Top 10 Dungeon Crawling Board Games

Join us as we take a look at our Top 10 Dungeon Crawling board games.

[@TheMartinChronicles]

Alright! I just started painting Level 7 and am awaiting the Extreme Prejudice expansion. Super jazzed to get this on the table!

[@Wolf359inc]

Not encountered your channel before - this just popped into my feed. A very refreshing way to present your information. Subscribed, and will see how things go. Cheers,

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Nice one. Just finished my Top 100 so check it out.

[@jamescartwright1150]

Nice to see Dungeon Quest getting some love and great to see a list of this type were Gloomhaven or Nemesis isn't number one.

[@Brend0ver]

6:58 got me 🤣

[@harveydents]

awesome list, and awesome video as always pal!

[@callum5257]

Nice mate, thanks for the list. Makes me want to check out your number 1!

[@Paul-ro6py]

Great video, as always. We had Descent 2nd edition, which also has an app. It was good. It's very affordable on the used market now.

[@Eagledelta3]

Depends on what you're looking for. The Base game is easy to find and affordable. Any of the expansions, Lt packs, or Hero/Monster packs - those are freaking expensive

[@ralfreitze3993]

Great List of Dungeon Crawlers! I really miss the Game 'Alone' which also is a great 2-Player Dungeon Crawler. Check it out in your next Top 10 🙂

[@arcubal]

Effing brilliant. Good laugh (and choices) all that! Cheers.

[@Scratch343]

The cut-in about the cost of the Descent expansion fucking sent me man.

[@vanteacher4134]

Great job as always!

[@koakley6116]

Nice list. Our favourite dungeon crawlers are Conan by Monolith Games and Zombicide Black Plague. Heroquest is fun too...

[@Eagledelta3]

Heads up, while Descent 2nd edition is default 1 vs Many, you can also play it with an App that adds a few campaigns and, my favorite, a cheap DLC that is basically a random delve for one-off play. That said, it's kind of hard to get Descent 2E these days

[@z0zef]

Finally a top 10 video which the dungeon crawlers are actually dungeon crawlers with no -ish or -esk! About L7OP it's the other way around, player actions go straight to the overseer adrenaline pool. Other suggestions, Sword&Sorcery, DnD board game series, Doom (the old version for me), Mantic games Star saga (for more refined mechanics) or Dark saga (which is a little bit more enjoyable), ofc Heroquest (evergreen) and as a skew one Nemesis.

[@Albireo8]

Dungeonquest. Owned it and the expansion for years. My wife was playing one evening and straight out of the corner turret start place thingy she fell down a bottomless pit. How I laughed. " Right, I`m off then! See you later with some loot! WAAAAGHHHHHHH!!!!"

[@BigBadBonzo]

That hilarious. I've been trying to score a copy of the reprint on eBay but they go for several large bills.

[@mysticmouse7983]

Tremendous list. Some if my top favs there. Arcadia really wonderful PVP DC campign game. Will check out the the geeky mode stuff.

[@royalwe9r]

The 140 quid expansion moment had me crying with laughter. 😂

[@michaelh8268]

Catacombs is pure joy! Thanks for placing it in here. Catacombs never gets the respect it deserves.

[@ejim941099]

8.4 BGG score. 514 overall rank? Appraised by many KZbinrs and whatnot. Yea. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

[@DrMcFly28]

My favourite dungeon crawler is still Imperial Assault.... despite technically not containing any dungeons or crawling. :)

[@KBrandes]

Great list mate!

[@bloomcrawler]

Thank you for this review, DugeonQuest and Clank really caught my attention. It's TIME for Adventure and Death.

[@db5823]

A simple and (relatively) fast dungeon crawler is Dungeoneer. I really like it, and it has a couple really keen ideas in it (for mechanics). And it should be cheap, but as it's out of print ... idk how hard it would be to find.

[@PompeyLegend2009]

6:56 is the great moment in the history of board game reviews EVER. PMSL 😂😂😂

[@wwsohare]

Medieval IKEA I about fell out of my chair laughing. 😂 hilarious . That is my fear of this game too, can’t just jump in. Gloomhaven should be top slot in my opinion. So fucking good. Try jaws of the lion less set up as maps are in the booklet..really clever there. Also as another reviewer said Gloomhaven on Steam is amazing …no clean up or set up …just jump in and do so,e ass kicking or get you ass kicked …either or just a blast.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I’ve not playeD JotL…maybe I should

[@pauls3585]

An interesting list with a few classics.

[@jeremyboughtono2]

Nice seeing levek 7 Omega Protocol getting some love.

[@GatsbyCioffi]

I am curious what you think of the Tiny Epic series. I have loved Tiny Epic Dungeons, which seems to cram an impossibly big game into an almost pocket sized box. Definitely gets bonus points for saving shelf space, haha

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I’ve never played them mate

[@dorkangel1076]

@@BoardGameBollocksWell at least thats better than saying its shit. It's one of my favourite games and its got a pretty cool dice mechanic.

[@TheRetroEngine]

This channel has so much identity now. I remember when it was Boardgames 4K, back in the olden days. Love it more now. Always a laugh to watch (and useful too!)

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻

[@-Markus-]

DungeonQuest is always such a good time, the only game where Ive died on my first turn and still felt like a winner!

[@Misiodziej]

Damn good list!

[@thebrewgeek]

Good stuff. 🤜💥🤛

[@1000jjwalker]

when that accent says space marine-- my mind goes to GETZ THE SHOOTAZ AN' THE CHOPAZ.

[@ag578glaup5]

Have you checked what Battlesystems make ? Maladum looks like it gonna be sick and we already have the full rulebook.

[@greamejohnston]

In the interest of science I feel I need to test your Dungeon Quest theory…”Darling, grab the skag….”

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Empirical evidence should do nicely

[@Luchiop]

I once bought tons of generic figures and made tiles to use with a free crawler called "Dungeon Plungin". i´ve had them laying around for ages and I´m looking for a way to put them to good use since i´m quite fond of my own crafts and pnp over retail huge boxes. Is there any system that we could use (2 players here) that works with tiles? we tried 2hour dungeon crawl but the combat wasn´t tactical like, say.. Fantasy Trip or WHQuest. Also got to check Dungeon Bash, which uses 3.5 dnd. Maybe there is a ruleset that uses 4th edition? or a simpler system that generates scenarios or the wole random dungeon? Maybe someone has some valuable advice. Worth mentioning that we live in Argentina and importing is out of the question, the regular salary here is like 100 U$D and a 15 usd pdf ends up costing 30 due to taxes in foreign purchases (as third world as it gets).

[@MisterWebb]

Try pirating the ruleset from Tiny Epic Tactics

[@Nnomadd]

claustrophobia is absolutely fantastic, I will always keep the original version, I did buy the KS new version but got rid it pretty quick.

[@silentassassin2000]

Subtitles say “alien cats” 😂

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Bizarre

[@darkaiel]

Blacklist had some good crawlers that werent medieval, like Street Masters and Hour of Need. Also, I'm surprised to not see Imperial Assault here.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I got rid of it as I couldnt finish the campaign

[@darkaiel]

@@BoardGameBollocks definitely one of those games that has to have a dedicated group or you just keep starting over. I can practically set up the first scenario by memory.

[@Colorcrayons]

I fucking love this fucking channel. My first exposure was through the Blitz Bowl review, and I knew right then and there, you were the reviewer I needed to help keep me in line from my already questionable boardgame purchases. In short, your reviews and opinions aren't shit, yeah? ;) Cheers mate. [edit] I could not agree more about claustrophobia. I find all of your suggestions that I have never played quite intriguing, and the ones I have played that you suggested I quite agree with as well. Your #1 choice, well, I will take that seriously, and I shall endure to make myself available to anyone that has a copy and needs more players.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻

[@mikeforner7797]

Peter is wrong...crawlers RULE!

[@petermillen6924]

Certainly seems to be a lot of enthusiasm shown here (bah).

[@tonybowers9490]

Oh yeah. Level 7 is awesome. An oldie, but a goodie.

[@billybirdy9507]

Shadows of Brimstone is like an orgasm on cocaine. Or so I’m told.

[@CosmicFrogX]

The Claustrophobia 1643 reprint has the De Profundis expansion already build in :)

[@BoardGameBollocks]

It probably didn’t as it’s a different game

[@malteehlers9784]

Brilliant stuff! short and to the point. Proper stuff for grown ups with jobs. See you at a rave soon :P

[@petergross7235]

I own Arcadia Quest and I've never been able to play it at more than two players. It was not very good at two. What's the best player count for this one? I want to try it at optimal player count before giving up on it.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

4 for the scenarios and 6 for the battle royale

[@sirpoupadou]

Nice list, might be worth looking at the Battle Systems board game-slirmish hybrids Core Space and upcoming Maladum. More medieval (and sci-fi ) Ikea to build, but looks so awesome on the table, and rules are great, stopping short of being too complicated, and with enough sandboxiness to have your cat go in it. Oh and it can be played both co-op and pvp... 🔪 🔪 Worth checking.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I looked at the latter but it was too expensive for me. Shame.

[@sirpoupadou]

@@BoardGameBollocks well actually, the core box pledge for Maladum is £99, and contains all you need to play a full co-op party in 3D, plus a bukcet load of extra stretch goal goodies from the Kickstarter, all that at the same price as Heroquest... It's a no brainer 😊 late pledges finished yesterday, but they might still squeeze you in if you email 'em. 😉

[@BoardGameBollocks]

@sirpoupadou I don’t have £100 to throw on a boardgame mate. My kids need food.

[@jeremybannisterphotography]

Fine. You’re now my favorite board game reviewer. Don’t screw this up! Love to play any of these with you if we are ever in the same country at the same event. Not likely though. Piss off until the next review.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻

[@aussieboardgamer9920]

Funny as yeah I got all the claustrophobia and expansions , love it just need right people to play it's a mater piece.

[@mattbowden1981]

I fucking love all the swearing. Subscribed

[@dadtier564]

Have you had a chance to play Too Many Bones? Love your confidence in your videos by the way, just stating your opinion and moving on! Love it

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Too many $s for us

[@dadtier564]

@@BoardGameBollocks unapologetic, the reason I love this channel! New subscriber here!

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻

[@Judgedredd1973]

Is it true you like Arcadia Quest the best because it has cute characters which you're a sucker for?😅

[@BoardGameBollocks]

No. I only date mice.

[@teifan6674]

Presentation: 8/10 Information: 10/10 Insults: yes

[@dilatedbeholder3865]

Bit surprised that Throw Throw Burrito isn't on this list

[@BoardGameBollocks]

The Extreme version was number 11

[@thepissoff10]

Have you seen Alone by Horrible Games? I'm not sure it ever made to to retail, but it always reminds me of Level 7. But it is to Level 7 what the movie Alien was to Aliens. It's a horror flavored dunegon crawl where the good player only sees a small part of the map, just what the actual character sees. Good mechanic, good combat, good atmosphere....

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I’ve not played it mate

[@coachace123]

Excellent video and spot on choices! I agreed with all your choices, although I usually think you're choices are bullocks. (LOL, not really)

[@eriksjogren800]

Thanks

[@jackburtonstwin]

Not a genre of games that I enjoy, but I enjoyed this run down delivered as only you can. Cheers.

[@Ribby00]

"that stupid fuckin insert" 😂 I've got good enough at 3d modeling and printing I almost always make a custom insert to make things easier.

[@CgbDread]

Space hulk, Heroquest, Warhammer Quest.

[@TheJDough1]

I don’t know man, an O on the horse is something serious!

[@adriang6259]

Love Dungeon Crawlers. Love shooting nasty alien c*#+s. But I love most things that comes with a board. But I had a physical connection with the first four or five then fuck all. I have to do some research. Great video.

[@HarleyFirestorm]

I've got Descent legends of the dark, my son and I played the crap out of this, according to the app 46 hours, only to have the laptop break and lose our save, FML. The thing is with Descent is that I don't like the lore, the monsters and the very cheesy story, but the game looks and plays really good. Some good games in there. my top Dungeon crawlers would be. Death may Die, Descent LOTD, Massive Darkness, Etherfields, Heroquest in no order. I also have Core space and Imperial assault but I haven't tried them yet.

[@MusicDude690]

You fill a strange niche of Edgy board game reviews. Nice

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻

[@hironakamura9258]

Where was this bargain bin that contained Massive Darkness 2 ? Also, have you tried Jaws of the Lion ?

[@BoardGameBollocks]

365 Games…and no I haven’t

[@MrSour1]

"I would imagine" 😂

[@defleshedbuttocks]

C. U. Next Tuesday.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻😂👍🏻

[@mih2]

140 for an expansion... ffs. Bunch of knobs. Will look out for arcadia quest, looks fun.

[@PublicExecution]

Descent 2nd edition is also good. It features campaigns and the app allows for cooperative/solo play besides the standard 1 vs. many out of the box. Also, Gloomhaven is not classified as a dungeon crawler. It's a tactical asymmetric-style Euro-y puzzle. Everything is known to you right off the bat...map layouts and monsters. In a true dungeon crawl, you don't know what's coming up. Hence, Gloomhaven is not a dungeon crawler.

[@Hscaper]

I have to ask about the micro cuts you make between words. Why?

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I use an app the automatically removes silence. I can’t be arsed to manually go through 30 mins of footage.

[@Hscaper]

@@BoardGameBollocks I was hoping that was the case because that would be a lot of nonsense! I love the format you use and commentary so that caught my curious eye

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻

[@neojaw2192]

Arcadia for the win! 😬

[@ultasty]

Arcadia quest is the best of the best, I have to agree.

[@theshogunstein6475]

people love top ten lists

[@Geminosity]

I don't know why but for some reason my ultimate dungeon crawler has always been the original Warhammer Quest. it's a janky game and there's so much wrong with it but for whatever reason any dungeon crawler I've played since just feels off. A great many of them lack the sense of exploration that Warhammer Quest's procedurally generated dungeons gave me and going to town afterwards made the world feel bigger. It was also nice not needing an 'evil wizard' player as I tend to end up relegated to that as many of my friends don't seem quite as capable of commanding the armies of darkness vs individual heroes :o Flying Frog games had a stab at replacing WHQ with it's Shadows of Brimstone series and I suspect it'll work for a lot of people but somehow it feels clunkier and slower than WHQ did to me :P I managed to hook a whole lot of friends into my WHQ obsession and my constant habit of boardgame prototyping rubbed off on one of them who went on to make Darklight: Memento Mori. I wish I'd picked a copy of it up at the time but was too skint at the time to go buying a £100 game and now, much like the original WHQ, it's a bit of a pain to get your hands on. Honestly, I've been toying with the idea of making my own take on WHQ for years now... maybe one day I'll sit down and actually make something concrete :P

[@Pengi_SMILES]

Nice list. Mine would probably have Conan, Space Hulk and probably Heroquest purely for nostalgia reasons. Oh I like Star Saga too.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Does Conan have dungeons?

[@kingbolo4579]

If he doesn't have Deathmaze, he doesn't have nothing.

[@sog242]

Embarrasing that I have Level 7 in my bookcase. Never really gave it a chance...

[@Orochi_001]

Has Catacombs cracked your top-10 dexterity games?

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I think it did. I did a top 50 dexterity games a little while ago.

[@Orochi_001]

@@BoardGameBollocks I’ve gotta re-watch that one and again be incredibly jealous of your Carrooka . Cheers!

[@haxan6663]

Level 7 Omega Protocol is great, apart from most of the alien minis, which are amongst the worst ever produced. Don't believe the tale that the 2nd edition was better....it wasn't and 1st edition is often cheaper. I bought 1st edition, with the expansions, for buttons and use alien minis from Chronicle X ( which I have never got to the table).

[@raventhorX]

gloomhaven sounds interesting but i'm not a fan of games that result in you basically defacing the board. Not typically someone who plays many board games but some ideas that i've been hearing about lately make them somewhat interesting. I'm big on rpg video games and have always been curious how that has translated to board games. Sure I could just playing dungeons and dragons but often many people I know don't want to put in the effort for one of those types of games so I've been on the hunt for a board game thats easier to set up but can still give me that rpg fix.

[@skoomen2lelxx806]

So funny man 😂😂

[@kosterix123]

I have a handful of dc but none that are treated here

[@clvrswine]

Not a true crawler, but Dungeon Twister is a fun mess-with-your-opponent game. You might find used copies for $10 USD or similar in your Queen-money.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Christophe Boelinger used to make some cracking games didn’t he

[@aesellers8525]

One word: AHQ. Thanks

[@fedorilitchev5092]

you should try project: elite

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I have

[@fedorilitchev5092]

@@BoardGameBollocks to me, that model is very obviously the future of the genre and makes non-real-time games of this kind feel comparatively unengaging.

[@crossmr]

no imperial assault, no core space, none of the D&D board games or even sword & Sorcery. Did see a couple there that I wasn't familiar with though.

[@Jasonsmith-xs8vq]

Agreed, this list is nowhere near what I’d expect. No Middara, Folklore, Bardsong or Chronicles of Drunagor either.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

How much cash do you think I have?

[@crossmr]

@@BoardGameBollocks The D&D adventure board games can regularly be had for £30-40 second hand each.

[@mcstabba]

I love the D&D boardgames! Imperial Assault is fun, Core Space is something I've been considering

[@kylemoore7746]

SW:IA is my #9... In all fairness Descent is basic SW:IA with a more true to nature dungeon crawl

[@chrishorton3217]

add Star Saga from Mantic games. dungeon crawler in space easy rules but in depth along with character leveling and each mob and hero has cool rules for play unlike this once a mission feat crap

[@keithshapley2298]

Maintaining the high standard of banter I’m glad to see. Expecting to see the Lord Mayors chain round your neck after the local elections. Or a dismembered Dice Tower member 😉

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I don’t vote

[@IosifStalin2]

PropaGaming!

[@greggconsidine5884]

So funny I nearly shit 💩 meself twice

[@BoardGameBollocks]

🤮

[@dejahthoris1808]

I'm surprised that Advanced Heroquest wasn't on this list, I guess, A you haven't played it, Or B you think it's shit, whatever the answers is at least GW DungeonQuest made the list, so that's better than nothing.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Both

[@LukeE94]

ugh Gloomhaven 😑 replace that with Shadows of brimstone / Forbidden Fortress. 👍🏻

[@sirtrevis]

Stop. Just stop. "Better than on orgasm on heroine." I busted out laughing at that. I copied it. Shared it with friends. ... Okay, now I'm back. Go ahead.

[@Fidtz]

FF DungeonQuest looks nicer but is still great, still death round every corner.

[@johnberry5296]

I thought this video might be bollocks but it is pukka

[@slobodanmandic7385]

ahahahaha medieval IKEA ahhaahhah

[@matthewhoyle3223]

Do you think Nemesis is shit?

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I said in the video I quite like it save for the player elimination 👍🏻

[@petermillen6924]

The theme is massively over represented in board gaming, which results in mountains of mediocrity. 4/10 of these are OK,which is a result I guess.

[@robertchmielecki2580]

Immaculately produced miniatures in Massive Darkness2??? It shows you've never played a game with proper miniatures (like a miniature wargame), because these are just cheaply produced, terrible material, a pain to work with, abysmal detail rubbery toys. Proper miniatures can easily cost half as much (or as much) as the entire MD2 box but it in no way means MD2 pieces are miniatures well done by any standard.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I did say they were brittle, but the detail is great. I noticed you didn’t give a specific example which leads me to believe you came here just to be a dick.

[@johannesgunther7208]

You. Talk. Like . There. Was A. Dot. After. Every. Word.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Don’t. Watch. It. Then. Simples.