Incredible gaming was not limited to the screen this year. A wealth of fantastic board, card, and miniature games found their way to tables, bringing friends and families together for evenings of strategy, imagination, and fun. From simple party games to sprawling quest-driven adventures, these are some of the year’s best new projects for your gaming group.
Darwin’s Journey
Players head out across the Galapagos, examining unusual animal species, investigating life’s diversity, and contributing to the field of biology as they dispatch information back to museums to further human understanding. The complex and interconnected worker placement mechanics demand careful strategy from the start, with nearly every action crucial to securing victory. With board art that recalls Darwin’s familiar sketchwork, it’s a thinker’s game that celebrates the mystery and discovery of science.
Earth
This charming but strategically rich tableau-building game challenges players to build a natural ecosystem while drafting cards from a vast supply of over 300 options. Each player mixes and matches things like the island and climate where the game begins, lending an asymmetrical quality. Featuring strong ecological overtones, Earth’s most impressive trick is how it keeps every player acting and engaged with gameplay, even when it’s another player’s turn.
Expeditions
2016’s Scythe was a standout success thanks to its tightly balanced engine-building gameplay and gorgeous alternate-history setting. Expeditions is the sequel, and while the evocative art style and world are the same, there’s plenty new to discover. Players compete to build power, finish quests, and investigate the mysteries behind powerful meteorite pieces, all with a strong focus on exploration and discovery.
Freelancers: A Crossroads Game
Plaid Hat’s celebrated Crossroads system gives tremendous flexibility and choice to players for crafting their course through a tale, and the cooperative Freelancers is one of the best to date. Like a game of Dungeons & Dragons set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the game doesn’t use a game master like an RPG might. Instead, the integrated recorded audio elements add flavor, depth, and fun. It’s a rollicking, creature-slaying, player-driven good time.
Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R.
We’ve seen many Marvel tabletop games in recent years, but this cooperative venture is one of the strongest. Players team up to take on one of four distinct villains, each controlling one of the iconic heroes from the comics. While globetrotting to confront the bad guys, players are kept busy with a brisk turn order that never leaves anyone waiting long to do something fun. And combo and team-up opportunities are plentiful, capturing that sense of heroes who must work as one to save the world.