Strategy Board Games Bucket List

Command cards and blocks over the Normandy hedgerows, in under an hour.

Simultaneous role selection and an icon language you learn in one game.

Fourteen alien species terraform a hex galaxy in the sharpest Euro engine on the shelf.

A civilisation game in cards, from bronze tools to space flight, without the six-hour map.

Drive cattle to Kansas City, building your deck and your route on the way.

Card play and city building beneath the sea, with a tight three-colour economy.

Borrow resources from your future self and pay them back through a time rift.

The area-majority classic: caballeros, a castillo and one hidden placement.

Tunnels, ferries and stations on the best-loved map of the series.

Deck-building married to worker placement on Arrakis, with combat that bluffs.

A two-player market duel of camels, commodities and bonus tokens.

Workers ride giant rotating gears; the longer they stay, the more they earn.

A two-player quilt of Tetris pieces and a time track instead of turns.

Tile-laying puzzle of Pacific Northwest wildlife (2021).

Design and run a modern scientific zoo (2021).

Deck-building exploration of a lost island (2020).

Bid and build to electrify the most cities (2004).

Two-player Cold War tug-of-war (2005).

Build up a medieval farm and feed your family (2007).

Learn and play shogi, a traditional Japanese strategy board game similar to chess

Trade in the Mediterranean in ancient times

Lead woodland factions in an asymmetric game

Lead Viking clans in the final battle of Ragnarök

Investigate eldritch mysteries

Build networks during the industrial revolution

Create and expand your own vineyard

Defend your island against colonizers