Games Played at Gen Con 2022

Lost Ruins of Arnak

There are a few games that I have had on my shelf where I need to play my copy. Lost Ruins of Arnak from CGE was one of those games. And I got to play two games of it at Gen Con, including one full game. Needless to say, and if you saw the video, I liked it. It is a good game with interesting worker placement, light deck building and a great theme. I was worried that it might be more worker placement than I want, and while everything is mechanical, the theme makes it fun.

Ready Set Bet

This is one that is new, not even out yet. Ready Set Bet is a real time horse racing and betting game. One person is the caller who rolls the dice and shouts out horses as they move forward. The other players, in real time, are putting down bets on horses and trying to make the most money. You can rotate who the caller is, but the game goes so fast, and it is a fun role, that when I played it one person called.

This is a great con game. Everyone is around the table getting excited and shouting or getting into it. And you almost need to stand around the table so you can toss in your bids. It’s clever and fun and plays fast. And I could see getting this one and playing it a few times in an evening and having a great time.

Jekyll vs Hyde

This one I played twice as well. Jekyll vs Hyde is a trick taking game but with a twist or two. Firstly, it’s two player with one person being Jekyll and the other Hyde. The person who is Jekyll wants to keep the number of tricks as even as possible. Win too many or lose too many and Hyde advances on the board to the monster side. The Hyde player wants to get that difference up to get across the board. It is a fun idea and feels different, plus who top suit is determined for a trick is interesting as well. Not a two player trick taking game I need, but one I’d gladly play.

First Rat

First Rat has a silly but great theme. The moon is obviously made of cheese and you are rats trying to build a rocket to get to the moon. It is an interesting game where you are pushing your rat meeples up a track. You can push one up fast, unlock more rats or you can go slower and try and combo getting resources to build your rocket.

What you do on your turn is simple. You move one rat up to 5 spaces, or two rats up to 3 spaces as long as they end on the same color. But just that is a great puzzle. Plus how you pick what you do and what you’re going for works really well. It is a game that I wouldn’t have tried if it weren’t for Gen Con.

Draftosaurus

A game I already know I love and I own everything for. This was later one of the days at the con. I wanted to play a game but most of the bigger ones were either shut down as they take too long or already in the swing of things. Draftosaurus was easy to just sit down and play. The game is so light, but still it’s a lot of fun to play.

NFL Five

One that I demoed and came home with because if you demoed you got a demo copy. This is basically a way to sell packs of football cards, and specific ones, for the game. I describe it was rock paper scissors but instead of there being a tie option, you just need to watch. So it’s a guessing game that you can mess around with a little bit. It’s very light and just fine, but it was free and it was open for demoing so why not give it a shot.

Catapult Feud

Another one I own, this was me wanting to set down my bag after I bought Burncycle. Catapult Feud is fun, it’s fun building the castles and launching balls to try and knock it over. The game is barely there, but the toy factor is so high, who even cares.

Fit to Print

This is one that I believe was on my too demo list. Fit to Print is about making your best front page for a newspaper and scoring points based off of that. It was fun, and interesting because of the real time aspect to it. You start out picking out tiles which are articles, pictures, and ads for your paper. Then when you’re ready you try and set-up your layout as fast as possible to score the most points.

The game is simple and fun, and the real time element that didn’t bother me. I think because the feeling wasn’t intense. I had three minutes to do everything. But I never felt like there is too much time pressure on it. Nor is it like Fuse where it is always counting down. It’s fast moving and light fun, but the real time doesn’t add stress.

Spicy

Spicy was a bit of a miss for me. This is a bluffing game where you put down cards of different spices and they need to go up in numerical order, though you can skip numbers, but always ascending. You need to call out when someone lays down a bluff. Playing with masks makes the game trickier. And at three it was just okay. For me, the concept of the game and what it pulled off was less interesting than a bluffing game like Skull.

Galaxy Trucker

Here’s another game with a real time element that I like. I wanted to demo the new version of it, which I did. And I don’t really feel the need to upgrade my copy. Nothing seemed to have changed too much, so might as well keep what I have. I enjoy Galaxy Trucker because again it’s a real time game or a game with real time elements, but one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. And then if you are lucky, you can build up your ship so it won’t blow up, if you are lucky.

Let’s Dig for Treasure

A push your luck game. This one is very simple, you pull cards until either an evil skeleton gets you or pull up two worm cards. But you can bank your points whenever you want. The artwork on the game is fun, and as the person who demoed it said, it’s a restaurant or bar game. One that’s small enough you can take it along and pull out and play easily. Not much thought or strategy to it, but it works well enough.

FYFE

This is a random game that I got to try because the table was open. It reminds me a bit of Village Green and Calico. You are putting down discs to complete different scoring objectives in rows and columns. But you need to think about rows and columns so that you can score as many things as possible. It gets tricky as you start to have limited options to fill in and now which thing do you think it’s more likely to be able to get and score. Not one I needed to add to my collection but not a bad game.

Knights of the Hound Table

This is a small game that I was tempted to pick up. Knights of the Hound Table is a head to head battler. You put down one hound as an attacker, one as your defender, and one for their power. Then you compare, take damage and buy cards to improve your deck of hounds. The artwork is cute on the game, the game play with picking which power to use is interesting. Better for a small box head to head game than I expected.

Village Rails

I mentioned Village Green, Village Rails is from the same company and it shows. You are making rail routes to score points. Keeping track of where the tracks are going is trickier than what is in Village Green. But you don’t have the column and row scoring in Village Rails. So it is slightly easier, I’d say, and just as fun. Plus the artwork on the cards is amazing and the game itself felt pretty relaxing. A small box game I’d want to add to my collection.

Coatl

Not a new game but Coatl is about building out your best Coatl to score points. The game play is fine, it is basically collect pieces then build out your Coatl. I wish that the game would move slightly faster than it does because of how light it is. The toy factor is fun, but that is not enough for me to really recommend this game. It is more going to be one of those fine gaming experience that I’d play again but wouldn’t seek out.

Flamecraft

Flamecraft was only there for demo, I was kind of hoping it’d be there for sale. But Flamecraft is a worker placement game with dragons. You are trying to collect resources to improve shops and end up with the favor in the end. How you play is simple, you either go to a place and collect resources or to fulfill a contract. What makes this game is the artwork. I wish I had backed it for that, and now that I’ve played it, at least a few rounds, I suspect I’ll add it because of how cute it is.

Starship Captains

A new game from CGE, I snuck my way into a game the first day. And I got to play the full game which is nice. It is an action selection game where you build up a little bit of an engine, fly around, and try and complete contracts and defeat space pirates. The game moves quite fast, I would say too fast, though that’s probably a good sign that it leaves you wanting to do more and to try again to do even more.

Meadow

Meadow is one that I knew I wanted to see because it’s pretty. But looking at it and watching the GloryHoundd play of it, I thought it likely wasn’t for me. You can watch their video below. But the game itself was fun to sit down and try. I’m still torn on it because it’s a very thinky and pretty game. I am worried that AP would set in too much if I picked it up. I even found myself having to think through what I was doing for a bit. It’s one I’d love to try again though.

Asking for Trobils

Another one that was played on the GloryHoundd Youtube channel. You can see that play below. A worker placement game that is very light but a good amount of fun. You are basically building up traps and things to get Trobils which are worth points. Two players was fine with the game, I feel like it’d do a bit better with more and with a tighter board where you bounce each other more.

Twilight Inscription

One of the big games I wanted to try out at Gen Con. This is a 2 hour roll and write game based in the world of Twilight Imperium. It delivers on what it promises. And I don’t think that the game is too difficult to follow. There is just a lot later in the game when you get a ton of resources to spend and figuring out how to do that in the most efficient way.

The game comes with four boards. So you activate one board each time, whether combat or exploration, or whatever else they might be. And you do need to do a bit of everything, but you can really focus in on how you want to score your points. A fun game that I want to add to my collection.

Dwellings of Eldervale

Another game that I own but I hadn’t played. Sitting down at Gen Con is a great way to learn a game that you don’t know or you want to know more about. Dwellings of Eldervale was a lot of fun to mess around with. The core game play is fun for it and I like that this is a worker placement game but it feels so much bigger than that. You can do a ton of big things and just have fun with it. And there is no trading in the Mediterranean.

Oathsworn: Into the Deep Woods

And yet another game that I own. Oathsworn just came in before I left for Gen Con. I was almost tempted to move it to the top of the queue but Stars of Akarios First. We didn’t do the city and story part of the game. I say city, it could be different map locations where the story is happening. But we got into the combat and that was fun.

What I really like is how you can push your luck. You can draw cards for hits and you can pick how many to draw. You can roll dice and pick how many to roll. The more you roll of the white dice the more damage you can do. But at the same time the closer you are to busting.

Hero Realms

Hero Realms is one that I played day one and bought day two. And I even got crushed when I played it. But I really enjoyed the lighter deck building of the game. And I thought that it worked well for what it is. Plus it’s a two player game and battler game that is easy to learn. And the deck building combos are not hard to understand. I picked up the cooperative expansion as well which will be fun to mess around with.

Batman: Everybody Lies

I actually got this to the table last night again. But I did a prologue for it at Gen Con at an event. I’ve written and talked about it twice before. See my Highlights here for more information. But this is basically the Detective system with Batman theme from Portal Games.

The biggest change to it is adding in hidden personal goals. It means you might advocate for something for your character that you might not otherwise think about. Or that you might suspect is a red herring because it’ll answer a question for your character. It still is not competitive and the main focus is on the main case. But because of that personal goal it makes it different to play via Zoom like I did last night.

Long Shot – The Dice Game

I almost forgot that this was at Gen Con. But I’m glad I didn’t. A horse racing roll and write game, Long Shot is a lot of fun. I even picked up a copy to bring home. In this game you roll dice and move horses forward around the track. At the same time you are putting bets on horses, filling in spots on your board, and trying to be the person who has the most money at the end of the game. The whole track and physical board element of the game makes it feel different and the game isn’t that complex.

Caesar’s Empire

This is another one of those sit down and play a game because I needed something to do. And Caesar’s Empire is a just fine game. You basically are building our routes to get to cities and score points. The two player game needs a slight rules clarification, possibly. But the whole idea is that you can build off of other people’s roads. Is it worth it to get some points if you are giving them more points. All you do is build onto routes each turn. The game is okay, not one that I’d recommend that highly.

Paint the Roses

Paint the Roses is a great deduction game. It is hard to explain, I feel, without the board but with the board it is easy to explain. The general idea is that you’re trying to get the garden perfect and not have the queen of hearts take off your head. But each of you have a hidden (or multiple throughout the game) things that the queen wants. It might be two red roses next to each other or a diamond and heart shaped topiary next to each other.

You place a tile on your turn and then everyone puts down their clue tokens if it matches. So if I have two red roses and I place down a red rose next to two others. I put down two cubes. Basically giving information that I have two matches. And everyone puts down their clues. Then you need to make a guess on someone’s card. If you get it right you move ahead and the queen of hearts moves ahead one. If not, she moves head faster. Really great puzzle that I want to play again now.

Mythic Mischief

Probably one of the hotter games of the con, I got to play Mythic Mischief in a two versus two game. I suspect I’d like it better as a one versus one game. I also suspect I’d like it better in the blitz mode where you only can take so much time to do your turn.

Mythic Mischief is an abstract game with some fun powers and cool characters. But it’s also a game that induces a ton of AP (analysis paralysis) and for me that knocked the game a lot. The game just isn’t heavy enough to make it worth the amount of time and thought. If I want something like that, I want a big game, not this lighter heavily produced game.

Final Thoughts

I did what I wanted to do, I played a ton of games. I believe that is maybe up to 29 plays and 27 games? But either way, it is a lot and I had so much fun with it. I do want to do a Top 10 list of all of those games, see which my top ones were. So expect to see that tomorrow most likely.

What were the top games that you got to see if you went to Gen Con? And in particular, which ones were the top you got to play or demo?

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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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Thankfully, it isn’t something you need to be alone on. And there are a few things that make it easier if you want. The standard way or just reading through a rule book most certainly won’t work for everyone. And some of my favorite games, Lords of Hellas, or games from companies that I like, Mythic Games, consistently come with poor rule books. So how do you get around all of that?

Watch A Video

It might sound odd, but there are a lot of content creators that teach you how to play games. Meeple University, Watch It Played, and more. All of them go through and teach you the game. They might not teach you the solo mode or variant rules, but they will teach you a game. And this might be the best way for you to learn, depending on your learning style.

But beyond those videos, also watch a game play. GloryHoundd always disclaims that they do “Should You Play” videos not “How to Play” because they might get rules wrong. And yes, watching a game play, someone will likely get a rule wrong. But it should give you a general idea of the game, and what is what you want. It should show you general turn structure, and basic actions of the game. Game plays are probably supplemental to reading the rule book versus fully learning, but I recommend always reading the rules.

Play As You Go

As you go through the rule book, set-up the game and play along as you go. Get used to what the actions look like on the board. Even if you don’t fully understand it, start messing with the pieces. I tend to be a fairly hands on learner. That means, for me, that reading a rule book is how I often learn, but if I can mess around with the pieces, it sticks better.

Even if you read through the rules, and even with a competitive game, set-up the game and mess around with it. Get your hands on the pieces and the mechanics of the game. Play out a few hands or turns to see how it works. Once you do that, it’ll likely help your retention as well as give you examples for when you teach the game.

Use Board Game Geek

This one isn’t going to be the most obvious for a lot of people. Board Game Geek might not even be something you’re that familiar with. It is basically IMDb for board games. But the nice thing is what they have a “files” section. This might have better written fan rules that clarify and clean up rough rule books. It might have condensed rules just to get you going. Or it might have player aids to make things easier.

Not all games will have this. But some might, and if a game is too complex or just doesn’t make that much sense, Board Game Geek, might be your best bet. I know there is a solo game Rat Catcher, which I own, and the rules are bad. But there are better rules on Board Game Geek. So this is maybe a spot to go once you know that the rules don’t teach the game well.

Learn More Board Games

Finally, learn more games. One of the best ways to get better at learning games is to learn more games. The more rule books you get your hands on, the more games that you play around with, the more common rules things are easier to pick up on. A worker placement game, you aren’t learning what worker placement is. You just get that naturally and you learn the differences in games.

You also start to learn what matters for teaching a game. What might be an exception to the rules that needs to be taught at the start versus what is an exception that can be taught in the moment. The whole goal is to be able to understand the rules faster. And the more you read rules, the more you start to get through them faster and retain more.

Final Thoughts on Learning A Board Game

This is one of those situations where I wish that there was always a simple way to learn a game. And I love it when games offer a tutorial. Sleeping Gods and Tainted Grail, both give you that away to get your hands onto the components as you learn the game. If you watched my Sleeping Gods play through, you can see that I started with that.

Now, they aren’t perfect ways to learn a game. And a tutorial is generally only meant to teach you the basics of the game. But it is really nice when they are there. Then you really only need to learn the extra things and do the tutorial. Like I said, for me, getting my hands on a game and the pieces helps things stick for me. But that might not be what is best for you. Watch It Played, Meeple University, or Jon Gets Games might be better, but known your learning style and learn more games.

What do you find most helpful?

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Why Go Through This Crowdfunding?

I think that it is interesting, every now and again to look back at what I’ve backed. And there are a number of games out there. But the interest is often tied to how my gaming tastes have changed. What did I back on Kickstarter when I started in 2014 and what am I backing now.

It provides an interesting opportunity to see that growth. Normally, you get a game and it leaves and there is no way to track it. I could go through Amazon, CoolStuffInc, and Miniature Market Purchases, but a lot of those are more recent. Kickstarter and now Gamefound give you a history of what you’ve backed over that longer period of time.

Plus Jesse from Quackalope went through his backing history, shorter, but larger than mine, with Devon from Devon Talks Tabletop. He had something like 225 games to go through and that’s almost a five hour video. I should have known that mine would take longer than it did. I thought probably two hours would be enough, it is not.

The Drink

Last nights drink was a Negroni. Back to a classic for me. I really like the flavor and it is a good summer drink. With how large I made it, I wish I’d started streaming and sipping on it sooner, but the flavor is always good. It’s also a nice mixed drink to make because it’s a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio with gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari.

Upcoming Streams

So, clearly I have some more to talk about here with Kickstarter and Gamefound. My hope is that it’ll be about an hour and a half to finish up with no thunderstorms. So that is going to be on Monday at 8:30. Then on Wednesday, I plan on playing some more Paper Dungeons. Like I said, I want to get through that campaign. While I am working on an idea for a bigger game in the roll and write campaign space, you can see my Designer Diary here, I want to finish off the one that I already have.

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124-101

100 – 76

75 – 51

Unplayed Board Games 50 – 26

50: Arboretum

This is an abstract game about planting trees. What interests me so much in this one is that you play out cards to build up your arboretum, and you score points for having trees go in ascending order. But in order to score a type of tree, you need it in your h and at the end of the game. So do you risk it that you might not get a tree of the type you need in order to complete a longer route and score more?

49: Call To Adventure: The Stormlight Archive

Call To Adventure comes in a few different flavors. There is the base game which is generic fantasy. That has an expansion for Patrick Rothfeuss Kingkiller Chronicles. And while I do like that series, I knew there was a Stormlight Archives version coming out, so I waited for it. I love the setting of the game, and I think a game where you are building up your characters story is cool.

48: 7 Wonders Duel

I got this one a while ago using store credit after a trade. And the game I think is going to be fun and probably better for me than 7 Wonders which I think is just okay. This does a lot of the same things, drafting, fighting, and science, but all in a two player package. And you can win by doing more than just getting points. Though, points are one way to win. Get one of each science card, you automatically win. Push the combat all the way to your side, automatically win. I like that a lot.

47: The Dragon Prince: Battlecharged

And now we’re back to another IP (intellectual property) that I really like. The Dragon Prince is a great show. And this is a two player battling game. You put together games of characters to face off against each other in battle. Looks some like Super Fantasy Brawl with card play determine a lot of what you do.

46: Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler Game

It’s one of a couple roll and writes on this part of the list. Paper Dungeons as it says is a Dungeon Scrawler. So it is going to give you a bit of that dungeon crawling feeling all while being in a roll and write package. I hope that between it, Doodle Dungeons, Deadly Doodles (which I know I like) and Drawn to Adventure, I’ll have some fun adventure focused roll and writes.

45: Yggrasil Chronicles

This is a bigger box game, some of that though, is because it comes with a tree. One that you put together, and then it’s a cooperative game where you are trying to protect Yggdrasil, possibly, my knowledge of this one is limited. But the game looks like a lot of fun, and I know that the original is really challenging. Plus a giant 3d tree that rotates is cool.

44: Forgotten Waters

Forgotten Waters is a campaign game that I wish I played already. It’s gotten bumped down the list a little just because I’m playing more in person. But it was a good one that could be played via Zoom. In this game you are pirates on a crew working together through an adventure. There is voice acting for the story, and overall just seem like a fun time. And it uses the Crossroad card system from Dead of Winter that I love.

43: Mythic Battles: Pantheon

Definitely a big game here. I don’t have the whole Kickstarter, just the base game and Pandora’s box and that is a lot. It’s another one of those head to head battling games, like The Dragon Prince or Super Fantasy Brawl. This one is pitting Greek gods against each other. And what really intrigues me about this one is how you can pick up trees, as a god, and use them as a weapon. So the terrain is very much in play.

42: Catacombs & Castles

We go from an epic minis game to a one versus all dungeon battling game where you flick discs. And that is what intrigues me. I like dexterity games, and Catacombs & Castles seems like a lot of fun. It also seems a bit more complex, otherwise might be higher on the list. But I think if I learn the game it’ll be pretty easy and fast to teach.

41: Adventure Land

While I’ve gotten a lot of games based off of Sam Healey’s reviews on the Dice Tower, I have less based on Tom Vasel’s but Adventure Land is one. In this game you are taking out adventurers trying to get treasure. And they move across the board right and down. That means if a treasure shows up to the left or higher on the board, you might not be able to get it. So how to balance that out getting the best treasure, but still hanging back?

40: Space Base

This falls into that category of Foodies, Machi Koro, and My Farm Shop. A game where you roll dice and no matter what you get something. I like those games, and this is supposed to be the most gamer version of that. It gives you a lot to think about and you can build up some powerful combos while you try and get points. And you have more tracks to control and keep track of.

39: Chronicles of Crime

This is a deduction based game that I’m confident I’ll love. Chronicles of Crime, from Lucky Duck Games, uses an app that you can scan cards with to interrogate them and so you can actually look around the crime scene. The concept is cool and while the cases sound a bit less in depth than Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, it might work better for some people because of that.

38: Fleet: The Dice Game

Roll and write game and actually dropped further down the list than I’d have guessed. Fleet is a game about building up your fishing fleet and scoring as many points as you can. I’ve heard that it’s great for combos, which I love in roll and write games. And it’s also more complex. I think that it is going I’m going to play solo pretty often.

37: Raiders of the North Sea

Possibly the highest true euro game on the list, Raiders of the North Sea has you building up your crew and taking them out to plunder lands. What intrigues me so much about this one is that your turn you put a meeple on, and take a meeple off. You can’t do the same one twice in a row, so it gives some interesting strategy to the game. And as you push out further and plunder, you lock some meeples to those locations, but get stronger ones back.

36: Horizon Zero Dawn

Based off of the Playstation video game, Horizon Zero Down doesn’t take you through the story of the game, but it puts you out on hunts against monsters. I’m excited to see how this game works, I really like the video game, but need to play it more. And I like the idea of just going out on a hunt, and it being a scenario and then done. It’s a bigger minis game, but not a campaign.

35: Reichbusters: Projekt Vril

Now we’re onto a campaign and Reichbusters is one that I picked up because it looked like so much fun when GloryHoundd YouTube Channel played it. And I think it’s going to be amazing. I need to get the errata cards taken care of, but sneaking into bases in WWII and finding all sorts of crazy experiments going on, it’s very Hellboy. And that theme is just fun, plus it’s not just kick down the door and shoot the board game.

34: Bloodborne

Another video game board game with Bloodborne. Another one that it is a bigger game but doesn’t play over a massively long campaign. I believe this one comes together over three different plays. Or it might just be that’s how the chapters, that are in the box, come out. Still, fantasy, fighting monsters and bad guys. Story going on, and from CMON, I suspect I’m going to enjoy this one.

33: Time of Legends: Joan of Arc

And another big box game. Time of Legends: Joan of Arc is almost a miniatures game more in the lines of a Warhammer where you takes two armies up against each other. But it does away with all that measuring. And it comes down to scenarios, there are characters, NPC’s, that you can interact with. And it’s time of legends because it takes the legends from the Joan of Arc time period and historical records, so it can add in dragons and things like that.

32: The 7th Continent

The 7th Continent has been on my shelf for a while. And I need to get it played before The 7th Citadel comes in, because I suspect I’m going to like that one better. In The 7th Continent, you wake up on a continent cursed, and need to explore and find a way to break your curse. I’ve heard that the first one is tough and takes a lot of time to play. Mainly so you learn the continent, but as you do the other ones, you have more of an idea of where to go.

31: Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

The final roll and write for this list, and might be the final one overall. Dinosaur Island is a big game about building out a dinosaur park with a lot of euro mechanics. The Rawr ‘n Write is similar in that you’re building out a park. And you are trying to breed dinosaurs, it just does it in a roll and write version. So I’m very excited to give it a go. Supposed to be a heavier roll and write as well.

30: The Crew: Mission Deep Sea

The Crew is a cooperative trick taking game where you have limited communication. And while there is a space version, the Mission Deep Sea is supposed to help improve a few things. Mainly because you have missions, Mission Deep Sea makes them variable. The space one they are set. I like trick taking, and I need to play more of them.

29: Land vs Sea

Land vs Sea is a tile laying game where you are trying to complete areas of land or sea. But I care about completing land areas where as you care about sea. And the tiles are four sided, so having two in your hand gives you a lot of options. I wonder if this might replace Carcassonne when I play it. A tile laying game, but one that seems like it could be simpler.

28: Heroes of Land, Air & Sea

Now we’re back to a big game with Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea. This is a massive 4x game where you’re taking over lands, exploring new locations, fighting your opponents and building up your power. Twilight Imperium 4th Edition is a massive 4x game as well that I’d love to play set in space, but Heroes of Land, Air, & Sea just spoke to me as a 4x game I wanted to own.

27: Champions of Hara

Champions of Hara is a pretty big game, and one that seems like it will be quite unique. It seems unique because all the characters seem unique, and I like that about it. It has a fantasy feel to it, but it isn’t fantasy in the normal way. And I believe that you play the game in two parts. The first part is competitive. Then the second part, really second game, is cooperative where you work together to complete the winner of the first games story.

26: Floriferous

Final one for this part of the list is Floriferous. A set collection flower game, this one looks amazing. The artwork is great, and I like the mechanics, or how they sound. You basically draft cards from the columns. But as you draft, you place your pawn next to the spot. So the higher in the column, the next round, is going to go, then the next. Plus you are drafting scoring cards, great ways to get more points, but you’ll go last in the next round.

Final Thoughts

One more list of this, and then you’ll know about all the games i need to play. I actually had a game night this past weekend and I didn’t play any new to me games. I did have a few pulled out. But with the group, and player count, not all of them would have worked.

This part of the list also had a lot of big games in it. And while some of them might be harder to get to the table, even something that is more campaign like Reichbusters, you can play on off scenarios. So I should be able to get a number of them to the table. And some of the roll and writes, probably all of them, can be played solo.

Which one should I play first from this chunk of the list?

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Pros

• Horror Theme
• Mix and Match Final Girls and Bad Guys
• Solo Game Play
• Thematic Game Play

Cons

• Price
• Solo Only

The Page

Van Ryder Games has been doing Kickstarter and Crowdfunding games for a while. This page doesn’t disappoint in that it tells you what is going on with the game right away. The first thing it does is get you to the table very easily, which I think is one of the cooler features of the game production.

Though, I wish in that section that they talked about the game play. Granted, if you want to watch some good game play, GloryHoundd has a playthrough that they did. And you can watch that down below. The game play isn’t that much further down the page. And they do a good job of laying out everything that you can do. Plus the game is out there, this is season 2, so you can find reviews on it.

This might sound odd, but I also like that the stretch goals are at the bottom of the page. Too many pages have it in the midst of everything, which makes them harder to find. But also too much focus is placed on stretch goals. Here, they are an added bonus, not the main focus of the game. The game is done, and the stretch goals won’t add that much to game play.

The Game

Here’s the GloryHoundd Playthrough that I promised. And I will say it was one of my favorite streams of theirs to watch and to chat in. So subscribe and you can join in the chat live. But let’s talk about game play.

The game has a nice flow to it and an interesting mechanics to your action. You can play cards, but every card takes time. So the more cards you play the more time it takes. And time is used, once you are done taking actions, to purchase new cards. You then use those cards for the next turn, assuming you are alive.

Then the killer attacks based off of the character. But then also based off of a terror card that is flipped. So they activate twice and as they kill off victims they become even stronger. I like that escalation that is tied, in what feels like, into the fear you have of them. On the flip side, you rescue victims, then you can unlock an ability and become stronger.

Back or Brick

This made it to my Top 10 Hyped Crowdfunding Games for Quarter One of 2022. You can see that here. So yes, this is a Back for me. The only thing I’m disappointed in is that I didn’t back this the first time around. That would make it easy to determine what I want to get.

Right now I am backing the game for the Film Debut level. That gives the core box as well as a feature film of your choice. A feature film is one Final Girl and one Killer. So I added on two more feature films. That gives me three Final Girls and three Killers, so nine different combinations. And the randomness of the game should make even a previously played combination different.

What I don’t know is if I’ll keep the pledge at that level. Part of me wants to get Season One or Season Two and just make it simpler. That’s the core box plus five feature films. And that’d be 25 different combinations and give me a lot to play for a long time. But the question is, how much will I play. Because right now the GloryHoundd Playthrough makes me want it all.

But how about for you, is this game a back or a brick?

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Kohaku Game Play

Like I said in the introduction, Kohaku is very easy to play. You draft tiles, two of them that are adjacent. One is going to be a koi tile and one is going to be a feature tile. The koi don’t give you points themselves, unless they have a coin on them. Instead, as you place them out into a tableau in front of you, you place koi near features to help them score points. For example, a feature might give you two points for each red or yellow koi next to it or three points if they are both red and yellow.

After a number of rounds, I believe 14 in a two player game, you tally up your score. There are six, I think, different scoring features, some just being five point turtles, to more complex ones scoring for all of a color in a row and a column. At the end of the game, the person with the most points is the winner.

What Doesn’t Work?

For what this game is, there are very few things that don’t work. And what I am going to say doesn’t work is kind of a nitpicking. But the game comes with amazing acrylic tiles that have the koi and features, more on them later. But when they are shipped, there is a film on them, this is to protect them when being cut. That hurt, like fingers legitimately hurt after taking all of those off the fronts and backs in probably an hour and a half of time. So it’s trick to get to the table to start.

Then my one real complaint is the scoring track. All the scoring is done at the end, and they give you a little neoprene mat where you draft your koi and features from with a score track at top. The track doesn’t have a zero, it goes 1 through 9 and 10 through 90. If you know that, you can count it correctly. If you don’t, you’ll score it wrong going straight from 1 to 9. This would be better with a 0 on the track. But even then, it’d be much better as a score pad.

You can watch a good playthrough of this game over on GloryHoundd YouTube channel, which I have below.

What Works?

Firstly the aesthetic of the game is amazing. The tiles are beautiful. The neoprene mat, while I have issues with the scoring is very nice. And they made it as pretty as it is without taking away from the functionality of the game. You can easily see how many baby koi or dragonflies are on tiles. The scoring tiles all have their scoring printed on them. You don’t wonder what is going on as you play.

Play is also very fast. Can you spend time figuring out your perfect move, sure, but you are taking two tiles from a total of twelve. And even in that you are limited because you need to select adjacent tiles, and only orthagonally not diagonally. Plus the game is a lighter game, so it’s not one that is meant to be maxed out to the highest point total possible. I’m sure some people will, but it isn’t a game that should be.

Weight wise it reminds me of Calico, a simple game to play with a lot of scoring. The scoring in Calico restricts what you can do or what you need. It does in Kohaku as well, but because you are always drafting a feature, you open up more spots and ways to score. And through three plays, it seems like almost all the scoring tiles are about equally as good. Turtles being the worst, but being a guaranteed five points no matter what.

The game is also fast in play time. Fourteen rounds, two turns per round, took us maybe 20-25 minutes per game. For a game that gives you a good choice each turn, that is really fast. And while I don’t need to be engaged in my opponents turn, I often am. Not because they can mess me up too much, just because I can start to plan while the person before me goes.

What Do I Want To See In More Plays?

Firstly, I want to try this at a higher player count. I played Kohaku three times, but it was all at two players. And it works very well at two players, but I’m curious to see how it plays with more people. I didn’t strategize too much with blocking my opponent at two player. But I think that’d be even less of a thing with more players.

I like that Kohaku seems to let you focus more on building out your own tableau to score points versus stopping your opponent from getting stuff to score points themselves. If you try and block, you likely will tank your points too much. Instead, when you choose between two equally good things, you maybe choose the one that hurts your opponent more.

I also want to see how well this holds up over a lot of plays. I’ve played it three times in a row, and because it is so fast had a great time with it. But after 10 plays will it start to feel the same or not? I think that it could, but also I think that it might not matter as much. For example, Splendor generally seems the same to me and I got tired of it. But Splendor also takes longer. This feels as easy as Splendor but faster, and I think more interesting in the choices I make.

Kohaku Initial Impressions

This is a fun game. It is a simple game. I actually almost brought it up to family Christmas because it is a family weight game. And I could see my family liking this game because it is a pretty game to get to the table. Is this a game that I’m always going to want to play, unlikely. But I think it’ll have a spot on my shelf for a long time.

It really comes down to the scoring. While the koi and features determine some of your direction, you can try lots of different scoring ways. And to me, that experimenting with the game makes it a lot of fun. Like I said, that might end eventually with more plays. But it is a game that fits a nice niche. Games like this stick around longer because they play so well with a wide number of players.

Have you played Kohaku, what are your thoughts on it? Is it one you want to try?

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I’m going to talk a bit about each game, what drew me in and then how excited I am for the game still. Some of them have waned a lot, others, less so. And we’re going from longest outstanding to newest two games that are still active.

Crowdfunding Games

Satanic Panic

I backed this RPG when I was more into playing other RPG’s than Dungeons and Dragons. While I’ll still gladly play them, I did just sell a number because I know that I’m just going to run Dungeons and Dragons games. Satanic Panic was an interesting idea for a game, but it’s been out there since 2017 and the creator disappeared from the campaign for a long time. He did come back recently to try and finish it up, but now he’s gone missing again, but only for a few months.

The concept for this game was kind of fun and pretty unique. It basically takes the short lived Satanic Panic of the 80’s around Dungeons and Dragons and turns it into a game. It has secret government organizations who are trying to stop people from playing RPG’s, and it’s fairly meta that way.

Excitement Level: 0 out of 5 – it’s just been too long. Like I said, I’m not likely to run it anymore. I’m glad that I only backed it for the PDF level, not a print book. I also don’t have hope it’ll actually come out, though, it might.

Etherfields

This one has been out there for a while, but some of that was my choice. This is an Awaken Realms game where you are playing through dreams and unraveling a story as you go. The concept is great, and I’ve heard really good things about the game. I chose single wave shipping. That means that some people already have it, I will get it when the expansion stuff ships. It was maybe a mistake to wait but I probably wouldn’t have had time to play it.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5 – I am really looking forward to this one. But it’s been long enough that I kind of forget about it from time to time. I hope stuff ships soon, but sounds like production just started on it.

Time of Legends: Joan of Arc 1.5

I late pledged Time of Legends: Joan of Arc, so that’s why I probably haven’t talked about it before. This is more of a two player miniatures game. Though, with the 1.5 version, they did create a solo scenario or scenarios as well. This takes place, well, around the time of Joan of Arc. The twist on it is that all the legends from that time, monsters like werewolves and dragons, those are in the game.

The game isn’t my normal style of game, but I’m excited to try something different. These head to head combat scenarios that have some story to them, as well as the solo game play. This one is overdue to arrive, but sounds like production is moving along and is about ready to ship.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5 – I want this one because it is different. It’s not like anything else that I have on my shelf and I’m excited for the setting. I didn’t get the giant dragon that you can get, but everything I did get seems awesome.

Oathsworn: Into The Deepwood

Oathsworn is a big adventure game, and we know I like big adventure games. This one intrigued me because it plays in two acts. Or every scenario plays in two acts. You have the first act where you are exploring a mystery in the Deepwood or in a town. The story unfolds around you, then when you’re ready or have solved the mystery or found the boss monster, you get into a boss battle.

But it also has another cool mechanic. For all the checks you make, skill checks or attacks, you can either roll dice or draw cards to see if you get a success. The cards don’t reshuffle until you go through them all, so you know if there are good or bad cards left in the deck. And cards are safer because there are only so many blanks or failures in there. But it also limits how good it can be.

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – This one still just intrigues me. I like that boss battler aspect as well as the mystery or story driven piece. It reminds me of Tainted Grail, without the Arthurian legend stuff, but you have those two things, the combat being more tactical but still story and combat.

Village Attacks

I backed this one because it was impossible to find anywhere and I liked my play at GenCon of it in 2019 a lot. This actually funded in 2019, but we’re still waiting on shipping. I hope now that the company is shipping/delivering their other game this one will move along.

This is a tower defense game driven by scenarios. It’s a ton of fun because you are the bad guys, not the good guys. The townsfolk have come to your castle with torches and pitchforks, and you need to fend them off. Game play works really well, and while it is thematic through scenarios, it isn’t a campaign game, which is a nice thing to have, since you’ll see a lot of campaign games on this list.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5 – I’m a bit less excited, it’s been a long time without that many updates. I’m still interested in the game and think it’s going to be awesome to get to the table again. It’s a dark game in terms of artwork, but plays, for me, a bit goofier.

Frosthaven

This is the sequel to Gloomhaven, I am very excited for it. I could leave it just at that. One cool thing about this game compared to Gloomhaven is that it has an element of town building. You are in the north from Gloomhaven and it’s less settled, so you need to build a town up there. And you have to decide how to use resources to build new buildings, improve existing ones, or get items crafted.

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – I love Gloomhaven. This is going to be another massive game like it but with more, count me in.

HEL: The Last Saga

From Mythic Games and a Viking/Norse theme, I knew I was interested in this game. It’s a campaign game kind of chapter based as you are heading out to see what happened to the rest of your village. But it seems to do some cool things. This is one that I’ve been waiting on for a while, and I’m not as excited.

That said, I know when I get it I will be excited again. And it’s Mythic Games, so they make a lot of really cool games. My big concern is that basically all their games end up needing errata, and I hope that because this is being a bit delayed from it’s timeline they’re putting extra effort into that.

Excitement Level 3 out of 5 – It’s Norse and it’s a campaign. I’m very interested in it, and it seems mythical in nature.

The Reckoners: Steelslayer

This is an expansion for a game that I need to play still. I should get The Reckoners off of the shelf soon. But I’m still really excited for Steelslayer because I really like the book series a lot that it’s based on. And it’s a really tough cooperative game that this expansion is supposed to help with some of the balancing.

Now, I don’t mind really tough cooperative games. In fact, that’s what I like to play a lot of, I don’t want to win too often. This expansion though adds in other bosses from the different books besides Steelheart and I’m excited for that. Plus other epics, evil superheroes, to play around with as well.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. This one for me is all about the cooperative game play and the theme. 3 might not seem like that excited, but I am very excited for it because it is something different and it’s a game that should be easier to get off the shelf.

The 7th Citadel

I still need to play The 7th Continent, it’s been on my shelf for too long. That said, I am more excited for The 7th Citadel. Why, because it has more story to it, it seems. Every time I watched someone play through the opening scenario as the campaign was on Kickstarter, I was more and more interested in it.

I love the idea of the exploration in The 7th Continent, but I know that it’s less story focused and the mechanics while good aren’t always amazing. But the exploration and map building is really cool, and this game has that as well and cleans up some of the mechanics it seems. Plus, did I mention that there is more story, I’m always in for more story.

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – it’s high excitement, and I’d even forgot that it was coming. But the mechanics of the game seem fun, and did I mention story?

Project L + Finesse

This one is kind of different than most on the list, and I believe it’s shipping now. This is an engine building Tetris-esque game, that’s the only way I can describe it. You are collecting Tetris like pieces to fill in shapes on cards and when you fill them in, they give you points and more shapes to use to fill in more cards.

The game play seems like it’ll be a good one to play with my wife, family, and at game nights with most anyone. Plus the pieces are amazing. This one falls outside of what I normally back, but when a game looks like a ton of fun, I’m going to back it.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I am hard pressed to be as excited for it as a campaign game, but I want this one to play with friends more casually.

ISS Vanguard

This one, another one from Awaken Realms, spoiler, is the one I’m most excited for. This game has you exploring planets, fighting monsters, maybe, finding out secrets of the universe as well as then maintaining and traveling on your ship. It’s a grand game that looks to tell a fascinating story in an very open universe.

There is a signal that has been sent across the cosmos, Humanity has translated it and it’s coordinates that seem to lead towards nothing. But of course, we’re curious so we fly out there, and find a puzzle that just needs to be solved. This seems like a very ambitious and grand game, but if any company can pull it off, Awaken Realms can.

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5. The story just intrigues me. I love the idea of the ship phase where you upgrading your ship, researching things, and dealing with crew events. Plus the planets seem so unique and interesting.

Dice Tower 2021

This isn’t so much a game, though I did pick up a few promos for Lords of Hellas I believe with it. But I mainly backed it to help support a YouTube channel that I love. But also beyond that to get a plush dog that is in the shape of D4, I believe. That’ll go with a D4 cat and a D20 panda that I’ve gotten from their Kickstarters.

Excitement Level: 2 out of 5. It’s low, but that’s because I mainly backed it to help support. But now thinking about Lords of Hellas promos, I want to play that game again.

Primal The Awakening

This is basically Monster Hunter the board game, minus the fact that Steamforged Games actually did Monster Hunter the board game. But this one is much better value in terms of what you get at the base pledge. Combat seems to be less tactical or at least less roaming across the map.

Primal was interesting and is interesting because it can either be a campaign style game, or you can just do a one off fight against a monster. And even the campaign I don’t think is that long. Game mechanics seem solid as it’s about placement and I like how the monster activates.

Excitement Level: 3 of 5. This game is going to have amazing minis, so I need to learn how to paint. That said, the game is still really interesting to me, just less excited because less story than some.

Alba

This one is kind of different from everything again. It reminds me a bit of the Graphic Novel Adventures that Van Ryder games has come out with. But it’s not a graphic novel, more a novel. So it might be more like some of the puzzle books that I have. It just seems bigger and more story driven than a lot of those.

Alba caught my attention because it was talked about on the GloryHoundd YouTube channel, and it seemed different and unique. It’s also one of those things that I hope when it comes I can just do a little bit of it to unwind at the end of the day before I go to bed, at least that’s how I plan on using it.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. Again, it’s something different, I think it’s going to be cool for what it is, and that’s going to be something I can relax and do to unwind.

Zombicide: Undead or Alive

I wasn’t ever all that interested in Zombicide. I had Green Horde for a little bit because I won a copy of it. But Undead or Alive drew me in because of the western theming. I love the idea of Weird West stuff, if anyone has a book recommendation in that genre let me know, and this gives me that.

Also, I’ve heard that Zombicide generally improves with every version. So it’s a game that I’ve kind of wanted to try but never was too interested in. This version is the one that sucked me in, though, because of the theme.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. I don’t know where this is going to fit on the shelf, but I’ll figure that out when it comes in. It’s definitely going to be a fun scenario based game to get to the table.

Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

You saw me play through Aeon’s End Legacy on Malts and Meeples. This is another Legacy version of Aeon’s End, and I’m here for that. It should be hitting the US soon and probably deliver before the end of the year, so one of them that’s coming the soonest.

Aeon’s End is a cooperative game where you fight monsters that are coming through breaches. Aeon’s End Legacy was a fun version of that with some story, and they’ve done story in the subsequent expansions. This one returns to that narrative focus but also stickers to put on cards and ways to create your mages yourself.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I really liked Aeon’s End Legacy, it was 28 in my Top 100 list this year. It’s a great way to learn the game, I hope that this time it’s bit more in-depth a story and legacy elements.

Tiny Turbo Cars

When Horrible Guild puts a game onto Kickstarter, I generally take notice. They did Potion Explosion which I love with great toy factor. They have Similo which is a fun party game. Tiny Turbo cars is completely different than that. You basically program RC cars to go as fast as possible and race across your house.

The little slider puzzle for how you maneuver your cars is great. Like Potion Explosion this game is going to have a lot of toy factor, I hope that the game isn’t too difficult to play, but I think it’s going ot be a bit like Galaxy Trucker where it is chaotic, but the real time piece and the chaos will add to the fun of the game.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I just want to have a silly good time with this game.

Super Fantasy Brawl Round 2

This was an instant back for me, because I really like Super Fantasy Brawl. So getting more characters is amazing. Now, I need to fix the storage in the base box because it sucks. But when I do that, I can store everything in one giant box which will be great.

Super Fantasy Brawl is a two player head to head battling and objective completing game. You are racing to get to 5 points either by knocking your opponents out or, well objectives. It’s fun to draft your team and just see what you can manage to get done. The big box already has a good number of characters, 12 I believe, and this adds in even more.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I’ve only played this game with one friend, I really need to introduce it to more, because I can see a number of my friends liking it. And maybe I should get the playmat so that I can have two games going at once and do a tournament.

Marvel United X-Men

I don’t know where I’m going to store this game. It has so much coming for it. I do already have the base box of this one that I need to play. But I’m really excited, the game is so easy to get to the table, and I feel like it’s a great Marvel game that anyone can sit down and play. You grab some heroes, some bad guys and just get going so fast.

Plus, there were about one million minis unlocked. Okay, that might be a bit high, but it’s over one hundred which is a ton. And I get to play as Gambit which is very exciting to me because I love Gambit. Another game that has me needing to learn how to paint minis.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I haven’t played through everything in Marvel United, and that’s okay, I still want more because it’s so easy to just grab a character and go. I need a way to display all the minis though.

Canvas + Reflections

This is actually a reprint. Canvas is a game about creating weird paintings to score points. You can either optimize what you are doing to get points or you can just make cool paintings as you layer cards. Clear cards is always a cool gimmick and I like it it Gloom. This one gives it an artistic flair.

This is another one that I picked up because I think it’ll make a fun game night game or a fun one to play with my wife and friends more casually. Plus, it’s just a pretty looking game.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. I know some people will optimize their scores, and I probably will too, but sometimes the perfect image might win out over scoring the most points.

The Witcher: The Old World

This is an IP that I’m very interested in with The Witcher. I need to play the most recent video game still. I have a book to read as well, so I need to catch-up on my knowledge. The Netflix show had a cool world but was just okay to me. I’m hoping this game will be great.

It’s one off plays which I like and you are all competing to be the best Witcher. It kind of reminds me of something like Zona: The Secret of Chernobyl in some ways ways. You are all fighting and racing to be the first to, I forget what it is in this game, but some end point. And you can fight each other, improve your stats and get more items.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. The theme is cool and I’m pretty excited for the game play. It’s a game that looks like it has a lot of theme while also not being a massive campaign which is nice.

Isle of Cats: Don’t Forget the Kittens

I’ve really enjoyed my plays of Isle of Cats. It’s one that I want to get even more plays of because I think it’s a neat game with drafting and then rescuing cats. This just adds in more modules you can play with, different ship configurations, and a roll and write game that is totally separate, and obviously kittens.

One thing I’m very interested in is the organizer that comes with my pledge level. The game is a bit harder to get to the table because you need to sort things out for different player counts. This helps make that sorting faster and easier to get to the table.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. More for a game I know I already like is never a bad thing. And will the organizer make it simpler to get to the table, I hope so.

Valor & Villainy: Ludwick’s Labyrinth

I almost didn’t back this one. I pledged $1 because I was on the fence and it drew me in. Enough so that I even got the original Valor & Villainy on my shelf. This one takes that main game mechanic of upgrading your heroes dice as you level up and kind of dungeon crawling and makes it cooperative. The original was one versus all.

This is also more of a campaign game, and you know I’m a sucker for campaigns. But it’s a bit different than a lot of campaign games that I go with because it’s more tongue in cheek and goofy. So it feels like one that I’ll be able to play with a different group than my normal campaign group.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. I’m very much excited for this one, but it’s maybe waned a little bit since I backed it. Still, I think the goofiness is going to make it fun and it is a different type of campaign game for me.

Chronicles of Drunagor

Yes, another campaign game, and another one that feels different. Now, dark storyline, not super different, I’ve done that before in games. But the mechanics are what drew me into it, plus the 3D terrain that seems a bit like Descent: Legends of the Dark.

I like how activating abilities goes, you basically have a pool of cubes that you use to activate and do different things. When you want to gain those cubes back you then pull the cubes back but block off one of your abilities with a curse cube. So you need to figure out what sort of things you’re going to want to keep available, and figure out when to pull back so you don’t block off too much.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I need more shelf space for this game as well. It’s going to come with a lot, but I’m excited for the story and for the 3D set-up and for how the dungeon unfolds.

Spire’s End: Hildegard

Big games to a smaller game that is just some dice and a deck of cards. But it’s still a campaign game as you play through a few chapters. This is a game that I’ll likely stream because it’s one that seems like it should be good for that. You go through a story and fight monsters with some interesting dice mechanics.

The art really drew me in as well. It’s kind of a pen drawing style, I guess I’d call it, some pops of color on stuff, more so on this one, almost cartoony. It’s hard to describe, it just looks really cool as you can see. And while you can play two player, it seems to be mainly a solo game which I like.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I was excited enough to grab a reprint of Spire’s End when that came out because I didn’t want to pay the $100 mark-up on the game on eBay or Board Game Geek. It just seems like a fun and immersive gaming experience.

Mythwind

You can see some of why I backed Mythwind here. To recap, I like that each character plays differently. That reminds me of Merchant’s Cove which I really liked. Plus it’s an interesting concept for a game.

A game without a win condition just sounds confusing but intriguing. It’s kind of a game that I wish I had an extra table so I could just leave it set-up and play a little bit. You are going to achievements, if you want. Or you can go for making the best town possible, it’s really up to you. I hope that it’s good, but it’s one that just felt so different.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. It’s unique, and while I haven’t played Animal Cross and Stardew Valley, it intrigues me more than play either of those ever has.

Too Many Bones: Unbreakable

Too Many Bones has been on my radar for a while. I got to demo Too Many Bones: Undertow at GenCon in 2019. I thought it was pretty good, but it’s always been pretty expensive to get into. Now, I’m afraid, I might have started down that rabbit trail with their final crowdfunding for the game, at least that’s what the Gamefound said.

What drew me in, and this I am blaming GloryHoundd for, is that the characters were so unique. The ones from Undertow were cool, but these are even more interesting. And it felt like the right time to dive into the weird world that Chip Theory Games has created.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. It’s going to be a fun one to play around with, I’m confident on that, and super high quality production. It just won’t be here for a while.

Grove

Another 9 card solitaire game like Orchard, this one has some different things going on which seem interesting. Orchard is my top played game of 2021 and I don’t see any game passing it, I’m almost to 100 plays. Grove will be a nice one to mix in with that.

What I hope for this one is that it’ll be another fast solo game that I can pull out and play anywhere or while doing anything kind of like Orchard is. And from what I can tell, since the mechanics overlap with orchard as you layer cards (word play intended), I think it should be that.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. It’s a bit lower just because I feel like I kind of what what I’m getting with the game, and that’s a good thing. Just means that there is less mystery for me to get excited about.

Marvel Dice Throne

Now we’re onto the two that are still active. The only way that I drop this is if I win a copy of the game in a drawing I entered. I love Dice Throne. I love Marvel. This is the perfect game for me combining the two. And we have a lot of cool characters. I really want to play Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch because, well, they are just awesome Marvel characters.

I really like the variety of characters that they have, and I like that it’s compatible with all the other Dice Throne. The Gunslinger can face off against Loki if I want. Or I can just do a massive tournament like I’ve wanted to do. I don’t know how or when, but a tournament will happen.

Excitement level: 5 out of 5. Like I said, I love Marvel and I love Dice Throne, of course I’m exicted.

Hanamikoji: Geisha’s Road

This one I could wait for retail, but I want to help support the company that makes Hanamikoji. This is a new version of the game that isn’t just trying to win the favor, but there is an element where you move around the the different Geisha to different establishments to gain favor that way.

I don’t know all the details, I just know that it keeps the same core. And I really love Hanamikoji because of how simple it is to play but also how much thinking there is in the game. It’s a game that makes you make tough decisions and I don’t see Geisha’s Road being any different, might even add more.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. Could be higher, but I already have Hanamikoji. I backed this for more of the same goodness, at least that’s what I hope I’m getting.

Bonus game coming up, I forgot I late pledged it so just added to the list now.

Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor

Now, it’s not a negative that I forgot about it. It was one that I backed well after the fact, and so it didn’t show up on my Gamefound or Kickstarter list. This is an interesting game because it is a 4x cooperative game. And a game where you have 2 different enemy AI’s that everyone needs to beat.

Plus, this game has some of the best standees that I’ve seen. They are up there with the clear acrylic ones. I don’t know how to describe them, but they are much more substantial than the normal cardboard ones. And I believe that each different faction that you can play has their own standees which is great.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I want to play a 4x game baldly. And that is probably going to be true that I want to play it a lot but also that I’ll play it poorly. This one or Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea need to come off the shelf sometime. And this one might not be too far off from delivery.

So there’s my massive list. Which one of these games, if any are you looking forward to getting yourself? Which one would you want to play?

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Top 10 GenCon Games

So, this list is going be games that I don’t own. I loaded this up and I immediately saw Kohaku, but I already own that. It’s a gorgeous looking game that I still need to get to my table. But beyond that, I didn’t put these in a super specific order, it is just the 10 that are jumping out to me. Also, note that if you are there, not all of these games might be there. In 2019 the list was fairly off, and with shipping I suspect that some won’t be here.

10. On The Rocks

I almost backed this one on Kickstarter. And I’ve almost bought it from Miniature Market a few times. Why, because the theme is just fun, I like the idea of mixing up drinks. I also like that you are picking groups of marbles to store or add to your drinks. It feels like a good combination of something like Azul and Potion Explosion but with a theme that more people will enjoy. The reviews on it thus far have been pretty good, so it’s on my radar to pick-up.

9. Kabuto Sumo

I always need to put a dexterity game on the list. Kabuto Sumo though is kind of a different sort of game. You will be up around the table doing bug sumo wrestling as you push discs onto the board to try and knock off your opponents disc. Silly game but man does it look like a lot of fun. But I’ll say decide for yourselves and checkout the videos that Man vs Meeple did as well as Tablenauts, which I have below.

8. The Dragon Prince: Battlecharged

This is one that I’ve talked about before. It’s really one that I want to checkout mainly because I love The Dragon Prince. The show is just amazing and I love it. That said, a skirmish game, while I do trust the company, Brotherwise Games, to make a good game, it is still a skirmish game. I’d love to try this one, but I think it’s going to be a good game.

7. Mazescape: Labyrinth

Escape room games are all the craze. The fact that this one has “scape” at the end of it means that it’s going to be some sort of an escape room style game. But to add in a Maze, now I’m very interested. I loved mazes growing up, I still love them now. And while the mazes on kids playmats at restaurants are fine, I imagine this is going to be more like the mazes in Labyrinth of Time and other video games, which is going to be cool.

6. Dinosaur Island Rawr ‘n Write

Out of all the ones that I think will be at pop-up GenCon, this is the one I said I was looking forward to most. I love my roll and write games, so this isn’t the only one on the list. It’s building a dinosaur park, I’m interested in it for sure. I’ll hopefully be getting this one myself, but if you think it sounds interesting, I’d probably check it out pretty quickly at GenCon.

5. Sleeping Gods

BGG (Board Game Geek) has it listed but I imagine this might not be a ton of copies. In fact, this would be one that I wouldn’t be shocked if it wasn’t there. But I really want to get this game, and I think most people will like it. It takes the world style of Near and Far and Above and Below and puts it into a cooperative game. But a game that has a ton going on and a ton of great views. I really want to get my hands on this one, but it isn’t that cheap. Right now I’m kicking myself for not backing it on KS.

4. Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawlers

Another roll and write on the list. I like the idea of this one, a Dungeon Crawler with Dungeons and Dragons tied to it, that sounds cool. I just hope that it isn’t too simple (or too complex). Some things like character class specific powers for your hero, that sounds cool. But I’m not sure if it’s in there or not.

3. ArchRavels

Honestly, I’m mainly curious about this one because of the theme. And not because I love the theme so much but because it is an odd and accessible theme. And my wife likes to knit, so it’s maybe a theme that would interest her more. She doesn’t love a lot of games, by that I mean she won’t suggest or pull of the shelf a lot of games. But this might be one if it is easy enough that she’d want to play and learn.

2. Picture Perfect

This is an odd game. In it you are drafting characters and items to set them up to try and match up your picture as closely as possible. At the end you take the picture with your phone and compare it to your card. I don’t know precisely how this all works, but it’s one that I’m really interested in. Why, because it’s weird. That said, it’s one that I’m really interested in trying it. I’d definitely need to play it before I’d buy it.

1. Windward

Finally a game that has been out for a little bit, at least to Kickstarter backers. This one GloryHoundd has a playthrough of it, and game looked interesting. Things like sky whales and going out on your sky ships to get them, that is cool. Another that I really want to try before I’d buy it. But the theme is interesting, the mechanics seem good, and I think it should be a fun game.

All The Games

If you want to see a list of everything that Board Game Geek has complied, you can go through the whole list here. Right now it’s a pretty solid list and I have it filtered for the ones that will be for sale. You can clear that filter and see all the demos, or you can wait for tomorrow. I’ll be posting the demos that I’d want to try.

Let me know what game you’ll be picking up at GenCon, or if you were going, which one you’d want to get.

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Why Do They Offer Late Pledges?

I think it’s pretty obvious, they want to make more money. And they want a second chance for that FOMO (fear of missing out) to kick in. But for other reasons as well, generally the bigger a shipping run that you get, the cheaper it is to make the game. Again, this comes down to making more money. But it also comes down to their ability to produce more games to sell later.

But really, as much as I want to be nice and talk about costs getting lower, it’s about tapping into peoples FOMO. That thought that, well, this game might not come to retail, I should get it now. The retail version won’t have these eight to eighty things, I should get it now. The retail version might not be here for two years, I should get it now. All of these can be valid reasons, so let’s take a look at them.

It Might Not Come To Retail

This one is a valid concern for a lot of crowdfunding. Using Kickstarter or Gamefound, you can create a bigger game or a smaller passion project. So by bigger game, I mean something that wouldn’t fit on a shelf well. ISS Vanguard, for example, from Awaken Realms they can maybe to a retail version of the base game, but not for everything, there is just too much stuff with it. In your small FLGS, they won’t have spot on a shelf for a massive game, let alone 5 of a massive game. And smaller games from small publishers, they just won’t hit retail at all because they probably don’t have the supply chain capability.

And for a lot of these games that have small print runs, or if they are big and very popular, the secondary market is going to be expensive. When Tainted Grail first hit the secondary market, pledges were selling for two times as much. Spire’s End, a solo card game that you could have gotten on Kickstarter for $70 with shipping was going for $150 on eBay since it was out of print.

I Want It Sooner

I consider this one to be more into that FOMO range. You can wait to get a game later. As a content creator, I could see wanting it sooner. I want to get the content out while it is relevant to people looking for it. If a game has been out for a year and then I put something out, less views and reads. That only matters for me if I actually unbox it or play it when I get it. If not, then I can wait for because my content won’t be relevant to as many people.

But that’s it from the content creator side, what about if I just want a game because I want to play it? Then I certainly don’t need it sooner. Yes, I might be all hyped and excited for it, but will I really be missing out if I don’t get it in the first wave of shipping. Am I really missing out if I wait until it hits retail? The game is still going to be the game, and most likely I have other games to play.

The Kickstarter Has More

This one is kind of a valid reason. Or at least I can see the reason for it. I love Marvel stuff, so I want to play as Gambit in Marvel United: X-Men, so I get it on the Kickstarter knowing that the base box only might come to retail. I didn’t need to get everything, but I did. That said, it’s going to give me so much more to play with than the retail version of the game. Higher price tag, obviously, but so much more game.

Now, in the case of Marvel United, it was more characters, more villains to play against, just generally more game in total. Some Crowdfunding, it’s more about the deluxe components. The Kickstarter won’t have any game content that you can’t get later in retail. What it does have is fancier pieces. To me those are a bit ore of FOMO item than game play content.

But, game play content can be FOMO as well. Do I need 200 different villains and heroes for Marvel United between Marvel United and Marvel United X-Men? I doubt I’ll ever play with all of them. I justify that one because I love Marvel and cover Marvel on a podcast. That said, there are plenty of games, Black Rose Wars: Rebirth on Kickstarter right now for example, I don’t think I would get through all of that content. Sure, it could be cool to have, but will I use it? And will I have a consistent group to play it with?

How Do I Late Pledge?

Honestly, my track record isn’t where it should be on this. I late pledged Witcher: Old World recently and Isofarian Guard. I’ll talk more about what I late pledged coming up. But I don’t always use the main reason of, this won’t come to retail. Sometimes a game just looks cool and I can’t stop thinking about it. That’s generally how I decide. Do I keep seeing the game and thinking something along the lines, I really want to play it.

But I really want to focus on games that I’ll be less likely to see elsewhere. Witcher: Old World, I know someone who has backed that. Did I need to back it to, no. I want the game though, so I backed it at the base level, because that seems like enough game. On the flip side, Isofarian Guard, I doubt that’ll hit retail. And I don’t know anyone who backed it. I am guessing I’ll watch reviews of it and be glad that I backed that when it came out.

So What Have I Late Pledged?

Witcher: Old World

I had a $1 pledge on this one, so it is only kind of a true late back. And I know I probably shouldn’t have late pledged this one. Like I said, I know someone who is backing it already. I could have just played their copy. But this game really interests me. I was keeping an eye on it from the beginning with the theme. And I really am interested in the game play. There is a level of story to the game which I like, but it isn’t a campaign game. I don’t know why, but it reminds me of Zona: Secret of Chernobyl that way. And I like the idea of thematic but a single game.

Isofarian Guard

Of course, this one is definitely one that isn’t going to retail. It’s a game that has a box the size of Gloomhaven or maybe closer to Frosthaven. This one also I don’t know anyone who is getting it. The fact that it is a one, maybe two player game makes it less likely people I know will get it. This game looks like it is right up my alley and I think that it’s one that I can stream. Granted, seeing it now big it is, it might be hard to fit onto the table or onto the camera, I’ll have to experiment with the set-up.

Time of Legends: Joan of Arc

Another massive Kickstarter that I just couldn’t justify when it was out there. But I kept on seeing things about it, so when I found out that there was a late pledge for it, I looked into it. This one got me because of the setting. It takes the story of Joan of Arc and you play through that or actual battles. But it also leans into the lore of the time, where history wrote about things like werewolves or dragons for things that couldn’t be explained. So it has that historical element but also a fanciful element to it. Again, not one that anyone I knew would be getting or coming to retail.

Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor

This one I just fully blame on the GloryHoundd YouTube channel. They got to play this and it looked really interesting. I was looking at it before that, but then I didn’t back it. When it was on DrGloryHogg’s Top Kickstarter game of 2020 list, I looked into the late pledge. The game just draws me in because it’s a cooperative 4x game. There are two AI enemies that everyone has to beat in order for the group to win. It’s an interesting concept, and it has some of the best standees I’ve seen in a game. I don’t know what it is, I just want those. Probably could have seen how this one did on the secondary market/retail, but I just want to get my hands on it. I’ll need to cover this one right away when it comes in.

Roll Player Adventures

Another one that I know someone who got it, in fact the same person who is getting Witcher: Old World. But this one I kicked myself once the Kickstarter was done for not backing. I knew he was and I could likely play with him, but I really like this game. Roll Player Adventures was one of those games that I got to play at GenCon in 2019. It was probably the best experience of the con, or up there with playing Deranged. The game play is just fun and the fact that you can play Roll Player and then bring that character into Roll Player Adventures is awesome. Again, maybe could have waited on this one, but I’ll do an unboxing right away when it comes in.

Those are all that I have coming up. Have you ever late pledged a Kickstarter? What was your reason for doing so?

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