How to Play The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game

The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game is a cooperative trick-taking game where you play through chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring. Each chapter is going to give you different characters that you play as, and possibly additional objectives as you play as well. I don’t want to spoil what those are, so we’ll talk about chapter one.

Set-Up

Firstly, you deal out all the cards except one which is taken out of the game. So fewer players, the higher number of cards you have total, this matters for some of the goals, kind of. There are five suits, hills, mountain, forest, shadow and rings. Players do the normal thing of sorting their hand, and then it’s where the fun comes in.

The player who has the one ring is Frodo. They take that card and it goes clockwise from them with each player picking one of the other characters. Some chapters are going to have specific required characters, in chapter one, for example, Gandalf is a required character. Just because they are required doesn’t mean the next person need to take them, it just means someone else might be stuck taking them.

Then specific characters let you pass cards. You go in order from the left of the Frodo player to the right. Players chose to exchange cards per the rules on their cards. And not all cards are going to have an exchange. Also, some cards might have additional set-up instructions, which you see in chapter 2.

Trick-Taking

Then trick-taking is going to go in a pretty standard way. The lead player, for the first trick in the first chapter Frodo, plays out a card. Everyone must follow suit if they can. You do this until either everyone completes their objectives – which often requires all hands being played, or you can’t win.

There are special rules for the ring cards. The ring cards cannot be led out until they are broken. This is a mechanism that is similar to Hearts. Once it is broken, then rings can be led. However, while the other suits go from 1 to 8 the ring suit is only 1 to 5. The One Ring does have a power, though, it allowed the player of the ring to declare they win the trick.

Now you are very limited in communication in this game. You aren’t allowed to tell people what you have in your hand. Now, in trick taking there is often not much communication, so that is not a massive difference as each player needs to infer information from the cards played.

Winning

As I said already, you win when all the objectives are met and none can be broken. This might be a character who wants only zero or one tricks. If you still can play out tricks, you need to verify that player can’t win anymore before stopping the hand. But if you know that, then you don’t need to play out the full hand.

After you successfully complete the challenges of a chapter you go onto the next one. This is going to give you some flavor as to what you are playing through and the set-up and characters for the next chapter. Some characters will go between chapters, Frodo for example. So you shuffle up and play the next chapter and as many as you want in a night.

What Doesn’t Work

This game does change with different player counts. And while they do a good job of trying to balance it, I think it is simpler with three than it is with four. Mainly because some of the challenges require taking a number of tricks, and if it’s a higher number, Bilbo needs three in the first chapter, then it’s trickier with fewer cards. They try and balance it out, but more variables, the trickier it is.

What Works

Theme

Firstly, I think they do a very good job with the theme in the game. That little bit of reading is great. And the fact that every chapter changes is very good. Now only does every chapter change, it very closely follows the book. And I like that attention to detail for the game. It’s going to be fun for people who have just seen The Fellowship of the Ring as a movie, but more fun for those who know the books as well.

And I just want to talk a bit more about that. I think that they do a good job of changing up the characters as well. So it’s not just that little blurb of text that you get. But the characters who you can play as change as well. The first chapter has Bilbo, Merry, Gandalf, and Frodo and is themed around the party and Frodo getting the ring. Then you don’t have Bilbo for the next chapter because he leaves to do his own thing.

Ease and Speed of Play

The game is easy to learn and play, which is good. Though, it is a trick-taking game. I say that not as a negative, but as a be aware because the more you know trick-taking the easier it will be. Mainly because there are things you do in trick-taking to demonstrate or share information. Or it could be techniques like short suiting yourself that newer players might not know.

I also like how fast the game is. A good trick-taking game should be fast. I don’t want it to be a slog as I play through a lot of hands to get through a chapter. So one chapter being one hand means that you can easily get through it in a handful of minutes, I think on average probably 10 to 15 when you know what you are doing. With setting up the chapter, maybe twenty. And each chapter is fast to set-up as well, so it never adds or changes too much.

Cooperative

The cooperative nature of the game is great as well. Now, I don’t think you could do a Fellowship of the Ring trick-taking game, for more than two, and make it competitive. At two you could have Mordor versus the free lands. But in this case, it’s a nice element to the game, and because it is trick-taking, you can’t alpha game it. So that is something that makes is nice for a cooperative game where you win or lose together, but no one person can run it.

Who is The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game For?

Firstly, I think the fans of Lord of the Rings are going to like The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking game. Even if you don’t know trick-taking, it could very well work for you. And I think for gamers who know trick-taking, I think the changing challenges work well. So this is a game for most people, and I think it’s easy enough for a non-gamer to pick-up the rules and learn the game. Again, it helps that there is a bit of Hearts to it because a lot of people have played that on the computer.

Final Thoughts on The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game

I really like this game. I already know that I like trick-taking, so the Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking game, combining a theme and mechanisms I like I knew it’d likely be a hit. That said, I am really pleased with how it is directly tied to the book. Those bits that are glossed over are nice to have here and gives for some very fun chapters.

And I think the variety in chapters and characters are good. And without that, it’d be just an okay game. The characters are all fun and different. But when you get a really different chapter to play, you understand the detail that went into the game. It is truly a game for fans of Lord of the Rings. And this one is just The Fellowship of the Ring, so that means we should be getting at least two more.

This is game also with a solo mode. So I want to get it played solo, and it might be a game that I play solo on Malts and Meeples. I suspect it is going to be better with more, but either way, it’s nice to have a solo mode.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B-
Strategy Score: 7 (out of 10)
Luck Score: 5 (out of 10)

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Top 17 Campaign Games Coming From Crowdfunding

17. God of War

I don’t really know why this one is lowest on the list of campaign games. It’s a video game that I haven’t played much of so there is probably that. And I do need to get back to playing it because I had fun with it, it just was that I’m bad at playing video games for a long time.

But from CMON it’s going to have minis and solid game play, I’m very confident in that. So I hope that it’s a good experience and I believe that it’s only two players or solo (if I remember correctly) so there is that. I suspect that some of why it is so low is because of how poor the other God of War game was, but this is very different.

16. Regicide Legacy

I know why this one is low on the list. I don’t know a ton about Regicide. But it’s a mini campaign game in some ways. It’s not going to be a huge one where you have to set up a massive board with minis. So there is that going for it. But it really comes down to that I don’t know a ton about it. It’s solo or multiplayer cooperative which is fun. And it is only 12 missions. I’ll be curious to see what I unlock throughout this game, and it’s one that I can probably stream the whole thing of it.

15. Once Upon a Line

This one is lower on the list, but I’m still really intrigued by it. This is a scratch off legacy game. But it’s been there for a while in terms of ones that I’ve funded. So my interest isn’t waning, perse, it’s more that I just kind of forgot about it in some ways. But when it is comes in, I know I’ll be excited for that unique experience. I hope that it’s going to be a good short game as well that I can play and maybe share the experience with my wife because of the novelty of the game. It is also lower, though, because as a scratch off, it is one and done.

14. Spirit Fire

Spirit Fire is a solo only campaign from Orange Nebula. And it sounds like it should be quite unique with maybe some elements that feel like a collectible card game. Though, as I say that, it is worth pointing out, there is no collectible element to the game. That is just kind of how I remember thinking about it. So I’m very curious as to how that is going to work for the game. And I know with Orange Nebula making it, it is going to be a very well produced game. I need to try another of their games which I have, Unsettled, still.

13. The Dark Quarter

Then we have The Dark Quarter. This one is like Once Upon a Line when it comes to campaign games, that means that I’ve been waiting on this one for a long time. It’s a collaboration between Lucky Duck Games using their Destinies style system, I believe, and app integration for the story, and then the darker themes that I feel like you get from Van Ryder Games. That said, this game is taking forever to come. When it does, I’ll be excited for a darker game that’s cooperative using that Destinies system.

12. Flash Point Legacy

I expect that this is going to be the next game I have on this list to come in. Flash Point Fire Rescue is a cooperative game where you put out fires and rescue people. This is going to be a legacy version of the game. And I am a sucker for legacy games. So this is one that is exciting to me. I want to know how you make a game about putting out fires into a legacy game. I suspect there is going to be an arsonist going around. But it is a game that I’ve intentionally not looked into too much, other than that I know the system.

11. RoboMon

Speaking of games that are taking a while to come, I have two back to back here. RoboMon I maybe should be more worried about. But I like the theme so it’s higher on the list than some where it’s been a while. But RoboMon is going to be a robot battling game, solo one with maybe two player support, and it’s basically a Pokemon game, but obviously not with Pokemon. We’re seeing a number of games that feel like they draw a bit from that. But it’s going to be a game with story progression as well, which is why I’m so interested.

10. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Retaliation

The other one with a very long wait for it. This one though I’m way more forgiving on than most. That’s because I am playing Vampire the Masquerade – Chapters and really enjoying the game. There is a lot of fun choose your own adventure with some tactical game play as well. The system isn’t going to be the same, but I hope that it’s still strong. And I knew going into the campaign that it was going to be slow. But I kind of like Werewolves better than Vampires, so I’m maybe more excited for this one than I was with Chapters.

9. Storyfold: Wildwoods

Two Games from Open Owl Studios are making the list. This is the first one with Storyfold. A solo game where it’s played out through a book. I watched some of a game play for it and I only kind of remember how it works. But It looks like a nice compact campaign game, and the theme of the story drew me in. It kind of felt a bit more peaceful in some ways, though I don’t know that is the case, but not your typical fantasy sort of setting for it while still being fantastical.

8. Horizon Forbidden West: Seeds of Rebellion

So from a small one to a huge one with a lot of minis and a lot going on we have Horizon Forbidden West. I know it’s from Steamforge Games and they have a hit and miss track record. But I think for their games you often just get minis and an okay game in the first one. Then they use the second game to create a better game. That kind of seems to be the case here, though they are adding in campaign this time, hence it’s on the list, which didn’t exist in the first. However, I really like the world of the Horizon games, so I’m hopeful this will be a fun game.

7. Enormity

Next up is the most recent campaign game that I’ve backed, at least I’m 99% sure on that. Enormity is high on the list because it isn’t fantasy. And while I like fantasy setting a lot, it’s fun to have something that feels more sci-fi and horror. Do I expect anything groundbreaking with this game, no I do not, but I really hope that it’s going to be a fun game with good sci-fi and horror elements for sure. Plus it gives me what I want, branching character progression and more.

6. Rove

Rove is another one that it feels like I’ve been waiting a while for, but I don’t think it’s been as long as some of them. This game is from the person who did the Crimson Scales Gloomhaven expansion. So that immediately drew me in to this game. But this one is their own game in their own setting and I want to play it. It sounds like a fun game and setting and I am assuming they took what they learned from doing a Gloomhaven expansion and built upon that. So that means that I have high hopes for the game because I love Gloomhaven and Frosthaven.

5. Witchbound

Now another game that is definitely late, but I knew it would be. Sorry designer when we spoke and you gave me your timeline (plus it being the first project for them) I knew it would probably be double or triple that. And some of it is that they want to release with with multiple languages and language parterns.

This is a point and click style adventure game. You play through chapters (kind of) and explore the world. So while it’s a campaign game and will likely have some campaign type moments for it, it’s also more open world than some with missions giving you specific directions on what to do and where to go, but not always locking you into doing one thing.

4. Dante: Inferno

Dante: Inferno is a big game from the people who made Chronicles of Drunagor. And I like Chronicles of Drunagor, and I keep on saying I need to restart it and tackle it better on streaming. I really do need to do that. This one looks like a potentially shorter campaign with elements that it borrowed from things like Oathsworn. By that I mean that there is kind of an adventure phase that you can go through and then a big boss battle.

I mainly know about the boss battle having watched a couple of times where people have taken on the first scenario. These videos were done during or before the campaign to build up hype. And I think that it works. The battles look big and dynamic and that’s something that I want from a boss battler.

3. Stonesaga

Now we have a game that I’ve played already. It’s one of two on the list. And I’ve played this one with a prototype and on TTS (TableTop Simulator). This is kind of a campaign game. It is in that you play through missions but less than some because there is less story or specific missions to it. Instead it’s a very open world exploring, gathering resources, and completing goals sort of game, often times using dice.

And it’s a campaign game where you might have a character who is there for a big and then grows old and retires. Plus, while it is a fantastical setting with giant guardians that are wandering about, it’s a game where you are more in the Stone Age than a classical Medieval setting. So I like that as well.

2. Lands of Evershade

Now we’re going to possibly the biggest game on the list. Though, I haven’t gone all in on it yet. I did back a good amount of it, but in the pledge manager I’ll likely add in more. From Awaken Realms this is supposed to give you that open world RPG feel that a lot of campaign games don’t. I don’t know how it’s going to do that exactly or how truly open world it can be, but I hope that it will be pretty open world.

I expect that this game is going to give me a lot of story elements to it. And if it is RPG like, then I hope that it’s going to be a good game when it comes to leveling up your character. That is one thing that I really like from a campaign game, a character that goes from feeling like some things are a challenge to looking back at it and where your character is at and thinking it’s so powerful now.

1. Rogue Angels

No surprise this is at the top of the list. I love this game and I’m very hopeful it’ll show up this year. And yes this is on the campaign games list for games that I need to get back to as well. I know I have more in the prototype box that I can play. But I’m also waiting to get this game in. The cool thing about the game is that for a campaign game it isn’t a big game. That is going to make it a whole lot easier to get to the table. That said, there is a lot of game in there.

I mean that in two ways. Firstly, there are quite the number of chapters to this story. I think it’s something like 6 chapters which is going to offer a lot of game to play. But also there is a very strong system under the story as well. And I really like everything that it does. It’s great with the card play, but also the decisions you make impact elements of the story as well, which is something I love in a campaign game.

Final Thoughts

It’s so many campaign games. And I know that when I did my list of ones that I need to play I even skipped over some legacy games or campaign games that I already own. So between these three lists that’s probably 45-50 games that I own that are campaigns. I need to play more campaign games and maybe get some out the door before some of these come in.

Once I wrap up the Button Shy solo games, which I still have a few weeks of that left, what campaign games should I start tackling? I at least want to get some plays under my belt. And I know that for sure when Witchbound, from this list, comes in, I’m going to want to be playing that one. What campaign games do you have backed on Crowdfunding that you’re still waiting to get?

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100 through 91
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50 through 41
40 through 31
30 through 21

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – 20 through 11

20. Heat: Pedal to the Metal

• Published by Days of Wonder in 2022
• Fly around the track and manage your engine so it doesn’t over heat to win the race

This is a great racing game. It is a nice blend of simplicity. You play cards equal to the gear that you are in for your movement. But also some complexity as you need to be smart with how you handle the curves, straightaways, how much you push your engine and when you cool it down. That cooling down part of the game is great as it really makes a difference in how you play and when you push it. Plus there are modules you use, like drafting some cards for your deck, that make the game even more fun, or you can do a series of races which is also great.

Buy Heat: Pedal to the Metal

19. Planet Unknown

• Published by Adam’s Apple Games in 2022
• Terraform your planet and increase your technology better than your opponents can

Planet Unknown is a polyomino game where you are terraforming a planet. You can play it in the basic mode where everyone is doing the same planet and same tech track, or you can do unique planets and tech tracks. I love the unique ones and I think that’s the way to go after the first game. But Planet Unknown has more than just laying out tiles, how you decide which tile is picked for you is amazing. Whomever is the leader that round turns a lazy susan full of tiles and whatever one is pointing to where you pick from, those are your options. So you can stick someone with something or sometimes get the perfect thing.

Buy Planet Unknown

18. Clank! In! Space!

• Published by Dire Wolf in 2017
• Race through a spaceship but don’t try and make too much noise as you grab a treasure and get out

This is a push your luck deckbuilding game, and I enjoy both of those elements to the game. I find that pure push your luck doesn’t always work for me, but add in deckbuilding a mechanism I love, it’s great. You build up your deck to move and grab a treasure, fight monsters, and buy more cards that are worth points. But you also need to be aware of how noisy you are. If you’re too noisy the villain, Lord Eradikus will start drawing out your cubes, if you clank, and dealing damage to you. And you might not make it out before you die.

Buy Clank! In! Space!

17. ISS Vanguard

• Published by Awaken Realms in 2022
• Explore a new solar system while you manage your crew and your ship

ISS Vanguard is a big campaign game and one that I’ve played on Malts and Meeples. Not the whole way through, but far enough to give you an idea of how it plays. The game is interesting because it plays over two parts. Part of the game is exploring planets and discovering why humanity was called out to this location in the stars. The other part is managing your ship. I was worried that managing your ship wouldn’t feel important, but it’s a great element to the game and makes it feel even more thematic.

Buy ISS Vanguard

16. Vampire the Masquerade: CHAPTERS

• Published by Flyos Games in 2023
• Enter a world of vampires and darkness as you play across missions and try and figure out what is happening in Montreal

Chapters is choose your own adventure RPG in a box. I love how it gives you this great story filled with depth and grit. And it also gives you tactical combat and dice chucking. It feels like a great blend of things that I love in board games and in RPG’s. The story is well written and while there are definitely issues with it there is an app that should be helping fix that and an upgrade pack for it. But even without that, the game is fun, and the app is free so the few spots it’s really busted should be fixed. Plus, I want to play a dark vampire game, and this gives me that in spades.

Buy Vampire: the Masquerade – CHAPTERS

15. Metal Gear Solid

• Published by CMON in 2024/2025
• Sneak around the base and battle only when you need to complete missions

Yes, there is a game on my list that isn’t out yet. Spoilers, there might be another one as well coming up in my Top 10. But that is because I’ve gotten to play the final version of the game and I feel like I’ve had enough time with it. I love this game as it’s a tactical minis game where you can fight. But fighting generally is going to be noisy and messy and you’ll be swarmed. When that happens, well, it’s probably game over for you. So instead you need to be smart, sneak around, and try and avoid the guards the best you can or lose them. All while being a pretty simple game to play.

Coming Soon

14. Lost Ruins of Arnak

• Published by Czech Games Edition in 2020
• Explore the lands, find treasure, fight monsters and discover what adventure awaits you

Lost Ruins of Arnak is a deckbuilding game. It is a worker placement game, and it’s a exploring adventure game. For me all of those elements come through. And I love the puzzle of trying to manage your two workers you get place, knowing when and where to place them, buying cards, and risking fighting monsters. Because you need to do it all, and the game isn’t that long in terms of how many rounds it is. But if you’re smart, you can stretch it out for a lot of points and a lot of chaining actions. The Expedition Leaders even adds more fun to the game and more variability as well which I love.

Buy Lost Ruins of Arnak

13. XenoShyft Onslaught

• Published by CMON in 2015
• The base is under attack by bugs, you need to build up your defenses and work together to defeat them

I think I’m the champion of XenoShyft, but I really like the game. It’s another deckbuilding game, but it’s a cooperative one. And I think that cooperative element and how incredibly interactive the cooperation is, that is what makes the game stand out to me. Plus it does a clever thing where you’re never drawing dead with money, so you can always buy cards and bolster up your defenses. Because everyone needs to be able to defend their side of the base so the bugs don’t overrun it.

Out of Print, but you can find it on eBay

12. Marvel Champions

• Published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2019
• Heroes battle villains in this Marvel Superhero game

I love Marvel, we all know that. And Marvel Champions is one of my favorite, if not my favorite Marvel themed game. What I love about this one is that you feel like you are the hero. And not only that, you need to think about being the hero but balancing that with the alter ego. If you stay in hero form the bad guy will beat you up and probably take you out. But if you are in the alter ego side, they don’t know who you are, so they’ll go back to completing their scheme. And that’s not great as well because you can’t blow your cover in alter ego form.

Buy Marvel Champions

11. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

• Published by Portal Games in 2018
• Take on the role of detectives and work together, take the notes, and try and solve the cases

Detective for me is my favorite deduction game. I like deduction a lot, but Detective just makes it really immersive. In the box I’m showing it has five cases that all connect into something big and impressive. And you use information that you took notes on from one case and use it in another. I think by the end of all five cases I had between 12 and 15 pages of notes that we’d look back at. And it uses a computer system as well to let you do things like compare DNA, interview witnesses, and more. The game is just this great thematic detective game for me.

Buy Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule. It’s not just all my Top 100 Games (of all time).

• Monday night, time varies, I play different small solo games, though I might be looking to start up a campaign again. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to continue my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition. There is one week left, which is going to be two Wednesdays out. After that I’m planning on doing some look back and look ahead videos and smaller solo games or things like Balatro and Slay the Spire.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

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Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS – Crowdfunding Campaign

So is there is a reason that I didn’t back it originally? And honestly there wasn’t much of one. If I remember correctly it is a newer company. So fewer games under the belt, which shows in how long the development took, meant that there is higher risk. Now that the game is delivering to backers, the risk seems to have been worth it.

But Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS offered an interesting game play loop. You play with story and then get down to a tactical map. And a decision you make in the first one might influence things in the second part. Plus there are elements of the story tied to which faction of vampire that you are. And that is what drew me into the story and intrigue of the game.

Early Coverage

The Setting

So it is interesting, for a lot of people the intriguing part of this is that it is based off of the Vampire the Masquerade RPG. Maybe not mechanically but the setting. So it is a setting that I didn’t know that much about. It was through the GloryHoundd YouTube channel (currently on hiatus) that I really got to learn about that world through the conversations they had on the setting.

So I come at it from an angle where I don’t know as much about it. But there are elements that I really appreciate about what I do know. This isn’t a chomp a random persons neck in front of everyone and then fight sort of game. The setting is one of working in the shadows, protecting vampire kind by not letting people find out the influence that different factions are putting on society. And then chomping on a neck when needed in a way that won’t expose everything.

And I think those different factions are what really sold me on the game. It offers replayability as you play with the different characters. But also it allows you role play the character that you want to in the game.

Story Driven

When this was on Kickstarter it was also early in me getting in a lot of board games. Campaign or story heavy ones really. So that is another thing to know about Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS is that it’s heavy on story. A lot of books of story that all tie into different scenarios and paths through your campaign. I’m not sure how linear it is, but I like it when games have a lot of story. I know there are some, Middara that have a ton of story, but I do want it.

This is also one of the negatives that I’ve heard. Basically that the proof-reading wasn’t where it needed to be. There are typos throughout the books and you need to use your RPG playing lens to interpret some of the game and story because of that. Things might not be as clear as they should be. I give the company some grace, playtesting the past few years to catch all of that has been harder. But also not that much grace, because proof-reading stuff can be done by a good copy editor no matter the circumstances.

Final Hype on Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS

I can’t wait for this one to come in. That said, even if when does, I know that I will wait to play it. That comes down to the other games I am playing right now versus anything making me hesitant to play the game.

What the game promises sounds really cool. And I want to checkout some of the playthroughs that are out there. I wish that GloryHoundd had one up, but since they don’t, I’ll recommend Meet Me At the Table and their playthrough. It’s always fun to watch them, so I am excited to see what will happen in it. And I am excited to get it to my table. It’s one that might jump towards the top of the list of games to stream after playing The Isofarian Guard.

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Top 10 Crowdfunding Project To Be Delivered

10 – Mythwind

This one is such a weird one. I can see myself not liking this game. It’s Stardew Valley the board game, which is not something that I thought I’d want. More so than the actual Stardew Valley game which gives you and end game condition. But Mythwind from Open Own Studios (formerly OOMM Games) promises that, a game where you can just build everything. Like I said, this might not be for me, but I am very curious and want to try.

9 – Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin

On the flip side of Mythwind, Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin is a game for me. I already know that I like the system. And Kings of Ruin tries to take the things that people didn’t like, the grind, the keeping the Menhir lit, and make the game more streamlined for the story.

My little soapbox time. People are complaining about the grind and how hard it is to survive. The Story Mode takes care of most of that, extra house rules put in place show that people didn’t pay attention to what they were backing. Tainted Grail promised a hard campaign with attrition and grinding from day one. To complain about a game delivering on what it promised feels like a miss on the players behalf not the companies or the game as the complaints seem to say.

But back to Kings of Ruin. It’s more of a game and a system that I really love. I’m wrapping up the third campaign soon, and I want to know what story the are going to come with. Because story in this game is always so good.

8 – Agemonia

Agemonia is one that I late pledged. I couldn’t quite bring myself to pull the trigger when it was on Kickstarter (I believe), but late pledge got me. This is an adventure game with a lot of story and a campaign to it. Alex Radcliffe from BoardGameCo has a good video showing it off.

There are a couple of things that drew me towards it. Firstly it doesn’t seem to be as heavy as a lot of campaign games. As you might know from watching Malts and Meeples, I appreciate that. But also, I like the card system. It’s a nice system that in these specific scenarios changes up the board. So the world is dynamic as you spend time doing things.

7 – Stonesaga

The most recent one on the list and yes I am a bit biased knowing one of the people who worked on this game. But I’m still excited for it. It’s a nice system as you build out your stone age civilization. And the game does some fun things. There are a lot of mini games, they are fun. And there are some good decision making points which work nicely as well. Stonesaga is a legacy game, so know that about it, some elements will get used, but it’s not a single use legacy game.

6 – Robomon

Robot Pokemon is what Robomon showed off. A solo or two player adventure game, you go around capture and upgrade your Robomon. Sound a lot like Pokemon, it should. But there is never going to be a Pokemon game like this, I think, due to licensing. So Robomon looks like it will offer a lot of story and adventure in an interesting world. I like the idea that this is a very open world system.

5 – Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

Sleeping Gods is a game that I know a lot about. And I had a few minor issues (as well as a mistake in how I played it) that I thought would make the game more fun. Now, I’m not sure my mistake got changed, but my minor issue did in Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies. It is like Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin in that it took what players knew and used the feedback to improve it. So I’m excited to get this one in and see what new adventure awaits.

4 – Witchbound

Witchbound is the second newest on the list, from this year. And it might be one of the earlier to come in from these games if the creator can keep up their frenetic pace on turning out new story and artwork. But Witchbound is a point and click adventure of a board game with RPG elements. It’s what I would call a relaxing solo story game. You don’t need to hold a ton of rules in your head, so I am excited to dive into the whole thing.

3 – Primal: The Awakening

From one of the shortest to one of the longest, we have Primal: The Awakening. A monster hunting board game that can be played in a one off or as a campaign. I can’t wait to get this one in, and while it has been outstanding for a long time, they do provide updates. I am very interested in the deck construction and combat mechanics of the game. How they created such a small grid and still gave an interesting game and game play.

2 – Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread

Arydia is another late pledged board game. This is one where I couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I decided I wanted to get in on it still. Arydia is an interesting game in how it works on three levels. And I mean three types of maps. Firstly, you play on a world map traveling around. Then you have local maps, general areas that you explore and interact with people and points of interest there. Finally you get down to the tactical battle map.

That three levels of game play is just unique. And while a lot of games do these things separately, or at least two of them separately, Arydia more seamlessly moves between them. That is really interesting. Plus the game itself is just a big epic adventure game.

1 – Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapter

And finally at number one, we have a big epic adventure game. One that I saw game play of ages ago, and it is still so high on my list. I don’t know much about the World of Darkness RPG stuff that has Vampire The Masquerade in it, but I know I’m excited for this game. You can see some game play below.

That is just the prototype and there is a lot game and story in there. There’s even more with the game that is coming through Kickstarter. I like the different levels, again, how you get your main story through just story elements and a few decision points. But then you get to that tactical map, there is still more story and you can pick how to interact. But it’s really well done and it looks like a lot of vampire intrigue in the final box.

Final Thoughts

There are so many games that I am waiting on that just missed. The Chip Theory Elder Scrolls game, Tidal Blades 2 the dungeon crawler. Slay the Spire is up there, HEL: The Last Saga which I still hope to get. The Dark Quarter, a vampire mystery game. Divinius a legacy game or Arkeis an Egyptian themed legacy adventure game.

Like I said there are a ton of games. And I am going through my collection to get rid of games to make room for them. But all of these I want to see what they are like, and so many of them I hope are great solo games. So over the next two to three years, look forward with me for these games to come in and get a chance to explore them.

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Top 10 Board Games I’m Excited To Get in 2023

10. Fliptown

Now this one is kind of outside the type of game that I tend to back on crowdfunding, but it is one that I’m anticipating. It’s a small roll and write game, or flip and write, where it’s set in the wild west and you are flipping cards and using them in different ways. And that’s what intrigues me so much about it. It’s like Welcome To… in some ways where you use multiple cards each turn. But it offers, what appears to be more options and very interesting options in the game. Plus it looks pretty from what I saw on Kickstarter.

9. HEL: The Last Saga

I’m not sure where I want to place this one on the list. Mythic Games is going through some rough times financially. And I do believe their commitment to getting this game out, but it’s also late. In terms of the game, though, it’s a cooperative campaign game and a Viking saga. So two things that I like. And I’m confident that I’ll enjoy it when it does come, I just hope that the extra time and struggle turn out a great game and get Mythic Games going strong again. Because I really enjoy the games that Mythic has made.

8. Mythwind

This is one that I have no idea how it will be. But it’s from OOMM Games and I own Stars of Akarios which I love from them. Mythwind is supposed to just be a game that you can keep playing and playing and playing. There is no end, like a Stardew Valley. There might be new stuff that come up and stuff that you can build up, but there’s no hard stop win condition. Will I like a game like that? I don’t know. Will a game like that even work? I don’t know. But I’m hoping it’s a relaxing game to play that I can set-up and just enjoy.

7. RoboMon

I went back and forth on backing this one for a long time before I decided to late pledge it. It’s a solo game that sounds like it should be like Pokemon, but with robots. I never was into Pokemon all that much, came about just a little bit too late for me, and my money was going to baseball cards at that time. RoboMon looks like a nice cooperative game though, and I enjoy the artwork. I hope that it’s a simple campaign game that I can mess around with and show off. And if it’s that, and I can get some good fun out of it, I’ll be excited for that, because I want more smaller solo games.

6. Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread

I late pledged this one as well, and this is not a small game. But it is a game that does something that I find really intriguing. It has you play the game at a few different levels. Oh, I should say, epic, big campaign game. But you do one level that’s a country, let’s say, then dive down into moving around in a city, and then dive down into street tactical combat.

All of that in the same game, and I’m excited to see how that works and how easy it is to play it. I’m worried it might end up like Chronicles of Drunagor, a game I love, but that is harder to table. But Arydia seems to have a ton of cool ideas.

5. 20 Strong

A solo game from Chip Theory Games, I’m interested. I’ve enjoyed the Chip Theory stuff I’ve played a lot. And 20 Strong is a whole new setting, so I’m curious about what that will look like. Plus it’s a whole new game system, it uses dice and has a chip, but it’s not like Too Many Bones. And it is only meant to be played solo as well as meant to be a much smaller game and easier to get to the table than a lot of their big ones. Plus they’ve done games in a new setting, space setting, plus versions with two of their existing settings as well.

4. The Isofarian Guard

Another solo campaign game. You might see a theme that a lot of these games can be played solo and are campaigns. Isofarian Guard is one that’s been on my radar for a long time since I watched a Rolling Solo preview for it and I didn’t back it then. I did late pledge it as BoardGameCo and Quackalope did some coverage. I saw that it was still what had intrigued me, this story element and bag building, all at a price that is insanely low for everything in there now.

That price point got me, plus it’s so much story and in a world that looks like it has so much development. It was so cheap to buy and late pledge that I wouldn’t even complain if they came back asking for more. I hope they don’t, but it’d be reasonable. I’m excited to see what the game is in the end.

3. Vampire the Masquerade: CHAPTERS

Another one that I can blame Quackalope for. This is a massive choose your own adventure game set in a world where there are vampires and they try and influence from the shadows. There are a ton of chapters and story to this game. The whole setting sounds great to me, and I like that it’s not just vampires sucking blood and violence. Instead, this game has combat that you can get down to, but also has a lot of interactions and story behind it.

Is it another big campaign game that I can play solo, yes it is, but I hope it’s one that stands out from the crowd, and everything I’ve seen says that it should. And I hope that all the work they’ve put into the story, as there is a lot of story, turns out an amazing game.

2. Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

I love Sleeping Gods. I get rules wrong in my playthrough, but I still just love the game. In fact, I’d play it the way that I did, it makes it easier, but you get to experience so much story in the game. And Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies takes that system an iterates on it. I’m curious to see how the combat changes up in it.

And I know it fixes or not really fixes, but matches one thing that I did. You keep cards when you hit those big story points, it didn’t thematically make sense to lose them, so I’m glad that has changed. Another solo adventure game, or multiplayer, but this time without that big campaign element to it.

1. Frosthaven

Finally, yes, it’s probably coming in a month or less, I have Frosthaven. The big sequel to Gloomhaven that adds a little bit, a town phase, and then it’s just Gloomhaven combat. From what I’ve heard and know about it, it’s even bigger, the story sounds better, and there are more elements to the game. Will it be too much, probably and probably not, and I’ll enjoy every minute of it. So yes, I’m very excited to wrap up my current campaign game and then get to Frosthaven.

But What About…

There are a number of games that I wanted to put on this list. Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin, Primal: The Awakening, Unsettled, The Witcher: Old World, Divinus, 7^th Citadel, and Astro Knights just to name a few. If I’ve got it pre-ordered or backed right now, I expect almost all of them to show up in 2023. And, well, I could have just ranked them all, but it was fun to pick out 10 that I’m very excited for, for various reasons. And I’m sure when a lot of them come in, you’ll see them on Malts and Meeples.

What backed game do you have, or pre-ordered, that you can’t wait to have come in?

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Slay the Spire – The Watcher

So I played the fourth character, who is unlockable in the game, the Watcher. The Watcher is my least favorite of the Slay the Spire characters, though, still can be fun to play. Their main mechanic is messing around with stances, going from a calm stance which gives you energy when you exit out of it to the wrath stance which lets you deal extra damage and take more damage.

What gets me about the character is figuring out the rhythm of what you are doing. Mainly when to swap stances and how that can really influence what you do on a turn. Those cards both cost two energy, so it’s hard to stack them up really well. And I think without some of the unlocked cards, it makes it even trickier. So my climb went pretty well, I could hit for a very high amount of damage. But I went completely away from defense which got me in the end.

I think that is really it for the Watcher. I tend to be an aggressive player in these games. I don’t lean too much into the defense until I get some offense out of it as well. For the Watcher it tends to be either a more sedate play style or all out but you need to get a lot of healing. And I go all out but the Watcher doesn’t have a ton of healing to play around with.

Upcoming Streams

So, next Monday at 8:30 PM Central time, it’s the top 20 through 11 of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition. All the games on my list are good, but we’re definitely getting to the top of them.

And then next Wednesday, I’m not sure what my plan is. Probably a smaller solo game but we’ll see. I did just install Heroes of Might & Magic III, a game that has a board game version on Kickstarter right now, but it’s a video game that I enjoy a lot. So if I have time I might refresh myself on that game possibly as well and could stream that. But otherwise, a smaller solo game is likely.

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Top 10 Campaign Games

10 – Marvel Champions: The Mad Titan’s Shadow

I had to put one of the campaign boxes onto this list for Marvel Champions. There are a number of them, a Spider-Man one, a Red Skull one, Guardians of the Galaxy, soon to be Mutants as well. But I went with The Mad Titan’s Shadow just because that box feels the most epic. And I can take anyone into that one and it makes sense thematically.

I’ve heard that these are lighter campaigns which is not a bad thing. It means that I could and maybe will, set it up sometime and just play it over a few evenings. And you know I’m going to be running Thor up against them, or maybe Doctor Strange. There are enough characters know that it might actually be a tricky decision.

9 – Massive Darkness 2

I picked this one up because it did have a campaign. And I want to get it to the table, at least for scenarios fairly soon. I like that you level up a lot in this game, and the minis are cool, the classes are cool, the weapons are cool.

Plus, this is also a lighter game. You don’t need to know nearly as much how to play it as some of the other games on the list. That means that even if I don’t play it as a campaign soon, it’s probably one I can sit down and knock out a scenario with some friends easily in an evening.

8 – Reichbusters: Projekt Vril

One that I also need to sort some more, which is why I haven’t played it yet. Reichbusters came out with an errata pack for improved card wording and rules. But because that was coming, I waited on playing it. Now I own it and, well, I need to sort the cards in.

This is going to be a game of sneaking into enemy base and trying to stop their experiments. Think kind of Howling Commandos vs Hydra, if I were to take it over to Marvel. There are crazy experiments going on, and monsters you need to fight. But every mission has an objective and if you’re too noisy, well, things are going to go sideways for you fast and you’ll get swarmed. So it’s not a guns blazing game, which I think sounds interesting.

7 – Betrayal Legacy

I did put a few legacy games on the list. Legacy games are campaign games too, and it surprised me a little bit, but the one at the bottom of that is Betrayal Legacy. I love Betrayal at House on the Hill, even with it’s wonky scenarios and problems with sometimes the traitor being too strong, sometimes the other characters. And I want to see what the legacy one has to offer.

I am really curious about the legacy aspect of it. You play as a family versus a character coming back generation after generation. I want to know how that plays out in the game. I think it could offer some cool game options and ways to progress and tell a bit story.

6 – Descent: Legends of the Dark

Moving back to just a campaign game, we have Descent: Legends of the Dark from Fantasy Flight Games. This is going to be their Descent, but not third edition, game, of exploring tiles, fighting monsters, and interacting on the map.

Like a lot of bigger Fantasy Flight games in recent history, Mansions of Madness, Journeys in Middle-Earth, and Star Wars: Imperial Assault, there is an app piece. I like it for this game, it was a bit much in Journeys in Middle-Earth, but in Descent it offers some fog of war. It is in that category of games like Massive Darkness 2 for me. It looks like a blast to play as a fun dice chucking game.

5 – Folklore: The Affliction

Now moving into another bigger game, and I think the top 5, with the exception of the legacy ones, are the heaviest of the campaign games that I own, at least right now. Of course there are more coming in. But Folklore: The Affliction is going to be a game that borrows a lot from pen and paper RPG’s. You roll more than a standard six sided die. And that is intriguing to me.

Plus, I like that it’s a darker setting. I don’t need all my fantasy to be grim and dark, but sometimes that is what I want. And since I always am the Dungeon Master for D&D, I believe that it’ll give me that RPG feel without me needing to be in charge of everything. Though, if I paly it solo, I will be, but I’ll be doing the same thing as the players.

4 – Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

Another Legacy game and this one just came in from Indie Boards & Cards. I played through the first Aeon’s End Legacy on stream. And I had a blast with that game. Plus, just in general I really like Aeon’s End, so much so that I keep on backing and tracking down everything for it.

Legacy of Gravehold is going to be another legacy campaign. Where I knew a little bit of the campaign for the original Aeon’s End Legacy, I know nothing about the story this time. I just know that the box is bigger and heavier. That probably means more cards, but I’m hoping for more story as well.

3 – Clank! Legacy

And the other legacy game is Clank! Legacy. This one is higher for me just because I want to play it with some friends. I love the Acquisitions Inc theme on it as their game play is hilarious. And I suspect that the humor in the game will be great as well. Plus, I like the system that it is built upon. I prefer Clank! In! Space! to Clank I think, but the legacy version with the fantasy theme, I’m still there for it.

This is a deck building push your luck game. You are going into it trying to complete missions and get treasures. And it’s competitive in that you are trying to be the best so that you can end up with the franchise within Acquisitions Inc. I have to imagine that the whole of the story is going to be goofy, and it sounds like there is a lot to unlock so that is exciting as well.

2 -Middara: Unintentional Malum

A huge box with two more huge boxes on the way. I give that as my excuse for not getting it to the table sooner, I want Acts II and III to show up as well. But really, it’s just such a table hog and such a big game, I am not sure that I want to play it solo, but I really do want to play it.

Middara has more of an anime style to it’s game look. The artwork, and from what I can tell, the world building and story look fairly anime. It is going to be a leveling up, dice chunking, monster fighting, dungeon crawling game. And I think it’s going to be one that I find to be a lot of fun to get to the table and play. But like I said, I suspect the game would work best with four players, or two players controlling two characters each.

1 – Stars of Akarios

Call me cult of the new if you want, and it’d be fair in this case. But I am excited to plays Stars of Akarios. This is a big space exploration and adventure game. What really intrigues me is how it is split into two parts. There is that space exploration and then you can be down on an planet as well. That is intriguing.

It also looks like it uses a combination of cards for modifying your attacks and things but also uses dice. And just the production quality on the game is great. While it is a big game, compared to some of the others, it looks like it should be easier to play solo. And I want to get it to the table and play it on Malts and Meeples.

Final Thoughts

I say this almost any time I talk about a campaign game. And I feel like I can redo this list in different ways pretty often. But I have a lot of them coming in. 15 more campaign games in fact, which is a lot. Now some can be played as more of a one off situation such as Primal: The Awakening. Otherwise might be smaller sit down and play a campaign of it in a sitting, Spire’s End: Hildegard. But most of them are going to be much much bigger than that.

Just to show everything that is coming, and there is a lot, in alphabetical order, we have:

1. The 7th Citadel
2. Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread
3. Chronicles of Drunagor
4. Divinus
5. Ehterfields
6. Frosthaven
7. HEL: The Last Saga
8. ISS Vanguard
9. Mythwind
10. Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood
11. Primal: The Awakening
12. Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies
13. Spire’s End: Hildegard
14. Valor & Villainy: Lludwik’s Labyrinth
15. Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters

What campaign games do you own, if any, that you want to get played?

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Miniature Market Orders

Yes, it is plural. Though two of them are closely tied together. And the latest one was because they had a very nice sale for the 4th of July week, or the week leading into it.

Massive Darkness and Expansions

This one you’ve already seen on the website because I did an unboxing of it on Malts and Meeples. You can checkout that video below. I didn’t get this one on Kickstarter but I was very interested in it. Any game with a campaign mode is going to interest me. Plus this is generally a pretty well rated game, even the original version. So it is one that has been on my radar for a little while. And I want everything for it, but I know I don’t need it. So I got two character expansions and then the core box and the campaign box because of course I want a campaign game.

Fireball Island: Wreck of the Crimson Cutlass and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bees

This is part of the sale. I want to say that they were 33-50% off so a good amount. And this is just going to add in more content for Fireball Island. The Wreck of the Crimson Cutlass actually adds to the board this ship wreck area that is cool. And the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bees is an expansion that adds a tiger that you launch as well as then a lot of bee marbles.

Once it is in, I am going to make it a priority to table Fireball Island. I think it’s going to be a fun one for a number of groups. Plus it looks great on the table and is a simple enough game for almost any group. That combination is always a good way to get a game played.

The Quacks of Quedlinburg: Herb Witches

I enjoy The Quacks of Quedlinburg a good amount, I think that the game play is simple and fun. And while you can plan, you are really just pushing your luck, which is fun. I do think that out of the box, since they want you to play specific combinations, it might end up being a bit limited. That is where the Herb Witches expansion comes in.

The Herb Witches is going to be an expansion that adds in two more ingredients, I believe, that you can use, plus more scoring combinations. And while the new ingredients will change up the game play. I don’t know how much I really need more of those. But more ways to score is interesting to me.

All Systems Go

All Systems Go, as a reminder, is my preferred FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) though not the only one that I go to, as you’ll see. But I currently have had a bunch of store credit there, so it is a good spot to get some games.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

You know that I am playing the 2nd edition over on Malts and Meeples. But while I am getting into that, I bought up the first edition stuff. Someone had traded in the Mummy core box and the Wrath core box, including the Wrath with all the story expansions for it. So I grabbed that to go along with my Skulls and Shackles core box. Now I have basically all of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game that is out there. There is a 2nd Edition expansion that I kind of want to get.

Ra

Ra is a game that flirts with my Top 100 often. Why, because it’s such a simple game but with a good auctioning mechanic. I really like how there is a closed market and a loop to it. I bid, I win the bid, I get the bid token in the middle, mine goes into the middle. So if I bid with the 16, I think that’s the highest, now the next person to win a big will end up with a 16 to use the next round. It’s clever and it works well.

Zoo-ography

This is one that I don’t know too much about. It plays from 1-4 players and 15 minutes per player. So the game is going to be on the lighter end of things. But it looks like it comes with a lot of cool animal meeples, always a good thing. And it is a drafting game. I really enjoy drafting, see games like Draftosaurus, Sushi Go! Party, or drafting in Blood Rage. So this one with a lot of cute components really interested me.

New York Zoo

And sticking to the zoo theme and animal meeples, we have New York Zoo. This is a polyominal game where you are getting tiles to put into your zoo. Then getting animals and breeding more animals until you get enough to put in attractions. It seems like a pretty straightforward game like Zoo-ography, but one that will also get played. Plus much like drafting, I enjoy tile placement, and New York Zoo seems like a fun theme for that mechanic.

Target

So, every July, at some point in the month, Target rolls out some Target exclusive games. Most notably in that was Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion a few years ago and then Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition last year. I don’t know when that is happening this year or what the games are. But I do know that they often do clearance on games right before. So I picked up one new, and one clearance.

My Hero Academia: Plus Ultra!

I don’t actually know anything about this game. My Hero Academia is an anime that I enjoy but I struggle to watch consistently. Mainly the main character gets way to emotional way to often. But when they have action sequences it is good. Plus there is a really good story with it. I don’t know if this board game is going to be good. It looks like it just came out, but I figured I’d give it a whirl just for the theme.

Summer Camp

And from the clearance side of things there is Summer Camp. This is a deck building game about Summer Camp, oddly enough. You are trying to go up on three different tracks. From what I know of this game, it is a pretty light game but I figured I’d give it a go. Plus it was 50% off, so the price wasn’t bad at all.

The Source

This is the other local game store. But really it’s games, comics, manga, nerdy things store. And I mainly go there to pick up manga, which I’ll be writing sometime soon about the ones that I’m reading.

Dungeon Party: Starter Pack

This is a dungeon questing, monster fighting board game where you are bouncing a quarter onto a coaster. It is purely silly but I am down for that. I might even work it into my Thursday D&D game. Make that be part of what we are doing for fighting a monster this week. Bring the characters to another dimension or something like that. I haven’t worked it all out.

But this is a game that I want to own just for the goofy nature. You probably know by now that I like my dexterity games. And I’d love to find an evening to just have some beers and play this game coming up here. I think it’ll provide a lot of laughs and a good time.

Half Priced Books

HPB is a book store mainly for used books. I’ve picked up some fun series there. And they have a game section. That is where I’ve gotten games like Tannhauser before. This time only one game caught my eye.

Periodic

This is going to be a game about the Periodic table. I know of someone who might like the game better, they have Genotype as well from Genius Games. I’ve heard good things about Periodic, so when was used there, I figured that I’d grab it. I’m not sure it’s a game for me, but we’ll see. And like I said, I think I know someone who would like the game if it isn’t for me.

eBay

Stars of Akarios

I blame the GloryHoundd discord server for this. You can join me on that discord server here. But one of their members found it on eBay with a listing that had a number of the game as a slightly better price than going through the store.

But Stars of Akarios is going to be a game of fighting and exploring on the fringes of space. But it hits so many of the words that I look for in a game. This is a narrative-driven, cooperative, campaign game that can be plays solo. I don’t know why I missed this one on Kickstarter, but I’m glad to have grabbed it now.

Amazon

Yup, Amazon has gotten a little love too. Mainly I’ll toss on a cheap game from time to time. Or sometimes Amazon is the only spot I can find something.

Skull and Shackles Expansions

This is again more Pathfinder Adventure Card game stuff. The story expansions and I think two character expansions for Skulls and Shackles. The name might not imply it, but this is the pirate base game for Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. And that is a theme that I really like. So I am curious to see how they will make that game and story work. I always want to run a pirate D&D campaign, maybe this will inspire me.

Crowdfunding

Marvel Dice Throne

This is one that came in. And it’s already gotten to the table 3 times. The downside of it being 3 times is that I still have two characters I need to play. Black Panther and Captain Marvel are waiting for their shot in the sun. I’ll have a whole lot more on this probably around the end of the week.

Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread

This is one that I just late pledged. My curiosity for the game got the better of me. I again, am a sucker for a cooperative, solo playable, narrative-driven campaign game. And Arydia promises that for me, plus some cool minis that you can customize.

Overall, this is just one of those big box games that I’m going to have to start playing as a campaign. I really want to figure out some game to play as a campaign on my own, not stream. Or maybe one that my wife is interested in, and do that once a week just for a little time. I have half of the gaming table that should be free to play on a lot of the time.

Aeon’s End: Past and Future

More Aeon’s End, I am of course going to back this. It is an interesting project though, and it is available for late pledge. But Aeon’s End Past and Future is not a big box expansion like they normally do. Normally it is the next part of the story that they are going through. This actually goes back to the past and looks to the future and you need specific sets already to be able to play it. Of course it’s mainly just more content, so I am down for that.

Deathly Thrones

Deathly Thrones is the only print and play game on the list. This one is interesting, though because it’s not a roll and write game. It’s a solo print and play roguelike game where you use a deck of cards. I didn’t look into it too much, again it is one that was shared to me via the GloryHoundd Discord server. But I think it looks really interesting and unique. If it can pull off a fun game, I could see having this a smaller sized game to pull out and play.

GameNerdz

I said it was a big list and a lot of it is that it has been a while since I’ve done one of these. I don’t believe that I’ve written about this one.

Vampire the Masquerade – Chapters

This is another one of those games where I wish that I’d backed it on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter hasn’t even fulfilled yet and the regret got me, especially since I found it too late to late pledge. Or found it again too late to late pledge. This is going to be another one of those big story driven cooperative solo campaign games set in the world of Vampire the Masquerade.

What intrigues me so much about this one is that it has story and the story from Vampire the Masquerade where it isn’t just vampires chomping necks and sucking blood. But there’s this whole code of what you do. And then you get down to a tactical level map where you can interactions with people and battles that happen which is really interesting. I like that variety in what it does.

GameZenter

Another LGS (local game store) to go along with All Systems Go and The Source. All of them are very nice, I am lucky to have so many around me. And I like to buy something every time I go somewhere and play. And the GameZenter is my favorite spot to play out of the two that you can play at, GameZenter and The Source.

Spirit Island

Spirit Island is a game that I should have played sooner. And in all fairness I have yet to play it now. But it is a cooperative or solo game that has great puzzle elements to it. And it’s complex enough in what your spirit is doing to fight off the colonizers that are coming to the island. So I really want to give it a go and see how it plays. I suspect it’s going to be a game that is bigger that I really like to play solo or at two players.

Final Thoughts

That’s it, I think, that I haven’t talked about. It’s been a busy time getting in games, or getting them in soon. I need to start playing them. But I am close, still to that 100 game total which I wanted to get under for unplayed games. Granted, that number will go up a bit again soon with a few more big box games coming in. I know that Oathsworn is getting close, so I’m sure I’ll write about that in the next Point of Order.

And then other Kickstarters and Gamefound games are starting to get produced. There is a production copy that was unboxed for ISS Vanguard, so I expect that to show up October or November. And Grove is getting close as well as Tiny Turbo Cars. And I think even Spire’s End Hildegard just locked in it’s shipping addresses, though I might be off on that one. Oh, and Chronicles of Drunagor. So expect another big one coming, likely post GenCon.

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