The 10 best board games of 2024

As the holidays are upon us, family and friends gather to enjoy the festivities and spend quality time together. And there's no better way to beat boredom and have fun than trying to win a board game against your friends or family and prove your skills. Dice, cards, pawns and other tools help you achieve victory over your opponents.

Whether the opponents are your family or friends, this year has brought a variety of board, card and miniatures role-playing games. Ranging from two to six players, this roster has something for everyone, with many themes, strategies and designs to satisfy even the most demanding players.

9

Disney Villainous: Sugar And Spite

Although Disney Villainous was released in 2018, new standalone expansions, Disney Villainous: Sugar and Spite and Star Wars Villainous: Revenge at Last, were released in 2024. These expansions expand the extensive roster of anti-heroes and villains to include King Candy, Shere Khan, and more . Darth Maul and Captain Phasma. With these new villains, the approach and strategy to victory changes drastically and offers players a significant amount of replayability. They can be played as standalone games or combined with other Villainous games.

In addition to these releases, players can enjoy Disney Villainous: Introduction to Evil, a smaller version of the original game that features four heroes instead of six. At the start of the game, players have a Fate and Villain deck from which they draw cards that dictate the actions available to take after taking their turn. The goal of the game is to achieve unique winning conditions that differ for each character.

8

Burning Banners: Rage Of The Witch Queen

For those who like fantasy, the Burning Banners release, Rage of the Witch Queen is a solid choice. You will take control of an army of your choice from a range that includes goblins, goblins, dwarves or the army of the night and aim to bring the mythical realm of Kalar under your command. The player with the highest percentage of territory controlled at the end of the turn timer is declared the winner.

Chris Moller previously worked with Magic The Gathering as an illustrator.

The game is played on a map designed by Chris Moeller and features various terrain effects that will lead players to carefully plan their factions' tactics and customize their moves. The basic and advanced rulesets are guaranteed to offer players a completely different experience and offer tons of replayability when combined with different scenarios.

7

Life in Reterra

Set in the future, Life in Reterra tasks you with rebuilding communities using building blocks, cards and tiles. Once the tiles are in place, you can choose to add a resident or a building. If you place a building, you receive building cards that allow you to place a relic, add more residents, or upgrade buildings.

After each player has placed 16 tiles in their community, a score is calculated based on the number of buildings, inhabitants and relics collected. Life in Reterra offers a unique approach to civilization building games with the narrative of this ruined civilization.

6

Dune: The War for Arrakis

The Dune: War for Arrakis mini battle board game pits House Atreides against House Harkonnen in an attempt to win and take control of Spice. Reimagining scenes, characters and locations from Dune: Part 2, the film is captured on the tabletop through immersive artwork and figurines.

The feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen has been going on for 10,000 years and started during the war against the thinking machines.

Fedaykin, Fremen, and Sardaukar players control harvesters and use various event cards to play out scenes from the movies and books. At the same time, participants are left to their imaginations regarding multiple approaches to achieving victory.

SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence offers an excellent experience for those interested in space and the search for extraterrestrials. You will search for various signs of life and intelligence in the vast universe through a combination of probe exploration, device development and telescope research.

Do your best to contribute to space science with more than 200 cards that offer different equipment, research and bonuses. Offering a unique experience of a plethora of board games, SETI is a rare game for players with an affinity for outer space.

4

Civulation

As you evolve culturally and technologically, Civolution will require you to adapt to ever-changing conditions on isolated continents. Those who accumulate the most success points after four eras are the winners and have successfully led their civilizations from the Dark Ages to the modern era.

Players praise Civolution as one of the most organized board games in 2024.

Through a combination of technical skill trees, dice and various effect cards, you can develop different strategies and schemes to achieve the status of the most advanced civilization.

3

Tower up

For those looking for a more relaxed and straightforward experience that doesn't require a lot of strategy, Tower Up offers the opportunity to play as an architectural firm. The aim is to reconstruct a dilapidated district; however, the other players have the same goal and whoever has the most points at the end wins.

The game dynamics are straightforward: choose a card that carries a set of raw materials, then use those resources to construct an available building by choosing a lot and meeting the building requirements. As time passes and the end approaches, the competition grows.

2

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth

For fans of the Lord of the Rings series, Duel for Middle-earth lets you experience the Fellowship's quest while also allowing you to play as Sauron. Sam and Frodo's goal is to bring the Ring to Mount Doom, while Sauron is tasked with finding the Ring by sending his loyal Nazgûl after the Hobbits.

However, victory can be achieved in various Ras-enabled ways, the conditions of which are met when the player collects six Ras symbols on their green card. Alternatively, you can opt for a Domination victory, which is achieved by being present in all seven regions. Finally, at the end of Chapter 3, the player present in the most areas is declared the winner.

1

Arches

Set in a distant sci-fi universe, Arcs pits players against each other, allowing them to outwit and outplay their opponents through resource gathering, diplomatic intrigue, or acquiring rare resources. Cards designate actions that vary in rating from 1 to 7.

Battles are decided by the attackers, who choose the level of risk, while the defenders must respond adequately with the defensive ships and cards in their possession. The base game can be enhanced by adding the Blighted Reach expansion and using the Leaders and Lore cards for advanced mechanics and more interactive gameplay. The standalone expansion also adds a more thematic experience.