10 Of The Hardest Board Games We’ve Ever Played

Although complicated board games usually seem intimidating at first, they’re often packed with strategic depth. If you enjoy thinking deeply about what you’re going to do on your next turn, then you’ll definitely want to check out our picks below for the hardest board games that are actually worth your time.

1. War of the Ring: Second Edition

War of the Ring is a fantastic tabletop retelling of the epic conflict between the armies of Mordor and the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth. The main story from the Lord of the Rings books is just a small part of the events that occur across the map. While Gondor defends the city of Minas Tirith, Easterlings invade Dale, and orcs enter Lorien from the Mirkwood stronghold of Dol Guldur. If you’re playing as Sauron, you’ll need to plan the movement of your armies carefully and strike as quickly as possible. If you align with the Free Peoples instead, then your goal is to outlast the onslaught of evil until the Fellowship reaches the end of its journey. There are a ton of fantastic War of the Ring expansions that make the experience even more thematic.

2. Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition

In Twilight Imperium, you’re the leader of a new intergalactic empire that’s struggling for dominance. However, establishing this dominance isn’t just about taking over as many planets on the modular galaxy map as possible. In fact, conflicts can be quite costly, and what ends up being significantly more valuable in the long run is political and economic stability. That’s because the objective card system changes how you earn victory points as you continue to play. Resources that were valuable in one turn might be significantly less so in the next, so what you really want to do is stockpile everything and rule your territories rather than constantly expanding them. The game is nothing short of a tabletop masterpiece.

3. Root

The adorably ferocious creatures on the outside of the box might make Root look like a simple board game, but it’s anything but that. In the base game, you can play as one of four factions: the Eyrie Dynasty, the Woodland Alliance, the Marquis de Cat, or the Vagabond. Each faction has a set of mechanics that are so unique that you will often feel like you’re playing a different game from the other people at the table. Timing your interactions with everyone else is a tricky process, and to take control of the woodland, you’ll need to take some carefully calculated risks.

4. Pax Renaissance

In Pax Renaissance, players take on the role of 15th-century bankers with the power to make the greatest European nations of the time rise and fall. The game begins with ten map areas in the center of the table, plus two five-card markets. When it’s your turn, spending your florins to get one of these cards in just one of your possible actions. You can also play cards to either the east or west side of your tableau, sell items, or, as the game progresses, initiate trade voyages. New goods will become available as you find new routes across Europe. Eventually, you can determine what kind of era the continent will enter next.

5. A Game of Thrones: The Card Game

The second edition of Fantasy Flight’s Game of Thrones card game makes fighting for control of Westeros a dramatic and unpredictable affair. Designing a brand-new deck before each game is essential to victory since that’s part of what keeps your opponents surprised. Which of the most iconic characters from the books are you bringing into the battle, and what plot cards do you have up your sleeve? There are tons of expansions for the game, so the possibilities are practically endless. There are eight playable factions, up from the first edition’s six, plus neutral cards such as the wildlings or the Faceless Men of Braavos that you can mix into any deck.

6. 1830: Railways & Robber Barons

Railways & Robber Barons is a game that’s all about investing in the railroad companies that shaped the landscape of the eastern United States during the antebellum period. While all of the 18XX board games can be quite complex, the stock market in 1830 can be especially difficult for new players to navigate. As a result, the game feels like it has significantly better balance when it’s a competition between equally experienced players. How, when, and where you upgrade your rail tracks can alter your fortunes immensely. Though 1830 supports up to six players, it’s usually best enjoyed with around four people instead so that the game length doesn’t get too unruly.

7. Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory

Looking for a complex board game that requires a ton of table talk and negotiations? If so, then Hegemony might be the perfect addition to your shelf. You’ll play as one of four asymmetric societal classes that function in completely different ways. If you’re the working class, you’ll need to push for better health care and wages so you can increase your prosperity. Are you a capitalist? Then you care much more about your corporations and investments. If you are the middle class, you’re somewhere between these prior two, and if you’re the state, you need to support everyone, or you won’t be able to maintain your legitimacy for long.

8. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

The best way to explore the darkened corridors and strange dimensions of H.P. Lovecraft’s world in tabletop format is with Arkham Horror: The Card Game. This cooperative, scenario-based experience places an emphasis on building your deck to match the unique challenges that you’ll face in each session. The exploration and combat mesh perfectly with the theme, and there are often multiple endings to each story that will alter the results of your entire campaign. Each scenario has different rules and terminology, and you’ll need to read about these changes each time you play. However, the shifting mechanics are a huge part of what makes this game so fun.

9. Spirit Island

In Spirit Island, you’ll play as the guardian spirit of a remote island that has just been discovered by European colonists. Your goal is to remove these colonists from the board and to do that, you’ll need to make the invaders fear you. Area control is essential to success, and thinking about how your powers synergize with those of your fellow players is also important. There are different opponent entities to play against, plus asymmetric spirit abilities and unpredictable island natives. All of these design elements combine to create a game that feels completely different every time you play.

10. Gaia Project

If you love complex engine-building board games that require you to make tough strategic choices, then you’ll love Gaia Project. When the game begins, you take on the role of one of fourteen different alien races and start by setting up your home world. As you expand and terraform nearby planets, you can gain power tokens, build mines, and invest in the game’s various technology tracks. When you get larger quadrants of the galaxy under your control, you can start establishing federations. Once you wrap your head around the rules, you can finish a game in as little as 60 minutes.

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