Best co-op board games?

If you can find copies, the Dark Age of Camelot/Battlestar Galactica boardgames are fantastic.

Both games have the same general premise- You're trying to survive against an enemy, completing objectives until you win. The twist is that one player (or more, with BSG) are traitors, secretly undermining the efforts of the group.

Galactica is arguably the better game but Camelot is a lot simpler. They aren't pure cooperative games but goddamn I've had the most fun in them of anything in my collection.

>>53164094

*Shadows Over Camelot

Damn my useless brain

>>53164050
Freedom is s good pandemic-ish game about the Underground Railroad. Easy to learn, easy to play but the game is stacked against you so you have to plan ahead.

Forbidden Desert is really good. It is very difficult though. I think I have only won it once or twice.

>>53164050

People have mixed feelings on it, but I enjoy Sentinels of the Multiverse. It's a co-op superhero card game where each player has a deck and character card representing their chosen hero, and you face off against a villain deck in an environment which can be harmful or helpful.

It has a lot of variety. The core box has a good few heroes, villains and environments, and there's a boatload of expansions to choose from to add more to the game. There's also a pretty cheap digital implementation you can pick up to see if you like the concept.

The recently released Dresden Files game is somewhat similar, but with a much more narrative bent.

Each player has a character, but instead of a villain and environment there's a 'story' deck, either based on one of the books in the series or a random combination of more generic cards.

While SotM is more numbercrunchy combo combat stuff, Dresden Files is a lot more about cooperating as a team to solve a randomly generated puzzle, using a limited number of cards and resources to deal with the problems in front of you efficiently.

>>53164168
Oh yeah, I thought that one sounded good. But I've read bad things about the 'odds are against you' element, so I'm not sure

>>53164094
Those sound pretty good, especially the traitor element! Thanks for the suggestions!

The XCOM boardgame is a very unique experience, but it requires your group to be okay with app-assisted boardgames.

It's a co-op game where each player has a specific role, managing money or research or troop deployments, but one of those roles is the comms operator, someone basically playing a minigame on the app. The app also provides the opposing forces, letting the opponents automation be a lot more complicated and reactive than what a board game would usually provide.

I feel like I should also mention Captain Sonar, which is a co-op game but also requires PvP, and is only really at its best in a very large group, 8 players being the ideal.

Both teams play submarine crews, the captain giving orders, the engineer keeping systems running, the radio operator listening to enemy movements, etc etc. The fascinating part? Neither team knows where the other team is, or started. When declaring movement, the captain has to do so audibly- Which means the radio operator on the other team can hear it.

On your side of a divider, you'll be tracing your own course, but the opposing radio operator has a sheet of transparent plastic where they're trying to copy your course. You can't cross your own trail, and each map has various islands and obstacles, so the further you go the easier it is to take that transparency, overlay it on the map and guess where the opponent is.

You also have to surface eventually, but doing so reveals your location on the map, giving the opponent a chance to catch you.

The aim of the game is to destroy the opposing submarine with your torpedoes. I've only played it a couple of times but it's an incredibly tense and engaging game. It feels frantic and yet the mechanics are designed to make things happen at a slower pace- You need to clearly state instructions, there's rules for how to do things which stop you just rushing ahead, etc.

Hard to find people for, a bit odd to learn, incredibly interesting and engaging to play.

>>53164050
If he wants Arkham Horror, also look into Eldritch Horror. It's very similar and a little more streamlined.

>>53164233

This game is great. I hated the marvel game like this so I was reluctant to try it, but it was really fun.

Arkham Horror is quite enjoyable for me, personally.

>>53164398
>>53164050 (OP)
This. I used to love Arkham Horror, but it's a micromanagement disaster waiting to happen. I hear good things about Eldritch Horror, and Mansions of Madness is pretty good from experience.

>>53164050
Try this

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/823/lord-rings