Historically the issue with Marvel games, and really any game that has an intellectual property (IP) with it, is that they haven’t been good. A game with an IP generally meant that it was a cash grab hoping people would buy a game because they saw that IP on it. I think that has changed, there are some bad games coming out with IPs, but generally you know what companies, if you are a hobby board gamer. All that to say, Marvel Uno won’t be on the list.

Top 5 Marvel Board Games

5. Marvel Legendary

This is a game that I like and dislike all at the same time. The game takes too long to setup and often kind of fizzles at the end. But in it’s a deck building game, and I like deck building. So it is a game that I should like.

I think a lot of people will like Marvel Legendary, though, because you can create a team of characters and combo them together to create an epic turn. If you pull that off, then you can beat down some henchmen or take that main bad guy down a peg.

4. 5 Minute Marvel

5 Minute Marvel is a fast cooperative game where everyone is working to take down a villain. It might not be exactly five minutes, but close. You need to play out cards quickly and work together to take out henchmen, stop schemes, and deal with the big bad villain. This is a good family game.

3. Marvel Remix

Marvel Remix is a reimplementation of Fantasy Realms. The concept of the game is a hand building and management game. You work on getting the right cards out there that will combo off of each other cards you have to give you the most points possible. It’s less Marvel themed than some, but a good, smaller Marvel game.

2. Marvel United

Marvel United is as big or as small as you want it to be. I want it to be huge. I own everything for the game, and I have more coming, in terms of game play. In this game you take some heroes and face off against a bad guy. Everyone working together based off of cards that you play.

It’s a very simple concept. I play out a card and I take the action on it. Then you play as the next player and you can combo off of what I did. You use the actions on my card and your card so you can create powerful turns. All the while the bad guy is trying to make you lose your cards or get to another win condition and is taking it’s turns to mess you up.

The game works so well because you can mix and match any heroes and any villain together. If you grab the hero cards and villains cards, you are basically ready to go. And because it is mainly symbols, it works well for the family to play.

1. Marvel Champions

Finally we have Marvel Champions. Marvel Champions is a living card game. That means compared to a collectible or trading card game, you buy a new pack and you get all of the cards. And Marvel Champions is, I think, the most thematic Marvel game. You take a hero into battle against a villain, sounds like other games. But there are other twists to the game.

The hero has two sides. Their alter ego side, Peter Parker, and their hero side, Spider-Man. When in Spider-Man form they can stop the bad guys plans and beat up the bad guy. But the bad guy knows who they are and will beat them up. So you need to flip back to the alter ego side to heal up, but while you’re doing that, you can’t deal with the threat building up or hit the bad guy. Upside, the bad guy can’t hit you. So it’s about working that balance of doing heroic things but not getting knocked out.

Final Thoughts

Marvel is coming out with a lot ore games. D.A.G.G.E.R. is coming out from Fantasy Flight and I want to check that one out. I own Age of Heroes another one that I can checkout. I think there might be more that I am forgetting about.

Most of them are a lot of fun, some of them don’t work as well. So you do need to figure out which is which. But no longer are Marvel themed games just mass market games, they are actually good hobby games to play as well. Which is your favorite Marvel themed board game?

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The Games – Bargain Basement Bathysphere and Featherlight

Bargain Basement Bathysphere

This one I was not so sure on basically because of the very long name. But turned out to be a pretty fun game, I enjoyed it once I got into the swing of it because of how fast the game goes. In this game you are taking your barrel submarine down to the depths of the ocean to get treasure, rescue people, and who knows what else.

I say who knows what else because it’s a campaign or scenario based game. So the further you get into the game, more rules and things change in the game, but the core mechanic is going to stay the same. And I like the core mechanic loop of the game. It is very simple. You roll the dice, and then you use those dice to move. But you can always spend oxygen, one of your resources, to roll again. And when you’re out of dice you have to do that.

Then it’s just about how you navigate the pitfalls that the game throws at you. Are you taking damage which can reduce the number of dice that you have? Or you spending oxygen too quickly or taking too much stress? The game gives you some good ways to deal with that, but ways that you need to think about what you are doing.

Featherlight

Featherlight is a light game as it suggests but different, I think, than what I was expecting. I was expecting more of a basic set collection sort of game with the feathers. But there is good strategy and a lot to think about as you play the game. You need to try and set-up your hand and the nest to score you points.

In the solo game it is randomized easily how cards in the nest are covered up. So that made the solo game play really simple. Now, that could mean more randomness or less ability to plan around what your opponent is doing. But that is okay, because the game is fast. Considering that it was three new game plays, I got through it all in 35 minutes or so.

Featherlight gives me a bit of a feel of a Village Green sort of game. And it makes me want to try Marvel Remix, the Fantasy Realms based game, where you have that limited number of cards and are trying to build the best scoring hand. I think I got lucky and built a really good hand for the first game. But then again, that’s not based off of anything, other than it felt good to me.

Upcoming Streams

So, Wednesday, Lands of Galzyr time. We’ll see how far we get into the first month, but my plan will be to do some of the set-up for the game, picking character, etc., during this first stream. And then we’ll be diving into at least a few months, in game and probably out of game of Lands of Galzyr. So join me at 8 PM Central for that.

And then on Monday, my plan is more small solo games. I recently got Star Trek Super-Skill Pinball, so that is an option. Or I have some other games, Bullet Star, Imperium Legends, or others that I could break out as well. Monday streams start at 8:30 PM Central time.

And as always, if you want to know when I go live, you can subscribe and click the notification bell.

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The Gen Con Haul

I know that people don’t always have time to watch the videos, so I’m going to do a quick write up as well for the games that I picked up. This is not the list of everything I played, expect that tomorrow. But it is everything I bought and stuff that has come in as well.

Kingdom Rush – Not from Gen Con

This actually came in a bit ago. Kingdom Rush is going to be a tower defense game where you cast spells and try and stop waves of enemies from reaching the end. Classic tower defense, and based off of an app, I believe, that I should maybe checkout. This one I got because I got a code from Lucky Duck Games for 20% off, and it’s one I’ve wanted to try, but wouldn’t have without a discount.

City Chase – Not from Gen Con

Korea Board Games sent me City Chase to cover. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but this is going to be a family weight hidden movement or deduction game as you take helicopters around trying catch a car, from my understanding. And the car can hide under buildings, so a bit of a deduction and trying to narrow down and trap where the car can go.

Arcadia Quest – Not from Gen Con

This is another game that I maybe wouldn’t have picked up except that it was used. Arcadia Quest is basically a go into a dungeon, complete objectives, knock out your opponents sort of game. Tons of minis and expansions for it, I only got the base game, but I figure I can add more later if I want to it. Seems like a solid light game with some good tactics and fun minis.

Oathsworn – Not from Gen Con

And then we have a big game from Shadowborne Games. I backed this one on Kickstarter quite a while ago and it came in the day before I left for Gen Con. I am excited to get this campaign to the table. Two cool things for me about this game is the cool down track for abilities. You need to play cards out to cycle abilities back, down this track to your hand. So there is a puzzle with that.

Plus then you can roll as many dice as you want or draw as many cards as you want. But if you get two blanks, you fail. So there is a push your luck element to it. But, there is a less luck in the cards. The cards don’t reshuffle until all of them have been drawn. So the deck remembers and players know, you might have a hot deck with the blanks already out, or it might be cold with blanks left and just a few cards to draw.

Batman: Everybody Lies

I talked about this one yesterday, and Paint the Roses in my Highlights from Gen Con. As I said in that, I split the cost of the game with some friends, so I’ll probably be playing it tonight again. This is based off of Portal Games Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game series and system. But it has a Batman theme to it, it was a lot of fun. And it’s cool that we got the designer, Ignacy, to sign the cover for us.

Burncycle + Expansions

Burncycle is a post post apocalyptic cyperpunk world where corporations have taken over, granted this is after humanity took back over from the robots. You play as robots trying to hack into the system as well as complete objectives on the physical map. The game play seems like a lot of fun, and the production quality, as it is a Chip Theory Games is amazing. Probably one I’ll at least learn solo, if not play that way mostly.

Long Shot The Dice Game

This is a roll and write horse racing game. It’s one that I got to play the last day, and because it was the Kickstarter copy they were selling, decided I should pick it up. In this game, you are trying to buy horses, put bets on horses, and end up with the most money at the end of the game. It’s a good time, I like the artwork, and I like that there is a board, which is dry erase so you can mark it up with one of the expansions. I think it’ll be one that gets to the table pretty often in my sea of roll and write games.

Hero Realms + Expansions

Hero Realms is another one I got to demo, in fact I demoed it and got stomped. But I really liked what it was doing. And I decided to go in on it to the point where I could play it solo as well. Wise Wizard Games had a bundle you could buy to get the coop game play that allows for solo. Normally this is a head to head deck building and battling game that plays fast and you feel like you ramp up quickly.

Cartographers Expansions

No surprise here with new expansions for Cartographers that I’d grab them. This is three new map packs as well as then a bonus little hero pack for Cartographers heroes. I’m excited to see what different the maps do. And I need to play with all of the maps that I have now, because, well, there are six map packs, plus the base map which is double sided, so 8 different map options.

Paint the Roses

The other one I talked about in the highlights. Paint the Roses is a deduction game as you try and figure out what card a player has in front of them currently. You do that by putting down a tile, and then all players put down cubes on that tile if it creates a match. So if I put down a rose and my card is rose rose on it, if I put down that rose tile so it touches two other rose tiles, I’d put two cubes on it. Then everyone else would try and figure out what is my combo on my card. Simple but a ton of fun and pretty thinky.

Marvel Remix

Marvel Remix is a retheme and reskin of Fantasy Realms. In Fantasy Realms, from what I know, you are building out your best hand of cards to score points. It did it with a fantasy theme first and now with a Marvel theme. I believe that there are slight changes to the rules, but not sure what they are, and won’t really know as I haven’t played Fantasy Realms.

Lost Ruins of Arnak Expedition Leaders

Another game I got to play was Lost Ruins of Arnak. I even played it twice. Expedition Leaders is the expansion for it. It adds in some new items and relics. But the big thing that it does is it gives you, as the name would suggest, an expedition leader. They have unique powers and you start out the game with just that little bit of variability. I like that in a game, so seemed like an easy expansion to add.

NFL Five

Free game for demoing it. It’s basically a little football themed game. Not much going on it. I describe it in the video as rock, paper, scissors but harder. There is no tie and try again. It is just put down a play and hope that you match. But or something that’s football themed and from a football card company, it’s basically what I expected. And I don’t think it’s that bad, it’s just very basic.

Pocket Paragons

Finally, another game that I got handed, a little duel set demo of Pocket Paragons. I know nothing about this game, I’m assuming it’s a head to head battler, probably deck crafting, though maybe more like Dice Throne (just cards only) where you have stuff already set. I’ll have to learn it and give it a whirl, see what it is like.

Upcoming Streams

So, Wednesday, the plan is to play Stars of Akarios. I was hoping to get to rules read in the evenings at Gen Con and while I had some evening time free, I didn’t get to it. So it might get pushed back a week, depends on how well I can learn the rules today. If it does, I’ll be playing some other game solo on the stream.

Next Monday I think I’ll be doing a Top 10 list. Not sure what the list will be on. But I think that’ll be the plan. I of course, do have some games, like Long Shot the Dice Game, Cartographers, Hero Realms or Lost Ruins of Arnak that I could set-up and play solo as well. We’ll have to see what I end up wanting to do.

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Top 10 Games to Buy at Gen Con 2022

10. Sagrada: The Great Facades – Glory

The only expansion on the list, I know that I’ll grab it. It is more fun for Sagrada and while I don’t play Sagrada a ton, it is a blast when I pull it out. Glory is going to give another twist on how to play it. And I like how they are doing the expansions. I wish that this was Sagrada Legacy but that wasn’t able to make it in time.

9. Scout

Scout is probably going to be one of the hot games. I say that because it just won the Spiel de Jahres. But I also am not sure how available it has been. Scout is a card shedding game where the cards have two numbers. And you decided at the start which set of numbers you want to use. But you can’t flip it to give you a perfect set-up, it is just how it is dealt. It seems light but intriguing.

8. Paint the Roses

Paint the Roses is going to be a bigger deduction game. Each player knows part of the puzzle to keep the Queen of Hearts from taking off their heads. But you can’t tell what that is, other players need to figure that out from what you are doing so that cooperatively you can get the garden painted and done. There is a deluxe version of this game that looks amazing.

7. Planet Unknown

Planet Unknown is another game that I expect to be flying off the shelves or from the booth. This is a game that was on Kickstarter and has a cool thing with a tile board that rotates. On your turn you rotate it to pick a tile that you want but everyone else gets to pick a tile from in front of them to add to theirs. A cool concept that I think could make for a fun game.

6. Nightmare Productions

Speaking of a fun concept, Nightmare Productions is a game about making horror movies. Now this is not a new game, but it is the first time that Trick or Treat Studios is putting it out and the first time that I know of with only a horror theme. The only horror theme makes it more interesting for me as you try and make your best movie possible. One that I want to checkout and because of the theme probably buy.

5. Marvel: Remix

Marvel: Remix is a reskin of Fantasy Realms with Marvel. I am interested in plain old Fantasy Realms but Marvel: Remix is a theme that I like better. This is basically a small combo building game to give you the most points at the end of the game. You do that by adding or removing cards from your hand. Not sure completely how it works, but looks like a good one.

4. Long Shot: The Dice Game

Another one that I guarantee will be hot. And one that is already out and has been for a little bit. But it hasn’t been consistently easy to get your hands on. This is a roll and write horse racing game where you bet on horses and it just looks like a nice light fast and fun game. I really haven’t heard anything bad about it, maybe some okay reviews but nothing bad.

3. Cat in the Box

Cat in the Box is a fascinating sounding trick taking game. In this game you are playing standard trick taking, you predict how many tricks you can win, and you get points for that. But cards never have a color, at least not until they are played. Then all of a sudden they have a color, and you can declare yourself out of suit at any time, but be careful, because that might create a paradox.

2. Cartographers Expansions

I guess there is one more expansion on the list, Cartographers is getting three new maps. I think if you pre-ordered them they have already shipped. Do I need these? Probably not. Will I get them, most definitely. I love Cartographers, one of my favorite roll and write games, I think it got bumped to #2 or #3, but we’ll have to see when I do my Top 100 games of all time this fall.

1. My Father’s Work

Finally we have My Father’s Work. My Father’s Work is a big game, one of not so many big games on my list. Oathsworn isn’t on there because I backed the Kickstarter, otherwise it would be. But My Father’s Work you play as a mad scientist, but not just one, three generations as you try and pass down knowledge, deal with the villagers and complete your machines, monster, whatever it is. It is scenario based with an app, and while it is heavily Euro mechanics, I think it looks so fascinating. I could see this one being popular, but it is fairly expensive.

Do You Have Gen Con Must Buy?

Let me know what you want to buy. I do want to swing by the Shadowborne Games booth to see Oathsworn, of course my copy will be showing up today. And same with Batman: Everybody Lies, but I might wait on that one. And The Librarians just missed the list, I thought the game was fun, didn’t back it on Kickstarter, and now I want to see what the final production looks like. There are a whole lot more games as well I can imagine being hot, Final Girl and Ark Nova likely will move fast as well. But let me know what you want to pick up over on Twitter.

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