Top Challenging Board Games with Phenomenal Depth

Board games: challenging, innovative, and sometimes hard as &^%$ 

While learning complex rules or edge-case heavy manuals can be tough, the rewards are often worth it. Whether you’re looking for incredible replayability or something that’s a little extra-special. these are games that will stay on your shelf until it collapses. 

So, here are eight of our favorite picks that offer incredible rewards…once you put the work in. Starting with-  

You want bug chess? Then goddammit you’re going to get bug chess. Now two decades old, Hive has been proven to have exceptional staying power while revealing more and more depth with each passing year. Modeling the core principles of the great game, players are asked to place tiles and/or move their pieces in an attempt to surround their opponent’s Queen piece. With an expandable roster of bugs, the game utilizes concepts like tempo, forking, and pinning to strongarm your opponent into surrender. Playing in a fraction of the time required from its namesake, Hive is an essential addition to any player’s roster. Or their everyday carry kit.    

When a game describes itself as ‘logistico-economic’, your heart sinks or swells. And with Zimbabwe, you’re in for a genuine treat. A detailed civilization builder, the game’s casts you as one of the region’s tribes as they aim to build a monument to their chosen God by creating an in-depth logistics network across the region – letting you acquire the goods, services, and materials you need to make your idol while enriching their economy or developing technologies. Offering multiple paths to victory through bidding, card drafting, and mancala mechanics – Zimbabwe enjoys an incredibly in-depth meta. This educational and entertaining classic is essential for groups that not only want to win but to win well.     

With a reputation that precedes it, what else is there to say about Mage Knight and its role as a “gamer’s game”? Well…maybe that it’s actually not that hard? Letting you play as one of the morally ambiguous warriors, players use a combination of card drafting, tactical movement, and resource management to accomplish their goals. These can range from destroying a castle, their opponent, or taking on fearsome General Volkare. While the rules may be intimidating for a relative newcomer, the game’s true depth is exposed when you begin to understand the raw potential that you hold in each hand. Every turn offers players a gamut of options and squeezing out an optimised turn is entertaining to the point of addiction. Throw in randomised maps, mission options, and a heap of characters and you’ll be up to your neck and loving it.

Part of Knizia’s ‘Tile Laying Trilogy’, Samurai may lack the intimidation factor of the much-loved Tigris & Euphrates, but it’s not to be underestimated. A finely polished diamond, Samurai is a game of area and hand management as you aim to curry favour with the factions that make up your land. This involves placing your hexes in secret and out-thinking and manoeuvring your opponents before they can do the same to you. While the rules are simple, the tricks and traps waiting from your human opponents are far from straightforward. A game of bluffs, double-bluffs, and reading the map as each game extends and twists in a different way. Add in the fact that the game’s scoring is a stress fest in itself (you want the most of each ‘caste’ piece, with ties being managed by the highest value of each) and you’re in for a game that educates you with every play.a game that educates you with every play.  

Who knew a deck of cards could capture the perfect cyberpunk experience. Developed by the iconic Richard Garfield, Netrunner asks players to act as a hacker trying to steal secrets from a corporation or a monolithic enterprise trying to keep a grubby little cyberpunk’s fingers off their secrets. With a more involved learning curve than Magic, Keyforge, or other CCG’s, what Netrunner lacks in accessibility it more than makes up for in depth and choice. Players can tweak their own decks and let them paly the way they want to, favouring hyper-aggressive builds, sneaky picks, or ‘kill decks’ that do exactly what it says on the tin.

Ever wonder how a game that’s completely conflict-free can be so tense? Described as a ‘peaceful strategy’ game, Concordia asks players to work for the glory of Rome and establish trading networks to capture valuable resources and curry favour with the Gods while accumulating (you guessed it) heaps of points. With play determined by discarding a card from the hand, play is light and breezy. Until someone figures out what the actual game is. The game’s simple rules allow for an astounding amount of complexity as you can efficiently allow you to profit off your opponent’s actions, set up future chain reactions, or optimise your turn within an inch of its life. Add in a short playtime, a randomised setup, and a wealth of map options, and Concordia will remain in your collection for a reason.  

Encountering a game that has a ‘training wheels’ mode is a red flag for some. Discovering that a game has a 2500 year old meta is another. Played on grids of variable size, Go is a game of area control, aggression, and making your opponent look like a fool. Teachable in ten minutes, the game asks players to encircle their opponent’s pieces and claim territory – setting a stone each turn in an attempt to ensnare your opponent. Play is highly instinctual and disciplined, with players requiring advance planning to prevent being dismantled and planning moves ahead of moves with brain-burning frequency. Throw in the fact that it’s absolutely beautiful to look at when on your gaming table, and you’ve got something that’ll not only stay in your collection but your family for years to come.  

Ok – so let us get this straight. This is a game that is designed to have low complexity, has one action per turn, and a finite number of cards…and we’re still struggling to win with regularity? Do…do we love Twilight Struggle? Set during the height of the Cold War, the game replicates the push and pull of soft power politics and the hard threat of nuclear war as you attempt to outmanoeuvre your opponent. Each turn, players play a card from their hand and attempt to spread their influence across the globe – all while risking helping their opponent while feathering their own nest. Quick, clean, and agonising to play the game is as close to a full replica of geopolitics as possible with cardboard. Give it a go today and teach those capitalist pigs/socialist monsters who really lost the Cold War.  

What are your favorite board games with exceptional depth? Tell us in the comments!