Hey all, I’m back with what will be my final Gen Con 2015
post. If you haven’t had the chance,
check out my previous three posts. The
first post handled my honorable mention interests, while the next two posts
took on my top 10 interests of the convention.
If you’re interested just click the links below and enjoy!
This post will take on some games that weren’t available
in any way for purchase at Gen Con. I do
have a few caveats before going into my top 5. First of all, again, none of these games were
available at this year’s Gen Con.
Secondly, none of the games that I will go over are games that are/have
been available on Kickstater. These
games are all going to go straight from the manufacturers to retail sometime in
the near future.
I will be doing a
series on Kickstarter interests fairly soon so keep your eyes on the blog if
you’re interested in this topic! Finally
I wanted all of these releases to be within the 2015 year. Most of this releases (if not all) will be
available at this year’s Essen Spiel in a couple of months. You may actually find these on my Essen Spiel
interests’ series which should come out a few days before the convention
starts. Again, if you’re interested,
keep watching the blog for more! With
those caveats out of the way, on to the list!
Honorable Mention – T.I.M.E. Stories (Space Cowboys)
T.I.M.E. Stories is a co-operative game that was designed
by Manuel Rozoy and will be released by Space Cowboys. This game was higher on my list and one I
have been interested in for some time but honestly it sank a little because of
some possible replayability issues. In
this game you are part of a time agency and are trying to prevent cracks in the
time continuum. You are sent back in time
and are attempting to fix the cracks.
Your characters will be able to go back in time as many times as you
need to get it correct. The base game
now only comes with one scenario but it is stated that it will take over five
hours for most groups to get through this scenario their first play. T.I.M.E. Stories does come with what appears
to be a clever way to “save” your games so you can come back to continue on
your mission at a later date. They
already have one expansion called T.I.M.E. Stories: The Marcy Case which will
come out in conjunction with the base game.
While it sunk below the top 5, I am still very interested in this Space
Cowboys release!
#5 – Tail Feathers (Plaid Hat Games)
Tail Feathers is a head-to-head skirmish game designed by
Jerry Hawthorne (of Mice & Mystics fame) that will be released by Plaid Hat
Games. Hawthorne has given out more
information and was showing off the beautiful models of the game at this year’s
Gen Con and they didn’t disappoint. Mice
& Mystics has some absolutely beautiful miniatures that were going to be
hard to beat, but Tail Feathers appears to have done just that! These models are going to be great and they
have some very interesting mechanics.
Each of the models is a type of bird that is being “piloted” or
“handled” by a character out of the Mice & Mystics universe. These models have a “tilt” mechanics that
will be used in the skirmish game that looks very interesting. This game started to move up higher among my
interests when I discovered that they are planning a campaign mode. I hope that it improves upon the Mice &
Mystics campaign as that one was fun but did have some faults to it. This game just appears to be fun and I’m
looking forward to trying it out.
#4 – 7 Wonders: Duel (Repos Production)
7 Wonders: Duel is a head-to-head card drafting and set
collection game by designers Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala and will be
released by Repos Production. 7 Wonders
is a game that is in my top 10 list, so how could I not include this
version? Everything that I’m hearing
about this game is that it is an absolutely incredible, two-player version of
the original hit and that it may even improve on that game in some areas. Since my wife, Em, is my main game-playing-partner,
good two-player games are always on my radar.
Then, a game by both Antoine Bauza (of Takenoko, Tokaido, Hanabi, 7
Wonders, Samurai Spirit, and Ghost Stories fame) and Bruno Cathala (of Five
Tribes, Abyss, Cyclades, Dice Town, Dragon Run, and Jamaica fame) that takes on
a two-player version of the incredible 7 Wonders come along? Yeah, I’m in!
I can’t wait to see how this streamlined version of the game works and
how much fun it appears to be.
#3 – Favor of the Pharaoh (Bezier Games, Inc.)
Favor of the Pharaoh is a dice-rolling, pool/tableau-building
game by designer Tom Lehmann and will be released by Bezier Games, Inc. Any game by Tom Lehmann automatically gets me
interested in it. Tom Lehmann has done
games such as Race for the Galaxy, Roll for the Galaxy, The City, and Roll Through
the Ages: The Iron Age. Favor of the
Pharaoh is a re-implement of Lehmann’s game, To Court the King. All of the components are getting a major
overhaul as well as some of the mechanics.
There will be a ton (maybe not literally) of tiles that have both front
and back versions. This means that the
game have nearly infinite possibilities of set-up for each game. You then take dice and roll trying to get
pairs, three-of-a-kind, straights, etc. that you will need to buy these tiles
and put them in your personal tableau.
So, this game has dice-rolling, Tom Lehmann, and tableau-building. Yeah, I’m there!
#2 – Dice City (Alderac Entertainment Group)
Dice City is a dice-rolling, city-building, worker
placement game designed by Vangelis Bagiartakis and will be released by Alderac
Entertainment Group. This is a very fun
looking game that I hope becomes a Machi Koro killer. You will roll your dice and put them on a
grid depending on their color and the number that you roll which will give you
the different powers of the buildings in your city. You may use your turn to buy new cards which
will then take the place of the old buildings in your city and give you even
better powers to use. This game just
looks like a ton of fun! It is bright
and colorful and who doesn’t love rolling dice?
Also, along with some of my favorite dice-chuckers, there are ways to
mitigate bad dice rolls. All of these
together make it a very interesting game in my opinion.
#1 – Big Book of Madness (IELLO)
Big Book of Madness is a co-operative,
deck/pool-building, card game designed by Maxime Rambourg and will be released
by IELLO. This game has been one of my
top interests for quite some time and they were showing it off at Gen Con this year. The game is a co-operative card game (I love
a good co-op) which some gorgeous art done by one of my favorite artists
working in games, Naiade. The idea of
the game is that you are a student who is a little bored with their schooling
and chose to go and open up a book which just happens to be a prison for some
powerful monsters. You will take your
character and get a deck of elements (each student has their “favorite”
element) which you will use to cast spells, learn spells, add more elements to
your deck, and destroying a curse. You work
together with your fellow players in order to turn six pages of this book and
defeat the monsters in order to close the book.
This game looks awesome and is a definite buy for me.
There you have it.
These are just my top 5 (well, maybe 6) interests that weren’t for
purchase at Gen Con but should be coming out in just the next couple of
months. I have a feeling that it is
going to be an awesome Essen Spiel this year and keep an eye here for my Essen
series when it rolls around. As always,
if I forgot a game or you just have a question or comment feel free to
ask. Until next time, game on!
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