Alright! I’ve
finally made it to the end of my “End of 2016” posts with the top 5 games that I’m
interested in that are coming out (or have come out) in 2017! These are all games that I haven’t had a
chance to play or try out yet but they are the games that I’m incredibly
curious about. Before I go on to the
next five games feel free to check out the provided links to see the previous
posts in the series.
Okay, with that out of the way let’s move on to the main
event! These are games 1-5 on my top 10
post thus placing them at a place where there is a good chance that I’ll pick
them up at some point during the year! I
am very excited for these games! I hope
you enjoy the read!
#5 – Charterstone (Stonemaier Games)
Charterstone is a Legacy-esque game where players will be
building up the kingdom of Greengully by colonizing a new area. The game is designed by Jamey Stegmaier and
released by Stonemaier Games. The game
uses worker placement, action selection and Legacy-styled ideas as its primary
mechanisms in the colony building game.
Each player takes the role of a citizen who is chosen by the
Forever King of the kingdom of Greengully to help colonize a new area beyond their
borders. The players will mainly use actions
that are on the board and during the game will be creating new ones by placing
stickers on the board which will open up new and different actions. In the beginning there won’t be much to
choose from but as the game continues more and more actions are opened up thus
creating new and different choices throughout the experience. The players will go through 12 games building
up their charter and by the end will have a one-of-a-kind charter that they
created. I’m really looking forward to
this game as I think Stegmaier does a great job with his games in both scope
and execution.
#4 – Dinosaur Island (Pandasaurus Games)
Dinosaur Island is a worker placement game where players
will be building up their dinosaur park much like the movie Jurassic Park. The game is designed by Jonathan Gilmour and
Brian Lewis and is published by Pandasaurus Games. The game uses worker placement, set
collection, tile placement and dice rolling as its primary mechanisms as the
players work on their parks.
Each player will get a board where they will be creating
their dinosaur park by gaining new DNA strains in order to combine them and
bring the extinct creatures back to life.
The players will be able to place their workers to create new rides,
enclosures and vendors. They will also
be able to gain different strains of DNA in order to create different
dinosaurs. You can create friendly herbivores
or move even further in the DNA strains and create the hungry carnivores. Bringing on a pack of velocirapors can bring
a lot of excitement in the park but it could prove disastrous if they break out
and eat the park visitors! I love the
theme of this game and think the art by Kwanchai Moriya is perfectly suited for
the game.
#3 – Alien Artifacts (Portal Games)
Alien Artifacts is a multi-use card game where players
will be using their cards to explore, expand, exploit and exterminate. The game is designed by Marcin Senior Ropka
and Viola Kijowska and published by Portal Games. The game uses multi-use cards, card drafting
and exploration as its primary mechanisms as the players will be creating their
corporation and exploring the galaxy.
Each player takes on the role of an interplanetary
corporation who is trying to its power in the galaxy by building their ship,
researching new technologies, and exploring the galaxy for things/beings to
exploit. Every turn the players will get
to draw some cards and then use them in different ways. This game is a multi-use card game so there
are many options and decisions to make for every card the player takes. These cards will let the players do a variety
of actions including discovering planets, buy technologies, increasing military
might, and increasing your holdings just to name some of the decisions. The art is starting to look very good and
with Portal Games driving the ship I think this will be an excellent game that I
can’t wait to get my hands on!
Victorian Masterminds is a worker placement game where
players will take on the role of villains after the death of Sherlock Holmes as
they vie for their chance to take over the world and wreak havoc. The game is designed by prolific greats,
Antoine Bauza and Eric M. Lang and is published by Space Cowboys. The game uses worker placement and action
selection as its primary mechanisms as the players will be attempting to cause
as many problems and terror in the world as possible.
Each player will take on the role of a villain mastermind
as they are attempting to create the most devastation after the death of the
great Sherlock Holmes. They will take
their worker agents and place them in different spaces, face down, and then
will flip them over and take the action of the space as well as the action of
the agent they chose. These agents are
sent in to destroy buildings, kidnap scientists, complete missions and collect
resources which they will use to create a death dealing machine. I am very excited about this release as it is
by two fantastic designers, published by a fantastic company, and has worker
placement!
Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 is a Legacy-style game where
players take on the role of survivors attempting to find out what is going on
out in the world after tragedy strikes.
This game is designed by Rob Daviau and Matt Leacock and is published by
Z-Man Games. This game uses co-operative
play, set collection, point-to-point movement and variable player powers as its
primary mechanisms as the players attempt to stay alive and hopefully save
humanity.
Each player takes on the role of a different survivor of
a horrible, world-spanning plague which destroyed most of humanity in its
wake. This game is the second of the
series and will feature Legacy elements as the players will fight to
survive. There isn’t a ton known about
this game yet as they are trying to keep a tight lid on things so it is a
surprise when it is released and gives the players a sense of discovery as the
first one did. This one finds the
players on floating cites called “havens” just before they go out into the
world to scout the areas and see what has happened during humanities
absence. This game is one of the most
exciting game releases in a while and I can’t wait to get my hands on it and
play it with my wife and friends.
Well, there you have it, games 1-5 of my top 10 interests
from 2017 that I haven’t played or tried yet.
Thanks so much for reading throughout the “End of 2016” series and come
on back for my next series which will take a look at the games coming out at
Origins 2017. Until next time, game on!
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