Fantasy Flight, the publishers of some of the biggest and best board games around (from Star Wars to Arkham to Game of Thrones), have a little tradition going among staff: once you’ve worked there for five years, you get to appear as a character in one of their games.

When I was a kid, I had a dream video game. It was basically “Wing Commander: Privateer”, only bigger, and it was set in the Star Wars universe. I’m still waiting on the video game, but Fantasy Flight have this year delivered much the same experience, only in board game form.

I’ve been playing a few board games that use an app lately, but Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth is the first one I’ve played that’s been designed from the ground-up with a digital companion in mind.

Game of Thrones was already one of the best board games around, but the release of the game’s third expansion — Mother of Dragons—changes everything. It’s enormous, and adds so much cool and interesting stuff to the experience that it almost feels like an all-new (or at least third edition) of the classic.

KeyForge is a card game for people who would love Magic: The Gathering, but who run screaming into Mummy’s arms upon hearing the words “deck building.”

It’s a game for the most doe-eyed of card-game beginners and the most seasoned fans alike, in part because of its winning gimmick: There’s no booster packs, drafting, or deck building. Players purchase whole decks, each of which is completely unique.

If there’s one thing repeated Kickstarter successes have proven, it’s that board gamers love little plastic miniatures. And if there’s one thing they love more than little plastic miniatures, it’s bigger plastic miniatures.

Fantasy Flight's money-printing X-Wing, which has been killing it for a few years now, is getting a reboot with a new Second Edition of the game.

Fantasy Flight's excellent Arkham board game Mansions of Madness is getting the video game treatment, and interestingly, it isn't a direct adaptation. Instead it's a more hands-on take, maintaining the same basic premise while making everything more video gamey.

Fallout: The Board Game is as faithful an adaptation of the source material as you could possibly hope for.

In 2011, the board game Letters from Whitechapel put detectives on the hunt for Jack the Ripper. In 2017, that game has been stripped down to all but its most essential systems, and has become better for it.

Star Wars Rebellion is an excellent board game that manages to capture the feel of the entire classic trilogy inside a single tabletop experience. Rise of the Empire is a new expansion for the game that does the same thing, only for Rogue One.

Star Wars Armada is a great game to play every once in a while. But committing to play a lot of it in the name of an organised campaign is another story.

Star Wars: Imperial Assault and Star Wars: Armada are two of the biggest and best board games around at the moment. Both have had recent expansions that shake things up, and both of those expansions have been terrific.

There was a DOOM board game released in 2004. This isn't it. This one is brand new.

Fantasy Flight has a pretty good track record with its Star Wars tabletop games, with two of them -- X-Wing and Imperial Assault -- in my crew's regular rotation. They might soon be joined by a third.