Even more ways to play? Yes, please! If there’s one thing hobby gamers love, it’s delving deeper into their favorite board games. What better way to do that than with expansions?
Expansions are meant to enhance the players’ experience and add more content to explore. Board game expansions range from adding a few cards to completely changing the base game. While some can end up making the game more complicated, others make a good game even better. If you want to know the best expansions, look no further. This list encompasses the best board game expansions for already excellent games.
Wingspan Oceania Expansion
Rises Above The Flock
Wingspan: Oceania expansion adds more bird cards with interesting facts as well as new player mats, new dice and new goal cards.
Wingspan has sold millions of copies and continues to grow in popularity. As of now, the game has three expansions (not including the fan art pack.) If you’re not made of money, and trying to select only one to purchase, buy Wingspan: Oceania. Hands down, this is the best of the bunch. Oceania not only introduces 95 more bird cards to the game, it also presents a new resource: nectar. The nectar resource acts as a wild and can be used in place of any resource.
The expansion provides five new dice with nectar on them, as well as the other food options. New player boards are also included as the nectar also has a unique twist. Instead of returning the nectar to the “bank” when buying a bird card, the nectar is placed on the edge of the player’s board in the habitat he or she is playing the card. At the end of the game, extra victory points are awarded to players with the most and second most nectar in each habitat.
Catan: Cities and Knights
An Oldie, But A Goodie
Catan: Cities and Knights expansion adds commodities that can be earned along with resources. It also adds knights that defend your cities against barbarians.
For a large number of board gamers, Catan was the game that introduced them to the hobby. While base Catan is an enjoyable game, some of us refuse to play Catan without the Cities and Knights expansion. This expansion adds knights, which are made to protect players' cities from the barbarians that creep closer and closer to the island with every turn.
A die is included that determines the movement of the barbarians, or it can also give players commodities, which are cloth, coins, or paper. This expansion adds an extra layer of strategy, so if plain Catan bores you, throw this in to spice it up!
Raiders of the North Sea: Hall of Heroes
Extending The Main Board Means Extending The Options
Raiders of the North Sea: Hall of Heroes is an expansion to the board game, Raiders of the North Sea. The expansion adds new adventurer cards, a mead hall, and mead as a resource.
Raiders of the North Sea: Hall of Heroes introduces the Mead Hall as an extension to the base game board. The Mead Hall adds spaces where three face-up townsfolk cards are placed. Placing a worker at the Mead Hall allows players to take a face-up townsfolk card and collect any mead and silver listed on the space. Mead can be placed on members of your crew while raiding to increase their strength by one.
If players don’t want to collect cards and mead, they can complete a quest at the Mead Hall. With this expansion, after a settlement is raided, a quest tile is placed on the empty space where the plunder was previously. Players can discard cards from their hand equal to the military strength on the quest and claim the rewards listed. This expansion adds depth to the game and makes multiple plays feel less repetitive.
Ark Nova: Marine Worlds
More Animal Options
Ark Nova: Marine Worlds adds new sea animal cards and new tile enclosures. It also adds new action cards.
Lions, and tigers, and SHARKS, OH MY! Ark Nova is already a stellar game, and the expansion, Marine Worlds, gives players more options without causing brain burn. Marine Worlds supplies players with additional enclosures for the new aquatic creatures.
Additionally, new action cards are provided that are a twist on the regular actions. The new sea animal cards also have a wave icon which can trigger face-up cards in the “market” area to be cycled through quicker.
Raiders of the North Sea: Fields of Fame
Battling Jarls And Receiving Fame
Raider of the North Sea: Fields of Fame adds the Township Board to the Main Board, as well as Jarl Tokens, Jarl cards, Valkyrie dice, and Encounter Boards.
Fields of Fame not only beefs up gameplay for Raiders of the North Sea, it challenges players to battle Jarls. If a Jarl token is present when raiding a settlement, players must draw a card from the Jarl deck and decide whether they will kill, subdue, or flee.
Although a player earns two fame points for each Jarl they kill, the player also takes wounds equal to the Jarl’s military strength (plus one) and divies the wounds between crew members. Wounds can reduce a crew member’s military strength by 1. It can be challenging to have enough strength to further raid more settlements, but wounds can be removed by certain Town Hall actions.
Viticulture: Tuscany Expansion Essential Edition
Wine And Worker Placement
Viticulture: Tuscany has a completely new base game board along with specialty workers that can be hired and new structure cards.
Tuscany pairs so well with the board game Viticulture that, after your first time, you won’t want to play without it. Tuscany adds Spring and Fall action spaces to the board, giving players more options to earn victory points. Structure expansion cards and specialty workers provide additional abilities, creating an overall more engaging gameplay experience.
FAQ
Do you have to buy expansions to enjoy board games?
Absolutely not. But, some games can feel repetitive after playing them many times. Expansions can change the game or add to it to make it feel less redundant.
Do you need to purchase every expansion that is released for a game?
No, especially if you can’t afford it. Some game companies keep releasing expansions when the first one was enough. Adding too many expansions to a game can sometimes over-complicate a game.
