Just in time for some last minute shopping, the GT tabletop team has compiled some picks for the discerning board gamers, hobbyists, and role-players in your life
Party Games
Hurt Party
Hurt Party is a fun little party game in the vein of Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity, turning bad apologies into a heckuva great time for just about anyone at the table. With a theme everyone can identify with that lends itself to performative play, tons of laughs, and even a little empathy, this is one of those games that’ll have people asking to play again the next time they come over.
Mike Dunn
Our review
Secret Hitler
With a theme that might be hitting a little too close to home right now, Secret Hitler is a social deduction game patterned on the liberal v. fascist dynamics that propelled Hilter to power back in 1930s Germany. Its scary how good a game this is and scary how well it models the potential fall of democracy. If you can sidestep Godwin-izing your gaming group, this one is a must-play!
Caution Signs
One of our Best of Gen Con 2024 winners, Caution Signs is the best expression of the draw & guess genre we’ve seen in some time. With only 20 seconds to visualize the combination of two cards, this is one drawing game that’s actually just as fun when guessing correctly as it is when the guess is way off. We like it so much, this is the second year in a row on this guide!
Nuclear War
The best way to describe Nuclear War and its variants and add-ons is that it a ‘beer and pretzels’ game, which roughly translates into a pure luck, backstabby ‘everyone must die’ experience. In other words, perfectly modeling the terrifying brinksmanship of the actual Cold War that inspired the game. We have not yet played a game that didn’t end in everyone losing :) A dumb and ridiculous game that has stayed fun for sixty years!
Card Games
Lorcana
Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist
Palace Heist sets a new standard for Illumineer’s Quests that I hope to see more of with future sets. The cooperative gameplay shines with the friendly nature of Lorcana, and for me, is now my favorite way to play.
Mark Julian
Our review
Lorcana: Elsa Gift Box
The Elsa Gift Box is a great deal with the included packs making up for the entire retail price. The beautiful Elsa-themed storage box is essentially free, and the Glitter Foil promo card makes a great sparkly addition to the tabletop. It’s hard to go wrong here.
Mark Julian
Our review
Magic: The Gathering: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is arguably the best set of 2025. From the main draft set to the jumpstart half-decks, everything within this set is a thematic representation of the iconic TV show. The main set design is easy to learn while still being deep enough for veteran players to find powerful synergies within the mechanics. On top of all of this is lovingly crafted artwork from across the show. If you’re new or old to Magic, this set has something for everyone.
Rebel Princess
Rebel Princess innovates on the classic game of Hearts to create a game that is faster and lighter with constant surprises. What it adds in wacky randomness, it loses in strategy and planning from the classic game. It’s a great time if you aren’t too serious about your trick-takers.
Mark Julian
Our review
Citizens of the Spark
Draft your cards to build your tableau to power your engine- Citizens of the Spark is a melting pot of familiar game mechanics that can be tuned to how you want to play. Want to focus on engine building? Check. Maybe go a little more cutthroat with some “take that” mechanics? Let’s do it! Build your game’s deck based on number of players and style of play. This one has been a crowd-pleaser at tables due to its flexibility, expect a review from GamingTrend soon!
Solo Games
Vantage
After crash landing on an alien planet, crew members must work together to explore the new world while recruiting allies and collecting supplies and specimens to study. A unique gameplay experience using narrative books and over 1200 cards to create memorable exploration stories.
Corps of Discovery: A Game Set in the World of Manifest Destiny
Did you know that when Lewis and Clark ventured west, they didn’t just encounter indigenous peoples, treacherous terrain, or new species of animals? They also encountered mind controlling zombie plants, minitaurs, and giant insectoid monsters! In Corps of Discovery, you and up to three other explorers must survive unique scenarios using deductive reasoning to find supplies to complete objectives and survive. Another fantastic experience from the people at Off the Page games.
2 Player Games
Compile
This lane-battler card game starts with Land, Air, Sea, injects it with a cyberpunk theme, gorgeous abstract art, and production value makes an already great experience just fantastic. We pretty much don’t go anywhere without one of these two boxes packed in our bags, it is a perfect bite-sized experience at the table and on the go. Each set includes 12 ‘protocols’ with six cards each, providing a staggering amount of combinations when you merge them together. We’ll have our review up of Compile soon.
Main 1
Main 2
Dracula Vs Van Helsing
A little bit of trick taking (kinda?) and a little bit of area control, this tug of war for the lives of the people of Whitby, England by the titular opponents is surprisingly deep and fun. For such a light game the sting of defeat can be surprisingly, well, toothy. Nothing another quick game can’t fix, however!
Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume Three
Unmatched continues to add to their roster with unique and interesting combatants, keeping the game a perennial favorite for us. Battle of Legends Volume Three once again proves that the best fighters in the game tend to be the interpretations of the historical or public domain characters.
Nick Dubs
Our review
The Lord of The Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth
The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth is a fantastic experience from start to finish. The game weaves the epic story into a quick playing and thematic game. The game truly embraces the “duel” aspect with players trying to outwit and outmaneuver their opponents to attain one of the three win conditions. This game packs a lot of punch in a small box and is perfect for a midweek faceoff or a quick head to head battle to kick off game night.
Dan Hinkin
Our review
Twinkle, Twinkle
The clickity-clack of Twinkle, Twinkle’s transparent star tiles will reel you in, the puzzle of assembling high scoring constellations and carefully placed heavenly bodies will get you hooked. Ammon Anderson once again proves that he has a knack for making games that appeal to accomplished and casual gamers alike.
Nick Dubs
Our review
Monkey Palace
Monkey Palace combines two of our favorite things: board games and Legos. During the game, everyone around the table builds a shared structure but jostles for position and the best build locations on their turn. It’s great for kids and adults alike!
Toy Battle
Toy Battle is a fast and fun head-to-head battle that players, young and old, can enjoy. With very simple rules and tons of variety in the box, you can get playing right away and enjoy it for a long time. It will have you playing just one more game long after you thought you’d be done.
Mark Julian
Our review
Parks and Potions
Parks & Potions is a great cozy game with fantastic art and variants to suit all levels of gameplay experience. Mix potions to heal sick animals and create a unique tableau to score end game points. A great entry level strategy game for the family.
Dan Hinkin
Our review
Harmonies
Animals are looking for a home and it's up to you to create the best landscape combinations for them to thrive. Draft landscape tiles to complete unique combinations on your player board to fulfill common and personal objectives. Draft wisely to create a harmonious, point maximizing, habitat to secure victory.
Dan Hinkin
Our review
Medium Games
Star Wars: Battle of Hoth
Command your army of Rebel or Imperials to defend or assault the Echo Base shield generator. A reskin of Days of Wonder Memoir ‘44, this two-player strategy game plays quick but offers a robust list of scenarios and campaigns for many hours of replay. What better way to spend a snowy evening than by recreating the epic battle from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back!
Alec Kozak
Our review
Borderlands: Mr. Torgue’s Arena of Badassery
What’s more festive than looting weapons and causing explosions? This dice-rolling cooperative dungeon crawler pits players against the board set in the future wasteland of Pandora. Its narrative campaign is an excellent way to keep the gang and family entertained during those winter nights!
Alec Kozak
Our review
Fate of the Fellowship
The pandemic system meets Middle Earth in this thematic implementation. Players will attempt to meet a series of thematic goals as they stem the spread of darkness and help Frodo to Mordor to destroy the one ring. With multiple characters, scenarios, and combinations to choose from and beautiful components and artwork throughout the game, will you be able to stop the tides of evil from taking over the world?
Dan Hinkin
Our review
Heavy Games
Twilight Imperium Thunder’s Edge expansion
We are just starting to dig into this second HUGE expansion to the classic Twilight Imperium 4E, and it is a beast with a whole new game mode that has players modularly designing their own custom factions during the course of the game! Expect a full review from us in the new year!
Galactic Cruise
Become an intergalactic cruise ship operator at the table. By taking various actions, players will build unique rooms, gather supplies, recruit passengers, and set off for the trip of their dreams. Galactic Cruise is a fantastic gaming experience that combines beautiful design, strategic gameplay, and hours of variability in a well packed box. The game begs to be played again and again.
Dan Hinkin
Our review
Mistwind
Mistwind is a heady mix of pick-up-and-deliver, route management, and a unique action economy that is as fun to play as it looks on the table. Have we mentioned the flying whales, yet? Expect a review of this great game soon.
Mike Dunn
Our hands-on preview
TTRPGS
Starfinder 2E
Player Core
Starfinder 2nd Edition is here, aligning with the remastered Pathfinder system to create intergalactic stories. This book gives you everything you need to understand the basics of the game and create unique characters to take into the sci-fi world of the Pact Worlds.
Dan Hinkin
Our review
GM Core
The GM Core expands upon the Player Core outlining rules for running the game and creating your own scenarios. Added subsystems, treasure and loot charts, and all the rules needed for any situation you may throw at your players or that they might find on their own.
Daggerheart Core Set
With thoughtful development and clear ambition from Darrington Press, Daggerheart signals a promising step toward a smarter, more modern style of fantasy roleplaying. Its Hope and Fear dice system adds real tension and storytelling depth to every roll, while the streamlined presentation and card-based abilities improve accessibility and engagement. With a great development team and a solid product lineup on the horizon, now is a great time to jump on board!
John Farrell
Our review
D&D Starter Set Heroes of the Borderlands
This is the best D&D starter set yet. With all of its impressive components, easy use, quick reference cards without heavy reliance on flipping through the book, and reusability going forward, this accomplishes the mission of starting players out in D&D.
Steven Starkey
Our review
Dragonbane Core Set
An early gem brought forward from the halcyon early days of the TTRPG, in some parts of Europe in the 80s Dragonbane was actually more popular than D&D. Free League has done a bang-up job with the new edition and this is a great place to start!
Raven Winters
Our review of the main rulebook
Hobby Tools & Supplies
Army Painter Bionic Bristles
The Army Painter Bionic Bristle and Miniature Chipping Brush sets are excellent additions to everyday painting, and in our testing were consistently sharp.
Randy Gregory II
Golden So Flat Acrylics
The SoFlat Matte Acrylic paints are so flat for a very good reason. These paints are perfect for those miniature painters looking to take their painting to the next level and push their skill and paint collection with top-shelf product.
Alec Kozak
AK Interactive Panel Liner
AK’s Precision Panel Liners are a great purchase for a hobbyist seeking a way to hit those tiny lines without a lot of clean up. Their new line of colors includes a redesigned brush, which allow the painter to hit even the tiniest of lines with minimal cleanup.
Randy Gregory II
AK Interactive Quick Gen Paints
AK Interactive Quick Gen paints are one of the best contrast style paints I’ve used, with rich pigmentation, a wide variety of colors, and awesome coverage.
Randy Gregory II
Army Painter John Blanche Paints
By embracing the artwork and guidance of John Blanche, Army Painter has crafted a flawless set of paints, allowing painters to get at the heart of grimdark. These stand well on their own or compliment your existing paints.
Randy Gregory II
Star Wars: Legion Starter Sets
Atomic Mass Games has released the newest edition of the Star Wars: Legion Starter Sets this year for The Empire, Rebels, Confederacy, and Republic. Each starter set includes dice, tokens, and cards for a 600-point Battle Force, perfect entry into a much larger world of tabletop miniature combat in the Star Wars universe. All models come unpainted and unassembled.
Alec Kozak
Galactic Empire Starter Set
The Galactic Empire’s might will bring peace and control to the galaxy. Includes Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, and Scout Troopers miniatures.
Rebel Alliance Starter Set
The Rebel Alliance won’t rest until the galaxy is freed from tyranny! Includes Luke Skywalker, Rebel Troopers, Rebel Commandos, and Wookies miniatures.
Separatist Alliance Starter Set
Endless ranks of droids will cure the corruption of the Republic Senate. Includes General Grievous, B1 Battle Droids, B2 Battle Droids, and Destroyer Droids.
Galactic Republic Starter Set
Save the Republic and keep the peace with the Grand Army of the Republic! Includes Obi-Wan Kenobi, Clone Troopers, ARC Troopers, ARF Troopers, and a Jedi Guardian.
Trench Crusade Basing
The Crusades continuing on into the trenches of the alternate history of World War 1 may be bleak and sad, however the only thing more depressing than that are your beautiful miniatures without cool basing materials! Bear Cavalry’s Trench Crusade Basing Box is the perfect Christmas Truce gift for you to give your grimdark minis.
Alec Kozak
Our review
Halo: Flashpoint Feet First Into Hell
Expand your Halo: Flashpoint armies with the ODSTs, dropping in fresh from orbit to reinforce your UNSC forces on the tabletop. Complete with 18 minis, dice, cards, tokens, and terrain, this expansion weighs just slightly less than a Scorpion tank. Battle in the ruins of New Mombasa alongside Sgt. Buck and Cpt. Dare from Halo 3: ODST, now as miniatures!
Alec Kozak
Our review
Fallout: Wasteland Warfare
The nuclear winter might be bleak, but the actual winter doesn’t have to be! Survive the Wasteland together or separately through campaign missions in this dice-rolling, miniature combat game. Clear the turkey from the gaming table - don’t keep this one in the Vault!
Alec Kozak
Our review
Stuff
Demiplane subscription
Digital tools for TTRPGs have been around for a while now, but when most people refer to them you often hear a stifled groan because, while they do often help, they are usually very unwieldy and often buggy. D&D Beyond broke that trend for a bit, but now Demiplane is setting a new high bar with their game Nexus' (Nexi...?). A single subscription gives you access to every game on the system (D&D, Daggerheart, Cosmere, Vampire, etc.) to manage your characters and game content, and the integration with Roll20 is rock solid!
John Farrell
Our comparison piece to DNDB
Thanks for checking out all our recommendations for your holiday shopping! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!
