My wife and I live near a board game cafe, so whenever we go, we play a new game. Here are my previous entries, but this time we only played one game, because it took hours to play, so I’m rounding out the list with games I already have. If you have a game you think I should try, let me know!
As always, no links in this articles are ads or affiliates. I have no incentive to highlight any games.
Lords of Waterdeep
Waterdeep, the City of Splendors—the most resplendent jewel in the Forgotten Realms, and a den of political intrigue and shady back-alley dealings. In this game, the players are powerful lords vying for control of this great city. Its treasures and resources are ripe for the taking, and that which cannot be gained through trickery and negotiation must be taken by force. Lords of Waterdeep is a strategy board game for 2-5 players. You take on the role of one of the masked Lords of Waterdeep, secret rulers of the city. Through your agents, you recruit adventurers to go on quests on your behalf, earning rewards and increasing your influence over the city. Expand the city by purchasing new buildings that open up new actions on the board, and hinder—or help—the other lords by playing Intrigue cards to enact your carefully laid plans.
This is a Dungeons & Dragons game, made by Wizards of the Coast, which is honestly the reason I pulled it off the shelf. This is the first “worker-placement” game I’ve played, and it was fascinating. After some light research, it seems this is the highest rated worker placement game on the market, so I got it for my wife for Christmas. She said of all the games we’ve played at this cafe, this has been her favorite.
This is probably the most complex game we’ve played this series, so I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who’s not into modern board games, but we certainly are more seasoned, and I can’t wait to have another crack at it.
As I said, that game took over our whole visit, so here are some games I already have.
Munchkin
Munchkin is the mega-hit card game about dungeon adventure . . . with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. Be sure to don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm . . . or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon . . and it’s illustrated by John Kovalic. Fast-playing and silly, Munchkin can reduce any roleplaying group to hysteria. And, while they’re laughing, you can steal their stuff.
The first is Munchkin, which is like D&D Lite. It’s a slapstick goofy game of going through a dungeon, fighting monsters, and getting treasure. This is a game I played and loved years before I got into D&D, though I didn’t understand all the jokes at the time.
It is incredibly simple, something I would suggest if I’m playing with kids, or people who are used to Monopoly. The most complicated this game can get is in the negotiation, which is entirely optional. You can choose to ask for/offer help to fight a monster, for a share of the reward, so that can get as complicated as you make it. I certainly wish more games had negotiation with other players for help as a built in mechanic.
Hogwarts Battle
The forces of evil are threatening to overrun Hogwarts castle in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, a cooperative deck-building game, and it’s up to four students to ensure the safety of the school by defeating villains and consolidating their defenses. In the game, players take on the role of a Hogwarts student: Harry, Ron, Hermione or Neville, each with their own personal deck of cards that’s used to acquire resources.
By gaining influence, players add more cards to their deck in the form of iconic characters, spells, and magical items. Other cards allow them to regain health or fight against villains, keeping them from gaining power. The villains set back players with their attacks and Dark Arts. Only by working together will players be able to defeat all of the villains, securing the castle from the forces of evil.
This is not an endorsement of JK Rowling’s views. Trans Rights are Human Rights.
This is a blast of a cooperative game, and I think it’s best design comes in the growing complexity of the game. You see, you play the game in Books. In Book 1, there are only 3 villains to work through, the cards you buy are fairly straightforward, and you can get through it in 15 minutes. Then, each book, they add more villains, more mechanics, and more interesting cards.
By the time you are in Book 7, you’re rolling extra dice, playing powers off each other, have a special hex token you’re putting on villains, and turns are taking much longer. It usually takes my wife and I about 8 hours to play the whole thing beginning to end (assuming we actually win, which doesn’t always happen). We always end up splitting it up between a couple of days. We might do Books 1-3 the first day, 4-5 the next, then finish with 6-7. Between each Book is a clear stopping point, that involves resetting the board and your hand anyway.
This is a great game, especially for a Harry Potter fan, and it’s definitely one of the more prominent boxes on my game shelf.
The Nerdd 