Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VIII: Top Interests of 2016: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Okay, now we move on to the juicy stuff, my top 5 game interests of 2016.  These five games are ones that are most likely going to be bought quickly when they come out.  They are all amazing looking games and have really struck a cord either in look, style, mechanics, designer, publisher, or some other reason.  Before we move on to the list feel free to check out my previous seven posts in the “End of 2015” series.  You can click on the below links to check out the previous posts.

Obligatory End of 2015 Part I: Final Statistics from 2015

 
Obligatory End of 2015 Part II: The “Late-ies” Awards(Best of 2015)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part III: Top Interests of2015: Honorable Mentions

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part IV: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part V: Top Interests of2015: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VI: Top Interests of2016: Honorable Mentions

Obligatory End of 2015 Post Part VII: Top Interests of2016: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Alright, everyone back?  Good!  Now time to move on to the main event.  What follows are the top 5 games on my top 10 of 2016 list.  I’ve noticed that in these top 5 games they were probably chosen because of their designers and publishers.  I often get excited for games that are created by designers that I really like.  Keep reading to find out what those games are…and enjoy!

#5 – Victorian Masterminds (Space Cowboys)

Victorian Masterminds is a worker placement game where the great Sherlock Holmes is dead and you are a villain running amok in Victorian England.  This game is designed by the amazing pair of Antoine Bauza (of 7 Wonders, 7 Wonders: Duel, Takenoko, Tokaido, Samurai Spirit and Hanabi fame) and Eric Lang (of Blood Rage, Dice Masters, Quarriors, Arcadia Quest and Chaos in the Old World fame) and is published by Space Cowboys. 

Victorian Masterminds will use worker placement as each of the players is vying to be the greatest villain in post-Holmes London!  Each of the players will have five agents that they are going to be able to take out into the world to destroy buildings, kidnap scientists, complete missions and collect resources that will allow them to build their ultimate death-dealing machine.  I like how each player takes their agent tokens and places them face down in the different action areas in order to complete the tasks.  This game is high on my list because of the amazing theme and incredible designer duo of Bauza and Lang.  Unless it majorly flops (which I highly doubt), this will be a must buy on pedigree alone!

#4 – Chronicles: Origins (Artana)

Chronicles: Origins is a Legacy game where each player will be creating whole civilizations throughout multiple different boxed games.  It is designed by the duo of Dirk Knemeyer and Rob Daviau and is published by Artana.  This game will use a ton of different mechanics throughout it multiple games in order to create these civilizations, worlds, and whatnot.  Mechanisms range from role playing, storytelling, variable player power and a chit-pull system, to territory building, worker placement and partnerships.  All of these mechanisms will appear in the two separate games that are included in this box and throughout the boxed games that will come out at a later date. 

This game uses the “new hotness” known as the Legacy system.  This means that the game will end and leave lasting impressions that you change the upcoming games in the system.  This game also uses Knemeyer’s idea known at the Echo System.  This is the Legacy idea where it will leave “echoes” that will make every game play different as what you do in one game will change what happens in the next.  This is an incredibly ambitious idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

#3 – First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet (PortalGames)

First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet is a game that re-implements the highly rated and loved co-operative game, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island.  This game is designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and is published by Portal Games.  It will use worker placement, co-operative play, modular board, variable player powers and an electronic app in order to give the players their chance to survive what Mars has to throw at them. 

This game rocketed up to the top 5 of my list as soon as I heard about it.  I am an admitted Portal fanboy and love most of what they put out there.  My wife and I completely enjoy the stuff that they put out as they are all highly thematic and fun to play.  This game will take a lot of the fiddly parts of Robinson Crusoe (which I personally didn’t mind) and put them into the app to streamline a lot of the more difficult to control mechanics.  Besides the mechanics I think the theme is great.  I can’t wait to take on all the Red Planet has to offer!

#2 - Ein Fest für Odin/A Feast for Odin (Z-Man Games)

Ein Fest für Odin is a worker placement game that is set in a Viking settlement.  This game is designed by the amazing Uwe Rosenberg (of Agricola, Caverna, Fields of Arle, Ora et Labora, La Havre and Patchwork fame) and will be published in the United States by Z-Man Games.  This game will use worker placement and pattern building as its primary mechanics as each player is trying to create the best board and thus get the most victory points.  

I love how this game takes on the Viking theme (which is super popular right now!) and takes a slightly different look at said theme that other boardgame currently are.  It also appears that Rosenberg is using some of the ideas of this incredible two-player only game, Patchwork, in Ein Fest für Odin.  Players will use a board in which they will build the patterns out of different shaped tiles which will get them different incomes in order to gain victory points.  I love this idea as my wife and I absolutely adore Patchwork!  Anytime Uwe puts out a new game I take notice and this one looks to be an amazing one!

#1 – Seafall (IronWall Games/Plaid Hat Games)

Seafall is the long-running, highly talked about, and vastly-rumored Legacy game coming out around Gen Con 2016 this year.  It is designed by Rob Daviau and will be published by Plaid Hat Games in conjunction with IronWall Games.  Seafall will use hand management, variable player powers, trading and a Legacy-style campaign as each player will take control of a mainland empire as they discover more seafaring technologies. 

You will take the empire and discover new islands, explore, develop trades with different empires, take place in combat and send out parties for raiding and other such activities.  This game has been number 1 on my list ever since I heard of it.  I love the Legacy idea (Pandemic Legacy is amazing!) and the fact that Daviau is the originator of it just makes it all that much more exciting.  The game will evolve throughout the entire campaign and I just can’t wait to see what type of adventures we will have playing through what I feel will be an amazing experience!

There you have it everyone.  These are the top 5 games that I’m looking forward to coming out in 2016.  There are just some many great looking games coming out this year and it’s looking to be an amazing 2016!  Feel free to check out my previous posts in my “End of 2015” series.  This is the final post in the series and my next multiple post series will be mine and my wife’s top 10 games, 2016 edition!  It should be a fun series of posts although it may be somewhat stressful trying to narrow them down!  Thanks so much for reading and feel free to comment.  I’d love to hear what games you’re looking forward to this year!  Until next time, game on!