Lists

5 Expansions Under $25

Expansions are one of our favorite ways to breathe new life into our favorite games. But they can get pretty pricy, and when you’re weighing the cost between a new game and an expansion, sometimes you’d just rather have a new game.

In this post we’re talking about some of our favorite expansions that not only make the games more exciting, but do it all for $25 bucks or less!

Scythe Modular Board

After a few years of playing and loving Scythe, the first addition we grabbed for the game was the modular board.

While it doesn’t change the rules of the game at all, it felt completely like an expansion to us after our first play. The boards bring a new element of variability to the standard map of Scythe. Rather than having the same set up, players will change the location of where the factions begin every play. We loved how this forced us to rethink our strategies and plan our moves a bit differently.

Most importantly, since we primarily play Scythe at the two player count, the modular board helped tighten the map to increase player interactions and conflict. We love the original game as a two player experience, yet sometimes it can lead to a slightly solitaire feel, especially if one player (ahem, Kelsey) prefers to run away from conflict and just do their own thing on one side of the map. The modular board shrinks the map down so it is much harder to avoid each other the entire game.

While no expansion is necessary, we think that if you love Scythe, you’ll really enjoy the addition of the modular board. For us, the variability reignited our love of the game and the tighter map makes for a more fun and playful two player experience.

Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel Legendary

You know we love ourselves some Marvel Legendary, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t suggest our all time favorite small box expansion here.

Guardians of the Galaxy is an absolute knock out hit! This expansion introduces a host of new elements such as shards, artifacts, and even new win conditions. This expansion feels like a truly complete set. You get all 5 of the Guardians and amazing villains in Thanos and the Supreme Intelligence. The coolest part about this expansion is how well the team was designed to work together – while each character feels unique and thematic. Drafting your team is exciting because there’s always a way to use each Guardian. Not only can you try to defeat your masterminds to win, but you can also attempt to get enough Infinity stones to turn evil and win by yourself.

Hold on one second — I’ve gotta go play it again before I finish!

Okay, I’m back! Seriously, if you love Marvel Legendary, you NEED the GotG expansion. We love how this expansion really brings the heat for seasoned players. It is tough! Adding so many new things for you to work with, it somehow manages to make the game feel entirely new while never once not feeling like the Marvel Legendary that you love. I don’t know how they managed it! Reality Stone perhaps?

Alright, fine – we can’t help ourselves! We also love The Fantastic Four and Spiderman: Paint the Town Red expansions, too!

Orléans: Trade & Intrigue

Perhaps the best bag building, worker placement game around, Orléans never fails to excite.

The Trade & Intrigue expansion brings more variability to the game, challenging players to find the best way to build their bag while having various limitations and restrictions placed on them throughout the game. Thanks to the varied set up of the hourglass tiles, you’ll never know what to expect and must be ready to think on your feet and change plans on the fly. Players who mostly play at 2 will enjoy the ability to tighten the two player experience as well.

We especially enjoyed the addition of the Order cards. This helped make the city board much more enjoyable to travel around as you work to complete orders for points. If a little more cut throat action is your style, the new Intrigue board could be right up your alley. The multiplayer solitaire experience falls away as players can now send followers to take and destroy something of their opponents through arson, taxes, or even death! Luckily though, if you aren’t a fan of a more take-that style game you don’t have to include this into your experience and can enjoy everything else this expansion has to offer!

Trade & Intrigue is a perfect addition for experienced Orléans players.

Welcome To… Themed Sheets

One of the best flip and writes around, Welcome To… is on its third year of delighting us with all its neighborhood planning goodness.

Adding the themed expansion sheets to the mix has really helped keep the game from feeling stale. We love the four available neighborhoods. They each change the game slightly so you’re focused not only on planning your neighborhood, but trying to meet certain conditions too. In the Doomsday expansion you’re working to save people from nuclear destruction! In the Outbreak expansion, zombies are taking over the community and you’ve got to protect your community!

My personal favorites are the Halloween and Christmas expansions. If I could only have two, these would be the ones I’d keep. I always love having themed games to play during certain times of the year and these two expansion sets have made sure Welcome To always comes out in October and December! From trick-or-treating to Christmas light stringing these neighborhood expansions add lots of fun!

Ticket to Ride: USA 1910

You can’t not love Ticket to Ride. Over the years we’ve gotten lots of new maps to play, but one of our favorite expansions we ever purchased for the original game was the 1910 expansion.

Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 brings new elements without changing the original game you love. It also allows players to upgrade from the tiny train cards to full size cards which are both easier to handle and more aesthetically pleasing when playing.