Top 5 DoaM Games

I forgot to mention those Academy 'Birth of...' games. I've played 1812 and 1775 and rate them both very highly.

Always a lot of fun.

I would just vote for WAR OF THE RING. it's the most fun i've had with his genre and it's perfect and thematic. You really feel the presence of the various dudes on the map as they muster up their forces in different areas. "uh oh.. Mordor is going to be on the march soon..... what is Saruman up to..... i wonder what the heck is going on in Erebor with all those dudes....:"

Jumping back in time,

Here is the original Dudes on a Map article
fortressat.com/articles-analysis/1159-to...n-a-mapq-games-dying

And here's a What DoaMs do you Own
fortressat.com/articles-analysis/1159-to...n-a-mapq-games-dying

Throwing away my votes on a few unmentioned games (Nostalgia is a powerful thing!):

Divine Right(!!!) - edit: whoops, mentioned by Shellhead of course
Valley of the Mammoths
Kings and Things
Here I Stand
Sons of Anarchy

Back to reality I'd agree that Nexus Ops is #1. It's currently my most played game as both my boys are fiends for it - there must be something in the dayglo plastic.

Howdy, longtime lurker, first-time poster. Wanted to emerge from the ether to profess my love for Sons of Anarchy as the perfect dudes on a map game.* Nothing feels better than rolling into the bag and cut op with your motorcycle bros and unleashing a fistful of guns on your enemies.

*Ok, so the map is pretty abstracted, but they certainly have the "dudes" part down.

I'm a fan of the Sons of Anarchy game, but consider it worker placement and not DoaM. Then again, I hate worker placement but enjoy Sons of Anarchy, so maybe I'm wrong about the DoaM aspect.

Shellhead wrote: I'm a fan of the Sons of Anarchy game, but consider it worker placement and not DoaM. Then again, I hate worker placement but enjoy Sons of Anarchy, so maybe I'm wrong about the DoaM aspect.

Nah - definitely worker placement, it has to be because my euro group will play it and always beat me by a wide margin.

Worker Placement + Combat, without any geography whatsoever.

Cyclades
Kings & Things
Conquest of Paradise
TI3

I do own Kemet and like to play it, but it's more a beer'n'pretzels game (duck).

RobertB wrote: Worker Placement + Combat, without any geography whatsoever.

Yeah - I think there's only so far the definition can be stretched to )

Figured I'd throw my hat in, seeing as my number one is languishing in 6th spot:

1. War of the Ring - The most epic DoaM game ever made, and still my favorite game of all time.
2. Cthulhu Wars - Fast, fun, accessible, and tons of content. Surprised to see Chaos in the Old World beating this one out, as this fired that game completely (which I still own purely for sentimental reasons)
3. Nexus Ops - This one is the "Risk" of the modern generation, and is the purest DoaM out there of any worth. Got this to the table about a month ago, and it's still great.
4. Forbidden Stars - The. Best. Combat. System. Hands down. And the order system aint bad either. Just wish the rules overhead was lighter...
5. Star Wars: Rebellion (with expansion) - More a cousin to War of the Ring, you still have to appreciate the massing of fleets and the hunt for the rebels. Expansion helps the combat out some, though still room for improvement.

Interestingly, when thinking through this, I had to remove a lot of "Dudes in a Corridor" or "Dudes in an Arena" games from consideration. I think I can come up with more of them. Might need a new list... Is this why Duel of Ages II isn't in this list? I still need to learn how to play that damn game, myself.

Southernman wrote:

RobertB wrote: Worker Placement + Combat, without any geography whatsoever.

Yeah - I think there's only so far the definition can be stretched to )

Dudes on Some Squares

I have never understood why Cosmic Encounter was not officially a DOAM. The map is more abstract but everything else is there.

1) Cthulhu Wars
2) Small World
3) Eclipse
4) Nexus Ops
5) Dune

To me, a DoaM game means mainly troops/ armies, so didn’t count Heroscape or Duel of Ages when thinking of this list.

BaronDonut wrote:

Southernman wrote:

RobertB wrote: Worker Placement + Combat, without any geography whatsoever.

Yeah - I think there's only so far the definition can be stretched to )

Dudes on Some Squares

Like chess and checkers then ?
As i said stretching the definition makes the term pretty meaningless.