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Tony Dehner
United States
Waterloo
Iowa
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First of all, thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed the first installment of this series. It honestly didn't even occur to me that many people would even read it, let alone look forward to reading future entries.
With that out of the way, it seems natural to proceed by listing my favorite board game expansions. Before we get to the actual list, a couple of observations and broad comments:
*I imposed one hard and fast rule upon myself when making this list: one expansion per game. Otherwise, this list would likely consist entirely of Memoir '44 expansions.
*I tried to pick expansions that, in some way, significantly alter or improve the game. Just adding variety isn't enough, which is why you won't see any Small World expansions on this list (as an example). This, however, is not a hard and fast rule, as you'll see below.
*It seems like a glaring omission, but I have yet to pick a favorite Arkham Horror expansion. I just don't have enough experience with all of them yet. I'm planning an addendum to this entry where I finally commit to one of them. (In the meantime, I have picked an AH expansion for my future "Least Essential" list, but you'll just have to wait for that one.  )
With that out of the way, here we go:
Memoir '44: Campaign Book Volume 1 - possibly my favorite expansion to any game. My regular M'44 opponent and I have completed Normandy - with a predictable Allied victory - and are halfway through Fall Gelb now, which is much more competitive so far. Every battle is meaningful, with special objectives being more important than ever, and Fall Gelb ups the ante by adding the armor track, where victory points are awarded for destroying enemy tanks. Getting together regularly to complete a campaign is challenging, but obviously that's not the expansion's fault. I'm planning to use the campaign rules for a Winter Wars campaign, once I own that expansion. I've also got my fingers crossed that the implied CB Volume 2 is coming someday, and I'm hoping it includes another early war campaign, and possibly a Pacific Theatre campaign.
A Game of Thrones: A Clash of Kings Expansion - my favorite kind of expansion: the modular kind. I love not having to use everything, and being able to create the game experience you want. The ports are a necessary fix that should have been included in the base game, but everything else is purely optional. I'm a big fan of House Martell in the books, and I love having them in the game. This spot almost went to the Storm of Swords expansion, mainly on the strength of the Westeros cards and Wildling deck in that game, but I just prefer playing with 5-6 people.
Lord of the Rings: Friends & Foes - my opinion of this expansion was changed drastically with one play. Lord of the Rings is one of me and my wife's favorite games, and most of our friends love it too. We'd played a couple of F&F games before, and it seemed to me that all it did was take a game that was already difficult and make it nearly impossible to defeat. But that's not the case at all: yes, there are more challenges, and some of them are truly nasty, but if you anticipate them and are able to respond properly, you can do well and even win the game. And then there's the Foes, which present a whole new challenge that you can't possibly plan for. Bottom line: if you've "solved" LOTR, you need Friends & Foes.
Carcassonne: Traders & Builders - I know what you're thinking, and it's true: regular Carcassonne is incomplete without Inns & Cathedrals, and that's the first expansion you should buy. However, for me, I didn't truly fall in love with Carc until we added T&B. The obvious reason why is the trade goods. Giving players an incentive to complete other players' features is a huge, game-changing addition.As far as the new meeples, I like the pig, but the builder is awesome.
Heroscape Expansion Set: Road to the Forgotten Forest - I almost left HeroScape off of this list altogether: when you think about it, HS really just had one expansion that was released gradually over 4+ years. In the end, though, I couldn't leave this one off. The roads are the only terrain introduced that were a fundamental game-changer, and when building maps, we always make sure there's a bridge, as opposed to a swamp or snow bank. The trees are wonderful too, and certainly make the map look pretty. When HS stuff was easy to come by, I recommended owning one RttFF for every Master Set owned, and I still stand by that.
Kingsburg: To Forge a Realm - another modular expansion. We haven't used the Governor or Destiny cards at all, but we like everything else well enough that we may just use it all the time. The new, larger Province sheets are a must even for rookies, while the alternate building rows keep the game fresh for experienced players.
Pandemic: On the Brink - we haven't even played with the Virulent Strain, Mutation or Bio-Terrorist, and yet OTB earns a spot on the list for the new role cards and Special Events alone. Buying Pandemic without OTB is like cooking a roast without potatoes and carrots.
Dominion: Intrigue - this one comes close to violating the previously-mentioned "Small World rule" in that it mostly just gives you more stuff to play with. But there's so much more than that: the high number of Attack cards, in addition to the large number of cards that have what we call "the d-bag option," means you can make the game as nasty as you want. Plus, there are Victory cards that you can actually use as actions, or for other purposes. I liked Dominion plenty before, but Intrigue is where we fell in love.
Battlestar Galactica: Exodus Expansion - I might be jumping the gun here, because my only experience playing BSG with Exodus is a PBF game that hasn't been completed yet. Still, BSG is easily one of my top 5 games, and I can safely say I prefer Exodus over the Pegasus expansion. The Cylon Fleet is great: there's constant pressure, but it's more manageable than with the Cylon attack Crisis cards. We haven't reached the Crossroads phase in our game yet, but I love interacting with the Allies, and the uncertainty that they generate. I may have to re-visit this one as well: I think it deserves a spot on the list, but it's clear that I have yet to scratch the surface of what Exodus offers. My only complaint is that I wish there were more "backward compatibility" with Pegasus, but maybe FFG is planning to fix that with a Miskatonic-style "expansions expansion."
The 10th spot on the list is reserved for whichever Arkham Horror expansion I end up picking. I suppose I could have just picked Dunwich Horror, as there's almost universal agreement that new buyers should begin with that one, but as with Carcassonne and BSG, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be my favorite.
For my more detailed comments, check out my collection.
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