Popular Variable Player Powers Board Games

Depends on if you consider#Spirit Island to have any engine building. That's really the only game that I haven't clicked with. Which still bothers me. 

Yeah, I can see that being the case in something like #Root , where you kind of need everyone to be on the same level in order for the game to be balanced, although I guess the other players can warn the less experienced player that someone is about to become unstoppable. I kind of like in #Cry Havoc how your ability to take actions isn't too linked to your board state more the cards in your hand. So even if you get wrekced in a few combats, you can relatively quickly build back up and have an impact on the game, whoever controls the most territory will obviously be getting points for that but there are no special powers or resouces linked to them. Likewise as generally you troops have to start back at HQ when you recruit, if you spread too much you leave yourself very open to counter attacks.

I'm not sure we talk about #Root enough on this site....

I love this list and agree with the vast majority if not all of it.  I am not a huge fan of games based on luck and so #Candy Land Game, #Yahtzee, or even #Dice Throne do not peak my interest much or my interest (say as in Dice Throne) is tempered somewhat.  

Games with luck that allow you to push your luck #Diamant, #The Quacks of Quedlinburg, or such I am a little more ok with but they still aren't my favorite games.  Those a more of a controlled adjustment strategy #Orléans or #Dice Forge I enjoy a bit more.

Other games such as the luck involved in drawing cards in #Gloomhaven or #Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island that mimic the randomness of battle or wildlife are great and in both those cases the random nature impacts everyone (seeing as they are co-op games).  Even the luck of a drawn encounter card in #Scythe is mitigated by the balance across all encounter cards.

There are several games where I have felt that luck was not necessary and house ruled something to remove it. #Everdell: Spirecrest allows you to draw three cards from a seasonal deck at the end of each season and place them randomly at the bottom of the board with the first being free, the second costing a little more, and the third costing the most.  This seems arbitrary to me and so the last play we drew five, pick one, and place the others on the bottom of the deck.  In #Maracaibo is makes more sense to reveal all the privilege buildings at the beginning because there are 8, you randomly draw 4, and there's already enough luck with card draw throughout the game that revealing one each decade seems unnecessary. 

Two other games I've found luck workarounds are #Wingspan and #The Isle of Cats.  In Wingspan we draft cards at the beginning of the game with each player starting with 7 cards, drafting until necessary and discarding down to 5 (at least) by drafts end.  This gives everyone a fair shot at a solid opening hand and not ending up with 5 birds that don't play well in the first couple turns.  In Isle of Cats I divide the cards into green cards (baskets), purple, brown, and yellow cards, and blue card (lessons) stacks and each round we start the draft with each player getting three green, and choosing two or three from each of the other stacks.  THEN we draft.  This eliminates a whole round with NO extra baskets (unless you draft them away...in that case your loss).  

Great topic/mechanic choice!

I love this list and agree with the vast majority if not all of it.  I am not a huge fan of games based on luck and so #Candy Land Game, #Yahtzee, or even #Dice Throne do not peak my interest much or my interest (say as in Dice Throne) is tempered somewhat.  

Games with luck that allow you to push your luck #Diamant, #The Quacks of Quedlinburg, or such I am a little more ok with but they still aren't my favorite games.  Those a more of a controlled adjustment strategy #Orléans or #Dice Forge I enjoy a bit more.

Other games such as the luck involved in drawing cards in #Gloomhaven or #Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island that mimic the randomness of battle or wildlife are great and in both those cases the random nature impacts everyone (seeing as they are co-op games).  Even the luck of a drawn encounter card in #Scythe is mitigated by the balance across all encounter cards.

There are several games where I have felt that luck was not necessary and house ruled something to remove it. #Everdell: Spirecrest allows you to draw three cards from a seasonal deck at the end of each season and place them randomly at the bottom of the board with the first being free, the second costing a little more, and the third costing the most.  This seems arbitrary to me and so the last play we drew five, pick one, and place the others on the bottom of the deck.  In #Maracaibo is makes more sense to reveal all the privilege buildings at the beginning because there are 8, you randomly draw 4, and there's already enough luck with card draw throughout the game that revealing one each decade seems unnecessary. 

Two other games I've found luck workarounds are #Wingspan and #The Isle of Cats.  In Wingspan we draft cards at the beginning of the game with each player starting with 7 cards, drafting until necessary and discarding down to 5 (at least) by drafts end.  This gives everyone a fair shot at a solid opening hand and not ending up with 5 birds that don't play well in the first couple turns.  In Isle of Cats I divide the cards into green cards (baskets), purple, brown, and yellow cards, and blue card (lessons) stacks and each round we start the draft with each player getting three green, and choosing two or three from each of the other stacks.  THEN we draft.  This eliminates a whole round with NO extra baskets (unless you draft them away...in that case your loss).  

Great topic/mechanic choice!

I love this list and agree with the vast majority if not all of it.  I am not a huge fan of games based on luck and so #Candy Land Game, #Yahtzee, or even #Dice Throne do not peak my interest much or my interest (say as in Dice Throne) is tempered somewhat.  

Games with luck that allow you to push your luck #Diamant, #The Quacks of Quedlinburg, or such I am a little more ok with but they still aren't my favorite games.  Those a more of a controlled adjustment strategy #Orléans or #Dice Forge I enjoy a bit more.

Other games such as the luck involved in drawing cards in #Gloomhaven or #Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island that mimic the randomness of battle or wildlife are great and in both those cases the random nature impacts everyone (seeing as they are co-op games).  Even the luck of a drawn encounter card in #Scythe is mitigated by the balance across all encounter cards.

There are several games where I have felt that luck was not necessary and house ruled something to remove it. #Everdell: Spirecrest allows you to draw three cards from a seasonal deck at the end of each season and place them randomly at the bottom of the board with the first being free, the second costing a little more, and the third costing the most.  This seems arbitrary to me and so the last play we drew five, pick one, and place the others on the bottom of the deck.  In #Maracaibo is makes more sense to reveal all the privilege buildings at the beginning because there are 8, you randomly draw 4, and there's already enough luck with card draw throughout the game that revealing one each decade seems unnecessary. 

Two other games I've found luck workarounds are #Wingspan and #The Isle of Cats.  In Wingspan we draft cards at the beginning of the game with each player starting with 7 cards, drafting until necessary and discarding down to 5 (at least) by drafts end.  This gives everyone a fair shot at a solid opening hand and not ending up with 5 birds that don't play well in the first couple turns.  In Isle of Cats I divide the cards into green cards (baskets), purple, brown, and yellow cards, and blue card (lessons) stacks and each round we start the draft with each player getting three green, and choosing two or three from each of the other stacks.  THEN we draft.  This eliminates a whole round with NO extra baskets (unless you draft them away...in that case your loss).  

Great topic/mechanic choice!

#Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 currently sits on my shelf as I got it at a discount and look forward to playing it but have to wait for the right timing because I'd like to play it with my family or Becky at least.

I've played most of #Scythe: The Rise of Fenris and it is a great legacy experience (though somewhat short) and the best experience when you have a great grasp of all the factions and the basic gameplay (I wouldn't recommend starting out with Fenris)

#Gloomhaven was my first legacy experience and broke me through the wall of thinking I'd just prefer a one-and-done game.  I went into playing it not being 100% sure how much I'd like it.  The consequences from one game to the next are nearly as complex and weighty as in Pandemic (from what I understand) but the layered choices from which quest path to choice, to which cards to add as you level up, to the diversity of characters to choice from and the variability between characters make every session unique.  Not to mention that each scenario seems to have it's own unique twists.

#Charterstone is another legacy game sitting on my shelf waiting to be played.  I just have to wait for the right timing. #Sword & Sorcery: Immortal Souls was another legacy game I nearly forgot about.  I enjoyed it but the story and development of characters are limited compared to Gloomhaven and so it got traded some time ago.

Ohh I'm totally with you on this one. I prefer this type of progression more than tabealu builders because it makes it feel more relatable than when it's just cards. The only games in my collection with something like this is #Clans of Caledonia and #Root to some degree. It's fun to place down more of your tokens from your player board to the map and to get bonuses in Root. And as the Woodland Alliance, you can place warriors on your board that will act as your "officers" that grant additional actions on your turn.

I remember reading that the designer of Clans was inspired by #Hansa Teutonica for the shipping, merchant, and tech upgrades. I'm pretty sure I won't have the opportunity to play that game with others, so I was glad that Clans is a bit of a mixed bag of great mechanics from multiple games (and it still works!)

By the way, have you seen this game yet? #Endless Winter: Paleoamericans. It seems to have a player board with "unlockables" as well. The art is done by The Mico (Mihajlo) who worked with Garphill Games for the North Sea and West Kingdom series. Apparently the design has been handled by those who've been involved with games like Rurik, Coloma, and Sierra West.

Ohh I'm totally with you on this one. I prefer this type of progression more than tabealu builders because it makes it feel more relatable than when it's just cards. The only games in my collection with something like this is #Clans of Caledonia and #Root to some degree. It's fun to place down more of your tokens from your player board to the map and to get bonuses in Root. And as the Woodland Alliance, you can place warriors on your board that will act as your "officers" that grant additional actions on your turn.

I remember reading that the designer of Clans was inspired by #Hansa Teutonica for the shipping, merchant, and tech upgrades. I'm pretty sure I won't have the opportunity to play that game with others, so I was glad that Clans is a bit of a mixed bag of great mechanics from multiple games (and it still works!)

By the way, have you seen this game yet? #Endless Winter: Paleoamericans. It seems to have a player board with "unlockables" as well. The art is done by The Mico (Mihajlo) who worked with Garphill Games for the North Sea and West Kingdom series. Apparently the design has been handled by those who've been involved with games like Rurik, Coloma, and Sierra West.

I had a dice phase some months ago when I was on the lookout for the perfect game with dice workers! And I agree with you, I really enjoy the perfect mixture of strategical thinking and tactical decisions you make when trying to deal with the bad rolls.

The only ones I've played are #The Voyages of Marco Polo, #Atlantis Rising (second edition), and #Camel Up (second edition)

Marco Polo bears some resemblances to Coimbra I believe. In MP, you have a set number of dice workers that you can place on various spots. You can spend resources to hire more workers or get re-rolls. The big catch in MP is (1) when taking an action that requires more than one die, the "power" of your action is determined by the lowest numbered die and (2) when you want to place your workers on an already occupied spot, (1) you have to pay to take that action. The amount you pay is determined by the lowest numbere die. This makes it so that low numbered dice are just as important when you're really needing to take actions on populars spots without breaking your bank for it. Besides this, this game features highly unique variable player powers where one character doesn't even need to roll dice haha 

For #Atlantis Rising (second edition), it's a co-op game where players work together to gather different resources from different peninsula that jut out from the center of the island. The probability of gaining a resource increases the further you go out to the end of the peninsula but you also run the risk of not being able to take that action if the location you're standing on happens to flood away. You roll dice to determine if you obtained a resource. You can mitigate bad luck by spending "Mystic Energy"

#Camel Up (second edition) is a racing game and each die corresponds to a camel of the same color. To be honest, I think this is my favorite out of these three games. I absolutely love the random, silly, chaotic fun of it even though there's very little strategy involved.

I'd love to try out #Troyes. I feel like it would be one of my favorites within this category. I also have #Root that uses dice but it's not the biggest part of the game.

Totally.  I mean they are both in my top 5.  But I also I do believe that the overall experience would be enhanced in both.  Some of the uprgrades for #Root look really cool but I feel like they'd be too much and take away from playing it for me.

#Clans of Caledonia metal coins are at the top of my list. Unfortunately, it's out of stock everywhere and I have no idea when it's coming back :(

I actually don't need to accommodate that many different types of groups, so I think I have it easier. I mainly need to cover solo, 2p games with my wife, and family game nights. And it sure helps a lot that my favorite games to play with my wife have great solo modes and that my mom is interested in trying them out too!

#Clans of Caledonia - Fantastic 2p game with my wife. It'll be relatively easy for my mom to pick up on too. And while it's not my absolute favorite for solo, I do like it a lot.

#Concordia - Another great 2p game with my wife. To be honest though, I think I should go with #Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated instead. We just like the thrill factor when pulling the Clank! cubes out of the bag. I just don't know how much we'll like the game once we're done with the legacy portion.

#Pax Pamir (Second Edition) - My favorite to solo so far.

#Camel Up (second edition) - Silly random fun for the family and I just love it. Easy to add in more people if we had guests over.

#Just One - It was either this or #Welcome to... It's another fantastic game for the family or with guests, and this one gets a plus for being the only co-op in this list.

#Pax Pamir (Second Edition) - Just about every component in this game is premium. I especially love placing down these blocks

#Clans of Caledonia - Love the wooden bits in this game. It's so satisfying to have loads of them on the map and producing so much resource for you during the production phase

#Root - The screen printing on meeples adds so much to their personality

#Camel Up (second edition) - Chunky camels with a rubbery plastic kind of feel. My favorite family game so far and these camels add a lot to the silly lighthearted vibe to the game

#Viticulture: Essential Edition - The wooden bits in this game have a smooth finish and I really like the shape of the meeple workers. But the glass grape beads are the absolute best

#Atlantis Rising (second edition) - Honorable mention. The selection of material type and color is so well done and makes you think, "oh wow, how did they afford this at this price point?" It just seems like an overall high production value compared to other games in the same price range

#Pax Pamir (Second Edition) - Just about every component in this game is premium. I especially love placing down these blocks

#Clans of Caledonia - Love the wooden bits in this game. It's so satisfying to have loads of them on the map and producing so much resource for you during the production phase

#Root - The screen printing on meeples adds so much to their personality

#Camel Up (second edition) - Chunky camels with a rubbery plastic kind of feel. My favorite family game so far and these camels add a lot to the silly lighthearted vibe to the game

#Viticulture: Essential Edition - The wooden bits in this game have a smooth finish and I really like the shape of the meeple workers. But the glass grape beads are the absolute best

#Atlantis Rising (second edition) - Honorable mention. The selection of material type and color is so well done and makes you think, "oh wow, how did they afford this at this price point?" It just seems like an overall high production value compared to other games in the same price range

I have to check out #Underwater Cities.  That wasn't even on my radar.  I like your list.  Would love to play #Star Wars: Rebellion and #Mage Knight someday but one is huge and the other would probably take up #Gloomhaven plays.  Nice to have such a tough issue though for sure :)

I generally rules out upgrades save for the last one here:

Everdell has some great resources (I have the collector's edition which could make a difference) and nice meeples in general.  One of the reasons my family loves this game is for the parts and pieces.

#Tapestry has a nice array of components from the common income buildings to the special buildings obtained from cards and racing up the tracts.

#Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island has several great components and while they could be better it came out in 2012 toward the front end of better parts in a boardgame being as big a deal.

#Architects of the West Kingdom is my cheat because the parts are upgraded but they are fantastic...

all of the Architect parts have some heft to them :)

The Death Star from#Star Wars: Rebellion. The wooden meeples in#Root. The resource tokens in#Everdell. The miniatures in#Star Wars Imperial Assault. Lots of amazing components out there.

Oh nice.  I like this prompt...

#Root

#Clans of Caledonia

#Scythe

#Viticulture

#Star Wars Imperial Assault

Oh nice.  I like this prompt...

#Root

#Clans of Caledonia

#Scythe

#Viticulture

#Star Wars Imperial Assault