AllPlay

Alibis is going to be a thinky party game. Not much more information on it. But it is one of AllPlay’s square box game. They also reminded us of a few that are coming as well. Plus Twinkle Twinkle which is going to be coming out at Gen Con. It was on Kickstarter in January. They expect to fulfill it in July.

The next one they are talking about is Sail Legacy. I need to play Sail. And I definitely think I’ll be backing this one. It’s cooperative trick taking which is great. So I hope that it’s a great Legacy game and one that I can enjoy a lot. It’s coming on Crowdfunding on July 8th.

Terrible Quest is a tiny game that is coming out at Gen Con. You are tearing out things from a sheet of paper and racing against the time. This sounds like a pretty fun gimmick to checkout. You need to tear it out exactly, plus you want to avoid curses that are hidden on the back of the sheet of paper, and get bonuses. The game play looks hectic and silly.

Bitewing Games

They are talking about their Mythos Collection. These are two player head to head games. Iliad and Ichor are the first two from the line and they are fulfilling or they just recently fulfilled. So there are more games coming in this line of games. Now being added to the list of these two player games Moytura and Azure which are coming in Q3 of 2025 to Kickstarter.

Board and Dice

This is a game that starts with the Letter T and is an ancient civilization. So we have Tianxia coming. This looks like an interesting game to me, in particular with the artwork of the game. It sounds like a game where you want work with others, but you only want to work so much because there is only going to be a single winner for this game. I like the theme where it seems to be building a wall to prevent nomadic attacks. It seems like a resource management but one that seems to have a lot going on with it.

CGE

They are talking about the new version of Codenames. Is there much new going on, no there isn’t. It’s mainly just a rebrand and reminder that a new version is coming. I believe that the new versions do add in a few more cards, but no need to run out and replace the one you already have.

Elzra

A new Catacombs game is coming. I believe that this is meant to be a good jumping in point for people who have been interested in this flicking and dungeon battling game. It’s a game that I’ve owned, well, not this version of Catacombs Alpha the Catacombs that I need to get played. Because I enjoy a good flicking game and this one seems like it’s different.

Phantom Division

I’m not sure if the game or company is called Phantom Division or both. This looks like an epic dungeon crawling experience. And it has some interesting terrain. It isn’t a big minis game, though, this is a game where all the monsters and troops are discs. But it also isn’t a flicking game, or at least not completely. There are flicking elements to completing some objectives which is really odd and interesting looking.

Phantom Horizon

See what I said above about Phantom Horizon as well. This looks like a big epic space game and that’s something that I might be lacking in my collection. This one looks a bit less alien than some of the games, though there are aliens. And while there is a ton going on with the board and upgrading. There are again no minis for the game, so makes me think it’s the same company as the one above. I definitely like the look of both of them a lot. And diceless combat which is going to mean that you can plan out more which is cool.

Okay, this one is actually called Solarion: Foundation of Empires and it’s coming to Kickstarter.

Direwolf

Lightning Train is going to be at Gen Con. The Direwolf release. Plus there is more coming to Clank with Clank Catacombs and the expansion. So can we all guess what this is going to be, yup, they are announcing Clank Catacombs: Underworld. This is going to be an expansion for Clank Catacombs, and this seems like a whole new level to explore in which is cool. But it’s going to make your game even larger. A Kickstarter pre-order it seems and then coming out this fall, so do you want it slightly sooner?

Plus the digital release of Dune Imperium Immortality. Plus some content coming there first which is going to be intriguing. They do plan on releasing physically eventually, but not right away.

Everbeasts

This is a smaller little game. It’s going to be a strategy card game. I don’t know much about it, but it’s from an independent creator for the game. I like to see when people talk about stuff like that. And it’s going to be coming to Kickstarter in July. And learn more about Everbeasts that way. I very much enjoy how it looks in terms of the artwork and I hope that it’s a good game. It seems like a combo building game. And you download a free print and play demo to try it yourself.

Grail Games

There are two little announcements. Firstly their medium size game like Snowcrest and they just kickstarted Night Soil. Now they have a new game coming Fantasy Brewer. I do like beer. It’s going to be an Essen game. It’s a worker placement style of game. Seems like a worker placement game, though, where some workers are stronger than other workers. So what you get after the worker placement depends on who was there first and how had a stronger worker.

And an announcement for Age of Civilization. This game that is already out and now it’s coming out with Grail Games. Bigger box and new art.

Justin Gary

15th Anniversary edition of Ascension a game that I like. This is going to be a lot of new promo cards. So if you like Ascension, this might be for you. And they are going to be introducing a new card type which is interesting. And you’ll be able to get everything for the game again. Plus all of the cards can be gotten in foil which is unique. And that’s not all, a bonus promo if you follow on Gamefound.

Off the Page Games

Corps of Discovery is being talked about move. It’s a cooperative game which is really interesting and I think it sounds more interesting to me than other games. And they are talking about expansions for the game as well. So there is a ton of stuff coming out for Corps of Discovery. I haven’t gotten Mind MGMT or Harrow County but this one actually is more interesting to me.

And it’s another new game. This one is called Design Your Destiny. This one sounds weird. There is a story element to it and you travel through time as the characters. You come across games but they are broken. So it’s going to kind of teach you or tell you how to design games. I think that sounds a bit crazy.

And the next Kickstarter game. Grendel is a 1 to 4 player competitive game. It’s an asymmetric game and area control it seems. It sounds interesting but I’m not 100% sure that this is the type of game for me. But there are some very unique events occurring in the game. July 1st for when it starts crowdfunding.

NerdLab Games

There are a few things from next month to next year. First off they are sharing some news on Mind Bug. They are doing a crossover thing with Iello and King of Tokyo. Sounds like the King of Tokyo creatures are coming into Mind Bug. Plus it is going to have some King of Tokyo like things which will come at Essen. Plus the online version of Mind Bug and a rogue like experience is coming for it. I need to play Mind Bug, it’s one that I think that I should enjoy but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

The next thing is Agent Avenue which are recommended for the Spiele. And there is now coming a little expansion for the game. Nothing to show yet for the expansion and the target is Essen again at least to show the game.

And there is Final Titan. This game is currently on Gamefound and I think that this one looks fun. It’s a draft battler game and I want to know more about it. Right now I’ve held off on backing it, but it’s the type one that I think would work very well with me. It’ll come out to release late next year.

Mindwork Games

This one looks like a skirmish game. Paradise is supposed to be between a combo of miniatures game and board game. I believe that I heard them call it wastepunk, which if I did hear that, I think that sounds great. The artwork looks good and it’s supposed to be a fast game which is something that sounds interesting. Not sure it’s for me, but one that I’d love to try it before I buy it. It really does look mainly like a miniatures game.

Mighty Boards

So some announcements, Red North. This is a concealed bidding game which sounds interesting. It’s a Viking theme, which is pretty common for games. The game sounds like a bidding and bluffing game and I think that sounds interesting. It was at Essen Spiele last year but updated rules and artwork. The other game they are talking about is a better version or more prestigious version of Art Society. If you want to get the deluxe edition it’s coming to Kickstarter this summer.

Mebo

Pyradice is a pyramid dice building game. I think that it looks like a fun game. In the US it is going to be coming from Arcane Wonders. The game is two player game out of the box but you can get a second copy to play with more. You take dice that are free, aka, three faces that are open, and add them to your pyramid. I really love the look of this game and the simplicity of the action of taking the dice, but then strategy as you place dice into your pyramid to build it up and activate abilities. The skills and objectives vary throughout the game.

IV Studio

Realm of Reckoning is the new game coming to Kickstarter. It looks like there is a ton going on on the game board. The game is taking place in the afterlife. I need to try more IV Studios games. I am not a fan of Mythic Mischief. This one being a card drafting game and how you place the cards is interesting. I’m not 100% sold on this game but the them is something that I really like. And IV Studios is great at making great looking games.

Final Thoughts

So that’s everything. There is a ton of interesting things. If you were to ask me the ones that interest me the most, I really like the following, Pyradice, Final Titan, Corps of Discovery, Sail Legacy and Phantom Division sounds really cool. I mean, there are so many interesting games. So let me know which one is the most interesting to you and drop that in the comment section below.

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I’m not going to go through all of them. There are just too many, 503 would be a lot to talk about, even ignoring expansions it’d still be a lot. Instead, I want to pull out and highlight some games or expansion that I want to pick up.

Essen Spiel Games

Paper Dungeons

This is one that I actually own, it’s a roll and write, hack and slash dungeon crawling game. I need to play it still. But it’s my type of game with the roll and write aspect to it. I’m going to be curious to see how complex this game is because I like my roll and writes to be somewhat complex but not too complex. Alley Cat Games, the production company, also made Cat Cafe which was a nice balance of stuff, but not one that I consistently go back to.

Picture Perfect

Picture Perfect looks very intriguing. From Arcane Wonders, you set-up the perfect group picture. This is not one that I’ve bought, and not one that I’m sure I will buy. You are trying to figure out how everyone wants to be framed in your picture. And each character wants to be in a certain spot in a certain way, will you get the picture set-up correctly? The concept sounds really good, but I wonder how much I’d actually play the game, once I’ve played it a few times.

Welcome to the Moon

This is another game in the Welcome To system of games. I have Welcome To… and Welcome To New Las Vegas. From Blue Crocker Games, this one sounds interesting because it is a campaign game as well. I’m not sure what that means, but a short campaign of 8 different sheets sounds cool. I’m guessing that we’re still building up a city, but beyond that I’m not sure. You might even be launching off to the moon, which would be cool. And I really like the aesthetic of these games.

CoraQuest

This was a demo only for a kid focused dungeon crawl game. I talked about this one before when it was on Kickstarter. The game was developed by Dan and Cora Hughes as what started as a school project for Cora. The game looks like it’s pretty fun but simple dungeon crawler, which is a cool concept. I didn’t back it on Kickstarter because I’m a few years away from wanting a game like that. I am really glad that Bright Eye Games picked it up though because the concept is fun. It makes dungeon crawlers more accessible to more people.

Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders

I still need to play Lost Ruins of Arnak, but this expansion definitely is on my radar. From Czech Games Edition, the game is a combination of deck building and worker placement. And I really like the theme of the game where you are exploring some lost ruins, I like that Indiana Jones style feel to the game. This adds in some unique leaders which means that you start with a unique starting point, which I always like it when games do that.

Hanamikoji: Geisha’s Road

I’m a very big fan of the original, Hanamikoji from EmperorS4, and I really want to know about this one. It still has area control or majority in it which I like. I also like that it’s still only two players because that is one that works really well in the original game. It means that it should hopefully play fast still. Instead of trying to win the favor of Geisha, you want your favored Geisha to progress the fastest at tea houses on Geisha’s Road.

Hibachi

Another game that I almost backed on Kickstarter, this is a game from Grail Games. In it you flip out disks to get ingredients and that determines what ones you can use. Of course it also determines how much they might cost and there is strategy to what you are doing. I ended up not backing this one because I want to try the game before I would buy it. It’s a fun sounding concept but it’s one that I question if I’d play long term.

Similo: Spookies

I’ve talked about Similo before, it’s one that wasn’t on my radar for a long time. It’s from Horrible Guild and I like their games. But Similo is just a simple party style game, except that it’s not. It’s a clever little game of getting the players to eliminate the right characters or creatures. The Spookies version can be used with everything else, but it has a nice “spooky” theme to it. Or at least uses spooky monsters. It’s a great little game and this makes it great for Halloween season as well.

Ramen! Ramen!

Japanime Games are hit or miss for me. They unfortunately use a lot of anime IP’s (intellectual properties) that I like but often the games are okay or disappointing. This one isn’t like that, but it looks like a simple little game. The artwork looks very cute and the theme is fun. It is about building out the best bowl of ramen by getting the most points possible. There does seem to be some take that in the game with people being able to steal ingredients. But I’m hoping it’s light, fast, and fun.

Detective: Signature Series – Petty Officers

So, you might read the name of this game in the Detective line and assume that it’s going to be about military police, and it might be. But it’s more than that, it’s animal assistants, you know the types that you pet. I got know clue how it’ll work, but I have everything for the Detective system of games, including Dune: House Secrets, and I have loved everything I’ve played thus far. So I will get this at some point because animal offers is just cute.

Plus Many More

So, obviously, that’s not that many games. Those are the ones that I know some about or that jumped out at me. And there are a lot that I’d love to try but maybe less interested in buying. What games showing up at Essen Spiel looked interesting to you?

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What Are Grail Games?

I kind of talk about that already in the first paragraph, but let’s dive into the concept more so. A grail game is a game that is out of print, or hard to find for some reason. It is also a game that you really want to get your hands on. Why you want it so badly could be a number of reasons. For some people, the game just sounds fun, so they really want it, or it might be one that they played growing up, so they want to own it because of that. But for whatever reason, it’s a game that the person really wants and is very hard to find.

So How Do You Find Them?

Now, this completely depends on how quickly the person wants to get a grail game. For me, I have a few games that I’d consider grail games. I’ll talk about them shortly. But I won’t go out of my way to get them. For a lot of people, they want to get them faster, so they will go on ebay or other sites, Board Game Geek has a market place that often has most games for sale, and they will buy them or bid on them at those locations. That’s going to be a great way to focus on buying what they want.

I, on the other hand, am waiting for them to come to me for lack of a better term. One that was previously a grail game for me was Tannhauser which I talked about in the Point of Order article yesterday. I found that one at a used book store. I have some other games that I’m keeping an eye out for at my FLGS, All Systems Go!, to see if they ever show up used, or I’m keeping an eye for a local seller who is selling it on Facebook Marketplace via the board game selling group there. If it pops up, I will get some of my grail games.

What Are Some Of My Grail Games?

Battlestar Galactica

Let’s start with a big game. It oddly enough is in a genre of games, or around one, that I don’t love too much. It often gets lumped in with social deduction games, though this is closer to a Dead of Winter than something like The Resistance. Battlestar Galactica was a big game put out by Fantasy Flight Games, you are trying to get to Earth, but there are Cylons aboard your ship and chasing you who are going to try and stop you. The game always has that one goal, but you are dealing with issues that come up and adding things to help secretly. This game definitely blends both being a board game and a social deduction game, but gives you a little more to go on, and gives you a lot of game to play. However, it’s been out of print for quite a while without any indication that it’ll come back into print. Battlestar Galactica is a grail game for a lot of people as well, which makes it hard to find without paying a lot for it.

Solomon Kane

Now, this game is a newer game. But I failed to mention one way a board game can end up being a grail game. And that is if it’s a Kickstarter game. There are often games that are Kickstarter exclusives because they would be too big to go to retail, or the retail version will have less. Solomon Kane by Mythic Games is one that I am bummed I missed on Kickstarter. It seems to have a really unique concept to it. In the game you are controlling, kind of, Solomon Kane as he goes on adventures and deals with mysteries and monsters. It’s a campaign based, or at least story based game. I love that type of game, but you are only kind of controlling him, you play different virtues. You are prudence, courage, temperance, and justice, and using those things, you control where he goes and what he does. I like that it gives all the players at the table a communal character that they control. That is a unique concept that I haven’t seen before. However, this one is just fulfilling now or will be shortly, and it costs $200 for just the base game, and bundles are being sold for $500 or more on Ebay, so it’s a grail game that I’ll be waiting on and hoping for a second Kickstarter for.

Mechs vs Minions

Mechs vs Minions might be the easiest of these games to find. Originally put out by the same company that has been extremely successful with the video game League of Legends, this game comes with a ton of stuff. They sold it at a reasonable price point and it came with more minis than a lot of spendier games do on Kickstarter. The programming aspect of this game, creating basically a plan of what your characters are going to do was an interesting idea as well. Now we have more programming games, and there were even a few back then, Robo Rally, but Mechs vs Minions put it into a really big box. It’s one of those games that to play it, I know that I’ll have to buy it, because right now I don’t know anyone who has the game. But I want to give it a whirl and program my way through scenarios and play the campaign that they created for the game.

That’s what a grail game is and what my grail games are. What board games would you consider a grail game that you really want to get into your collection? Is there any overlap with mine?

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Criss Cross is an interesting fast little puzzle game. Every turn two dice are rolled and each player must place the two symbols rolled onto their player board adjacent to one another orthogonally, not diagonally. While you are doing this, you are trying to create rows and columns of the symbols so that they are adjacent to one another so that you can score points. The more symbols you have of the same type next to each other in a row or column, the more points you will score for that row or column. At the end of the game, you tally up your points for each row and column to get your grand total, and whomever has the most points wins.

Now, that seems like you could end up with people doing the same thing if there is an optimal combo to put into play each time the dice are rolled. But there really isn’t that optimal combo, and at the start of the game, since it’s a five by five grid, each player is going to seed a symbol onto the board in the top left corner, and if those are different, that is going to create different scoring opportunities. I’ve played this game with six players before, and you end up with vastly different scoring from everyone, even with some of the seeded symbols being the same.

There is obviously a large amount of luck in the game as you are dependent on dice rolls, and sometimes that dice are not going to give you what you want. But the game does offer some strategy in where you place things, as you have to consider both the rows and columns for scoring. If you focus too much on the rows for scoring, you are likely going to score lower on the columns, and vice-a-versa, but if you only focus on getting scoring in both directions, someone might score a long string of symbols that might score more points than the blocks of symbols that you are able to create. You also have to be concerned about how you place the symbols onto the board, because the dice must be adjacent to each other when placed. That means, you might have an ideal spot to put two dice, but if it is going to create a pocket of one empty spot, you won’t be able to fill in dice on the final row, since you won’t have two adjacent areas, and that roll might have been good for you.

There is also an advanced version of the game that offers a bit more difficulty and trick to the scoring. First, you have a diagonal that you are going to be scoring as well as rows and columns. Not only are you scoring this diagonal once, you are scoring it twice, once each direction, so if you can build it up, you can score a lot of points. But counteracting that is the negative points you get for a row or column that doesn’t have any scoring. -5 points is a steep price to pay for not having any scoring in the columns, rows, or diagonals, so you aren’t scoring as many long runs, or that is harder to do as a viable strategy.

Either way of playing the game is a lot of fun. I really enjoy this roll and write as a fast game that you can sit down and teach just about anyone. If people are familiar with games, they can probably pick it up, and even if they aren’t a gamer, the game is still pretty straight forward. When you do teach this game, though, the one rule that people tend to forget is that you are scoring adjacent symbols, and the dice you place have to be adjacent as well. I’ve had people forget both the adjacency rules in games that I’ve taught. So I’d remind people of those rules the first few rounds of the game until you’re sure that everyone has it or everyone gives you annoyed looks. Once everyone knows the game, it is going to go very fast in subsequent plays.

If you want to see how this compares to some of the other roll and writes or flip and writes that I mentioned in the first paragraph, you can find that in a Board Game Battle. But I really do enjoy Criss Cross. I think that it’s a good introductory roll and write game, and a good step for people who are familiar with something like Yahtzee to show them how different roll and write games can be. Then I’d introduce them to something like Welcome To…

Overall Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: A-

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Let’s meet the games.

Yahtzee – The granddaddy of the roll and write genre, it’s a good puzzle and push your luck game. You roll the dice trying to get various combinations to score the most points possible. And if you can’t roll what you want, what do you cross off? The game can get a little bit out of hand depending on your luck at rolling dice, which I tend to run either hot or cold. There are some interesting decisions in the game, mainly though, you are figuring out your best odds.

Criss Cross – A much simpler game than Yahtzee, Criss Cross has you picking a symbol to put into the corner of your board, and then you roll dice and everyone tries to use them to put symbols on your board getting connected ones in rows and columns and scoring based off of how many of the same ones you can get in a row. It’s an interesting puzzle not knowing what symbols are going to be rolled and depending on that starting one that you pick randomly, peoples boards look very different. The trickiest bit is that with the two dice, you have to put their symbols next to each other.

Welcome To… – No dice in this roll and write so technically it’s more a flip and write. However, the mechanics are the same in a lot of ways, the randomness of the card flip just means that you can kind of plan if you can count cards, but there are a lot of them. In this game, you are building your perfect neighborhood by building fences, parks, pools, and getting realtors to show off your neighborhoods so that they are worth more points at the end of the game. You’re also adding in house numbers, but they have to go in order, so don’t end up where you can’t add any, otherwise you get a building permit violation. May the best 50’s neighborhood win.

Second Chance – Another flip and write game, this one gives you a grid where you are trying to fill it in with Tetris type shapes so that you have the fewest spaces left at the end of the game. You can flip and orient the shapes in any direction you want, but if you can’t place a shape, you get a second chance, but if you can’t do that, you’re out. It’s a very peaceful game to play and allows you to have a little fun as you fill in areas and how you do that. It’s also a game that allows a large number of players to play all at once without down time.

Let’s Fight!

Alright, let’s see how Yahtzee fairs to start. Unfortunately it isn’t looking great. Yahtzee, like the rest has you playing your own solo puzzle, unlike the other games, Yahtzee has you taking your turn and then waiting for everyone else to take their turn. That’s good for the old game, but it can’t keep pace with the younger counter parts. It does get in a few blows on Criss Cross for giving you a few more decisions at the start of the game.

Now we’re down to the three newer games, Criss Cross is showing it’s simplicity in what it does as Second Chance matches it blow for blow. However, Criss Cross gets the advantage as giving you a few more interesting choices and better scoring than Second Chance does. Second Chance tries for one last counter showing off some more style to it, but then Welcome To… comes in to get the pin, taking out Second Chance. While Criss Cross is resting from it’s fight with Second Chance, Welcome To… shows off a few interesting moves and then goes for the pin…

1…. 2… 3…

We have a winner in the battle of Roll and Writes: Welcome To…

Welcome To.. has theme on it which none of the rest of the games do. It also gives you more interesting decisions and with picking between one of three sets of cards for your moves gives you more decisions to make as compared to any of them. It’s also more of a gamers game as a roll and write while not being too complex. Criss Cross put up a good showing though as it’s a very fast game that offers a lot of interesting choices, especially late in the game, and moments that you can really cause excitement.

What’s your favorite Roll and Write? I have another coming in the mail that just couldn’t quite get into the fight in time.

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