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Strategy games don't have to mean spending hours learning complicated rules. Some of the best ones are easy enough for the whole family to pick up, while still giving everyone plenty to think about.
I've rounded up some of my favourite strategy games for families that strike that perfect balance between fun and clever gameplay.
Some items may ship separately or take a little longer, depending on availability.
A classic board game where you compete to build train routes across the map, balancing long-term plans with the constant risk of one of your problematic brothers blocking your route. It’s easy to learn, but a lot less stressful when Alastair doesn’t play with us.
Take a journey to the Pacific Northwest as you compete to create the most harmonious ecosystem in Cascadia! Turns are simple - select a tile/token set and place each into your expanding ecosystem. Earn points by fulfilling wildlife goals and creating the largest habitat corridors. With variable scoring goals, each game of Cascadia brings a new spatial puzzle to your table! CONTENTS 100 Deluxe Wooden Wildlife Tokens 85 Habitat Tiles 25 Nature Tokens 20 Wildlife Scoring Cards 1 Family Variant Scoring Card 5 Starter Habitat Tiles 1 Full-Color Scorepad 1 Deluxe Cloth Bag 1 Rulebook
Shape the medieval landscape of France, claiming cities, monasteries and farms. 2-5 Players | 45+ Mins | Ages 7+ Features: Area Majority / Influence, Enclosure, Map Addition, Pattern Building, Tile Placement Theme: Medieval, Territory Building Description: Inspired by the medieval fortress in southern France of the same name, Carcassonne is a tile-laying game in which players fill in the countryside around the fortified city. Players choose from tiles that depict cities, roads, monasteries, and fields; each new tile placed creates an ever-expanding board on which players can then add their followers. Players score points by having followers on features as they're completed. The player who makes the most strategic placements of tiles and followers will score the most points and win the game. With its simple yet rich game mechanics...
Build a kingdom with varied terrains on domino-shaped tiles in this fast family game. 2-4 Players | 15 Mins | Ages 8+ Features: Enclosure, Open Drafting, Tile Placement, Turn Order: Claim Action Theme: Medieval, Territory Building Kingdomino is a 2 to 4 player strategy game that plays like dominoes with a kingdom-building twist. Each turn you will connect a new domino to your existing kingdom, making sure that at least one of its sides connects to a matching element already in play. Make sure to include dominoes with crowns on them, because at the end of the game you will score points equal to the total number of matching elements multiplied by the number of crowns. Contents: 4 3-D Castles 48 Dominoes 8 Wooden King Tokens Illustrated Rules...
Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, and shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you're wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige. On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems), (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—to ensure you get it, or to prevent your opponents from...
Create a miniature world in which animals live in perfect harmony with nature 1-4 Players | 30 Mins | Ages 10+ Features: Token placement, Pattern building Description: In Harmonies, create you personal landscape by placing coloured tokens. Create territories for animals and bring them to settle in your tiny world! Tactically combine your landscapes and animals to earn the most victory points and win the game. Easy to learn, with high tactical choices A poetic way to play: even if you lose the game, you will be happy to have created your own personal wild world Solo version included! Excellent art direction: all Libellud’s know-how & signature in one game! High quality components with 120 wooden tokens, 42 illustrated cards
Flamecraft is a cute, cosy game where you get to choose shops that you want your dragon to visit with the goal of earning the most reputation at the end of the game. The artwork for the whole game is gorgeous and each game can be so different to the last.
Gather the most valuable trees and attract species to them. 2-5 Players | 40-60 Min | Ages 10+ Features: Animals, Card Game, Environmental, Territory Building, Hand Management Description: Experience the miracles of the forest in this clever card game. In Forest Shuffle, 2-4 players compete in gathering the most valuable trees and attract species, thus creating an ecological balanced habitat for flora and fauna. It all starts with a single tree... And it's as simple as that: Each turn you draw cards from the stack or center, place trees in your forest to attract wildlife, try to combine plants and animals for extra points or bonus actions. Consider the different preferences of these creatures: Some animals feel only comfortable in the presence of their fellow species, others prefer...
Draft dice and use the tools-of-the-trade in Sagrada to carefully construct your stained glass window masterpiece. In more detail, each player builds a stained glass window by building up a grid of dice on their player board. Each board has some restrictions on which colour or shade (value) of die can be placed there. Dice of the same shade or colour may never be placed next to each other. Dice are drafted in player order, with the start player rotating each round, snaking back around after the last player drafts two dice. Scoring is variable per game based on achieving various patterns and varieties of placement, as well as bonus points for dark shades of a particular hidden goal colour. Special tools can be used to help you...
The most talented architects in ancient Greece stand ready to achieve this goal. 2-4 Players | 25 Mins | Ages 8+ Build housing, temples, markets, gardens and barracks, so you can grow your city and ensure it triumphs over the others. Raise its prestige with harmonious planning that conforms to specific rules, and enhance it by building plazas. Stone is an essential resource, so make sure you do not neglect it. You’ll need enough quarries so you can build higher up, making your city stretch towards the sky. Choose a tile from the construction siteArrange it in your city to unlock each district's full potentialBuild on higher levels, increase the value of your districts and win the game Best Family Game by BOTH People's Choice and Judges at...
