My Top 14 Favorite Game Expansions

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

I think Asymmetry is my favorite category. I agree, the Arnak expansion was perfect. Clank also has an expansion with asymmetry and that was also very good. Also, even where asymmetry is not new, I really look forward to "more stuff/asymmetry" - Terraforming Mars corporations, Tapestry civilizations, Scythe factions. I'm really impressed how much design space there is with some of these games.

[@BoardAllTheTime]

I absolutely love the Stonemaier shirt you’re wearing in this.

[@itsGabrielaCristina]

My favorite and most essential expansion is Tuscany. I don’t ever teach the game without at least using the expansion board. I also love The Carnies expansion for The Bloody Inn. Both of these expansions do something special with having different modules that I can add or choose not to play with depending on the experience I want. I think that is very valuable in an expansion!

[@mkitten13]

The Terra Mystica promo pack also adds the landscapes mini-expansion, which I always want to play with.

[@Ian-R-Wilz]

For Cartographers map packs the backs should be slightly different and most of them add a few new cards into the game as well. On the one you showed which is Underworld I do believe the backside you get to choose where the doorway goes.

[@thomasoswald4626]

Hey, Jamey. This is a bit off-topic, but I’m very curious. You’re a legendary board game designer, so how often do strangers recognize you in public? And how do you feel about being approached for a picture or something?

[@jameystegmaier]

I think that’s only happened twice, and it was really flattering. I’m always happy to meet a fellow gamer! :)

[@bangazboom9925]

I don’t like expansions because most of the time I feel like they should have been part of the game to begin with. This is even more of a red light to me when the expansion is announced just after a game’s release… it shouts cash grab. My exception to this is card games because I’m usually happy to add in a heap of cards that will alter the game for ages to come. Games like Summoner Wars or Marvel Champions… are the newly released decks considered expansions? Games like this I’m happy for the expansions cause they add so much to the original game. Compare that to Res Arcana expansions and it’s just four cards or something being added… were they worth $30? Did they really add longevity to a game that’s been played 100 times?

[@jeremyhewitt2637]

My favourite expansion is seven wonders duel pantheon. And the senate. To an already fantastic, puts it up a notch and keeps raising the stakes

[@brennansmith8085]

I really like this format Jamey! Not really a “top 10”, but more educational and breaking down a topic with your insights :)

[@Coatzecouatl]

Heavy bias towards my two favourite games… New play method: Atomic Bonds (Fallout) More stuff: Branch and Claw (Spirit Island) Expanded player count: Jagged Earth (Spirit Island) New stuff/options/interface: Colonies (Terraforming Mars) Increased depth/complexity: Turmoil (Terraforming Mars) Campaign: Rise of Fenris (Scythe) New location: The City (Talisman 4th Edition) Fixing a problem: Rise of the Empire (Star Wars Rebellion) Easiest to teach: Venus Next (Terraforming Mars) Promo pack: Spirit Promo Pack 1 (Spirit Island) Decreased playing time: Prelude (Terraforming Mars) Standalone: The Long Night (Dead of Winter)

[@jamesfaucher4588]

I think Viticulture would have several entries. I like the original, but when you add the right expansions (Essentials) it makes the game great. Love the Scythe shirt btw.

[@ryangallagher7183]

My favourite "asymmetry" expansion is Forgotten Folk for Caverna.

[@kyssy7744]

New locations to me would be Concordia. Amazing game with tons of variability thanks to the 10-12 different maps you can play on.

[@ghstrdio]

The inis expansion and it's modular style of picking and choosing what you want to add

[@draheim90]

Lot of great expansions mentioned here! Quite a few of my favorite games, perhaps coincidentally but maybe not, are Euro games with new stuff/interface changes that turn already good games into phenomenal ones. Namely Rise of Ix, A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians, Viticulture: Tuscany, and the first two Spirit Island expansions. I’m also a sucker for more stuff expansions that make small additions and/or add variety to the base game. For example the different decks for Agricola Revised turned it into possibly my favorite game thanks to the insane depth and replayability added with those hundreds of interesting cards. Wingspan Europe, the big box for Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, and the Papers Tales expansion are also great "more stuff" expansions that add a ton of replayability despite not adding all that much content. Lastly, asymmetry expansions are often great and I really like Arnak: Expedition Leaders and Caverna: The Forgotten Folk. Though I feel like asymmetry can usually be baked into the base game, as with Spirit Island, Scythe, and Dune Imperium, for example.

[@jamescrennie]

All of the Villainous expansions work standalone and can be combined with the original game.

[@Cornchps827]

Decreasing playtime I like underwater cities expansion for this

[@porqpine53]

I think the sign of a great expansion is when you never play without it after the first time. It BECOMES the definitive version. That’s how I feel about Manufactions, Tuscany, Winspan Europe. I’ve been holding off on getting The Norwegians for A Feast for Odin so I can get everything I can out of the base game since people seem to never go back.

[@igelkott255]

My favorite expansion for Dominion is the Seaside expansion. I really like the added duration card mechanism.

[@NicholasMeyer515]

Great content as usual- I like the way you quickly break down the key mechanics of the expansions. But more importantly….WALTER!

[@NATOnova]

great list

[@davidgreaves4525]

My favourite expansion for added complexity and new play mode is probably Isle of Skye: Journeymen. It pretty much turns it into a whole new game with a lot of added depth. The core game needed this to feel much more replayable. Similarly, the Druids expansion (also Isle of Skye) was both "more stuff" and it fixed the problem of people feeling like they weren't able to buy enough tiles. I also want to add another category to your list of categories - the "buffet" expansions, where there are many mini-modules (promo sized?) that can be added to the game to address criticisms that may not have been universal, so that everyone gets precisely the game they want. Two examples from my collection that do this quite well are Scythe: Rise of Fenris (outside the campaign) and Magic Maze: Maximum Security. I like what Magic Maze does especially because it lets you tweak the difficulty of a game that varies wildly in difficulty depending on who you're playing with, how familiar the players are with one another's communication, how experienced they are at cooperative games, etc.

[@jameystegmaier]

I like the buffet addition!

[@dixaba]

I feel that promo packs, while being small and affordable, have a very high chance not being available for buyers. Especially if the original game is in a foreign language, then very often localized promo packs won't be produced on their own, and at best will be added as part of (or in addition to) the next localized full-size expansion.

[@jameystegmaier]

I think it depends on the situation and the purpose, but I agree that’s often the case.

[@hanng1242]

Inasmuch as the home bases for the two "Invaders from Afar" factions were already printed on the Scythe board, is it really even an expansion?

[@buddywahlquist2467]

Well, you can't play them without it, so yes? I assume you're actually trying to question the practice of releasing a game with expansions already planned out and built into the design of the game, but typically when that happens (Scythe included), the base game is a satisfying game on its own, and including the future expansions in the core box would have added extra cost/complication/etc and would not necessarily be something that everyone wants.

[@joelbergvonlinde1389]

Yes

[@jameystegmaier]

I think Buddy says it well, and I’ll add that we had not created anything for those factions at the time Scythe was first printed. They expand the gene by increasing the factions you can play, as well as the number of player mats.

[@tonycork2pa469]

Thanks Jamey for another interesting video. I have not played Tzolkin but have a question on a potential problem within the game. A review stated that when one player is pursuing one of the three paths to victory unopposed, he/she has an advantage over those who are competing in the other paths. Given the initial tile/card selection at the game's start - it seems a player's path focus may align (or not) with another player - and therefore, path competition is based on lady luck. I know you like this game - has this been an issue in your plays?

[@jameystegmaier]

The skull strategy? I’ve seen players pursue it more than others, but in a typical games most players will use that track once or twice no matter what the others are doing, you’ll end up with a skull or two

[@tonycork2pa469]

@@jameystegmaier The review I saw suggests that if one player pursues any one of the three paths unopposed, he/she has an unfair advantage. Say, if two or more players pursue the skulls, they are likely to impair each other - giving the 3rd player in a 3-player game no competition on another path.