Obligatory 2016 Essen Spiel Post Part VI: Top 5 Games Being Demoed But Not For Purchase

Okay…now we move on to the final post in my Essen Spiel series!  This post is an interesting one to me because it is the games that were being demoed at Essen Spiel 2016 but not available for purchase.  Sadly I wasn’t at the convention so I know little about them, but they have peaked my interest in some way.  These are games that will be coming out at some point in the future, some very soon and some not nearly as soon as we’d all hope!  While they may not be available for purchase yet, the companies/designers often want to get information out on them and thus will demo them at the conventions such as Essen Spiel, Gen Con, and Origins Game Fair.  There are at least a couple of these games that would have made my top 10 and probably even top 5 anticipations of the convention had they been released.  Before we move on to these games feel free to check out the links provided which are my previous five posts in the Essen Spiel series.

Essen Spiel 2016 Post Part I: Top 5 Game Expansions

Essen Spiel 2016 Post Part II: Top 5 Reprints/Re-implementations

Essen Spiel 2016 Post Part III: Honorable Mentions

Essen Spiel 2016 Post Part IV: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Essen Spiel 2016 Post Part V: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Alright, now we move onto the main part of this post.  I will say that I’m not 100% sure that these games were demoed…but they were at least at one point rumored to and they were on W. Eric Martin’s Essen Preview list so that it good enough for me!  Enjoy the read!

Honorable Mention – Tiny Epic Quest (Gamelyn Games)

Tiny Epic Quest is an adventure, dice-rolling, press-your-luck game designed by Scott Almes and published by Gamelyn Games.  A portal has opened up from a goblin kingdom into a peaceful world.  Now the players will take on the role of a hero who must quest about their world in order to find a way to save it.  There are two paths to victory in this game, closing the portal or slaying every goblin that shows their face in your land.  This game is shooting for a sandbox feeling where each player will travel about the land gaining quests, learning spells, and finding artifacts to help them on their way.  They may travel by foot, horse, raft/boat, or even gryphon.  The game is split into day and night phases.  During the day the heroes will get ready for their adventures and at night they will roll their dice to challenge the quests.  They can continue to move on, pressing their luck as they do so, or stop and rest and go at it again the next day.  I will admit that much of my excitement for this game is the theme.  The Legend of Zelda series has always been one of my favorite video game series and this game is really going for that theme.  I look forward to trying it out and the Kickstarter begins on October 28^th so we’ll really get to see what it has to offer!

#5 – Mines of Ōlnäk (Morning Players)

Mines of Ōlnäk is an economic, worker-placement, area-influence game designed by Jonathan Frenay and Raphaël Helaers and published by Morning Players. This game puts each player into the role of a clan of dwarves. These clans have been charged by their king to reconvene around the mountain of Ōlnäk in order to find and rebuild their ancient city. Each of these clans wants to become the richest and most powerful clan in order to gain the rights to rule the city. The players will use their workers to exploit the city’s resources, sell the resources, and complete projects all while trying to steer the political climate of the area. This game really appeals to me due to the theme and the amazing looking art. I am a sucker for great artwork and theme that is placed onto a Euro-style boardgame and this appears to be no exception. I believe they are planning to do a Kickstarter for this game in the near future although I’m not completely sure about that. Regardless, I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one to see how it turns out.

#4 – Anachrony (Mindclash Games)

Anachrony is a worker-placement, economic game designed by Richard Amann, Viktor Peter, and Dávid Turczi and published by Mindclash Games. This is another Kickstarted game that puts players in the role of a Path who has their own objectives during the game. This game has a very interesting worker-placement mechanism where the players will place the workers either onto the action space alone or place them into a mechanized suit where they can go out into the world and find resources or complete missions. I love the post-apocalyptic and time-travel themes that are placed onto this Euro-style boardgame. This is a very big game and seems to have a lot of decision points and routes to victory and I almost backed it when it was up. I was able to say no however and now I’m content with laying back and seeing how the game turns out when it is released.

#3 – Dice Forge (Libellud)

Dice Forge is a dice-rolling, dice-crafting, resource acquisition game designed by Régis Bonnessée and published by Libellud. This game puts players in the role of a character who is attempting to gain victory points by getting resources and fighting monsters. This is all done by a clever dice-crafting mechanism that is somewhat like deck-building but with dice that use interchangeable faces. You will start with two weak dice and can make offerings which will give you the opportunity to improve these faces to get better resources. Bonnessée’s Seasons is one of my favorite games of all time so this game is interesting just on that fact alone. I love the idea of being able to craft the dice and make them better as the game goes on. Besides the mechanisms which just look like a ton of fun, the artwork is by Biboun and is quite lovely looking. All in all this is a game that I’m massively interested in and can’t wait to see how it plays!

#2 – First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet (Portal Games)

First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet is a worker-placement, adventure, cooperative game designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and published by Portal Games. This game puts players in the role of explorers on the planet Mars. This game is based on the mechanisms that are in the game Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island and adds to them. This game has an app that is required for it to be played. It will take the card decks that were in Robinson Crusoe and totally automate them so it can remember from game to game what is going on. This means that the game could be played as a campaign or as a single mission where they are playing in a “sandbox” and just trying to survive as long as possible. I think this sounds like an absolutely great addition to an already amazing game and I can’t wait to see what Ignacy does with it! Sadly, we won’t be able to find out until Gen Con 2017, but I have plenty of other games to play until then!

#1 – Gloomhaven (Cephalofair Games)

Gloomhaven is a cooperative, campaign-style, hand-management, adventure game designed by Isaac Childres and published by his game company, Cephalofair Games. This game puts players in the role of a mercenary/adventurer who is traveling in their world for reasons of their own. Each character is different and their skill set is represented with a deck of cards that can change through the many plays. This game is an easy choice for my top anticipated demo-only game out of this year’s Essen Spiel. The game uses heavy hand-management mechanisms as the players will choose two cards from their hands to play one with a top effect and one with a bottom effect. They can then lose these cards and become exhausted. The game then continues on as players will make choices which can last. I also love the idea that you choose a character and they will retire after about 10ish games as they’ve completed their goal. Then you open up more boxes which give you different character classes and opens up the game even more. I can’t wait! Sadly it has been delayed a little but hopefully it will be available in January or February of 2017. Bravo Isaac, the game looks amazing!

Other demos of note:
– Beer Empire (Board&Dice)
– Peak Oil (2Tomatoes/Leder Games)
– Pixie Queen (Game Brewer)
– Rising 5: Runes of Asteros (GARYKIMGAMES/Holy Grail Games/Mandoo Games)

Well, it has been a long run due to our move and a busy month, but I am finally finished with my Essen Spiel 2016 series. Thanks again for taking time to read and I hope you all enjoyed the series. Next up on the docket will be either my Kickstarter 2016 series or my Top 10 2016 edition series. Until next time, game on!

Obligatory 2016 Essen Spiel Post Part IV: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Now for the main event!  These next two posts will (finally) tackle my top 10 boardgame anticipations from Essen Spiel 2016.  These games are incredibly high on my radar and I’d guess that at least a few of them will be in my grubby little hands by the end of the year!  This particular post will be the bottom half (games 6-10) of my top 10 list and the next one will take on the top half (1-5) of said list.  Before we move on please feel free to take a few minutes to check out the prior three posts in my Essen Spiel series before we move on.

Essen Spiel 2016 Post Part I: Top 5 Game Expansions

Essen Spiel 2016 Post Part II: Top 5 Reprints/Re-implementations

Essen Spiel 2016 Post Part III: Honorable Mentions

Okay, now that you’ve been able to catch up let’s go ahead and move on to the next part, my top 10 list!  Again, these are games 6-10 on the list and they are all games that I am highly interested in for some reason.  With that being said, enjoy the read!

#10 – The Colonists (Lookout Games/Mayfair Games)

The Colonists is a worker placement, action selection, resource management game designed by Tim Puls and published by Lookout Games and Mayfair Games.  This game puts players in the role of a mayor of a village who is attempting to build up their colony and increase their population.  This game uses the resource management and action selection to gain said resources and use them to create jobs, educate the people, and thus continue the increase of the population.  There isn’t a ton of information on this one yet so I don’t know much more other than that which is one of the reasons that it isn’t higher on the list.  This is the designer’s first game and so I’m not quite sure if this is going to be a great design, but it sure looks good from the early pictures and rules.  I also have some hesitation about the 30-240 minutes that is on the box but this could be easily explained away by the fact that there seems to be multiple scenarios in the box.  Even though there are some detractors I am still massively interested in this game, enough so that it makes it onto my top 10 list of anticipated Essen Spiel releases.

#9 – Adrenaline (Czech Games Edition)

Adrenaline is an action point allowance, area-control game designed by Filip Neduk and published by Czech Games Edition.  This game is a Euro-style game that attempts to give the feeling of a first-person shooter video game with deterministic mechanisms.  It puts players in the role of a character that is running around grabbing weapons, ammo, and laying into your opponents with ruthless abandon.  This game has a very simple premise.  The players will run around taking two actions per turn.  There are three actions that the players can choose from which include running around, grabbing something (i.e. ammo/weapon) and shooting someone.  After their turn they can reload their weapon as long as they have the correct ammo for it.  Different weapons can have different effects and when a character dies they spawn right away, just like the FPS counterparts.  This game is very interesting and I think it would be a ton of fun although the 3-5 players makes it somewhat difficult to get to the table for us as it is mainly my wife and I playing games.  Even though the count may not be perfect, it is interesting enough to gain a spot on my list!

#8 – Bios: Genesis (Sierra Madre Games)

Bios: Genesis is a game that can be either cooperative, competitive or solitaire designed by Phil Eklund and published by his company, Sierra Madre Games.  This game is a fairly heavy simulation of the creation of life shortly after the formation of earth.  Each of up to four players takes on the role of an organic compound (amino acid, lipid, pigment or nucleic acid) in their attempt to become the origin of life.  They start as autocatalytic life and then move on to Darwinian life.  There is a somewhat complex (yet highly thematic) card play at place where there are rows of cards which may be put into play and then the organic compounds step in from there.  I am not going to even pretend to be able to explain as I’m not 100% sure how it plays but it is very possibly going to be my first Eklund game!  I love the thematic integration of the mechanisms that he puts into his games and I hope that this will be as cool as it seems!

#7 – Fabled Fruit (2F Spiele/Stronghold Games)

Fabled Fruit is a worker placement, action selection, set collection game with changing gameplay that is designed by Friedemann Friese and published by 2F Spiele and Stronghold Games.  This game puts you in the role of an animal who is trying to gain the most savory fruits in the jungle in order to make them into juices.  The players will take their animal and place them on a card and either take the action that is on the card or they will make a juice out of the card.  The thing that makes this game different from others is that it has changing gameplay.  Where a Legacy-style game also has changing gameplay elements, they are permanent.  Friese has coined this game a Fable game.  The idea is that as you move further alone your plays the game will change in sometimes slight but noticeable ways but when you want to you can reset the game and do it again.  Then, the next time you play through it will be a different game again.  I find this incredibly interesting and have heard good things about the game.  I hope to add it to the collection by the end of the year as I think it will go over very well with my wife and could be a good gateway style game for others.

#6 – Cottage Garden (Edition Spielwiese/White GoblinGames)

Cottage Garden is a tile-placement, abstract game designed by Uwe Rosenberg and published by Edition Spielwiese and White Goblin Games.  This game finds the players taking on the role of a gardener who is taking part in a contest to create the best garden beds possible.  This game has some similarities to Uwe’s brilliant two-player abstract, Patchwork.  Much like that game each player will draft polyomino tiles to place them on one of two of their personal garden beds.  The players will score points for each garden pot/bell that is still uncovered when they complete the board.  Unlike Patchwork, Cottage Garden plays from 1-4 players which I think is great.  It looks to have a few less decision points than Patchwork but I think the game still looks really good and would be easy and entertaining to teach.  I am really looking forward to getting this one as I already have it pre-ordered.

Well, there you have it, games 6-10 of my top 10 anticipated releases from Essen Spiel 2016.  There are so many great looking games that are coming out soon and I am really looking forward to getting to try some of them.  These are just a few of the interesting looking games out there.  Come on back for my next post which will tie up my top 10 releases from this year’s Spiel.  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory 2016 Essen Spiel Post Part I: Top 5 Game Expansions

Yay!  Now we move onto my Essen Spiel 2016 series!  We are trucking through the major boardgaming convention time of year and the next one on the docket is Spiel in Essen, Germany.  This is either the largest or second largest (depending on which numbers you are looking at) boardgaming convention in the world and the largest amount of gaming releases happens there.  This is a gaming convention I would love to go to one of these days as it has a ton of releases that I am interested in.  As with every year I am getting the majority of my information from W. Eric Martin’s yearly Essen Spiel Preview List on BoardGameGeek.  If you are curious feel free to check out the 31 pages and 755 entries (at the time of this posting) at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/193588/spiel-2016-preview.  This post will focus on my top 5 anticipated game expansions that are being released at the convention.  Just as a note, I’m trying to only include the expansions that are being released for the first time at this convention and that have an English rule-set of some sort in the box.  Of course this is all subject to change if they don’t get them in for some reason.  Okay, with all of that out of the way, let’s see what my top 5 anticipated game expansions are!

Honorable Mention – Mistfall: Heart of Mists (NSKNGames/Passport Game Studios)

MIstfall: Heart of Mists is an expansion to the 2015 NSKN Games/Passport Game Studios game, Mistfall by Błażej Kubacki.  Heart of mists is designed by Kubacki as well and is slated to release at this year’s Essen Spiel.  Mistfall is an adventure card game that includes heavy doses of hand management, deck building, and variable player powers all in a co-operative experience.  This game is much like its predecessor where you take a hand of cards and use them in the most efficient way in order to defeat your opponents and continue on whatever quest you have taken on.  The card play is very good and really gives a cool feel to each of the characters.  This expansion adds more characters, quests, locations, and monsters to the mix while streamlining some of the more “fiddly bits” from the original.  I am really looking forward to this expansion and will probably pick it up at some point.  The original is great and I really hope this one amps up the cool factor while lessening the weaknesses of said original.

#5 – Dice City: By Royal Decree (Alderac EntertainmentGroup)

Dice City: By Royal Decree is an expansion to the 2015 Alderac Entertainment Group hit, Dice City by Vangelias Bagiartakis.  By Royal Decree is designed by Bariatakis and will be releasing at Essen Spiel 2016.  Dice City is a dice rolling and placement game where you are able to build up the city by paying resources that you get throughout the turns.  This expansion adds another board to the game along with some more dice.  This just gives more tools/places for you to go with the dice and give more decisions.  More to this game is always a good thing in my opinion.  Looking forward to getting this one and trying it out eventually.

#4 – Potion Explosion: The Fifth Ingredient (HorribleGames)

Potion Explosion: The Fifth Ingredient is an expansion to the 2016 Horrible Games/Cool Mini hit, Potion Explosion by Setfano Castelli, Andrea Crespi and Lorenzo Silva.  The Fifth Ingredient is designed by the same group of designers and will be releasing and this year’s Spiel.  Potion Explosion is a simple premise with a fairly high amount of decision points.  You are pulling marbles out of a dispenser and trying to match them up in order to get “explosions” where you are then able to take marbles of a like color.  This expansion will add in a fifth ingredient which will give the game even more diversity as there is another ingredient that is added that plays like a wild card and allows you to create even more potions.  This is an awesome game and more variety is a win in my book!

#3 – Oh My Goods!: Longsdale in Aufruhr (Lookout Games)

Oh My Goods!: Longsdale in Aufruhr is an expansion to the 2015 Lookout Games/Mayfair Games release, Oh My Goods! by Alexander Pfister.  Longsdale in Aufruhr is also designed by Alexander Pfister and will be released at Essen Spiel 2016.  Oh My Goods! is a game where you have a hand of cards that can be used in multiple different ways.  They are goods, money, and buildings depending on how you use them.  You will take a worker that you have and decide whether he/she will work well or “lazy.”  If they work well you can get two goods on the building they are on as opposed to only one.  This may not seem like much but it can be a pretty big swing depending on how much each good is worth on said building.  My wife and I love this game and it is probably in her top 10 of all time.  This expansion seems to be bringing a lot to the table and I’m very excited about that!  It apparently consists of five different chapters that will form a cohesive story.  There are character cards, more buildings, chapter cards, and event cards in the expansion and these things together all make it a must buy for us!

#2 – Imperial Settlers: Aztecs (Portal Games)

Imperial Settlers: Aztecs is a new expansion to the 2014 Portal Games hit, Imperial Settlers by Ignacy Trzewiczek.  Aztecs is also designed by Trzewiczek and will be released at this year’s Spiel.  Imperial Settlers is a game where you are building a civilization with a hand of cards.  These cards may be placed in one of three rows as long as you have the resources to do so.  You are attempting to build your civilization’s engine in order to score the most points at the end of five rounds.  The Aztecs expansion adds a new faction to the game that brings prayer actions and religion into the word of Imperial Settlers.  As Imperial Settlers is one of my favorite games this expansion is a no brainer and an insta-buy.

#1 – 7 Wonders: Duel: Pantheon (Repos Production/Asmodee)

7 Wonders: Duel: Pantheon is the new expansion to the Repos Production/Asmodee two-player game, 7 Wonders: Duel by Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala.  Pantheon is also designed by Bauza and Cathala and will be coming out at Essen Spiel this year.  7 Wonders: Duel takes the card-drafting of its big brother, 7 Wonders, and distills it into a pure, two-player card game that is just amazing.  This has quickly become a favorite of Em and I and it isn’t ever leaving our collection.  Pantheon adds in god cards and temple cards that will change some of the ways the game is played and it appears to be quite an amazing expansion to the base game.  This is our number one anticipated expansion that is coming out this year and will be bought as soon as we are able to.

And there you have it, my top 5 (plus 1) anticipated expansions that will be coming out at Essen Spiel this year.  I can’t wait for all of these as I have the base game to each one and am looking forward to giving some of my favorite’s new life.  These expansions won’t be needed to make these game good as they are already really good, but I do love when a good expansion adds just a little into an already great experience.  What are your most anticipated expansions of the convention this year?  Let me know in the comments below.  And please feel free to look out for my top 5 reimplementations/reprints in the next of my Essen Spiel series.  Thanks so much for reading.  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory 2016 Gen Con Post Part VI: Top 5 Games Being Demoed But Not For Purchase

Now that I’ve finished the top 10 list of games I’m interested in that you will be able (although some in VERY limited quantities) to buy I’m going to move on to the sixth post where we talk about games that aren’t available for purchase. These are all games that will be available to demo (at least they have been confirmed or rumored) during Gen Con 2016. Many of these games will get their debut at Essen Spiel 2016 but the companies roll them out for demo at Gen Con. Many of these games are ones that are insta-buys for me! But first, feel free to check out the previous five posts at the links below if you haven’t had a chance yet.

Gen Con 2016 Post Part I: Top 5 Game Expansions

Gen Con 2016 Post Part II: Top 5 Reprints/Re-implementations

Gen Con 2016 Post Part III: Honorable Mentions

Gen Con 2016 Post Part IV: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

Gen Con 2016 Post Part V: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Okay, now let’s move on to the top 5 games that I’m looking forward to that are going to be demoed at Gen Con 2016. I hope that all of these truly are demoed because I want to hear more information on them as they are some of the top releases that I’m looking forward to this year. Okay, on to the list!

Honorable Mention – Pandemic Iberia (Z-Man Games)

Pandemic Iberia is a co-operative, action-point, hand management, set collection game that is designed by Jesús Torres Castro and Matt Leacock and published by Z-Man Games. This game takes the same game-engine as Pandemic and puts a different theme on it. You are now medical workers in the Iberian Peninsula in 1848 and you are charged with helping to find the cures to such terrible diseases as malaria, typhus, cholera, and the yellow fever. This game, however, places you much earlier in human history and thus doesn’t have the same modes of travel as before. Pandemic Iberia finds you taking carriages and boats to your destinations all while developing railway systems for travel and distributing water in order to keep the disease at a low impact. I absolutely love the veneer that they’ve put on this game and I already know it will be good as it is mostly Pandemic with a new theme and a few different mechanisms place in it. This game is gonna be awesome and I’ll probably pre-order it as it really intrigues me.

#5 – The Oracle of Delphi (Pegasus Spiele/Hall Games)

The Oracle of Delphi is a dice rolling, pick-up-and-deliver, action selection game designed by Stefan Feld and published by Hall Games and Pegasus Spiele. This game is a new release by the Euro-game great, Feld, and this one looks to be really good. It finds the player in the role of a character who is trying to complete twelve tasks in order to win the favor of Zeus. Players will take their ships across varying hexagonal tiles to travel to different islands where they are able to attempt their tasks. Players get to roll three colored dice and these will correspond with different “oracle” actions. So the game apparently uses its dice mechanisms as a sort of action selection and I really enjoy that game mechanism. Along with a high variability this game looks like it may be a real winner and have a great theme on top of it which doesn’t tend to be Feld’s strong point.

#4 – First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet (Portal Games)

First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet is a co-operative, worker placement, adventure and exploration game designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and published by Portal Games. This game actually builds on a previous Ignacy design entitled Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island. This game uses a lot of the same ideas but how finds the players in the role of explorers and adventures on the Red Planet. This is a new game with app integration and will actually require said app. The app is going to run the bookkeeper portions of the game and it allows the designer to create an even more immersive world. The players can take part in a campaign-style mode where they go through several games and the app will basically keep their place and let them take stats and progression throughout that series of plays. They can also just choose to freely roam the Martian landscape and see how long they can survive. I think this game looks amazing and am looking forward to see what Ignacy does with it.

#3 – Chronicles 1: Origins (Artana)

Chronicles 1: Origins is a territory-building, worker placement, campaign/legacy-style game designed by Dirk Knemeyer and Rob Daviau and published by Artana. This is another legacy-style game from Daviau and this particular one is also adding in Knemeyer’s new Echo System. The Echo System is what notches this game from interesting to really interesting! Players will start off in the first game (taking place during the Stone Age) as leaders of one tribe. The players will work semi-cooperatively to build up the tribe. The goal is to play the game multiple times in order to create multiple different types of tribes. The players will then play the second part of the game multiple times where they take the tribes and move into a Bronze Age where they will take control of a leader of the city-state and attempt to gain dominance in the region. The Echo System allows the game to grow over time and “echoes” of the past games will be felt in the next ones. This is a HIGHLY ambitious project and if they pull it off it could be amazing!

#2 – Victorian Masterminds (Space Cowboys/Asmodee)

Victorian Masterminds is worker placement game with some deduction elements designed by Antoine Bauza and Eric Lang and published by Space Cowboys and Asmodee. This game is being created by two of the most highly respected and prolific designers in the business right now and that is one of the main reasons Victorian Masterminds is so high on this list! The game finds the players in the roles of villains just after the death of Sherlock Holmes. They are vying to be the most villainous mastermind as they are sending their underlings across the world in order to create their doomsday machine and destroy the world’s most recognizable monuments. The players will use worker placement to send their five different henchmen into spaces to do things like destroy buildings, kidnap scientists, complete missions, and gather resources for their doomsday machine. I’m not 100% sure that this one is going to even be available to demo…but I had to put it on the list because I’m so excited about it!

#1 – A Feast for Odin (Feuerland Spiele/Z-Man Games)

A Feast for Odin is a worker placement, pattern building, Viking-themed, economic game designed by the great Uwe Rosenberg and published by Feuerland Spiele and Z-Man Games. This is a new big box game from Rosenberg and from the pictures and early talk it looks awesome! This game finds the players taking actions from the central board (a la Fields of Arle) where they will hunt, gather, build ships and/or buildings, refine materials and raid settlements. The players then take their different results and will place them on their own personal board a la Patchwork. This is apparently the game where Patchwork was created and Rosenberg originally had the tile placement portion of that game in A Feast for Odin as just one of the mechanisms available. This game was (for me) an obvious choice as the top game not available for purchase as I really haven’t played an Uwe game I haven’t enjoyed. I’m sure I’ll play one at some point that I don’t like, but I don’t think this will be the one. Between the Uwe pedigree, the game mechanisms, and the game theme, A Feast for Odin was the obvious and awesome number one!

Other demos of note:
– Adrenaline (Czech Games Edition)
– Caravan (Z-Man Games)
– Colony (Bezier Games, Inc.)
– Escape the Sanitarium (Greenbrier Games)
– Fate of the Elder Gods (Greater Than Games/Fabled Nexus)
– Gloomhaven (Cephalofair Games)

– Great Western Trail (Stronghold Games/eggertspiele)
– Haspelknecht (Capstone Games)
– Inis (Matagot/Pegasus Spiele)
– Peak Oil (Leder Games)
– The Phoenix Syndicate (Asmadi Games)
– Spirit Island (Greater Than Games/Fabled Nexus)

And there you have it! These are the games that I’m keeping a close eye on in the coming months as they should have demos available at Gen Con. Just as a disclaimer to all of these games and the ones in previous posts, there is definitely a possibility that they won’t be at the convention due to unforeseen circumstances. Often times things happen and sadly the games don’t make which is a total bummer for those involved. So much effort is put into these games and it’s sad when they don’t quite make it for some reason! Anyways, thanks so much for reading my Gen Con 2016 series. This is the final post for now although I may do one more post after the convention is over to make my final observations of what I read/hear/see on video after it is over. If you have any questions/comments feel free to let me know in the comments below. Again, thanks for reading! Until next time, game on!

Obligatory 2016 Gen Con Post Part V: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Wow, we’ve made it to games 1-5 of my top 10 game interests of Gen Con 2016!  These are all games that I really want to check out/buy very soon!  These games all look really good although I don’t know if they will all hit my purchases or not due to prices.  As I look at these games in my top 5 I’ve noticed how they are all fairly heavily thematic games and that is pretty interesting and I think really signifies Gen Con releases as a whole.  As I gather the top 5 feel free to check out my previous four posts in the Gen Con 2016 series below

Gen Con 2016 Post Part I: Top 5 Game Expansions

Gen Con 2016 Post Part II: Top 5Reprints/Re-implementations

Gen Con 2016 Post Part III: Honorable Mentions

Gen Con 2016 Post Part IV: Top 10 List (Games 6-10)

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, 51^st 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!