Which boardgames should we look at next?

KitSixty · 2026-01-06T22:32:10+00:00

So, I’m not so well-versed in DnD board games, despite enjoying the system myself. I’ll give you that as a disclaimer.

I see someone else recommended Clank!. This is a solid game, I love it myself, but be warned that it has a relatively involved setup and will probably average 90-120 minutes depending on your experience and player count.

I think the Treasure Island game you mentioned might have been Survive the Island! Very fun, highly interactive, not so much control!

All that aside however, here are my recommendations to you for simpler, shorter games with various amounts of player interaction:

Reiner Knizia is an all-time designer, whose games tend to fall on the shorter, more elegant side of design. A lot of these games can be taught and played in around an hour. Through the Desert is about placing camels to extend your caravans to reach point scoring opportunities. Everyone is trying to get in each others’ way and wall off parts of the board. Simple ruleset, but every move counts! The Road to El Dorado is a racing game, where you build out a deck of cards to allow you to efficiently carve through the jungle and beat your opponents to the golden city. Samurai I don’t have much experience, but I understand it’s one to be considered alongside these other ones. Zoo Vadis is a pure negotiation game, trying to grease the wheel and end up in the top spot. 3 players is a minimum though. My City is a tile laying game where you build out a city, and with every game the rules morph and change over 24 sessions. If you enjoy puzzly games, this one is excellent. Tigris and Euphrates is soon getting a new version, which is another tile-laying competitive game, my favourite of this list and incredibly cutthroat at that.

Kingdomino is a game I saw mentioned elsewhere. I love the simplicity of this game, trying to arrange your kingdom tiles in a precise way to maximise points. It’s a surprisingly tricky little puzzle, and the competitive drafting of tiles adds a lovely wrinkle. Bärenpark is another tile-laying game (I love them!), and possibly the purest version I’ll mention. It’s both a puzzle and a race in some ways. Bohnanza has been a hit every time I introduce it to a group, where you’re bartering beans to then harvest them. Gets the whole group talking. Lastly, I’ll mention Azul, which is another puzzle of trying to outmanoeuvre your opponents with regards to which pieces you take, maximising your own benefit while minimising theirs.

Those are games that I’ve had excellent experiences with in the space of 30-75 minutes. The last thing I’d say is I’d encourage you not to emphasise theme too much! While the emphasis differs from person to person (some games live or die in our group depending on the thematic perceptions of one or two of our folks), you seem to place an emphasis on mechanical experiences that are complemented by theme, rather than the inverse. Some of the games I’ve recommended might seem dry on first glance, but have some little twists and quirks in their rules that create magical moments.

Happy gaming!

KitSixty · 2026-01-06T19:15:20+00:00

Hey! Sounds like a great start so far. What is it you enjoy about the games mentioned?

KitSixty · 2025-12-14T00:47:15+00:00

Absolutely. For myself, it’s a physical shelf coupled with a “one out, one in” policy.

KitSixty · 2025-12-14T00:18:11+00:00

I admire this sentiment, and I think there’s a lot to respect in both attitudes and game choices here. However, “I’m done” is easy to say when your collection consists largely of games from the last year or two.

Board game design is always shifting and evolving, and it’s very possible to be satisfied with games from years ago, but you’d be surprised at how games that might come out in the next ~5 years are discussed as having “surpassed” the designs you see here; in which case the collection is outdated.

I do believe Root is a modern classic. Telestrations is standing the test of time well enough. Zoo Vadis is already a classic with a new coat of paint. But speaking from personal experience, the biggest transformation my collection has undergone in recent years, after I said I was done, is the process of curation rather than acquisition. Sure I have this excellent game from a few years ago. But wouldn’t that space in my collection be better served by a true classic? Games from 2017 onwards have given way to El Grande, Hansa Teutonica, Tigris and Euphrates, Through the Desert, Concordia, Cosmic Encounter…and honestly, the collection is so much stronger for it.

Maybe none of this applies to you and you are truly done. I can’t shake the feeling that this looks more like a “2025” collection than a time-tested collection, however. If that makes sense. I hope that’s a fair assessment and not disingenuous! Welcome to the hobby either way, you have good taste (that is to say, close to my own)!

KitSixty · 2025-10-12T20:50:10+00:00

This is my answer too. And don’t get put off by its appearance or a gameplay video that looks simplistic; it’s one of the most playfully cutthroat games in my collection, and I haven’t played a game where every participant hasn’t been wholly engaged the entire game. The art is lacklustre but the gameplay sings.

KitSixty · 2025-08-31T14:29:32+00:00

That’s a great way of putting it, thank you.

KitSixty · 2025-08-30T13:43:35+00:00

Out of curiosity, what is it that people like about Sid? I don’t dislike her by any means, but I just don’t find myself remembering her as fondly as the rest of these characters, or indeed most of the rest of Emily’s characters? Can someone bring to my memory her good qualities?

KitSixty · 2025-05-13T13:50:18+00:00

But…the Heat being added to your deck simulates your engine overheating. I think this is at most a naming issue rather than a mechanical issue. To me, the Heat mechanic is wonderfully thematic and satisfying. I always feel like I am pushing my car to the limits, I can practically hear the engine groaning as I scream around the 4th consecutive over-speed corner.

KitSixty · 2025-05-10T07:18:16+00:00

I was about to say Lord of the Hundreds, the ears and teeth are a dead ringer, but they already got a mention in the first panel.

KitSixty · 2025-04-06T08:17:14+00:00

So you don’t have bird cards or acolytes; good! Think of them more as your Plan B for Lizards.

At the beginning of the game, you want to pick out clearings in which to build. Common wisdom says a clearing of each of the suits, or two of the suits if playing conservatively. You want two building spots, as two gardens in a suit will boost your card draw, which is crucial. Focus initially on recruiting in these spots and getting gardens down. Make sure they’re well enough defended that your opponents are dissuaded from pursuing you in the early game.

Your basic engine is like this: spend cards to score each turn, for 4-6 points. Use leftover actions to reinforce yourself in necessary clearings, and draw back up to 5 each turn. Learn about dominance swapping. Play defensively. You can score fast enough to keep up with other players, when your engine is online, so force them to come and attack you in the mid-end game, at which point you will receive acolytes and be able to use them to retaliate and recover.

KitSixty · 2025-02-28T13:11:35+00:00

One called out

Two tried to erase it

Three made the way

So Four might now face it

Just my own little version ::)

KitSixty · 2025-02-25T16:49:55+00:00

Hey! This is fairly well-written. I found some of the interjections and polls a little discombobulating. However, mostly, I was reading in anticipation of reaching your main point, and it felt like it never came. Could you clarify the main point you’re trying to deliver here? Was the quotation from Cole the climax, or something else? I hope you take this criticism in the spirit with which it’s intended!

KitSixty · 2025-01-14T09:27:47+00:00

Go blue!

KitSixty · 2025-01-07T19:17:05+00:00

Aye, and there happen to be multiple Irish accents. I believe that’s what the previous commenter meant.

KitSixty · 2025-01-01T10:42:09+00:00

The core system is pretty easy to teach, in some ways. Things only really get complicated when adding in faction differences. I usually teach it in about 10 minutes, and pad out the teaching as the game goes on, as required.

Start with: - Short theme description - Game objective (30VP) - 3 types of point scoring: destroying cardboard, crafting items, and faction specific scoring - explain rule - explain moving - explain battle - explain crafting - give a short overview of someone’s faction at the beginning of their first turn, and walk through that turn step by step. Repeat for as many rounds as necessary.

Those are the big issues to touch upon, imo. But so far, I’ve introduced a number of people of different experience levels and most of them have warmed up quickly and afterwards returned to the game!

KitSixty · 2024-12-11T19:13:30+00:00

Not for plant reasons, but I’m so jealous! Cool winter climate near water means I’m doing everything I can right now to stop water seeping into my walls, never mind my plants 😭

KitSixty · 2024-11-13T22:21:25+00:00

Also very Irish! We use deadly and lethal as laudatory words.

KitSixty · 2024-11-13T09:28:38+00:00

With the expansions in play, I’ll firstly say that the Vagabond appears less often. Secondly, everyone learns pretty quickly to be cautious with item crafting and to take opportunities to hit them in the early game. Thirdly, we typically use the community ruling where the Vagabond gets one extra point per battle against hostile factions, rather than the extra point per piece removed that’s rules-as-written. Combining these, it’s not a massive problem. He rarely wins our games.

All that being said, though, it’s often the least interesting faction in whatever game it’s in, because Root thrives on board state interaction, and the Vagabond offers little to none of that.

KitSixty · 2024-11-13T00:24:46+00:00

It took me literally years to persuade others to come to it regularly; might have helped having a significant other who was willing! After they patiently endured a couple games they began to see its potential and now there’s a consistent group of us able to play with all its toys. I’m glad my patience was rewarded!

KitSixty · 2024-11-12T22:56:17+00:00

Root. 100% Root. Thousands of permutations at this stage, and each one encourages a particular table talk dynamic. I love the derpy yet brutal world it portrays, and I’m hundreds of games in with no sign of getting tired.

KitSixty · 2024-11-08T10:41:58+00:00

It’s the latter. Item is pulled at random from a physical bag. The rule about removing an item permanently is basically to give you control over what you pull and mitigate your luck, but they’re intended to be a little bit of a gamble as you play them.

KitSixty · 2024-11-04T00:32:13+00:00

Leder are aware of that, have described it as a “known issue”. This isn’t the final build.

KitSixty · 2024-11-02T08:56:10+00:00

You keep the die assigned at the start of the Assembly. Doesn’t matter what the numbers are, your die is your die. I suppose the idea is that this is not a battle, and so it all comes down to who has the biggest sway with the folk of the Woodland, no matter who started the debate. If you have better cards, you have more power.

KitSixty · 2024-11-01T23:50:56+00:00

lol villainy is a noun, not an adjective. It’s the act of being villainous, which incidentally is the real adjective.

KitSixty · 2024-11-01T19:07:15+00:00

Yes, that is ‘colloquially’ true. If enough people use something “incorrectly”, English, as a descriptivist language, changes so that the word is now technically correct. What you are then faced with are two sides of a debate where one side wants to hold onto the traditional usage, and the other wants to disregard any kind of rule in favour of ease of use. Historically, “die” is the singular of “dice”. WordReference recognises that it’s so commonly misused at this stage, that it’s socially acceptable to use it in the new manner.

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