Best board games with a campaign for unforgettable stories

Campaign board games often get confused or lumbered in with legacy games, but this isn’t always the case. Some games provide prolonged sessions that allow for incredible stories, without being inherently “legacy.” Let’s go over the best campaign games board games have to offer.

Arcs The Blighted Reach Expansion

The Blighted Reach expansion for Arcs introduces an incredibly deep and rich campaign experience to the already popular and fervent Arcs system. The campaign goes over three games, but in classic Leder fashion, there’s so much more to it than that.

In what feels like Oath in space, players in The Blighted Reach campaign will be traversing space either as a regent of the Empire, or as an Outlaw. The assistance of Empire ships to help traverse the dangerous blight and deal with Outlaws is, however, countered by the daunting membership fee that another player around the table has control over.

That already sounds tantalizing as everyone tries to secure their fates and progress through the astoundingly deep campaign, but it’s just the beginning of a magical campaign that’s driven by the players.

Arkham Horror The Card Game

Arkham Horror The Card Game is described fittingly as a “living” card game, which becomes more and more apparent as you play. In an eldritch card game about investigating the horrors that lurk in Arkham, you and your friends will be working together to survive.

In a three-scenario campaign called “Night of the Zealot,” you and up to three others will be forming your investigator through a deck that will become more specialised as you progress through the game. With shocking and otherworldly twists, you will all need to be prepared for anything.

Arkham Horror The Card Game is a smaller-scale and easier-to-set-up campaign that makes for a great pick for newer and seasoned board gamers.

Star Wars Imperial Assault

Star Wars: Imperial Assault is likely going to be the board game for Star Wars fans. The Rebels consist of a specialist team of elite fighters that will be striving to complete a mission to sabotage and knock down the Empire. However, the Empire player will have limitless resources to keep pushing and overwhelming the Rebel forces.

In a moderate campaign that tells an excellent story, both sides will be vying for different objectives to win their matches to bring about the defeat of the other side. However, there are other side missions that you can opt to take on to add even more content to go through.

Imperial Assault has some amazing models and terrain pieces, to really make you feel as though you’re going on an adventure in Star Wars.

Tainted Grail

Tainted Grail is purely a campaign game with 15 chapters that unfurls a rich story with loads of story elements. One thing that Tainted Grail does that no other game does, is have the individual characters you’ll be playing as influence the story and reveal different plot points.

Combat and exploration in Tainted Grail is, as you should come to expect, immersive and engaging. They both employ a system I haven’t really seen anywhere else, as exploration is a sprawling predetermined map and combat plays on the cards already used. As players level up, they’ll get to indulge in a large level-up system that advances your characters to better face the terrors ahead.

The story is deep and constant, so if you are to play this huge game, you’ll need to make sure everyone’s committed to reading and engaging in the story as much as the epic action and exploration.

The King’s Dilemma

The King’s Dilemma makes for a fantastic campaign game as it’s not simply just a game with some narrative thrown in. It’s a narrative game at its core as it’s a roleplaying game, where each player represents a house with different interests and ideas.

Through the campaign, new ideas will be presented, and the players will be debating and deciding with each other about what’s the best course of action. In a political game of guile and intrigue, the players will be brought along a story with betrayal and shocking reveals.

Although it is very player-driven, the game itself provides excellent stories that change with who you play it with and with what players decide. It’s an incredibly popular game that’s a must-try if you’ve got a group that enjoys roleplaying.

Undaunted Stalingrad

A game for two players, Undaunted Stalingrad takes two players on a tense and harsh journey of victory, defeat, and awful sinking feeling of the area in between. It builds upon the acclaimed and innovative Undaunted deck-building system to provide not only one of the best campaign games, but one of the best war games I’ve ever played.

In Undaunted Stalingrad, you and your opponent will be fighting across sectors of Stalingrad. Who wins and who loses each fight will change each player’s decks, and the map, and will decide the narrative and the next fight. Every decision counts: who will you bring into combat with you? Your veterans, or your reserves?

In a game where every card is a named soldier, and every death hurts you personally, Undaunted Stalingrad presents the horror of war and the primal desperation to fight tooth and nail despite having lost so much already. It’s innovative, and most importantly, fun.

Earthborne Rangers

Earthborne Rangers is a magical game that is more open-ended than other campaign games out there. There is a lot of importance given to player actions and decisions, and a game system that grows more and more involved as you play it.

In Earthborne Rangers, players will be exploring a replenished and healed Earth that’s so far removed from what it used to be that there are unique and alien dangers to be discovered. Part of the campaign and adventure here is not knowing what will happen as you adventure across the map and take on challenges.

I don’t wish to say anything here that could be considered a spoiler, as Earthborne Rangers is incredibly fun to unfurl yourself with your friends.

Bloodborne The Board Game

If you’re not convinced that a board game can have a campaign without legacy elements, then look no further than Bloodborne The Board Game. The core set itself comes with four three-session campaigns that have degrees of replayability and great stories.

You needn’t be familiar with Bloodborne to get wrapped up in the gruesome and terrible tales that you’ll be taken along. The game itself is reliant on the campaign system, so it feels like you’re playing the story as opposed to playing a game with some flavor text thrown in.

Each campaign is electric and exciting, and fighting the many monsters and bosses whilst invested in the story you’re set on makes for a great time every time. Note that the grim subject matters and setting of Bloodborne The Board Game may not resonate with everyone, however.

Gloomhaven

As predictable as it may be, I simply can’t not include Gloomhaven on this list. The campaign here is player-driven, sure, but it’s also bursting at the seams with narrative and story. One could play Gloomhaven again and again and encounter new plot threads and different narrative paths. It’s the ultimate RPG of board gaming.

The campaign experience in Gloomhaven is rich with choices and great stories. Even in the middle of a scenario will there be flavor text and dialogue. There are even smaller plots on the way to and from scenarios, with potential returning characters and consequences.

The combat and scenarios themselves are toothy, difficult, and challenging, but the campaign turns these battles into something so much more. I always look forward to what happens next in the story as much as I enjoy the fights themselves.

Oathsworn

In a similar vein to Gloomhaven, Oathsworn is a colossal game of literal secret content, scenarios, epic fights, and a grandiose story. Oathsworn sets itself apart from Gloomhaven, however, by having a less sprawling yet tighter story, with many more classes being available at the beginning of the game.

Instead of exploring a huge map, you’ll be exploring a grim city that feels like it’s been lived in. The fights and battles in Oathsworn are grand, complex, and thoroughly engaging, but the best parts are the boss fights. Each boss has its own miniature that’s boxed when you get the game, and you can only open it when you go to fight it.

With secrets, engaging splinter narratives and a fantastic overall plot, Oathsworn is a huge game that takes you on an epic fantasy adventure.

Now that you’ve got a great selection of board games with brilliant campaigns to choose from, all you gotta do now is pick one out.

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