A common misconception about board games is that they're all super long and boring. That mostly isn't true. With there being plenty of short and sweet board games on the market, that reputation has to come from somewhere. It's mostly Monopoly's fault, but that doesn't even crack the top 20.
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The truth is, plenty of board games designed to last a long time. Some use this to try and create epic experiences nothing can match, while Legacy games split a very long game into several 2(ish) hour sessions to make it more manageable. Either way, there's a bunch of very long games out there that hobbyists probably shouldn't bring out for the family Christmas.
Through The Ages: A New Story Of Civilization – 4 Hours
Interestingly, many of the longest board games all carry a similar theme. Historical settings are commonplace in the hobby because they create inherently different and interesting scenarios. However, the longest pages almost exclusively follow this theme.
The historical period varies, although many seek to cover all of history in one package. This is where Through The Ages comes in. This is a card drafting game where players look to build a great civilization by managing food, science, production, and all the things any Civilization player will be familiar with.
The Republic Of Rome – 5 Hours
This is a game whose theme will make most people yawn until they pass out but will make a specific type of history nerd squee with delight at the thought of. The dirty little secret about The Republic of Rome is that, despite presenting itself in a rather boring way, it's actually a pretty brilliant game.
Players navigate the fairly complex political system of the Roman Republic during one of the empire's biggest periods. Players must manage resources to make proposals to the Senate, which others vote on. The goal is to get the player's faction in control of the Senate (and become Rome's first Emperor) while staving off power grabs & assassinations from other players, invasions from foreign powers, and rebellions from the Roman people. It's a complex mix that forces players to work together while each one is setting up the pieces to put themselves on top.
Nemesis – 6 Hours
A big one for any Aliens fans here, as Nemesis does a fantastic job of bringing about that great horror atmosphere. This is a semi-cooperative game where players have to navigate a ship while keeping clear of an alien that can hear players' movements and gets stronger the longer the game goes on.
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What's more, each player has secret objectives that they need to fulfill to win the game. Some of these may be helpful to the group, like restoring power to the ship. Others won't be so helpful, such as navigating the ship to an unknown planet or getting a specified player killed. It's a tense mix of strategy and social deduction, full of memorable moments.
Civilization – 6 Hours
There have been a whole host of Civilization board games that have come out over the years. Each has a different take on the game's format, but the original 1980 version captures the game's length the best.
Interestingly for a Civilization game, players don't progress through all of history, just from around 8000BC to the dawn of the Roman Empire in the 3rd Century. Which, disturbingly, means that this game was cut short and still managed to be insanely long. It's reasonably well-regarded as one of the better games to deep-dives into ancient civilizations. However, though the mechanics are solid, it could be argued they don't hold up for a 6-hour session.
Diplomacy – 6 Hours
Diplomacy is a unique game that looks to fully engage each player in becoming a ruler of their power. Players take control of one of the great European powers at the turn of the 20th Century and have to negotiate with their fellow players to win allies and gain territory.
Each turn, players can discuss and negotiate what they will do with their military units. Players can make alliances to overpower and share territory, or players can say they'll do that while actually stabbing each other in the back. Players all right down their orders in secret and reveal them simultaneously, which means people always have to gamble on who they can trust and if their plans will succeed.
Paths Of Glory – 8 Hours
For fans of wargames, Paths Of Glory is a recognizable name as one of the better games in the genre. It is, however, quite dense for a casual board gamer to get into. Taking place during the first world war, this two-player game sees one player control the allies and one control the central powers.
As one would expect from a game that covers the entirety of World War 1, there's a lot to do. Managing troops all across Europe means that turns can take some time and the push-and-pull of the game flow can be a bit tiresome. However, these deadlocks can sometimes make for tense situations, the likes of which are somewhat realistic to how combat was in the war. This style of board games were so popular that they were the main inspiration for the video games that would eventually become the modern military shooter.
7 Ages – 8 Hours
Unlike that coward of a Civilization game, 7 Ages goes the whole hog and covers history from 4000 BC to the (at the time of release) modern-day of 2000 AD. While this may sound like a game very similar to Civilization, this focuses on gaining & trading cards with fellow players to reach their peak.
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Leaders can only be chosen depending on the time period the game is starting, and players will be in a constant string of negotiations and trading to help each other grow while still looking to become the most dominant. It is also possible for players to control multiple civilizations to help each other grow, but they will then be splitting their limited actions even thinner.
Twilight Imperium – 8 Hours
Twilight Imperium is the post child for this style of long & complicated (and expensive) games, but that's arguably just because it's the best. The 4th Edition, released in 2017, is currently in the top 10 games all-time on Board Game Geek.
Players control one of 17 factions and must dominate the galaxy through a mixture of all-out war, political maneuvering & economic domination. Each faction has a wildly different playstyle, meaning every game feels different. While the systems & mechanics in play do require a short novel's worth of rulebooks to understand, they make for some fantastically deep & rewarding strategy for players who are willing to get their heads around it.
Europe Engulfed: WW2 European Theatre Block Game – 12 Hours
If a game focused on WW1 was long, a game on WW2 is naturally going to be even longer. What's interesting about Europe Engulfed is that despite taking half a rotation of the Earth to complete, each individual turn actually moves quite quickly. Players have to think deep & strategically at a faster pace than games of this nature tend to move. Naturally, it doesn't keep up this pace for the entire runtime, but players may be surprised at the flow of things.
The game strikes an interesting balance with how different powers can control the same areas but get different results. For example, when new territory is conquered by a foreign power, they get the resources that territory produces, but they don't get as much as the original power controlling it did. It makes players think a lot deeper than just using "bigger army diplomacy" to solve their problems, as many of the best wargames do.
The Campaign For North Africa – 1500 Hours
This feels like a bit of a cheat because this game was specifically designed to be ridiculously long, but the facts are the facts. The game's map is so big, players will almost certainly not own a table big enough for it, and even a living room might need rearranging to fit it on the floor.
Players are instructed that every military unit & every resource must be kept track of in excruciating detail to succeed. It also recommends that players play in two teams of five, with each person on the team keeping track of a specific unit/resource. If played as intended, players will know the name of every pilot under their command and the serial number of every plane they own.
It almost feels like a tabletop RPG in scope but aimed specifically at people who really, REALLY like military stuff. It is ridiculous in its detail by design and should only be attempted to be played as a novelty or by the most hardcore of hardcore wargaming fans.
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