Chaos in the Old World tonight, one of the first big hobby games I bought. I got this when I went to PAX in Seattle with friends and was just getting into board gaming.

CitOW has each player as one of the Warhammer Gods trying to corrupt and ruin regions of the world. The game ends in one of four ways:
- a player hits their specific goal enough times
- a player hits 50+ VP
- 5 regions of the board are ruined
- the event deck runs out (and everyone loses)

Each god is unique in how it plays, making this a wonderful asymmetrical area control game. The exploding dice mechanic for battles makes each fight a surprise, and each player also has a unique deck of cards that add their own flavour of manipulation to the board.

There's only a handful of area control / "dudes on a map" board games I like, and this is one of them. I think because it's more than just keeping your plastic on the board, it's also about spreading your corruption, taking advantage of situations that benefit your particular player powers, and also avoiding situations where you hand out points to other players, or ganging up to take out the leader.
#boardgames