Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Obligatory 2017 Origins Game Fair Post Part II: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Hey everyone, we’re back with part 2 of my 3-part Origins Game Fair 2017 posts.  This one will take on games 1-5 of the fair and tomorrow’s post will look at games that are able to be demoed but not purchased at the convention.  I think it is interesting to see the difference between the bottom 5 games versus these top 5 games.  Games 6-10 actually have quite a few smaller card games that look really good while this part of the list seems to have bigger games but mostly easier to teach, lighter games.  It is interesting to see what games strike my fancy and this year some of the games will definitely be on my shelf at some point.  If you haven’t gotten a chance to read it, feel free to click the link below to take a gander at games 6-10 of my top 10 interests.


Alright, enough of the links, let’s get onto the good stuff.  This post will look at games 1-5 of my top 10 interests of the convention while my next post will take a look at the non-purchasable gems out there.  Thanks so much for reading and enjoy!




Lignum (Second Edition) is a worker placement, resource management and economic game designed by Alexander Huemer and released by Capstone Games.  This game is being re-released in its second edition by Capstone Games and I think it is great!  This company is doing a great job in bringing over some fairly heavy weight, Euro-style games that were previously released in other countries in limited print runs and this is just another in their line of great pick-ups!  This game has players attempting to run their lumber mill in the most efficient manner.  Players will contract workers, update/replace equipment and try to gain control of the best cutting areas around.  I think this game looks like a really solid heavier-weight game and I’d love to give it a try!




Arena: For the Gods! is a dice-rolling, auction and fighting game designed by Maxime Rambourg and released by IELLO.  This game is a light-weight game where each player takes on the roll of a hero fighting in an arena for the glory of their god.  The game has two phases.  The first phase finds players bidding their own life points in order to gain different special powers, mounts and weapons in their bid to be the last fighter standing.  The second phase has players moving along the arena, rolling their dice and using the faces to activate their special powers on their cards.  I think this looks like a super fun, light/filler game that looks to be simple, dice-chucking fun!  And as a bonus, this game is released by IELLO which means that the art and production will be great!




Century: Spice Road is a hand management, set collection and engine building game designed by Emerson Matsuuchi and released by Plan B Games.  This game is a new engine-building game along the lines of Splendor but seems to have more decisions to it.  The players are able to take cards from the market, play cards from their hand, claim a card for victory points and rest which gets all your cards back to your hand.  The players are caravan leaders and they are using these actions in order to trade spices and gain the most glory and fame across the land.  This game looks like a great intro-level game that I’d be able to teach anyone and they’d enjoy it.




Near and Far is a set collection, route building and storytelling game designed by Ryan Laukat and released by Red Raven Games.  This is the newest game created by the triple (designer/artist/publisher) threat, Ryan Laukat.  This game is a campaign driven game where the players will explore different maps searching for the Last Ruin in Arzium.  The game has players recruiting adventurers, hunting for treasure, searching for food, and collecting goods and equipment in the town before moving on to the surrounding areas to explore.  Much like its predecessor, Above and Below, this game has a storybook which the players will read from when they are told and will then make decisions based on what they’ve done.  I am really looking forward to this game and think it will be a blast to play with its full amount of four players.




Caverna: Cave vs Cave is an action selection, tile placement, economic game designed by the fantastic Uwe Rosenberg and released by Lookout Games and Mayfair Games.  This game is a smaller, two-player version of its big brother, Caverna.  To begin with, I love Uwe Rosenberg games and I think this will be a winner!  Each player will take turns choosing an action tile and do said action.  This will let them excavate their cave, build rooms and gain resources as they are trying to gain the most points with their cave home.  I think this will be a great implementation of the larger game and one that my wife and I could get to the table a bunch of times!

Well, there you have it!  These are the top 5 games that I’m interested in that are for purchase at this year’s Origins Game Fair.  I’m sure that at least a few of these will end up in our collection and I look, forward to it!  Come on back tomorrow for my final post in the Origins series, the top 5 games I’m interested in that are being demoed but not for purchase.  Thanks so much for reading!  Until next time, game on!

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