Something that gamers love more than great board games are deluxe and overproduced board games. Some of these are big box versions with a multitude of expansions all fitting in one box while others feature content from either crowdfunding or retail expansions. But both are shelf hogs. This could very easily be a Top 10 list of CMON, Steamforge, and Monolith games so I tried to find some retail games that put also sprawl across people’s shelves.
For this list, I’m only considering things that don’t fit in a single Kallax cubbie, so Everdell: The Complete Collection and Gloomhaven, as big as they are, don’t count. So let’s look at some of the best Kallax crushing and Besta busting board games out there.
Top 10 Shelf Hog Board Games
10. Ogre
Specifically, the Designer Edition. This game represents the “Fine, it all fits in a single box, are you happy now?” camp of big boxes. In Ogre’s case, it’s about the size of an ogre (24” x 20” x 5.5”). When I think of Steve Jackson games, I think of those small paperback book-sized games in a plastic container from 1980s like Car Wars and later games like Munchkin. But they also made one of the most ostentatious-sized boxes with Ogre: a sci-fi war game about a lot of smaller units trying to destroy a mega cannon. Basically, Star Wars: A New Hope, but on the ground with hexes. This isn’t a game I’ve ever played, thus it’s ranking on this list, but I felt like it deserved a spot as a shelf hog.
1-3 Players • Ages 10+ • 45 minutes
9. Heroscape
This entry is for all the games where you can buy multiple factions/armies. Unmatched comes to mind as well as larger-scale miniature games like Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. With no great way included to contain the terrain or pre-painted figures, you’re going to have some shelf/container sprawl. Unmatched, on the other hand, has good storage for each set, but the overall collection starts to get out of hand if you’re a completionist. What I love about Heroscape is the variety of building up teams from various factions and how they can each be competitive. A few years ago, a friend hosted a large tournament with four different landscapes to battle across and eight players, and it was an absolute blast. Simple, yet varied units, and a straightforward core attack/defense system make it accessible yet with enough depth to be interesting.
2 Players • Ages 14+ • 60-120 minutes • $99
8. Marvel United
I’ll also include DC Heroes United and any other game that has multiple core sets and a stack of expansions as tall as some children. The magic of this game is its amazing simplicity to play, and the mix and match style of heroes and villains makes it endlessly replayable. And it’s relatively affordable (at retail) and plays in 30-45 minutes, making it an excellent option for midweek gaming. The action system plays smoothly as you and your friends use each other’s cards to take your turn. Like everything else on this list, you don’t need everything. But like most gamers, you’re probably going to FOMO yourself into more than you need.
1-5 Players • Ages 14+ • 40 minutes • $35
7. Marvel Champions: The Card Game
This entry represents the retail game that has a ton of expansions that get trickled out over time until you realize you have half a dozen boxes cluttering your shelves. Fantasy Flight Games has several other honorable mentions in this category, including Imperial Assault, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, and Eldritch Horror. With 8 campaigns, 4 missions, and over 40 character packs, Marvel Champions has more content than most people will ever play. In this living card game, you and your friends play as Marvel heroes against various villains in a module deck construction game. Thematic and fun, this can be a bit much for someone just entering the hobby, but if they’re looking for something deeper than Marvel United, this might fit the bill.
1-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 45-90 minutes • $50
6. Conan
You could put Batman: Gotham City Chronicles here too as well as Mythic’s Solomon Kane, as a game where the core game spreads across two boxes, plus the boxes of expansions. Conan was one of my first kickstarters, and was a time of exciting campaigns as creators dumped loads of content onto backers (and then were woefully late in delivering). Both these games feature a great one vs. many system where you spend stamina to activate enemies or your hero abilities. Stamina is also used for defense, re-rolls, and extra movement. For the heroes, the stamina crystals/cubes lastly represent your health, making it an interesting puzzle of how to maximize your actions without impacting future turns.
2-5 Players • Ages 14+ • 90 minutes
5. Shadows of Brimstone
For your shelves, this is truly the worst of both worlds. You have boxes upon boxes of content with no serviceable inserts to store it, meaning you’re either getting crafty or spreading your enemy packs across multiple shelves or storage containers. This gonzo wild west vs. Cthulhu game is mechanically pretty simple. Roll some dice and then do something. It’s usually either move, hit, or look up the results on various charts. Where the game excels is the emergent narrative of these weird adventures and an engaging leveling-up system. And with the various starting boxes and Other worlds, this game can be wildly customized to the themes you want. Samurai vs. zombies? Vikings and post-apocalyptic warriors? Go for it. That world is your own very weird oyster.
1-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 120 minutes • $99
4. Chronicles of Drunagor
You could sub in Tanares Adventures and many other fantasy dungeon crawlers (Massive Darkness, Descent, Middara), which all fall into the similar trap of more is better. Chronicles of Drunagor has three large boxes plus multiple smaller boxes for end game bosses and hero packs, while Tanares has the two Kallax consuming Ultimate edition plus boxes for more big monsters and dragons. Where Chronicles of Drunagor still stands out for me is the action cube system. I love how I get to do cool things nearly every turn and have to be clever to avoid taking damage from Darkness and still have cubes left to defend against the hits I’m going to take.
1-5 Players • Ages 12+ • 120 minutes • $149
3. Star Wars: Shatterpoint
As a smaller-scale skirmish game with terrain, you could also plug in Marvel Crisis Protocol here. These smaller-scale war games just take up space as you spread out your models and terrain. I’m still in the infancy of collecting both games, and I’m starting to worry that my display case can’t handle much more. (And that’s without Shadows of Brimstone calling dibs on another shelf.) These games are different enough that I can justify to myself owning both. The short version is that Shatterpoint is all about jumping and climbing around the terrain, while Crisis Protocol has you using terrain as weapons. But where I put Shatterpoint ahead was the combat system, which uses opposed rolls and then has remaining successes work along a simple flow chart to apply effects and damage.
2 Players • Ages 14+ • 120 minutes • $130
2. Oathsworn
Boss Battlers, much like narrative games and dungeon crawlers, need more content for more experiences. I’m listing Oathsworn over Primal and Monster Hunter World because it’s three giant boxes plus the terrain box, and I’ve played it the most. It’s, in Mike Myers parlance “freakin’ huge” but the experience is amazing. I’m only a third of the way through a campaign with friends, and it’s been great. There have been some amazing story moments that left the whole table slack-jawed as well as tense combat where battles have come down to the final rolls to see if we win or lose. I can’t imagine playing through this twice, but it’s an experience that is best shared with others.
1-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 30-90 minutes • $275
1. Cthluhlu: Death May Die
You could sub in almost any other CMON game like Massive Darkness, Masters of the Universe, or Zombicide here. With six seasons plus three stretch goal boxes, there’s more mix-and-match content than most people will ever need. It’s one of my favorites, if not my favorite dungeon crawler for its cinematic high adventure feel. The action is streamlined and fast, with monsters spawning and dropping faster than bullet casings in a Matrix film. It’s the opposite of HP Lovecraft’s vision of a hopeless world where the hero’s death is the only expected ending, as Death May Die brings humorous character quotes and silly B-plots to each action-packed episode.
1-5 Players • Ages 14+ • 90-120 minutes • $90
Let me know what I missed in the comments. What are some of your favorite shelf hogs?
