The best board games for 2020: Lord of the Rings, Mansions of Madness and more
Board games have come a long way since the old days of family game nights played checkers, chess, monopoly, scrabble and trivial pursuit. In fact, there has been a creative renaissance in recent years that has spawned games that include complex strategies, problem-solving skills, and even hand-eye coordination. Some can be expanded with additional map expansion packs that open up new game options and variations of rules. Today’s games are not just simple, family-oriented perspectives. You are demanding enough to challenge serious player.
Not surprisingly, the themes of the best board games often focus on zombie attacks, science fiction battles, Dungeons & Dragons style Fantasy and Lovecraftian supernatural high jinks. Some popular board games, like the newer ones Lord of the Rings: Traveling in Middle-earthCombine map tiles, miniature figures and a highly polished tablet app that does some of the map and combat management for you.
Here are some of the best board games for 2020, each of which can turn the game night into an epic adventure with real competition to win. Feel ambitious and want to Make your own additional accessories, game pieces or card holders with a 3D printer? We also have ways to do this.
Do you have your own suggestions? Let me know your selection for the best board games in the comments or on Twitter.
Continue reading:: Best 2 player board games for 2020
COME ON
The latest version of this zombie-filled game series is about a distant mining colony in which zombie-like aliens team up with big boss monsters straight from Doom. One to six players struggle, usually by using their problem-solving skills to collect some McGuffins and reach the exit while swarms of Xenos flood the map. This party game is great fun and is a simple turn-based game that you can learn and learn.
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The classic cult comic offers a great game full of comic art, great miniatures and lots of storytelling. The more expensive collector’s edition increases the number of minis after 100 and contains a fun idea that I would like to see more in the game: A random mission generator for endless mix-and-match scenarios.
Ravensburger
There have been a handful of Minecraft card and board games out there, but this new one launched at Minecon 2019 seems to be the most ambitious and fun ever. They are actually looking for resources with tiny wooden blocks and combine building with fighting mobs.
Fantasy flying games
It is time to bring the community back together. This German-style board game is an entertaining game in which you team up with four other players (or just as a solo player) to trudge through Middle-earth by moving cool-looking, shaped miniatures on map tiles. There’s a free but mandatory app for iOS, Android, and Steam that tells you how to lay out the tile and what monsters to fight. It also provides some degree of randomization to challenge even the most sophisticated strategies and skills. It was developed from the ground up as an app-based board game and makes it easier to set up and learn the ropes.
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Another giant boxing game. This is one of my favorites as it contains tons of floor tiles you can use to build a haunted house, as well as dozens of plastic miniatures for investigators and monsters. The mood is definitely classic Lovecraft, and for this board game you’ll need to use the companion app that creates the layout, spawns monsters, and even adds sound effects.
Dan Ackerman
This game, inspired by Universal Monsters, is an entertaining mix for those who love nostalgia and modern tabletop games and who compete against all the classic universal movie monsters of the 1940s and 50s, from wolf people to Dracula. Don’t call Frankenstein’s monster “Frankenstein” by mistake, otherwise I’ll tweet you.
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The best Star Wars game I have played in years is not a video game – it is this fun and challenging tabletop strategy game in which rebel heroes fight through different battles with Imperial forces. There is a fantastic companion app that not only teaches you to play, but also does story telling and placement of the enemy so you don’t have to guess. The miniatures are fantastic and contain a huge AT-S. Add-ons and extensions are sold separately and can add dozens of new characters. Entertaining fact – this is actually a remix version of a game called Descent: travel in the darkGive it a try if you love a game that plays like Imperial Assault but has a fantasy theme in Dungeons & Dragons or Game of Thrones style.
Dan Ackerman
Now get the jokes “I need a bigger boat” out of your system. This clever new two-part strategy game is asymmetrical, which means that one player is the overpowering super shark and the other players are unfortunate people who have to combine their strategic thinking, skills and resources with the aim to survive and win. It is a great family game for the 12+ viewers. The best feature is the game board, which switches from the beaches of Amity Island to Quint’s Boot in the second half in the first half. (It is gradually being eaten by the shark.)
Steam forged games
As a long-time Resident Evil fan, I had to grab this game to be able to play it right away. How many big boxing board games it is started as a Kickstarter campaign, but is now available from Amazon and other retailers. In contrast to arcade Y zombie games like Zombicide, the mood here comes much closer to the survival horror feeling of the Resident Evil video games. If you have a 3D printer, there are a lot of accessories, including 3D walls, doors, and typewriters that you can download and print for ways to replace the cardboard tags supplied with the game.
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A stripped down version of the Lovecraftian game subgenre. This is a card-based game only, so there are no card tiles or plastic tokens. Still, there are amazing narrative stories where place cards are placed on the table to give each player a clear picture of what’s going on where. If you like this, it is a “living card game”, which means that new card games are released regularly.
More fun and play
Originally published earlier.
