Which AT games have relatively low levels of luck?

I've recently been playing Mage Knight Board Game and I really like it. I like the fact that there is a lot of strategy and control in the game but at the same time I feel really immersed in the game and the theme. There are some random elements but these can be controlled and managed quite well.

Any other AT games like this? Some random elements but controllable through strategy.

personally i consider Mage Knight to be a euro because it is so calculative and at the rule by rule level its not massively thematic. When you put it all together it does drip theme though.

It depends on your definition of AT, which is suitable undefined. I'd say A Game of Thrones is relatively low luck. The only luck is the card draws and they effect everyone, and you can plan for them to an extent. Ascending Empires arguably has little luck in it, but you can miss flick a lot which creates the risk factor, the only true random element is the planet locations at start. I would argue that Titan is also rather low luck. You do roll lots of dice but due to the numbers you can expect the average return to occur fairly regularly.

Neuroshima Hex!

Dune. The only luck involved is the storm, spice blow, and treachery cards, and certain players can see all that stuff.

I haven't played a game in a while so my opinion doesn't really count. But since that hasn't stopped me from expressing it before...

tparel wrote:


I tend to see randomness and luck as distinct possible features of a game. Both require you to improvise and adapt (my favourite challenges to face in games), but I tend to think of luck as more selective in how it impacts players, while randomness I tend to think of as a more global event that affects all players more or less equally. Randomness is cool because it ups the variation between games while still allowing enough control (mitigating its effects, judging probabilities well, etc) to allow for some competition between players and hence investment in the outcome.

With that in mind I can say that I've played lots of games with randomness, but few games with outright luck. Magical Athelete is full of randomness, but it's spread out evenly enough with bare-bone rules to make decisions count for something (but not for everything).

Earth Reborn has a great balance in the randomness it contains that rewards discipline and prudence (I hate the phrase 'resource management'), and it certainly has some narrative to it.

I second Jeff's recommendation for NH! with its awesome mix of tile draw, free tile placement and deterministic battle resolution.

What the hell is Ameritrash anymore...everything's been so hybridized that it's really impossible to say these days.

Low luck Ameritrash? Axis and Allies.

Jeff White wrote:

This is the first one that comes to mind for me as well. It doesn't hurt that it's my favorite game of all time.

I just got Dungeon Command, and while I've not played it yet, it seems to follow in the same vein. No dice, with the 'luck' aspect being the order of card draws.

I suppose you'd just have to compile a list of AT games that don't feature dice. Probably a short list, thankfully. :)

Not Ameritrash per se, but Imperial has zero luck beyond the initial share draw. It definitely has some AT aspects like negotiation, alliances, direct conflict... I guess it's as much AT as Diplomacy is.

Dungeon Twister is low luck and fiendishly difficult but still plenty of chucking fireballs around to qualify for AT.

Intrigue has no random factors and very fit for Ameritrash tastes.