Last year we gave you our rundown of co-operative games to keep the family from Monopoly rage (and each others’ throats) over Christmas. This year we’re going for a wintry theme, so best don that tasteless jumper and huddle down for a White Christmas. Brrrr!
Trust us — there’s something for everygeek here… and even their families.
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Flick ’Em Up: Dead of Winter
Publisher: Pretzel Games
Price*: £49.99
No. of players: 2–10
Play time: 30–45 mins
Age: 8+
Zombie-Survival game Dead of Winter received critical acclaim when it hit the shelves back in 2014, with the standalone follow-up The Long Night just as popular.
Mashing the theme with the Flick ’Em Up dexterity games seemed a bit like a joke at first, but then you play and realise it’s a match made in zombie heaven.
Use manual dexterity to flick pieces around the table, using different components and techniques depending on your chosen weapon. The zombie tower for randomly generating the bad guys is a stroke of genius too.
Feel free to go for the originals for some gritty grown -up gaming over the festive season, but for family entertainment, you can’t go far wrong with this one.
Availability: Amazon and most retail outlets.
Who Goes There?
Publisher: Certifiable Studios
Price*: $75-$120 USD (Base Camp and Deluxe versions)
No. of players: 3–4 (expandable to 8)
Play time: 120 mins
Age: 14+
In the past 12 months, two titles have appeared that draw upon the the tale of The Thing, made famous by the John Carpenter film: The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31, and our choice, Who Goes There? from Certifiable Studios.
Certifiable chose to base their game directly on the original book of the same name (perhaps to avoid licencing issues/costs) and in the process raised the bar on board game production quality through the roof.
The game mixes co-op survival action with poker-faced bluff and intrigue. Can you keep free of infection long enough to reach the rescue chopper… or will you be the host that dooms the entire human race?
Availability: Pre-order only directly from Certifiable Studios. They told us fulfilment takes around 2 weeks, so plan ahead for Christmas presents!
Arctic Scavengers
Publisher: Rio Grande Games
Price*: £46.99
No. of players: 1–5
Play time: 30–60 mins
Age: 13+
This deck-builder card game places players at the head of a grim bunch of survivors, eking out an existence in the frozen, post-apocalyptic wastelands of 2097.
You’ll literally dig through decks of cards, salvaging kit to help in your struggle against the elements and other players. You’ll need to use all your guile and ruthlessness to forge the strongest tribe and win the game.
The base game now comes with both HQ and Recon expansions for a great price, and with superb art, a great theme and an awesome insert to hold all your cards, it’s kind of a no-brainer.
Availability: Freely available on Amazon, and retail.
Dwar7s Winter
Publisher: Vesuvius Media
Price*: £49.99
No. of players: 1–4
Play time: 30–45 mins
Age: 13+
This is a great mix of tower defence, area control/influence and deck building as you marshal your band of seven dwarves to collect resources and pretty much whistle while they work, gather and fight the huge monsters clambering over the walls.
There’s a few mechanics going on here, but everything’s straightforward to grasp. It’s semi co-op: everyone is out to grab as many points as they can to win… but you’re going to have to work together a little to survive through the Winter.
Whilst Dwar7s Winter is a sequel to Dwar7s Fall, it’s a standalone game in its own right.
Availabiliy: Freely available through retail and on eBay. Doesn’t appear to be on sale through Amazon.
Winter Tales
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Price*: £46.99
No. of players: 3–7
Play time: 90 mins
Age: 14+
The forces of Winter have triumphed, but can the members of the Spring resistance take the power back?
Winter Tales is a storytelling game, and in truth has the tabletop community fairly divided. Hardcore gamers will find the storytelling gets in the way of strategy, and complete creatives will find the tactics compromise their storytelling.
However, find a happy medium and there’s fun to be had (especially with the stories oiled along by plenty of mulled wine), and it’s thick with a wintry theme on its beautifully wrought cards and board.
Just watch a play-through before you parting with cash to make sure it’s for you.
Availability: Get it from Amazon or eBay or through the usual retail channels.
Snow Tails
Publisher: Asmodee
Price*: £43.99
No. of players: 2–5
Play time: 45–60 mins
Age: 10+
At a decade old, this sleigh-dog racing game is getting a little long in the tooth (sorry!) but still holds its own in the racing genre.
The modular track lets you construct various courses and because you’re dealing with sleds, you may drift left and right across the track. Try to take a turn too quick and you can lose control and damage your sled, which in turns limits your hand size of cards.
Too much application of the brake though, and you’ll never be first across the finish line!
Availability: Old and difficult to get hold of. Still a few new copies knocking around on Amazon, eBay and one or two retailers though.
Snow Time
Publisher: Lui-même
Price*: £21.99
No. of players: 3–5
Play time: 20–40 mins
Age: 10+
Looking at the cover, you’d be forgiven for thinking Snow Time is a game about escaping some maniac dressed as a creepy-as-hell-snowman, but strangely enough it’s not actually a horror game, but a race game!
You’ll compete to scale the tree beautifully wrought on the board, in order to gather fruit whilst avoiding the snow balls and ambushes of the other players.
That said, you’ll have to cooperate to a certain extent to avoid letting any one player pull too far ahead, and you’ll need a poker face as the game is as much bluff as race!
Availability: Brand new this year so plenty available from Amazon and other retailers.
Mountains of Madness
Publisher: Iello
Price*: £43.99
No. of players: 3–5
Play time: 60–90 mins
Age: 12+
Considering the amount of Lovecraft and Cthulhu in gaming, we’re rather proud we’ve only included one such title in our Christmas selection, and even then the Cthulhu veneer is pretty thin.
Based on the H.P. Lovecraft classic of the same name, this cooperative exploration (and survival!) game is from veteran co-operative game designer Rob Daviau, and sees players working to uncover the secrets of the mountain whilst keeping their mind and body as intact as possible.
Be advised though: despite the (frankly awesome) cover art, this isn’t some gritty Lovecraft investigative horror game. There’s a real-time, almost party game element that puts fun and laughter to the forefront of this title, so check out a play-through online before buying!
Availability: Not that old a game and a narrow audience mean you should be able to pick up cheap copies from Amazon and online.
Yeti
Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
Price*: £27.99
No. of players: 2–5
Play time: 20–40 mins
Age: 8+
Let’s face it, 3D boards always look great, even if they are a pain in the butt to pack away again.
It’s tempting to nominate Yeti as our kids’ pick for this Christmas (as apparently I’m not allowed to show mine Who Goes There?), but this is actually a funky little entry-level euro game that will satisfy older gamers too.
So don’t let the goofy artwork fool you, but on the other hand don’t think the phrase “euro game” might put off younger players — It says 14+ on the box but this is good for 8+ (and BoardGameGeek rates it for 6+), so this really might be one for the more nerdy euro dad to bond with his long-suffering offspring.
Play time can drag a little at higher player counts, so maybe keep this one for 2 or 3 players.
Availability: Selling ludicrously cheaply on Amazon (this might be a foreign language edition in fact, but its language independent, and the English rules are available online.)
Summit
Publisher: Inside Up Games
Price*: £59.99
No. of players: 1–6
Play time: 40–180 mins
Age: 14+
I’m fairly sure folk engaged in the already dangerous pursuit of mountaineering don’t make a habit of trying to screw each other over as they make their ascent. They’re probably too busy concentrating on, you know… not dying.
So it’s a little weird engaging in such shenanigans when playing the competitive rules for Summit.
However, the game really shines using the co-operative rules that let you bond with friends and/or family and take on the epic snowy heights as a team. Plus you can even play it solo. Bah, humbug.
Opinion will probably be divided on the artwork (we love it), but the components are great, and hey, triangular tiles! Yay!
If you fancy a simpler, more random/push-your-luck climbing title, try Dicey Peaks.
Co-operative Rule Book
Competitive Rule Book
Availability: You’ll struggle to find this on Amazon or eBay, but specialist retailers have plenty in stock.
Ticket To Ride: Nordic Countries
Publisher: Days of Wonder
Price*: £38.99
No. of players: 2–3
Play time: 30–60 mins
Age: 8+
Ticket To Ride is one of the biggest and longest-running modern board game IPs ever made, and like Carcassonne, is most likely to appear on Gateway Games lists (not ours, incidentally!) for showing folk what lies beyond Monopoly and Risk.
The different editions have covered much of the globe, and this Nordic version adds a festive blanket of snow to proceedings. If you’re a veteran player and you’re looking for more differences than that, then you’ll be disappointed.
This means no sled rides, reindeer or Viking pillaging.
But it’s the perfect version to gift at Christmas to introduce any family to a wonderful new world of board games. (N.B. Bear in mind though that this edition is for 2–3 players only!)
Availability: Are you kidding? This baby and it’s many flavours of siblings will be around on Amazon and the like from now until kids no longer even know what a train is.
Carcassonne: Winter Edition
Publisher: Z-Man Games
Price*: £24.99 (but OOP so be prepared to pay up to twice this!)
No. of players: 2–5
Play time: 45 mins
Age: 8+
Since its release almost two decades ago, Carcassonne has consistently topped charts as one of the best modern board games.
Its an accolade richly deserved for a game that provides thoughtful game play within an accessible rules set. It’s fun for all the family and looks amazing on the table as you gradually build a city-studded landscape of tiles.
The Winter Edition is identical to the original, just with a blanket of snow (plus you do get a Gingerbread Man mini expansion in there too!), so this would make an ideal gift for newcomers to the game, or fans that would appreciate a fresh look.
Availability: This was a limited edition and it’s out of print too, so diabolically hard to get hold of, but we’ve included it as you can pay a kidney on eBay for it, and it would show the Carcassonne-playing geek in your life just how much you care.
And a bonus stocking filler…
12 Days
Publisher: Calliope Games
Price*: £9.99
No. of players: 3–5
Play time: 15 mins
Age: 8+
We’re adding this truly Christmas-themed game as a bonus, seeing as a couple of the games above are a little hard to acquire. It’s also the perfect size for a stocking-filler!
Played over twelve rounds, players try to re-gift unpopular cards while keeping cards that are strong enough to win the day, while also keeping a careful eye for bonus scoring at the end of the game.
Calliope have given us some classy artwork on other games (like the deluxe version of Roll For It!) and this one isn’t any different. The rules are simple to learn and at 10–15 minutes play time, it’s the perfect after-dinner family fun, or filler for the main gaming event!
Availability: Get it from Amazon or eBay or through the usual retail channels
*Prices listed are RRP/MSRP. You can and will find them cheaper elsewhere if you shop around.
