrated, based on an absolutely awesome theme and is just chalk full of replayability. Blood Rage currently stands as the only game to have ever gotten a perfect score from me on this blog, but if there is any game that I know of right now that has a shot at being added to that list, it is most certainly going to be Dune Imperium. You are going to have to look long and hard to find a flaw with this one, it may just be a perfect game.

Don’t bother thinking about it for another second, this is an auto-buy if there ever was one.

Stone Age (2018) by Zman
Designer: Bernd Brunnhofer

It’s bright, colorful, easy to teach, easy to learn, you get to roll dice and there is a fair amount of strategy to the game. I put it into the simple and fun category, it’s not going to change your life, but its a very easy game to get to the table.

Worker placement games are what I call “highly reliable” strategy games, meaning that, they usually don’t have a luck element and if they do it’s very minimal. Stone Age flips that, by creating not only a considerable luck element based on dice rolls, but a push your luck element with how you position your workers. You often pick spots on the board you can’t afford, hoping to score the needed resources during the round, which means that the game has this sort of gambling element to it.

It’s hard to know where to place Stone Age in light of a world filled with amazing worker placement games, in particular given that the “highly reliable” strategy games are generally considered “better” because they remove luck and put control into the players hand making them games of skill. I may be alone in this but I find Stone Age kind of refreshing. To me games should have luck in them, in particular when the game has ways to circumvent the reliance on luck through good long term strategies.

Stone Age is certainly not going to blow anyone away, in fact, my early impressions of this game when I first tried it were kind of luke warm, but I have kids in the house who love to play board games and kids love rolling dice so Stone Age is popular with them. The result is that I have played this game more often than I probobly would have otherwise with my gaming group. I brought it along this year to the Hassela weekend as an alternative pick as my 4 player game in place of Dune, but by the time it was my turn to pick a game we had already played Dune twice so it made its way to the table. In light of Dune I think perhaps people were less impressed with it, but I think its a pretty fun game and its definitely more family friendly then games like Tapestry and Dune that can feel a bit heavy on the strategy end. Stone Age has very simple and easy to understand goals, quite perfect for kids or less experienced gamers.

Batman Flux (2015) by Looney Labs
Designer: Andrew Looney

Fuck off Batman Flux!

Ok, I’m just going to say it, this game is stupid but I suppose a game designed by a guy named Mr. Looney, we should probobly not have expected much.

I know these flux games have a following and all, but to me this game was just complete nonsense. I won, I have no idea how or why, but I was just glad it ended quickly!

Gloom (2005) by Atlas Game
Designer: Keith Baker

Great artwork, funny theme and unique gimmick with the see through cards help to set the mood the game is trying to put across.

Keith Baker of D&D fame takes a swipe at making a card game about people living tragic lives, then dying horrifically to score points. As silly as that sounds, this game was actually mildly entertaining.

It’s a bit gimicky with it’s see through cards that you layer one on top of the other and it’s rather morbid theme, but its a short enough game that the exercise doesn’t over stay its welcome and it was good for a couple of laughs. A simple and quick card game filler that might be good as a camping game or something to pull out with the kids. Nothing for my personal shelf, but given the card game we had played right before, I was mostly just happy we were not playing Batman Flux!

Conclusion

Another Hassela weekend for the history books and what a fantastic weekend it was. Lots of great games were played and a good time was had by all!

Now its time to pick my favorite game of the weekend and I have to admit I struggled with it for quite a while. Certainly established classics like Blood Rage are always contenders and my beloved Empire: Age of Discovery I’m never disappointed by was in the running briefly. In the end however it was a battle between Dune Imperium and Tapestry.

Strictly speaking I think Dune Imperium is a better game from a sort of generalist perspective. What I mean is that if it’s board game night and I’m pulling out a game no one has every played, I can get everyone playing Dune reasonably competitively on the first go in no time flat and no one will be confused about what to do or how to do it. Its a game that is easy to teach, easy to learn, its actually relatively fast and while it has plenty of nuances and potential strategies, its not going break anyone’s spirit and the result of the game is going to be tight. Whoever wins isn’t going to win by more than 1 or 2 points.

Tapestry on the other hand while the core rules are relatively simple, has a metric ton of iconography and requires considerable explanation to get people going while the depths of the strategy and nuanced ways the economy works is going to have players struggling to grasp exactly how to put together a competitive strategy. Even for a humble veteran like me it took a second game before I had even the faintness clue what I was doing and I was none the less lapped by the more experienced player. At the end of Tapestry a less experienced player might score as little as 100 points while a more experienced player can break 400. The margins of victory will require everyone to have a good grasp of the game before they get close enough to make the game feel competitive.

Still ultimately my choice for favorite game of the weekend has got to be Tapestry. I don’t consider a game having so much depth that it takes a few plays to get it figured a problem or a flaw of the game. To me, good games are challenging games and I want the game to push me to figure it out, I want that challenge of learning to play a game well and I don’t mind taking a pasting from more experienced players in that process. In fact, I prefer my games that way and while it can sometimes get frustrating to lose repeatedly and not fully understand why, the rewards for cracking the nut and winning that first game always feel so great.

More than that I think Tapestry is a really diverse game. Those culture/civilization cards really re-define the strategies and possibilities of the game creating this great replayability. Dune Imperium is a fantastic game and choosing Tapestry over it should not be seen as some sort of disparagement against it, but if you asked me this morning what game I want to play right now, I would definitely pick Tapestry.

I asked my gaming mates to call out their favorites, again I generally don’t reveal anyone’s identity on the blog so they shall remain hidden masked men behind the scenes, but their picks were as followed.

Player 1: Blood Rage
This did not surprise me at all, any Viking themed game is always going to be popular among Swedes and I’m fairly certain I saw him placing an order for Blood Rage on his phone before we were even done playing. It was his first time playing the game and I do recall how excited I was about the game the first time I played it as well. It’s an awesome game!

Player 2: Tapestry
Player 2 and I share a lot of the same tastes in games and I knew when I introduced him to Dune Imperium he would love it and I think he knew when he introduced me to Tapestry I would love it. We were both right, but, I agree with him that while Dune Imperium was a very close second, Tapestry wins it.

Player 3: Tapestry
Again not a shocker at all, both player 2 and 3 are hardened veterans, they know a good game when they see one and while I would imagine Dune Imperium was also on the radar for Player 3, I think among the guys who fill their book shelves with games as a matter of religion, Tapestry got our attention and had us checking our bank account status.

Player 4: Condottiere
Also not a big surprise, every person I have ever met who I introduced Condottiere to immediately takes to it and I have already replaced my copy 3 times as a result of giving it away to friends who loved it so much I just wanted to see the look on their face when I say, “Here you go, its yours now!” Condottiere really has that natural charm of a trick taking card game that makes it a conduit for turning non-gamers into gamers.

Player 5: Condottiere
I was a bit surprised by player 5 picking this one given the field of games this weekend, but I suppose I shouldn’t be. Condottiere is on the surface a simple trick taking game, but it’s really so much more than that between the sheets.

That’s it for this year, only 360 or so days until the next Hassela weekend, I can’t wait.

Gaming Articles, Role-Player Game Reviews

TOp 10 D&D Publications & Works for DM’s

When it comes to RPG material, the quality of the various publications and writing can vary dramatically. Back in 2017 I did a Top 10 RPG Modules list of all time which was both one of the most popular articles on this blog, but also the one I doubt I will need to update anytime in the next decade.

In this list we broaden the scope a bit to talk about various RPG publications which go beyond adventure models. These are books and books series I think are not only a core part of D&D history, but very much applicable material that any good DM should own and read. This is material that will advise you, inspire you and make you a better DM.

I think it would be impossible for me to rank these so, I simply decided not to. Enjoy the list.

1st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide

There have been many Dungeon Masters Guide for the game of D&D, not to mention countless supplemental and advice books for running games, but to me the original works of Gary Gygax are the equivalent to what I would consider the bible for Dungeons and Dragons.

The 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Guide was reprinted in a glorious leather-bound book a few years back along with the rest of the core books, selling out instantly, proving that these books are every bit as important today as the day they were printed.

The book is written in a style that speaks directly to the DM in a commanding voice offering you advice that though can sometimes be tough to swallow in the light of modernization of the game is as true, as factual and as indisputable today as the day it was written. It’s a bit like a self help book written by your dad who doesn’t try to spare your feelings and rather focuses on preparing you for real life.

While the book is chalk full of advice, don’t be so arrogant as to assume the rules are “out dated”. The book is a literal gold mind of supplemental rules that can be universally applied to any edition of the game, quick resolutions using rules that are well suited for the abstracted concepts on which Dungeons and Dragons is founded. More than that you will find a treasure trove of magical items and an endless array of tables for quick randomized information. There are rules that cover concepts like henchmen and hirelings, magic item creation, world building concepts and a wide variations of approaches to campaign styles that are all universally applicable.

I have never run a game of D&D without this books influence regardless of edition, it is a must read and a must have for any serious DM.

The Mystara Gazetteer’s

There are many settings created for the game of D&D, but you would be hard pressed to find a setting that does a more thorough of job creating a diverse, living, breathing world in which to set your game that are directly applicable to game sessions. The Gazatteer’s were written over 16 books that detail every culture and every region of the world, but the focus of the books is to give you material you can use and it is here where most settings kind of fail for me.

The Mystara Gazetteer series was a bright, colorful series of books that inspired you with its art and attention to detail, but the most valuable aspect of the books is their usability at the table.

The amount of inspired writing, unique story hooks and NPC characters in excessive detail makes this one of the most usable campaign settings ever written in my humble opinion.

More than that however is the fact that Mystara is a truly unique setting, not reliant on the endlessly repeating clichés found the many settings written for Dungeons and Dragons in the following years. It breaks the mold before there ever was one to base your setting off of. Since Mystara settings have been largely variations on the same concepts and it can be tough to distinguish the difference between the Forgotten Realms and point of light.

Thanks to RPG Drive Thru and print on demand, getting access to these books is relatively easy, a well worth investment for any aspiring DM looking for a place to create their adventures.

Pathfinder 2nd edition Core Rulebook

While as a DM I generally prefer simpler and more classically driven systems for my D&D like B/X or BECMI, when it comes to modern renditions of the modern game of D&D, Pathfinder 2nd edition is without question the gold standard.

It makes quick work out of complex rules while serving to provide highly involved and exciting game session. This is a game so fine tuned, so well thought out, streamlined and brilliantly diverse, that it works not just as a D&D clone but a universal fantasy system.

Paizo has shown that fantasy role-playing can be stretched in a variety of creative and interesting ways, with Pathfinder 2nd edition they have effectively created a new sub-genre of Dungeons and Dragons.

Pathfinder ensures that players have maximum creativity and options in their hand, while ensuring the DM can manage it all, keeping it straight for the table without having to do constant rules look ups. Pathfinder 2nd edition does everything right, including correcting the many things D&D has done wrong for 40+ years like its core action management systems.

If you are looking for a modern D&D system, before you consider 5e, consider Pathfinder 2nd edition. It is the definitive modern version of the game that is superior to everything that is out there today.

The Reavers of Harkenwold

I think the saddest part of the Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition as a game is that despite a really terrible mechanical focus, it had some of most inspired adventure and setting writing, with some of the best writers in the business providing the material. Guys like Richard Baker and Bill Slavicsek were at the helm of some of this material which included The Dark Sun Campaign book, Kyhber’s Harvest for the Eberron setting and one of my absolute favorite adventures, the two parter, Reavers of Harkenwood (The Iron Circle & The Die is Cast).

Reavers of Harkenwold was released as part of the Essentials Line for 4th edition as a two part introductory set, but the love that was put into this book shows just how fantastic of a content creator Richard Baker is.

What I love about Reavers of Harkenwold is that its one of those rare instances where an setting for the adventure is so well written you can run it as written and its absolutely brilliant. That is really rare in adventure writing, I can only think of a small handful of adventures that pull that off.

Reavers of Harkenwold however is more than just an adventure, in fact that is not why its on this list, what this is really is a very well thought out mini campaign and its written in a style that really makes it system agnostic which is also something that is really rare in adventure writing. Its a setting, its an open world, it has a great villains and above all else it tests the morality of an adventuring group. By the time your troupe is done playing through this adventure, they will know who their characters are, but they will also care about a place, become involved in the setting and establish themselves as part of it. That is really what makes Reavers of Harkenwold so great as a publication.

Reavers of Harkenwold didn’t make my top 10 modules of all time list but the truth is that I have never viewed this as an adventure module, to me its a mini campaign as what makes it great is less the story and more the setting it presents.

The Rules Cyclopedia

The Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia to me is the most definitive work ever done for Dungeons and Dragons. It combines all of the original 1st edition Dungeons and Dragons core rules under one roof before the game diverged into the “advanced rules” concept which arguably could be construed as a good or a bad thing.

This very thick book is the absolute definitive collection of rules for the 1st edition D&D system and its very accessible today via RPG drivethru using their print on demand service.

To me personally the Basic and Expert Dungeons and Dragons sets combined to form THE best version of Dungeons and Dragons as a game system. To me, once the advanced rules came along with concepts like the race and class split is where most of the problems in Dungeons and Dragons started. Balance issues, rules complexity issues and all of the minutia that comes with that complexity that have driven decades of arguments what about D&D should and shouldn’t be. The B/X set never suffered under the weight of rules complexity, it was a system that was designed to be played and to this day it is the most commonly used system as a base for D&D variant. Their are more fantasy games based on B/X rules then all other D&D systems in existence times a hundred.

The rules cyclopedia is a compilation of the Basic and Expert rules, but it also includes the companion, master and immortal supplements which bring in concepts like kingdom management, high level play and topping it off with the ascension of characters as gods. Using the rules Cyclopedia is the only way a group of D&D fans can play the same D&D game for decades and never run into the balance issues of high level play. It is the most complete, all in one rule set for running D&D and its the first and last book you will ever need to run D&D forever.

Its a masterpiece in my eyes and though I prefer to run only the B/X rules myself, its great to have all the added support in the event a campaign stretches into those higher levels.

1st edition Forgotten Realms Box Set

Not to suggest that 1st is always better, but the 1st edition Forgotten Realms Box set to me is the unquestionable definitive work for this setting and everything that followed played second fiddle to it. Not only as a description and definition of the setting, but in how it was written and what it focused on.

The Forgotten Realms is a iconic D&D setting, but never in its history was in as good a shape as it was in its original box set release, if you love the realms, these are the books you should be using.

This box set was designed to be used at the table, offering the GM key information about events in this place, events that would lead to modules linked to the original setting material. Strangely this approach was largely abandoned after this box set, transitioning to the way settings are written today where the material is “general information” about the world with an assumption that creating a story in the setting is up to the GM. I prefer the way it was done in this book as it ties key stories and events of the setting to the player characters with other fantastic material like The Pool of Radiance, The Curse of Azure Bonds and other classic stories like Expedition to Undermountain and City of the Spider Queen.

It was also before anyone started fiddling with the history of the setting to try to fit it into modern editions of the game that constantly expanded the races and classes of the game, breaking a lot of the nuances of the setting, those subtle elements that would take the setting from a believable real place to an obvious attempt to fit the latest players handbook into it.

The 1st edition Forgotten Realms setting was the only version of the setting that did not take the rules of the game into consideration, focusing on the lore and history of the world, directing its events based on the story, rather then the latest rules.

When it comes to the Forgotten Realms, this is the box set to own.

The Scarred Lands Campaign Setting

Born from the remnants of the White Wolf writers, The Scarred Lands Campaign Setting is styled after the story first concept so much of the amazing writing that was done for the world of darkness. The Scarred Lands is perhaps one of the most unique settings that exists for Dungeons and Dragons, originally published for 3rd edition D&D.

The Scarred Lands, like Mystara, had incredible detail among countless books released for the setting, each effectively its own mini campaign setting, but because it was written by former White Wolf writers, it has that dark and almost disturbing twist blended into its pages.

It’s a setting that defines in absolute perfect detail some of the most unique places ever inked for a Dungeon and Dragons world. Whether your talking about Calastia: The Throne of the Black Dragon that brings one of the most amazing political villains ever written into your world, The City of Hollowfaust, essentially a city run by necromancers and the undead or awesome books like The Wise and The Wicked that describe the many unique people of the world both villain and hero alike, The Scarred Lands is just chalk full of exquisite detail.

The Scarred Lands setting to me is one of the few out there written for D&D that completely breaks expectation, discards the cliques and gives the players a place to explore that will truly surprise them and again, it does this on a level so detailed that every single book written for the Scarred Lands becomes a campaign setting in of itself.

So good, it hurts.

Old School Essentials

One of the issues many modern gamers have with old school systems like 1st edition Basic D&D and Advanced D&D is that the rules are considered incoherent, hard to grasp, inconsistent and difficult to run. It has always been a problem for modern gamers to even try out old school systems to see the differences, to see what they are missing, to understand that piece of history and why their are so many fans of these old school systems. Its an unfortunate situation, one old school GM’s like me contend with all the time because frankly its all true. Old school systems are indeed written in a style that makes them really difficult to implement at the table.

I will never be able to say enough about how highly I think of The Old School Essentials books, this is the finest, most streamlined and impactful release for D&D in 40 years to me.

In comes Old School Essentials, essentially a true down to the last detail replication of Basic/Expert rules but with modern organization to make the game as comprehensible, as easy to understand and use as the original rules desired to be. It took 4 decades for someone to unravel the mess of the original works and create a book that makes the whole thing comprehensible and not only has Old School Essentials done this successfully, but it did it better then what we see even in modern rule books.

Old School Essentials brings all the fun, excitement and glory of the old days in a easy to understand and absorb way proving that not only are the original B/X rules amazing, but it is everything modern gamers want modern D&D to be, but simply never quite gets their.

One of the best books written this decade, oddly enough using rules made 4 decades early. A masterpiece resurrected for the modern day.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker & Ultimate Campaign Guide

The 1st edition of Pathfinder was really just a spruced up version of D&D 3rd edition, but because of the timing of its release, being after 3.5 which was an extremely long running edition of the game and during the 4th edition of D&D which was one of the least popular editions of the game in the D&D franchise, 1st edition Pathfinder was the edition I actually played the most next to Basic/Expert rules.

Pathfinder Kingmaker was updated for 2nd edition in a single book for the entire adventure path. To me this was an instant classic that deserves mention in any conversation about Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.

In the course of its run, I found most of the material released for the game to be quite suitable, but it was the adventure path Kingmaker and its related source book, The Ultimate Campaign Guide that really brought the game to a whole new level.

Pathfinder takes an old D&D concept, Empire/Kingdom building found in classic D&D modules like Test of the Warlords and campaign settings like Birthright and makes it comprehensible. While the rules for domains were covered reasonably well in the BECMI system, the word comprehensible would not be how I would have described it their either for all the love I have for the system.

Kingmaker made domain running for D&D a pure joy and because the module had a great story and setup for players to take throne, it ended up being one of the most popular adventure path in Paizo’s history, so much so that they made a video game out of it.

Ultimate Campaign uses the same core system for kingdom management as Kingmaker, but expands on it and other campaign running features that allow you to create your own kingdom building stories.

Of all the stuff that came out of Pathfinder, I count Kingmaker and Ultimate Campaign Guide as the absolute best of the best and what is really great with the Ultimate Campaign Guide is that it is mostly system agnostic so you can apply the rules of kingdom management to your favorite D&D system not to mention that Kingmaker itself as an adventure path has been converted to both Pathfinder 2nd edition rules and 5th edition D&D rules making it that much easier.

Fantastic content worth getting even if you don’t use the 1st edition Pathfinder system.

1st edition Oriental Adventures

The offensively named book is to me one of the best supplements ever written for 1st edition Advanced Dungeon and Dragons and that is saying a lot as their have been quite a few that competed for a space like this.

Oriental adventures was effectively an alternative version of 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, a self contained alternative for fans of Asian lore. No one has done as amazing of a job bringing this style of play to the table as this Gygax did with this book.

I’m a huge fan of Japanese and Chinese lore. What Oriental Adventures does is D&D’affy it, creating not only a fantastic sub-system for Dungeons and Dragons with all new races and classes with mechanical constructs way ahead of its time like Ancestry and Honor, new spells, new equipment, but a great setting. It effectively refreshed Dungeons and Dragons using the endless well of Asian lore, doing so not only respectfully but with a fantastic fun twist.

I adore Oriental Adventures and because it’s written by Gygax, it has that commanding voice legibility to it, making it not only a fun, applicable book for the table, but a great night stand read.

There was a 3rd edition of this book and of course their are entire systems dedicated to this setting like the amazing Legend of the Five Rings, but if you already love D&D and you want an Asian twist, this is the book to get.

That concludes our list, hope you enjoyed it!

Best of List

Top 10 Board Games 2020 Edition

It has been almost a full year and a half since I have updated this list and while board gaming as a hobby has been tragically hindered by the ongoing covid crisis pretty much the entire year, I think an update is in order.

This time around there are some pretty heavy handed changes and I have to admit that even I was surprised when I was finished writing this article and making my determination, but on the bright side there is plenty of new stuff to talk about so without further delay, lets get into it.

10. B-17 Flying Fortress Leader

I know that solo games are not everyone’s cup of tea but this game has so much great depth and such an amazing feel factor, not to mention it looks absolutely stunning on the table that it just has to be on my list.


I will be the first to admit that when it comes to my top 10 list, putting this one on here I have almost a sense of embarrassment. It’s sort of like admitting that you like the Star Wars Holiday special, or are a fan of white socks with sandals.

While it’s not my first solo game on the list, this is a rather obscure DVG game that I think most people who look at my list will scratch their head and wonder where the connection is, how in the world you go from any of these game to this one. It’s just something out of left field.

The truth is however that B-17 Flying Fortress Leader is one of those “piece of engineering” games that has this very tight, story driven premise that I personally find completely engrossing. You are a commander of a fleet of American bombers during World War II, making all of the decisions about bombing targets, flight paths, plane configurations, resource management and general command decisions. You setup all of your orders and put everything into place and then the games AI takes over where your plan is executed and you watch helplessly as your decisions are put into action. Its just enthralling and though I can’t say I’m a huge history buff, there is something about this particular piece of history I just can’t help but obsess over. There is just something sexy about world war II American bomber planes.

More than that though this is a game that just looks amazing on your hobby table, it’s an intimate solo game that you can play in one sitting or spread it out over days. It has a really fine-tuned sequence and there is a tremendous amount of strategy and planning that when done well you are rewarded for, yet there are surprising twists that keep you coming back to try again and again.

It’s a hard one to recommend to a general player base but It would be dishonest if I didn’t put it on my personal top ten list given how often I play it. If you have an interest in the subject matter and are looking for a cool solo game however, if my opinion counts, I think this is one of the coolest games I have found in years. (read the full review here ).

9. Twilight Struggle

Twilight Struggle really blew me away the first time I played it despite having a lot of reservations about even trying it. It’s one of those games you always hear about but don’t actually think you will like, well I’m here to tell you, you are wrong. You will like this game, any reasonable gamer will.

Twilight Struggle is an award winning game that has maintained a strong presence in the euro gaming community on board game geek for years, keeping the number one spot for nearly a decade. It has a digital app, yearly competitions and is considered widely as one of the best designs in board gaming by some of the most prestigious designers around.

That is not however why I like it, quite to the contrary, I was fairly uninterested in the game despite all of these accolades and have only recently tried it on a whim with very few expectations. Truth is that the subject matter didn’t interest me and I feel very strongly that theme is key to any game that would ordinarily make this list.

Twilight Struggle’s surprise for me was two fold. First I was shocked to discover how amazing the game actually was and how well deserved its praises really were. This is a deep, thinky and very dynamic game that pulls on a lot of mechanical levers that beg to be explored. More importantly however it actually inspired an interest in the subject matter for me (The Cold War) which is actually a fascinating period in history full of intrigue, actions and counter actions that give A Song of Ice and Fire a run for its money.

Just a fantastic game, one of my favorite discoveries in the last few years and as you have already been told by pretty much everyone, this is a game that belongs on your shelf no matter what type of board gamer you are.

8. War of The Ring

The Asymmetrical 2 player epic is effectively Lord of the Rings in a box, if you love the books and movie, this is an amazing way the battle for Middle-Earth.

This year I have tried to be honest with myself and include “times played” as a consideration for judgement for games on this list. Truth be told, I have not played War of the Ring for nearly 3 years at this point and this is the reason it drops to the number 8 spot. I couldn’t bring myself to remove it from the list entirely because I still consider it to be one of the best 2 player epics out there, but fall it has and unless something changes, fall off the list it will.

I have spoken so much about this game over the years I could put up half a dozen links from this sight alone, it feels strange to repeat any of it. I think the game can be summed up by saying that this is the entire Lord of the Rings story in a box, if you love the middle earth saga you must play this game. This game is Lord of the Rings.

So why haven’t I played it, this I think is a fair question that should be answered. After all its on my top 10 list and I haven’t played it in 3 years, that needs an explanation. The answer however is actually quite simple. When the opportunity to play 2 player games comes up, this is usually time reserved for playing miniature games. Miniature games in my gaming group carry a lot of weight and so there is this default assumption that if there is 2, then we play a miniature game. It’s just really hard for me to get 2 player board games to the table in general no matter how good I think they are.

7. Game of Thrones The Board Game 2nd Edition

This is a game that is played in the minds of the players, the board and pieces are mostly distraction.

Game of Thrones the board game has had a consistent presence on this list for years but this year it takes a significant drop from the number 3 spot. I don’t think this is a reflection on the game itself but popularity and current plays of any game are going to fluctuate and frankly this year Game of Thrones was a bit meh all together in our group and especially for me.

I think its something that happens eventually when you have played a game often enough where you start to see some of the chinks in the armor. Don’t get me wrong, this game would not be on this list if I didn’t love it and was willing to drop what I’m doing to play it, but I certainly can think of several epics I would pick right now over this one to play in a larger 5-6 player group. It is a great game, it has been a great game for over a decade in my group, but I’m at a point with it where I have played it enough times that it may be time to retire it from this list.

For those that have never played this one however, know that its staying power in my gaming group and for me personally exceeds a decade of entertainment, if you can get that much out of any game its what I would call an auto-buy. Like that is a great record to have for a game and GoT the board games earns those stripes undisputed.

6. War Room

War Room is not a game, it’s an experience. It takes the idea of playing war games to the absolute limit, yet somehow makes it very accessible and to some degree practical. You’re going to need a huge table and a lot of time, but that is the price of entry into this theatre of the mind.

I was very hesitant about putting this game on this list because I have to be honest here, I am yet to play a full game with a full group. Its on this list largely because I know my games, I know what I like and I know that a game is “going to be amazing” from reading of rules and play testing it myself. I have done this extensively with War Room and I’m almost 100% certain that after playing it with my local gaming group this one will surge on this list to one of the top spots. For now I leave it at number 7 for the sake of propriety.

War Room is Larry Harris’s new world war II epic, the guy that brought us the ultimate classic Axis and Allies. War Room is massive both in size and scope, a game designed with about the most elegant and well thought out mechanics I have seen in years. Its very clear that Larry took his time with this one using all of the experience, feedback and knowledge he has mustard up over the last few decades with Axis and Allies.

It is absolutely astonishingly beautiful on the table, its designed with various player counts in mind and though like Axis and Allies and most “super games” as I like to call them this one is long as fuck and will not be easy to get to the table, likely taking in excess of 12 hours. Hence this is an event in a box and it makes no apologies for that.

This game will make you feel like a military commander running world war II and this is exactly what the game tries to accomplish. The rules are relatively simple but the strategies go deep and its going to cease up your brain as you try to unravel the possibilities. For fans of war games, in particular Axis and Allies, this is a must own. Unfortunately its a very exclusive and hard to get game not to mention without a doubt one of the most expensive I have ever bought so be warned before you get too excited that this one may be as hard to get on your shelf as it is to get to the table.

5. Twilight Imperium 4th edition

Without a doubt one of my favorite games of all time, Twilight Imperium is just part of the family at this point.

Twilight Imperium is a game I have talked about since I started this blog and the blog before that. In fact, I have spent the last 10+ years talking about it and frankly I’m yet to fully tire of it. This is a versatile game that offers science-fiction fans the ultimate epic in gaming today. There is no game on the market that comes even close to creating such a dynamic, one of a kind experiences as Twilight Imperium and though it has fluctuated on this list over the years and editions, this latest version of the game is in my humble opinion the best yet and by a wide margin.

I think of all the things I could say about Twilight Imperium the one that should get your attention is that despite its weight, scope and play time, it is a relatively simple game to learn to play and learn to play well. A couple of games of this and anyone can become an expert and that is what I love about it. The mechanics just work and just like all great board games, much of the games strategy and game play is very much player driven. Which simply means that every group is going to play this game differently and each time you add or exchange a player the dynamics of the game will change.

Love it, always have, always will.

4. Vampire: The Masquerade Heritage

Vampire Heritage is the new kid on the block, fresh and young and though legacy games have a tendency to rise and fall, I think this one may stick around a lot longer than what might be expected. Very strong opening.

Anyone who follows my blog may know that I’m a huge Vampire: The Masquerade RPG fan, in fact I have been running a Vampire Chronicle with my local group going on 3 years now and we absolutely love everything about this setting. When a board game set in the world of darkness was announced it was an easy decision for us, but frankly we were quite reserved in our excitement initially. Vampire as a game and as a setting is a very delicate matter to fans like us and its easy to fuck up, our confidence that someone would come along and make a great board game out of it was lets just say limited.

Boy where we wrong, holy shit balls this game is amazing. Now I have put it on my number 6 spot only because we have just started to play this legacy game, having only finished our first era of the game, but I personally fell instantly in love with this one for three key, indisputable reason.

First is that the game captures the world of vampires with perfection. This is exactly the feeling I was hoping the game would offer. The politics, the betrayals, the maneuvering, the manipulation.. its all there. It gives you that creepy sense of place and time, illustrated beautifully to also enhance the imagery. Really just a perfect execution of the theme in board game form.

The second thing is that the game is extremely simple from a mechanical “how do you play this thing” point of you, while the gameplay, the strategy itself is immensely complicated. I love it when any game does this, where I can sit down with friends and spend 10 minutes explaining “how” the rules work, but we will spend the next six months trying to figure out how to win. Again I can’t say enough how pleased I was to see this approach taken, its really amazing.

Finally its a legacy game and I know a lot of people have reservations about legacy games because they are sort of “one shot” play throughs but there are 21 games in the chronicle and even after 3 games (the first era) the game has fundamentally changed in unique ways that will not repeat if you in the future would replay this one. Those permanent alterations to the game give this amazing sense of personalization and when you really think about it one of the biggest problems with most board games is that you will eventually tire of playing them anyway. The legacy keeps the game fresh play after play which means that each time we get together though we are playing the same game, things will be very different. I love this concept, I think it works particularly well in this game.

For fans of the world of darkness, don’t hesitate, this is a game tailor made for you.

3. Lord of the Rings The Living Card Game

I love this game and true love lasts forever!

Yes, my favorite, top game of all time has dropped down from the list. What can I tell you, it happens to the best of them. I have to say however even though this card game represents the highest investment I have ever made in a game (I have an almost complete collection), I have gotten more joy out of this game then everything else in my collection combined and I know I will play it forever.

Its just an amazing game and you can read the various reviews and comments on this one all over this blog site, I speak of it often. The truth is however that I have played this game so much that its time for me to sort of move on to other things.. for a while. I will certainly be back at some point as this one has a tendency to resurge like crazy. I have periods when I play this one non-stop and periods when I don’t play at all, but it goes back and forth.

What is it, why do I love it, just read the review and you will understand. REVIEW.

2. Through The Age: A New Story of Civilizations

Through The Ages is to Civilization building games what Twilight Imperium is to science-fiction games. Its a game fit for a king.

Through The Ages drops to the number 2 spot on my list, but holds strong as one of my all time favorites. This has always been one of those games that’s tough to recommend much like Twilight Imperium and maybe even War Room simply because of the length of play. Through The Ages however has two things going for it that keeps it on my radar far more frequently then the other “heavy” board game experiences.

For one, it plays really well with a small group, even as a two player game. Far more importantly however is that its supported by a really great app allowing me to play it whenever I have time without the fuss of trying to get a table game going and nothing is lost in this resource management game when doing so. I certainly think the pandemic crisis in the world leaving me locked in my house has helped this game to claim more of my free gaming time then it might have otherwise, but I have played this game quite consistantly for over 3 years now and I still love it every bit as much as I always have.

Recently it got an expansion as well which is the first for the Through The Age franchise as the original version never got that service which has also helped to refresh the game for me.

Love this one, but it’s heavy, thinky and long so be ready for that if you plan to commit.

1. A Song of Ice and Fire: The Miniature Game

Song of Ice and Fire is one of those games that you just know 20 years from now you will look back and consider it a classic, a game that becomes representative of an age of gaming in your life. It’s just that good.

Without question or doubt, Song of Ice and Fire the miniature game is the big blow out in 2020 for me. A game I have played and obsessed over at every opportunity I could get and thanks to the ability to play the game online through the use of Table Top Simulator, I played it a lot this year.

It’s not the first miniature game to find its way to the top spot on my list, you may recall (if you read my blog) that Star Wars: X-Wing held that spot tightly for a couple of years.

Song of Ice and Fire is just one of those gems that fires on all cylinders both as a miniature game and just as a gaming experience for me. It’s deeply tactical, yet simple to learn, it adds the hobby component but makes it as painless for you as possible, it has a really strong community and tremendous support by the publisher.

More than that though its just a fun game to play, it’s one of those “sink your teeth into it” kind of games that you can analyze and experiment with, the more you play the more you discover the little nook and crannies of possibilities. List building, adapting new ways to use the same units, trying to find those great positional and circumstantial moments that tip the scales. I love that it’s so dynamic as well, rather then your standard “lets just kill each other” it’s a mission based game and each mission is as unique as the next, all of them presenting interesting and diverse challenges.

The fact that its based on an amazing franchise with a robust theme, one it incorporates amazingly well certainly adds to the games flavor but certainly at least for me personally the fact that all my friends dove in head first into it means that I have a plethora of opponents always available representing all of the factions in the game.

It’s just a really solid miniature game that dropped into my group at the right time, one that I’m totally head over heels for, it earns its stripes as the top game for this list.

The Drop Offs

I always feel compelled to mention some of the games that drop off the list, in particular given that I still consider them amazing games worth your time.

Shogun by Queen Games falls off the top 10 list for the first time since I started the list and I can’t stress enough how painful that was as I absolutely adore this game. The dice tower of terrible faith, the deeply analytical planning phase and those explosive “I can’t believe that just happened” moments as battles are resolves are just a small taste of why I love this game. It’s wonderful but it gets pushed off the list, it happens to the best of them.

Great Western Trail is another one I consider “the best in genre”. This is probably my favorite pure euro, pure victory point smorgasbord game. It’s just clever as hell and deserves all of the praise it gets from the general gaming community. It was only ever at the tale end of my top 10 list, but certainly deserving to be on the list as is any other game that made it over the years.

New Angeles was one I didn’t really lose too much sleep over, don’t get me wrong I think it’s a great game but I felt it had sort of played itself out for me personally. It’s still a staple of my gaming groups yearly super board gaming weekend for good reason as its a fantastic group game and I’m sure that will remain unchanged, but for me it was time for it to go.

Blood Rage is one I struggle with always because I do believe it to be an absolutely perfectly designed game, but I just don’t play it often enough nor find myself drawn to it frequently enough to justify its presence on my list. That does not change its status as the only game on this blog that ever got a perfect 5 out of 5 star review rating, it deserved it and I stand by it.

Star Wars Armada falls of the list and I think its largely because I just don’t feel there is room on my top 10 list for two miniature games and A Song of Ice and Fire blew it out of the sky with ease. There will always be a special place in my heart for Armada as I do believe it to be a fantastic game, but its so heavy and weighs you down so much that I just can’t bring myself up to restarting the engines. I don’t have any intentions to get rid of my collection and I do genuinely hope it comes back around in my group some day, but right now I’m battling it over the seven kingdoms of Westeros and loving it.

Best of List, Gaming Articles

Top 10 War Games

While I recognize the concept of a war game can be a great many things and such a list can probably vary dramatically, when I say war game I mean soldiers on a map, fighting over territory in the classic sense. So while games like Through The Ages have abstracted war concepts and something like Cosmic Encounter may technically be seen as a galactic war, to me this sort of game would not really qualify as the focus game is something other then war. For example Through The Ages is an empire building game and while war is an inevitable part of that, at the core of its game-play is the concept of building up your empire. I also excluded miniature games because I feel though certainly these games would qualify as war games, its kind of its own category deserving of its own list. Finally I excluded short (filler) games, again, not that I dislike or don’t play such games, but filler gamers are really their own category and though many can be about war even in the more serious sense, I believe most people who would look up “war games” are looking for something a bit more robust.

Ok lets get into this.

10. IKUSA, formally Shogun, Formally Samurai Swords

While many gamers consider dice chuckers like RISK to be beneath them, to me Ikusa has sufficient “extra’s” to make it a quality strategic game and would simultaneously please RISK players. The fact that it looks amazing on the table is just a cherry on top.

This 1980’s Milton Bradly big box classic has been on my shelf since I was a teenager and with only brief interruption I have always played with pretty much every gaming group I have had. Certainly at this stage in gaming history its a bit of a dated game, but I do believe it has aged a lot better then all of the other Milton Bradly classics and still holds up in particular as an alternative to the traditional dice chuckers like RISK.

Its a nostalgia thing to some degree for sure, though I do believe out of all the old 80’s classics which includes Axis and Allies, Fortress America, Stratego, RISK and Supremacy, this is the only one I still long to play today.

Its a classic take on the dice chucker, but it takes it up a notch or two by having unique armies that can be permanently removed from the game, strategic resource management to give the game a measure of planning beyond just where you attack and unique individual units for interesting ways to affect battle outcomes.

Of course the fact that its medieval japan (one of my favorite time periods and historical cultures) as well as looking absolutely amazing on the table helps it a great deal not to mention the childhood memories I have of the long summer days playing it with my friends. I love this game and this list would be incomplete without it, warts and all.

Recommendations: If you love medieval Japan in using western presumptions about the era (think samurai’s and ninja’s), in particular if your a fan of RISK, this game is for you.

9. Tide of Iron

It looks and feels like a heavy world war II tactical game, without that uncomfortable elitness required from most games in the genre or that silly need for ultra realism.

I love war games and I love tactical miniature games, but when it comes to tactical board games I find I don’t have the same affinity for them. In fact, Tide of Iron is, out of my considerable collection of games, the only tactical board game I actually own. I don’t know why that is exactly, but I suspect it has to do with the fact that so many tactical board games are based on World War II and since I have Tide of Iron and adore it, I find it difficult to seek out other games that cover the same subject on the same scale. I mean there are a metric ton of them out their from Conflict of Heroes to Advanced Squad Leader which all seem interesting, but I always fall back to the question, why do I need another one when I already have one I love?

My love for Tide of Iron comes from a childhood memory of playing war with little green men, which is essentially what Tides of Iron is. Scenario driven, Tide of Iron zooms in on the battlefield to the squad level where players control squads of soldiers, tanks, various artillery in a wide range of situations in a green vs. grey army men World War II battle.

It abstracts many high level concepts like bombing runs, long range artillery and various “tactics” on the battlefield with cards that give the game a sort of zoomed in and zoomed out level of play which makes the battles feel more authentic, while also having a very clever system for managing terrain that is easy to understand and teach, a common complexity in other games of this type that often focus too much on realism in my opinion.

Its an engaging game that I love to pull out and I have even on occasion made it my choice of solo plays. I can’t recall a time I introduced the game to someone who didn’t love it, in fact, its been a birthday present to a couple of friends over the years which says a lot, especially since they were not “gamer” buddies.

Great tactical experience, bit of a pain to setup but tons of scenarios available and can be scaled for different lengths, ranging from everything between a short 1 hour mini battle to a 4 hour major engagement. Great fun, simple mechanics, perfect for inducting new players into war gaming.

Recommendations: If you like World War II tactical games, but find many of them overcooked, Tide of Iron gets it just right here with a perfect balance between realism and ease of play.

8. Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun is a very complex game and is not recommended for the uninitiated.

Easily one of the most complex games I have ever played and certainly the most complex one on this list by a wide margin, Empire of the Sun approaches the war in the Pacific in such detail, such focus and such an unusual scale that it is truly a unique gem in the genre, in fact I would say the game is a genre onto itself. I actually don’t recommend this game to all but the most dedicated war game fan, but in terms of scale and subject matter, it is the unquestionable king of high level strategic war games.

Card driven similar to Paths of Glory and as likely to have a-historical outcomes as Paths of Glory, Empire of the sun simultaneously zooms out and plays on the high level strategic map, while zooming in to cover the history of the Pacific War in great detail.

Its a fantastic game, one I have Reviewed, worth a look but be sure you are ready, it can be quite overwhelming.

Recommendation: This is for the ambitious war gamer looking for the ultimate challenge. It takes time and dedication to learn to play it and ten times that to learn to play it well. Its a life style game, make sure you have a dedicated partner.

7. Paths of Glory

Paths of Glory is a classic in the historical war gaming communities and is the foundation game for card driven mechanics.

World War I is probably one of the less known or sought after topics, and though this is a relatively new addition to my collection I’m warming up to it very quickly thanks to its strategic depth. Paths of Glory falls into the card driven point to point high level strategy games which is almost a genre in on to itself but this classic is a classic for good reason as I have discovered.

Really intricate and detailed it does what I love most about historical war games of this type, it infuses the game with rich thematic history, but does not become scripted walking you through the war as it actually happened. In Paths of Glory you are going to change history in some of the most unpredictable and interesting ways and because its a card driven game with literally billions of possible outcomes its physically impossible for you to play enough games to have even a similar outcomes from game to game. Every game of Paths of Glory is going to be wildly different. Some history buffs might find the a-historical outcomes to be distracting but for me personally there is nothing I hate more then playing a war game where I’m just going through the motions to ensure my war turns out exactly as it did in history. I find games like that incredibly boring and they never make my shelf.

Paths of Glory is more than just a war game however because while you are certainly focused on winning the war on the battlefield, you must carefully manage your resources and supply lines and like in real history, wars are rarely won or lost becomes of the outcome of battles, but rather everything that happens before and after. The influx of key historical moments represented on cards can also create some incredibly complex puzzles to solve increasing the challenge on a wide range of scales. What happens if Italy fails to enter the war in a timely fashion, or the Russian Czars never fall or the US never enters the war? All of these things are possible and more in a wide range of combinations and timings, all driving you to play the game again and again.

Absolutely love this game and though the complexity level ranges somewhere between the mid to high range, I find that the rules are very well laid out and it really doesn’t take more than one play to really get it. People say the game takes about 8 hours to play and I would agree that is the case until you play with an opponent that already knows the rules. Then the game goes from an 8 hour game to a 3 hour game fairly easily as the flow of the game is very quick once you get the hang of things.

Recommendations: This is definitely a game for someone looking for a higher level of complexity and meeting to the game, if you like games like Twilight Struggle or Washington’s War, this game uses many of the same concepts. If you are a world war I history buff, this one should not be missed.

6. Washington’s Wars

Washington’s War looks a lot more complicated than it is, I would put this is the light rules category.

A Mark Herman card driven game, however unlike Empire of the Sun, Washington’s War is a relatively light game that is closer to the likes of Twilight Struggle in weight and scope. This is a game about card management, strategic positioning and timing but unlike Twilight Struggle there is no requirement of card memorization which makes it a lot more newbie friendly.

In fact it’s almost questionable whether this is an actual war game, just like Twilight Struggle it is technically a game about war and you have armies and battles, but really this is a strategy game that covers the revolutionary war from a very high level overview.

I put it on this list mainly because I believe very strongly that if you are going to play games like Twilight Struggle, Paths of Glory, or even Empire of the Sun, this is your starting point. Learn this game and the rest will be a lot easier for you to absorb and understand as its incredibly rules light for such a deep strategic experience yet it uses many of the same concepts and mechanics as the various more complex cousins.

One thing I love about Washington’s War is that the game is relatively quick, yet gives you that full, heavy war game feel. Its a rare treat to find an opponent as the Revolutionary war, much like World War I in Paths of Glory is something not everyone is really going to know, though unlike Paths of Glory, knowing the history of the Revolutionary War is really not going to be much help here, its a lot more abstracted and general in terms of card play.

In any case I adore Washington’s War, while many would claim that Empire of the Sun is Mark Hermans masterpiece (and it very well may be) I think of all his games, this is the most likely to make the table if for no other reason than that it takes all of 10 minutes to explain how to play and even a first timer will pick up the game and put up some serious competition which is really what puts this one over the top for me.

Recommendation: Great entry level war game and introduction to card driven war games. If you have interest in playing games like Twilight Struggle, Paths of Glory and Empire of the Sun (universally accepted classics in the historical war gaming genre), this is where you start.

5. Battle of Rokugan

Its a game that feels like a knife fight in a phone booth from round 1, one of the hidden gems in the Fantasy Flight Games library.

Easily one of the most underrated strategy war games to come out of fantasy flight in the last decade, Battle of Rokugan is a gem that fills that “I want a war game, but I don’t have 4 hours to play one” feel to it. This is my go to game whenever I have people over who see all my board games on the shelf and want to play one because “they love risk”.

I have never introduced this game to anyone who didn’t instantly love it and I have on a number of occassions pulled it out at partys with non-gamers who not only end up playing it and loving it, but wanting to instantly play it a second time.

Its fast and furious yet deeply strategic, somewhat asymmetrical and though very abstract, still fairly thematic war game straight to the point war game. Its just a great mechanism for presenting that full fledged war game feel with a very light touch.

I think what I like about it the most is how close the games always are, its rare that a winner can be determined before the final move of the final round and often the game ends with several people within 2-3 points of each other.

Great, deeply strategic game, yet simple to teach and learn. Perfect for that spur of the moment game night.

Recommendation: While it may not scratch that deep historical war game bug floating around in your system, this is a game that will hit the table with just about anyone with even a passing interesting in war games. Its a perfect replacement for RISK.

4. War of The Ring

There is nothing like the feeling of a epic scale game that captures a story, War of the Ring is the best of its kind.

My favorite game I never play, this dust collector however still deserves notice for two core reasons. First, it is the single most thematic game I have ever played, it is without reservation The Lord of the Rings in a box. Secondly, its a game that tells an alternative version of history, written through gameplay of what I believe to be one of the greatest fantasy stories in existence unless you count Star Wars.

Why don’t I play it. Its hard to say, its not a lack of desire, but more circumstance. Its a two player game that takes a good 4-5 hours to play for starters which is not that easy of a thing to pull of for a guy like me who has a dozen gaming friends who always want in on board game night. Though this isn’t really the only problem. The second kind of difficult thing with War of the Rings is that its a terrible game to teach. It requires intricate knowledge of the cards/events, board and an understanding of some of the strategy which can be quite high level and though the game is not really complex per say, it does have an element of randomness that doesn’t really mesh well with the length of the game. Its something that I find is a problem in a lot of games, randomness and long games are a really bad combo. Still when played by experienced players, War of the Rings luck can and is completely circumvented. Beneath its ulterior is a very deep strategy game.

I love this game, it tells a great story, it makes for a fun evening and with the right opponent it will make for a great game two man game night.

Recommendation: If you have a dedicated gaming partner, this is one worth learning and playing repeatedly as it gets better with time. Its a must have for Lord of the Rings fans.

3. Shogun (Dirk Henn version)

Most of Dirk Henns games are in the “not my thing” category, but Shogun is about as me as you can get.

Shogun has been on my top 10 best games of all time list as long as I have kept one. There is so much to love about this game. It combines deep strategic thinking and planning with the wacky and chaotic gameplay reminiscent of Galaxy Trucker. I will submit that this combination will not be for everyone, but to me, board gaming is about having fun and this game brings it in a way no other game I have ever played does.

Ok so its not a serious war game, that cube tower is just down right silly but I have never played this game at any table where when cubes go into the tower people aren’t shouting, cheering and standing up. Its a game that goes from silent contemplation to people laughing out-loud in a single round of play. Some games I love because they are deep and strategic, others I love because they have interesting and thoughtful mechanics, others still I love because they are silly or funny, but Shogun I love just because it combines all of it into a single game.

Its a game that is very easy to grasp, it will capture that casual “RISK” crowd, it has plenty to offer for more seasoned war gamers, yet its play time is relatively quick so it never overstays its welcome.

I would never dare to make a best of list without Shogun on it, it checks so many boxes it can be justified on just about any list but certainly on one with my favorite war games list. Love, love it.

Recommendations: Really and honestly I believe this game has universal appeal if you have an open mind, but my experience has been that some people love it, some people hate it.

2. Game of Thrones The Board Game

This is a game that is played in the minds of the players, the board and pieces are mostly distraction.

While I have much love for the 2nd edition card game as well, to me the board game is a representation of everything I love about war gaming. It is not only a high level strategic war game with asymmetrical factions in an awesome fantasy setting, but throws into it that classic “diplomacy” style betrayal of move and counter move politics. There are so many ways to screw opponents and get screwed by opponents that every turn of the game is a nail biting assessment of what if scenarios and I have rarely ever played this game with anyone where all the passion and raw human emotion a gaming group can muster doesn’t spill onto the table.

This is a very controversial game that may not work with some groups if for no other reason then its a requirement to lie and betray to win, which can create a lot of hostility at the table and create a huge disadvantage for the more casual gamer. Its a cruel game where the only way to win is to completely screw people over and much like the classic Diplomacy it can rub people the wrong way.

My gaming group loves it and every year we do a big game of Game of Thrones at our big board gaming weekend, its always the main event, but be weary, its a long, painful and very hostile game that will end less mature friendships. Adult Advisory on this one.

Recommendations: I would say if you can handle games like Diplomacy, you are going to love this one, but I always put a friendship advisory on this one, its a rough ride and a fairly complex game to boot.

1. Twilight Imperium

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the ultimate gaming experience available in the board game market period.

Easily one of my favorite science-fiction war games, while Twilight Imperium is a fairly complex game and in depth game, I’ve never had much trouble inducting new players. There is a lot of “common sense” rules in the game and even a casual observer can pick up the core concept of the game with ease. There are a lot of moving parts and a fairly multi plateau of strategy that can stump new players, so experience certainly makes a difference but I find a reasonably seasoned gamer doesn’t require more then a couple of turns for the light to come on and understand how to win.

In either case, while the focus of the game is a grand scale intergalactic war the game also features trading, politics, diplomacy and various types of resource management and careful strategic positioning. There is a lot more to it then simply fighting, yet most games are ultimately resolved through direct conflict and the winner is typically the person who created the best setup for himself going into that war.

Amazing game, but it is one of those 6 to 8 hour games that is always at its best with 6 players which can be a fairly difficult game to put together. Though I only play it roughly once a year or so, It’s always one of my favorite gaming get together’s. Its been on my shelf since 3rd edition, over a decade and now with the new streamlined 4th edition there is even more justification to get into this one.

I put it as number one on this list because to me, there is gaming, there is war gaming and then there is Twilight Imperium. It stands out as a unique experience that I have never seen any other game come even close to. Anything can and will happen in this game, no two games will ever resemble each other and you really can spend countless hours contemplating the endless possibilities in the depths of its strategy. This is without question in my mind THE best war game ever made.