The newer third edition of the game is a worthy follow-up, maintaining the focus on existential horror, narrative choices and progression, and a constant sense that defeat is just around the corner. Not only did the earlier editions help fuel the rise of cooperative play, but the game (and the Call of Cthulhu RPG that inspired it) also deserves a lot of credit for the growing popularity of the Cthulhu mythos in the tabletop hobby. Fast-playing, tactical, and rooted in the flavor of WWII action movies, V-Commandos is well worth an engagement.Īrkham Horror holds an important place in the history and popularization of cooperative gaming. For more ambitious play sessions, you can tackle a whole operation of linked terrains. The modular tile-based board allows for a tremendous array of potential scenarios, and the game includes several dozen terrains to tackle in quickplay format once you know the game, you can get through a terrain’s encounters in about 30 minutes. V-Commandos has a straightforward approach to action and turns, so the focus can remain on the unique capabilities of your different soldiers, as well as forming a coherent strategy for tackling each objective. It’s great fun to see the game transform from a careful stealth approach to a wild action shootout as enemy soldiers swarm the area. Tons of randomly dropped items (like German uniforms for disguise, or additional weapons) lend variety to the experience. Your commandos are always outnumbered, and must move stealthily but quickly to accomplish their tasks, and then get out alive. This engaging and tense strategic game for up to four players casts the players as World War II commandos from a variety of allied nations, sent out to accomplish specialized objectives across the theater of war. The Wonder Woman board game features gorgeous character art and components, including some especially striking bronze-colored miniatures that lend the whole affair the appropriate mythological flair.ĭo you have a group of military history buffs? Then V-Commandos might be the right fit.
Challenge of the Amazons features an extremely clever design twist: Players can strategize together at the start of a round, but then additional card options come into play once the fight begins, representing each character’s combat instincts, sometimes allowing an individual player to go rogue from the plan to enact a brilliant strategy of their own. The game plays out on the mythical island of Themyscira, and demands that all players capitalize on their unique abilities as they collect ancient and powerful relics like the Lasso of Truth. In this brand-new cooperative adventure for two to five players, Wonder Woman teams up with her fellow Amazons to take on the likes of Ares and Cheetah. If you’re looking for a cooperative game unlike anything you’ve played before, it’s well worth trying to save this doomed civilization.ĭC’s most well-known superheroine finally has an excellent game to call her own. As a bonus, Atlantis Rising also supports a broad range of player counts, from solitary play all the way up to seven simultaneous teammates. Employing a fascinating mix of worker placement, push-your-luck, and dice-rolling mechanics, it’s a game of tension and thoughtful planning, filled with evocative art and a captivating setting, built for one to seven players to enjoy as a group.Īs each turn passes, the most valuable spaces to collect new resources fall into the sea, demanding hard choices about where you go to gather the essential pieces needed to craft the gate. As leaders of this grand civilization, you must build a cosmic gate through which the population can escape, or face defeat as the island is lost to the ocean amid the endless assaults by vengeful deities. The gods are angry! Atlantis has grown too powerful with its mix of mysticism and technology, and the island is now sinking beneath the waves.