Our Favorite Strategy Board Games

Carcassonne, the first Euro-style board game that our sons introduced us to, is an award-winning tile laying game with simple rules but with enough opportunity for developing strategies that it remains engaging throughout game play.

Tiles are placed to create a medieval landscape of fortified cities, roads, cloisters, and fields.   Players place wooden followers, or "meeples", to claim the different parts of the landscape, and points are awarded when these features are finished, or at the end of the game for fields and unfinished elements.

Carcassonne is considered a "gateway" game to other Euro board games, since it introduces many of the concepts for these other strategy games.

The basic game takes about 45 minutes, but can last longer with expansion kits. We have The River and Traders and Builders expansion kits, and the way we play, with much discussion and negotiating, our games can last a couple hours.

Power Grid is the most complex strategy board game that I've played.  The goal of this game is to provide electricity to your network of cities.  The player who provides the most cities with power wins.

Each round of the game has 5 phases:

• Determine player order (usually changes each round)
• Auction power plant cards
• Buy resources to power plants (coal, oil, garbage, uranium)
• Build (network cities together)
• Get paid for supplying power

During the course of game play, the power plants available become more advanced (more uranium plants available) and can power more cities than the plants available earlier in the game.  The availability of resources also varies over the game.

Since the order of play is re-determined for each round, the playing field stays more level.   It's difficult for one person to jump out ahead and stay ahead, which creates more excitement near the end of the game.  

Power Grid comes with a two-sided board game -- U.S.A. on one side, and Europe on the other.

The Settlers of Catan was one of the first German-style strategy board games to become popular outside of Europe, and a best-selling game in both Europe and North America.  It's the most recent game that I've learned, and is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

In this game, we are settlers on the island of Catan, aiming to develop our settlements, while trading and acquiring resources.  There are many rules, but they're straightforward enough for children and beginners to enjoy the game, while also allowing for more experienced players to work on their playing strategies.

We're still playing with the beginners' set-up, although advanced players can lay out a more random map of the island.

Because of its popularity, The Settlers of Catan has come out with a number of extension and expansion packs, including Catan: Cities and Knights Game Expansion and Catan: Seafarers Game Expansion.