Staff Picks

Finished your Pandemic Legacy campaign and unsure where to go now? Are you looking for something other than Catan for the millionth time for family board game night? Come check out our staff's favorite recommendations!

Nick: Conquest - Sorcerer Kings Faction

The sounds of furious infernos and tempestuous winds whip across mighty sand dunes. Troops of armoured infantry and men wielding bows of war, following alongside mighty elementals, genies and monsters. The Sorcerer Kings are marching to war!

The Sorcerer Kings are the newest army in the Miniature War Game of Conquest. You will be building your army, rolling dice, moving miniatures, and strategizing your way towards victory!

In Conquest, the Sorcerer Kings are an elite army composed of elementals, ranged units, and magic! With an aesthetic reminiscent of Arabian/Indian design mixing brutish elementals and massive war elephants (known as Mahut), as well as some well armoured infantry with gloriously decorated shields, helmets, and clothes, with more yet to come! This army is uniquely suited to ranged combat and holding the field down with spells and a hail of arrows! Not to mention a ritual mechanic that only these lords of the shifting sands may summon!

So go forth; dominate the battlefield with mighty missiles, magnificent magic, and the massive Mahut!

(Painting optional, but recommended!)

J.D: Tanto Cuore

Katrina: Mystic Vale Essential Edition

Mystic Vale is a beautiful and thematic deck builder with a very interesting twist; instead of building your deck by adding new cards to it, you’re building the very cards themselves. Create unique cards by combining and layering various effects together to generate mana and victory points. Each effect is on a clear acetate card that sleeves into a larger card sleeve, and can be layered up to 3 times. 

This essential edition even includes all of the small box expansions for the game which allow you to expand on your gameplay with additional acetate layering cards, adds asymmetry with the addition of leader cards who have their own special powers, and even amulets which can provide powerful boons when used.

Mystic Vale has been a long time favorite of mine, and is a game I recommend to anyone who enjoys deck builders.

Nathan: Invincible - The Hero Building Game

Invincible: The Hero-Building game is a cooperative Bag Building and, well, Hero Building Game.

Each player picks a character, each with different stats and play styles and then chooses one of the scenarios to attempt.  

During a player's turn they will be drawing cubes from their bag and playing them on different cards and abilities to activate them, but be careful, if you draw your 5th black cube your character crashes and will have to be rescued by another player or take a bunch of damage at the end of the round.  As you're placing cubes you'll also be getting Confidence (Buying Power) which can be used to add more cards to your hero board to make your hero more powerful.

I love Invincible: The Hero-Building Game because the hero-building aspect is quite fun and there's a lot of potential for comboing cards together.  The scenarios are challenging and feel quite different from each other.  The game flow feels good with no tedious little rules or annoying upkeep. Plus who doesn't love that feeling of pushing your luck, drawing cubes from a bag and hoping not to crash.  

Cassi: Dungeons & Dragons - Bedlam in Neverwinter

A three session escape game for fans of the tabletop game or puzzle connoisseurs. This escape room puzzle game is D&D themed through and through: character creation with a variety of options for race and class, a plot hook like any classic D&D session starter, items and locations that dungeon delvers are familiar with, and it manages to include some light rules for combat with iconic monsters using a d20. Each player takes turns exploring and investigating the room tiles, and even in a 4 player game there were enough puzzles and variety that everyone got to pitch in and solve the mysteries hidden around this game. Though the game doesn't have much replayability, it is able to be fully reset to pass along to your friends and family.

Nicole: Diced Veggies

Looking for a faster paced dexterity game that has enough strategy to make you think but not enough to paralyze you? Diced Veggies is right up your alley! A good family game that works with 2-4 players and has a fun mechanic for getting the dice that you need. The small box size makes it a breeze to take out to the cabin or camping and there you can quickly teach the game to the players! While you are not directly competing with the other players, you could create masterpieces while your opponent struggles to get the groceries that they need. So pick up that cleaver and get to dicing!

Eric: Root - Blades in the Dark RPG

Blades in the Dark is best known as the RPG system for running a heist. It is that but it has much more going for it than just that. The worldbuilding the book provides doesn't so much set up the whole world as much as it sets up just one city. Having the game take place almost exclusively in one city gives the game a more claustrophobic setting, your enemies are always close by, you are likely to see the aftermath of your actions and importantly you can't just run away from consequences. Consequences are a core element of the game. Often when you test a skill you will get a "mixed success" meaning you do the thing you're trying but there is some kind of snag. After every job the world reacts in some way and everything you gain you had to take from someone else. This all leads to a story filled with complications giving your DM a steady supply of sources of drama. 

Blades in the dark isn't a tactics combat game and it's not a power fantasy but it is a game about taking risks getting your hands dirty and trying to survive the fallout of your own choices. 

Rachel: Blade Rondo

The Blade Rondo games highlight cooperative, competitive, and solo styles of play.  Players are able to choose to play against one another, put their minds together in order to defeat the boss cards, or defeat boss cards on their own.  

When a boss is defeated, you or your team get to decide if you want to add the boss to your team or draw a new card in order to defeat the next boss.  3d10 are used as counters for voltage, attack, and defense.  Based on the numbers you have for your attack and defense (0-9), that is how much damage you are able to do and avoid.  As for voltage, different cards require different amounts of voltage to use, and voltage is gradually increased by one each turn.  Depending on which cards you randomly select, you may win or lose the game, as some cards are simply better than others.  However, it takes time to gain enough voltage in order to use these cards, and sometimes may not be worth the wait.  

Even with the luck of the draw aspect, enough strategy is implemented for each player to stand a chance of winning.

Are you looking for a game that can be played cooperatively, competitively, and solo?  The Blade Rondo games can be played all three ways!  Play against each other, work together to defeat bosses, or defeat bosses on your own!

Robin: Paku Paku

Can you keep your paws calm in this fast paced take and go dice game?

Paku Paku is a pass and go dice game consisting of cute little dishes to stack and dice to pass! Including 5 dice divided amongst the players, the game starts with somebody shouting "Paku Paku" and you begin rolling the dice and away you go. Depending on what you roll you either pass dice to the next person or stack a dish in the middle, but be careful! If you knock the stack of dishes over you lose, have to collect points (which you do NOT want in this game) and that round ends. Rounds also end if one person ends up with all 5 dice before the dish stack collapses!

I really enjoy this game because it's quick to learn and small in size to travel with; it's a great addition to any games room!

Peter: Final Girl Starter Set

Ever wanted to star in your own horror film? Final Girl has you covered! Final Girl takes the trope of the last girl standing in a horror movie, turning it into an engaging solo board game experience. Scavenge for supplies, save victims, and fight the killer to the death! Mixing dice rolls and card management, winning a game of Final Girl requires both strategy and luck. Thematic at its core, you'll find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat each time you roll the dice. Will you fail or succeed at stopping the killer?

If you wish to customize your experience, you are also able to pick up additional Feature Film boxes, which allow you to play as different Final Girls, fight against different killers, and loot different locations. Killers, Final Girls, and locations are able to be completely mixed and matched as you please, leading to even more replayability!

Be the last girl standing in this solo board game as you fight for survival against a cold-blooded killer! Final Girl blends both card management and dice rolls to create an engaging mix of strategy and luck. Will you take the killer down, or will you be another victim?