On the 8th day before Christmas, we want to share our top 5 Area Majority games. These games allow players to occupy a space and gain benefits based on their proportional presence in the space ala Risk or the classic game Go. It is the de facto mechanic when playing any wargame. It is a popular mechanic as it is easy to understand and nostalgic to most. Very useful during sessions about strategy and planning.
5. Memoir '44: It’s a historical game where players face-off in stylized battles of some of the most famous historic battles of World War II including Omaha Beach, Pegasus Bridge, Operation Cobra and the Ardennes. Each scenario mimics the historical terrain, troop placements and objectives of each army. Commanders deploy troops through Command and Tactic cards, applying the unique skills of his units -- infantry, paratrooper, tank, artillery, and even resistance fighters -- to their greatest strength.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10630/memoir-44
4. Las Vegas: Players draw money cards and place it in different “casinos” making some more desirable. Each player has dice of different colors which they take turns rolling. When you roll your dice, you can choose to place them on the relevant casino cards. All players take turns doing this until all the dice have been used. Finally, the player with the most dice on each casino card takes the money associated with it.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/117959/las-vegas
3: Small World: Players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all. Small World is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, orcs, even humans, who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off. Picking the right combination and special powers, players rush to expand their empires and must also know when to push their own civilization into decline and ride a new one to victory!
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-world
2. Melee: Each player starts the game with a Castle, one foot soldier and 15 gold coins. The game begins with a draft which you purchase units (soldiers, knights, camps and catapults) and bid on special abilities that will enhance your income, attack, or other options in the game. The game is then played over 4 seasons and in each turn players simultaneously choose one of three potential actions: (a) tax, (b) build new units, or (c) move and attack.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/165657/melee
1. Twilight Struggle: A former #1 game in BBG (Board Game Geek – the de facto bible in the board gaming industry!) It is a card driven game about the Cold World. The game map is a world map of the period, whereon players move units and exert influence in attempts to gain allies and control for their superpower. Decision-making is a challenge; how to best use one's cards and units given consistently limited resources?
