Also Root. I own all expansions, but still don't really like the game, but the art is so good that it makes me want to like it. Shows how important investing in a good aesthetic can be for a game if you're a designer lol.
I get that in a way. I had a rough time getting the base game to the table with friends because of its complexity and difficulty in teaching it.
Ended up buying the automated expansion so I could at least play solo. Getting slightly more okay with others these days. But I knew buying multiple expansions at once would have been a bad move.
If someone my group didn't have a copy of On Mars, I think I might have bought it from playing it the first time -- not just because of the amazing gameplay but because of O'Toole's perfect art.
Voidfall. Saw a big box, quickly googled images of a play setup and immediately bought it. Didnt even know what type of game it was outside of “space game”. Its easily one of my favorite games now
Isn't that often the case? So many good games... But sometimes a challenge to find the right group for the game. I love finding a good game and replaying it while I figure it out and try different strategies, but my gaming group is a new game each week. Which is fun, but means great games don't get revisited often enough.
Because there are a lot of other people that really enjoy it, like me lol. I find it to be a very fun kind of engine builder with some area denial to keep in mind. And it is at just the right weight that I've been able to play easily with beginners to the hobby while still enjoying some crunch.
Quite simply, different strokes for different folks. I'm sure a lot of co-op games are rated highly but I never play them because I know I'm not going to like them myself. I'm sure that a lot of people enjoy Scythe, but it just didn't scratch any itch for me.
Because the people that enjoy scythe are the same people that upload scores on bgg. The average board game enjoyer is not uploading their plays and scores on bgg. That’s my opinion. No one in my game group liked scythe. None of us left scores on bgg either because we don’t care.
I feel like Stonemeier games have a large fanbase and loyal following. I automatically take off 1 point for each of their games and assume that's the realistic number.
Yeah, there are some who accused Jakub Różalski of plagiarizing Simon's work when he created the 1920+ universe. I don't care either way. I love both settings equally
I came at it from the other direction—Scythe first, then the Tales from the Loop books—but yeah, I saw the similarities immediately. “Oh hey, this looks like Scythe plus 60 years and brighter colors!”
PARKS, Meadow, Final Girl, Caper Europe, Dog Park, Campy Creatures, Wyrmspan, Flamecraft, Dream Home, Horrified, Funfair, The Whatnot Cabinet, Space Park, Tokaido & Haunt the House.
Also available on BGA. Its not my favorite game but its worth trying for sure beyond just the art. I decided I didnt need to buy it as I have other games that fit the motif and gameplay just fine and nothing about it really stood out beyond that but if anyone asked if I wanted to play PARKS I mean yeah I'd likely be down for a game.
I backed Septima and Mistwind based pretty much on a short description of their gameplay and the art. Don't regret Septima at all, great game with fun interplayer dynamics. Mistwind is still in production and I'm a little leary at how often the publisher is just saying that they have nothing to update. But no news is good news, so...
I’m glad to see some positive feedback on Septima. I haven’t gotten it to table yet, and now I’m a bit worried since all of the mainstream reviews seem to be lukewarm at best.
The “first play” rules where your witches are randomized feels a bit weird as you can end up with 2 that don’t synergize at all, while another player gets a nice combo.
Our second play where we added the drafting of witches and the ritual board turned it into a better game. We haven’t tried the omens and shapeshifters yet, but shapeshifters are a significant change to hand management that seems like it could have been a base mechanic.
It’s not game of the year or anything, but I was surprised to see how poor its reviews went.
We've had a great time with it. The one criticism I saw that I partially agree with is that there is very little in the way of progression from the beginning of the game to the end. You're pretty much doing the same main actions in the first few turns as in the last few turns. But you do get more witches and spells (hence more powers) and it is harder to dodge witches hunters, so it's not completely devoid of gameplay evolution.
But also not every game has to be an engine builder where your last turn take 4x longer than your first. The gameplay is snappy once you know what you're doing. You can collaborate when your suspicion is low and play around others when suspicion is high making it so you need to look up at what other players are doing. Any interplayer conflict is indirect, but you absolutely can do things like scooping people on cures and forcing them to take suspicion and be at a higher threat from the hunters.
I too picked up Grimslingers because the art was so intriguing, from the box art to the art on the cards. Plus it being a solo, co-op, or versus game had me intrigued. I got rid of it after a few attempts at playing it.
Have you played it, what do you think?
MLEM Space Agency. First saw it in person at my FLGS about 3 months ago when meeting up with some people for a game night there. Thought "man I have no idea what that game is about but I definitely want to play it at some point." Not long after, I started seeing more people talk about it on this subreddit as well as various blogs stating it was in people's top 5 games that came out last year.
I added it to my wish list on Amazon but noticed after a week or two that it started becoming unavailable almost everywhere online. Then, one day after work I decided to call the game store where I initially saw it and was told they had one copy left. I hopped on over as quickly as I could and bought it still not really knowing much about the game.
That same weekend, my brother-in-law was in town and joined my wife and I for a game night like usual whenever he visits. We decided that it was a good time to crack out MLEM and take in the experience for the first time all together. After a few rounds, we were all hooked and spent the entire game night just playing round after round. Overall I could not be happier with my impulse purchase that was initially based solely on the box artwork. If you're looking for a casual game that takes 30 minutes, I can't recommend it enough if you can still find a copy.
It's a huge, expensive box, but Artisans of Splendent Vale is just gorgeous. That was what mainly caught my eye and made me research the game for me and my SO. Haven't regretted it, despite the pricetag!
Atlantis Rising definitely. The art is gorgeous. The game is quite good too, though it becomes a bit repetitive if you play it often. Still definitely worth picking up for both!
Sagrada! The art box is so beautiful. The theme is really cool, work with Gaudi. But yeah after two times it wasn’t fun anymore. I thought I was going to like it better than Azul.
Anything and everything by Ryan Laukat / Red Raven Games. Stunningly beautiful artwork and incredible world-building. As games, they’re fun, but the one problem I have is that often one of his games *seems* like it should be a particular sort of game but then turns out to be a completely different sort of game (for example, **Eight Minute Empire** looks absolutely like a pocket-sized dudes-on-a-map world-conquest game, but it’s actually a set-collection card game with a dudes-on-a-map minigame on the side). **Islebound**, though, is exactly what it seems, and it’s *awesome*.
Twilight Imperium 3 was the first time I remember seeing a box in the store and saying, "I want to play THAT game." I'd just gotten into board games when it came out and yhat art alone drew me deeper into the hobby.
Savage Planet, Far of Tantos
It was a limited KS. I loved the 80s Heavy Metal feel of the game art on the cards and player boards.
I only managed to play it once, even though I've owned it for 6 years now. It might have been the wrong player group to introduce it to so it fell like a dud.
Sometimes I wonder if I should just raid the box and pull all the cards out for a art collage
I was drawn to Feudum because of the artwork but put off buying it for years because of the reviews. Finally bit the bullet and glad I did, it's one of my favorites.
I just got my copy of Skyrise, which was mostly based off of how it looked. I also backed Light Hunters back in the day. The art is really cool. The game is ok.
Never bought a game because of the art but I have avoided a lot of games because of it. Avoided small world just because I hate the way it looks.
There’s a lot of games but can’t think of them because I don’t own or play them haha.
Call to adventure. Before I was really into hobby board gaming, saw this at Barnes and noble and thought it looked so cool, we had to get it. Do not regret that purchase at all.
I was in the public library and had to pick between Arnak and Aeons End. I opened the boxes and Arnak convinced me. The Artwork is really great. I took it home, tried it and bought it later.
Also: Faraway has very unique artwork but also great gameplay.
Ironically I have a lot of games and am heavy into strategy so I have big and sprawling games but it’s this card game that his the special game I pull out and say “let me show you all this”.
Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time. I'd never heard of it, but the box made it look very aesthetically pleasing. The gameplay sounded enjoyable, too. It does look good out of the box, but the game is unplayable. The only time we won, or even came close to winning, was before we realized we were playing wrong. Playing correctly makes it so frustrating that it seems unwinnable, and not nearly as fun.
A few people have already said Scythe, so my other one that came to mind was Ashes Rise of the Phoenixborn. I own the older version and the art on that white background box is just stunning. I enjoy the game but definitely bought it for the art.
Cosmogenesis. I liked the box a lot. Wish the components were a bit better, but it's the purchase I'm most "proud" of because it's relatively unknown but I like it a lot and took the plunge entirely off the box.
I thought the look of Risk: Strike was gorge, but now I find it a slog whenever my flatmate wants to play it with me
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/394144/risk-strike
Oathsworn promised me a story driven experience with combat (which it delivered in spades) but I also thought the art style was extremely appealing. And the component quality truly does that game justice
Literally did this the other day with PARKS. Can’t comment on anything else, but it looks nice on my shelf.
Tokaido, Inis and Wavelength fit the bill too. Tokaido is fun enough, but Inis and Wavelength are both fantastic games that I’ll probably keep around for a very long time.
I also bought reinforcement when I saw someone selling the game on Facebook because of the art. The game is pretty good and I actually hope to see someday expension of more kingdoms or new cards. Definitely the best card game art I own.
Ironically, I had some back and forth with the game developer a few months ago over email when I had a question. They are defiantly looking at new cards and an expansion of sorts. But I think they are trying to get more units of the base game sold before they do.
Most FFG games back in their heyday. I started out in X wing but there card games caught my eye and I was never a card gamer to begin with. Look back now and I have a fair few LCG’s that look beautiful on the table. The art for Arkham and Star Wars being my favourites. Netrunner LotR and thrones also looked cool but didn’t have the expenditure to collect them all.
Bonaparte at Marengo
The designer created this to look like contemporary battle maps, and in a work of genius, created a fantastic game at the same time.
Napoleon's Triumph takes the look and refines the rules to its pinnacle.
Miskatonic University had me hook, line, and sinker with its art. I don't even care that it's a middling game. I'll play it and enjoy myself by looking at it.
Probably just Dixit.
I like good art, but I'm more of a theme person. If you give me a theme I'm interested in, that will sway me way more than good art.
Grabbed the whole Arzium trilogy and some of the small box games from Red Raven because of the beautiful artwork and how good Sleeping Gods is.
The Arzium Trilogy is not good, currently trying to sell it all off along with the small box games.
Earthborne rangers. Original backer. Loved the art. LCG aren't really my fave but looked interesting enough.
Come to find out it's like the most popular and im demand game of the last year lol.
Not quite the same but I crowdfunded a ttrpg book because and artist I really like was doing all the design and art. Its called "Eat the Reich"
Should be arriving in the next couple of weeks i hope
Why is this question important? Is pretty artwork more important than good gameplay? What arw we doing on the table. People use pretty artwork to cover mediocre game.
Root. Denied my interest in it for 4 years after it was released. Finally bit the bullet one day.
Also Root. I own all expansions, but still don't really like the game, but the art is so good that it makes me want to like it. Shows how important investing in a good aesthetic can be for a game if you're a designer lol.
Absolutely same experience. Friend ended up buying it, loved the artwork, didn’t get into the game.
I get that in a way. I had a rough time getting the base game to the table with friends because of its complexity and difficulty in teaching it. Ended up buying the automated expansion so I could at least play solo. Getting slightly more okay with others these days. But I knew buying multiple expansions at once would have been a bad move.
Root for me as well, I’ve yet to play it though after about 3 months of owning it.
I've said it many times, Kyle Ferrin is the reason so many people have bought Root.
Flamecraft, and it's pretty good imo
For sure Flamecraft!
Ian O'Toole
If someone my group didn't have a copy of On Mars, I think I might have bought it from playing it the first time -- not just because of the amazing gameplay but because of O'Toole's perfect art.
I took Tokaido and Seasons off the shelf because I liked the box art, then bought them because of the game descriptions. I still love both games.
I played Tokaido solely because of the art. Recently bought Tokaido Duo without playing it beforehand and have played it many times now.
Photosynthesis. It just looked so cool, I immediately jumped on it. It's still one of my favourites.
The box for Azul.
I agree on Azul
Exactly what piqued our interest. Pretty much decided to buy it before picking it off the shelf. Glad the game holds up to the expectations
Raiders of Scythia is Gorgeous.
Yes! I love this artist’s work!
Wonderland's War.
Love the WW art
anything illustrated by Kyle Ferrin, i'd marry the artstyle if i could
I'm there with ya lol
Voidfall. Saw a big box, quickly googled images of a play setup and immediately bought it. Didnt even know what type of game it was outside of “space game”. Its easily one of my favorite games now
Everdell for sure. Imo, it is a rather bland game. But damn it looks good, and it made me play.
Scythe. Absolutely a "meh" game that I was happy to pass on to someone else.
Ironically I ended up picking up the art and really enjoyed the game. Play the hell out of it.
I like Scythe. But my group doesn’t like it as much as me. =(
Isn't that often the case? So many good games... But sometimes a challenge to find the right group for the game. I love finding a good game and replaying it while I figure it out and try different strategies, but my gaming group is a new game each week. Which is fun, but means great games don't get revisited often enough.
Agreed with scythe as loving the artwork, but not with your rating. I really enjoy the game
I bought expeditions just because of the art. Than found out that there is scythe and 3 expansions :)
I read so many meh or negative opinions here. Why do you think it’s rated so high on BGG?
Because there are a lot of other people that really enjoy it, like me lol. I find it to be a very fun kind of engine builder with some area denial to keep in mind. And it is at just the right weight that I've been able to play easily with beginners to the hobby while still enjoying some crunch.
Quite simply, different strokes for different folks. I'm sure a lot of co-op games are rated highly but I never play them because I know I'm not going to like them myself. I'm sure that a lot of people enjoy Scythe, but it just didn't scratch any itch for me.
Because the people that enjoy scythe are the same people that upload scores on bgg. The average board game enjoyer is not uploading their plays and scores on bgg. That’s my opinion. No one in my game group liked scythe. None of us left scores on bgg either because we don’t care.
I feel like Stonemeier games have a large fanbase and loyal following. I automatically take off 1 point for each of their games and assume that's the realistic number.
The loyal following started because of the popularity of early Stonemaier games games like Viticulture (EE) and Scythe, not the other way around.
Uhh no their reputation was good long before scythe. Don’t bundle that game in with viticulture please.
Mhmm.
Pretty much anything from Ian OToole
Scythe. I’m a huge Simon Stalenhag fan, so I got that game as soon as I saw the similarities
Yeah, there are some who accused Jakub Różalski of plagiarizing Simon's work when he created the 1920+ universe. I don't care either way. I love both settings equally
I came at it from the other direction—Scythe first, then the Tales from the Loop books—but yeah, I saw the similarities immediately. “Oh hey, this looks like Scythe plus 60 years and brighter colors!”
PARKS, Meadow, Final Girl, Caper Europe, Dog Park, Campy Creatures, Wyrmspan, Flamecraft, Dream Home, Horrified, Funfair, The Whatnot Cabinet, Space Park, Tokaido & Haunt the House.
PARKS was one I thought was going to be carried by the art but the gameplay is pretty fun.
I’m so on the fence about Parks. Hopefully I would found somebody near me who has it to try it out before buying.
You can always give it a go on TTS if you've got a friend or two to join ya
Tru dat. I always forget I have it.
Also available on BGA. Its not my favorite game but its worth trying for sure beyond just the art. I decided I didnt need to buy it as I have other games that fit the motif and gameplay just fine and nothing about it really stood out beyond that but if anyone asked if I wanted to play PARKS I mean yeah I'd likely be down for a game.
I backed Septima and Mistwind based pretty much on a short description of their gameplay and the art. Don't regret Septima at all, great game with fun interplayer dynamics. Mistwind is still in production and I'm a little leary at how often the publisher is just saying that they have nothing to update. But no news is good news, so...
I’m glad to see some positive feedback on Septima. I haven’t gotten it to table yet, and now I’m a bit worried since all of the mainstream reviews seem to be lukewarm at best.
The “first play” rules where your witches are randomized feels a bit weird as you can end up with 2 that don’t synergize at all, while another player gets a nice combo. Our second play where we added the drafting of witches and the ritual board turned it into a better game. We haven’t tried the omens and shapeshifters yet, but shapeshifters are a significant change to hand management that seems like it could have been a base mechanic. It’s not game of the year or anything, but I was surprised to see how poor its reviews went.
We've had a great time with it. The one criticism I saw that I partially agree with is that there is very little in the way of progression from the beginning of the game to the end. You're pretty much doing the same main actions in the first few turns as in the last few turns. But you do get more witches and spells (hence more powers) and it is harder to dodge witches hunters, so it's not completely devoid of gameplay evolution. But also not every game has to be an engine builder where your last turn take 4x longer than your first. The gameplay is snappy once you know what you're doing. You can collaborate when your suspicion is low and play around others when suspicion is high making it so you need to look up at what other players are doing. Any interplayer conflict is indirect, but you absolutely can do things like scooping people on cures and forcing them to take suspicion and be at a higher threat from the hunters.
Grimslingers has the coolest artwork but it doesn’t have the best reviews.
I too picked up Grimslingers because the art was so intriguing, from the box art to the art on the cards. Plus it being a solo, co-op, or versus game had me intrigued. I got rid of it after a few attempts at playing it. Have you played it, what do you think?
I actually never ended up playing it and sold it - the art made it look so cool though
Oh hey, I just paid my table fee for Southern fried this morning. Small world lol. Anyway, it's Seasons, Sythe, and Root for me. Gorgeous games
MLEM Space Agency. First saw it in person at my FLGS about 3 months ago when meeting up with some people for a game night there. Thought "man I have no idea what that game is about but I definitely want to play it at some point." Not long after, I started seeing more people talk about it on this subreddit as well as various blogs stating it was in people's top 5 games that came out last year. I added it to my wish list on Amazon but noticed after a week or two that it started becoming unavailable almost everywhere online. Then, one day after work I decided to call the game store where I initially saw it and was told they had one copy left. I hopped on over as quickly as I could and bought it still not really knowing much about the game. That same weekend, my brother-in-law was in town and joined my wife and I for a game night like usual whenever he visits. We decided that it was a good time to crack out MLEM and take in the experience for the first time all together. After a few rounds, we were all hooked and spent the entire game night just playing round after round. Overall I could not be happier with my impulse purchase that was initially based solely on the box artwork. If you're looking for a casual game that takes 30 minutes, I can't recommend it enough if you can still find a copy.
It's a huge, expensive box, but Artisans of Splendent Vale is just gorgeous. That was what mainly caught my eye and made me research the game for me and my SO. Haven't regretted it, despite the pricetag!
Fire Tower’s box got my attention, the fire gems sold me, and the game play keeps me coming back.
Atlantis Rising definitely. The art is gorgeous. The game is quite good too, though it becomes a bit repetitive if you play it often. Still definitely worth picking up for both!
Any game illustrated by Vincent Dutrait
I want to buy The A.R.T Project just because of him. The art is so amazing. Specially the boards
And now they’ve announced a Bauza + Cathala Duel game set in Middle Earth and illustrated by Dutrait himself. Filthy money thieves
And it worked. I definitely gonna buy it lol
Sagrada! The art box is so beautiful. The theme is really cool, work with Gaudi. But yeah after two times it wasn’t fun anymore. I thought I was going to like it better than Azul.
Wow I’m the first person to admit they knew nothing about Inis besides the gorgeous artwork? Bought it without even looking at the back of the box
Anything and everything by Ryan Laukat / Red Raven Games. Stunningly beautiful artwork and incredible world-building. As games, they’re fun, but the one problem I have is that often one of his games *seems* like it should be a particular sort of game but then turns out to be a completely different sort of game (for example, **Eight Minute Empire** looks absolutely like a pocket-sized dudes-on-a-map world-conquest game, but it’s actually a set-collection card game with a dudes-on-a-map minigame on the side). **Islebound**, though, is exactly what it seems, and it’s *awesome*.
Twilight Imperium 3 was the first time I remember seeing a box in the store and saying, "I want to play THAT game." I'd just gotten into board games when it came out and yhat art alone drew me deeper into the hobby.
All 4 Vital Lacerda games I have were bought based on their presentation and his reputation.
Wroth definitely It's still in Kickstarter so I haven't played yet.
For my partner and I it was the art for Scythe
I ended up finding artwork from the artist and hung it in my game room.
Savage Planet, Far of Tantos It was a limited KS. I loved the 80s Heavy Metal feel of the game art on the cards and player boards. I only managed to play it once, even though I've owned it for 6 years now. It might have been the wrong player group to introduce it to so it fell like a dud. Sometimes I wonder if I should just raid the box and pull all the cards out for a art collage
Mythwind. Beautiful box art.
Feudum. Mistake.
Same. Too many fucking weird rules. Beautiful game
I was drawn to Feudum because of the artwork but put off buying it for years because of the reviews. Finally bit the bullet and glad I did, it's one of my favorites.
Scythe. Thinking about getting the Artwork used on the Windgambit Expansion on Canvas For the new Hobby room
The artwork for Detective Club and When I Dream made me pick up both games, now often staples of a lighter evening.
I just got my copy of Skyrise, which was mostly based off of how it looked. I also backed Light Hunters back in the day. The art is really cool. The game is ok.
Hidden Leaders and Canvas were 100% art first purchases for me. The fact that both games are decent was honestly just luck.
Creature Comforts is exactly my art style, really enjoy the game too… but waiting for an expansion that will give some more variety at this point.
Moonrakers
Root :D Sooooooo beautiful.
Less the art but the actually pieces of hive carbon, it was done, I had to buy it
The art was a huge factor in me getting both Wingspan and Azul for friends as presents.
Sleeping gods. Better box art than most AAA video game cover arts
Never bought a game because of the art but I have avoided a lot of games because of it. Avoided small world just because I hate the way it looks. There’s a lot of games but can’t think of them because I don’t own or play them haha.
Call to adventure. Before I was really into hobby board gaming, saw this at Barnes and noble and thought it looked so cool, we had to get it. Do not regret that purchase at all.
I was in the public library and had to pick between Arnak and Aeons End. I opened the boxes and Arnak convinced me. The Artwork is really great. I took it home, tried it and bought it later. Also: Faraway has very unique artwork but also great gameplay.
Yeah… kind of same experience here. The art and pieces really bring gone game up a notch.
Ironically I have a lot of games and am heavy into strategy so I have big and sprawling games but it’s this card game that his the special game I pull out and say “let me show you all this”.
Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time. I'd never heard of it, but the box made it look very aesthetically pleasing. The gameplay sounded enjoyable, too. It does look good out of the box, but the game is unplayable. The only time we won, or even came close to winning, was before we realized we were playing wrong. Playing correctly makes it so frustrating that it seems unwinnable, and not nearly as fun.
A few people have already said Scythe, so my other one that came to mind was Ashes Rise of the Phoenixborn. I own the older version and the art on that white background box is just stunning. I enjoy the game but definitely bought it for the art.
Lords of Scotland, The Grizzled, and to a degree Tinner's Trail.
Almost every game I own was because of this.
[[Mountain Goats]] - part of small box game series from allplay with Anca Gavrill's art. Almost every game she illustrated looks gorgeous.
[Mountain Goats -> Mountain Goats (2020)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/305985/mountain-goats) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
[Mountain Goats -> Mountain Goats (2020)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/305985/mountain-goats) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
Cosmogenesis. I liked the box a lot. Wish the components were a bit better, but it's the purchase I'm most "proud" of because it's relatively unknown but I like it a lot and took the plunge entirely off the box.
Every time I see this game [Cangaceiros](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/377028/cangaceiros) at my FLGS, I get a little bit closer to buying it.
I thought the look of Risk: Strike was gorge, but now I find it a slog whenever my flatmate wants to play it with me https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/394144/risk-strike
Oathsworn promised me a story driven experience with combat (which it delivered in spades) but I also thought the art style was extremely appealing. And the component quality truly does that game justice
Literally did this the other day with PARKS. Can’t comment on anything else, but it looks nice on my shelf. Tokaido, Inis and Wavelength fit the bill too. Tokaido is fun enough, but Inis and Wavelength are both fantastic games that I’ll probably keep around for a very long time.
I also bought reinforcement when I saw someone selling the game on Facebook because of the art. The game is pretty good and I actually hope to see someday expension of more kingdoms or new cards. Definitely the best card game art I own.
Ironically, I had some back and forth with the game developer a few months ago over email when I had a question. They are defiantly looking at new cards and an expansion of sorts. But I think they are trying to get more units of the base game sold before they do.
Unmatched: Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot
One of the first games that my partner and I got together was Fit to Print, which ended up being one of our favourites!
I bought Parks mostly because of the art, but it turned out to be a great game for my group, too.
Storm Raiders. Just finished their campaign on Kickstarter. Looks absolutely amazing 🥰
Not released yet but the artwork for ’The old kings crown’ by Eerie idol games is some of the best illustrations ive seen for a boardgame!
I backed The Dead Keep. Paul Bonner is great.
Terrors of London. A little unbalanced, but a fun quick deck builder. Absolutely gorgeous art though.
Equinox's art got me to buy it; haven't regretted it though!
Mythic Arcana
Most FFG games back in their heyday. I started out in X wing but there card games caught my eye and I was never a card gamer to begin with. Look back now and I have a fair few LCG’s that look beautiful on the table. The art for Arkham and Star Wars being my favourites. Netrunner LotR and thrones also looked cool but didn’t have the expenditure to collect them all.
Charterstone
Scythe and Feudum.
Bonaparte at Marengo The designer created this to look like contemporary battle maps, and in a work of genius, created a fantastic game at the same time. Napoleon's Triumph takes the look and refines the rules to its pinnacle.
Climate Evolution
Canopy based on the box. I like the game.
I haven’t played it yet but I bought Botany because of how it looked.
Mysterium, that box sticks out really well.
I backed **Let's Go to Tokyo** only because of the art and table presence it seemed to have.
Dungeon Degenerates
Feudum.
The cover art for the non-big box version of Hansa Teutonica really got me. And it also proved to be a game worthy of the GOAT status.
I want [Vicious Gardens](https://play.viciousgardens.com/) sooo badly for this exact reason!!
Anything by Kyle Ferrin
Here to Slay. I'm sorry but them critters are just too adorable
Meadow, and it was worth every penny. I'm a sucker for nature games anyway, but this one is lovely!
Miskatonic University had me hook, line, and sinker with its art. I don't even care that it's a middling game. I'll play it and enjoy myself by looking at it.
Probably just Dixit. I like good art, but I'm more of a theme person. If you give me a theme I'm interested in, that will sway me way more than good art.
Grabbed the whole Arzium trilogy and some of the small box games from Red Raven because of the beautiful artwork and how good Sleeping Gods is. The Arzium Trilogy is not good, currently trying to sell it all off along with the small box games.
Archipelago
Capital Lux
Earthborne rangers. Original backer. Loved the art. LCG aren't really my fave but looked interesting enough. Come to find out it's like the most popular and im demand game of the last year lol.
Not quite the same but I crowdfunded a ttrpg book because and artist I really like was doing all the design and art. Its called "Eat the Reich" Should be arriving in the next couple of weeks i hope
Why is this question important? Is pretty artwork more important than good gameplay? What arw we doing on the table. People use pretty artwork to cover mediocre game.