It's common to see games with player count recommendations like 1-4 or 2-5, but these don't necessarily mean that the game plays equally well at all those player counts. In my experience, most games with a count in the region of 2-5 players will feel more open and less interactive at the lower end of the scale, and more crowded and competitive at the higher end of the scale. This is important to bear in mind if you have strong preferences for more or less interactivity. Why this D&D actual play series featuring the voices of Geralt and FF16's Clive is going to be the next big thing

As the leader of the newest branch of our military is keen to tell you, space is hard. But, as classic science fiction novels have been saying for literally decades now, the future of labor in space is even harder. That fact has led to all manner of absurdist fantasies, from violent xenomorph stowaways to hard labor and indentured servitude. Sure, its theme hits closer to home nowadays. But there's something cathartic about giving a pandemic the boot… even if it's only in this tabletop world of tokens and cards.Descent: Legends of the Dark: The sequel to Journeys in the Dark, this enormous dungeon-crawling adventure is one hefty upcoming release. Rooms can also contain enemies that players will need to fight off using their character’s various abilities - which differ depending on their class type - all whilst coping with any potential status effects they might have. All in all, Darkest Dungeon seems to promise players all the doom and gloom they’ve possibly enjoyed in the video game, but within a co-op tabletop experience. The intense challenge of the original certainly looks to be making its way into the board game, so it’s perfect for players that enjoy overcoming seemingly impossible odds. Remember, this is a Big Potato title. What Next? is a party game at heart, and for it to be a success, it needs to make us smile. I saw doubters turn into believers when playing this. I caught them looking sheepish when they realised how much fun they were having. It helps that the rest of the components are top-quality, rounding off the experience. The plastic pieces for the challenges are solid and eye-catching. Explore the entire continent of Tamriel in this adaptation of the RPG video game series As players progress through the game, they'll be able to advance their characters' skills.

Arcs: Collapse and Conflict in the Void has gone through a lot of iteration over the years as Cole Wehrle - best known for designing woodland warfare board game Root - has taken his upcoming game in several different directions. How it works: Casting you as one of two traders in the eponymous city of Jaipur, your challenge is to earn an invite to the maharaja's court by being the best businessperson in all the land. How you do that is up to you though, and there's plenty of room to experiment.If you like dice, you’ll love this, which not only features fistfuls of tumbling cubes but even has dice-shaped playing pieces. Your goal is to push your orthogonal avatar over the finish line of a race before your competitors. To do so you'll need to roll movement faces on your pool of dice. Other faces generate income which you can then use to buy dice for yet more rolling enjoyment, and hopefully movement, on following turns. You want something very replayable: Because there are so many different strategies you can make use of (and each session offers up unique opportunities due to randomness of the draw), you can play Jaipur multiple times and have a different experience each round. Gameplay: Pandemic's balance of risk and reward keeps it at the top spot as one of the best board games overall. Is it better to keep disease levels down so that they don't spread from city to city in the short term, or should you play the long game and go all-in on developing cures? There's no right answer.

Indeed it’s clearly written as such, with all three adventures adopting a tone of wry comedy, full of silly ideas and showpiece moments. But there’s plenty to enjoy for all ages, from nods to popular franchises to the occasional hidden gag for adults. It’s hard to imagine anyone feeling self-conscious reading out the text since everyone is in on the joke. Gameplay: All those special powers make the game delightfully unpredictable. Seeing as 51 alien species are included in the base set, there's almost always something new to see, learn, or overcome. You never get a chance to rest on your laurels as a result, and different matchups require different strategies. Simply put, it's energizing. The only thing you do know is that one of the game's scenarios will eventually begin, dictated by the rooms and items you've drawn. This mission turns your allies - or the mansion itself - against you. Seeing as both sides are given secret objectives to follow, the result is an anxious yet exhilarating race against time. Some of these cards are worth a lot right away, others provide multipliers, and yet more require you to collect a set for bigger payouts.This means that there are multiple approaches you can take on your path to victory. (Just don't forgot about Puddings, which are only scored at the end of the game and may tip your score over the edge.) I would also recommend digging a little deeper into how a game players if it has a broad player count, as some games designed for larger groups support fewer players better than others. If a game has a two-player variant, like 7 Wonders with 7 Wonders: Duel, it's a good sign that the base game isn't great at a lower player count.

Cyclades 2 looks like the perfect way for fans to revitalise their love for the series and for new players to experience it for the first time. It’s always great to see beloved board games get a new lease of life, especially when they have gameplay systems as solid as the one found in Cyclades. There’s really no excuse not to give this one a go now. For example, some gamers really like worker placement games and all their associated strategy, but others find them too structured. Other players love the randomness of dice rolling, while some prefer to have more control over what happens in a game. If you think about all of your favourite games, there are likely to be some common threads of mechanics that are often present and mechanics that nearly always aren't.

Buy Descent: Legends of the Dark on Zatu and Fantasy Flight Games. 4. Burncycle It’s the far-flung future and this time the robots are the heroes Players become mechanical freedom-fighters in this co-op game. There are a couple of answers to this question, and the one you get depends on your criteria. If we're talking about the #1 board game in terms of sales, it would have to be chess. This old-timer shifts roughly 3 million units each and every year, eclipsing almost everything else on shelves. It's time to pass Go for good with the best Monopoly alternatives – board games with the same feel, but even more fun Don't be fooled by that cutesy art style; this is as hardcore a strategy game as you can get. Because each woodland faction boasts unique skills and objectives, there's a lot to sink your teeth into. It's very replayable as a result. You can decide as a group which path to take, or you can have the current active player make the final decision. I prefer the latter – it makes that player feel as though their decision is important. That way, no dominant alpha players can take control.When that Danger symbol appears, you have to flip the Location Card over to its reverse. These are the harder sides of the cards, at ‘nighttime’. Everything’s harder in the dark! When you start on Location Card 0, it tells the active player to randomise the starting time of day by turning the Time Dial. This is excellent for replayability. Sure, you can play the adventure by taking the exact same paths each time. But by having a different time of day to start means you’ll see alternating ‘Danger’ cards appear at different plot points. You want something easy and breezy: Looking for a simple party game that'll only last for 20 minutes or so? This ain't it, chief. Despite being accessible on the whole, it's still a lot more complex than classics such as Clue. Find the best board games for family, friends or couples – all explained for beginners and for a range of budgets Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile: The hotly anticipated release from the designer of Root and Pax Pamir that puts elements of legacy games into a fantasy setting. What you need to know: If you have a soft spot for fantasy and love nothing more than poring over ye-olde maps while dreaming of adventure, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion should be on your radar. This dungeon-crawling epic taps into all that with branching storylines more commonly seen in the best tabletop RPGs, and it makes skilful use of 'Legacy' mechanics where the consequences of your actions carry across from one session to the next.