Board games, which will have to break his head

As many of you know, the world of board games is very diverse and actively developing. You can find games for almost any taste and temperament, from unpretentious games for companies at parties to hardcore monsters in which games last for hours, from unpretentious card entertainment to wargames that require a lot of money to build armies from miniatures and learn rulebooks on hundreds of pages.

In our company, many people are interested in nastolki and even regularly get together and spend evenings after the parties. Therefore, this Friday we decided to take a break from the hardcore code (but not from hardcore) and made a selection of board games for you, in which you will have to break your head a lot to gain the upper hand over your rivals. Each game we assigned a level of difficulty. It is subjective and relative, it is possible that some games will seem more difficult or easy to you.

Immediately make a reservation - in this collection will not be wargames and collectible card games (CCI): these genres usually require large expenditures on the search and purchase of figures and cards in order to assemble their army or deck. We will consider only those games in which it suffices to buy one box.
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And let's start with two monsters, perhaps the most ambitious board games.

Twilight Empire (Twilight Imperium)

Relative complexity : ★★★★★

Epic space strategy. And the “epic” is not an exaggeration here: a party for six people can easily last 9-12 hours of pure playing time.

Here you need to manage your interstellar empires, trade with each other, very actively engage in diplomacy, jointly adopt various laws that will affect the future course of the game, develop the tree of technologies available to you (each player represents a particular race with its capabilities), and most importantly - fight !

On a hefty playing field, fleets of gigantic spaceships converge, and the heat of passion does not subside during all long hours of the party. The game harmoniously used a variety of mechanics: the tree of technology, battle-modifying maps, diplomacy, the system of laws, cubes when calculating damage in battles.

This is what a typical game’s table in the Twilight Empire looks like:





Yes, this game is not for everyone: the games are interesting and diverse, but at the same time very long, and not everyone is willing to spend, without exaggeration, the whole day on the game, and yet you need to collect the same company. But the scale, depth and excitement of the game pays for the time spent.

Forbidden Stars

Relative complexity : ★★★★★

This game is not so big, but also belongs to the category of "heavyweights". A strategic game on a space theme, but it is made in the universe of Warhammer 40,000, the most popular desktop wargame.



Here, players take turns laying tiles, each time creating a unique playing field, and fighting with each other for control of star systems. As in Twilight Empires, in Forbidden Stars, you will also lead space armada into battle, trying to fulfill the goals you are facing (each player has his own). In this case, you will be disturbed by a warp storm migrating on the map, which breaks the links between the star systems and breaks the plans of the naval commanders.

Each turn, the players take turns closing the order cards to the troops, and then play the resulting sequence of orders, of which there are 4 types:

• mobilization - an increase in the army and the construction of buildings on the planets,
  
• planning - getting new cards from the deck,
  
• administration - collecting resources from the planets,
  
• relocation - movement of fleets on the playing field.
  

The combat system is also based on dice.


In principle, this is a game for those who are not ready to spend the whole day on the “Twilight Empire”, but at the same time wants to fight in a large-scale space strategy.

Lords of Hellas (Lords of Hellas)

Relative difficulty : ★★★ ☆☆

Funny idea: mix alien technology and Greek mythology to get cyborg monsters. Winning in the "Lords of Hellas" can be done in different ways: first by killing the required number of wandering monsters, capturing a certain number of provinces or temples.



You can play as ordinary warriors, also cyborg, and call for help heroes, for example, Achilles with a flamethrower built into his hand. Characters can be pumped, improving their different skills and equipping them with more powerful weapons. And the game also has great big miniatures!

Through the Ages

Relative difficulty : ★★★ ☆☆

When looking at the playing field, this is not at all obvious, but “Through the Ages” is also referred to the strategy genre.



The game mechanics is based on technology maps, buildings and characters, track counters of culture, science and military power, as well as multi-functional cubes tokens that mark the number of resources and available actions. We collect resources and build wonders of the world. They put the cubes on the map of the farm - you laid food on the military map - the army was replenished.

By the way, the mechanism of battles in the game is quite developed, which is not surprising, because people were engaged only in those thousands of years that constantly fought with each other. However, there is no advantage in the side of the war in “Through the Ages”, the game is very balanced: if you focus on any one sphere of development, you will have to immediately solve a bunch of emerging problems, both economic and managerial.

Sid Meier's Civilization (Sid Meier's Civilization)

Relative difficulty : ★★★ ☆☆



Yes, in the world of board games there are adaptations of computer games (there is even a desktop Doom).

Here you can play for one of six races, and just like in ancestral mother, you can win in four ways: military, cultural, economic or technological. Curiously made the mechanics of building a map - the players begin in their home regions and as the borders of their states expand, they gradually "open" the map of the world, laying out new pieces of tiles. Battles and science made in the form of maps.

Gaia Project

Relative difficulty : ★★★ ☆☆

At first glance it seems that this is another space strategy, but no - this is a well thought-out economic game dedicated to the colonization of planetary systems. Players gradually lay out new tiles, creating a new game space each time. Choosing one of 14 races, you need to accumulate resources and expand your possessions, simultaneously completing tasks that will bring additional victory points.



In the “Project Gaia” there are seven types of planets, and each type can be colonized only by some 2 races out of 14. So it’s not at all that the star system discovered by you will be useful for you, but it may turn out to be a tasty morsel for rivals, who try to take her hands with all the ensuing consequences. Also in the presence of the mechanics of the development of sciences, which expand your opportunities for expansion.

New Angeles

Relative difficulty : ★★★ ☆☆

The plot is this: in the future, the largest city on the planet has become New Angeles. It built a space elevator, which is able to deliver to the moon, as well as the most powerful corporations in the world. One of them will go to your administration, and you will lead it into a bright future, conquering power and wealth, while maintaining order in the megalopolis.

Inish (Inis)

Relative difficulty : ★★★ ☆☆

In my opinion, this is one of the most controversial games in the collection. It causes either delight, or complete lack of understanding, what is it all about? Hot fans of the game claim that it is revealed in all its glory not immediately, but after two or three games, only then comes an understanding of all the possibilities and beauty of the plan.

In Inish, you need to fight for power in ancient Ireland, laying out a very complex playing field of tiles and placing clan figures. Whoever has more figures on the tile controls him.

There are three ways to win: control 6 enemy clans (that is, ensure your numerical superiority), be present in 6 regions or build where you are present, at least 6 shrines.



The battles here are very abstract and highly dependent on military maps. By the way, the rules stipulate that, by agreement of the parties, the conflict can not start at all, or at any time stop butting. The mechanics of the draft are also used here - before the start of the round, the players take turns handing each other around in a circle action cards, each time leaving one for themselves, thus forming a “hand”. These action cards just allow you to open new fragments of the map, build sanctuaries, move clans to other regions and get advantages in battles. So you have to lose your head very much, thinking over what your rivals can do.

Twilight Struggle

Relative difficulty : ★★★ ☆☆

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if at some point in the Cold War another decision was made, and as a result, the USSR would not lose? In the duel wargame "Twilight", you can try to rewrite the course of history - or repeat it - by entering the fight on a huge world map about a meter wide on the side of one of the camps led by the United States or the USSR.



The game consists of 10 rounds, each of which is devoted to a certain period of time with real historical events. Your goal is to use your action cards to increase your influence in a particular country, including organizing coups. At the same time, it is necessary to keep a balance in tensions and not bring it to a nuclear war.

War of the Ring

Relative difficulty : ★★★ ☆☆

Dedicated to all fans of Middle-earth. A very large-scale strategy, in which up to 4 players will clash in battles between good and evil. Included is as much as 205 miniature figures, heroes and ordinary warriors, more than 30 types of miniatures.



The game is asymmetrical, that is, the alignment of forces and goals in good and evil is different: the first want to destroy the One-Ring, the second seek to wipe the defending cities off the face of the Earth. The actions of each side during a turn are determined by the dice rolls. The sides have their own cubes, and not just numeric, but custom ones, on some faces there are values ​​- “jokers”. You can also change an unfavorable situation with the help of event maps. In general, the game is very variable and makes it very tense to move the brains.

Detective: a game about modern investigation (Detective: A Modern Crime Boardgame)

Relative difficulty : ★★ ☆☆☆

This is a plot game in which you as investigators of the National Agency "Antares" will have to solve five crimes, using a variety of tools and solutions. At first, all these matters seem unrelated to each other, but gradually they will begin to take shape into a general picture of the story (no matter how much it happens).



The peculiarity of the game is that it also uses the online component: you can enter the Antares database through the Internet in order to get information about suspects, witnesses, arrests and court cases.

Star Wars: Uprising (Star Wars: Rebellion)

Relative difficulty : ★★★★ ☆

Sorry, that again about the space, but still it is the author's collection. But about the "Star Wars".

The game is based on the very, warm tube trilogy, filmed by a sweetheart George Lucas. Before you unfold a huge map of star systems, one player will lead the troops of the Empire, the other - the forces of the rebels. The first with the help of space and planetary troops will search and destroy the rebel base, the second will try to stir up a civil war in a semi-partisan style.



The authors not only recreated the world of Star Wars, but also introduced heroes into the game - characters from the parental trilogy, which have a huge impact on the gameplay. Here you can send a fleet of miniatures to the enemy — there are even Death Stars — and then land troops on the planet. The game uses a bunch of cards, some activate the unique skills of the parties and characters, others are used only for battles.

Brass. Lancashire (Brass. Lancashire)

Relative difficulty : ★★★★ ☆

This is the only game of the Eurogame genre in the compilation, because I don’t like it. Eurogames are a class of games in which there is practically no conflict between players, no aggressive actions, but at the same time, the players themselves have little interaction with each other. The main events of these thoughtful games are held on personal game cards, tablets, where participants collect and exchange various resources, build something, solve some problems. They play, so to speak, not with each other, I am near, in parallel. But, for the sake of justice, it is in the games of this genre that most of all have to tensely calculate the moves and actions.



“Brass. Lancashire ”is a deep economic euro dedicated to the industrial revolution in England in the 18th century. The party consists of two parts: the era of canals from 1770 to 1830, and the era of railways from 1830 to 1870. You will need to build and modernize enterprises, produce goods and develop transport routes. The one who scores more victory points by the end of the game is a good fellow.

Cool video unpacking two games of the Brass series - Lancashire and Birmingham (the components, of course, are chic):

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This is only a tiny fraction of board games that are not as simple as they may seem, and some do not even try to seem simple. If you are only taking the first steps in this hobby, or are far from it at all, then it is better to start with simpler games, the so-called fillers and pattigames. And how to get comfortable and want something more complicated and interesting, be sure to look at this list. Surely you will find something to your taste.