Faeries, Fae, or Fariy-Folk? - Games with a Fairy or Elf Theme

 Faeries, Fairies, Fae, Fay, Fair Folk.

There are a ton of different names for faeries that are used interchangeably throughout modern culture that generally feature any number of creatures that could fall into categories such as elves, pixies, orcs, dwarves, goblins and gnomes. They generally come from a European cultural context and usually have some sort of metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural quality about them. As the term has been used more and more in the culture, it's generally been distilled down to meaning creatures that tend to be smaller in size, have wings, and magic of some sort, usually living in the woods or other wildland location.

More modern interpretations of faeries have also included the old mythological renditions of the fae, often distilling them into otherworldly beings. Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition) for example, has the Fay Realm separate from the mortal realm and creatures that inhabit the realm are completely different than the elves and dwarves that inhabit the mortal realm. These creatures can include pixies, sprites, satyrs and even treants, all of which generally can be found in the otherworldly dimension of the Feywild. They can be both good and bad and generally will try to trick players into making deals that will often have a negative twist to them.

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher also feature the fae quite prominently throughout the books (generally referred to as the "Sidhe") and they are generally part of the otherworldly realms. Most of the monsters that Dresden deals with throughout the series tend to be fae in origin and within his universe, he has set up the creatures in two camps: the summer court and the winter court. The summer court tends to have faeries that were more generally associated with "good", such as unicorns, satyrs, and dryads, which (usually) are on the side of humanity and restoration, although that can vary throughout the books. The winter court on the other hand, features fae creatures usually associated with the darker side of fairy tails, such as redcaps, hobs, ogres, trolls and rawheads. Both sides remain in balance with one another and represent the unseen magical things that occur in our world, at least in the series.

We could get really deep into a discussion about faeries (or fairies) and how their descriptions, make up and integrations in cultural context have changed through the years, but this is a blog about board games and I need to remain on track.

Generally speaking, when referring to Fae or Faeries in board game context, they are usually shown as pixies or sprites, which we will focus on with this list, as well as goblins and elves, since they are often lumped together. These will be the winged sprites that you generally see in movies that usually have dragonfly or butterfly wings, such as in Peter Pan with Tinkerbell, or more recently in the TV show Carnival Row. Here are 10 games that I came across with my research or have played with a theme of Faeries that are either prominently featured in the game, or have loose ties with the game itself, or general games with a fae/elf aspect to them:

Fairy Trails

Publish Year: 2020
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg
Description: This is the game that initially spurred this blog post as I found it on BGA and thought that it was an interesting little game to play. The game tasks the player with creating small trails of pathways for small gnome or elf houses and once completed, players are able to take their crystals and place them on the houses that border the trail to show that they are finished. The is two-player only and tasks players with completing their paths quicker than their opponent as the first to fill 19 houses wins. While the theme is present mainly on the small houses that line the forest paths and could potentially be switched for any other theme about completing pathways, it does feature faeries prominently on the cover art, which is why I included it on this list.

Seasons

Publish Year: 2012
Designer: Régis Bonnessée
Description: Seasons is a competitive dice and card game where players all participate in the "Tournament of 12 Seasons" as wizards looking to become the next archmage. Players have a deck of cards that utilize faerie familiars to perform actions and outwit their opponents in this game for two to four players that takes place over several different realms. As players progress through the game, the seasons will change and players will have to adapt their strategy with each progression of the season, resulting in only one player being able to claim the title of "Archmage". As an older game, I'm surprised that it's so high in the rankings (#308 at the time of writing) since BGG tends to have newer games ranked higher, so it's definitely something that I'd like to try out.

Small World

Publish Year: 2009
Designer: Philippe Keyaerts
Description: While Small World prominently features elves on the cover of this area control game, it wasn't until the 2010 Small World: Be Not Afraid... expansion that saw the inclusion of the pixie race in the game. Small World is all about attempting to utilize multiple races with various abilities to earn coins that will see the winner earn the most at the end of the game. Each turn, players can choose to grow their race, attempt to battle and take over other weaker races, or let the race decline and build another race, hopefully earning additional coins based on the area they control. It's a sprint to the finish to see who can earn the most coins and when I played it originally, I really appreciated how quickly it played, even with several people learning to play it at one time.

Woodcraft

Publish Year: 2022
Designer: Ross Arnold and Vladimír Suchý
Description: A more recent game on this list, Woodcraft tasks players with manipulating dice throughout the game to create pieces of wooden items for customers. While not expressly stated during the game, it does mention that you are playing as a "wood folk" whose artisan carpenters help the village around them, leaning more into the "elf" side of the genre rather than humans, with the depictions shown on the artwork. While it's not something I have had the opportunity to play yet, I feel like it's come up quite often in discussion here on BGG and I am interested in the game, especially since it seems like there's quite a bit of strategy to it.

Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes it All

Publish Year: 2018
Designer: Aaron Donogh, Prospero Hall, Brian Kirk
Description: This one gets a free pass because I mentioned it in my introduction, but Villainous (now "Disney Villainous: the Worst Takes it All") features Tinker Bell from Peter Pan in the base game (or it did when I previously bought it; I'm not sure about the updated version). Each player takes a villain from Disney history and with each villain, comes a different set of win requirements. The asymmetric play results in quite a bit of player interaction, especially in the form of fate cards, which are played to opponent boards to hinder their plans. The first player to finish their requirements to win the game is declared the "worst of all" and wins the game. It's a pretty good implementation and while the game isn't my favorite at 2 players, it is a blast with 3 or four players and I love playing as all the old classic Disney villains.

Wizard

Publish Year: 1984
Designer: Ken Fisher
Description: This one falls a bit more on the "elf" side of things rather than the "faerie" side of the coin, but this is a simple trick-taking card game that adds in "wizards" and "jesters" to the deck of cards. While elves are featured in the official cards of the game, it can be played with a set of normal 52 cards with eight additional cards added for the "wizards" (high) and "jesters" (low), creating a 60-card deck. It features a betting system (a la Cat in the Box) where players will bet at the beginning of the round how many tricks they will win and will earn or lose points if they hit or miss their target. The theme is more to add flavor to the cards and while it does feature elves, it can be played with any normal card deck if the official deck is unavailable.

Summoner Wars: Phoenix Elves vs Tundra Orcs

Publish Year: 2009
Designer: Colby Dauch
Description: While this is technically a subset of Summoner Wars (actually a set of faction decks to add to it), I'm still including it on this list because elves are prominently featured on the cover of the box and I'm hurting for games to include on this list. The game itself is a 2-4 player card game where opposing factions face each other in battle, hoping to defeat the opposing armies through clever tactics and overall strategy. While there are multiple factions that can be added to the game to change and alter your decks, Phoenix Elves vs Tundra Orcs adds in the fire-based Phoenix Elves and ice-based Tundra Orcs to add more variability and variety to players decks. It is a standalone starter set as well and can be played without any additional starter decks if preferred.

The Grimm Forest

Publish Year: 2018
Designer: Tim Eisner
Description: Interestingly enough, it took until #1033 on the BGG rankings to find a game that was based on Grimm's Fairy Tales, which surprised me because there are so many faeries and fantastical creatures featured in their writing. This game is based on the tale of the Three Little Pigs where players are family members of the legendary family, looking to build their own houses. Built around hidden movement and resource gathering, players will befriend and play cards from the classic fairy tales, such as the Fairy Godmother, to help them on their quest to build the best house. Meanwhile, they will also do their best while building their house to fend off the Big Bad Wolf and send him after opponents instead. While I've not played the game, it does have an intriguing concept and it fits right into the "medium-light weight" niche that I find myself often leaning towards.

Smash Up: Pretty Pretty Smash Up

Publish Year: 2015
Designer: Paul Peterson
Description: This is both an expansion to Smash Up and a standalone two-player version of the game that introduces the following factions to the game: cats, fairies, princesses, and mythical horses. The premise of Smash Up allows players to take two different factions of 20 cards, "smash them" together to create a 40-card deck, and fight other opponents in a 2-4 player card game. While it is an interesting concept, I've heard that the Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume One series is a bit of a tighter card-battler. Still, I think it would be worth at least one play to get a feeling for the game and how well the concept works.

Fairy Tale

Publish Year: 2004
Designer: Satoshi Nakamura
Description: This is one of the older games on this list, but it features both faeries and elves (and dragons!) prominently on the card artwork. Players take turns drafting cards and then playing cards to see who can get the most points by the end of the game. From what I can tell with the description and rules, it is a fairly basic game that moves in waves, allowing players to draft and then play cards as they go through the game. While theme might not feature prominently in the mechanics of the game, it does have a beautiful set of artwork that makes the game pop.

Final Thoughts on the Fae

Surprisingly enough, there were not that many games that were in the top 1000 even that had elves and/or faeries featured as part of the gameplay. I know that there are quite a few games that are fantasy-themed, but the lack of the fair folk surprised me. Still, it's more of a niche of fantasy stories than something that tends to be prominently featured in games, so I guess that I shouldn't be that surprised.

This was a fun theme to look into and I hope that you all enjoyed the ramblings that I put together at the beginning of the post. As a big fan of The Dresden Files I think I'm a bit more inclined to think about Fae interaction in fantasy novels than general fantasy, especially in the context of the modern world interacting with fae creatures. I'll be back next Monday with another theme, so keep an eye on this space for more!

Give me your thoughts:What is your favorite way of spelling out Faeries? Is it "fairies," "faeries", "fae", or some other rendition of the word? Have you played any games that feature faeries/fae/elves prominently in the gameplay? What themes would you like to see discussed on this blog?

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*Originally posted on BoardGameGeek on 8/7/2024*