Check Out These 8 Epic Games For International Tabletop Day

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It’s International Tabletop Day! And we’re celebrating!

For as long as I can remember, I have loved games. Whether that was Monopoly with my sister, Harry Potter Cluedo with my friends, or even Carioca with my grandma. As I’ve grown up, that love hasn’t gone away. If anything it’s heightened and now I have ~~too many games~~ a lovely pile of games. June 1st is International Tabletop Day, so I’m going to share with you some of my recent favourites.

Raiders of the North Sea

This is actually a trilogy of games, and they’re just as good as each other. In Raiders of the North Sea, players are Viking warriors who are out to seek the approval of the Chieftain by raiding settlements. To do that, players hire crew, collect provisions, and journey north into the villages to plunder iron, livestock, and gold.

To impress the Chieftain you need to earn Victory Points, and those are acquired mostly by raiding the settlements, running off with the plunder, and offering those to the Chieftain. You also work with your hired crew, ensuring they are making the most of their special abilities to help you raid and plunder more goods. The game ends when only one fortress raid remains, all Valkyrie have been removed, or all offerings have been made. The player with the highest score wins!

As I mentioned, there are 2 more in this series, Shipwrights of the North Sea and Explorers of the North Sea.

Players: 2 – 4 | Playing Time: 60–80 Min | Age: 12+

Creator: Shem Phillips | Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski | Publisher: Garphill Games

Architects of the West Kingdom

Another Shem Phillips game, and also one that is a part of a trilogy, Architects of the West Kingdom is set around 850AD. Players are architects trying to build the cathedral, stay out of prison, and not fall into Black Market trading.

Players hire apprentices to carry out work around the town, collect materials to build and need to keep an eye on their workforce supply. Other players will work to slow your progress if they can, and if you’re not careful you may fall into the company of thieves.

The aim of the game is to have as many Victory Points by the time the Cathedral is completed.

The other two games in this series are Viscounts of the West Kingdom and Paladins of the West Kingdom. There’s also an expansion pack: Age of Artisans Expansion.

Players: 1–5 | Playing Time: 60–80 Min | Age: 12+

Creator: Shem Phillips + S J Macdonald | Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski | Publisher: Garphill Games

Above and Below

A combination of story-telling and adventure, Above and Below is a favourite of mine. Players hire villagers to do jobs such as exploring caves underground, harvesting resources and building houses. The villagers have skills which means you have to figure out how best to use each one, each round.

Players have their own boards but play with a common area, too. When you send your villagers on an adventure to explore the behind caves, the story-like element comes into play. With rolls of a dice, you’ll be read a snippet of a story from one of the other players, and given a choose-your-own-adventure-esque series of actions that you could take. Will you succeed? Or will you lose some of your party?

It’s such a fun game and I highly recommend it, especially if you like storytelling (or have played D&D).

Players: 2-4 | Playing Time: 90 Min | Age: 13+

Creator: Ryan Laukat | Artist: Ryan Laukat | Publisher: Red Ravin Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

In Hogwarts Battle, players are Harry, Ron, Hermione or Neville (or Luna in the Monsters Box of Monsters expansion) and use your character abilities to gain coins to buy spells, magical items, and enlist the help of other characters (via cards, not your other players).

All of these cards are then used against a seemingly never-ending attack of villains. Progress through the school Years as you go, eventually defeating Voldemort at the end and saving Hogwarts! It is a cooperative deck-building game, and it’s bloody brilliant, as Ron would say. There is also a Charms and Potions expansion pack which looks very cool!

Players: 2 – 4 | Playing Time: 30 – 60 Min | Age: 11+

Designer: Forrest-Pruzan Creative, Kami Mandell, Andrew Wolf | Artist: Joe Van Wetering | Publisher: The Op

Azul

One of the most beautiful games you ever did see! In Azul, players have their own mats and aim to complete a mosaic tile pattern. Players have to carefully choose which tiles they will take from the main supply, and in which order, to earn points, craft their mosaics, and ultimately have the most points by the time the tiles run out.

It seems like a simple game, but there is definitely skill and tactic involved.

Players: 2 – 4 | Playing Time: 30-45 Min | Age: 8+

Designer: Michael Kiesling | Artist: Philippe Guérin, Chris Quilliams | Publisher: Next Move Games

Terraforming Mars

Terraforming Mars is new to me in 2021, but I have been really enjoying playing it with friends. In Terraforming Mars, players work to terraform the red planet, by raising the temperative of the planet, raising the oxygen levels, providing water coverage, and overall making the planet inhabitable.

Players use cards to gain resources to play their part in terraforming the planet, and the winner will be the one with the highest score by the time Mars has been terraformed.

I have to admit, there are still cards in this game that I haven’t used before due to wrapping my head around them and how they might work, and it is quite a complex game in terms of actions you can take and moving parts. But it’s a highly enjoyable game, and it is rather satisfying filling up Mars with water and greenery.

Players: 1 – 5 | Playing Time: 120 Min | Age: 12+

Designer: Jacob Fryxelius | Artist: Isaac Fryxelius | Publisher: FryxGames

7 Wonders

Well done! You are the leader of one of the cities of the Ancient World! Hazaa! In 7 Wonders, players have their city has a board in front of them and work to gather resources, develop commercial routes, and build a military. You also build up your city, borrow other people’s resources if you’re low, and earn money for the final score at the end of the 3rd Age.

This is an addictive sort of game; it’s very quick and easy to pick up.

Players: 2-7 | Playing Time: 30 Min | Age: 10+

Designer: Antoine Bauza | Artist: Dimitri Chappuis, Miguel Coimbra, Etienne Hebinger, Cyril Nouvel | Publisher: Repos Production

Castles of Burgandy

Another own-mat game is Castles of Burgundy. Players have their own playmat and essentially are playing their own game. There is a central board with hexagonal tiles which players roll dice to acquire. Those tiles then go into a holding pen on their player board, and eventually into their land area.

There are 5 rounds and players collect points by trading, farming animals, building cities, and doing more to earn points. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!

Players: 2-4 | Playing Time: 30-90 Min | Age: 12+

Designer: Stefan Feld | Artist: Julien Delval, Harald Lieske | Publisher: Ravensburger

Will you be getting out the games for International Tabletop Day this year?