7 Best Tabletop Games With Miniatures to Play in 2025
Looking for tabletop games with miniatures? We tested the best picks to help new players find epic adventures and awesome miniature battles!
7 Best Tabletop Games With Miniatures for New and Hungry Players
If you play games for epic fights, wild stories, and a box full of tiny heroes and villains, welcome! We went on a gaming quest (with snacks) to find the most fun, easy-to-learn tabletop games with miniatures. We focused on games with awesome models, rules that don’t melt your brain, and enough action to keep your group from checking their phones. From fantasy brawls to superhero showdowns, our picks bring stories to life right on your table. So clear some space and brace yourself for plastic mayhem!
On this list:
7 Zombicide
We picked Zombicide because nothing brings people together like trying to survive a horde of plastic zombies. Playing this, we got to argue for hours over who should bash the next door in or who gets the shiny new weapon. The miniatures look great, and if you love seeing your game board fill up with tiny undead, you’re in for a treat. It’s also pretty easy to teach, so new players don’t get eaten by rules before the zombies get them. Also, the scenarios keep things fresh, so your group will be arguing about strategy and luck (or lack of) for many nights.
6 Star Wars: Imperial Assault
As Star Wars nerds, we got to be both rebels and evil Empire scum—and the miniatures are worth painting in your PJs. It’s part dungeon crawler, part strategy, and has a campaign mode that kept us bickering about who gets to be Darth Vader. You can play cooperatively or one vs many style, so it fits lots of groups. Even if you forget to do a Wookiee voice, Imperial Assault makes it easy for new fans of tabletop games with miniatures to jump in and feel epic.
5 Blood Rage
Blood Rage is about Vikings who act like us on a Friday night—fighting, boasting, and sometimes ending up in Valhalla. The miniatures are insanely detailed, so it looks cool even while you lose. The rules are simple to grasp, but there’s still enough depth to make you feel clever or, if you play like we do, slightly confused. If you like Norse myths, cool minis, and some light chaos, this is a top pick for fans of tabletop games with miniatures.
4 Arcadia Quest
Arcadia Quest has chibi heroes, big bosses, and a competitive quest system that made us both laugh and cry over backstabbing betrayals. The miniatures are kid-friendly but don’t be fooled: the game turns vicious fast. It’s easy for new players to learn but the campaign mode lets you keep playing over several sessions, upgrading and trash talking your way to victory. Plus, the minis look like they jumped straight from a cartoon—super fun to handle and paint.
3 Descent: Legends of the Dark
Descent: Legends of the Dark turned our kitchen table into a fantasy epic. The app helps with rules, so we spent less time arguing about mistakes. The miniatures are huge and detailed—dragons, giants, and more. There’s a campaign to follow, and choices matter, so we regretted that time we let the bard open a clearly trapped chest. It’s great for new players, especially those who love a mix of story, strategy, and miniatures in their tabletop games.
2 Marvel United
Marvel United made us all feel like superheroes (even if we knocked over a few villains while reaching for snacks). It’s fast, colorful, and easy to learn, with tons of recognizable heroes and baddies. New players will like the simple rules, and the minis are cute enough to display. The game also has expansions for nearly every Marvel character you can think of, so our group kept coming back to see who could save the city with the most style.
1 Gloomhaven
Gloomhaven takes the cake as the best. Why? Because it turned our group chat into a strategy war room for months. This is the ultimate tabletop game with miniatures for players who want story, depth, and chunky boxes filled with goodies. The character miniatures are like little action heroes you actually care about (mostly—we did let one retire early after he kept missing attacks). The campaign hooks you in, and every decision matters for your group. While it’s big and might scare some newbies, the rules are well explained, the minis are quality, and the pay-off is worth it. If you want the full experience of tabletop games with miniatures, Gloomhaven is the real deal.
