Expansions are a fantastic way for players to enlarge board games that they already know and love. Adding expansions to the game can often add more of what players like or even change major aspects of games to create brand new experiences.
Many companies make expansions for their games as it increases base-game sales and extends the life of the product. Some expansions come as an entire package wherein everything in the expansion must be used, or it can't be used at all. Other expansions offer modular content, allowing players to mix and match their favorite parts of the expansion.
10 Space Base: The Emergence Of Shy Pluto Was Something Unexpected
Space Base's popularity comes from its quick pace and fun engine-building mechanisms. The Emergence Of Shy Pluto expanded the game in a way that no players expected. The expansion offered a narrative story that introduced the new systems to players gradually rather than adding them all in at once. The expansion also came with a unique scenario that players could play when they want something other than the normal game's experience. This somewhat unique way of creating an expansion has led the company to take similar steps in the game's second expansion.
9 Castle Panic: The Wizard's Tower Made The Castle More Valuable
Castle Panic is a beloved cooperative tower-defense game that has performed well with board gamers. The game did face some criticism from gamers, however. Some players felt the game was too easy and that it lacked variety in its special abilities and play style.
The Wizard's Tower tackled both of these issues by adding in new, more difficult monsters and replacing one of the towers in the game with a wizard's tower. The tower offered a brand new deck of cards that were only accessible to players who protected the wizard's tower from destruction.
8 Western Legends: Ante Up Finally Let Players Rob Trains
Western Legends may well be the purest example of a Wild West-themed board game. The game offers players the chance to be outlaws or marshals, to herd cattle, to rob banks, to play poker, or to visit the cabaret. It's a sandbox game that many gamers adore but there always seemed to be one thing missing. There was a train track on the board, leaving the players begging for a way to ride the train or, better yet, to rob it. The expansion Ante Up delivered these opportunities with a train that travels the track.
7 Gloomhaven: Forgotten Circles Brings An Entirely Unique Storyline
Gloomhaven is a grandiose game that is unlike any other tabletop experience; it currently ranks as the number one board game of all time, according to the users of the website Board Game Geek. The game offers players almost one hundred scenarios to play through, requiring an average of 100+ hours of gameplay. Forgotten Circles adds about forty new scenarios that tell a single story and require a player to use a specific character throughout the experience. This game expansion had a much bigger impact than gamers thought it would at first glance.
6 7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon Changes The Rhythm Of The Game
2-player games are a beloved genre since many players tend to have a partner or roommate that they play games with. 7 Wonders Duel is one of the most popular games in that genre and it has sold very well. The game did receive some complaints from gamers who felt that, at times, the game could become somewhat predictable. Pantheon gave players a new action they could perform, throwing off the game's expected rhythm and making it much harder for opponents to predict each other's moves.
5 Pandemic: In The Lab Doubled The Amount Of Themed Materials In The Game
Pandemic is the most popular cooperative game in the world. It has remained a best-seller since it was first released in 2008 and many players already thought of it as a game with a lot of flavor and a strong theme.
Pandemic: In The Lab adds a secondary board that allows players to go into the laboratory and create cures for the game's various diseases. The expansion added significant additional theming with its Petri dishes, and its true-to-life scientific feel made the game come alive in a brand new way.
4 King Of Tokyo: Power Up! Makes Every Monster Unique
King of Tokyo is one of the most well-liked dice games in the hobby and many players regard it as one of the best games for newcomers to play. The only thing about the game that was criticized from the beginning was the fact that the monsters in the game were all the same. Even with their unique artwork, the big kaiju did not have any special abilities until their players purchased them. The Power Up! expansion changed this by giving each player a deck of power-up cards they could activate in-game, making their monsters completely different from everyone else's at the table.
3 Scythe: The Rise Of Fenris Gave The Game An Unexpected Campaign
When the third expansion for the game Scythe was announced, players weren't sure what to expect. Two other expansions had already been released. They were well-liked, but they didn't blow the game's fans away. The Rise of Fenris changed everything by including an entire campaign in the box for gamers to play through, complete with secret boxes to open and huge surprises. Players were extremely pleased with expansion's modular content and it is now one of the highest-rated board game expansions to ever be released.
2 Viticulture: Tuscany Made The Game Twice As Big
Viticulture is a board game about cultivating grapes and producing wine. The game was set in two seasons and players had to strategize the best way to place their workers in both seasons to produce the best wine while also playing more efficiently than their opponents.
The Tuscany expansion added a brand new board, replacing the old one. Now the game took place over four seasons instead of two and also added a new card type that players could use. With Tuscany, the game is considered to be much more strategic and much more rewarding than before.
1 Descent: The Road To Legend Adds Two Hundred Hours To An Already Long Game
Descent: Journeys In The Dark (First Edition) is a legendary game in the tabletop hobby. It introduced many players to dungeon crawls and a dice system that is still being used today in games like Star Wars: Imperial Assault. The Road To Legend took Descent and changed it from one-off scenarios to a full RPG campaign complete with XP, upgradable equipment, and more. The expansion made the game bigger than anyone thought possible for a game of its size and scope. This set the bar extremely high and many gamers feel that no other game has surpassed to this day.