The best games from Rob Daviau 🇺🇸👨 2025

Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 offers an extraordinary gaming experience as a cooperative campaign game, immersing players in an overarching story-arc that unfolds over 12-24 gripping sessions. The duration depends on your group's performance and the fate of the world. Here's an overview of this thrilling journey:

Unmatched: Cobble & Fog is a captivating expansion to the Unmatched system, featuring a quartet of iconic characters drawn from literary lore, each with their unique playstyle and abilities. This expansion introduces the Invisible Man, Sherlock Holmes with Dr. Watson, Dracula along with the sisters, and the duo of Jekyll & Hyde, all brought to life in a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game.

Players embark on twelve journeys through North America as 19th-century pioneers. Starting on the East Coast, they face challenges while aiming to complete ticket objectives and develop new skills to overcome unexpected events and rivals. As the campaign progresses, players unlock new rules and content, creating a uniquely tailored experience that evolves with their choices, resulting in a game that can be enjoyed for a lifetime.

Cthulhu: Death May Die is an intense, cooperative board game set in the 1920s, drawing inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft's universe. Players take on the roles of daring investigators, embarking on a perilous mission to confront and eliminate Elder Gods.

Unmatched: Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot is a duel to the end between two iconic legends, offering a unique and highly asymmetrical tabletop experience. This set pits the cunning archer Robin Hood and his band of merry outlaws against the elusive and powerful Bigfoot, accompanied by the mystical Jackalope. Designed for two players, this game can also integrate with other Unmatched sets for up to four players, providing endless possibilities for epic battles.

Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume One is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game that brings together a roster of legendary figures, each represented by a unique deck that reflects their individual style and mythology. The game combines tactical movement with a no-luck combat resolution system, offering a distinct play experience that emphasizes skill and adaptability.

They display extreme intelligence, even problem-solving skills, particularly the large ones. Robert Muldoon has hunted many dangerous predators, but is he the hunter or the hunted against a pack of raptors? In this game, clever raptors use their speed and agility to surround their prey and grow stronger when attacking together, while InGen's gamekeepers set traps and strike from a distance in a battle that spans 65 million years.

Downforce is a fast-paced and exhilarating board game that captures the intense world of motor racing. Combining elements of card-driven gameplay, bidding, and betting, it offers a thrilling race experience for 2-6 players.

Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 transports you to 1962, at the height of the Cold War, where a mysterious Soviet bioweapon called "Project MEDUSA" threatens global safety. As newly recruited CIA agents and medical graduates, you and your team are tasked with a critical mission: investigate and halt the development of this deadly pathogen. This game stands alone as a thrilling prequel to the earlier seasons of Pandemic Legacy, immersing players in a tense world of espionage and covert operations.

Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar is a thrilling adventure board game that is a restoration of the classic 1986 game Fireball Island. Players embark on a daring quest on Fireball Island, a place teeming with dangers like volcanic upheavals, feral tigers, lethal trees, and swarms of bees. The goal is to capture snapshots across the island while racing down treacherous paths and avoiding a barrage of hazards, including the iconic fireballs.

Heroscape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie is a highly imaginative and customizable fantasy battle board game that blends elements from various eras and genres. It features a diverse array of painted plastic miniatures and modular hex-based terrain pieces, creating a unique and visually striking battlefield. Players engage in strategic battles using warriors ranging from WWII soldiers to futuristic robots, fantasy creatures, and more.

A crime has just been committed, and players must grab their investigation licenses and sharpen their deductive skills to catch the suspect. As multiple private detectives race to solve the case, only one can handcuff the culprit and claim the reward, which can lead to a sunny retirement on a tropical Caribbean beach.

The second Master Set for the HeroScape series allows players to build various battlefields by attaching and stacking game tiles. Each unit has a movement rating that indicates how many spaces it can move in a turn, factoring in elevation changes. Simple combat mechanics involve players rolling attack and defense dice, with skulls representing damage.

Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 is an epic, cooperative board game that continues the narrative and innovative gameplay of its predecessor. This game is set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity struggles to survive after a devastating plague. It offers a unique gaming experience, where players' decisions and actions have long-lasting consequences, making each playthrough distinct.

Four heroes engage in battle, featuring Buffy who wields Mr. Pointy and summons her strengths, alongside supportive characters like Giles and Xander. Spike, a relentless foe, utilizes his connection with Drusilla, while Willow experiments with dark magic, risking her powerful self. Angel, cursed with a soul, finds conflict in his victories and solace in his losses. Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniatures combat game for two to four players, where each hero is represented by a unique deck that reflects their style and legend.

"Looking good, darling. One chunk or two?" This is the most coveted invitation of the year: High Tea at Dinoton Abbey. Dressed to impress and ready for tea and chatter, players must identify each other’s dinosaur guest names to avoid social blunders.

In the late 17th century, powerful ships sailed the seas, bringing back various goods to port. As a skilled captain, players must cleverly use their crew to fill their ship's hold with the best combination of treasures, cannons, and other items to earn gold. At the end of the game, the player with the highest bounty is declared the greatest smuggler... erm, sea captain of all time!

Based on the four battles at the end of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, players engage in conflicts between Gungan forces and the Droid army, Naboo's attempt to storm the palace, and the duel between Darth Maul and the Jedi. The game features 155 plastic miniatures across three boards, including a three-tiered palace. Each player uses two sets of action cards to coordinate their movements, resolving combat with special attack and defense dice.

Risk Legacy is a revolutionary approach to the classic board game Risk, introducing the concept of a "campaigning" board game. What sets Risk Legacy apart is its evolving nature; the game changes over time, influenced by the outcomes of each session and the decisions made by players. This version of Risk creates a unique and persistent world that is shaped by the players' actions, resulting in a customized gaming experience.

Players roll dice, collect income, and race to build landmarks in a familiar gameplay style. However, new elements introduce challenges and decisions that influence future games. The game features a ten-game series that unfolds a complete story within the Machi Koro world, offering a unique experience shaped by player choices.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a suspenseful board game where players explore a haunted mansion they build themselves, filled with spirits and ominous omens. It's a great choice for an hour of entertainment at parties or casual gatherings.

Betrayal Legacy evolves the classic haunted mansion exploration of Betrayal at House on the Hill with a legacy twist. Set over several decades, players represent different generations of families, delving into the mysteries of a foreboding mansion. This narrative-driven game evolves with each play, creating a unique and persistent story.

Players control plastic figures of Marvel heroes and villains, each equipped with a card for managing movement and attack strength. Various battlefields can be built by stacking terrain tiles, and players can engage in scenarios that involve objectives, such as eliminating opponents or protecting specific characters.

Players take on the roles of the children from Hawkins, Indiana, who must stop the staff of the Hawkins National Laboratory and the evil emerging from the Upside Down. They must work together to dismantle stacks of game pieces before time runs out. The game features two different time periods for added variety.

An indulgence can be granted to alleviate sins in Catholic teachings. During the dark times, indulgences were sold to anyone willing to make a significant "contribution." Players take on the role of competing families in the Italian Renaissance, choosing edicts that dictate the rules while tempting others to defy them, ultimately seeking to gain indulgences and win the game.

The third master set for the HeroScape series delves into the realm of Dungeons and Dragons. It features 10 redesigned characters from Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures and 55 terrain figures in the Heroscape style.

Discover the secrets of Hogwarts in this version of the classic mystery game. Players take on the roles of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, or Neville to solve the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student, navigating a dynamic Hogwarts board that reveals hidden passages and dark forces. The game combines the traditional Clue mechanics with new features, like changing the board layout and managing house points, making it a fresh experience for fans of both Clue and Harry Potter.

Help Buffy and her friends stop the spread of evil in Sunnydale. Players must face famous villains like the Master, the Judge, and Adam while patrolling the board, collecting cards, and fighting to gain power. The game includes various components, such as character pieces, cards, and dice, to create an engaging experience filled with challenges.

There are three factions in the game, each with its own victory conditions. The Rebellion must find and destroy the Emperor, who hides on one of his imperial bases. Players can choose to play as Rebels, the Empire, or Hutts, battling for dominance in the galaxy while featuring iconic characters like Luke, Han, Darth Vader, and Boba Fett. The updated game includes ships, cards, and power dynamics to reflect the Star Wars original trilogy, accommodating up to five players with two Death Stars and enough miniatures to represent each faction.

Mountains of Madness is a cooperative board game that plunges players into the chilling depths of H.P. Lovecraft's imagination, specifically inspired by his novel of the same name. Set in the unforgiving and mysterious landscape of Antarctica in 1931, players lead a scientific expedition to explore a newly discovered mountain range. However, as they ascend to the highest peaks, they encounter not only physical challenges but also unforeseen horrors that threaten their sanity and cohesion as a team.