1. Best For A Small Group – Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries

Players keep two of these destination cards hidden and discard any that they don’t want to the bottom of the deck.

Each round players have three options to choose from. You can either claim a route on the board (to gain points), draw two railway or three destination cards and keep one.

The game ends when a player has two or less of the colored train pieces left. Points are then counted against the number of destination tickets completed, alongside progress. The player with the most points wins the game.

If you are having a quiet Christmas day with three people or less, this game could be an excellent option to consider. 

Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries is a simple game with light elements of competition and challenge, and simple tactics and wits. If you’re planning to have a couple of friends over, it’s worth picking this all-time classic, you’ll be having a lot of fun.

2. Best Christmas Theme – Santa’s Workshop

Gift assignments are collected from the mailroom, located on the board. Once players have their gift assignment, the elves can begin getting the gifts organized by collecting resources.

Gifts require different materials such as wood, plastic, metal, and fabric. For some gifts the plastic may be substituted for one of the other three, at a loss of Christmas cookies.

Another way to gain points and arguably one of the most important ways is tending to one of the eight reindeer. Over time these reindeer accumulate points if tended to, give the player a bonus which can be important for winning the game.

During the game, Santa himself will come around to “inspect” the workshop when this does happen bonus points are awarded to the leading team with the most gifts.

This family Christmas game successfully mixes a couple of different concepts from classic board games, video games, and a tiny sprinkle of worker placement. It plays with any number of players (up to 5), so you’ll be sat around the table for hours playing Santa’s Workshop, especially given that the game lasts around 40 minutes minimum.

Designed for a teenage audience in the first place, we found that with a little bit of explaining, even 8-year-old kids are able to join. Santa’s Workshop is a game that requires some thought when playing, but you can also play it casually for fun.

Get ready to make hard decisions picking and building gifts and tending to the reindeer in this busiest time of the year at the North Pole!

3. Instead of Trivial Pursuit Play – Timeline 3: Historical Events

If placed in the correct order, the tile stays on the table. If not, it is removed and the player must draw another one. The first player to gain an empty hand gets the victory.

The game represents a pretty simple yet fun race that can be enjoyed by up to 8 people in as little as 15 minutes. If you want to have an extended run with a larger deck, you can combine the Timeline 3: Events game with other games in the series. This makes it extremely flexible depending on how you want to play.

The game comes in a handy box making it quite portable to take with you. In case you are having your holidays away, this great little travel game could almost fit into your pocket.

Because the gameplay is simple, it’s playable for anyone over the age of ten.

Timeline is essentially a simple educational history game that works for anyone over the age of ten. You’re going to want to have some basic knowledge of the subject or have an interest in history to enjoy it. The fast-paced gameplay makes the learning part engaging and fun.

3. Instead of Charades Play – Concept

The player that guesses right gets 2 points along with their team. However, the winner is the one who has the most points at the end of the game, which lasts around 35-40 minutes to play.

This game is a perfect Christmas party game. Since players are able to choose their own words or phrases, the game truly has endless potential. In fact, you may think that a couple of colorful figures and a board of icons is dull – you are in for a surprise as we think it is one of the best fun board games for Christmas and other social gatherings.

Concept is best played with a group of 8 players but can be enjoyed with up to 12. And because it’s only a board and a few pieces, it does not require much physical space to play.

There are limited icons on the board, so some phrases and words could be impossible to guess unless they are generic. And given that there’s no rule against using complex phrases and words, it can make the game challenging.

All in all, Concept is an excellent Christmas board game for larger groups. It is not specifically holiday themed, but has the right spirit for festive seasons. In addition, if you have previously enjoyed Charades, you are sure to find Concept to be one of the best board games this Christmas.

Alternatively, If you are looking to enjoy this game with your little ones, there is a kids version of the game – Concept Kids. It can be played with children age four and older.

5. Instead of Scrabble Play – Wordsy

After writing a word you have to flip a 30-second timer. In that time, the other players must then write their own words. The score is handed out based on the Column the letter is placed on the table. The rarer the word, the higher the score.

Starting with the fastest player, the scores are counted going clockwise around the table. If by chance the player scores more than the fastest person, they get bonus points.

Once all of the scores are counted, the fastest player is able to claim a bonus. But only if the score is equal or higher than at least half of the other players.

The game ends after 7 rounds, making it a nice speedy game before or after your meal. At the end of which players count the points from their 5 best words. The player with the most points wins the game.

Because there is no board and you only get to use cards and paper, it can be played from almost anywhere and does not take up much space. Great for anything from a camping trip to a Christmas party.

6. Instead of Taboo Play – Codenames

The spymasters are given a map card, which displays 25 colored squares, mirroring the layout of the tiles on the table. Taking turns, spymasters must guide their teams using verbal hints, consisting of one word and a number.

These hints help operatives to choose the tile that has their agent on it. The number given in the hint dictates how many guesses there are this round, while also relating to how many words on the table relate to the hint. Making it a bit harder to guess!

When the teams make their guesses, the spymaster reveals the identity of the tile (red, blue, bystander or assassin) as indicated on the map. The assassin tile ends the game immediately, while if a bystander or another team’s codeword is pointed out, the turn ends immediately. The game ends when one of the teams discovers all codewords.

Codenames is uniquely fun, with each game taking around 15 minutes to complete when playing with the recommended 8 players. So long as you can read, you are sure to have some hilarious fun with this.

7. Best Racing Fun – Snow Tails

Players get five cards from the shared deck at the start of the game, this is their playing hand. At the start of their turn, they may play 1 to 3 of these cards that correspond to an action (dog 1, 2, and break). The higher the value on the card, the stronger the pull depending on the action e.g. if the left value has a higher value than the right, the “sled” will swerve to the left.

Along the board, there are different conditions to adhere to and avoid. Some sections have speed limits, that if exceeded (when you push it too much) cause your sled to take damage. If you take 5 damage, your sled is destroyed and you are out of the race!

A bonus can be achieved if both dogs are given the same value when the hand is played. It allows the pawn to move further along the track, quicker.

This game is one of a kind. With an interchangeable map/board and decent playtimes of 45-60 minutes per game, you’ll find yourself addicted.

The game can be played by anyone over the age of 10, making it suitable for children and teens. It’s quite easy to learn the rules too, giving the possibility to make your own extensions to the map if you please.

You really need a large table if you want to play this effectively unless you want an extremely small track. If you don’t have one, it may be tricky to play this board game.

Snow Tails, however, is an excellent example of what a fun and engaging board game should be. With the ability to define your own experience through the placement of trees along the track, or the track itself. It’ll have you glued to the board for hours, leaving you wanting more. 

8. Christmas Movie Cult Classic – Home Alone

At the start of each round, players draw up to six cards from their retrospective decks. The kid needs to take three loot cards and after showing the players, hide them in one of three locations. These locations are usually entry points for the bandits to break into.

As Kevin, you’ll need to set traps, these traps can be disarmed by the bad guys if they choose to discard a card from their hand. The bad guys can choose to retreat at any time if the risk is too big. Some traps also allow the kid to damage the burglars.

The game ends if the bad guys steal $2,000 or more worth of valuables and money. But Kevin, the kid, is also able to win if he manages to save enough valuable items or the bad guys get arrested.

Overall, this hilarious battle between the kid and the burglars has elements of luck, yet feels pretty controlled nevertheless. In fact, over time it becomes more personal, but never overly competitive which is ideal for the relaxed holiday feel.

Whether you’re a board game expert or a newbie, Home Alone would work for you. Moreover, if you are a big fan of the movie or have little ones around you this holiday – we’ve got one of the top Christmas games for kids that is worth your serious consideration.

9. Best Christmas Tree Decorating – Christmas Lights: A Card Game

To complete your strands players need to sift through the light bulbs, arrange them in the right order and trade lights with other players.

The box and component artwork features a retro theme that looks and feels nice. Cards are extremely simple in their design and functionality and are split into four decks – Pattern, Bulb, Event and Character cards.

One of the characters is Santa and whoever draws it gets to go first! Pattern cards tell you the strings of lights you need to build. The Bulb cards are different colors and represent the sections of that string you need to put together which are one of three things – a working bulb, a broken bulb or a plug.

The trick of this game is that when you are dealt cards to your hand, you have to hold them with their backs facing you. That lets other players, but not you, see the actual cards in your hand and part of the challenge is to remember and memorize what is depicted as you play or exchange them with other players.

In essence, Christmas Lights is a set-collection, memory, information-trading game that is perfect as a filler Christmas game as it can take as little as 10 minutes to play. It is a great Xmas game to have around the kitchen table and will make a great addition to your family’s December rotation.

10. Best Christmas Card Game – 12 Days

Each round players give a gift (or, a card) to the player on their left. Next, gifts are opened and new cards are bought to refill the hand. The player with the lowest scoring gift value wins the holiday card which are worth extra points towards winning the game at the end.

The Mr. and Mrs. Claus cards count as 0, and unless two players play them the same round, it’s an automatic victory for that round. In the unlikely event of a tie, the next lowest card takes the round and wins the holiday card.

The winner is counted at the end of 12 rounds, which thematically represents 12 days. To win the game you must have the most holiday cards along with the most gift cards for each ranking at the end.

12 Days is a great take on classic games with a modern mix. A true game for all family, enjoyable for kids as young as 6. If carols and music is your thing, you are sure to find a fun, accessible and thematic delight with up to 5 players.

Top 10 Games For This Christmas – Wrap Up

Xmas board games may be around everywhere this time of the year, but the good ones are far and few between. Hopefully, you now have a choice from our list of top 10 carefully considered board games we’d love you to try this festive season for some great friends or family fun.

We’ve listed tile-placing Christmas tree games, games with a touch of strategy, and games for all the family.
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries is a perfect fit for a small family as the game can only support three players. You’ll find yourself lost, trying to build railways between cities for hours.

Codenames will put you and your friends head to head in a competitive game of wits. Playable from almost anywhere it’s a sure pick if you’re traveling this holiday season.

And finally, Snow Tails, which in itself is an experience to remember. It is a super competitive game that, however, won’t leave a bitter taste in your mouth at the end.

Most games in this review are actually family-oriented, and if you are looking for specifically the top family board games of the year, check our other review. We are sure you’ll find a tabletop game of style and mechanics you would love.

Thanks for sticking around and we finally hope that we have answered your question on “What are the best games to play at Christmas?” and buying an ideal game has just become easier. We also hope we have managed to show a number of family board games that are great alternatives to Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Charades, and Scrabble. The media tends to talk about the games that should be sold rather than the ones that are stunning to play and it is our duty to get the word out there and deliver the credit where it is due!

Lastly, feel free to leave your comments below and share with us your favorite Christmas-themed board games for families and friends! We’d love to know your thoughts on reading this article as well as your favorite holiday games that have not been mentioned in this review.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Best World War 2 – Axis & Allies Europe 1940

It can also be combined with Axis & Allies Pacific 1940 (sold separately) to expand the world war 2 stage to a global scale. The gaming mechanics, quality components and strategic gameplay has earned it a spot in our top 10 strategy board games shootout.

One of the greatest things about this game is the board that is included. The board measures thirty-five inches wide by thirty-two inches high, so it is an impressive board to play on. When combined with A&A Pacific 1940, you get a complete board that is five feet across.

There are six hundred and ten individual pieces that represent infantry, armor, bombers, and naval vessels. In addition, you will find eighty chips, one hundred fifty-five various markers for your map, six dice, and five storage boxes to keep all your parts in safety when storing your game.

Gameplay

The game is played with the same mechanics as previous Axis & Allies games so if you have played any previous versions you will find the gameplay familiar. It does, however, introduce new items and cards that are relatively easy to grasp.

Each round of the game has global powers taking turns according to a predefined order. A turn consists of the following phases:

• Spend your points – each power gets a certain amount of points at the beginning of their turn. These points can be spent on more infantry or repairing structures. These points must be used up at the beginning of the round
• Movement – mobilize your units on the map to get that strategic placement. Once combat is completed, then you would declare your non-combat moves
• New unit placement – place any of your purchased units from the beginning of the turn on the board and count your points in preparation for the next turn

Combat is resolved using dice rolls. Essentially the player with the higher dice roll wins the combat, and this is continued until either all units of one player gets defeated or the attacking player calls a retreat.

Axis & Allies is one of the most widely played second world war board games of all time, and many people would have played one version or another in their lifetime. The Europe 1940 edition is a special edition with the ability to play additional countries such as France or Italy, but the core of the game is as great as the original game was intended to be. It is a very long game, so if you have the time and you have the players, it is worth it, even just for the nostalgic sense of it all.

2. Best Cold War – Twilight Struggle

Playing the game can be lengthy and may take up to three hours if you are not experienced with the game, but as you get more familiar with Twilight Struggle, game sessions can take less than an hour.

Inside the box, you get a board game map of the world with full-color art by Mark Simonitch. The game board measures twenty-two by thirty-four inches and represents countries that were around at the time of the Cold War.

Countries are represented by small rectangles that have the countries flag, name, and a number which represents how many influence markers can be used in that country. There are also several tracks on the board related to gameplay such as turn and action round tracks, military action track, and the Defcon track which is used to keep track of how close you are to nuclear war.

There are no plastic game pieces included, yet you get two hundred and sixty small full-color game counters that are used to spread influence across the world by placing them on specific countries as directed throughout gameplay.

One hundred and ten full-color game cards are inside the box, separated into three-deck eras. You get early war, mid-war and late war decks that you include in the game as you play depending on what round you are on. Cards will have a specific event on each of them and can be used to help spread influence or other specific operations depending on that card’s Operations Points.

The game comes with two six-sided dice for events that require a dice roll, a large rule book, and two-player aid cards. The cards are helpful to keep games on track by having easy to follow, basic game directions.

Gameplay

The gameplay itself is quite straightforward. Turns start with dealing each player a number of cards. One more card is needed to raise the Defcon by one and resetting the military actions to zero.

Players select a card from their hand to play as their headline event. The event happens, and the results are applied to the board and each player as necessary. Then players take turns paying a card at a time and following the events or actions on the cards as described. Some of the things may include placing control markers, making a coup or taking military action.

It continues in this manner until all required cards come into play. The turn record marker on the board is moved up at the end of each turn. Once you hit turn four, you shuffle the mid-war cards into the deck and then at turn eight the late-war cards are then also shuffled into the deck. Once you finish turn ten, all scoring is tallied on all the regions, and then a winner is declared.

There are alternative ways of winning before the end of turn ten to make the game even more exciting. You can win by having control of Europe when the Europe Scoring card comes into play. If either of the players triggers a nuclear war by reaching Defcon 1 then the opposing player wins, and if either player reaches 20 victory points at any time, that player wins the game.

The board game has been in Boardgamegeek’s top ten games almost since its release in 2005. This Cold War board game is not for everyone, and if you are looking for a quick game night for two then this is not the best choice. Alternatively, if you want a deeply strategic war experience with an intriguing Cold War theme, Twilight Struggle is the best war board game for the job. We have previously reviewed the game as part of our two-player board game shootout and it made our best two player board games top 10.

3. Best Artwork – Inis

As the primary goal of the game is to become Ireland’s high king, it means the strategy is not always based on conquering as many opponents as possible as this can lead to less unity and thereby making it more difficult to create a unified kingdom.

The unique part of Inis is seventeen unique territory tiles that are placed on the table each turn. The tiles represent jagged puzzle pieces and are covered in amazing artwork. Each piece connects nicely with adjacent pieces and helps to ensure the game board is different every time you play.

A total of forty-eight clan figures come with the game in four different colors; green, orange, white, and blue. Twenty miniature buildings are included with ten of them being citadels and ten being sanctuaries.

There are four different types of cards that come with the game; action cards, advantage cards, epic tale cards, and four different clan reference cards. There are also fifteen different tokens or markers that are used throughout the game.

Game Play

Inis comes with a rulebook with only eleven pages which is quite small for a strategy war game.

The gameplay is pretty straightfoward where each turn consists of two primary phases, the assembly phase, and the season phase. The assembly phase is routine housekeeping phase that keeps the island of Inis in shape. The season phase is where each player takes actions that get him/her a step closer to victory.

Assembly Phase

The assembly phase consists of the following actions:

• Assign the new Brenn, the player who controls the capital city for one round
• Check if any victory conditions are met
• Take Advantage Cards based on the territories players occupy<
• Determine clockwise or counterclockwise play order by flipping the crow token
• Deal action cards depending on specific conditions that are explained in the rulebook
• Draft cards. Choose one card and pass the rest to the player on your left.

Season Phase

Each player has three choices to choose from during the turn – play a card, pass, or take a pretender token.

• Playing a card. This is the heart of gameplay for Inis. Cards let you explore new territories, start clashes with other players or provide bonuses.
• Pass. You can be forced to pass if you no longer have any cards in hand, but you can also choose to pass if you feel it will work for this particular turn strategically.
• Taking a pretender token. You can’t take a token unless you meet one of the win conditions. Taking a token would show other players that you want to finish the game so be ready for a clash or two.

Clashing in Inis is a form of combat which is instigated by playing certain cards. You can choose not to fight if a clash is brought up. At times it is safer not to be involved in these fights and resort to diplomatic ways of resolving conflicts.

All in all, Inis has just about everything you want from a quick and easy to learn war board game. The randomness of the game tiles means you have a different map every time you play. The fact that all the cards are used in each round means you can learn what can be played each round and let you formulate more complex strategies. This is a fun game that offers a unique experience unlike any other war board game out there.

4. Best Negotiation & Bluffing – Rising Sun

Rising Sun comes in a big box with a lot of stuff. There is your main game board with each territory marked out clearly and various track bars around the map to monitor the different events happening throughout the game.

There are fifty-three breathtaking miniatures in each box with some of the most detailed sculpts in board gaming today. Each clan is molded in different colors, and the golds are all done in grey, so there is no mistaking who is where on the game board.

Seventy-two tokens represent everything from strongholds, ships, clans, and counters. There are also thirty coins that get used by each clan in various events throughout the game.

Five clan screens are included so you can do certain events behind the screen and away from the eyes of your opponents. Nine mandate cards are also needed to round off all the parts needed for play.

Game Play

Each game consists of three seasons representing rounds. Each season is broken up into four phases, each with a very specific set of goals.

The first phase is mainly about the setup. You get to draw cards, as well as receive income and hostages from the previous season.

The second phase is where players form alliances. There are many reasons why you want to form alliances as they can increase your chances for bonuses in the next phase.

The third phase is the political phase where you use a stack of different tiles that have various activities affecting all the players. The top 4 tiles are removed from the stack and turned face up. One tile is chosen by the active player, and the remaining three are returned to the stack. The tile is then activated, and players follow the instructions on the tile.

The final phase is the war phase where players battle for contested territories. Each player uses their war advantage board and chooses the advantages they want using coins. Once both players have made their choices, their war board is revealed, and the battle is resolved.

Rising Sun is a great thematic war board game that can last up to two hours in length. The immensely successful Kickstarter campaign and positive reviews from major board gaming sites is a result of a carefully crafted gameplay that is both engaging and addictive.

5. Best Thematic Storytelling – War of the Ring

War of the Ring comes with a large game board with a map of Middle-earth and all of the key strategic locations.

Two hundred and four plastic miniatures are included to represent different armies and characters from the novels.

One hundred and ten event cards that depict various events from the box are needed for, and sixteen action dice coupled with five combat dice are used in conjunction with these cards. Seventy-six cardboard counters are used to keep track of various things throughout the game.

Gameplay

The objectives of the game follow the books as closely as possible. The story goes that the shadow is attempting to corrupt the ring-bearer and obtain the ring or conquer all of the Free People’s nations. For the Free People, there are two ways to emerge victorious. They either need to sneak into Mount Doom and destroying the One Ring or face Shadow Armies in a direct confrontation. Despite the second option being attainable, it is a lot harder to achieve unless you are an experienced War of The Ring player.

While the objectives mimic the books quite nicely, the way you achieve them can be different. The fellowship also begins as it does in the books but you get to decide where and when it makes sense to split the party.

As the game progresses, events unfold by using the included cards. Players draw cards and then play them by using the action dice. Event cards represent all the things that have happened in the books such as the Ents Awakening, Gollum arriving and much more.

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan and are looking for something a lot more in-depth than your run of the mill game, War of the Ring would be a perfect fit. A battle game that has a strategic portion to it and has all your favorite parts of the books and movies is a perfect combination for several hours of gameplay.

6. Best Civil War – 1775: Rebellion

There is a good size board that includes all the original thirteen colonies.

Military units are represented by colored wooden cubes. White for American Militia, Red for British regulars, Blue for Continental Army, and yellow for loyalist militia. There are also purple and orange cubes to represent French allied forces and Allied Hessian factions.

Each faction has its own combat dice which can roll a hit, a flee, or a command decision during combat. Command decisions can be used to retreat to an adjacent location on the map.

Each faction comes with their own deck and decks include movement cards, event cards, and one truce cart. For each turn, players play a movement card and their choice of event cards.

There is one additional board, the Treaty of Paris board. This is a smaller board that has spaces on it for the faction treaty cards as they are played in the game.

Gameplay

There are eight rounds to the game and four turns in each round, one turn for each faction.

To start a round you draw one of the four colored dice and place it on the turn track on the game board. Continue to do this for all factions, and this will give you the order for the turns on each round. This means that every round can be different for who goes first and who goes last, leaving a lot of the strategy of the game also up to chance.

Each turn consists of 4 phases:

• Reinforcement phase – build your armies strength by adding additional cubes to the game board in various areas.
• Movement phase – gives you the opportunity to mobilize your units in appropriate directions in preparation for the next event.
• Battle phase – use dice rolls to determine how your forces fight and you follow the hit, flee or command decision choices on each dice roll.
• Draw Cards phase – bring your hand back to the original number of in hand cards.

The gameplay is quite straightforward and not overly complicated, so you are unlikely to find yourself reading a rulebook for any more than a couple of minutes. The game does have an age range of ten or above, so it does not get too complicated, but there is still a certain level of strategy needed to use the cards in hand for your movements.

After the eighth round, the game ends and the faction with most territories wins the game. Alternatively, the game can end any time after round three if two of the factions play their treaty cards.

It is the perfect light war board game for those who want to have some casual fun without complex rules or strategies to play. Also, anyone looking to step up from Risk series board games will find 1775: Rebellion extremely appealing.

7. Best War Betrayal – A Game of Thrones

The game board is a beautiful representation of Westeros separated into territories players can control. There are several tracks on the board that help players monitor the number of strongholds they control, supplies they produce, and influence hierarchy between players.

In addition, the board features a wildling track that represents bad events that happen to Westeros and affecting all players. When the wildling track reaches the end, then the wildlings attack and everyone needs to band together to fend them off.

One hundred and thirty-eight plastic units are included to represent footmen, knights, ships, and siege engines. The tokens look like they are made of marble. They are placed on the board and are moved around as your war for Westeros progresses.

A hundred and five cards are used for various events, to depict various well-known characters, and to give orders to your armies as they are needed.

A player screen is available for each of the six available houses and has information that is useful for each house printed on the inside, and two hundred and sixty-six tokens and overlays are used throughout the game as needed.

Gameplay

Each round of the game consists of three distinct phases – Westeros, Planning, and Action.

The Westeros phase represents special events that affect all players. This is the only time where you get together with other players to potentially fight common enemies, wildlings.

The Planning phase is where you issue orders to your armies in secret. This phase works around diplomacy, negotiation, and deduction.

The final phase is the Action Phase, at which point everyone’s orders are simultaneously revealed. Fierce battles can now occur, alliances crumble, and the fate of each player is decided.

Ten rounds are played, and at the end of the tenth round, castles and strongholds are tallied, and the one with the most is declared the winner. If at any point in the game one player controls seven of these castles or stronghold then the game is immediately won by that player.

Game of Thrones Board Game is a wonderfully in-depth board game that is great for a few well-adjusted friends who are willing to spend two to three hours being immersed in a fantasy world of Westeros. The game works best with six players and decent with five, anything less than that we find to deliver a sub-optimal gaming experience.

While the game can take a little to learn and get the hang of, it is well worth it. The sense of competition, tension, and painful betrayal delivers a unique experience only the best strategic war games can offer. Strategic, cunning, and all-out epic battles are all part of this visually stunning game.

8. Best Fantasy War Board Game – Runewars

Gameplay

Each turn consists of four seasons or will represent a full year. Each season a card is revealed that affects the entire map and each of the players. After each season players will use their cards to represent actions such as grow your army or mobilize. As the seasons progress, they can affect your actions and can also affect your armies in play.

During gameplay, there is also a heroes element that emulates a roleplay aspect of the board game. Heroes can go on quests to develop their characters and become stronger to better assist your faction. By using the strategy with these characters, you can often obtain dragon runes through diplomacy instead of on the battlefield giving each player more strategic avenues than just all-out war.

As with any army or realm, resources play an important role. Armies need to be fed and clothed, and weapons need to be created. Strongholds and cities can be formed and fortified to withstand attacks, or a more nomadic strategy can be used keeping your armies on the move with hit and fall back tactics.

Runewars has managed to find a winning combination of a fantasy theme, strategy, epic battles and combine it with modern elements such as resource management and role play. If you are just starting out with the game, it may come across as overwhelming at first as it does require some learning curve. At the same time, once you get the grips on the game, it delivers an incredibly adventurous and epic scale war game experience only a handful of war board games out there can match.

Each faction of the game is unique and comes with miniatures, cards and special powers. Coupled with a modular game board layout, there is plenty of replayability to make each and every game a unique experience.

9. Best War Game For Beginners – Memoir ’44

The combat is done using a dice roll mechanic keeping the game fairly random. The gameplay can last for twenty to forty-five minutes and ends when one player collects enough medals.

Memoir 44 comes with a dual-sided board with one side having a grassy terrain and the other side depicting a beach area. There are forty-four double-sided terrain pieces that are used differently depending on which scenario you are playing.

There are sixty command cards and some explanation cards with terrain and unit information on them for quick reference. The cards are laid out nicely and as you would expect for a game of this caliber.

One of the most important parts of war board games are miniatures and Memoir 44 does not disappoint. Over seventy plastic miniatures to represent soldiers, tanks, artillery, sandbags, barbed wire, and hedgehogs are included in the box and add that perfect bit of fun when it comes to war games.

Gameplay

Playing the game itself is not overly complicated. There are 5 phases for each turn, and each phase is pretty straightforward and makes sense.

• Command cards – play a card from your hand. These cards let you order units for a zone on the board
• Order – Choose which of your units on the board to be activated for this turn
• Move – you can move any of your activated units. Units all have different rules for how far they can move and how they are affected by terrain.
• Battle – each of your units can not fight with the enemy. This is done in three steps
  • Check your range – check how many hexes away you can attack
  • Check your terrain – see how the terrain can affect your attack
  • Resolve your battle – roll the dice and check your results. There are five different sides to the dice. Infantry is on two sides and then a single side for armor, flag, star, and grenade. For each symbol you roll, if it matches the unit you are attacking, then you kill off a figure in that particular unit. Once all the figures of a unit are gone, the unit is removed, and you receive a medal. If you roll a flag, then you force the defenders to move back one hex.
• Draw a command card – draw from the pile to bring your hand back to its starting quantity.

You can get a good feel for the game in a few turns, and the rules take no longer than 10 minutes to go through meaning you can be up and playing in no time at all.

The rules are simple and easy for anyone to grasp within 10 minutes or so. At the same time, this simplicity does have some drawbacks to it.

The randomness of the card deck can mean that you are driven by the card you get dealt from the deck. A bad shuffle or a run of cards that don’t lead to the desired outcome can ruin your well thought out strategy, so make sure you shuffle them well.

In addition, battles are controlled by dice rolls, which assumes luck and randomness in battle outcomes. You could potentially have a great thought out plan which could get thwarted by a bad dice roll. The good side of dice driven battles is that they are always fun and that you never have the same game twice. Conversely, it can lead to a slight level of frustration if you don’t see the dice rolls you need or get that card you are hoping for.

Overall, there are a number of deeply strategic war board games in our review but Memoir ’44 is not one of them. Instead, it is a light and easy to learn war board game that remains accessible for most players, yet still employs a sufficient level of strategic depth. The gameplay is both fun and enjoyable and with streamlined rules, the game only takes about 45 minutes to play. It is not intended for hardcore war board gamers but rather casual gaming nights and as a perfect way to get yourself immersed in the wargame genre.

10. Best Abstract Theme – Root

 Even the win conditions are different between faction, so each player is sure to have a different strategy on the way to the top.

You get a game map that lays out your playing field. It depicts a woodland type of area with several clearings where you need to gain control over.

There are many adorable Meeples to represent each faction. There are twenty-five Marquise that are cats, twenty Eyrie who are birds, ten alliance who are mice and one vagabond that is a raccoon.

For each of the factions you get a player board to keep track of things, there are two counter sheets, and two dice for various dice throws as well.

Gameplay

The gameplay is asymmetrical as each faction has a different way of playing the game. Cats score points by building structures around the forest. They have three actions for each round and have to watch their supplies of wood to be sure there is enough to accomplish their tasks.

Birds are also out to build structures but do so in a different method than the cats do. Their goal is to build as quickly as possible.

Mice are out to gain sympathy from the forest and then try to create revolutions to achieve unbalance in the woodland.

Vagabonds, the raccoon, is a single piece on the game board but can move not only on trails but through the forest itself. The Vagabond needs to acquire items that he needs to use in his journeys to complete his tasks.

Have we missed one of your favorite war board games? Let us know the war game you would like to see in the above list, by leaving a quick comment below:

Frequently Asked Questions

Best Rated Horror Games – Detailed Reviews

1. Best Overall – Arkham Horror (Third Edition)

They encounter people, place creatures which are both mundane and normal. The investigators undergo a series of adventures and gain the clues and resources they require to confront and thwart the Mythos threat in the final phase.

During their time in the city, they gather spells, weapons, clues, and other items to help them throughout the scenario. At first, they aim to avoid powerful monsters, before moving on to close a few gates and seal the active gates, which is the objective of the game.

Once several gates have been sealed and the investigators have the resources they need, they make a final assault on Mythos and try to seal the most active gates. If they succeed, the world is saved. If they fail, the Ancient One awakens for a climactic battle, and it is time to fight for your lives!

Five phases determine one turn in the game. Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player performs the actions which occur within that phase. Once all the players have completed the phase, the first player marker is passed to the player to the left, and a new turn begins along with the next phase.

The phases of each turn are:

Phase I: Upkeep – refresh exhausted cards, perform upkeep actions and adjust skills (if changed)
Phase II: Movement – change investigator’s physical location on the board, pick up clue tokens and trade
Phase III: Arkham Encounters – complete an encounter if the investigator is at location
Phase IV: Other World – complete an encounter if the investigator is at the Other World
Phase V: Mythos – when bad things happen and monsters get spawned

Each phase has its requirements and set of actions to complete, all of which leads to the final, dramatic battle for survival and the fate of the world!

Arkham Horror is tense, atmospheric and requires the player to constantly remain on their toes, thinking, and making important decisions. There are a strong narrative and a story that weaves throughout the game, and the choices you make can have a big impact on the outcome.

It can be tricky with a larger number of players, as the difficulty tends to increase. In fact, anywhere up to four players seem to keep the game balance. Over four makes the game less enjoyable due to the additional downtime and increased complexity.

Overall, an immersive experience that takes you into another world, and encourages you to fight to the death for a successful outcome!

2. Best Horror Coop Board Game- Mansions of Madness: Second Edition

Mansions of Madness consists of a unique map that leads players through a pre-set story, offering several different combinations of plot possibilities and outcomes. It is played over a series of rounds, and each round has two phases: Investigator and Mythos. These are played in a continuous cycle until the players win or lose.

Investigator Phase
During this phase, investigators perform actions to move around the game board, attack monsters, and explore their surroundings, such as:

● Move
● Explore
● Search
● Interact
● Trade
● Component
● Attack

Once all Investigators have had a turn, play moves to the Mythos Phase where bad things happen.

Mythos Phase
This phase generates mythos effects, such as spawning monsters and raising challenges and indicated monster actions. Investigators must resolve these events, and may include Horror Check or Monster Activations – be prepared for anything in this phase!

When setting up the game, the scenario selected will tell the Investigators what they need to do to win. The twist? This goal is hidden from the players. As the game progresses, it is up to you to unravel the mystery and find out the ultimate goal. This solution can be achieved by listening carefully to the scenario’s prologue and intricately examining hints when discovered.

The objective will be revealed well into the game, and Investigators will have one final task to complete. If they take too long, the scenario’s aim may change or become too complicated making the victory unlikely. Ultimately, Investigators need to work together as a team to ensure their actions are efficient and can complete the required objective before the time runs out.

The rules to Mansions of Madness can be slightly complex, but it is well worth taking the time to puzzle them out.

This is a detailed, fast-paced, and immersive game that requires quick thinking and teamwork to survive. Taking too long can cost you the game, and the decisions you make can totally change the outcome. For a challenging combination of roleplay, card game, and teamwork, this is the best Lovecraft horror board game we’ve played.

3. Best Murder Case Solving – Mysterium

The mediums must decipher the images to help the ghost remember how he was murdered and solve the mystery.

You will need to uncover critical details, such as who committed the crime? Where did it occur? What was the weapon? By working together, you can discover clues and secrets to put the puzzle together. If you’ve played Clue before, you know what’s it about.

In Mysterium, one player takes on the role of the ghost, and everyone else acts as a medium. With their help, the ghost first recalls the presence of the suspects on the night of the murder. There are different suspect, location, and weapon cards, which the ghost randomly assigns to a medium in secret.

Each game turn represents one hour, and the ghost turns one or more vision cards face up. They refill their hand to a total of seven each time. The medium’s job is to deduce the suspect which corresponds to the vision card, and they have two minutes from the time the ghost hands the cards to the final medium.

Mediums place their token on a suspect, and put clairvoyance tokens on those suspected by other mediums, to show whether they agree or disagree.

At the end of the two minutes, the ghost reveals which guesses were correct. Mediums who guessed right move on to working out the location of the crime. Those who failed to receive new vision cards, and continue to guess the suspect.

Once a medium has a correct guess for the suspect, murder weapon, and location, they move their token to the epilogue board. At least one medium must identify all three aspects correctly before the end of the seventh hour, or the ghost dissipates, leaving players wondering and the mystery unsolved.

Alternatively, If they all succeed, the spirit recovers enough of its memory to identify the culprit.

If most of the mediums have identified the correct suspect, the killer is identified, and the ghost rests in peace. If not, Mr. MacDowell will be having a few sleepless nights…

Mysterium is an exciting and unique board game which leads to a lot of fun guessing and deducing the final suspect. The puzzle comes together in pieces, making the overall reveal satisfying and worth the wait. The key aspect of helping the ghost find the killer and receive justice is teamwork, and the better you are at collaborating, the more chances you have of winning the board game.

4. Best Horror Board Game Classic – Betrayal at House on the Hill

In Betrayal at House on the Hill, every player, including the traitor, has their own victory goals. If anyone reaches their goals, the game is over, and if any player reaches zero on any of their ‘life energy’ levels, they die. The last ‘living’ player wins unless the traitor gets them first.

To start the board game, each player gets to pick one of six character plates that illustrate the character’s stats. Once you’ve chosen your avatar, you get preset ‘life energy’ levels, namely Sanity, Might, Knowledge, and Speed. You can increase or decrease your levels as you advance in the game.

Initially, the upper and lower floors are joined by a staircase while the basement is isolated. Each floor is positioned on a different part of the table to make sure the floors are visually separated. There are tokens for different ghosts and monsters, tiles for each room, and cards that represent Items, Omens, and Events.

As you progress exploring the haunted mansion, the players get to find and reveal the haunted scenario. The scenario identifies the story as well as the traitor to side with the ghosts. At this point, traitor or hero players need to physically leave the room to read their new haunting rules and strategize on the plan going forward. Once everyone is back, the game continues, with the traitor trying to kill fellow players while they attack him/her (and their creatures).

On your turn, you use your Speed levels to move around the house, opening doors to explore various rooms. If you open an ‘empty room’, then you pick a room tile and use it to ‘build’ the room. The tile might have an Omen, Event, or Item on it, so follow instructions by picking a card from the right pile.

Items offer equipment you can use to explore or defend yourself. Events use dice to add or reduce your ‘life energy levels’ (i.e. your might, speed, knowledge, or sanity). Omens offer ‘numbered gifts’ so you have to roll the dice to keep your omen.

If your dice score is less than the omen, the haunting begins. During the haunting phase of the game, the traitor and other players take turns attacking each other.

Monsters in the game include ghosts, zombies, cannibals, dragons, vampires and others. The great thing about them is that as you play along, you get to know each monster’s backstory making the gaming experience more thematic.

Lastly, the latest re-print of the board game adds 20 new room tiles, one extra floor, 30 new cards, and 50 new haunts. Fans of the game also get two limited edition promo cards : Betrayal and Bardul’s Gate and Betrayal at House on the Hill (Green Devil Face Card and Snake Card). All the good reasons to start building and exploring the hauned house!

5. Best Hidden Identities – Dead of Winter

Since Dead of Winter is cooperative, it comes with 20 different scenarios and a shared objective the team cumulatively needs to achieve to win the game. Every scenario has the main objective, which controls how the game is played. It specifies the number of rounds you’ll play, the team’s joint goal, and a preset morale level.

On top of the shared objective, each player gets also dealt an identity card with a secret objective. Most of the time, the objective is related to helping the colony get through challenges (if you are a good guy/gal) and become most helpful. Other times, the card may suggest that you are a traitor with a personal objective directly opposite of the one other players have.

At the same time, having a traitor in the game is not guaranteed as more cards are mixed into the deck than there are players. I have passionately accused other player of being traitors only to find out at the end of the game that we did not have any. At the same time, if you get enough support from other team members, you can exile the traitor player to constrain what he/she can do.

Nevertheless, the idea of having a traitor in the team is enough to add an element of suspense and even paranoia into the gameplay.

The game is played in a series of rounds. Each round players can pick one of the 12 base actions or use the character’s special ability. The most common actions are scavenging for useful things like weapons, food, supplies, medicine, or fuel, attacking zombies, and moving between locations. In addition, you can also build barricades, clean waste, and attack other players.

The game keeps going until your colony runs out of morale or rounds in which case it ends in defeat. Alternatively, one or more players can come out victorious if the game’s main objective is achieved.

Dead of Winter is a great, fresh, and modern take on a zombie theme that combines psychological mettle with contagious, flesh-eating monsters. It has both co-operative and individual elements, and players have to balance them out to be efficient and eventually win the game. Victory isn’t clear-cut as everyone as well as individual players can both win and lose.

If you prefer the zombie side of horror board gaming, make sure you check our best zombie board games we’ve just finished writing.

6. Best Short Horror Board Game – Ghost Stories

Each village tile allows the players to benefit from a unique bonus. For example, Taoist can bring a dead Taoist back to life in the cemetery, or recover spent Tao tokens from a herbalist. Players can also gain traps, unhaunt other village tiles and even move ghosts as desired.

When it is his turn, a Taoist can move onto a tile to benefit from the action of a villager living on the tile – providing it is not haunted – or even exorcize the ghost which haunts adjacent tiles!

To successfully exorcize a ghost in Ghost Stories, three Tao dice must be rolled with different colors – yellow, green, black, white, red and blue. If the roll matches the colors of the ghosts or the incarnation of Wu-Feng, the exorcism is successful.

For example, to exorcize a green ghost which has a resistance of three, three green dice must be rolled. If your die roll lacks a needed color, you can also use Tao tokens to match the color – these can also be used after the turn. These tokens can be found using certain village tiles, or by exercising ghosts. One player will also have a power, allowing them to receive a token once a turn.

White is a ‘wild color’ and can be used as any color – if you only roll two red and a white, that white transforms into a red, allowing the successful exorcism.

To win in Ghost Stories, the incarnation of Wu-Feng must be defeated. Harder levels of difficulty can be added which increase the number of incarnations, and to win, and all must be overcome.

Losing is easy! If three of the villages tiles are haunted, the draw pile is emptied while the Wu-Feng incarnation is in play, or all the priests are dead, it is game over, and the ghosts can take over the village!

Ghost Stories is a cooperative, team-based game which draws players together in their battle to save the village. It offers a tense and exciting game which leaves you desperate to save the village!

7. Best Zombie Killing Masacre – Zombicide Season 3 – Rue Morgue

Seems simple right? After all, the zombies are pretty stupid, slow and predictable. The bad news? There are a lot of them!

Survivors can use anything they can get their hands on to eliminate the zombie threat; the bigger the weapon, the more zombies can be killed. Trade equipment, give, receive and ignore advice, and even perform the Ultimate Sacrifice to save the world.

In Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue you need to work together to achieve the mission objectives and survive. You also need to clean out infested areas, find food and weapons, and rescue survivors.

The player with the first token takes his turn and activates his survivors one at a time in the order of his choice. At the tart, each survivor can perform three actions per turn, though this can change as the game progresses.

Survivors use their actions to move around the map and perform crucial tasks to accomplish the mission objectives. Be aware, some actions make noise: and this attracts zombies!

Once all survivors are activated, the player to his left takes a turn, and so on until all players have completed their turns. This action ends the Players phase.

After this, the Zombie phase begins. All zombies on the board are activated, and wither attack a survivor next to them, or move towards survivors or noisy zones. Some zombies get two actions that allow them to move twice, attack twice, or attack and move.

The game is over when all Survivors have been gruesomely killed or won when all the mission objectives have been achieved.

A simple gameplay style allows players to immerse themselves in the story, which is carried out against a backdrop of detailed miniatures and top quality board and miniatures.

8. Best For Two Players – Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Once you have chosen your starting point, the campaign rulesheet will provide instructions for the first scenario. These help to set up the narrative, and inject a suitably spooky atmosphere into the proceedings. Following this, the ‘Campaign Setup’ section will provide you with the instructions to set up your adventure.

During a scenario, the aim is to complete all of the Act cards within the scene, before the Agenda cards are resolved. The Act cards advance the story towards success and victory, while the Agenda cards move closer to doom.

Act cards are completed by finding and cashing in clues and investigating locations. Remember that Agenda cards sneak closer to completion, no matter what you do!

To increase the challenge, the Encounter Deck will throw random encounters and challenges at you in every turn, introducing curses, monsters, and obstacles.

There are four main phases to Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Mythos Phase

Your enemies agenda advances, and each player is required to take a card from the Encounter Deck and resolve it. This phase is bad, so keep an eye at it as you don’t want it to advance too quickly!

Investigation Phase

During the Investigation phase you can pause and catch your breath. Each player takes three actions, such as fighting a monster, investigating a location, gaining resources or moving to a new location.

Every time you face a challenge, however, your Investigators skill will be tested against a random value. This value is generated by a token drawn from the Chaos Bag. Things can change in the blink of an eye!

You will need to work together to overcome and minimize problems, as well as making your way through the Act Deck – strategy is critical.

Enemy Phase

Things are bad again! Any enemies on the board are activated, and relevant effects restored. They can attack investigators, sneak away, or generate Doom to advance the Agenda.

Upkeep Phase

Each player gains a resource and a card, and everyone prepares to go again. This cycle continues until the Agenda deck reaches completion – and the world ends – or you advance the Act deck enough to escape the current scenario.

Once the scenario has ended, the Campaign Guide will tell you your fate, and you can begin the next scenario – if you dare.

Arkham Horror: The Card Game offers a fast-paced, intense role-playing experience for two players. It puts the fate of the world in your hands and you together with your gaming partner need to find a way to win the forces of evil through collaborative effort. The board game can be adapted to your preferred style of gameplay and is a great opportunity to socialize and work as a team against the darkness.

If you are looking for scary board games then it could be a challenge as although most of board games in our top ten are brilliant in their own way, not all of them are truly scary. Arkham Horror: The Card Game on the other hand can top the ranks of scariest board games quite easily. 

9. Best Vampire Board Game – Fury of Dracula

Each hunter in Fury of Dracula has a day and a night move and moves across the 1890’s Europe, traveling from city to city using rail or roads.

Hunters can perform actions and travel by day, but they must not travel by night; this is when the vampires are strongest. There are multiple actions to choose from on their turns:

• Gaining items and event cards in cities. During the day, any event card obtained must come from the top of the deck if it is theirs and discard Dracula cards. At night, however, they must draw from the bottom of the pack, and give any Dracula cards to him, strengthening his hand.
• Get a train ticket
• Rest to heal wounds
• Exchange items
• Take an individual action (unique to each character)

When it is Dracula’s turn, he places a new location card on his track. This card indicates to the hunters where he is, and the last six locations he is known to have visited. He must also lay an Encounter card at each site.

If a Hunter lands on one of these locations, the card must be revealed, giving them an idea of where he is. If they find him, or he shows himself, combat ensues.

During combat, Dracula gains his combat cards, and Hunters their item and weapon cards. With each round of combat, each side must reveal a chosen card. Some beat others, some render the other void, and some have other consequences. Conflict can go on until one of the party escapes.

The Encounter cards held by Dracula can also contain fledgling vampires who may engage in combat with hunters, in addition to other traps.

If the Hunters can defeat Dracula in combat, they win. Achieve victory by knocking down all of his health points before the allocated time elapses.

If Dracula can gain enough points before he is defeated, he wins the game. Points are earned by defeating Hunters and maturing his fledgling vampires.

Fury of Dracula is an immersive experience with high replay value – playing as Dracula offers a new, asymmetric experience compared to playing as a Hunter. Hunters are pitted against the nightmares of the night in a battle for victory, and there is a sense that Dracula creeps closer with every turn.

10. Best Horror Miniatures – The Others

The Others is a maze of plot twists and turns, victories and defeats, and life and death. You and your team stand between the world and its destruction if you dare to play.

Player either play as Sins or Heroes. Heroes are divided into different classes, and each specializes in different aspects:

● Leaders are good at helping teammates
● Bruisers are top melee fighters
● Snipers are experts at shooting from a distance
● Fixers have knowledge of the occult and can remove supernatural entities

In addition, each hero has their stats, abilities, and strengths – bringing in the right hero at the right time can win you the battle.

Corruption is a crucial element. It allows Sin to consume heroes, but also enables heroes to accomplish amazing feats if they take corruption. This perk grants them powerful bonuses but has a dark side: when they are entirely corrupted, their demons come back to haunt them, destroying the team from within. Ultimately, their flesh may succumb to sinful influences.

The Sins player can access the different monsters held by each Sin and can either destroy the Heroes or hinder their progress. Each Sin Player has a deck of cards specific to their Sin, and these can be played at different times to surprise players. Each Sin taints the game with an overriding mechanic.

For example, Heroes who wander the streets alone will be punished by Pride, while Sloth will capture those who try to move quickly. It is up to the Heroes to deal with the different influences of each Sin, and this stands between them and their mission.

Acolytes also aid Sins. These are corrupted servants of darkness, and stand in the way of heroes. They also have one unique ability which reflects their previous lives – e.g., the corrupted doctors prevent heroes from healing.

Each session of The Others contains seven different stories, each with their own rules, dynamics, and missions. The three main types are Terror stories – more focused on action and combat, Corruption stories – focusing on the corruption spreading through the city, and Redemption stories – these focus on saving the town and the innocents.

The board has several tiles, which represent different city districts and street configurations. The city still belongs to humans, and so they can get benefits from different areas – the museum gets rid of corruption, and the hospital heals wounds, the regions which are available help to change the whole game.

As the game progresses, the Apocalypse Track advances, and this makes the Sins stronger. If the Track isn’t kept back and defeated, the Sins win, and humanity goes to hell.

With twists and turns, narrative red herrings, and the Sins growing ever stronger, this is a game that doesn’t let you pause for breath. The choices you make determine the course of the narrative, and it is hard not to get sucked into the terror of the encroaching Apocalypse!

A cherry on top is the best miniature in board games we’ve seen. Wait until you hold a 5″ monster in your hands as it would totally justify the slightly premium price tag the board game carries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Dead of Winter can either be a fully or semi-cooperative. The trick is that one of the players may be a traitor with his own hidden agenda achieving which, scores him a win.  Alternatively, if all players are good guys and gals their objective is to work together as efficiently as possible towards a collective victory.

Each player, good or bad, has a personal secret objective. Mostly, secret objectives are secondary to the primary objective shared by the team, which means you need to win the teams objective to fulfill the individual one. If you are a traitor, however, your secondary goal may well be to sabotage the mission and make other players fail.

Teamwork is at heard of Dead of Winter as players need to coordinate action to make sure that action points are spent wisely. There are always more things that are required to be done than you can, so being good at working out trade-offs is an essential skill to master.

On their turns, players can choose to attack a zombie, search a location, put up a barricade, attract zombies, clean waste or use a special ability. Getting actions coordinated and timed efficiently should provide you a good chance of successes. At the same time, ad-hoc events and the possibility of having a traitor in the team add a unique twist to the winning strategy the team needs to come up with.

Expect to be faced with challenging situations where you will be compelled to make difficult, frequent, and varying decisions that will require all of you to decide what options are best for you and which ones are the best for the colony.

2. Best Cooperative Zombie Board Game – Zombicide: Black Plague

I was not initially sure how medieval, fantasy and zombies could possibly blend together, but let me tell you that the mix works brilliantly!

The objective of Zombicide: Black Plague is to punish the evil Necromancer overlords for bringing the world to an end, but to get there you have to go through the hordes of zombies first.

To help you survive dark times, your characters can wield crossbows, make powerful swords, and cast magic spells. To improve your defense rating, you can arm your survivor with shields and chain mail armor. Additionally, you can pick up spell books to carry out fantastic enchantments, or light up a dragon pool to come up with an all-consuming dragon fire!

While the rules have been slightly revamped for this latest incarnation, the core principle has remained intact. The board game is still full of nonstop action, tense atmosphere and loads of fun!

The game incorporates some of the light RPG mechanics as it allows you to enhance your character and gain experience as you go. Experience allows you to up-skill your characters to become more powerful, however, the increased number of zombies over time seems to balance it out nicely.

Go ahead and take on the zombie invasion from secret vaults to medieval streets. Pursue the elusive Necromancers to prevent them from multiplying. Take a whole new set of missions whereby your group of survivors will emerge the heroes of the land or the last survivors of the zombie massacre.

Alternatively, if you prefer fighting orcs a little more, check out the sequel Zombicide: Green Horde in the series which we’ve reviewed as part of the best coop board games shootout.

3. Best Tower Defence – Zpocalypse 2: Defend the Burbs

During setup, you and your friends randomly select two survivors in addition to two starting weapons. The cards are then attached to a special board with each player leading one of the heroes. Depending on the color chosen, players get one pointer that marks the starting point or position on the action board. Some scenarios contain additional rules that modify the course of the game slightly.

Just like the original game, the updated version has simple and straightforward rules. The game involves two to five players each controlling their squad of survivors that is equipped with food, weapons, and other items. As a squad leader, you get to choose the actions your survivors should concentrate on. You get to select and prioritize daily tasks and other duties on the action tracking board. Each action brings value to the squad, yet costs resources, so picking and timing the right choice is paramount.

Similar to other zombie board games, Zpocalypse 2 features a concept of day and night. During the day, you get to assign your squad various actions such as scavenging, crafting, guarding and resting. The objective is to prepare for the night phase where the new zombies get spawned and assault your shelter.

As you progress through the board game, your survivors level-up and gain new skills. Each time you kill a zombie you get to score victory points which are then used to unlock perk cards. Each card can provide a noticeable enhancement by improving the defense stats, dealing extra damage or healing the wounds.

The game also introduces a nice variety of zombies, so it does not feel too mechanical fighting them. In addition to regular zombies, the game introduces mutates which have different health, attack, movement, and special abilities.

As opposed to having your scenario path determined for you like it was in the original game, now you have the freedom to decide your own survival scenario. It is a great perk, especially for someone creative like me.

4. Best Classic Zombie Game – Dawn of the Zeds (Third edition)

The rules are fairly simple. All you have to do is to ensure that you defend the town of Farmingdale and its neighboring towns from zombies’ onslaught.

The goal is to ensure that the Zeds do not reach the town center to cause chaos around Farmingdale, a town that has been abandoned by the government.

The gameplay is simple. Found at the center of the board is a docile hamlet of Farmingdale that’s under siege from hordes of zombies that travel along four roads leading to Farmingdale. However, you must be cautious here since even if one of them succeeds to enter the town, then it’s game over.

The new edition has completely raised the bar as far as the sheer number of options for playing the game and the presentation is concerned. With the latest offerings Dawn of the Zeds (Third edition) still packs a lot of action and fun.

Originally, Dawn of the Zeds (Third edition) was a solitaire game but in this third edition, the gameplay is just as much as on cooperative play. Now, 1-5 courageous individuals can spend more than 90 minutes fighting zombies and learning to come together as a group to fight a common and determined enemy.

5. Best Competitive Zombie Board Game – Last Night on Earth

Like with most zombie board games, the plot is somewhat predictable. The game pits small-town heroes against a horde of zombies.

Unlike, however, many other zombie board games, this one features a full competitive mode where some players can play as heroes that are working together to make it through the tough night or zombies that spread over the town like a plague.

In addition, each scenario has a different board layout, player starting positions and features different themes such as rescue, simple survival, or escape.

You start the board game by dividing up to six players into two teams. One team controls the zombies and the other team controls up to four heroes. Teams then alternate turns to advance with their respective agendas and defeat the other team.

Playing for zombies you get to destroy buildings, stumble about, groan, and make attempts to not only overwhelm, but decimate humans. Humans on the other hand search for crucial items, and try their best to fend off zombies with whatever weapons they have. Sometimes, it can be a gun or a knife, but other times bare hands is all you get to survive the night.

The objective for humans varies depending on the selected scenario. You may need to rescue bystanders, kill a certain number of zombies or find the gasoline or keys so that everybody can escape. For zombies it is all about eating brains, so your objective is to find and eat those tasty humans.

To determine the course of action, the board games features an awful lot of dice-rolling. And if perhaps it was a different type of game, I would consider it excessive, for a zombie-themed board game however it feels just about right. It mimics the sudden events and turns that may happen, such as zombie appearing from nowhere, tripping, losing things and so on.

6. Best Betrayal Zombie Board Game – City of Horror

The objective of the game is to survive until the daybreak when some additional help should arrive. While you are waiting for help negotiation, charming and backstabbing take place.

Sometimes, you may need to sacrifice some for the be the greater good of others to ensure you can make it through the night. But who would that be?

Each player controls a number of characters he or she is trying to shepherd through the zombie apocalypse. Characters, however, are unique and feature special abilities that can be used only once per game. This makes strategy so intriguing as you need to balance between when to use the ability, when to sacrifice the survivor and how does your character fit into the overall winning strategy.

Deciding the character to sacrifice is done using voting, so people with good negotiation skills will have an advantage. At the same time, the game compels you to make difficult, tough and unwanted decisions, and there is no other way around it. 

The game ends at 04:00 in the morning when the rescue helicopter comes to pick up the survivors. Yet, to get on the helicopter, your characters must possess an antidote serum to prove they are not infected. Alternatively, characters remain stranded and score no points.

At heart of City of Horror are voting and negotiation. It fills the game with interaction, collaboration, and tension. Making sacrifices is part of the winning strategy, but picking the right trade-offs and knowing how to negotiate is key to success.

Lastly, 3D component quality is great and manages to deliver a thematic feel. The board features a two-sided modular layout, which coupled with random event deck should provide you with plenty of replay value. Rules are not complex and the rulebook does a good job at walking you through them which makes it accessible to a wide range of players.

7. Best Short Zombie board Game – Zombie 15′

Although the board game is cooperative, each player makes its own decision. The role of others is to help and come up with the most optimal decision in the shortest amount of time possible. When other players make bad decisions or take too long, you may find yourself changing your approach in an instant. And most of the time, due to time pressure, those would be decisions based on a gut feel only.

The board game comes with 15 different scenarios stitched into a single storytelling campaign. Although scenarios try to be different, most of them revolve around getting from point A to point B.

The rules or gameplay are quite simple and new player friendly. Firstly, the rulebook does an excellent job of explaining things quick and simple. Besides, each scenario introduces some new rules, making it easy for non-board gamers to get involved.

Actions, you get to choose from are limited to 5 actions – moving, fighting, searching, picking up and using.

Zombie 15 features beautiful artwork on 32 double-sided tiles. At the same time, the miniature quality leaves more to be desired.

The map takes around 15 minutes to setup and once done can take quite a space on your table. In fact, it may feature up to a hundred zombies on a map, depending on a scenario. Make sure you have enough space for it.

8. Best Zombie Card Game – After The Virus

Like most deck-building card games, in After the Virus you want your deck to host the best cards and little to no bad cards. In reality, this is not achievable, yet if you have enough quality cards in your deck to counter the zombie influx, you should be able to balance it out.

Characters are unique regarding their special abilities and cards that form the starting deck. It adds a nice flavor and a little bit of strategy variety into the gameplay.

Each round begins by drawing a total of five cards from your deck. You may draw weapons, equipment, traps, people or zombies. When you draw zombie cards, they are immediately placed in front of the player to deal with. The objective is to try and resolve all zombies that have been played with the cards you already have in your hands. Any unresolved zombies can cause injury and potentially kill you.

Disposing zombies can be done in two different ways, and the challenge is to balance them out. First, you can kill them, in which case they return to the pile of cards they came from. Alternatively, if you can only discard, they are placed into your discard deck, which pollutes your hand.

As you progress in the game, zombies become more  powerful and harder to beat. This puts a great focus on building the deck with capable cards early on in the game.

Your characters can only take 2 wounds before they die, which is not a lot, especially in the second part of the game. This makes upfront planning and deck building paramount to surviving 20 rounds after which you make it through and win the game.

9. Best Fun Zombie Board Game – Tiny Epic Zombies

The choices are: team vs. game controlled zombies, team vs.player controlled zombies, free for all vs. game controlled zombies, free for all vs. player controlled zombies or simply solo.

Tiny Epic Zombies takes place in a mall that’s been devastated by zombies. Lying in the middle is the courtyard that acts as your safe space; one which the zombies are attempting to attack. The courtyard is shielded by a barricade that you can slowly increase in strength as the game progresses.

The mall that surrounds the courtyard is made up of 8 double-sided tiles that are randomly placed, making each game’s layout different. While the sides have different art, the special events and abilities that you gain from the room in each store change slightly.

For humans to win, they require to complete three scenario objectives. Alternatively, for zombies, they must either kill all survivors or gain control of the Echo Ridge’s courtyard.

Playing as humans, you will find yourself always on the run scorching for weapons to fight zombies and progress towards achieving one of the objectives. Turns typically consist of three move actions and based on where you end up, additional actions may get triggered. For example, if you end up sharing a room with a zombie, you can fight it, if you end up in an adjacent room, you can shoot it.

After completing three movements, human players can search the room and find valuable items, such as weapons, to help them fight zombies. At times, you find more zombies, rather than weapons, so you never know.

Making your turns efficient and managing the zombie count is the key to winning the game. You eventually want to move and attack as efficiently as possible since the time before the supplies run out is limited.

Playing for zombies, you get to control all of them. Your objective is to place and move zombies around such that human players get overwhelmed or the courtyard gets overrun.

Whichever side you choose to play for, the rules are straightforward and easy to learn. It is also visually appealing as both the artworks and miniatures look great. In fact, the miniatures are actually called ITEMeeples (see below) which originated in another board game Tiny Epic Quest. They add a certain character and pop to the overall visual appeal of the game. 

10. Best Zombie War Game – The Walking Dead: All Out War

Each player gets to represent a group of survivors that are pitted against each other in a bitter but entertaining fight for supplies.

In addition, the Walking Dead: All Out War features Walkers who are very noise sensitive, hence if you are not quiet enough in whatever you do, you could soon see them marching towards you. Zombies walk in a straight line, so if there is any obstacle on the way (e.g., barricade or a car), they sure to wander into it. At the same time, this brainless zombie instinct can be used as a tactical advantage by luring zombies into other survivor groups to initiate combat.

To recreate the authentic atmosphere of the series, the base game is set around Atlanta and the surrounding locations and comes with thematic items included in the box such as a gaming mat, supplies, barricades, and abandoned cars.

To help you move characters around, the board game comes with a measuring stick that allows you to calculate the travel distance. This is typical for most tabletop war games.

Combat is resolved using dice, hence there is an element of luck involved. Winning the combat knocks zombies down, yet they can still get up later in the process. If you do, however, want to eliminate zombies from the board game, a critical hit is required.

One of the highlights of the board is two different sets of rulebooks. One is intended for newcomers to learn the basic rules of the game and help them hit the ground running early. The other book is tailored for advanced audience and covers tricky areas, complex cases and mechanics.

Top Rated Zombie Tabletop Shootout – Conclusion

There are hundreds of zombie board games out there that are a perfect pass time with your friends. There’s is something special about ghosts, zombies, and other nightmares that promise to be a great fit for huddling with your group of friends.

If you are zombie board game enthusiast, gather your group of friends, dim the lights, and get ready to experience instances of terror that only a board game can deliver. As discussed above, there are many zombie board games for you to enjoy, though the ones mentioned above appear to be the best.

One of the reasons as to why the above –especially Tiny Epic Zombies, Last Night On Earth, Zombicide: Black Plague, and The Walking Dead: All Out War –  are the best are due to simple rules of play in addition to excellent graphic designs and ease-of-play that accompanies some of the above games.

All in all, the above board games are fit for a lazy afternoon with a group of friends or alone if you so wish. They can all be enjoyed either alone or with a group of friends. See what it feels like to escape while avoiding being eaten alive by bloodthirsty zombies.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Best Fantasy Board Game For Solo Play – Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven features a cooperative campaign mode consisting of 95 scenarios giving you over 200 hours of play time.

Players get to control fantasy characters completing scenario objectives and advancing in the overall campaign. Besides each character gets to accomplish personal quests. Completing hero quests grow your characters but make them exhausted at the same time.

You will find yourself changing characters multiple times through the lengthy campaigns. Characters age and retire making way for new characters to enter the play. It may feel strange at first, but if you think of your characters as mercenaries rather than heroes, it feels right.

Over time, we have learned to like it. It feels like an additional flair that helps to maintain a good level of engagement throughout the game.

There are 12 different character classes in the game. Each features a surprisingly unique playstyle and abilities which contribute to the already impressive replay value the game offers.

At the start of the round, each player chooses two cards to use in the given round. Selecting the right cards for the circumstances is the key to a successful round.

Overall, individual actions may feel essential, it is the team strategy that you want to keep coherent and efficient.

Getting the team alignment is more challenging than it may sound at first. Players are only allowed to communicate using general terms. You are not allowed to mention specific actions you are going to take or cards you are planning to use. It pushes the team coordination to a new level and gives a great bonding feel as your teamwork matures.

Unlike a typical dungeon crawler board games that feature dice for combat, Gloomhaven uses cards to resolve battles. They act as modifiers to the player’s attack values, items, and other player abilities. Overall, the change feels quite welcome and refreshing to the otherwise staid combat mechanic.

If you like cooperative boardgames with a fantasy theme, you will love Gloomhaven.  The concept of cooperative play is profoundly and firmly ingrained in everything you do in the game. Fighting monster, solving quests, coordinating rounds and even shaping the storyline, all done together in a joint team effort.

Moreover, Gloomhaven does a fantastic job on multiple fronts. As a result, in our other reviews, we have also nominated the game as one of the top coop board games and best RPG board games around.

2. Best Fantasy Board Game Dungeon Crawler – Descent: Journeys in the Dark

There you will find monsters to battle, riches to gain, and advance on your journey of stopping the overlord.

Depending on your gaming preference and the time available, Descent offers two ways of play. You can either play an individual quest or engage in a long-term commitment by playing a campaign.

Quests are broken down into two acts which take around an hour each to complete. Each quest has unique goals, both for heroes and the overlord. Also, the quest objectives are rarely plain or straightforward, such as kill all monsters in the dungeon. Most objectives are creative, thematic and tell a story in details. For example, you may need to save guests from a masquerade ball or steal some farmers crops if you are the overlord.

Campaigns typically represent multiple quests strung together. However, the quest sequence in campaigns is not always predetermined. Depending on the outcome of one quest and whether the heroes or the overlord wins, the next quest gets determined. It makes the gaming experience and storyline somewhat unpredictable and adds a nice element of surprise and a plot twist.

The fast pace is extremely important at successfully completing quests and winning campaigns. On your turn, you will find yourself presented with dozens of options most of which you would need to ignore as your heroes can only do so much before they get exhausted and require a rest. Part of the quest puzzle is picking the right battles to fight, doors to open and interactions to engage in. In fact, it feels that the time is your worst enemy and not the evil monsters spawned by the overlord.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) provides an equally engaging, fun and enjoyable gaming experience for both heroes and the overlord. Unlike other dungeon crawler games, it supports an overlord character progression and allows the overlord to win quests too. Some quests, however, are inherently unbalanced, so it is important for the overlord player to adjust the gameplay difficulty for heroes to make it an enjoyable process for everyone.

The game comes in a box full of miniatures, cards, tokens, and tiles. Given that you have a good imagination, you should find all the pieces to build a custom adventure experience and develop your own storyline as you go.

Overall, the game brings to the table everything you would expect from a campaign-driven fantasy board game. It has character progression, amazingly crafted and unique quests delivering an intense gaming experience that sometimes comes down to a single roll of the dice. We have also nominated it among the top RPG games and dungeon crawler games to hit the market in one of our other reviews.

3. Best TV Series Fantasy Board Game – A Game of Thrones

4. Best Adventure Board Game for Kids – Mice and Mystics

5. Best Fantasy War Board Game – Runewars

There are four distinct fantasy factions available in the game – humans, undead, elves, and chaos. Each faction features unique military units with special abilities and distinctive battle strategies.

The game runs for seven years where each time of the year (spring, summer, fall, and winter) represents a game round. A season-based event system adds an intriguing twist to the gameplay as each season either adds or removes a condition which can be used to strategic advantage (e.g. during winter, the water freezes and armies can walk on ice).

At the start of the game, each player gets a deck of eight order cards. Those cards represent the orders you can assign to your armies (e.g. attack, muster, gather resources, etc) at the start of each season. The cards are selected secretly by all players, which are then simultaneously revealed and sequentially executed. This order card placing mechanism is partially what makes Runewars epic. It adds suspense, uncertainty and even paranoia encouraging players to backstab and break alliances when your opponents expect it the least.

The other part of Runewars that makes it an epic fantasy war game is the armies and the combat system in general. Instead of dice, the game uses cards which are just as random, yet feel more innovative. Every time you muster army units, defend or attack, it feels epic. Battles are so engaging, intense and strategic that they become borderline addictive making you want to push your luck constantly, even against stronger opponents.

Besides, the game features heroes that play a supporting role dueling other heroes, completing quests or acquiring artifacts. The latter can provide an advantage during battles and can help to discover dragon runes. The distinctive feature of heroes is that they almost reside in a parallel dimension. They can freely move around the map without other player’s armies being able to cause any harm or impede them. They have personal agendas and nothing, but other heroes can stop them.

Through conquering lands, crushing opponents, destroying strongholds and completing hero quests, the players get to discover dragon runes. Once found, runes need to be carefully hidden and protected from other players as the player with the most runes at the end of the seventh year lands a victory.

6. Best Thematic Fantasy Board Game – Blood Rage

7. Best Fantasy Board Game For Two Players – BattleLore

8. Best Family Fantasy Board Game – Small World

9. Best Fantasy World War Board Game – Chaos in the Old World

10. Best Adventure Board Game – Legends of Andor

Although there is a healthy portion of battles to be had in the game, the combat mechanism is straightforward.  Dice and different modifiers are used to determine the overall strength value and resolve battles. The opponent who ends up having a higher strength value wins the battle. It is that simple.

The key, however, is picking the right battles to fight. Killing too many monsters advances the narrative quicker leaving you less time to complete the objectives. On the other side, not killing enough could see them overrun the castle and end the game.

Player interaction and cooperation is what drives Legends of Andor. As a team, you get to decide which quests to do, who does it and jointly balance the time track. The latter poses the biggest challenge of the game. You want to ensure you can complete the objective in time but not let the monsters overrun you.

The game is also extremely family-friendly as it is cooperative, fun, engaging and easy to play. If you are looking for one of the best fantasy board games for a great family evening, Legends of Andor is worth checking out.

Frequently Asked Questions