Top 5 Games with Dwarves - with Sam Healey

Good fun list, thanks Sam. I completely agree that Small World is a gateway game.

I know you guys don't spend much time at all looking at prototypes, but I think the one I'm currently pitching to companies would be right up your alley, Sam--Dwarven Defenders:
An all-vs-one tower-defense/dungeon crawler, where a group of Dwarves are defending their ancestral tomb against waves of barrow-wights. Tons of dice chuckin', unique player powers, quick tactical combat, and a board that builds itself as the Dwarves build barricades, dig lava trenches, and set up crossbow turrets and holy censers. Bad-ass dwarves doing their thing!

I enjoy the Dwarves in the Warlord CCG. I can understand why it's not on your list, but would probably be on Tom's.

War of the rings is my favorite game with dwarves! You get to use Gimli to rally the dwarves to battle! Battle of the five armies has even more dwarves! Lord of the rings in a box!

Good job, Sam. More lists like this one would be great.

Worth mentioning Small World Underground had another race of dwarves.

Middle-Earth Quest!

Dwarves are my fave characters too. Strange that in roleplay circles there tends to be the following trend. Folks who like dwarves characters tend to also prefer werewolf characters. Folks who like elven characters prefer Vampire characters. Strange but very much the case in groups I have played in over the last 35+ years :)

Now THIS is a top 5 list! I dig it! And I love you... just joking about that last part.

Sam. Is that your painted Zombicide figures? They look amazing. The differences between Zombicide and Black Plaque are few and small. What makes it so much better than the original?

Sam, you are a giant among dwarves...

Sam, I like your Top 5s. I hope you do more of them.

If the game has Dwarves in it, I want to play it. Summoner Wars is my favorite. This list made my day. Thanks Sam.

What about Muchkin?! :P

I also love Dwarves, they are the only bonus characters I bought for Arcadia Quest: Inferno.
Thanks for the list Sam!

My favorite game with dwarves has to be Drako. It's an asymmetrical game where one player plays the dragon miniature and the other player plays three dwarf figures (each with their own power). It is a battle between the two on a small(ish) map. Simple, but really fun.

I wanna talk to Sampson!

Have you played Die Zwerge ? shocked to not see that on this.

my group loves a game called dwarven miner

Great video Sam. Really appreciate your opinions on this genre. Of the DT crew I think your tastes align the closest to my own. Felt that this style, fast five solo, really suits your presentation style as well. Congratulations on the awesome KS results as well. We are all spruiking for you guys to get a raise!

How much must the kickstarter get so that we can see more Bruce in the videos?

I grew up with Dwarves. The Hobbit was read to us in junior school about a year of so before Star Trek hit British Tv. Somewhere in the sixties. I remember all the kids got upset when Thorin Oakenshield was killed. Wonderful memories.

My favorite game with dwarves... D&D! Is that cheating? ;-) lol I know, I know... we're talking strictly board games here, but I had to mention it. :-)

It's not a board game, but if you're into dwarves theme, try Disciples (second one in the series to be precise) video game. It's a fantasy TBS with 5 races, one of which are Mountain Clans, where you command dwarves and to a less extent, giants. Great artwork and atmosphere!

I'm totally stunned that BattleLore 1st edition didn't make the list. Surely if you're a Memoir '44 fan, you've played BattleLore...? It's a dwarf-fest in there! Bagpipers and everything!

I love fantasy and I've never been super into Dwarves, however every person I've gamed with who HAS been into dwarves has always been really cool.

More Bruce!

hah this is pretty cool. last night i saw his top 5 vikings, and i was like "man i wish there was one on dwarves" and today i realize he has already done it.

I'm wondering if The Dwarves: The Saga by Pegasus Spiele when when it comes out will replace one of these.

Wow, no one mentioned Tomb or Tomb: Cryptmaster. While there aren't a lot of dwarves in the game there are some, it may be that one does not get too attached to the characters since they can die quite easy. In fact, one of the keys to winning is NOT to be attached too much to any character.

But Tomb is a great fantasy dungeon crawl and great game (rule book stinks badly though), and has dwarves.

What about Battlelore first edition and his huge Dwarves army !!! Not even mentioned ? really ??... : )

My favorite LotR character - in both the books as well as the films - is Theoden, by a very wide margin. My least favorite? Gimli - who especially in the films, served as nothing but comic relief.

silverzberg (Silver Dwarf)
Old german Euro that had Dwarves in it. I own it, never got it to the table. Also, its in German so I don't know how to play it.
But it gets good reviews.

Hi, Bruce!

I think dwarves in Small World are cool and sometimes you can accumulate some points just digging up in those mines. But usually they have less numbers, so i tend to skip them :)

I don't play with dwarves in Summoner Wars, but they are an annoying opponent with their defensive abilities and walls, damn those wall! :D

For sone reason, when i play Warhammer Invasion with my coworker i tend to choose dwarves faction :) a part of dwarf lives in me too :D

If you like Dwarves, please take a look at Cavern Tavern. It is a game where you run a tavern and the owner is a Dwarf.

If you like Dwarves, please take a look at Cavern Tavern. It is a game where you run a tavern and the owner is a Dwarf.

Sam...Draco.

Heroscape Dwarves are really fun to use, especially if you give them funny dialogue.

Sam, (or anyone having knowledge of the game), what do you think of Dwarven Dig? I agree w/ your assessment of Agricola and don't understand why people play that over and over, but ironically, one of my fave 2-player games is Fields of Arle, which, like Caverna, is also supposedly related to Agricola but is much more interesting to me!! My fave Dwarf-themed game is Dwarven Miner.

Sam! I thought you were a minis fan. No mention of DnD? No mention of Games Workshop Fantasy? Those Dwarfs could burrow underground and pop up anywhere on the board. Do you just not like those games? What about Dragon Age? Come on man!

i know a game with dwarves, total war: warhammer...you have an entire factions with real time fighting...its out on steam go ahead and give it a shot

How about the game The Dwarves??

These choices are too nerdy, most people would hate these games. And I can't believe you didn't even mention Saboteur.

Shadow of Mordor

I hope you can help me find an old board game from late 90s or early 00s. The box cover depicted a balrog-like demon inside a mine and dwarves running away from it in a panic.

Talisman, Age of Sigmar, Warhammer Underworlds

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