Obligatory 2018 Gen Con Post Part III: Top 5 Anticipated Game Demos

Alright, I’ve decided to go ahead and create a third post in my Gen Con 2018 series.  While I wasn’t totally impressed by the games that are for sale this year I am very interested in some of the games that are being demoed.  Before we take a look at my anticipated demos feel free to check out the previous two posts in the series.

Gen Con Post Part I: Top 5 Game Expansions

Gen Con Post Part II: Top 5 Anticipated Games (For Sale)

Alright, now that we have the prior posts out of the way let’s move on to the post.  Again, this post will take a look at the five games (plus one honorable mention) that I’m most interested in checking out that aren’t for sale but have a demo at Gen Con 2018.  Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Honorable Mention – Duelosaur Island (Pandasaurus Games)

Duelosaur Island is a dice-drafting, hand-management and set-collection game designed by Ian Moss and published by Pandasaurus Games.  This game takes some of the ideas brought out in Dinosaur Island but creates a totally new, two-player experience.  The players will use some dice-and-card drafting to research dinosaurs and build habitats for said dinosaurs.  This games looks like it is a tight and fun game and I can’t wait to get my copy of it when it ships next year.  The game has the wonderful art by Kwanchai Moriya and looks amazing.  The only reason this game isn’t higher on my demo list is because I already have it on pre-order through a Kickstarter earlier this year.

#5 – Escape Plan (Eagle-Gryphon Games)

Escape Plan is a card-drafting, tile-placement and area movement game designed by the fantastic Vital Lacerda and published by Eagle-Gryphon Games.  This game has players in the role of a thief who has just successfully robbed a bank and is currently hanging low before going and grabbing their loot and splitting.  Everything goes well until the SWAT and police get involved and accusations are made and each thief goes out on their own to escape being caught while getting as much of their loot as possible.  This is done with card play and movement along a board.  In classic Lacerda ways, this game is heavy but looks to work really well with the theme.  I am looking forward to trying this one out.

#4 – Lockup: A Roll Player Tale (Thunderworks Games)

Lockup: A Roll Player Tale is a worker-placement, area-control and set-collection game designed by Stan Kordonskiy and published by Thunderworks Games.  This game takes place in the Roll Player universe and puts players in the role of a group of minions who has been locked in the king’s dungeons.  The players will try to increase their reputation while keeping the suspicions of the guards low.  The minions may not be able to escape but they will try to make their stay as comfortable as possible in this game.  The game goes in phases where their cells will be searched, place their minions in different parts of the dungeon and then score points at the lights out phase.  This game looks fun and I love the theme so I really want to try it out.

#3 – Orbis (Space Cowboys)

Orbis is a route-building, tile-placement and civilization game designed by Tim Armstrong and published by Space Cowboys.  This game puts players in the role of a god who is creating their territory as best as possible.  The players will do this by taking tiles from the nine lands and when that tile is taken all adjacent tiles will get worshippers of the same color thus making them more tempting for the next player.  There are some restrictions as to how the tiles may be placed making for what appears to be some interesting and puzzling decisions.  I love a good tile-placement game and this looks to be both fun and beautiful which really seems to be Space Cowboys’ modus operandi.  I hope to be able to get a demo of this game during the couple of days I’m there.

#2 – Comanauts (Plaid Hat Games)

Comanauts is a dice-rolling, co-operative, adventure book game (the first was Stuffed Fables) designed by Jerry Hawthorne and published by Plaid Hat Games.  This game follows a Dr. Martin Strobal who has created the Mobius Ring.  This invention was supposed to help humanity but instead is creating a singularity and threatens to destroy the very world we are on.  Unfortunately Dr. Strobal has fallen into a coma and that is where the players come in.  Players will band together to dive into the doctor’s dreams and attempt to defeat the demons that haunt him and unlock the secrets that are hidden in his psyche.  This game’s theme is absolutely amazing as it reminds me of the fabulous game Psychonauts and just excites me to try it out.  This is a must demo at the convention!

#1 – Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef (Druid City Games)

Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef is a worker-placement and dice-rolling game designed by Tim and Ben Eisner and published by Druid City Games.  This game takes place in the Tidal Blades universe and has the players using worker-placement and dice-building/rolling in order to get magicians to help mitigate the challenges of going into the mysteries of “The Fold”.  This game looks beautiful and Druid City Games are doing a good job with their games thus far.  I really want to try this game out!

Well, there you have it, post #3 in the bag!  These are all games that are supposed to be demoed during the convention and I’d really like to try most if not all of them.  These could all be winners or they could be duds but I hope to know more soon.  This ends the “pre-convention” posts but I may still do one afterwards.  Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!  Until next time, game on!

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.

Gen Con Post Part I: Top 5 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!

Honorable Mention – Too Many Bones: Undertow (Chip Theory Games)

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!

#5 – Reef (Next Move Games/Plan B Games)

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.

#3 – Brass: Birmingham (Roxley)

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!

#2 – The Rise of Queensdale (alea/Ravensburger)

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!

#1 – The Reckoners (Nauvoo Games)

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!

Obligatory 2018 Gen Con Post Part I: Top 5 Game Expansions

Woot!  Gen Con 2018 is literally a couple of days away and I’m getting very excited to see what is in store this year!  This will be my second year at the Con and I’m just as excited to see the spectacle that is one of the largest boardgame conventions in the world.  This year I’ll only be doing two posts for Gen Con anticipations as I’ve been fairly busy this month and also because there aren’t a top of anticipated games for me.  This year’s list isn’t quite as impressive as last year’s but I’m still pumped to just hop on the floor and see all the things to see!  I may end up doing a post-Gen Con post but we’ll see what comes of that.  Check out the list of games over on BoardGameGeek’s website (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/7/gen-con-2018-preview) if you’re curious to see what is releasing at the convention.  This post will take a look at the five boardgame expansions that I’m most interested in picking up or trying out during the convention.  I think that’s enough housekeeping, let’s move on to meat of the post. 

Honorable Mention – Paper Tales: Beyond the Gates (Stronghold Games/Catch Up Games)

Beyond the Gates is a new expansion for the 2017 Catch Up Games/Stronghold Games card game, Paper Tales by designer Masato Uesugi.  Beyond the Gates is also designed by Uesugi and will see its release at Gen Con 2018.  Paper Tales is a card-drafting and hand-management game where you are creating a kingdom to fight against your rivals and shape the realm to your liking.  It uses some of my favorite mechanisms in hand-management and card-drafting and uses some beautiful and interesting art to get its theme across.  This expansion adds in some more cards to the base game, adds in more players and also adds in a solo mode just for kicks!  I haven’t actually played the base game yet but it is on my list to possibly buy this year and I’m really looking forward to trying it out and it I like it adding in this expansion!

#5 – Whistle Stop: Rocky Mountains (Bézier Games)

Rocky Mountains is a new expansions for the 2017 Bézier Games hit, Whistle Stop by designer Scott Caputo.  Rocky Mountains is also designed by Caputo and will see its release at this year’s Gen Con.  Whistle Stop is a tile-laying, set­-collection and pick-up-and-deliver where you are building up an area in order to bring your trains from coast-to-coast and drop off resources for points.  It is a game that we own and have had a ton of fun in the plays that we’ve gotten out of it so far.  This expansion adds in a new almost 3D element where there will be more tiles on the board to create the Rocky Mountains as a barrier in between your railroad companies and the west coast.  While they will create a barrier, the Rocky Mountains will also give the players more ways to score points by going through the passes and over the range.  There are new tiles, upgrades and shares in added to the game and I’m really looking forward to what they add.

#4 – The Networks: Executives (Formal Ferret Games)

Executives is the first large expansion to the 2016 Formal Ferret Games hit, The Networks by designer Gil Hova.  Executives is also designed by Hova and will see its release at Gen Con 2018.  The Networks is a card-drafting and set-collection game where the players take on the role of a network television company who are trying to create the best station after starting with terrible cable-access programming.  The card-drafting and set-collection in this game is absolutely awesome and I love every play that we get in.  This expansion adds some things that I think will not just make this a good game, but a great one!  This expansion adds in executives which will give each player a different (assymetrical) start to each game.  These executives will give specific powers and weaknesses in the start of the game.  It also adds in some new show cards and a beginning draft to make the start of the game even more interest than the original.  I have this game on pre-order and will be picking it up at the convention and I can’t wait!

#3 – Imperial Settlers: Amazons (Portal Games)

Amazons is another large faction expansion to the 2014 Portal Games hit, Imperial Settlers by designer Ignacy Trzewiczek.  Amazons is also designed by Trzewiczek and will see its initial release at Gen Con this year.  Imperial Settlers is a hand management, card-drafting and civilization building game where the players take on the role of a faction attempting to make expand their boundaries and build their empire into the greatest around.  This is one of my favorite games so anything added to it is something that I am automatically interested in.  This expansion will add in a brand new faction, the Amazons.  This one will add in a deck-building idea where the faction will be able to discard some reconstructed faction cards from their deck and modify it during the play.  They also benefit from building cheap faction cards.  I’m very excited to try this faction out and see how much they differ from the previous six.

#2 – Ashes: The Spirits of Memoria & Ashes: The Demons of Darmas (Plaid Hat Games)

The Spirits of Memoria and The Demons of Darmas are two new expansion decks to the 2015 Plaid Hat Games hit, Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn by designer Isaac Vega.  The Spirits of Memoria and The Demons of Darmas are also designed by Vega and will see their primary release at Gen Con 2018.  Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn is a hand-management and dice-rolling battle card game where the players will build a deck (or use pre-constructed player decks) focused around of the powerful Phoenixborn who are in the game.  This game uses some great card mechanisms and dice-rolling as mana to create one of my favorite games of all times!  These expansions will add in two new Phoenixborn to the already large roster and they will in turn bring in their own different key-words and game mechanisms.  I love how different each character is from the next and can’t wait to get my hands on these decks to really sink my teeth into them!

#1 – Scythe: The Rise of Fenris (Stonemaier Games)

The Rise of Fenris is a new large expansion to the 2016 Stonemaier Games hit, Scythe by designer Jamey Stegmaier.  The Rise of Fenris is also designed by Stegmaier with help from Ryan Lopez DeVinaspre and will see its release at this year’s Gen Con.  Scythe is an economic, area-control and simultaneous action selection game where the players will each take the role of one of the factions of the game who are trying to make it to The Factory first in order to gain an upper hand and take control of the area from the others.  This is a really good game which was already highly improved by some of the expansions.  This expansion has been a bit of a secret but we know that it will add in a campaign to the game that is 8 specific games long.  It will also add in a bunch of modules which will really add to the replayability of this already great game.  I am really looking forward to this expansion and can’t wait to see how good it really is.

There you have it folks, my top 5 (plus 1 honorable mention!) expansion anticipations coming out at this year’s Gen Con.  I will definitely pick some of these up and hope to have the played shortly after the convention as they all seem to add flavor and replayability to their respective base games but don’t seem to add that much in the way of new rules.  Let me know what expansions I may have missed!  My next post will take a look at my top 5 anticipated releases from the convention (that aren’t expansions…mostly) and I’m looking forward to writing it up.  Thanks so much for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoyed.  Until next time, game on!