Top 10 Games to Demo at Gen Con

10. The Hobbit: There and Back Again

I love the Middle Earth setting, but this is the only Middle Earth set game that is making my Gen Con to demo list. There is also The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. A “pandemic” style game in some ways. But I know more about that one. The Hobbit: There and Back Again, I don’t know much about it. I hope that it’s a fun and interesting game themed around The Hobbit. As board gamers, I think we have a lot of Lord of the Rings themed games that are good, but The Hobbit, not so much.

9. Crits & Tricks

Crits & Tricks is a fantasy themed trick taking game. I like trick taking so that is what drew me to this one right away. It sounds like each trick is a quest that you play out and that you win loot at the end of it. The theme founds fun and interesting. Or maybe each hand is a quest, so that is interesting and maybe as you progress through the quest, different hands, that is where the suit can change. Either way, I really like the sound of this trick taking game.

8. The Battle of the Divas

The Battle of the Divas is a game that jumped out at me because it is such a different theme for a game. I believe there is another game in this series from Salt & Pepper Games. But the idea is that it’s a two player back and forth game where you want to be the best opera diva. And it is based around actual historical opera singers, Callas and Tebaldi and their clash to be the best. So it is just exciting sounding as a very different game.

7. BattleForge: Berserker

Creative Games Studio LLC is the game company behind BattleForge. And I like the one game of theirs I’ve played. Though I need to play it more. And I am excitedly waiting for their next one Dante: Inferno to come. I think it might be shipping soon-ish. But BattleForge is a cooperative game again, which I love that they make cooperative games. But this one I don’t if it supposed to be a campaign. Either way, I want to know more about it as it comes out and Gen Con is going to be a great spot to demo it.

6. River Market

River Market seems kind of to be a third in the line of Creature Comforts and Maple Valley. Now, each of the games is different from KTBG, but there is a similar aesthetic. And the designer of River Market is Roberta Taylor who is the designer of Cafe Baras, a cafe capybara game. I think that game is light and fun, so I am excited to see what this game can be.

5. Tea Witches

Manny Vega and Sandara Tang are two people working on Tea Witches. If that seems familiar they also did the design and artwork, respectively, for Flamecraft. That’s the game about little dragons who help around town. So a new game with Sandara Tang’s artwork is always going to interest me. I don’t know much about the game play, but it’s tea, it’s witches, and the artwork gives me a vibe of Little Witch Academia, so I’m all in for it.

4. Camp Grizzly

Camp Grizzly is a game that is already out. And if you want to buy it now, it is going to cost you around $600 on ebay. What is this game? It’s a horror movie themed game, or horror themed game in the theme of classic horror movies set at camps. The artwork on it looks great, and I love horror films. So the idea of this theme is really interesting and exciting to me. And it is one that I did look, a year or ago or so, on ebay to see about getting it. But it is crazy expensive. So I think it is coming back to crowdfunding and when it does, I’m very interested.

3. Class of ’89

Paverson games is making a name for themselves. I have the game Luthier which is coming and that looks amazing. But their first game, Distilled, is really popular and is on my shelf to get played. Class of ’89, though, does seem like a little different game. This is a game about making a year book. And that itself sounds lighter as a theme. But it is also a theme that sounds like a ton of fun. So I want to know more about their next project. And I really hope that I like it because I really love the theme.

2. Viking Route

Viking Route I think was on my most anticipated games coming to crowdfunding or maybe coming this year. But now at Gen Con is the time to demo it. This is a ship sailing game but it uses a mechanism for navigating your ship that I think sounds great. What is that mechanism? Magnets. You play magnets around the board to move the ship and affect the way the compass is pointing. That mechanism is in another game that I own and I need to get played.

1. Mystic Curling Club

So after so many amazing sounding games, how is it that Mystic Curling Club is the top of the list? One word, curling. I love watching curling as a sport. And I want at some point in time in my life to do some casual curling. And yes, where I live doing some casual curling is a possibility because the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro has multiple locations with curling. But this is going to be a dice flicking game witch magical powers in it as well. This sounds silly and fun and I love the theme so it is easily my #1 game to demo at Gen Con.

Final Thoughts

As always, I wish I was going to Gen Con. I think that all of these games sound wonderful to play. And there are a ton of different and unique things among them. So someone want to check them out for me and let me know their thoughts?

But out of all of these, the one that I want to try the most is Mystic Curling Club. But as I say that, I think I am apt to just buy that one for the theme no matter what. So I think that The Battle of the Divas is the one that I want to see and try the most because I am less likely just to buy that one sight unseen. Even then, if I can find it or it’s predecessor cheap, I think I may pick it up. I play games at two players fairly often, so a two player only game is pretty easy to get to the table.

What is your most anticipated game to demo at Gen Con?

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5 Crowdfunding Games Coming Soon

5. Vampire the Masquerade Chapters

This one is already out, not that it’s already on crowdfunding, but the game is already out. I am already playing this game and loving it. But there are some issues, mainly there is a lot more errata than you’d like to see for a big campaign game. Some things don’t lead where they should, and the story books work well, but they are creating a better solution.

So if you want an improved upon version of this Vampire story adventure RPG in a box game. It is coming back at the end of the month. That said, I’m going to have to see if they have an errata pack and what the timeline is for that. I’ll probably get it, but I expect it’ll show up after I’m done with the campaign.

4. Dragonbond Quest

Next up is Dragonbond Quest. This is from the Sadler brothers who made a Warhammer version of this as well as a Terrinoth version for Fantasy Flight. They’ve since branched out and done their own thing. Now they are working with Draco Studios to make another game in their Dragonbond setting. They are working with Logan Giannini who has worked with Chip Theory Games.

I’m definitely curious about this one. The Terrinoth and Warhammer versions are fun. But I want to see what they add to the game and how they build upon it. I’m hoping with Giannini helping on it, it’ll be developed into something a bit bigger. But one that I’ll want to track down some game plays.

3. Guns of the Old West

Until I looked today I didn’t know Guns of the Old West was a thing, not it should arguably be the top one on the list. This list just isn’t really in much of an order. At least when it comes to the Top 3.

Guns of the Old West looks like a big old west campaign adventure game. I don’t know a ton beyond that, I see cards, I see dice, and I see what looks like is going to be a very big game. So it’s definitely my type of game. The thing that is holding it down is that it’s a 2-8 player game. That’s a very high high end player count. And it doesn’t have solo, which is how I play so many games.

2. Wandering Galaxy

Next up is Wandering Galaxy. This uses a system that is finally getting more use. Freelancers last year, Wandering Galaxy coming to crowdfunding this year, Plaid Hat Games is putting out another game using their crossroads system. The original was Dead of Winter which is a fun game, but one that is not in my collection aymore.

Wandering Galaxy feels like it’s going to be a wacky fun adventure which is what I’m looking for. I get a bit of Space Dandy feel to it, maybe some Cowboy Bebop, but if you’ve watched Space Dandy, you know how goofy that can be. So I am very excited for Wandering Galaxy to hit crowdfunding.

1. Dante: Inferno

Finally is Dante: Inferno. This is from the same company that did Chronicles of Drunagor, a game that I want to come back to at some point in time. This looks like it’s going to be a big game again and there are some game plays out there now that I need to check out.

The question, as always, is do I need another big game in my collection. The answer is most asuredly not, but I still want it. So if the videos look fun on it, or with Guns of the West, I’m going to have to spend some time considering.

Which to Back?

I’ll have to end up seeing if I back any of these. But the last three in particular are really interesting to me. If I hadn’t already gotten a copy of Vampire The Masquerade Chapters that would be really high for me as well. That’s the one, because I’ve played it, that I recommend people look into, I really like the simplicity of the system and the fun of the story that we’ve played thus far.

From the top three, right now Wandering Galaxy is probably my top one. Guns of the West would be if it had solo play. Now it might be that it kind of does have solo play. If the game is cooperative, well, then you can control multiple characters and make it solo, but because they don’t say that, now I need to dig into it more to know for sure.

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