Best strategy board games for five players

You are five players and you are keen to know which are the best strategy board games for five players?

So I went through the top 50 strategy board games on boardgamegeek and made a list of the best games for five players. There are only six games that play best with five players.

Best strategy board games for five players sorted by BGG rank

Game BGG Rank Playing Time
1 Power Grid 12 120
2 El Grande  19  60 − 120
3 Railways of the World  42 120
4 Kemet 45  90 − 120
5 The Princes of Florence 46  75 − 100
6 Hansa Teutonica 50 45 − 90

el grande cover

 

In terms of BGG ranking, the best choices are clearly Power Grid and El Grande. Power Grid is a very popular economic strategy game whereas El Grande is a classsic area control strategy board game. I personally prefer El Grande (check my review) whose game mechanics inspired me for my own board game Green Deal.
 
 

Power Grid
Power Grid

Interestingly Green Deal is often compared to Power Grid 😉 (my review)
 
 
 
 
 

Best strategy board games for five players sorted by playing time

Game BGG Rank Playing Time Weight Weight/playing time
Hansa Teutonica 50 45 − 90 3,1 4,59
The Princes of Florence 46  75 − 100 3,3 3,77
El Grande  19  60 − 120 3,1 3,44
Kemet 45  90 − 120 2,9 2,76
Railways of the World  42 120 3 2,50
Power Grid 12 120 3,3 2,75

Hansa Teutonica is clearly the fastest strategy board game in this list. Railways of the world and Power Grid are the longest games.

Best strategy board games for five players sorted by weight

Game BGG Rank Playing Time Weight Weight/playing time
Kemet 45  90 − 120 2,9 2,76
Railways of the World  42 120 3 2,50
Hansa Teutonica 50 45 − 90 3,1 4,59
El Grande  19  60 − 120 3,1 3,44
The Princes of Florence 46  75 − 100 3,3 3,77
Power Grid 12 120 3,3 2,75

Kemet has the lowest weight in this selection, whereas Power Grid has the highest weight. All of these games have a similar weight though, they are rather mid-weight strategy board games. The average weight of these six games is 3,12 which is fairly low compared to the average weight of 3,3 for the list of best 4 player games, 3,26 for the list of best 3 player strategy games  and 3,23 for the list of best 2 player games.

Best strategy board games for five players sorted by weight / playing time ratio

Game BGG Rank Playing Time Weight Weight/playing time
Hansa Teutonica 50 45 − 90 3,1 4,59
The Princes of Florence 46  75 − 100 3,3 3,77
El Grande  19  60 − 120 3,1 3,44
Kemet 45  90 − 120 2,9 2,76
Power Grid 12 120 3,3 2,75
Railways of the World  42 120 3 2,50
Hansa Teutonica Cover
Hansa Teutonica Cover

Hansa Teutonica has by far the best weight / playing time ratio so it is fairly deep despite its short playing time. This was exactly my experience and I personally love it. The good weight / playing time ratio might come at the cost of a rather thin theme but for me the pros clearly overweigh the cons. For a euro game Hansa Teutonica is quite interactive, players try to block each other all the time.

 

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