MENTAL BLOCKS

Welcome

Welcome to The Best Games of 2019! Over the next 195

AZUL: STAINED GLASS OF SINTRA

Mosaic, mo’ problems

BLUE LAGOON

Dr. Knizia’s been watching Moana

EVERDELL

If you go down in the woods today, you’re in for a great game

PLANET

Want to try your hand at world-building?

TEOTIHUACAN: CITY OF GODS

As tough to win as it is to pronounce

HEROES OF TERRINOTH

Heroes of Terrinoth is a cooperative fantasy quest

GOODCRITTERS

A remake of German bluffing game Tiefe Taschen with

SPEED FREEKS

Gorkamorka goes X-Wing via Mad Max

REYKHOLT

Everything’s gone greenhouse

SOLENIA

A bright and airy trip above the clouds

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS – WATERDEEP: DUNGEON OF THE MAD MAGE

For all the talk of dungeons in Dungeons &

CAMEL UP: SECOND EDITION

Camel Up (as it’s now undeniably called, thanks to

1066, TEARS TO MANY MOTHERS

Because you can never have too much Saxon violence

ENDEAVOR: AGE OF SAIL

A fleet treat that’s pretty neat

HAVEN

All the elements of a good game

THE GRIZZLED: ARMISTICE EDITION

Where The Grizzled packed the entirety of the First

MONOLITH ARENA

There are moments in a reviewer’s life where you want

GEN7: A CROSSROADS GAME

Don’t worry, you haven’t missed Gens 1 to 6

PANDEMIC: FALL OF ROME

A spin-off that marches its way to the top

FORBIDDEN LANDS

Old-school roleplaying for a modern world

ALONE

If you’re not afraid of the dark, you will be

NEWTON

The tabletop appliance of science

AUZTRALIA

An outback tale of steam, sheep and shoggoths

GÙGONG

No bribes required to put this on the table

JUDGE DREDD: THE CURSED EARTH

The Lost Expedition was one of the small-box gems of

TOKYO HIGHWAY

If you’ve heard of Japanese publisher Itten it’s probably

SHADOWS: AMSTERDAM

A little bit Dixit, a little bit Codenames, but a game all of its own

KEY FLOW

Key Flow review in nine words: it’s Keyflower, minus

WESTERN LEGENDS

Card Fight at the O.K. Corral

GUARDIAN’S CALL

Defend the realm by hoarding and lying

STAR CROSSED

The tower of love

MAGE KNIGHT: ULTIMATE EDITION

Sizing up a tabletop giant

SCORPIUS FREIGHTER

Rogues’ galaxy

SPELL SMASHERS

How to spell Scrabble with a D & D

YU-GI-OH! TRADING CARD GAME: SPEED DUEL

In the blink of a Blue-Eye

GORUS MAXIMUS

As sure as Maximus was about having his vengeance (in

FORBIDDEN LANDS: RAVEN’S PURGE

From the first trip in a filth encrusted slavers’ camp

BETA COLONY

An alpha experience with zeta components

CRUSADERS: THY WILL BE DONE

Knights of the Rondel Table

WAKENING LAIR

Awaken your inner adventurer

FURY OF DRACULA: FOURTH EDITION

Fury of Dracula has been a hidden movement classic

LEGEND OF THE FIVE RINGS RPG: EMERALD EMPIRE

When a book is dominated by settings, locations and

NEMETON

A glowing, growing delight!

WINGSPAN

We’ve just hit beak board game

GENESYS: SHADOW OF THE BEANSTALK

Jacking back into the world of Android

TREASURE ISLAND

Golden Silver

MARVEL STRIKE TEAMS

Clix bait

CORE SPACE

Rogue traders

CITY OF GEARS

Clockwork, not hard work

DUAL POWERS: REVOLUTION 1917

Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright?

THINGS FROM THE FLOOD

Back in the Loop

SWORDCRAFTERS: EXPANDED EDITION

Well weapon

AMAZING TALES

Roleplaying, when you get down to it, is all about

WILDLANDS: THE ADVENTURING PARTY

Last year, Martin Wallace’s Wildlands blew us away

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: JOURNEYS IN MIDDLE-EARTH

An adventure you won’t go Sauron

RES ARCANA

Res for the Galaxy

HELLBOY: THE BOARD GAME

Hell to play

VICTORIAN MASTERMINDS

Get your moustaches twirling – the world’s not gonna destroy itself

RED ALERT: SPACE FLEET WARFARE

Star phwoars

LINDISFARNE

A snack for Odin

VILLAGERS

A top tableau-builder for your tabletop

CALL TO ADVENTURE

Everyone’s got their own story to build

CORINTH

Does the roll-and-write get your goat or get your GOAT?

BUSHIDO

Five ninja stars out of five

JOHN CARTER OF MARS RPG

Interplanetary pulp perfection

GALACTIC SCOUNDRELS

Solo play is a big thing in games right now, but only

AERION

The Oniverse is a collection of whimsical but strategic

FARSIGHT

A battlefield for veterans and rookies alike

THE BOLDEST

And the Beautiful-est

SORCERER

Custom -mage combat

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: GHOSTS OF SALTMARSH

Seafaring scenarios that won’t leave you salty

SUMMONER’S ISLE

Wyrms and trolls and sprites, oh my!

JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL: A BOARD GAME OF ENGLISH MAGIC

Will the book-based game leave you under its spell?

INUIT: THE SNOW FOLK

Do you intuit it’s Inuit in it innit?

BATTLE RAVENS

Become Vi-king of the hill in this battle of wits and luck

HAND OF FATE: ORDEALS

The deckbuilder gets another twist in this dark fantasy adventure

BUMÚNTÚ

Gawj of the Jungle

WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPLAY: ROUGH NIGHTS & HARD DAYS

Capers and carnage in the world of Warhammer

VEJEN

You’re gonna need a bigger oxcart

STAR WARS: OUTER RIM

A hive of fun and villainy

CONQUEST: THE LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS

Marching onto new lands with only a few missteps

NOCTILUCA

Shem Phillips goes from raiding the North Sea to nicking little glowy things from jungle pools

CITY OF MIST

Legends and lies in the big City

PANDEMIC: RAPID RESPONSE

Chaos planes

SUSHI ROLL

Dice? Rice? Nice!

HIGH RISK

Push-your-luck games can be divisive. Some players

KEYFORGE: AGE OF ASCENSION

When KeyForge, the new game from Magic: the Gathering

HIGH TREASON!: THE TRIAL OF LOUIS RIEL, JULY 1885

Anyone for a game of Hangman?

DEEP SPACE D-6

Solo gaming has been on the rise lately, with many

AIR, LAND & SEA

Despite being designed by Jon Perry, half of the design

GLADIATORES: BLOOD FOR ROSES

Are you not entertained? Well, you will be

ZWEIHÄNDER: REVISED CORE RULEBOOK

Delightfully dark Delightfully dark low fantasy

MEMOIR ’44: NEW FLIGHT PLAN

‘Mechanized doom’ is how Ernest Hemingway described

ROBINSON CRUSOE: ADVENTURES ON THE CURSED ISLAND – MYSTERY TALES

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is

UNDAUNTED: NORMANDY

D-Day dream

EMBARK

Sets off but lacks some wind in its sails.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: ACQUISITIONS INCORPORATED

Have you ever thought that fantasy adventuring needed

BLOCKBUSTER

Party-game purveyor Big Potato savvily taps into the

ROLL FOR ADVENTURE

When fantasy questing gets a bit dicey

PATCHWORK DOODLE

Adding another patch to the polyomino-quilted world

VILLAINOUS: WICKED TO THE CORE

Last year’s Villainous was a surprisingly ambitious

BLACKOUT: HONG KONG

Finding light in the darkness

COMBO FIGHTER

A number of tabletop games have attempted to match

SLIDE QUEST

Is there an emerging trend of designers using game

MILITO

Bitesize battles that don’t take an age to play

NETA-TANKA

Totems, tents and tactics

PATHFINDER ADVENTURE CARD GAME: CORE SET

Six years ago, Paizo launched a fresh spin on Pathfinder

DUST IN THE WINGS

Ahandsome square box with a minimal cover design showing

THE EXPANSE RPG

A soft route into hard sci-fi

SPIRE: STRATA

The first full-size follow-up to one of last year’s

PERIODIC: A GAME OF THE ELEMENTS

Despite being a game inspired by the periodic table

PATHFINDER: SECOND EDITION

Magic, monsters & maths

COPENHAGEN

So good we just can’t cope

CENTURY: A NEW WORLD

Emerson Matsuuchi’s historical trading trilogy reaches its spicy conclusion

WARHAMMER: AGE OF SIGMAR – WARCRY

Breaking the mould whilst breaking bones

LETTER JAM

B_oody bri_ _iant

WELCOME TO DINO WORLD

Welcome to Dino World brings together two of the hottest

DOPPELT SO CLEVER (TWICE AS CLEVER!)

The follow-up to last year’s ‘pretty clever’ roll-and-write

CYBERPUNK RED JUMPSTART KIT

Old-school future visions

ATELIER: THE PAINTER’S STUDIO

A game that makes a good impression

IMPERIAL SETTLERS: EMPIRES OF THE NORTH

King in the North

SHOBU

Four boards, one heck of an experience

ARRAIAL

A-rraial head-scratcher

JAWS

The head, the tail, the whole damn thing

SHIPSHAPE

Whether it’s as the father of the legacy genre or one

ESCAPE ROOM IN A BOX: FLASHBACK

The second in the Ronsealtitled Escape Room in a Box

PAX PAMIR: SECOND EDITION

Great Game, or greatest game?

MIREMARSH

Squelch squerch, squelch squerch…

BAHAMAS

If you ever wonder what spawns the idea for a new game

FINGER GUNS AT HIGH NOON

There’s an ineffable joy to finger guns, isn’t there?

HONGA

Always pet the big cat

NATURO BARUTO CARD GAME

This anime adaptation is the first in a new series

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ESSENTIALS KIT

There’s something wonderfully precise about the naming

BAND OF BLADES

We are Legion

RAGUSA

We built this city on rocks and, um, fish

DUNE

Sand, spice and everything ni– OH GOD A WORM

ZOMBICIDE: INVADER

Dead space

TONARI

Alex Randolph was one of the pivotal games designers

TUKI

It’s easy to see why stacking games are so perennially

LIFEFORM

We can’t lie to you about your chances, but you have our sympathies

BOSK

Spring brings fresh-sprouted trees growing up through

DEAD MAN’S CABAL

Missing this would be a grave mistake

HADARA

A very European approach to world domination

DEEP BLUE

20,000 leagues of its own

MARVEL CHAMPIONS: THE CARD GAME

Hulk smashing

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS – BALDUR’S GATE: DESCENT INTO AVERNUS

One hell of a campaign

TAPESTRY

Scythe’s creator weaves a swift and satisfying civ game

MACHI KORO LEGACY

It’s simple. It’s short. It’s the best legacy game since Pandemic?

WARHAMMER UNDERWORLDS: BEASTGRAVE

Miniature mayhem that offers a bounty of beastly butchery

PRÊT-À-PORTER: THIRD EDITION

A brain-burning collision of finance and fashion

BARGAIN QUEST

An easy sell

HAKO ONNA

Hide and shriek in a haunted house

LOCKUP: A ROLL PLAYER TALE

Set in the universe of Roll Player is Lockup, where

JUDGE DREDD: HELTER SKELTER

Last year’s Wildlands was just too good to leave alone.

DUNGEON ACADEMY

With roll-and-write games on the rise, it was only

WINGS OF GLORY: TRIPODS & TRIPLANES

Threedom fighters

POWER RANGERS: HEROES OF THE GRID

A Megazord of a board game

SET A WATCH

High-camp fantasy

PARKS

Take a photo, it’ll last longer

ARTSEE

Monkey see, monkey doodle

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE INNER SEA

Brutus has nothing on this

DIE HARD: THE NAKATOMI HEIST

Yippie ki-yay, board-game lovers

LOVELACE & BABBAGE

Following the footsteps of 19th century computing pioneers

GATES OF DELIRIUM

Every new board game begins with the usual ritual of

TAN-TAN CARAVAN

Every woman, every man, join the caravan of…spice?

MEGACITY: OCEANIA

Big smoke on the water

DETECTIVE CLUB

The team behind Mysterium have done it again

SILVER

Silver is a card game about werewolves without any

ORCHARD

Designed for very young children Orchard is a charmingly

5ER FINDEN

The recent glut of roll-andwrite games has seen some

MAIN GAUCHE

When you consider that the original rulebook ran to

ROMANCE OF THE PERILOUS LAND

The Best of Quests

BLITZKRIEG!

A quick-witted dice-chucking challenge remains fun to play

STAR WARS LEGION: CLONE WARS CORE SET

A war in a galaxy far, far away remains fun to play

NANTY NARKING

Swap Discworld for Dickens with Martin Wallace’s new-look Ankh-Morpork

MISTY

Drawing pictures on a steamedup window isn’t the most

20 SECOND SHOWDOWN

We can all be a bit wary of party games, especially

ISHTAR: GARDENS OF BABYLON

Make the desert bloom

THE TAVERNS OF TIEFENTHAL

Drinking beer has never felt so brilliantly analytical

GLORANTHA: THE GODS WAR

Where Gods (and noobs) fear to tread