Top Board Games of October 2021

1. Dune imperium

Dune: Imperium blends deck-building and worker placement in a deeply thematic new strategy game where the fate of the Empire hangs on your decisions.


Will you seek political allies or rely upon military might? Economic strength or subtle intrigues?


A council seat... or a sharpened blade? The cards are dealt. The choice is yours. The Imperium awaits.

2. Mansions of Madness: Horrific Journeys

Horrific Journeys is a deluxe expansion for Mansions of Madness which unlocks three thrilling scenarios that take four new investigators far from Arkham, solving mysteries aboard a bustling transatlantic airship, a luxury ocean liner, and a scenic countryside train. With new map tiles, puzzles, monsters, and mythos events, these brave men and women must contend with hideous amphibian monstrosities and interdimensional creatures tearing holes in the fabric of reality all with the knowledge that one wrong move can destroy the very vessels they are trying to protect! In order to arrive at their destinations, the investigator of Arkham must first survive their journey!

3. Eldritch Horror 

Eldritch Horror is a cooperative game of terror and adventure in which one to eight players take the roles of globetrotting investigators working to solve mysteries, gather clues, and protect the world from an Ancient One - an elder being bent on ultimate destruction.
Each Ancient One comes with its own unique decks of Mystery and Research cards, which draw players deeper into the lore surrounding these loathsome creatures.
Twelve investigators, two-hundred fifty tokens, and over three-hundred cards ensure that Eldritch Horror presents an epic, world-spanning adventure each and every game!

4. Robinson Crusoe Adventure on the Cursed Island (2nd Edition) 

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is a game created by Ignacy Trzewiczek, the author of Stronghold. This time Trzewiczek takes the players to a deserted island, where they'll play the parts of shipwreck survivors confronted by an extraordinary adventure. They'll be faced with the challenges of building a shelter, finding food, fighting wild beasts, and protecting themselves from weather changes. Building walls around their homes, animal domestication, constructing weapons and tools from what they find and much more awaits them on the island.

5. Nemesis 

Nemesis is a semi-cooperative game in which you and your crewmates must survive on a ship infested with hostile organisms. To win the game, you have to complete one of the two objectives dealt to you at the start of the game and get back to Earth in one piece. You will find many obstacles on your way: swarms of Intruders (the name given to the alien organisms by the ship AI), the poor physical condition of the ship, agendas held by your fellow players, and sometimes just cruel fate.

The gameplay of Nemesis is designed to be full of climactic moments which, hopefully, you will find rewarding even when your best plans are ruined and your character meets a terrible fate.

6. Azul Queens Garden

Welcome back to the palace of Sintra! King Manuel I has commissioned the best garden designers of Portugal to construct the most extraordinary garden for his wife, Queen Maria of Aragon.

In Azul: Queen's Garden, players are tasked with arranging a magnificent garden for the King's lovely wife by arranging beautiful plants, trees, and ornamental features.

Using an innovative drafting mechanism, the signature of the Azul series, players must carefully select colorful tiles to decorate their garden. Only the most incredible garden designers will flourish and win the Queen's blessing.

7. Unfathomable 

The year is 1913. The steamship SS Atlantica is two days out from port on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Its unsuspecting passengers fully anticipated a calm journey to Boston, Massachusetts, with nothing out of the ordinary to look forward to. However, strange nightmares plague the minds of the people aboard the ship every night; rumors circulate of dark shapes following closely behind the ship just beneath the waves; and tensions rise when a body is discovered in the ship’s chapel, signs of a strange ritual littered around the corpse. This voyage began like any other, but now it seems that the Atlantica may never reach its destination.

Immerse yourself among the passengers and crew of the SS Atlantica in this game of hidden loyalties, intrigue, and paranoia for three to six players. Some players are humans who are fighting for the survival of the ship, while others are traitors sent aboard the ship by mysterious beings to ensure that it never reaches port! Because player loyalties are hidden, determining who is friend and who is foe is critical to winning a thrilling game of Unfathomable.

8. Parks

PARKS is a celebration of our National Parks featuring illustrious art from Fifty-Nine Parks.

In PARKS, players will take on the role of two hikers as they trek through different trails across four seasons of the year. While on the trail, these hikers will take actions and collect memories of the places your hikers visit. These memories are represented by various resource tokens like mountains and forests. Collecting these memories in sets will allow players to trade them in to visit a National Park at the end of each hike.

 

9. Arkham Horror: The Card Game - The Depths of Yoth 

The Depths of Yoth is the fifth Mythos Pack in The Forgotten Age cycle for Arkham Horror: The Card Game.

Following the events of The City of Archives, your team of investigators find yourselves trapped deep in the of the Earth and the only way out is...down. Your mission to protect humanity continues, but the threats to your life increase with each level of the descent. There is no telling what monsters have grown in these dark caverns and now pursue your team, but you cannot look back, or you are surely lost.

This Mythos Pack features new player cards to customize your investigators' decks and treacherous encounter cards to immerse you in the peril of your investigation.

 

10. Alien Artifacts

Alien Artifacts is a 4X-style card game in which you play as an interplanetary faction, sending your research vessels into uncharted space to expand your knowledge and power. Build powerful ships, develop new technologies, and explore distant planets for anything — or anyone — you can exploit. Alien Artifacts is built on a Resource engine - each turn you will have 3 Resource cards in your hand and you will decide how best to spend them. Each resource card has two different resource types for you to use. You can only use one side and only two cards per turn! Using these resources, you will build Ships, develop Technology, discover Planets, or Trade for currency!

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