Top 5 One and Done Games

I was listening to a podcast that was talking about expansions, and it got me thinking about games that have no expansions at all. It is a nice thought to know that you are getting a great game, and everything is right there. That's not to say that more material wouldn't be good, or appreciated, but for whatever reason, that's all there is, and that's fine. My list may be flawed since I didn't think about it exhaustively, but here it is.

Remember, if there is ANYTHING extra available, it's disqualified.

1. Nexus Ops
2. Earth Reborn
3. Betrayal at Calth
4. Fury of Dracula
5. Zimby Mojo

OTTOMH:

Hannibal
Twilight Struggle
Samurai
Fury of Dracula
Queen's Gambit

So many good games with so many expansions...

I think it's more of a release date issue. Expansions became the norm, add ons can be a sign of success.Classic games didn't have expansions because it wasn't an explored option. Almost anything that is a modern day success is going to have an expansion or promos (at the least). I'd pick, say, Century Spice Road but it has a mini card expansion and a reskin. Sushi go? Same. The fox in the forest? Not yet but...

Great topic. There have been some great games that got inferior expansions

1. The Hills Rise Wild: small bands of hillbilly cultists from the Dunwich region fight to the death over a copy of the Necronomicon. Small unit tactics for 2 to 4 players using a simplified d20 combat system, and every character has a once per game ability. Darkly humorous. There is an unpublished expansion featuring Herbert West, but for all practical purposes, this is a game with no expansions.

2. Camp Grizzly: Co-op play of the archetypal '80s slasher movie, for 1 to 6 players. Several expansions were planned, but none have been published so far. Supposedly the artist works very slowly, but it has been at least four years now, so that excuse seems unlikely.

2. Escape from One Million B.C.: For about a month, this game was the darling of F:AT, until the conversation moved on to Root or some other fresh hotness. But it's still a fine game that happens to feel a finished game that doesn't need any expansions. A thematic romp through pre-historic times, frantically trying to re-assemble a crashed time machine before the space-time rips itself apart with paradox. I suppose Kevin Wilson could add an expansion or two with more encounter cards, more equipment cards, more characters, but they could dilute the existing decks in ways that would not benefit the game, especially the dinosaurs that can be encountered in herds.

3. Fury of Dracula: several editions, but no expansions. I have only played the 2nd edition, and it is the only game that I enjoyed enough to paint all the minis. It helps that there were only five minis.

4. The Gothic Game: by every modern metric, this should be a bad game. Roll and move, lots of dice-chucking, player elimination, not many meaningful decisions. And yet the baroque board and the dark sense of humor of the game transcend the mechanics to deliver a singular experience. Everybody enjoys the Gothic Game, even when they are capriciously ousted from the game by a random card draw.

5. It is probably too soon to put Battle for Rokugan on this list, but I am doing it anyway. It is an excellent refinement of the Game of Thrones boardgame from 15 years ago. streamlined down from a 3-hour game to a 1-hour game. Two to five players, and it scales nicely up and down within that range. Several meaningful decisions every turn, and lots of bluffing. All the mechanics are clean and simple, but there is some nice tactical depth. Though it only came out last year, I expect no expansions even though it's an FFG game. Their remake of the Legend of the Five Rings card seems popular enough, but the cardgame players have traditionally shown less interest in other products in the Rokugan setting. This game actually includes all seven great clans, but the quantity of components restricts the game to five players maximum.

Tigris and Euphrates? Not even sure if it qualifies because don't know if anything extra is even available? I think at some point there was another board set up or something? If it qualifies that's my pick.

Da Bid Dabid wrote: Tigris and Euphrates? Not even sure if it qualifies because don't know if anything extra is even available? I think at some point there was another board set up or something? If it qualifies that's my pick.

Depends on which edition you have. A mini-ziggurat expansion (a cross-shaped temple) was released in 2009, but printings since then have included it.

• ACQUIRE
• WIN, PLACE & SHOW
• TITAN (Does this count? I think it's Final Form is an expansion?)
• PICTOMANIA
• NEXUS OPS

VEGAS SHOWDOWN is also really good. Plus others already mentioned.

1. Ra
2. Fury of Dracula
3. Nexus Ops
4. Acquire
5. Manila

Maybe flip the last two if we're going purely on personal taste. I think I'd rather play Manila than Acquire most days.

Jackwraith wrote: Twilight Struggle.

Twilight Struggle actually has an expansion.

www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion...t-struggle-turn-zero

I have a copy but I've never played with it. Not sure if it's any good.

Jackwraith wrote: OTTOMH:

Hannibal
Twilight Struggle
Samurai
Fury of Dracula
Queen's Gambit

So many good games with so many expansions...

The new version of Hannibal has an expansion.

Technically Shellhead, backers received black and white copies of the expansions for Camp Grizzly. Word is they're pretty good.

My list:

Earth Reborn
Queen's Gambit
Forbidden Stars
Fire in the Lake
Sidereal Confluence

ubarose wrote: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (although this one could use a big bad expansion)

There is a fan-made Season 5 (?) Glory expansion. And an expansion for 'levelled-up' characters and the nastier Final bad would have been interesting (with a stronger Spike !).

I was going to start going through all my FFG and GF9 titles then thought probably a waste of time ...

Middle-Earth Quest
Fortress America
Nexus Ops
Star Wars: The Queens Gambit
Marvel Heroes

Shit that was hard.

Maybe a thread on Games with expansions that you didn't buy any of (for whatever reason) ... actually that list may be even shorter for me.