Alright, now that the bookkeeping is done lets go ahead
and move on to the top 5 games in my top 10 list for Gen Con 2016. These are all very exciting for me and a few
may be preordered already…but I’ll let you all guess which ones! Enough preamble, on to the list!
#5 – Via Nebula (Space Cowboys/Asmodee)
Via Nebula is a route building, pick-up-and-deliver,
territory building game that is designed by Martin Wallace and published by
Space Cowboys and Asmodee. This game is
built on the ideas of Wallace’s previous route building games such as Age of
Steam. It really has the feeling of
building the train routes but instead completely changes the theme. Now his ideas are set in a fantasy world
where you are part of a people group in this valley where there are mists. You need to take turns and explore this mist
while finding resources and making routes to them in order to build
buildings. This is a Space Cowboys
production and thus looks absolutely beautiful!
This is also the second Space Cowboys/Martin Wallace release that is on
my top 10 list and I hope that means good things to come from the pairing. I am really looking forward to this game as
it apparently gives the feeling of his train games but with a veneer that
really appeals to me!
#4 – Scythe (Stonemaier Games)
Scythe is an area control, economic, territory building
game that is designed by Jamey Stegmaier and is published by Stonemaier Games. This is one of the biggest hyped games of the
year and apparently it seems to be holding up under the scrutiny as most
reviews tend to be on the positive side.
Scythe takes place in a 1920’s alternate-history European setting where
a militaristic factory has closed its doors and set the stage for five (and two
more with the expansion later in the year) neighboring countries to come in and
take control of the land. While the set
dressing screams “Ameri-trash” this game is much more heavily rooted in
Euro-style games. Stegmaier has stated
that Terra Mystica and Kemet heavily influenced the design of this game and
from what I’ve seen it shows. I love how
there seem to be different paths to victory in this beautiful looking
game. Speaking of beautiful, the art in
this game, by Jakub Rozalski, is absolutely gorgeous! It really gives the feeling of a 1920’s
Europe where steam powered mechs roam the land along with farmers and everyday
workers. This is high on my list and for
good reason, I’m really looking forward to trying it!
#3 – Covert (Renegade Game Studios)
Covert is a dice-placement, set collection, action
movement, espionage game designed by Kane Klenko and published by Renegade Game
Studios. This game finds the player taking
control of a network of spies in an attempt to complete missions and gain intel
in order to become the most connected group of espionage agents. Each turn the players will roll their dice
and place them on different areas of the board which then allow you to take different
actions and complete different missions and break different codes. You also have cards which are multi-use (one
of my favorite mechanisms!) and give you different options within the game. I love the different things that you are able
to do with the dice and cards and the decision points that it creates in this
game. Klenko already has a dice-rolling
game (FUSE) that my wife and I love and I think that this has the possibility
of being another! If it weren’t for the
next two games on the list this would have easily been number one!
#2 – Cry Havoc (Portal Games)
Cry Havoc is an area-control, deck-building,
hand-management game designed by Grant Rodiek, Michał Oracz, and Michał Walczak
and published by Portal Games. This game
finds the players taking control of different, asymmetrical races attempting to
defeat the other factions on the planet for their own reasons. Will you take control of the indigenous Trog
trying to protect their planet or the Machines who are trying to spread and
destroy all life? Or maybe you’ll take
control of the Humans who are trying to exploit the planet for profit or the
Pilgrims who are there for research?
Each of these factions plays very different and has their own ways of
manipulating the game and scoring points.
Players will attempt to take control of areas and of crystals on the
planet while using their faction’s deck of cards to gain this control. I love how this game has a deck-building
mechanism along with multi-use cards (i.e. Imperial Settlers, 51st
State: Master Set, Guilds of London) which is one of my very favorite game
mechanisms! Portal Games did a great job
on this game as the production is absolutely amazing and the artwork is
absolutely great! This game kind of came
out of nowhere and really picked up steam as earlier in the year I wasn’t that
interested, but learning about the card play really knocked it up my list! If it weren’t for my #1 game this game would
have taken the top spot! Speaking of the
top spot…
#1 – SeaFall (Plaid Hat Games)
SeaFall is a 4x, campaign, legacy-style game with hand
management elements that is designed by Rob Daviau (Mr. Legacy himself!) and
published by Plaid Hat Games. This game
is the follow up to Daviau’s (with Matt Leacock) hit Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
and takes the legacy idea and runs with it.
This is the first original game that he is doing with the legacy
system. This game finds players taking
the role of an empire that is taking place in the age of sail where they are
exploring the world in order to discover new islands and spread themselves out
into the world. This game will have a
sense of permanence as the gameboard will change constantly as players are
finding islands and creating the board as they go. Along with this each player will create and
grow their empires as they are exploring and exploiting the new lands that they
find, all the while exterminating their enemies where they can. This has been my number one game want for
some time and I am super excited that it will be coming out at Gen Con. I will probably hold off on purchasing for a
little bit as I am waiting to find a good, consistent group to play this one as
I would like as close to the full player count as possible!
Well my friends, there you have it. These are the top 5 games that I am interested
in during this year’s Gen Con. I would
expect that I’ll have at least a couple of them by the end of the year and
probably all five of them by Gen Con next year!
If you think I’ve missed something, feel free to let me know in the
comments and I’ll take a closer look at it!
Stay tuned to the blog as I’ll be putting up at least one more post that
will tackle the top 5 games that are able to be demoed but not purchased during
the convention. I may do one final post
in the series after Gen Con is over and I’ve looked over the convention videos
and find some things that I missed or were surprises. This has been a super fun series to do and I thank
you all for reading! Until next time,
game on!
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