The weather is improving and we would love to combine boardgaming and spending time outside. Azul works very well outside, not so many things can fly away. Any other recommendations?
Hive is the perfect outside game. My number one game to play on the beach or directly on the grass in a park as the whole game is made out of heavy plastic.
This doesn't exactly go along with the initial post question, but while Werewolf is fun and Ultimate One Night Werewolf is also fun, a long-time favorite game of mine is Wolves of Mercia. That's pretty portable, but dang do you need a lot of people in order to have a good game of it!
Skull and Roses is a brilliant game, but for some reason I find it very hard to explain to people - and I'm the rules guy so it's not a lack of practice.
Most card and board games on a gusty day will fly away, but on a calm or slightly breezy day...
Love Letter might work as it's solid token pieces and a few cards only, easy portability is another plus for outside play.
Games like Chess, Checkers, any game with Dominoes (e.g. Mexican Train), Stratego, Mahjong, Blockus will work fine as they all use pieces and tiles only.
Games that use cardboard tiles like Carcassonne (as long as you have a table that fits it)
Anything with tiles works well, like Hive, Hanabi Deluxe, or Carcassonne. Dice games also work well, such as Pickomino. And there's Crokinole, if your table can fit it
Hive. The original version has larger tiles, the mini version is more compact but should still work as long as it's not too windy. Hive Carbon is worth checking out if you prefer that color scheme.
For Azul I wonder if the new Azul Mini might work better, smaller tiles but the boards have indents to keep tile in place. And much better score track.
I've been making travel versions of Tak and Hnefatafl, both chess/checkers-like games. The idea is to embroider or quilt the gameboard on a circle of fabric which can be sinched into a pouch that carries the pieces. If the pieces are heavy enough, they won't blow away :)
Meadow is very immersive when played in a garden, but there are a lot of cards and tokens, and the whole thing takes up a ton of space .. so it's not very practical .. but it's lovely. Cascadia it's pretty compact and again, a nice nature theme that suits being on a picnic bench.