Ranking Every CMON Board Game (That I've Played)

[@mitch-TO]

Arcadia Quest will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the setting for the most epic board gaming moment of all time. After playing a 3-player campaign in one sitting, we’re finally down to the last scenario. I’m leveled up and feeling good. I’ve completed some missions and going for the final boss. The game is still close enough that anyone can win. I make my way down a dangerous hallway filled with enemies, and dispatch each with no issue. I’m just killing it. Just before the final room, I’m stopped by a single skeleton. He has one defense die. I roll a handful of dice and end up with 12 hits. This skeleton doesn’t stand a chance. The player to my right grabs the single die and rolls it. Critical defense. So he gets to roll again. And then another crit, and another. He ended up rolling 16 criticals in a row. My streak was over, my turn finished. Then I was killed and another player wandered down the now cleared hallway, killed the final boss, and won the game. Best game session ever. I lost horribly, but that moment was so much bigger than winning. For just a moment in my friend’s kitchen, the laws of probability were suspended, and we witnessed something incredible. 😂

[@Kaelan.B]

Love this

[@sirtrevis]

Good story. Great descriptor: "The laws of probability were suspended." And, with your writing, the moment is etched in silicon stone.

[@pnpgutterfold]

This is an amazing story. Hope to have moments like these one day. (A good gaming group is hard to find.)

[@briant2438]

Dune WfA, War of the Ring, and Star Wars Rebellion all rely on the player to be invested in the theme. Each one of these games are good games in any setting. However, it is the setting and theme of reliving the movies or books that elevates the games from good to greatness. Sometimes, they are not designed to be fair. For instance, in War of the Ring, you are unlikely to win a military victory as the Fellowship. But if you do, the feeling is really good. It isn't just about the mechanics that make the games great.

[@califax512]

HATE really shines as a 2 player game if you do the whole chronicle and adopt a couple of house rules I think if they ever do a second edition - it will be a massive success

[@emilymone8896]

I can't wait to get the new season of Cthulu DMD. I only ever played it on TTS so can't wait to play the physical version for the first time.

[@BoardGameCo]

It's so much fun 🙂 I hope you enjoy!

[@AlexingCei]

Thank you for another great video!

[@michaeljoesph8687]

You killing me on still not playing the pharaoh expansion. I think it would make it more your jam

[@TylerMcWilliam]

Bloodborne is an awesome game, it would be sweet if they built on it.

[@toddferrullo1871]

I would love to see a similar list with the Awaken Realms titles even though there are less of them than the CMON games.

[@beornthebear9023]

I’ve played considerably less but since you are mostly responsible for my CMON addiction figured I’d post mine. I had only played blood rage when I started watching you years ago. And to quote Tswift “look what you made me do” 5/5: Massive Darkness 2, Blood Rage, Cthulhu Death May Die, Zombicide Undead or alive, Zombicide Black Plague, Marvel United 4.5: Rum and Bones, 4: Xenoshyft, Starcadia Quest, Marvel Zombies, Ankh 3.5 Rising Sun 3: Masmorra, On her Majesty’s Service

[@bcantui]

Have you played Lobotomy 2 Alex? Wondering how it compares to some of these dungeon crawls

[@siriactuallysara]

Nice review. I too love zombicide undead or alive. Plus the minis are really well done and look great painted.

[@BoardGameCo]

Agreed on both counts :)

[@derekgarcia3069]

This was a fun video. While I've not played as many CMON games as you have, they are easily my number one publisher and most of their games I have played would easily be in my top 25 (and probably make up half of my top 10, lol). While the specific order would be different, my rankings (if I ranked games) would likely be pretty close...except for one. Bloodbourne is actually one of my favorites from them, and if the standard (aka, best) way to play wasn't 3 scenario campaigns, it would hit the table far more. Chalice Dungeons are fine, but I think I would still prefer single narrative scenarios. We do play with a couple of minor house rules, one being the most recommended (don't restart a campaign on a loss, just that specific scenario), overall I think it's quite solid. That said, it's also one of the fee punishing co-op's are really enjoy as I tend to prefer them on the slightly easier side, especially for a campaign.

[@ChadHensley]

Our top four are the same! Of course, my CDMD is only my number one because I purchased it based on your review. I enjoy the Lovecraftian genre but had never considered buying it until watching your review. Now I'm just waiting for the new content to arrive. Still disappointed that I let the shipping costs prevent me from going all in on Marvel Zombies but really enjoyed my time with the base game and hope to get X-Men Resistance to the table soon. Black Plague was my first CMON game ever and still one of my favorites. If I were to remove the games I haven't played from your list I realized that our rankings would actually be the same all the way down the line. Great video! I would love to see you do more of these rankings. You could do it by publisher like this or possibly designer. Maybe another option would be to pick a theme and rank your top ten by that theme such as Old West or Space. Thanks for the video!

[@jecabreradc]

Given how many zombicide campaigns CMON has done. Curious to know your thoughts, do you think they might do another for Rum and Bones if it's that good? Why/why not? What you've explained sounds great. Thanks!

[@jasonpadgett1333]

Wow, Bloodborne sure is a hot take! I get that the game is not for everyone, but the combat puzzle is just so satisfying. Somehow that game keeps me on edge the whole way through; there is never a moment to relax. Even entering the hunter’s dream leaves you with the prospect of losing time and coming back to everything respawned. It is a brutal, but great experience (as you said, just like the video game).

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, as much as I'm a fan of CMON games....that one didn't work for me

[@VaultBoy13]

The combat puzzle seemed to simple. It fit with the skill-based game they were trying to emulate, but since there's no real-time element it made the gameplay obvious and unengaging. The exception to this was the boss battles which were fairly well done. If the game had simply focused on that aspect, then it would've been one of the best boss battlers. But, the focus on grind and reset (with the asinine rule where things can reset mid-fight) made the game just OK.

[@Anslasax666]

Have you ever been to the CMONExpo before 2019? I played Rise of smog the first one 2015 I also played Be-Seigded and BloodRage that same year along with the first Rum and Bones and Xenoshyft. Also I played a demo with Guilherme just me and him of Massmora Dungeons of Arcadia it was all paper lol.

[@Anslasax666]

Wow Xenoshyft 3 out of 5?!

[@Anslasax666]

If that’s true your need the Giant Cthulhu he is a game board!

[@Anslasax666]

Also Arcadia Quest is my 5 out of 5 so many enemies, hero’s, Massmora which is Arcadia’s guild training grounds, Angels, Dragons, pets and riders and there is nothing better then looking at your opponent and just demolishing them at the last second. There’s even a Solo mode! If your lucky enough to get Diva on your team with the Amulet or retribution no one will attack you and you can just get provoke guard reactions all day and get money! The only game I ever lost was to Joel Lindsey my friend who I beat count less times but this time we played with Randy Smith and Guilherme. But photo of 2018 ever just us 3 pointing to Joel the winner!

[@morantaylor]

DMD has the most play time of all my CMON games. We have played all the episodes in seasons 1 + 2 and the lost episodes 1 - 3. We are waiting for seaon 3 +4 to ship it is definitely a game I will hold on to :)

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, it's great :)

[@3fkups]

I also love Rum and Bones. I'm hoping Cmon eventually brings in a new campaign where they include everything from 1st and 2nd edition in a big box with the updated rules and possibly some new factions and stuff. Maybe far in the future because this would be a campaign that I would definitely go all in with all deluxe optional stuff even if it was like $1k.

[@VaultBoy13]

It's one of the best CMON games. Second Tide content must not have sold well enough for them to keep pumping out content like they've done with other series.

[@picap1641]

World of Smog actually has rules for playing individual missions on varying difficulties in the rulebook.

[@danno4729]

HI Alex and thanks for the video! If Zombicide Undead or Alive were actually in a medieval or Marvel theme ie. all things being equal, where might it be ranked (or re-ranked) in this list. Thank you and keep up the great work!

[@BoardGameCo]

Tough answer, I would like it more, but the one thing it's still missing is zombie variety.

[@METAK188]

Funny, we played zombicide invader last time for 4 times and barely won 1 out of 4... Crazy hard.

[@jcapo5]

I hope one day you try bloodborne again. I think its a phenomenal game. I severely misunderstood the game when I first played it too. Generally (which works for me) I think the best way to play is try to accomplish the objective. Get lost in the side quests, and when combat happens then go for it. When I try to aggressively play, usually I run out of time

[@BoardGameCo]

I hope so too :)

[@EphraimSyriacus]

Shlomo (Syriac Aramaic), can you please explain to me about Marvel United which one gets 5/5? Is it the core game or with expansion? The core game is kind of boring after few times playing. Do you consider price in your rating too? Because on all the channels they say it's cheap but in Europe it isn't cheap, I bought the core game for 40€ which is like 45$. Pandemic is cheaper. For a little bit more I got Spirit Island. Which is an s-tier Game. You can't compare the gameplay but for price nah there are better games. I would like to know if I find the core game boring, why would an expansion make it suddenly a better game? Nobody answers that question, because maybe you get sponsored by cmon, which I understand.

[@wiseman8728]

I'm a big fan of blood rage, so I was looking for more CMON games. This helps me a lot.

[@BoardGameCo]

Glad it did :)

[@chiliatia3578]

Is just for me that the verb ‘to table’ and ‘tabled’ sounds a bit “inappropriate”? It became even more prominent than “and what not” in Alex’s videos, and I’m really having hard time getting used to it 😅😫😳😔

[@seyedaminfirouzeh7222]

During these years I remember saying ALEX!! give shot to "The Godfather: Corleone's Empire" you will enjoy it for what it is. I am almost sure CDMD, Blood Rage, Massive Darkness2, Dog Wars, Rum and Bones2 and Godfather wont leave my collection forever.

[@robertthurman9866]

Rise of Moloch has fascinated me. So many expansions. Is it worth getting just the core box?

[@Rik-Tok]

Is there anything that has a similar cinematic feel and leveling up as CDMD? I’ve been looking everywhere for another game to complement it! Help! 😊

[@javuda]

Not boardgame related, but where did you get the shirt ? It's awesome

[@Oaklestat]

So good. In general I agree on your order.

[@dcrbdh]

Regarding Cyberpunk, I’m glad you didn’t harp on the theme. I would have jumped on that. The theme is very much there when you play the video game.

[@Benjamin-zu6gh]

What do you think about the situation of Dimension Games. As they will probably launch Celestial at some point now that there prior projects are delivering soon (at least in part). Do you think they are still in a healthy state and will most likely deliver or not?

[@BoardGameCo]

It's always hard to say without being inside the company, the fact that they are able to deliver everything first though, does make me optimistic

[@stevenjudd2383]

My top 5 CMON games: Cthulhu: Death May Die Godfather: Corleone’s Empire Blood Rage Marvel Zombies Massive Darkness 2 Dune War for Arrakis has a chance to take a spot, but I’ve only played it once so far.

[@stevenjudd2383]

Cthulhu DMD is also my second favorite of all time, behind Spirit Island.

[@KniaziuM]

Bloodborne is the best CMON game, and one of best dungeon crawlers ever made. Many people dislike it for being hard, but that is one of its biggest pros, and with good strategy everything can be easily won. One flaw is tile randomness, but there is app to balance that.

[@AdamJorgensen]

That's just, like, your opinion man! ;-)

[@EdBoardGameFever]

What's the name of the app?

[@KniaziuM]

@@EdBoardGameFever it's web app, Bloodborne: The Board Game Randomiser

[@ilqrd.6608]

Many people dislike it for the awful implementation of the timeline track.

[@Ederfb78]

Have a blast playing that game! Did a few solo campaigns and it was super fun each time! Yes, it could be hard, but I think it's mostly always manageable.

[@1234vsol]

You didn't manage to play "The Godfather: Corleone's Empire"? Didn't expect that.

[@BoardGameCo]

Sadly not

[@1234vsol]

@@BoardGameCo that is so sad. I played it a couple of times, really liked. But would really want to hear your thoughts on it, and, of course, would like to know how it compares to cyberpunk.

[@crockpot5921]

No mention of dceased?

[@BoardGameCo]

I bundled it with marvel zombies, very much feels the same

[@gidiyaniv82]

Thanks for the Video Alex. So what are your best CDMD scenarios?

[@BoardGameCo]

The first one :)

[@naterrs]

Where’s The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire? Did I just miss it?

[@BoardGameCo]

It wasn't on crowdfunding I believe? And I haven't played it

[@naterrs]

@@BoardGameCo sorry, for some reason I didn’t notice the crowdfunding part. That makes sense.

[@joelbergvonlinde1389]

Yeah I was missing Ethnos, Bloodborne: The Card Game and Lorenzo and Godfather. Some of their best are straight to retail

[@gaminglucariocios]

My favourite is Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City. Its played almost every week without fail.

[@BoardGameCo]

Nice! Glad you're enjoying it!

[@aarontaylor24]

i regret not backing rum and bones second tide. I wish they'd do a new campaign

[@VaultBoy13]

It also sucks that nothing stayed in print. And, they did a terrible job of making the upgrade kit available at retail.

[@HorseIRL]

Bloodborne is great for me. But I'm a huge bloodborne fan. If I wasn't, maybe I would have passed on it. I agree that some changes would have made it better. Bloodborne the card game is actually a fun short game. Do try it if you haven't. Cthulhu DMD is my favorite by far!

[@VaultBoy13]

Bloodborne: TCG is very good for the price and play time. I thought it was better than the board game.

[@jonathana6298]

I slept on CMON game for years. Now I have Cthulhu: DMD and Marvel United: X-Men permanently in my collection. I skipped on every Zombicide game (for various reasons) until DCeased. I’m all-in on DCeased. Marvel Zombies was very close to what I wanted, and DCeased fixed all of those problems, from what I can tell. I would be very interested in Massive Darkness 3, if they ever released it. Massive Darkness 2 was another Kickstarter I passed on.

[@BoardGameCo]

I'm glad you're enjoying them 🙂 I definitely avoided them for a long time, but now they're one of my favorite companies

[@amon__7187]

All in on dceased as well. I prefer dc than marvel but I loved the marvel zombie comics. I remember reading that the zombicide game announcement. I then completely forgot it existed and missed out on it. But I got dceased so it worked out

[@jonathana6298]

@@BoardGameCo Things that made me cancel Marvel Zombies: 1. No items. 2. Focus on Zombie Mode. I want to play the heroes fighting zombies. I know there is the Hero Mode. I just hate having extra content in game that I’ll never used. (The same reason I don’t like co-op modes in game clearly intended to be solo or competitive games.) 3. No regular human zombies. I know it makes no difference mechanically, but I think it’s just slightly lame to fight copies of Multiple Man and not the regular zombie human population. (I actually picked up a copy of Zombicide 2nd Edition base game, just to play while I wait for DCeased to fulfill, but also to strip it for zombie human models and swap out the Lex Corp models. Let me kill citizens!) 4. The Marvel Zombies story itself. I bought the comics of Marvel Zombies and just thought it was too silly. It started off pretty good, but then it was kind of comedic by the end. I want my zombie lore to be scary or at least menacing. I bought the comics for DCeased when the board game was announced as well, and it’s much better in tone and execution. The Omnibus set can (proudly) sit on my shelf next to the game. DCeased fixed all of these issues for me.

[@fernandorzezinski7205]

I’ve played Blood Rage exactly 27 times and it’s still my favorite game! Great video, thanks!

[@nightlightguy]

It's frequently forgotten - I really like Council of 4. :)

[@BoardGameCo]

I've heard good things but never played

[@nightlightguy]

@@BoardGameCo Come over for a game next time you pass near Melbourne, Australia.

[@EdBoardGameFever]

Alex where did you get that shirt?

[@BoardGameCo]

Teeturtle

[@trentenian]

So where does DCeased fall?

[@BoardGameCo]

Along with marvel zombies :)

[@davidautinify]

very surprised you haven't played Council of 4 or the God of War card game! nice list. :)

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, sadly neither one has been tabled yet

[@ryan_here_we_go]

Rising Sun is my all-time favourite game so I gotta disagree with its ranking. It's alliances and bidding/bluffing just create such an amazing atmosphere around the table. The theme is second to none and the gameplay is straightforward yet holds a deep enough strategy to keep things interesting.

[@israelfuentes5808]

Rum and bones 1st or 2nd

[@nirszi]

I bought Cthulhu: DMD based on the fact that we MOSTLY have the same taste and I knew you love it. This was my second pure ameritrash game after Nemesis which I still love. I really really disliked Cthulhu: DMD, on the verge of hating it. The one game that I played couldn't end fast enough. So this experience taught me that when it comes to dungeon crawlers for which I'm very picky about, we do not share the same taste.

[@joelbergvonlinde1389]

The idea of Rising Sun is so much better than the game turned out. Much has to do with the action selection system. Dogs of War is best with the designers house rules from bgg

[@timothemaillet1998]

Rum and bones is almost impossible to find at a decent price now

[@BoardGameCo]

That sucks sorry, it's so good.

[@galinor7]

Ruin Masters RPG is now owned by C'mon, as is every other IP from Riot Minds. RM was very basic but a lovely hex crawl and dungeoneering game. I've played it lots. It's out of print of course as are all the other IPs, Les Occultum and Trudvang included. Why buy IPs just to take the games off the market.I think a players pdf for Trudvang is available and that's it. My next C'mon game will be a Ruin Masters supplement. So. If they never release the game again, there you go.

[@Dthamilaye]

Each to their own. I think Blood rage is the "worst" of the trilogy and Ankh is the best. However, I like all three quite a lot and it is more about the player count. - Ankh is best for 2 players. It is incredibly good, works like chess. Need to think about stuff 2-3 rounds ahead. One of the best two player games I know. - Blood Rage is best for 3-4 players. It has drafting and the limited amount of space per area and the plans getting Yggdrasil are interesting. - Rising Sun is best for 5-6 players. The monsters are "eh", but the whole war system with "blind bets" is incredible. The amount of bluffing and ways to handle the fights is really interesting. For Zombicide, it is stupid, but I have 2nd edition, Invaders, Undead or alive, Marvels (just base+SG and resistance) and Night of the living dead. Probably never going to play all of them >

[@a.c.s.6204]

munchkin dungeon?

[@BoardGameCo]

Oh my gosh! I forgot this one! I haven't played it.

[@a.c.s.6204]

@@BoardGameCo all good no worries, I do remember seeing an old video of yours regarding it (pretty sure it was unboxing or something). I played it and it was meh. You probably would have given it a 2.5 or 3 anyways lol.

[@RyanF1313]

I have tried Marvel Zombies (as zombies) I think it’s a good game, but I think some heroes are are just better than others… And Juggernaut is just really crap (and I love him in the comics)

[@VaultBoy13]

Nothing can stop the Juggernaut... except how CMON designed him for Marvel Zombies.

[@RyanF1313]

@@VaultBoy13 good one Sir

[@srebme2]

I feel like you filmed this video so you could practice saying sea-mon a million times and solidify that pronunciation in your mind. They will always be Come On to me.

[@BoardGameCo]

Oooh...not the intent but a good side benefit

[@CommDante]

I really have to agree with a lot of people that commented on this before me: Just show the games while in play! 2 photo's, you ONCE made, sometime LONG ago, anything. It's just to get a feel of those games and have a picture to what you're talking about. You don't have to get them out EVERY single time... just like photos of 'player board etc' and one of 'generic play area' you once made, out of the 40+ times you often seem te make out (but not claim) to play games. Not a single photo archived, for maybe.. you know... a moment like this? To show. 🤪 It's kinda exhausting/annoying need to refer to a 2nd site just to get a basic idea of what the games look like on table. Not everybody looks all your videos, and probably a lot get tired of reviews that don't even show some generic pictures to give an idea. But hey, you do you. Don't do things because I tell you to, it's your channel. But once again I lost interest watching a vid about trying to learn about games I might not know, because the lach of it... I guess I'll just need to look elsewhere for the things I feel are basic for recommendations on newer boardgames.

[@BoardGameCo]

First of all, which people that commented? I'm not seeing a single other comment regarding the lack of photos? Am I missing something? And secondly, the amount of time it takes to do something like that is unfortunately quite high, I completely understand if that means you prefer to watch other videos to get that kind of content.

[@ailunex5260]

Hey first for once