Strategy Board Games Bucket List

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

Harbour economics: buildings, ships and a food clock that never stops.

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

Roll dice, trigger buildings, race to finish four landmarks.

A twelve-card engine duel: mages, artifacts and essence, in thirty minutes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The original industrial-revolution canal-and-rail game, meaner than its Birmingham sequel.

A twelve-month campaign that tears up, writes on and permanently changes the board.

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

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

Design and run a modern scientific zoo (2021).

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

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

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

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

Lead woodland factions in an asymmetric game

Investigate eldritch mysteries

Build networks during the industrial revolution

Trade in the Mediterranean in ancient times

Defend your island against colonizers

Lead Viking clans in the final battle of Ragnarök

Create and expand your own vineyard