“We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!”
― Benjamin Franklin
7 Wonders: Duel (Repos Production, 2015)
2-player point salad in the Ancient World. Build up your resources, boss the science, or just build a big army and kick your opponent's head in. Simplicity, strategy, replayability. Absolutely nails it.
Air, Land and Sea (Arcane Wonders, 2019)
6 cards each, 3 theatres, tit-for-tat point-scoring. Rewards constructive withdrawal. Has more special rules than an actual war. Stack cards effectively and make your opponent cry bitter tears. World War doesn't get smaller than this.
Ark Nova (Feuerland, 2021)
Squish exotic animals neatly into prison hexes in this competitive zoo builder. Lay out your compounds, kick off research programs. Not for the dilettante zookeeper. There's a lot going on.
Caesar: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! (PSC Games, 2022)
Caesar and Pompey duke it out in a battle for control of Ancient Rome. Place markers to occupy provinces, but one wrong move can see your power swept into the Tiber. 2 players, 20 minutes, tight as a timpani.
Cascadia (Flatout Games, 2021)
Bucolic tile-laying. Enough simplicity, enough depth. Hard not to like, unless you really hate the natural world. Yeah, you know who you are.
Pan Am (Funko Games, 2020)
Looks like an exercise in corporate branding, plays surprisingly well. Relentlessly sell out in the face of voracious global capitalism. Bid to build routes, airports, planes, then burn it all down for those sweet, sweet Pan Am stocks.
Quartermaster General 1914 (Ares, 2016)
Deck-slinging WW1 strategy. Play as teams of nations in a grim war of attrition, grinding away your opponents' decks until their sad little hands have nothing to do. Excellent grand strategy that's quick to learn and easy to play.
Twilight Struggle (GMT, 2005)
Replay the entire Cold War as either the US or the CCCP. Pretend not to be a colonial imperialist through 40 years of high nuclear tension. Deceptively simple rules, endless deep strategy. As good as they say it is.
Wingspan (Stonemaier Games, 2019)
The one everybody has heard of, and not without reason. Solid, vaguely-educational engine-building fun for all the family. More plastic eggs than you can eat. And birds, lots of birds.