A few months ago I saw a post on BoardGameGeek about “if you had to sell all but twenty of your board game collection, what would you keep?” so I thought I’d write what my twenty games would be. I’ve not included skirmish and war games such as Warhammer or Star Wars Legion or any roleplaying games (D&D etc) as they are games that can get very expensive when it comes to buying miniatures and books to continue the games but they tend to need others to have the games to in order to play them.
The first three games I would keep are what would be considered gateway games and those are Catan, Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride. These are all fun games that can be used to introduce people to a different variety of games other than the classics like Monopoly and Scrabble etc. These games can be considered a staple of any gamers collection and great for a family/friends games night as they are easy to learn and play with not many complicated rules to bog you down and make you lose interest.
The next two games are roll and write games that I really enjoy playing. The first is Cartographers which I have played a little bit of lately. It’s a simple game that allows for a little strategy in planning future moves to get a high score. The second game is Twilight Inscription. This is a huge roll and write game that takes a couple of hours to play but adds a complexity of strategies to make you manage your player mats effectively to complete objectives and score high. Both games offer solo play which is a big part of why I like the games but also the totally different styles of gameplay needed for them.
I’ve chosen two card games for my next selection, Star Realms and Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Again, both games are totally different in styles of play. Star Realms is a deck building game where you go head to head with another player to reduce their Authority to zero by drawing and playing cards each turn. There are some expansions that can be added to the game but the base game is enough to keep you going and the Frontiers expansion allows for solo play. Arkham Horror is one of my favourite card games that I do not get to the table enough. Yes, there are lots of expansions to buy but now they have condensed them into two boxes per campaign it makes it easier to collect and play. The story driven scenarios make you think about what you need to do and how you’re going to do it and the twists and turns in the game keep you on the edge of your seat. I like this game because of its depth and storytelling as well as being able to play it solo.
The next couple of games I’d keep are quick simple games to play. They are Azul and Tiny Epic Galaxies. I’d wanted Azul for quite a while as I liked the idea of a tile placement game so when I played it at games night and enjoyed it I had to buy it. Tiny Epic Galaxies is the only Tiny Epic game on the list as it is clearly my favourite one that I own. I find the solo mode challenging enough to keep me coming back for more and playing it multiplayer is just as fun and hard to master.
This selection of games are huge on a planetary scale. Earth, Planet Unknown and Terraforming Mars have been some of my favourite games in the past few years so it makes sense they would appear on this list. They all have different styles of gameplay. Earth with its card drafting and tableu building gameplay, Planet Unknown with its tile placement and planet building gameplay and Terraforming Mars with its objective based gameplay. Each game’s main objective is to score the most points and when you’re playing solo you can try and beat your previous score. The art style of Earth and Terraforming Mars are a big draw for me as it adds to the aesthetic of the game as the components of Planet Unknown do too.
When I was growing up, there was one game that dominated my time and that was Risk. I first played Risk at a high school club when I was eleven years old and it has been in my collection ever since. It’s box had disintegrated and it is missing a card but it was still playable. I haven’t played it for a while but it something I would like to play again. I did manage to pick up a second about eighteen months ago for £5 in a charity shop. It was complete and the same version I already had and the box was intact.
The next game on the list is a true solo game that I had heard so much about so I had to give it a try and was not disappointed. Final Girl is a unique game where the expansions are feature film style scenarios where you are, you guessed it, the Final Girl trying to outwit a killer. The true solo aspect of the game was the biggest draw for me as I can pick it up and play it anytime. There are two series of feature films so far with a third on the way which I am looking forward to seeing what they are based on. So far I own four of the twelve feature films giving me plenty of play options with the eight Final Girls on offer.
Heat isn’t normally a type of game I would go for but this car racing game is so much fun to play. You have the option to customise your cars or play with the standard deck which regulate your speed (movement) and the heat of your engine. We had a lot of fun playing this as a group and I felt it captured the essence of racing as you don’t know what the other players are going to do or risk on their turn. I also have the Heavy Rain expansion which adds another player and two tracks to the mix as well as more cards to customise with. The Tunnel Vision expansion is out later this year and will definitely be worth looking at.
This next game was a big surprise when I first played it and how much I enjoyed led to repeated solo play. Dice Theme Park is a dice placement game where you build a theme park and control where the guests go to visit your attractions. As with most worker placement games, it’s all about managing your resources and attractions to get the most points and win the game. There are objectives to complete on particular turns to boost your points as not completing them will hinder your progress. This is also a great game to play with multiple people as there is more competition in buying the attractions. Either way it is played is great fun and I think it is one of my most played board games of 2024.
The next couple of games are from one of my favourite publishers, Stonemaier Games, and you don’t need to guess what they are. Of course it’s Scythe and Tapestry. When I first played Scythe, I instantly liked the style, gameplay, backstory and components to the game. Set in an alternate 1920s, you play a character that guides their workers and mechs to collect resources to complete objectives and score the most points. The aesthetic of the game is fantastic and the components and artwork are of a very high standard I come to expect from a Stonemaier Games product. I have invested heavily into Scythe with all the expansions and a game mat to enhance the gameplay and increase the player count. I’m looking forward to playing the Rise of Fenris campaign later this year to see what it offers. Tapestry nearly didn’t make this list as I was going to include Scythe Expeditions (the sequel to Scythe) but I thought as Tapestry was a different style of game it needed to be included. Tapestry is a civilisation building game where you take on different styles of civilisations on offer. The quality of the building miniatures and other components that come with the game are good and the different playmats give players multiple options for building placement. The expansions offer more civilisations, miniatures and maps adding more to the game as well as adding a fifth player track to work with. I have managed to play with all the expansions and really enjoyed the added elements of gameplay.
The penultimate game for this list is the updated HeroQuest. This is a strange addition to the list as I haven’t actually played the new version yet but it offers all the nostalgia of the original game from 1989 from Games Workshop. I wanted to get all the miniatures painted before I played this and now they are done, I’m waiting to find the time to play it. I have plans to buy the expansions soon and paint the miniatures just because they are really nice models to paint.
The final game on this list needs no introduction as it’s a game I absolutely love playing just because of the sheer size and complexity of it and that is Gloomhaven. Having played Jaws of the Lion and Buttons and Bugs, the original game is definitely my favourite of the franchise so far (I don’t have Frosthaven, yet!). It’s a dungeon crawler, RPG and legacy game all rolled into one giant box. The quality of the game’s components are very good and the option to buy removable stickers makes the game replayable although replaying the 95 scenario campaign could be a little ambitious. I will go for weeks where I play nothing but Gloomhaven then put it away for months before going back to it like I hadn’t stopped playing it. I even have the digital version where I was trying out different characters and scenarios to get the best out of the experience. The Forgotten Circles expansion is also in my collection which adds more scenarios and another character into the mix.
So that’s my list of twenty games I’d keep if I had to sell my collection. What would your twenty games be? Do you even have that many games to put on a list?
Tabletop Tales 