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

10. Fliptown

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

9. HEL: The Last Saga

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

8. Mythwind

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

7. RoboMon

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

6. Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread

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

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

5. 20 Strong

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

4. The Isofarian Guard

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

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

3. Vampire the Masquerade: CHAPTERS

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

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

2. Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

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

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

1. Frosthaven

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

But What About…

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

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

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I have a few companies like that where I generally will pay attention. And for me, that doesn’t mean back or buy everything. But it does mean that I will always check it out in detail. Rarely, if ever, will I just gloss over a game from these companies. So here are my Top 10 companies I’m always interested in

Top 10 Board Game Companies

10. Fantasy Flight Games

Fantasy Flight Games is probably a company that’d have dropped off for a lot of people. They used to come out with a whole lot more games and a whole lot bigger announcements. But I still am interested. When I saw a Twilight Imperium Roll and Write, I was interested, even with a long play time. And Marvel Champions I still buy everything for that.

I wish they would come out with something more. A new version of Star Wars Imperial Assault? I would love to see that. Or something more original from them. Maybe a smaller version of a Descent 3.0 to go along with Descent: Legends of the Dark.

9. Thunderworks Games

Thunderworks is also just on that edge if I check everything out. I will look at any announcement because I am curious about anything set in their Roll Player World of Ulos. However, anything, like Tenpenny Park, those I’ll look at, but generally aren’t what I’m interested in. But I see them because I am curious if it is more stuff for Roll Player, Roll Player Adventures, or Cartographers.

8. CMON

CMON is either on your list or not. There is no in between I feel. Some people wait anticipating what CMON is going to announce next. Other people pledge $1 so that they can complain. That is basically how it goes on everything that CMON does. And I understand some of the complaints, I also don’t care on some of the complaints. They end up being complaining for the sake of complaining. But that isn’t the point of this article.

I wait to see what CMON comes out with next. And there is no company where they can announce a game and I will always back it or buy it. But when CMON announces a Stranger Things Game, see here, I get really excited. On the flip side, I like the idea of a big Dune battling over the planet game, but it is not one that I will back.

7. Chip Theory Games

Chip Theory Games is moving up the list for me. The more I see and mess around with their games, the more interested I am in their games. I enjoy Too Many Bones, and I think the more I dive into it the more I will like it. Then I almost backed Hoplomacus Victorum because it was a solo version of a game that I thought looked cool. And Burncycle, after watching a Brother’s Murph play through, see below, I really want to get it. Their games aren’t cheap though, so I need to pace myself.

6. Horrible Guild

Probably the biggest break or one of them, from the big games on the list is Horrible Guild. Horrible Guild does some campaign or legacy games with King’s Dilemma and then Queen’s Dilemma coming to Kickstarter. But I like their small games. Stuff like Potion Explosion, Railroad Ink, I’m so excited to be getting Tiny Turbo Cars, stuff like that.

They make games with amazing toy factor to them. And I just really enjoy sitting down and playing them. They also make games that are accessible. Railroad Ink is a bit challenging for a roll and write with Railroad Ink Challenge, but it’s not hard to teach. Same with Potion Explosion or Similo. Plus with so much fun in their games, I always want to see what they make.

5. Mythic Games

Getting back to big games, we have Mythic Games. Mythic Games has made such games as Reichbusters and Solomon Kane, but the one of theirs I play the most is Super Fantasy Brawl. I really love that game, but I mainly pay attention to their big games. Now, with that said, I don’t back a ton of their games on crowdfunding. I have backed Super Fantasy Brawl and HEL: The Last Saga, but that is it.

One of the reasons is that their rule books first time around tend to be poor. You need to get, and they do send out, a new rule book. But also because their games are big and epic and tend to have a lot with them. They are like CMON in some ways, I might want to back all of them, but I certainly don’t have room to back and store all of their games. Just between Super Fantasy Brawl and Solomon Kane that takes up a lot of space on top of a Kallax shelf.

4. Roxley Games

Last game on the list that makes that many smaller games. Though, when you get everything for Dice Throne, it certainly isn’t that small. And Dice Throne is the reason Roxley is so high on the list. They have some heavy euro games, I am not interested in those. But I want more Dice Throne. And their lighter games, I am interested in.

I really only own two games from Roxley, Dice Throne and Radlands and I need to play Radlands still. But when Santa vs Krampus came out, I backed immediately. When Marvel Dice Throne was announced, I knew I’d be all in. That is going to be case whenever they come out with anything new.

3. OOMM

OOMM is a very new company to the list. And honestly, I should likely keep them lower on the list, but we’re not talking about backing everything, we’re talking about being interested. I bought Stars of Akarios because of what it looked like after the fact. I backed Mythwind because the game looked so different.

OOMM really does something that I love in creating games that feel unique. Mythwind seems really different than anything else out there. Stars of Akarios is a big space campaign game. Do I need more space campaign games, not really but I want them. And the new legacy game they announced looks very cool as well.

2. Awaken Realms

Awaken Realms maybe could be #1, but it’s at #2 because there is Awaken Realms Lite, technically it’s own company I believe, but a lot of the same people and process. But the last two on the list, I will always look and almost always back whatever they do.

There are two exceptions for Awaken Realms. I didn’t back The Great Wall as it is a massive euro game. It looks cool, I’d love to try it, but I wouldn’t buy it. And I didn’t back Lords of Ragnarok from them. Why, because I already own and love Lords of Hellas. Lords of Ragnarok might be better, but I don’t need to own both.

1. Cephalofair Games

I doubt that this is a shock. I went all in on Frosthaven. And I love Gloomhaven. I never looked at Founders of Gloomhaven once I realized it was a euro. But Cephalofair announces something, I am interested. I hope it is more for Frosthaven, after that has been out for a bit. Or another big box game, but really, anything at this point. Even with my #1 company that I will be intrigued to hear whatever they announce, not every game will be for me.

Still, I can’t wait until Frosthaven gets here. And I even started a campaign of Gloomhaven Digital recently. It is just a fun experience to play that game and it is fun to dive back into it. And I will for sure dive heavily into Frosthaven almost right away when it shows up. I suspect we’ll be done with the final Tainted Grail expansion by then, but we’ll see.

Final Thoughts

Firstly, I’d love to know what companies you are generally interested. Which ones make games that seem fun to checkout or different. I want to know what gets you excited. And as I said, I don’t like every game from all of these companies. In fact, there are some that just miss completely for me, even though I love the company.

And that is very fair to not like everything. I talk about how CMON is polarizing, the people who love CMON don’t like everything from CMON. The people who dislike CMON will never know what they are missing out on. I think it’s more important to remember that some games are going to be for you and some won’t no matter the company. And even if you enjoy all of them, some will be better than others.

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Needless to say, that’s a lot of different ones. And that doesn’t even include games like My City, Pandemic Legacy Seasons 1 and 2, Risk Legacy, Charterstone, and I’m pretty sure I’m missing one or two. But why play a campaign game? Why play a game that has a story that when you’re done you can’t really play again?

The Case Against A Campaign Game

1. A Campaign Can Only Be Played Once
2. It Takes A Long Time To Play
3. They Are Hard to Get A Group For

A Campaign Can Only Be Played Once

Once you’ve played a campaign game you can’t play it again? You might be marking up a board or you might not be, tearing up cards, but you might not be. In either case, though, you play the story once and you know the story of the campaign, is there really that much difference? And why would I want a game that limits my game plays?

It Takes A Long Time To Play

You want to play the same game over and over again? What happens if you have a break and need to pick it up again, will you remember where you left the story? Do you leave the game set-up so that you aren’t doing the set-up and teardown every time?

They Are Hard To Get A Group For

And with that play time, how do you find a group who is up for that. What sort of plan do you come up to play with? We all have lives, so how do you get it to the table consistently?

The Campaign Game Rebuttal

A Campaign Can Only Be Played Once

This is not fully true. For some games it is a bit more and very much so for Legacy games. Though with a Legacy game often, Risk Legacy, My City, and Charterstone, they can be played after. But even in the case with a legacy game if you can’t, it is still a great experience. It is a story that can’t be told in a normal game.

And this is true for all campaign games. It tells a story that might not exist anywhere else. If you do only play it once, you still get an experience that is different than most games. Even your favorite games you might play five times a year, or maybe that’s just games that you like pretty well. So if you do get through a whole campaign, you end up getting your money’s worth from it.

Finally, not all campaign games can’t be replayed. While I am not sure I could go back and play Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game again, at least not without everyone else being new. There is still plenty in that game that I never saw. Gloomhaven has more scenarios and classes that I never played. Tainted Grail has tons of story and plot lines that I never went down. So yes, you can replay them, you just might know some.

It Times A Long Time To Play

Yes, this is true, but that is also part of the experience of an unfolding narrative in a game. In a shorter game, there might be a narrative that emerges, but by nature of the shorter experience and desire to be replayable, it’ll be less impactful.

So if you want to experience a whole narrative, campaign games are a great way to go. And while some can have one person running the game, most, as compared to an RPG which also matches up with a lot of these criteria, are fully cooperative. That means that everyone is playing the same game and doing the same things.

They Are Hard To Get A Group For

It is not much harder than getting a game group together. I play campaigns with two different groups, both offshoots of my game group. But expectations do need to be set when it comes to a campaign. I had one group fall apart because of life reasons, but still am maintaining the other two.

Start with letting them know the commitment. A campaign game is a commitments and they should know that. Also discuss frequency of play. A lot of times groups will fall apart because they are not frequent enough or too frequent. If they aren’t frequent enough, people forget how to play. Too frequent and it becomes a burden to play it. Know what schedule works for your group and try and stick to it.

Why Play A Campaign Game?

So we’ve looked at some reasons why you might or might not want to. And I do think that game group can be a valid reason if no one is interested in playing a campaign game. However, I think more people are than a lot of gamers might think. But why do I play them?

1. The Narrative Experience
2. Consistent Gaming
3. The Epic Scope
4. Digging Into A Game

The Narrative Experience

I talk about this a lot. I love games that give you story that you can explore. You’ve seen me play Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, some and Sleeping Gods. Even Pandemic Legacy Season 1 gave story to delve into. And I love when a game gives you story like that.

It is interesting, because the ones that I really love give me flexibility in that story. Gloomhaven more so in how you build and play your character. But Tainted Grail and Sleeping Gods allow you to branch out into the world and see more of what is happening. And they don’t tell you how you need to play it, yes, there are targets you go for, but there is always more to explore.

Compare that to regular Pandemic, or a lot of other one off games, they don’t offer the same story. Now, there is story that emerges in those games from the choices that you make as a player. Which is the same for a campaign game. But the players need to bring a lot more of the narrative to the game.

Consistent Gaming

This is also kind of a rebuttal to it being long and finding a group. For myself and other gamers, consistently gaming is amazing. So often it is hard to set aside time to play games, but with a campaign game, it forces you to do so. Like I said, it’s about that developing that rhythm. And a good campaign game will draw you in with the story it provides so you want to keep coming back to it.

It is a knock, actually, that I have against Gloomhaven. The story is less compelling than the game play. I love the mechanics, but the story could and should be better. But the game play kept me coming back over and over again. That cycle of playing cards and figuring out the strategy for a scenario is amazing. But a campaign game helps hook you to come back for consistent gaming.

The Epic Scope

A campaign game also can have much more epic scope to it. I own other games that have epic scope, The Reckoners or Atlantis Rising are two examples. Pandemic, even, with trying to save the world from diseases. But while you play, those games, that scope is just smaller than what you can get in a campaign game.

Tainted Grail, yes, you are trying to save Avalon, how is that different than Pandemic and saving the world? Well, it is different because what you need to do builds and changes as the game progresses. It might be finding the grail, but now you need to complete a ritual or more in the game. It just keeps building and building until you reach an epic finale to the game.

Digging Into A Game

And now, this is one that is very much for Gloomhaven, but it allows you to dig further and further into the game. And with that, you get to explore and understand the mechanics of the game and the character(s) that you are playing so well.

In Gloomhaven it is that card loop of playing two cards to do the top action on one and the bottom on the other. It just makes for a fascinating puzzle that then you can augment and optimize with items and figure out what is going to work best for you.

Final Thoughts on a Campaign Game

The scope and epic nature of the experience really pull me in. And they are some of the best stories I’ve found in a game. Now, the experience won’t be for everyone. And I think the biggest reason is that sometimes they are just harder to get to the table. If you’ve watched Malts and Meeples, you know I like to play them there. But without a gaming table, I have one now, it is a lot of work to set-up and tear down every time for one to two hours of gaming.

But if you can find a group, I believe that they are worth checking out. And there are so many themes out there. I look at what I have coming in, Frosthaven another game in the Gloomhaven world. Then HEL: The Last Saga a fantastical Viking mythological game. ISS Vanguard is an epic space exploration adventure. Rogue Angels when that comes out is going to be a more boots on the ground dungeon crawl space game. So there is likely a theme for everyone out there, including lighter fantasy like Adventure Tactics or Cora Quest for the whole family.

What is your favorite campaign game?

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Campaign Game List

Let’s see all of the games that I put on the list. We have several that are fantasy, really all are, one with more of an anime theme to it. And then we also have a legacy game on the list as well. Some are bigger campaigns, some are going to be more focused on shorter stories. But let’s see what they all are.

Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

Starting of with Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold. This is the continuation of what has happened before in Aeon’s End. Kind of an arc from Aeon’s End Legacy, two big box standalone games, and now Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold. You can see how the game plays down below, as I played Aeon’s End Legacy already. That said, I’d be really happy to play the new one.

Why do I want to play this one? Firstly, I know that I love the game already. My game play includes Aeon’s End, Aeon’s End: War Eternal, and Aeon’s End Legacy of the five, now six, games of the series. And I really love Aeon’s End Legacy as a jumping in point for the game. It teaches you how to play the game so nicely. The story was there, but the game was a lot of fun. So I want more of that from Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold. On the flip side it is one that I’ve kind of already showcased.

Folklore: The Affliction

Next up we have Folklore: The Affliction. This is going to be an RPG like board game. You get a character with a class, and you take them on adventures. I picked this one up because it seems to do a lot of things I like in RPG’s. And it’ll give me a chance to be a player in the game instead of always the dungeon master.

The darker theme of this game drew me in. Now, it doesn’t seem too dark, but it’s about werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and things like that. Those, I really don’t consider too dark, but more it seems to lean into a grittier and more violent world. I’m playing Roll Player Adventures that has some of that stuff, but has a much lighter tone. So I am curious to see the whole story of all that I have for this game.

HEXplore It: The Forest of Adrimon

HEXplore It is a series that I was only so interested in after watching a play through. I think I saw for the Sands of Shurax, and the game does seem fun. You go around, you find some adventures to go on, and you level up your characters.

This one interested me, though with that more grim forest setting than it did with the desert setting for some reason. And I am curious to see how the characters work for this game. It appears to be an interesting system without the heavy narrative driving direction of the story. It is more about the adventure and story that you find along the way.

Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1

Now, if we want to talk about a game with a ton of story, most definitely Middara: Unintentional Malum does the trick. This is the game that gives me the anime feel. You are from Earth, but you have a connection or genes that connect with this other world. And brought through a space gate, of sorts, you are transported to this new world where things are very very different than Earth. The themes and artwork might not be for everyone, but I am very curious.

Having an anime dungeon crawler seems like a no brainer for me. I really like anime, and I really like dungeon crawls. As for streaming this game, I am worried about fitting it all on the camera, or on the table, as there is a lot to it. That said, I still really want to get it to the table to dive into and experience the story.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Now for a game with a very different scope. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is just that, a card game, but like something like Arkham Horror: The Card Game or Apocrypha (which it is based on), this one uses cards as locations and builds up challenges for the players.

I am really interested to see what is different in the second edition compared to the first. I do have the pirate base game for the first edition as well. So I could play either. I know that it’s a system I find interesting and have had fun with. There is even a solid app that I should maybe download and play with again. But it tells a lighter story than some with good deck construction fun in the game.

Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift

I wrote about this one not to long ago, and this is another very dark dungeon crawling game. That said, it is an interesting take on it, and has some very nice components. It is also going to be very different than a lot of the games because it is nice a dice chucker. Instead, it builds it’s combat all around a rondel action system.

Each character has action points, and that determines how far they can, if they want, move around that rondel. However, action points are used for other things as well, which means that moving too far isn’t always the best plan. It is a really interesting puzzle with simpler mechanics than a lot of dungeon crawl games. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have depth, because picking the right options and setting up turns is tricky.

Solomon Kane

Finally, but not least, we have Solomon Kane. This is going to be a big story driven adventure game from Mythic Games. In Solomon Kane you play as virtues who are helping Solomon Kane go around through stories trying to keep the darkness at bay and figure out what he needs to do.

There are a lot of good reviews on this one, and I am very curious about it. Part of me wants to hold on a little bit, because I need to reach out to Mythic Games to get the updated rules and cards for the game. I didn’t back this on Kickstarter, I got it on eBay so that means I don’t automatically get it, at least not without contacting them. But this feels like a very different story and way of handling things in a game.

Final Thoughts

Firstly, here is the poll again now that you know more about all of the games.

But let me know your thoughts on what I should play. There are a number that I am interested in, and I think all, while being covered are going to be interesting ones to get to the table. And I’d love to start knocking out some of these campaigns that I can play solo. Especially before the likes of Frosthaven, ISS Vanguard, HEL: The Last Saga, and Isofarian Guard come in to add themselves to the mix as well.

I really probably need to stop getting more campaign games. But I did just add Middara Acts 2 and 3 through the pledge manager re-opening. So even more campaign to play. And I know I skipped mentioning other ones that I have backed as well, or that I will be backing Rogue Angels when it comes back to Kickstarter around the start of August.

Which one do you think I should stream?

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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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There is going to be a consistent theme on a lot of these games. When I look at them, I think I have games that do something like it better, for me. But let’s not spoil too much and get into all the games I’m either selling to friends or trading into my local FLGS.

Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth

This was probably the hardest one to get rid of, but also one that I’ve been wondering about for a long time. I really like Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth, but I don’t know when I’ll play it. I look at my shelf and see a lot of campaign games. Games like Solomon Kane, Reichbusters, Arkham Horror The Card Game, Star Wars: Imperial Assault and more are going to get played before it.

Plus I have Kickstarter games coming in like Etherfields, ISS Vanguard, HEL: The Last Saga, Primal, and Oathsworn. So when I look at Journeys in Middle Earth, I had to ask myself, would I play this before those. And the answer is, probably not. While the theme is one that I love, and the game was a lot of fun, I don’t see myself playing it when I have other bigger campaign games and other smaller campaign games.

This one I sold to a friend last night actually who had a group that had gone through Imperial Assault. For them it could be a good next game to play, and again he also really likes the theme as well, so it works well for him. I wish I’d played it, but I also know that I won’t.

Legacy of Dragonholt

Another campaign style game. This one is different though, it’s choose your own adventure with character stats. It’s somewhere between an RPG and a board game. I’ve played the start of it a few times and it’s fun. I think that it does a lot of things really well, but again, you saw my list of campaign games. When am I going to fit this one in?

Oddly enough, I think that it’s just a little bit too big for it’s own good. It takes a bit too much effort to get to the table. And the ruleset is just a bit too complex, though really simple, to play and then come back to in a few weeks or in a couple of months. If I want to do something that is purely choose your own adventure, I have Choose Your Own Adventure House of Danger. If I want that storybook and stat sheet, I have Loup Garou from Van Ryder games that is a one off thing.

Legends of Andor (and Expansion)

This, I think, is kind of another campaign game. Now, I say I think because I didn’t delve too far into the game. It is a fun puzzle game where you are trying to maximize what you do. However, for me, it’s just one I won’t play again. Legends of Andor has some really cool things about it though.

It does have that story element that I like to a game. And it makes you think about what you’re doing for an adventure game where there are monsters. You can’t just kill all the monsters, if you kill all of the monsters, you push up on a track. The faster you push up on that track the faster the game will end. So you only need to deal with the monsters that are a threat or are in the way. That is what really drives the puzzle aspect.

But, again, it falls into that category of a game that is pretty light, but has just enough rules that I can’t pull it off the shelf and get it to the table in minutes. And the campaign element isn’t strong to it, so I could play one off scenarios, but I’m likely just going to play the tutorial one again if I were to play it more.

Bring Your Own Book

Bring Your Own Book was one of my first Kickstarted board games. I liked it a fair amount in concept the game, just a bit less in actual game play. The idea is simple, everyone has a book and there is someone who is it. They put out a prompt and everyone has a couple of minutes to find a sentence or phrase in their book as an answer. Sounds fun and funny to have a wide variety of books.

There is one flaw in the game for me, though. It isn’t easy to find passages. Two minutes of time, or let’s say even three, isn’t that long. And while it’s funny to have a textbook and a biography and a novel as people’s books, some books just don’t work as well. And some people aren’t as fast as flipping through their books. I am not a speed reader but I can skim/read fast. Even for me it was tricky at times, or what you land is just something because you have to, not because it’s any good. I’d describe this game as clutchy, it can work, or it can stall real easily.

Boss Monster

Boss Monster is another I’d call clutchy. It is a pretty fun game with a great theme. You are building out a dungeon and are the boss monster at the end of it. Your goal is to kill as many adventurers as possible. And if you have the most of some symbols you attract adventurers.

That is where the game gets clutchy though. You don’t start out with a dungeon good enough to kill the adventurers. So they only show up in your dungeon if you have the most, so you are trying to tie with people the first few rounds. That isn’t fun, simple as that. If we started with a preseeded dungeon and we could make it bigger or better, that’d be more fun. Also some of the other mechanics aren’t what I’d call intuitive. With that said, I don’t hate the game, I just know I probably won’t play it again.

Sentinels Tactics: The Flame of Freedom

This one is pretty simple to describe why I got it and why it’s leaving. I got it on accident, I thought I was getting another Sentinels of the Multiverse expansion, it is a different game. Why is it leaving, tactics games like this one aren’t always my jam. I have not that many teams on a map games, Super Fantasy Brawl being my favorite. And I know the comparison isn’t perfect, but it’s in a category of games where I just don’t think I’ll get it to the table. It’s just a genre of games that I don’t need that many of.

Small World Underground

Finally one that might be surprising but don’t worry Small World is still in my collection. Small World Underground is basically the game thing as Small World, it just adds in a few little things, like locations to control that give you something more you can do. It is a lot of fun, so why is it leaving?

It’s leaving because I have Small World. That little extra thing to teach means I don’t want to play it as often. When we play Small World it’s generally because we can pull it off the shelf and play immediately. Nothing needs to get taught, everyone in the group knows it or needs a two sentence refresher on it. If I were to pull out Underground, we couldn’t get it to the table as fast.

Which Would You Keep?

So, in all fairness, I actually pulled back one game that was in the pile as I was talking about it. I am keeping Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, at least for right now. It’s such a simple deck building game with a theme that people like, even if they don’t like JK Rowling. And I kind of do want to push through all seven chapters just to see everything that changes. It might not last for a long time, but we’ll see, maybe I’ll stream it.

As you can see, though, there are two main things that pushed games off my shelf. Would I play them over other games in the same genre, and are they in that category of too complex but easy. I’m not sure that makes sense, the better way to put it might be that the games a pretty simple when you get down to it, but have enough rules that you need to refresh yourself to play them.

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With that said, I have a bunch of cooperative games sitting on my shelf and coming via Kickstarter. In fact, I probably have enough on my shelves to make a Top 10 games that way, but I am going to include what I have in Kickstarter and coming that way as well as what is on my shelf.

Let’s get to the list:

10 – Etherfields

This is one that I’m glad I backed from Awaken Realms, but while they normally get me with their theme, like Lords of Hellas and Tainted Grail, Etherfields theme of going through dreams was just interesting, it didn’t blow me away. The game play, however, seemed cool, and now I know that Awaken Realms does amazing story. I think what drew me to the game, the game play and deck building still is strong there, and I’m still excited for when I’ll get my copy in.

9 – HEL: The Last Saga

This is the game that really put Mythic Games on the map for me. I’d looked at Reichbusters and Super Fantasy Brawl when they were on Kickstarter but I hadn’t backed them. Same with Joan of Arc. But HEL: The Last Saga, that just looked too cool for me to pass up. This one takes you through a campaign of Viking explorers trying to find out what had happened to the rest of the clan that had gone on ahead. Definitely seems to have a dark element to it that can lean into horror, which I love.

8 – Uprising: The Curse of the Last Empire

This is one that was on Kickstarter but I didn’t end up backing on Kickstarter. Instead, I backed it with a late pledge because the game just kept coming back to me as I one that I wanted to play. Uprising is a 4x game and those are rarely cooperative. And the players are trying to stop two AI controlled enemies. But for the players to get the win, each of the player factions needs to finish ahead of both of the AI factions. So everyone is playing their own faction, and everyone needs to beat the enemy. That idea is just so unique.

7 – The Reckoners

Well, we are onto one that I have in hand now. And I’ve had this one in hand for a little bit, I just need to get it to the table. This one game takes place in one of my favorite book series, The Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson. Basically the Reckoners are a team who tries to take out super powered people. Because all the super powered characters turn bad. But, of course, these are normal people trying to take on powered people, so that isn’t going to be that easy. This game uses dice and just seems really challenging and fun.

6 – Folklore: The Affliction

Another one that I own and this one I’ve had on my shelf for a while. It’s one that I’ve wanted to try streaming but just haven’t gotten to yet. Folklore: The Affliction has you fighting monsters and basically playing an RPG like game. You even use more RPG like dice than a lot of games do. The story just seems fun though, it doesn’t try and go too weird with anything, you are just dealing with werewolves, vampires, and ghosts, more of the normal things the best that you can.

5 – Middara: Unintentional Mallum Act 1

I recently did an unboxing of this game over on Malts and Meeples which you can find here. This is another massive dungeon crawl sort of game. It is even generally a fantasy style game. But the game leans heavily into anime artwork and feel of the game. This is a massive game, I think everything that I have probably is about the same size or slightly more than Gloomhaven, so you know the game is big. The theme and style is just different enough than most that I’m really interested in it.

4 – Solomon Kane

This is another kind of campaign game. I say kind of, because it has a lot of mini campaigns in it. Solomon Kane was originally a collection of short stories by Robert E. Howard who was also known for writing the Conan: The Barbarian stories. Solomon Kane was a bad guy who became a good guy who now fights the forces of evil in the world, of the super natural variety.

That theme is just cool, but how do you now end up with the player who is Solomon Kane being more powerful than anyone else in a cooperative setting? You do that by not playing as Solomon Kane. Instead you play as different virtues who are leading Solomon Kane through the stories, keeping him away from darkness. Really cool and unique idea for a game.

3 – Frosthaven

Now, a lot of people probably thought that this would be number one, and really, all my my top 5 are ones that I really am excited to play. Frosthaven is just a little bit lower because I have played all of Gloomhaven. Do I want more of that game system, absolutely. Does the town building sound cool, most definitely. But, I have already played Gloomhaven, so I want to try a few more of these campaign games before Frosthaven comes in. It’s one of those things where I’m already super confident I will love the game, because I know the core of it, so I’m less excited than some other ones.

2 – Roll Player Adventures

Such as Roll Player Adventures, I am really excited for this one to come in this summer. Roll Player Adventures builds upon some of the systems in Roll Player and turns it into an RPG. You are going through stories and adventures using interesting dice placement and other rules to defeat monsters, and play through stories making interesting choices. I have demoed this one, it was at GenCon in 2019, so I’m excited to finally get this game into my hands.

1 – ISS Vanguard

Finally at #1, we have ISS Vanguard. An Awaken Realms game, this looks like it’s my type of space game. It is going to be a bit messy, like Awaken Realms games are, but a ton of fun. What is really interesting is that the game is in two parts. There is a phase where you improve and do upgrades on your ship, research new things and keep crew members happy and healthy. Then you also go down to planets to explore them and find out their secrets and the secrets of this call that drew you out to these planets.

Honorable Mentions

I could do a number of honorable mentions. I have The 7th Continent on my shelf that I need to play and Mage Knight. There is Robinson Crusoe. On Kickstarter I have The 7th Citadel that I’m looking forward to getting. Also on Kickstarter I have Zombicide: Undead or Alive and Primal: The Awakening all backed as well. Even other games on my shelf like Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops and a little one like The Fox in the Forest Duet are ones that they want to try. And just missing the list is Deep Madness as well. Really,

I have so many of these games that I want to try I could have done a Top 10 I’m waiting on and a Top 10 that I have. Maybe coming up here, I’ll look at what I have on my shelf, cooperative and competitive and do a Top 10 of ones I want to try and then try and get through them this summer.

What cooperative game are looking forward to getting to the table?

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The format is going to go along the lines of this:

• Company Overview
• Highlight The Feel
• Game Spotlights
• Final Thoughts

Let’s get to Mythic Games.

Publisher Portraits: Mythic Games

Mythic Games was founded in 2015 by Benoit Vogt and Leonidas Vesperini. Generally, Mythic Games has made very big immersive games, like their first game, Joan of Arc. This kind of set the tone for their company for a while as they have followed that up with massive games like Solomon Kane, Reichbusters: Projekt Vril, and a less story driven but still big game Super Fantasy Brawl. Recently, as of 2020, they announced a smaller line of games, their Phoenix Line, which started out with the game Enchanters. They have a few games, including one based off of a popular IP, Darkest Dungeon, still in the pipeline of Kickstarter having been funded and waiting to fulfill.

What Are Their Games Like?

The general feel I get from Mythic Games is that they generally produce epic and memorable games. Now, their Phoenix Line is a bit different from that. From what I can tell, the Phoenix Line was meant to bring in smaller and more accessible games versus their larger style of game.

Immersive and Experience Driven

With the larger games, though, they are extremely immersive, sometimes to a point where the rules don’t always work perfectly. That has been a knock on Mythic Games in the past, they make really interesting games, but he rules for those games can be a bit rough the first time around and generally they end up releasing either a 1.5 version of the game or just a new rules book. This is obviously a negative, but if you make it into the game, the experiences do hold up to the effort that was put into learning the game.

Board Game Spotlights

Super Fantasy Brawl

Normally I am not a big fan of skirmish games. Skirmish games tend to lend themselves to one person getting lucky in a lot of them. And because they tend to be 1 vs 1 battling, I find them harder to get to the table. Super Fantasy Brawl does a good job of giving more options than just to beat someone up. In Super Fantasy Brawl you are taking a team of three champions up against another team of three champions, so nothing that unique. What works so well for me, though, is the game play.

In Super Fantasy Brawl, you complete you actions by playing cards. Each card matches a color and a hero, you can play each color once per turn and that’ll activate the champion shown on it. The play is super simple, but gives you a lot of choices. And you aren’t just trying to knock out your opponent, though that is part of the strategy. You are going for five trophies, and you can do that by completing goals or knocking out your opponent. I find that you need to do both to be able to win. This is longer than how the game normally goes, but that is because GloryHoundd is talking with the chat which slows things down.

Reichbusters: Projekt Vril

You are the Allied Forces going on missions into Germany to stop the horrible experiments that are going on and the new soldiers that are being created. Honestly, this feels like you are taking the Howling Commandos from Captain America, and going up against Hydra and the Red Skull, to be honest. And I love that about the game.

I also like for a campaign style game with dungeon crawl, you don’t always just kick down the door and throw in a grenade. Most dungeon crawl games give you that option, but Reichbusters, it’ll go sideways fast if you do that as the more noise you make, the more bad guys can show up. I also like that even though this can be played campaign, it can also be played as a one off scenario. Gloryhoundd again takes on the game, so check out their playthrough below.

Solomon Kane

Another campaign game with dungeon crawling feel to it, Solomon Kane strives to be more than that. Solmon Kane has you playing through the story adventures of the Solomon Kane short stories and books but in a not so normal way. Normally in a board game you play directly as the heroes. In Solomon Kane, it is a bit different.

Instead, you are all playing a virtues, Courage, Prudence, Temperance, and Justice, all of which influence Solomon Kane on his journey. This makes it so that no one player is playing the main hero. This game also leans heavily into the narrative element as well. You can see me unbox everything for it over on Malts and Meeples below. Plus some solo game play from Rolling Solo.

Joan of Arc

Final one I’m going to be talking about as I’m still waiting for my copy to come in, Joan of Arc. I do also have HEL: The Last Saga, but no one has received that yet, so I don’t have any videos for it. Joan of Arc is not a game that I thought I was going to love. Mainly because it is a minis game, and who knows, I still might not. But it is a scenario based game that doesn’t just have you taking two armies up against each other.

Plus, I love the setting for Joan of Arc. It is the historical world, but it pulls from the history of that time and adds in fantastical elements that were presented in the history. So if something was eating sheep, it might have been werewolves, or some unexplained sighting, maybe a dragon. It takes those accounts from real history and adds it into the actual events that we know happened. The setting is just really interesting to me. And over on the Dice Tower they played through a scenario.

Final Thoughts on Mythic Games

I’m a big fan of theirs and their games. Mainly because they tend to have a great experience behind them, which you can see in the game plays that I have highlighted. Even something like Super Fantasy Brawl that doesn’t have an epic story behind it, it still has memorable moments and the game play is so light and fun that it works really well.

Have you played a Mythic Games game before? What is your favorite, do you have any that you want to try?

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Claim Expansion Bundle

Claim is a trick taking game that I need to get to the table. I want to get more trick taking games in general to the table, and Claim does something interesting. In it you take tricks over two rounds, the first round you are taking tricks to get your choice of cards for the next round. It uses a mechanic like The Grimm Masquerade where you might either get the card on top of the deck or one face up, and you might push your luck if you don’t like the one face up. Then you play another round of trick taking as well as set collection for the suits, monster races, to score the most points at the end of the game. This adds in some new mechanics in three smaller expansions, I’m excited to see how it can grow the game, though this is a game that I want to really dive into and explore soon.

MonsDRAWsity + Expansion

This one the theme just sold me on it. We’re all Paranormal Sketch artists who are trying to get as close to the monster that’s been described by the person who is it. This is one of those party/group type games where the points don’t matter and it’s all about the laughs that you get out of it. Compared to something like Stipulations where you need to be able to come up with ideas on the fly, I think this game will be more accessible. I also think that it will be more replayable than something like Cards Against Humanity because the people playing it are creating the jokes, and by that I mean drawings. I’m guessing that this game would even work via Zoom for a game night, depending on how fast it comes.

Shadows in Kyoto

I mentioned EmperorS4 because I picked up a game, it was on sale for $4.99, that Deep Water games is distributing. This has a similar aesthetic to Hanamikoji and is also a two player only game. In this one you are protecting your shogun. But what really interested me was the different ways to win. It almost has a Stratego type feel, but you can win by capturing two opponents agents who have some real intelligence on the enemy shogun. You can get an agent of your own with real intelligence to escape, or you can get your opponent to capture three of your agents with fake intelligence. I like the deduction and bluffing nature of this. It seems, like Hanamikoji, to require you to read your opponent which is something that I find interesting. It is going to feel abstract, but should work nicely, I think, in my collection.

Those are the three different bundles or games that I picked up. I’m excited for all of them obviously, and they’ll join Floor Plan, Welcome To…, Welcome To New Las Vegas, Claim 1 & 2, and Hanamikoji in my collection. If you haven’t checked out Deep Water games, they are definitely a company that puts out smaller games, but really interesting ones.

Which of these games would you be most interested in?

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So let’s start with the two late backed honorable mentions:

Roll Player Adventures and Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor

Now, these two are only on the list because they were ones that I backed later. Roll Player Adventure because I picked up everything for Roll Player on Black Friday deals. Roll Player is a dice drafting game that has you building up a RPG character, basically. It’s like you’re making a D&D character, you just have specific stats that you are going for. Roll Player Adventures takes those characters and runs them through a story. It’s basically a dungeon crawl for the characters you roll up.

Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor, is also a cooperative game, but a very different type of one. It is a 4X cooperative game, in a fantasy setting. 4X cooperative games really aren’t something that’s heard of that much. What also drew me to the game is that this could have been a $150-200 game with minis, but instead they went with standees which look amazing. Finally, it has two bad guys that everyone in this cooperative experience is trying to beat. You don’t win unless everyone has beat both of them, that gives it a really interesting cooperative experience. And the two bad guy AI’s will fight each other as well as the players.

Alright, let’s get onto the list.

10 – The Night Cage

This one has me excited because I mainly back campaign games, but this one gives me a tense game in a small package. Big campaign games are the ones that I’m not sure will show up at retail. This one I know will, but I wanted to support it because of the tension that it has. You, and your fellow players, are lost in an underground labyrinth that is always changing around you. You are looking for keys and a portal out but trying to avoid monsters who will snuff out your candle and make it even harder to move around. It’s a cooperative game and everyone needs a key and to get to the portal before the tiles run out.

9 – The Reckoners: Steelslayer

Another cooperative game and one of two expansions on the list. This is an expansion for the Reckoners board game based off of one of my favorite series by Brandon Sanderson. In this game you are rolling dice to determine your actions and then researching and battling Epics, think evil superheroes, as the team of The Reckoners, not superheroes just regular people. This brings in the last two books of the trilogy and makes the game play a little less brutal in some ways and possibly more brutal in others.

8 – Project L: Finesse

Project L was a game that I had glanced at but wasn’t that interested in until I saw the Dice Tower play through. First, let me say that the game has some amazing pieces in it. The dual layered cards where you are filling in shapes with basically what amounts to Tetris pieces is great. But what really drew me in is the light engine building nature of the game. You fill in a dual layer card you keep the pieces you used to fill it in and get more pieces, or you can trade up and get better pieces using an old piece. The game is fast but has interesting choices but doesn’t look hard to play.

7 – Crash Octopus

Now for something completely different we are going treasure hunting while trying to avoid an octopus. To add in even more fun to that, we are getting the treasure by flicking it so it hits our boats. This game comes from the same company that made Tokyo Highway so the game looks amazing, and I do really enjoy flicking games or dexterity games quite a lot, though I’m not always the best at them. This just looks like a fun time and a silly time, and people are generally up for a light silly game.

6 – Hel: The Last Saga

Now we’re getting into more of my “normal” kickstarter game, the big epic campaign games. Hel: The Last Saga from Mythic Games really interested me because of the Vikings theme. Then the game play itself was quite interesting in particular how the story unfolded. I like games where you don’t always know everything about the game and what’s going on in a given chapter until you are part way through the chapter. I also like the religion in this game, I believe it’s Norse, Christian, and Druidic, and the characters can pray to only their deity for a boon, which I find really unique in terms of game play.

5 – The 7th Citadel

The follow-up to The 7th Continent, The 7th Citadel takes what they learned from that game and improves upon it, in my opinion. It is still an exploration and adventure game, but this one has more of a story that seems to be running through it. It also has improved upon the death where yes, going through the cards still matters for how long you can survive, but you have a health pool to go along with those cards that dwindles down over time. I like the idea of this game even more than The 7th Continent, because of the story that it tells and how that seems more straight forward in some ways, versus puzzling out how to solve a curse.

4 – Cartographers Heroes

A small box game, though I did get the big box. Cartographers Heroes is the follow-up to Cartographers a flip and write game that I like a lot. This adds in heroes that can help you defeat monsters. But beyond that it adds in new monsters that do interesting things and with the big box for it, that comes with three new maps that all work in interesting ways. Normally you can put your shapes anywhere, in those they limit you and give you restrictions on how to build. And it comes with colored pencils which is important for making it look pretty.

3 – Nemesis Lockdown

Now, I actually didn’t get Nemesis Lockdown, so why is it on my list? I got Nemesis instead. Lockdown is the planetary base version of Nemesis, which is a game where you are fighting off aliens who are trying to overrun your ship and get your ship back to earth. However, each player has their own secret objective as well. So it’s a semi-cooperative game, but one that works really well from what I’ve heard. Mainly because it isn’t like Dead of Winter where you’ll hold back something that could end up tanking the whole scenario for everyone. You more have a goal that you are trying to do, and it might be that crew member X doesn’t make it, but you can’t push them out the airlock.

2 – Marvel United

This was the first big Kickstarter I backed last year, and I’m really glad that I did, it’s also the only one to have delivered anything this past year. Marvel United is a card playing cooperative game where players battle a villain. I like how simple this game is for a cooperative experience. It’ll be one I can play with my kid when he gets a bit older. But I also like that it gives you a superhero team-up feel. I, on my turn, get to take my action as well as those of the previous card, so if someone plays down two punches, and I put down two punches, I can punch four times. Plus there are cute chibi miniatures in the game for the heroes and the villains. I’ll be backing more of this in 2021 as they come out with the X-Men.

1 – Frosthaven

Finally, no shock, Frosthaven is my #1. I am going to be really curious to see if I like Gloomhaven or Frosthaven better when I’ve played both. I think that it seems like Frosthaven will have improved upon a few things, and it adds in city building. But anything more with that dungeon crawl feeling and that great card play, I’ll be really happy. I also think that the starting characters sound really really interesting, so I’m excited for it when it comes out, most likely this next year.

That’s my Top 10 Kickstarters that I backed. How about you, what are your favorite Kickstarters that you’ve backed this past year? Are there any that you are waiting on from longer ago than that?

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