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The Best Legacy & Campaign Board Games
The best legacy and campaign board games are the ones that don't reset when you put the lid back on. The board changes, the story moves forward, and the game you finish is never quite the game you started. This is our ranked list of the titles that do that best, whether they make you tear up cards, peel stickers, or just carry a story across twenty sessions.
A quick note on the difference, since it matters. Legacy games change permanently: you write on components, destroy cards, and unlock sealed boxes you can never re-seal. Campaign games tell one long story but usually reset between plays, so a friend can run the whole thing after you. We've mixed both here because what you're really after is the same feeling, the sense that your group is building something together over weeks. Picks range from gateway-friendly to multi-year monsters, so check the weight before you commit your table.
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1. Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Still the one to beat. It takes the co-op disease-fighting of base Pandemic and runs it through twelve months of permanent change, with new rules sliding in and old certainties getting ripped away just when you've settled in. If you've never done legacy before, start here. It's the cleanest on-ramp into the genre and the emotional swings hit harder than a game about cubes has any right to.
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2. Gloomhaven
The 20-pound box that defined the modern campaign game. You'll grind through 95 tactical scenarios, retire characters, unlock sealed envelopes, and watch a mercenary city shift around your choices. It's a big ask in table space, setup, and shelf real estate, so it's for groups who want a multi-year project, not a quick fling.
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3. Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood
If Gloomhaven is all tactics, Oathsworn is all drama. Each chapter splits into a branching story phase and a brutal boss fight, with gorgeous art, a companion app narrated by James Cosmo, and no stickers or torn cards to mourn. This is the pick for players who want their choices to feel heavy and their monsters to feel like events.
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44. Frosthaven
The sequel that somehow got bigger. Frosthaven adds outpost building, seasons, crafting, and a frozen settlement you slowly develop between fights, on top of the combat system fans already loved. It's denser and fiddlier than Gloomhaven, so come for it only if you finished the first one and wanted more, not less.
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55. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
The smart way to try Gloomhaven without remortgaging your shelf. It teaches the combat scenario by scenario through a built-in tutorial, uses a book instead of a tile-heavy map, and costs a fraction of the big box. For two to four players curious about the haven games, this is where we'd point you first.
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66. Pandemic Legacy: Season 2
The bold follow-up that flips the formula: instead of fighting a spreading disease, you're rebuilding a world after it. It leans heavier on map exploration and resource supply, and it divides people more than Season 1 did. Worth it for groups who finished Season 1 and want a real change rather than a victory lap.
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77. Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated
Proof that legacy games can be funny. Built on the deck-building dungeon crawler Clank!, this one is competitive rather than co-op, and it's stuffed with the goofy corporate humor of the Acquisitions Incorporated brand. Great for a regular game night crew of three to four who want stickers and stamps without an oppressive runtime.
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88. Pandemic Legacy: Season 0
A Cold War spy prequel that swaps disease cubes for espionage and dossiers. The theme reskin gives it a fresh feel, and the twelve-month structure is as tight as ever. It's a fine entry point too, but most people land here after Season 1 has already hooked them.
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99. Sleeping Gods
An open-world campaign about a lost ship sailing a strange sea, told through a chunky storybook of numbered passages. It's a campaign rather than a true legacy game, so you can save your voyage and resume later or hand it to another crew. Best for players who'd rather explore and read than min-max combat.
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1010. Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West
The gentlest legacy game on this list. It takes the famous route-building gateway and stretches it across twelve evolving games, slowly changing the map and rules as you go. This is the one to bring to a casual or family table that wants the legacy thrill without crunchy combat or a heavy rulebook.
If you only buy one, make it Pandemic Legacy: Season 1; if you want a multi-year project, the haven games are waiting.
Common questions
What's the difference between a legacy game and a campaign game?
A legacy game changes permanently: you write on the board, tear up cards, apply stickers, and open sealed boxes you can't re-seal, so the game is altered forever. A campaign game tells one long story across many sessions but usually resets, which means you can save your progress and another group can play the whole thing later. Pandemic Legacy and Gloomhaven are legacy; Sleeping Gods is a campaign.
Which legacy game is best for beginners?
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 if you want the full emotional legacy experience, or Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West if you want something lighter and family-friendly. Both ease you in with rules you already half-know and add new layers gradually instead of dumping everything on you at once.
Do you have to throw the game away when you finish?
Not exactly. Most legacy games are fully playable to the end and reach a satisfying finish, but the permanent changes mean you can't reset and replay from scratch with the same copy. You're paying for one long, memorable run rather than a game you'll table dozens of times, so factor that into the price.
Are Gloomhaven and Frosthaven worth the huge price and table space?
If your group commits to a long campaign, yes. Both deliver dozens of hours of tactical combat and character progression that few other games match. But they're heavy, slow to set up, and enormous on the shelf, so if you're unsure, try Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion first to see if the combat clicks for you.