K2

Now your team stands in the shadow of K2, ready to climb for fame and glory.

Mountain climbing is a perfect theme for boardgame, combining‘ the elements of racing, danger, obstacles and the management of technical challenges. So it’s surprising there are so few games of this type. Perhaps it’s because K2 (and its expansions Broad Peak and The Avalanche) has already captured the theme so well.

As it should, a game of K2 starts out very simply, and on your first try you may briefly wonder if it’s a good game or not. But it’s not long before those previously easy card management choices become crucial life and death decisions. Should you make that push for the summit in bad weather? Have you acclimatised enough to make the attempt? Which climber should hunker down in a tent and which should continue on? It’s a remarkable clever, and deceptively simple, little system that really puts you in the boots of climbers tackling what is probably one of the most dangerous mountains in the world. The designer is a climber himself, and I think this real-world experience really comes across in the design.

You also get a double-sided board, one side of which is more difficult (and, wonderfully, illustrated with a darker, more forbidding mountain).