Terra Mystica

Fourteen factions, one map, and absolutely nowhere to hide.

Each player takes one of fourteen fantasy peoples - Halflings, Giants, Darklings, Swarmlings and so on - each of which can only live on one type of terrain. The map is a mosaic of seven terrains, so the whole game is the slow, expensive business of terraforming the land next to you into something you can build on. Helge Ostertag and Jens Drogemuller designed it and it has sat near the top of BoardGameGeek's strategy rankings since 2012 for good reason.

There is no luck in it at all. Every faction has different costs, different powers and a different route to points, which means the balance is carried entirely by asymmetry rather than by dice. The cruel bit is adjacency: building next to an opponent gives you cheaper terraforming and gives them power, so the map becomes a running argument about whether being close is worth feeding the person you are crowding. Heavy, long, and one of the genuinely great designs.

Perfect for: Groups who have decided that being nice to each other is a separate activity from board games.

2-5 players | 60-150 minutes | Age 12+