It’s been a busy decade for game-makers, especially Games Workshop. Check out these best new tabletop games from the last decade.
While the heavy-hitters are without a doubt Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar, there are plenty of other new games that have some merit in their own right. Here are some of the top games we’ve seen birthed out of the decade. Sit back, relax, and let us know which one is your favorite.
11. Alien Vs. Predator (AVP)
You’ve seen the movies and you might have played the video game. In the same style, Humans, Aliens, and Predators are the three factions that are constantly at each other’s throats. Whether you like the hyper-sensitive hunters of the Predators, the lightning-fast Aliens, or the stubborn Humans, this game has a lot of intricacies that will make you keep going back for more.
10. Bolt Action
For history buffs, Bolt Action is set in the time period of the greatest wars the world has ever seen. With a huge line of minis from the WWII era, you’re able to play as classic factions with all their toys and gadgets on the tabletop. You can also reenact tide-turning wars that were fought years ago. This is great if you want to get from behind your Computer playing Company of Heroes and roll some dice on the table.
9. SAGA
In the same realm of historical games, SAGA is a medieval-themed skirmish game that lets you bring Warbands from different time periods to do battle. There are a bunch of different editions for the game ranging from Crusaders and Sarosins all the way to the Late Roman Empire and Gauls/Visigoths.
8. Kings of War
Kings of War is a game similar to Warhammer Fantasy Battles made by Mantic Games. It’s set in a medieval fantasy era with all of their models using square bases in a rank-and-file deployment. From Goblins to Dwarves, Elves, and others, there’s a good chance there is a faction that appeals to you.
7. Kill Team
Kill Team might have been getting pushed hard within the last year or so from GW. However, it was first debuted in 2004. Of course, the game died off and nobody heard any more about it until around the time 8th edition dropped when it was resurrected. Kill Team brings all the 40k factions into a scaled-down skirmish setting where each model is essentially a character (Specialist) and has a certain function. Each loss you take hurts an forces players to think even more tactfully than in larger games of 40k.
6. Warhammer Underworlds
Warhammer Underworlds is a tiled game that brings unique Age of Sigmar-themed Warbands into a skirmish setting as well. However, this is a game unlike any other GW game as it incorporates a deck of cards. Players are able to pick from a bunch of different Warbands and build their decks around hundreds of different synergies to help them score objectives that they get to bring along with them in a separate deck.
This game exploded initially. However, once the word was announced that GW discontinued the starter set as well as Warbands, interest has steadily dropped. Taking this into consideration, there seems to be a theme that GW is steadily making old releases obsolete, encouraging players to continue to buy what gets released next.
5. Star Wars: X-Wing 2.0
Are your favorite scenes in the Star Wars movies the space battles? You don’t just have to watch them, you can live them! Star Wars X-Wing on the tabletop is set in space where you can fight in an asteroid field, or in a nice open spot to blast enemies. There are a whole multitude of ships to pick from as well as factions and pilots. Depending on which ship you take combined with upgrades and crew, there are so many possibilities for interesting games it’s hard to actually count.
4. Star Wars: Armada
Speaking of Space Battles, most of the battles in the movies were skirmishes between X-Wings and TIE Fighters. If you want to see the battles zoomed out, you should play Armada. Armada is a tabletop game that focuses in more on the larger ships of the Imperial/Rebel forces. These things are absolutely massive and aren’t able to position themselves as easily (from their sheer size). It takes a whole different strategy to maneuver these behemoths on the table.
Just to show off the size of the ships, the Executor is a playable unit in the game.
3. Star Wars: Legion
If you’re a long-time fan of everything Star Wars, you may also want to try Star Wars: Legion. While the Star Wars universe has some incredible video games, they also have an in-depth tabletop game unlike any other. Legion brings your favorite heroes like Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, etc. and places them into a battlefield with a whole host of Imperial/Rebel units to pick from. You can build a list that fits exactly with your playstyle! (Also, Stormtroopers can actually hit things in this game).
2. Horus Heresy
As for Games Workshop games, the Horus Heresy was birthed in the past decade. This is a precursor setting to everything that is going on in 40k. Focusing in on the era where Horus war supercharged by the Warp and Big E having to kill him off after a grievous mortal wound, the Legions are locked in conflict with each other. Most of the factions in the Horus Heresy are all power armor-based as it’s a story of the rise and fall of the Imperium. With that said, they have way more gadgets and rules at their disposal than the Marines in 40k. (plus all the Primarchs are still alive). If you’re a fan of Chaos Marines/Loyalist Marines, this game might be one you need to try.
1. Age of Sigmar
Archaon killed off the old world and the gods of the Fantasy universe had to recover. Once enough time had passed, Sigmar began shooting his newly-invented lightning warriors, the Stormcast Eternals down into the realms to take back land from Chaos. Thus, bringing in the Age of Sigmar. This has been a recently revved-up game of old Fantasy models bringing entirely new rules, Battalions, magic, etc. to a medieval fantasy universe. (And the rules are WAY more streamlined than they were in WHFB). There are a whole host of different factions and alliances to choose from as well. If you enjoy medieval settings of brutal melee and powerful Wizards, AoS is a top pick!
There are certainly more fantastic games out there, but these are some of the top ones from this past decade! After going over the games from above, which one is your favorite?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
