Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Obligatory 2018 Gen Con Post Part II: Top 5 Anticipated Games

Woo hoo!  Now that Gen Con 2018 is here I have my second post ready to go.  There are so many great games out there and while I thought this year’s offers were a little weaker than last there are still many that I’m anticipating.  Before we move on to this post feel free to check out my first which takes a look at my top 5 anticipated game expansions.


Alright, now that the preamble is out of the way let’s go ahead and move on to the meat of the post.  This post will take a look at my top 5 anticipated (plus 1 honorable mention for good measure!) games of Gen Con 2018.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!



Undertow is a new stand-alone expansion for the 2017 Chip Theory Games hit, Too Many Bones designed by Adam Carlson and Josh Carlson.  Undertow is also designed by Adam and Josh and will see its release at Gen Con 2018.  Too Many Bones is a dice-building, rpg game where the players take on the role of a Gearlock who is traveling through the country taking on tyrants who are rising up.  This is one of my top 5 games of all time and I absolutely love it!  This expansion gives players a stand-alone adventure and adds in two more Gearlocks as well as move tyrants and encounters to the game.  I absolutely can’t wait to get my copy from the Kickstarter.  I am cheating a little with this game as it is technically an expansion but it is also a stand-alone.  This is why I have put the game as my honorable mention, otherwise it would have been my number 1 game anticipation of the convention!



Reef is an abstract strategy, pattern building game designed by Emerson Matsuuchi and published by Next Move Games/Plan B Games.  This game has the players attempting to create the most beautiful reef as they choose colors and patterns to grow and expand the reef.  The players will use cards and pieces and create the reef.  The better they do the more points they gain.  This game is released by Plan B Games new imprint, Next Move Games, and so far everything they have done we have really loved.  Because of this, Reef makes it onto my list at number 5.

#4 – Root (Leder Games)


Root is an area control, hand management and variable player power game designed by Cole Wehrle and published by Leder Games.  This game has the players taking the role of different woodland factions as they are attempting to take back the forest from the nefarious Marquise de Cat.  This game is a highly asymmetric game where the factions play very differently from each other.  The Marquise wants to harvest the riches of the land while the Alliance attempts to strengthen their own resources while subverting the rule of the Cats.  The Vagabonds can form alliances with the different factions to help out while the Eyrie are hoping to take back their birthright.  This game looks incredible and I would love to try it out and possibly pick it up while at the convention this year.



Brass: Birmingham is an economic, hand-management and route building game designed by Martin Wallace, Gavan Brown and Matt Tolman and published by Roxley.  This game is a sequel of sorts to the original Brass designed by Martin Wallace and released in 2007.  The game is an economic strategy game where the players are entrepreneurs during the industrial revolution and must build and develop their industries and network to exploit the market demands.  The players will use different actions and card play in order to create and further their industries and make theirs the best.  I have never played the original but this sequel looks absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to try it out!



The Rise of Queensdale is a worker-placement, civilization and dice-rolling game designed by Inka and Markus Brand and published by alea and Ravensburger.  This game is a Legacy-style game where the players will be building up their own area in Queensdale.  The players will use worker placement and dice rolling in order to collect raw material, build buildings and gain fortune and glory in order to win the king’s patronage.  The game allows the players to upgrade their dice, gain more upgrades and develop their personal boroughs all over the course of multiple game sessions.  I am really looking forward to this game as I think my wife and I will really love it!



The Reckoners is a co-operative, dice-rolling and simultaneous action selection game designed by Brett Sobol and Seth Van Orden and published by Nauvoo Games.  This game follows the novels by Brandon Sanderson and puts players in the roles of the Reckoners as they are attempting to find out the weaknesses of evil super-powered villains in order to kill them since they have taken over the world and created terror wherever they are.  The players will roll dice and use simultaneous action selection each turn in an effort to take down the Epics.  This game is amazingly produced and looks like a ton of fun.  I can’t wait to pick up my pre-order at Gen Con!

Well, there you have it, my top 5 plus 1 anticipated games of this year’s Gen Con.  I will be at the convention on Friday and Saturday and look forward to just walking the halls and playing games with my friends and checking out new stuff.  If any of you are going feel free to let me know and maybe we can meet up for a game!  I may still do one more pre-convention post where I’ll take a look at demo-only games and I may still do one follow up to the convention.  Thanks so much for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoyed it.  Until next time, game on!

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