Less of a goal and more of a “but what about all the other games that don’t fit in one of those goals?” list. I’m still enjoying these games and will on most nights be down to play them.

  1. Daybreak
      • From one of the designers of Pandemic, it has a good crunch with it’s card use but still a struggle to win at. Also, maxes out at 4 players.

      2. The Captain is Dead

        • Another co-operative game, this time struggling to keep the starship together long enough so that the engine core can engage and get you out of there. Like Pandemic, each character has special abilities and guaranteed to be over in about an hour (for better or for worse). It maxes out at 7 players and does better with 5 or more.

        3. Tiny Epic Dino

          • The first Tiny Epic game I ever played and still a great one of dino-ranching (or as we called it, “Can you do better than John Hammond?”). A worker placement game for up to 4 players (with mechanics for solo play) and only lasts 6 rounds.

          4. Frosthaven

            • Building on the lessons learned from Gloomhaven, again a campaign but with the added mini game of building up the town for it’s defence and to better supply you as adventurers. A few mechanics have been modified for a more streamlined play, but it has all the things you enjoyed previously. We’ve been playing with homebrew rules for 5 and 6 players.

            5. Pandemic

              • A classic, with many reskins and minor twists but the original still stands strong as a classic co-operative race against time.

              6. Wrath of the Lich King: World of Warcraft

                • The Pandemic engine gets refitted for ghouls, abominations, and boss monsters. Instead of curing a disease, you show your cards to advance a quest. Your cards can also be used to help in combat, travel, and healing. Plus lots of World of Warcraft lore woven in. I’d call it one my my top three Pandemic games.

                7. Schrodinger’s Cats

                  • Liar’s Dice but with cat puns. Make a bid based on how many cat cards in everyone’s hands are dead, alive, or empty, or bluff and use a cat physicist power to change the experiment in your favour. Plays up to six and can be played either as elimination (but it’s a quick enough game that it’s okay) or first to X victories.

                  8. Tiny Epic Galaxies

                    • Another great little Tiny Epic game. Like Twilight Imperium but can be finished in 90 minutes or less. Explore for quick rewards or colonize for long term benefits.

                    9. Shadow Hunters

                      • Last I checked it was out of print, but we seem to keep playing it at least once a year. Social deduction but with hit points and weapon cards. It plays up to eight players so it’s great to have for those big tables.

                      10. What the Heck?

                        • Bought on an impulse as a cheap card game, it’s been a hit at every table I’ve brought it out at. You all have cards from one to fifteen. Each round you flip a points card (could be positive, could be negative) and play a card from your hand. Highest card takes a positive point card, lowest card takes the negative points card. In the event of a tie, the next closest card takes it, and that even goes for the final score once all fifteen cards have been played. Two to five players, over in ten to fifteen minutes.

                        11. Scythe

                          • Despite the size of the board and the fact that it plays better with five to seven players, I still keep coming back to this game of worker placement / mech combat. I love the encounter cards and their moral dilemmas (“help the farmers and gain 2 food / pay them 2 coins and get any 3 resources / press gang the farmers and gain a mech”) and that there are several ways to score victory points, even as I cry out against the misfortune of being just one resource too short to pull an amazing turn.

                          12. Dune: Imperium

                            • I haven’t managed to get it to the table this year, but I really enjoy the dual nature of the cards, to be used for conflict / purchasing more cards or for placing your workers (also see the criminally overlooked Tyrants of the Underdark with a similar mechanic). There’s been a couple of expansions and even a revised edition that expands it from four to six players and someday I plan to try them out. Meanwhile, I’ve gotten some good play out of this one.

                            What’s a board game you’re up for playing most nights?