Wanna step outside and play that?
June 28, 2019 by Sam
There’s no dictionary definition of fun – all right there is, but it’s pretty vague – but with today’s enormous and constantly-evolving range of games it’s reasonable to say it comes in different packages; literally and figuratively. Many modern games – Carcassonne being a prime example – avoid any kind of direct conflict and are for good reason: they set out to be accessible family-weight fare and succeed on those terms. They’re non-combative, un-epic and generally not in-your-face.
But sometimes we really want something combative, epic, and in-your-face, and here – in ascending order of fightiness – is a list of such games we’ve enjoyed.
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The Roman Empire is falling and you, the players, are competing families trying to wrestle control of its destiny… whilst simultaneously wrestling with invading hordes of Barbarians. Key to victory – usually; not always! – is getting yourself voted Emperor, but of course it’s a given your rule won’t go uncontested for long. Combining political chicanery with outright battles, Time Of Crisis is an epic undertaking that gives a real flavour of messing with each other without quite spilling out into war. You don’t need the whole day to play it, but clear the decks for an evening.
Combative rating: 7.5
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A two-player cold-war affair, Twilight Struggle again has the sense of swords-drawn without quite breaking out into the overt clash of steel: here either side tries to manipulate world events to their own ends. Rather like Time Of Crisis’ aggression, it’s sometimes passive rather than direct, but there’s no mistaking the menace beneath the surface.
Combative rating 8
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If brooding history-inspired stories of machiavellian scheming don’t scream ‘fun’ to you, then maybe the sci-fi flavour of Eclipse will. Like both the above, there’s a learning curve here that means you can’t simply throw the board out of the box and start playing, but if it’s not the most immediately-accessible game, it’s surely one of the most rewarding once you’re familiar with its charms: charms that in this instance have to do with building a highly-combative fleet of spaceships to send into battle: versus the alien Ancients who populate the expanding worlds around you, and versus each other. The narrative arc tends to follow a thumping-of-drums pattern, as players circle each other warily whilst desperately upgrading their ships, and at some point, someone will strike…
Combative rating 8
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At first glance Tigris and Euphrates doesn’t seem like a game of conflict at all – more a moving puzzle of overlapping systems where what you’re trying to do can be almost as opaque as how you go about doing it. Players lay tiles to signify control of an ancient valley across multiple, ever-shifting fronts. None of these games are be pulled out after dinner to mildly-intrigued neophytes, but Tigris and Euphrates in particular has the beginner’s what-on-Earth opaqueness to it – a mad genius design, and with an iron fist in its tangled velvet glove.
Combative rating 8
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Not every single thing in Quantum is fighting, just as not every single thing at a disco is dancing. If the goal in a disco is to have a good time, then just as you don’t have to dance, you don’t have to fight in Quantum either. It’s entirely possible to play (and even win, theoretically) without getting embroiled in combat – but it’s so unlikely as to be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, assuming you play it, let’s say, every day from now until that lifetime comes to a conclusion. In fact if your opponents are letting you swan around the board placing cubes without so much as a by-your-leave, they’re not playing it right. Potentially the least epic game on this list, it can sometimes be wrapped up in around an hour… but a very feisty hour indeed.
Combative Rating 8.5
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Risk for the 21st century, Spheres of Influence wears it’s – ahem – influence on its sleeve, with the ‘classic’ game of world domination and conflict a clear predecessor. But whereas Risk leans heavily on luck and tends to go on for about four days, Spheres has a set number of rounds and a very clever twin currency system of oil and production. Not only does it make the game feel truer to life (real-world conflicts are rarely driven by a card saying ‘Conquer Europe for the win’) it’s also a far more interesting experience as a result, with a really neat turn-order system that means you can never be certain who will play next… oh, and come the final round, it’s a global firework display.
Combative Rating 9
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Whilst it’s a tough game to get to know, if you’re willing to make the journey Root rewards you with huge variety and replayability. To really enjoy what Root offers though, you need to be ok with the fact that it is, despite cuddly appearances, a massively down-and-dirty power struggle, with the four factions (- in the base game; expansions offer even more) each playing with their own particular brand of overt power-grabbing, guerrilla warfare or sneaky, Darwinian survivalism.
Combative rating 9
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Perhaps less dramatic in scope than some, but more historically-minded and tactically nuanced, Commands and Colors is a two-player battle of card-driven genius. It’s far simpler than a first glance at the rulebook suggests, basically a turn-by-turn thrust and counter-thrust across the battlefields of the past. But not only do the set-ups vary, so do the units involved, with each army having its own stratagems and specialisms. You can retreat – sometimes it’s sensible to – but you cannot spend the entire game on the defensive, as this will simply lead to an attritional victory for your opponent. It forces you onto the front foot, and is an intriguing game (or games) for those who like a battle of wits. (If you like your battles more recent, then Memoir ’44 scratches a similar itch)
Combative Rating 9
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Like Commands and Colors, 878 Vikings is based on events in history – a specific year, in this case, with a divided England attempting to halt the influx of violently-inclined Scandinavians. Best played with 2 or 4, the opposing sides have very divergent goals: the Vikings desire control, whilst the English simply need to hold out against the invaders. More Viking leaders – with attendant warriors – arrive in every round, so for the English there’s a sense of a brutal tide coming in, though they receive the fillip of their own king arriving halfway through the game. A very easy combat system belies some real tactical and strategic depth, while the dice-rolling gives everything an edge of tension.
Combative Rating 9
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Usually in games of overt aggression, there is a sense of build-up: the sharpening of knives and cleaning of muskets before battle commences. The cold dark night before attacking at dawn. Rokugan dispenses with all that and over 5 rounds perhaps best described as ‘nasty’ comes out guns – or swords, to be accurate – a blazin’, as a relatively simple set of rules give players enough room to indulge in an enormous bunfight, where starting the game strongly merely makes you a target for everyone else. Brutal, dastardly fun!
Combative rating 9.5
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The mother of all misleadingly-named games is something of a red herring here – we don’t ever actually play it – but it is the purest form of negotiating, fighting, backstabbing, double-crossing friendship-ending experiences there is. For advanced misanthropes only!
Combative rating 10
Sam likes games. He buys a lot of games, plays a lot of games, and likes talking about games too. Occasionally he dreams about games. Despite this, he is a happily married individual with reasonably well-adjusted children, who roll their eyes at him on a pretty frequent basis.
But they still play the odd game, so it's ok.
Sam's favourite games are a constantly shifting thing that he'd find hard to define, although he's not mad keen on orcs, miniatures, or heavy sets of rules with endless exceptions and special circumstances. He plays the occasional solo game, but feels a big part of board-gaming's appeal is the gathering of friends around a table, interacting with a tangible, physical thing.