The 10 Best Area Control Board Games for People Who Like Taking Things From Others

The Ten Best Area Control Board Games: A Genre That Rewards Smart Aggression

Area control games should be about fighting for territory. In reality, most territorial games are about sitting in corners while everyone else fights, expanding as far as you can without being noticed until someone steals your province and ruins your perfectly good point salad.

For way too long, designers misunderstood what makes fights over territories interesting and built games around turtling as a viable strategy. We need games that understand that controlling territory should be stressful and desperate, not safe and cozy. Great area control games make you constantly grab more and more real estate, or die from hemming yourself in.

These Games Understand Area Control Fundamentals

The Crew can’t agree on everything, which was made obvious when we started compiling this list. Billy argued you needed to be able to take the game to your opponents, otherwise it wasn’t true area control. Janet argued that almost every game on our master list was inaccessible to new players and that we should be highlighting more easy to learn games. Evelyn said that nobody considers how theme plays into players’ decisions to take the game to anyone, and William claimed we were ignoring classic staples of the genre.

In the end, we decided every great area control game has the same three qualities: they create constant territorial urgency, they have multiple approaches that all still reward grabbing land, and they create tension that lasts until the very end rather than building to a big final battle.

Why Most Area Control Games Aren’t On This List

All too often area control games don’t reward players for controlling territory. Players blob around the map avoiding conflict and attempting to claim as much land as they can in a purely mathematical exercise of efficient expansion.

This is because they focus on area control and ignore the area. They give players points for having the most markers on certain spaces or in certain regions, then tack on an “attack” rule that says sometimes someone can steal your markers. If combat isn’t rewarding or it’s better to just retreat and resolve your conflict some other way, players will opt for safety over drama every time.

The games on this list understand that area control is about conflict over spaces, not who can most efficiently fill up tiles. Root forces players to attack each other because the spaces you want and need are always going to be controlled by other players. Kemet doesn’t have traditional area control, but everyone is fighting for temples because they are the most efficient way to score points.

Area Control Games With Continuous Tension

This is another reason we see turtles instead of players fighting over who controls the most spaces. If there’s only one battle, the scoring phase, then players will avoid conflict at all costs until everyone attacks at once on the final turn.

Instead, we look for games that have mechanisms that keep points ticking off the board regularly. El Grande and Root force you to score little chunks of provinces and clearings each round. Blood Rage has ages that regularly shrink the map so players are fighting over less and less space that they NEED to control.

Good area control games make players WANT to attack because they’re ahead, need to catch up, or just want more land. These games always leave players with the feeling they need to expand or die.

Who Are We Writing This For?

Obviously, we’re writing this for people who enjoy fighting over spaces as much as we do. If you’ve spent hours poring over a “area control” game only to realise your quiet third corner deserves to win, these games will appeal to you.

We are also writing for people who enjoy the cat and mouse game that comes with good area control. Do you reinforce your current area or risk attacking your opponent for more? Do you build up your forces in one region, or risk a foothold in your opponent’s territory? Good area control games reward you for thinking about not only what you need, but what your opponents might need.

This list is for people who want their areas THEMED, which means when you fight it better fit what the game is saying it’s about. Nothing is worse than a “war game” where no one ever attacks.

Soloability? We Consider It

Let’s be clear, almost all area control games lose a lot of the tension when you take out the human opponents. There’s nothing stopping someone from going super rogue against a CPU because they know you can’t take the game to the computer.

With that said, we do note which games have dedicated solo modes and what those are like. Some of these games do a wonderful job of keeping that territorial tension alive, even against a computer.

What To Look For In Our List

Few games in any genre define a style quite like great area control games. However, there are certain things we look for when judging if a game lives up to the genre.

The biggest category is tension. Do players always feel the need to expand? Are players constantly interacting with each other to restrict each others’ area expansion? Last but not least, do players want the same spaces for different reasons?

We also look to see how the game incorporates combat. Ideally, conflicts will feel natural by happening because of the board state, not because each player gets a set number of “attacks” each round that must be used or they go to waste.

Even better are games that have multiple viable paths to victory that all incorporate area control. All players should be fighting for space, even if they go about doing that in completely different ways.

And of course, great area control games fit what their theme says they should be about. Nobody wants to go to war in Blood Rage if no one ever attacks anyone.

1. Root (2018)

BGG Rank	#9 Overall, #2 Strategy Games
Awards	Golden Geek Best Board Game 2018
Kickstarter Success	$2.3 million raised (4000% funded)
Cultural Impact	Spawned academic analysis of asymmetric design

Root is basically four exceptionally well designed asymmetric area control games crammed into one box. Each of the four factions wants different spaces for different reasons, meaning there is CONSTANT conflict whenever players are present in the same area.

While players can theoretically “turtle” in root, someone is ALWAYS going to want the space you currently occupy. Better to strike deals with your opponents and fight them on your terms later rather than suddenly find your entire army destroyed by the faceless Vagabond.

Is it still good? Hell yeah it is.

[Evelyn’s Strategic Analysis Of How Asymmetric Design Creates Inevitable Territorial Conflict →]

2. El Grande (1995)

Awards	Spiel des Jahres 1996 Winner
BGG Status	#31 Overall, #15 Strategy Games
Legacy Impact	Defined area majority mechanisms for 25 years
Design Influence	Referenced in dozens of subsequent area control games

Ask any serious area control gamer what the quintessential area control game is and El Grande will most likely be the first title brought up. Players race to place their caballeros into regions of the map, then score periodic rounds to see who has the most control of each province. Blatant area control?

But it gets better: the Castillo tower represents opponents’ armies that are held in reserve and will be placed into a provinces scoring round. Since players secretly place their hidden caballeros into the Castillo during their turn, there is inherent tension about how big someone’s army in a space truly is.

Every year more and more people fall in love with this classic.

[Billy’s Examination Of How Classic Design Principles Create Enduring Territorial Tension →]

3. Blood Rage (2015)

Kickstarter Revenue	$901,000 initial campaign
BGG Rank	#47 Overall, #30 Strategy Games
Production Scale	Over 50 detailed miniatures in base game
Design Recognition	Golden Geek Best Miniatures Game 2015

Blood Rage represents players’ clan fighting for dominance across Scandinavia during what is left of the world’s prophesied last ages. Ages come and go in Blood Rage as provinces are removed from the board one age at a time, causing players to fight over tighter and tighter clusters of spaces.

Players also draft powerful upgrades before the start of each age that they can use to control more regions, defeat monsters, and fight their opponents. Combat isn’t avoided because dying during battle can actually award you points depending on your cards and battle rituals!

The limited map causes players to fight because THERE ARENT ENOUGH PROVINCES FOR EVERYONE!

Is it still good? Damn right it is.

[Nicholas’s Analysis Of How Ragnarok Creates Escalating Territorial Urgency →]

4. Kemet (2012)

BGG Rank	#89 Overall, #43 Strategy Games
Awards	Nominated for Golden Geek Best Strategy Game
Tournament Play	Regular competitive scene across multiple countries
Design Innovation	Pioneered victory point combat in area control

Kemet was the area control game we were all looking for before it existed. Simply put, everything your favorite area control game does wrong… KEMET DOES PERFECTLY.

Want players to fight? MAKE BATTLES THE PRIMARY WAY TO SCORE POINTS.

Want players to take the game to their opponents? MAKE AGGRESSIVE ADVANCEMENT THE FASTEST WAY TO VICTORY.

Want players to care about where they place their tokens? GENIOUSLY CONNECT THEM ALL WITH TEMPLES THAT ALLOW YOUR FORCES TO TELEPORT QUICKLY ACROSS THE MAP!!!

Why does everyone pretend this game isn’t the standard??

[Billy’s Deep Dive Into Combat Systems That Reward Aggression Rather Than Punish It →]

5. Inis (2016)

BGG Rank	#146 Overall, #67 Strategy Games
Art Recognition	Featured in board game art exhibitions
Cultural Impact	Cited as premier example of negotiation integration
Design Awards	Golden Geek Best Artwork 2016 Winner

Inis has THREE unique paths to victory that all REQUIRE area control. Players can score victory by dominating other players through leadership of the 6 clans of Ireland, by spreading themselves across as many territories on the island board as possible, or by controlling sanctuaries.

This creates unique tension because everyone controls regions for completely different reasons, forcing players to interact with each other constantly whether they like it or not. Also, combat retreats? YES PLEASE.

Oh and talk to your opponents. Negotiation is AN ACTUAL GAME MECHANIC.

Does it deserve more love? More than anything on this list.

[Janet’s Exploration Of How Celtic Mythology And Integrated Negotiation Create Poetic Territorial Conflict →]

6. Cry Havoc (2016)

BGG Rank	#712 Overall (Undervalued)
Innovation Recognition	Featured in asymmetric design case studies
Critical Reception	Praised by design analysts as underappreciated
Cult Following	Dedicated community maintains active tournament scene

Hands down, one of the most INSANELY UNDERAPPRECIATED games of the past decade. Not only is Cry Havoc ASYMMETRIC (every player is DIFFERENT), it creates natural conflict between the four alien races due to their radically different playstyles.

Competing for locations is GREAT but WHY DO YOU WANT THEM? Human players want buildings, MACHINES want resources, Trogs want more troops, and PILGRIMS just want everyone to convert to them.

[Nicholas’s Investigation Into Why This Asymmetric Alien War Game Deserved More Recognition →]

7. Rising Sun (2018)

Kickstarter Success	$4.2 million raised, highest for area control
BGG Rank	#77 Overall, #39 Strategy Games
Production Value	Over 100 miniatures with $1M+ tooling budget
Awards	Golden Geek Best Miniatures Game 2018

Rising Sun is Eric Lang’s love letter to feudal Japanese warfare. Every round players ally with someone else, giving them access to joint actions and bonuses they can help each other with during combat. BUT AT THE END OF THE GAME, ONLY ONE PLAYER WILL WIN.

Combine that with a rock-paper-scissors-style war bidding system that forces players to guess how much their opponents will bid rather than just rolling dice to determine who wins battles, and you have yourself one amazing area control game.

Alliances come and go, making everyone want the same spaces at the same time OFTEN.

Is it still good? Yeah, if you’re into that whole diplomacy thing.

[Billy’s Analysis Of How Diplomacy And Combat Psychology Create Feudal Japanese Drama →]

8. Ethnos (2017)

BGG Rank	#203 Overall, #95 Strategy Games
Accessibility Award	Mensa Select Winner 2017
Gateway Success	Widely praised as area control entry point
Design Elegance	Featured in minimalist design analysis

Holy crap this game is beautiful. Ethnos takes the concept of hand management and turns it on its head by forcing players to only have ONE ACTIVE CARD at a time. Want to play your third band buff? TOO BAD. Put down your current hand and your opponent gets to take ALL OF THEM.

This forces players to EXPAND and control territory now rather than perfecting their hand for a turn 8 U-BER HEAP.

Lets just say ETHNOS is in my top 5 favorite games ever.

[William’s Examination Of How Card Game Mechanisms Hide Sophisticated Area Control Systems →]

9. Cyclades (2009)

BGG Rank	#164 Overall, #77 Strategy Games
Design Recognition	Nominated for multiple Golden Geek awards
Expansion Success	Titans expansion highly rated by community
Auction Innovation	Cited as premier example of integrated bidding systems

Cyclades is essentially root, but with less factions and better artwork. Players take turns bidding for the favours of Greek Gods, then use those favours to take actions like deploying armies, building buildings, and recruiting mythological monsters.

Since players are taking turns bidding instead of everyone playing simultaneously, you know your opponents’ exact resources each turn. DO YOUR OPPONENT HAVE ENOUGH TO WIN THIS BIDDING WAR? IF NOT, MAKE YOUR OPPONENT CRY.

Players also heavily compete over isles that appear around the map because they grant powerful bonuses and allow players to leverage their influence for military support.

Is it still good? Yes.

[Area Control Games Based On Ancient Greece →]

10. Patchwork (2015)

BGG Rank	#138 Overall, #59 Strategy Games
Critical Acclaim	Multiple award nominations
Designer Recognition	Uwe Rosenberg classic
Solo Viability	Excellent two-player spatial puzzle

Remember how we said almost every area control game sucks with 1 player? PATCHWORK defies all odds and manages to not only be enjoyable with 1 player, but it TOTALLY fits the theme.

Each patch represents a square your quilting project needs to take to comfortably fill your board. Unfortunately for you, your opponent is fighting over the same patches to complete their own quilt!

[Spatial Puzzle Area Control →]

Honourable Mention: Agricola (2007)

Designer	Uwe Rosenberg
Legacy Recognition	Defined worker placement genre
Cultural Impact	One of the most influential Euro games ever
Accessibility	Family variant included

Agricola wants you to take its resources SO BAD. Every single space on the farm board represents food, materials, or both which your poor family of farmers NEED to survive. There are also specific actions players can only take if they claim those spaces FIRST.

Players also need to expand by taking livestock and growing crops or their family will wither away into madness.

A game about farming that makes you FIGHT FOR SPACE?? PURCHASE IT NOW.

[Honourable Mention Analysis →]

Final Thoughts

From ambitious auctioneers battling to appease angry Ancient Gods, to tiny woodland creatures aggressively annexing adjacent territories, there are dozens of amazing ways to attack your opponents for area supremacy in board games.

Feel free to cheque out our other “Best Board Game Of” articles!