BGG Top 10 Games of 2019

Before we fully move into the new year and look forward to all of the new board games to come. Let’s take a breather, smell the roses (board game components) and look at what came out in 2019.

Spoilers for this list but it seems the golden age of board games continues. Because while there are 10 great titles chosen by Board Game Geek, some of my personal highlights didn’t make the cut. Including:

• SCOUT the small box game about one-upping your opponents
• The first drafting game to rival 7 Wonders in It’s a Wonderful World
• Parks the gorgeous game of exploring America’s national parks
• …and Res Arcana a new engine-builder from the genre master Thomas Lehmann

As for what made it onto Board Game Geek’s 10 Best Board Games of 2019… Well, you’re just going to have to read on.

10. Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

We begin this year’s list with Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, published by Awaken Realms. This partially open-world board game has you travelling the lands of Arthurian legend and Celtic mythology.

Known for its incredible miniatures and excellent writing, from famed Polish writer Krzysztof Piskorski, you find yourself in this world where darkness and corruption close in. Only by roaming the countryside and re-igniting the warding Menhirs can you survive in this harsh hellscape.

I’ve played a couple of sessions of Tainted Grail and while I enjoyed the mature themes and writing. This was clearly a Dave game and not a Steph game. So I will have to find more time to play this one solo in the coming year.

9. The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine

The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine from publisher KOSMOS is an addictive card game that spawned one of my favourites of all time The Crew: Mission Deep Sea.

It’s a cooperative trick-taking game, where you can’t talk and individual players receive objectives they need to complete. So you must silently work together, as you only win and move on to the next scenario if all players have successfully completed their objectives.

These challenges can include tasks such as winning three tricks in a row or winning the highest green card. However, as you overcome more of the 50 included scenarios, these objectives become more and more difficult.

8. Paladins of the West Kingdom

Garphill Games returns with their heaviest board game to date. Like Raiders of the North Sea, and other Garphill Games, Paladins of the West Kingdom is a worker placement board game set in a medieval kingdom, where your town is beset by enemies on all sides.

You must build fortifications, defend against incoming enemies, and commission monks to spread the faith throughout the land. If that isn’t enough of an incentive, you’ll also get plenty of victory points.

While there are only seven rounds, there is a considerable amount of moving parts for you to keep track of – both on the table and within your brain. Throughout the game, your actions will gain strength, allowing for more victory points per turn.

7. Cthulhu: Death May Die

‘Stop an evil ritual before you go insane’ should be the tagline for this cooperative dungeon crawler. Armed to the teeth with weapons and special abilities, you enter a mansion, dungeon, or somewhere else crawling with cultists.

It’s up to you to stop them before they complete their summoning ritual. Or it’s up to you to take on the Lovecraftian monster yourselves!

On the surface, this looks like your average dice chucker, where you’ll face baddies and roll dice to defeat them. Where Cthulhu: Death May Die differs is in its insanity track. Getting insanity isn’t always bad, most of the time it unlocks innate special powers or gives you more dice to roll. But if you take too much insanity, your character dies and you sit out the rest of the game.

Honestly, this game looks like Arkham Horror on red cordial and adrenaline. This means this game should be in my collection but isn’t. I need to fix that!

6. Maracaibo

Of the games I’ve played, Maracaibo does the best job of capturing the feel of Sid Meirer’s Pirates. But with a Eurogame flare. For those who haven’t played the 2004 video game of pirating around the Caribbean, and romancing the daughters of powerful mayors, think Great Western Trail on the ocean.

Within the game, you sail from island to island performing trades, completing quests, or upgrading your ship. So despite travelling in a circle around the map, there’s plenty to do, and think about within Maracaibo.

Beyond that, there’s a short campaign you can play through either competitively or by yourself. This introduces new quests and a storyline, to help you get the most out of the board game.

5. Pax Pamir: Second Edition

Because of its close relationship with history, Pax Pamir: Second Edition stands out like a sore thumb. You lead an Afghani tribe after the collapse of the region. But you’re a small fish in a big pond, only by aligning yourself with British, Russian or Afghani armies do your people have a chance of survival.

As you play, you jump from allegiance to allegiance and wait for the right moments to make your move. A lot is going on in this game, so if you want to know more it’s best to read the review.

It treats the history it represents with respect, with each card providing researched information on a historic event or person of the time. Additionally, the cloth map and wooden blocks for armies and roads give Pax Pamir: Second Edition a more authentic feel.

4. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

This one is for the comic book fans. Specifically, the Marvel comic book fans. As you can play as almost any hero taking on any villain from the Marvel universe.

Want to play She-Hulk vs the Rhino?

You can!

Or what about Spiderman vs Ultron?

You also can!

Marvel Champions is what’s known as a living card game (LCG). So while there are several heroes and villains in the original box, there is an ongoing amount of expansions containing new heroes and villains for you to collect and keep your game fresh.

In terms of gameplay, this is a boss-battler through and through. You play as a hero and swap between their caped form and their alter ego. Either dealing damage to the boss or stopping their schemes. You must do both to win and watch out for their minions.

3. Barrage

Compared to the other flavourful board games on this list, it is a shock to see a game as dry in theme as Barrage make it to the top.

Similar to Power Grid, this game is all about building and selling electricity. However, in Barrage you’re using that power to fulfil contracts for victory points.

It’s a complex worker-placement board game with lots of mechanisms to wrap your head around. One example is that you generate power through a series of hydroelectric dams. So figuring out where to build to create the most electricity is a challenge in itself.

Then comes the building of the dams. Requiring you to build, power, and connect them to the grid. Of course, doing that is also another puzzle of resource management and action economy.

If this sounds all too complicated, I’m right there with you. But still, it looks like a great way to spend an afternoon with your friends.

2. Wingspan

It’s a surprise to see Wingspan as number two. Not because I think it’s the best game on this list, but because Its popularity and impact upon the board gaming industry is unmatched. Especially in today’s market.

However, this bird-based engine-builder has become the de facto recommendation for anyone looking to get into modern board gaming. Rocketing designer Elizabeth Hargrave into centre stage, and making Stonemaier Games an even more popular brand.

With its beautifully illustrated bird cards, Wingspan is an easy board game to pull off the shelf. Although, it’s the gameplay that keeps you stuck at the table. The buying of bird cards and adding them to your habitats as they improve your output is a fun optimisation puzzle everyone can enjoy.

Since its release, they’ve also put out a European Expansion and Oceania Expansion to include more birds from around the world.

1. Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated

The latest addition to the Clank! universe is also its best, at least according to Board Game Geek. This competitive legacy board game puts players in charge of a fantasy-adventure guild.

While, in the beginning, it maintains the same gameplay as the original Clank! it adds adventures, quests, and a storybook element. This you’ll uncover as you play through all 10 scenarios.

Given that this is a legacy board game, I’ve avoided all spoilers and therefore don’t have much more to say! But given the high praise, and that Paul Dennen’s latest game (Dune: Imperium) kicked butt, I might have to put my anxiety about legacy games aside to make sure this one hits the table sooner rather than later.

Want to see how the rankings evolved?

If you’re tracking how the top tier has shifted over time, explore our full BGG Top 10 Archive. We break down the highest-rated releases, standouts, and heavy hitters year by year.

Explore the BGG Archive →

As always, I’m floored by the number of great sounding board games that came out this year – and how many of them I’ve yet to play! Were there any standouts in 2019 for you?