Top 20 'Alliance-Forging' Board Game Campaigns to attend with friends for building a legendary team. - Goh Ling Yong
There’s a special magic that happens around the gaming table. You and your friends share laughter, outwit opponents, and create fleeting moments of victory. But what if you could take that magic and stretch it over weeks, or even months? What if every decision you made had lasting consequences, creating a story that is uniquely yours?
Welcome to the world of campaign and legacy board games. These aren't just one-off experiences; they are epic sagas in a box. In these games, the board, the characters, and even the rules themselves evolve as you play. You'll slap stickers on the map, rip up cards, and unlock secret components, forging a narrative that belongs to your group and your group alone. It’s the closest you can get to starring in your own TV series, one game night at a time.
More than just a game, a campaign is a commitment—a pact between friends to see a story through to its end. It’s about building a legendary team, where shared victories feel monumental and narrow defeats become war stories you'll recount for years. If you’re ready to transform your game nights into unforgettable adventures, here are the top 20 alliance-forging campaigns to embark on with your friends.
1. Gloomhaven
Let’s start with the titan. Gloomhaven is a sprawling fantasy dungeon-crawler that sets the gold standard for campaign games. You and your friends play as a party of wandering mercenaries, each with unique skills and personal goals. The game's core is a brilliant card-based combat system that eliminates dice rolls in favor of deep, tactical decisions.
The real team-building comes from the brutal, puzzle-like combat. You can't win by being a lone wolf. You must coordinate your actions, combo your abilities, and communicate your intent (without giving away too much information). Deciding who takes a hit for the team or who gets to snag that shiny treasure coin are the moments where your group’s identity is forged.
Legendary Tip: Talk about your initiative values each round! Announcing whether you’re going "fast" or "slow" can prevent a lot of friendly fire and set up devastatingly effective turns.
2. Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
This is the game that put legacy-style experiences on the map. Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 takes the familiar cooperative gameplay of saving the world from four deadly diseases and turns it into a heart-pounding, 12-month campaign. Every game represents one month, and the consequences of your actions—both good and bad—carry over permanently.
The pressure is immense, and your team must become a well-oiled machine to survive. Cities will fall into chaos, characters will gain scars (or worse), and the rules themselves will change in shocking ways. You will argue, despair, and ultimately triumph (or fail) together. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that creates an unbreakable bond.
Legendary Tip: Don't be afraid to let a city fall to save others. Triage is a core part of the game, and sometimes you have to make a tough sacrifice for the greater good.
3. Sleeping Gods
If you crave exploration and narrative, Sleeping Gods is your holy grail. You and your friends are the crew of the steamship Manticore, lost in a strange sea in 1929. Your goal? To find the totems of the gods and make your way home. The game plays out like a choose-your-own-adventure book on a grand scale, with a massive atlas of maps to explore.
Teamwork is baked into the very fabric of the game. A single player takes a turn for the whole team, but every decision should be a group discussion. Who is best equipped to handle this challenge? Do we spend our precious resources here or save them for what's over the horizon? It's a shared journey of discovery, wonder, and survival.
Legendary Tip: Keep a logbook! Jot down notes about mysterious characters, locations you can't access yet, and rumors you overhear. The world is vast, and your notes will become an invaluable tool.
4. Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Step into the chilling world of H.P. Lovecraft in this narrative-driven Living Card Game (LCG). As investigators with unique strengths and crippling weaknesses, you’ll delve into terrifying mysteries that threaten to unravel your sanity. The game combines deep deck construction with thrilling, story-rich scenarios.
The alliance-forging here is twofold. First, you must build decks that complement each other. A clue-gathering "Seeker" needs a "Guardian" to protect them from monsters. Second, during the game, you must decide how to split up, cover more ground, and support each other when the unimaginable horrors of the mythos appear. Few things bond a team like facing down an elder god together.
Legendary Tip: Specialize your decks. It's better to have one player who is amazing at fighting and another who is amazing at investigating than to have two players who are just "okay" at both.
5. The King's Dilemma
This one is different. The King's Dilemma is a purely narrative legacy game where you represent noble houses advising a king. Each round, a dilemma card is drawn, presenting a problem facing the kingdom. You then debate, bribe, and form alliances to vote on a course of action that will benefit your house and shape the future of the realm.
This is the ultimate game of negotiation and political intrigue. You'll make promises, forge temporary truces, and maybe even betray a long-time ally for the good of your lineage. The story you create is entirely your own, and the final state of the kingdom will be a direct result of your group's Machiavellian maneuvering.
Legendary Tip: Don't get too attached to short-term wins. The game is a marathon, not a sprint. Think about how your votes will affect your secret objectives and the long-term stability of the kingdom.
6. Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated
Take the fun, deck-building dungeon-delving of Clank! and infuse it with a hilarious story co-written by the Penny Arcade team. You and your friends are hopefuls trying to earn your place in the world's most famous adventuring franchise. You’ll be exploring dungeons, fighting monsters, and trying to nab treasure without making too much "Clank!"
This legacy game is brimming with humor and charm. You'll establish a home base, sign ridiculous contracts, and encounter a cast of unforgettable characters. It strikes a perfect balance between competitive treasure-grabbing and a cooperative, overarching story that makes you feel like part of a quirky adventuring family.
Legendary Tip: Read the book entries aloud with enthusiasm! The writing is a huge part of the fun, and doing voices for the characters makes the experience even more memorable.
7. Descent: Legends of the Dark
This is the modern, app-driven dungeon crawl. Descent: Legends of the Dark delivers a stunning 3D tabletop presence with a rich, unfolding story managed by a companion app. The app handles all the bookkeeping, enemy AI, and narrative twists, freeing up your group to focus on strategy and immersion.
The teamwork is fast-paced and tactical. You’ll be coordinating to take down massive monsters, solve environmental puzzles, and make crucial story choices. Between missions, you can craft new gear and upgrade your weapons, making every player feel like their character is truly growing and contributing to the party's success.
Legendary Tip: Use the "Ready" action strategically. Allowing a friend to take their turn before a monster can act might be the key to victory.
8. Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile
Oath is less a campaign and more a chronicle. It's a game where one session directly sets the stage for the next, creating a continuous history of a fantasy land. The winner of a game gets to shape the kingdom, altering the victory conditions, available cards, and political landscape for the next generation of players.
Alliances in Oath are fluid and desperate. You might need to team up with the current Ruler to defend the kingdom from an invading Warlord, or secretly conspire with another Exile to overthrow the crown. It’s a game of shifting loyalties where the story of your world is the true prize. Even in my own gaming group, which Goh Ling Yong occasionally joins, we've found Oath creates rivalries and stories we talk about for weeks.
Legendary Tip: The first game is a learning game. Don't worry about winning; focus on understanding how your actions today will echo into the next session.
9. Mechs vs. Minions
From the makers of League of Legends, Mechs vs. Minions is a stunningly produced cooperative campaign game. You and your friends pilot powerful mechs, programming your moves on a shared command line to fight off hordes of minions. Each mission introduces new challenges, abilities, and hilarious bits of story.
The chaos is the point. Your carefully laid plans will inevitably go haywire as your command lines get damaged or friends get in your way. The laughter and frantic replanning that result are what make this game shine. It's a fantastic, accessible entry point for groups new to campaign gaming.
Legendary Tip: Draft your command cards with your teammates' plans in mind. Setting up a friend to use their newly upgraded flamethrower on a massive clump of minions is incredibly satisfying.
10. Star Wars: Imperial Assault (Campaign Mode)
Live out your Star Wars fantasies in this tactical, mission-based campaign. One player takes on the role of the Galactic Empire, while up to four others team up as a heroic squad of Rebel operatives. You'll go on daring missions, upgrade your gear, and fight to free the galaxy from tyranny.
While it's "one vs. many," the Rebel players must function as a perfectly coordinated team to stand a chance. The Imperial player is a formidable foe, and only by combining the unique skills of each hero can you hope to complete your objectives. It’s a classic dungeon crawl with a brilliant sci-fi skin.
Legendary Tip: Rebel players, focus on the objective! It's easy to get bogged down fighting every Stormtrooper. Often, you need to make a strategic dash for the goal to win.
11. T.I.M.E. Stories
Part board game, part escape room, T.I.M.E. Stories sends your team of temporal agents into the past to solve mysteries and prevent paradoxes. You inhabit the bodies of "receptacles" native to the time period, exploring locations and gathering clues to solve a central puzzle before you run out of time.
This is a game of pure collaborative problem-solving. You’ll need to share information effectively, piece together disparate clues, and decide as a group how to best spend your precious "time units." Each mission is a self-contained story, but they all tie into a larger, overarching plot that will keep you hooked.
Legendary Tip: Split up to cover more ground, but communicate everything you find. A seemingly minor detail discovered by one player could be the key to a puzzle another player is facing.
12. Aeon's End: Legacy
Want to learn a fantastic cooperative deck-builder while playing through an epic story? Aeon's End: Legacy is the perfect choice. You play as apprentice breach mages, learning to harness your powers to defend the last bastion of humanity from monstrous entities known as The Nameless.
Unlike other deck-builders, you don't shuffle your deck, so the order in which you discard and acquire cards matters immensely. The legacy campaign gradually introduces new rules, powerful spells, and fearsome bosses, teaching you the intricacies of the system as your characters grow in power. You'll build your mages from scratch, creating a team that feels truly your own.
Legendary Tip: The turn order is variable. Pay close attention to who might act next—the boss or your allies—when planning your turn.
13. My City
Who says a legacy game has to be a massive, complex beast? My City is a competitive but friendly tile-laying legacy game from the legendary designer Reiner Knizia. Over 24 episodes, you will develop a unique city on your personal player board, adding buildings, unlocking new rules, and striving to be the most prosperous founder.
While competitive, the shared journey makes it feel collaborative. You'll all groan when a difficult shape is drawn and cheer when someone pulls off a clever placement. It's low-stress, highly addictive, and perfect for families or groups looking for a lighter campaign experience.
Legendary Tip: Don't be afraid to cover up trees early on if it means better placement for your buildings. Points from trees are nice, but negative points from unplaced buildings are a killer.
14. Betrayal Legacy
This game takes the classic haunted-house-exploration formula of Betrayal at House on the Hill and stretches it across centuries. You and your friends play as different generations of families tied to the spooky old house. You'll explore, find items, and then, at some point, one of you will trigger "the haunt" and might turn against the others.
The legacy elements create a fascinating history. The items you use become family heirlooms, and the way one haunt plays out can permanently alter the house for all future games. It brilliantly captures the suspense of the original while building a persistent and spooky narrative that is all your own.
Legendary Tip: The first few games are haunt-free "prologues." Use this time to explore as many rooms as possible and get a feel for the house's layout before things get dangerous.
15. Near and Far
If you're looking for a campaign game with beautiful art and a strong sense of adventure, look no further. Near and Far blends worker placement, resource management, and a storybook mechanic into a charming package. You’ll travel across different maps, recruiting adventurers, fighting bandits, and seeking out lost treasures.
The heart of the game is the storybook. When you land on a story space, another player reads a passage aloud, presenting you with choices that have narrative and mechanical consequences. The campaign mode ties these adventures together, allowing you to level up your character and build a lasting reputation in the world of Arzium.
Legendary Tip: Don't neglect your home base in the town. Upgrading it provides powerful ongoing benefits that will help you on your adventures.
16. The 7th Continent
This is a brutal and challenging cooperative game of exploration and survival. Inspired by classic choose-your-own-adventure books, you and your team are early 20th-century explorers who have discovered a mysterious new continent and must lift a curse that afflicts you.
The game is played out over a massive map made of numbered terrain cards that you reveal as you explore. Teamwork is absolutely essential for survival. You must craft tools, hunt for food, and solve environmental puzzles together. The feeling of discovering a new landmark or finally figuring out how to overcome a major obstacle as a team is second to none.
Legendary Tip: Save your game often! The game includes a clever save system. This is not a campaign you can finish in one sitting, and it can be punishingly difficult.
17. Mansions of Madness (Second Edition)
Another app-driven gem, Mansions of Madness drops you and your fellow investigators into haunted manors and cursed locations right out of a Lovecraft story. The app serves as the Keeper, revealing the map, spawning monsters, and creating a tense, atmospheric experience.
While the scenarios are standalone, you can easily link them to form a mini-campaign for your investigators. The core of the teamwork is crisis management. You have to decide who will barricade the door, who will search for clues, and who will bravely (or foolishly) face the gibbering horror that just shambled out of the library.
Legendary Tip: Trade your items! Players in the same space can freely trade, and giving the right tool to the right person at the right time is often the key to solving the mystery.
18. Chronicles of Crime
This is a detective game for the modern age. In Chronicles of Crime, you use your smartphone to scan QR codes on character, location, and evidence cards to solve a crime. By "talking" to suspects and consulting with your specialists (hacker, doctor, etc.), you piece together the events of the case.
The game is a pure communication challenge. All the information is open, so your team acts as a single hive mind. You'll debate theories, follow leads, and try to crack the case before time runs out. The different scenarios can be played in order to follow a larger narrative arc.
Legendary Tip: Take notes! Have one player act as the dedicated scribe, keeping track of timelines, testimonies, and key pieces of evidence. It's easy to get overwhelmed with information otherwise.
19. Gloom of Kilforth
For those who want a sprawling fantasy adventure without a 40-pound box, Gloom of Kilforth is an excellent choice. It’s a card-based game where you create a hero and venture into a dark fantasy world to defeat a powerful Ancient evil. The game creates an emergent narrative through its location, encounter, and quest cards.
While it can be played solo, the cooperative mode encourages players to travel together, trade items, and help each other in combat. You can work together to clear locations or team up to take on powerful foes that would be impossible to defeat alone, all in a race against the encroaching gloom.
Legendary Tip: Pay attention to the different terrain types. Certain classes excel in specific environments (like a Ranger in the Woods), so plan your routes accordingly.
20. ISS Vanguard
From the creators of Tainted Grail, ISS Vanguard is a massive, cooperative space exploration campaign. You manage different sections of the starship Vanguard (Security, Science, Engineering, Recon) and send landing parties down to explore strange and wondrous alien planets.
The game is divided into two main phases: a ship management phase where you upgrade your ship, research discoveries, and heal your crew, and a planet exploration phase driven by a beautiful logbook and dice-based checks. It’s a game about making tough choices as a command crew, knowing that the fate of humanity rests on your shoulders.
Legendary Tip: Diversify your lander crew. You'll encounter a wide variety of challenges on a planet, and having a crew with different skills is crucial to overcoming them.
Choosing a campaign game is about finding the right story for your group. Whether you want to save the world, explore a haunted house, or build a kingdom, there's an experience waiting for you. These games are more than just an evening's entertainment; they are a crucible for friendship, a generator of inside jokes, and a way to build a truly legendary team. As a content writer for Goh Ling Yong's blog, I can confidently say these are some of the best shared experiences you can have on a tabletop.
So, gather your friends, pick your saga, and get ready for an adventure.
What's your favorite board game campaign? Did I miss a hidden gem that your group loves? Share your top picks in the comments below
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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