Top 15 Campaign Games I Still Need to Play

15. Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West

I know that I’m going to like this game. So why is Ticket to Ride Legacy lower on the list? Some of it is because it is a legacy game. The two “legacy” games that I have on the list are the bottom two. But also because while I like Ticket to Ride a lot, it’s not a game that I play all that often. I think that the legacy version will likely breath new life into the game for me. But it’s more of a comfort food pick than a really exciting new bite to try. And for that reason it’s lower on the list.

14. Clank Legacy 1 & 2

The other legacy game is actually two legacy games. So did I cheat, I’ll let you decide. But this one is lower on the list because I know that I love Clank! already. And I really like the Acquisitions Inc guys as well, so that is a great theme for me. But it’s like I said for Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West, this is more comfort food. I already know that I will like both of the games. But it’s higher on the list because I like Clank better than I like Ticket to Ride, and because I think the writing is just going to be a great time that’s a ton of fun.

13. Tales from the Red Dragon Inn

Speaking of fun writing, I expect that Tales from the Red Dragon Inn is going to be another game with fun writing. This one is supposed to be a simpler, or less in depth dungeon crawler game and there are some good playthroughs of it. I’d recommend checking otu the playthrough that was done done on Meet me at the Table. They’re one of my favorite channels, and it shows how fast it is to get the game to the table and get playing.

12. Kinfire Chronicles

Speaking of another campaign game that I’ve heard a lot of good things about, we have Kinfire Chronicles. This is again supposed to be a friendlier and easier to get into campaign game than some. I like the look of the aesthetic of the game. And it’s not a mini heavy experience which might make it easier to get to the table. But it’s probably easier to see what it’s like at the table. I really do like how the cast of characters looks like a ton of fun and familiar fantasy but not the completely normal fantasy.

11. Tidal Blades 2

For this one I’ll add a video from Man vs Meeples. But I know more about this one. Some of the previous ones I just went on theme. This one is a dungeon crawler or adventure style game with scenarios where you are in this beautiful world dealing with monsters who attacked a festival and more in the story.

But the mechanisms got me to pick up this game. I like how you add in cards to a grid and then you activate a row or a column. But once every spot in a row or column is filled and you activate it, it wipes. And you have basic actions on spots without cards, but it’s a rising and falling action as you try and play through the scenario and defeat the monsters.

10. Etherfields

Now we’re onto Etherfields. The only campaign game from Awaken Realms that I haven’t gotten to the table. And this one actually left my collection for a very short time. But as I said, I love campaign games so I got it back. I put this one where because I love the theme of it. I have heard that it is rough around the edges but the theme gets me.

You are exploring dreams and each dream is going to be a little bit different. Some of them might be more dream like, but the fun of dreams, at least in a board game is that they can be nightmares as well. And that means that the game is going to have twisted and crazy and surreal scenarios and that sounds amazing to me. I know one element was a bit of a grind, but I believe that there are rules out there now that help fix that.

9. Kingdom: Death Monster

Then we get to one that maybe should be higher on the list. Kingdom: Death Monster is not the grand daddy of all campaign games, that’s Gloomhaven in a lot of ways. But this one is one of the games that really showed what you could do and create a massive game with a ton of expansions and a ton of minis in it. I only have the core box and there is a ton in there.

In this game it’s a boss battler campaign. You start at no one, really you don’t even have language yet. But as you play, you grow you tribe, figure out new things, like ways to make weapons and armor, develop language and more. All that while sending out your hunters to try and defeat boss monsters who are sometimes going to take out your hunters. And that’s why you need to keep growing your village. But Meet Me At The Table has great videos on this as well.

8. Divinity Original Sin

This is a game that I need to play through both as a video game but also as the board game. I had fun watching Felicia Day an Ryan Day play through it on their streams back in the day. So it is a game that I have played some, in the video game. But the board game sounds great for it as well. The theme definitely helps with that as does the fact that this isn’t a grid movement map but more of an area movement game. And I really like how there’s that campaign element and adventure element to it without purely being a dungeon crawler game.

7. Dragon Eclipse

Alright, I kind of lied about having played all of the Awaken Realms campaign games. This is one that might actually get to the table sooner because I think it might be easier to get to the table. I didn’t think of it though, because it just got in. In this game you are collecting dragons and battling dragons. Does that sound a bit like Pokemon, that makes sense. But it’s a game with a fun theme and compared to some campaign games, it’s a campaign game that you can play true solo which is great for me.

6. Nova Aetas Renaissance

You’ll notice and probably already have noticed a trend of the videos that I share here. A ton of them are from Meet Me At the Table. A lot of these games I had already backed before they played them. But this is one that I tracked down because of the channel. I love the 3D nature of the experience for this game. And how, in one of the scenarios a house that is 3D can be taken apart and flattened. But there is more than that as well.

The story of the game is fun. It feels like it mixes up a few things from historical to make fantastical. And then it uses a fun mechanism for whose turn it is. You spend you action points and move around a time track. Whomever is at the end of the track is going to be who activates next. There are some other rules for it as well. So you can’t just stack up turn after turn after turn before the bad guys go, but it’s a fun element to the game.

5. Agemonia

Then we have Agemonia. This is a rare campaign game that I didn’t back right off the bat on crowdfunding. Or I should say a rare one that I looked into a lot and didn’t end up backing. This game seems to have a fun world and setting to play in and that’s some of what drew me in right away for it. But there were other elements that kept me coming back for it as well.

I liked how the maps were in books and that felt different. But also beyond that, as more places are doing that now, the world would change. You draw out a card after interacting with a point and cover it up. That might create a different point of interaction or it might be nothing to do there anymore. And the game play just seems simple enough to be easy to learn and play, but offer some solid choices in combat as well.

4. The Elder Scrolls

Next is another new one to come in. But it’s a fun theme that a lot of people are going to be drawn to. For me it’s less the theme and more that it’s a shorter campaign based off of the Too Many Bones system that I really am excited for.

If you’re not familiar with the system, you level up after missions. Or you can anyways. And as you spend your points to try and level up you get better or unlock new abilities. You can add to base stats, which can be good, or you can add to the specialty dice that you roll. And while this streamlines it a bit from what it was with Too Many Bones, I’m excited for it and the world that the game is set in certainly helps.

3. Middara

Now the top 4 are going to be ones that I really would love to play. Yes, you read that correctly, we’re on #3 and we have four games to go including this one. How is that, I couldn’t pick between my top two. But Middara is very safely into that group. And soon I’m going to be having more Middara come in. I say soon, I expect maybe this time next year.

But Middara is going to be a classic dungeon crawler with a ton of story and a ton of dice chucking. But I really like the theme and look of the game. You go to another world, chosen to go there kind of it’s weird to explain. But you are chucking dice to defeat monsters, level up and become awesome. But the whole aesthetic of the game gives me a really strong anime feel. I’ve heard that sometimes trips up the writing, but overall people really enjoy it. And to me that sounds exciting.

1c. Oathsworn

Next we have Oathsworn. And this, this is the three way tie for first place. Why did I not just remove the last game from the list, because I wanted to mention it too. Oathsworn is another boss battler game. But it is a game that is split into two parts. And that excites me about the game. You get a mystery or exploration phase where you experience a lot of story. And then you go beat up that boss. But if you do well on the story the boss maybe is easier.

And I really like the mechanisms in the game. I kept games that I’d really played off of the list. I did a short demo of this one two years ago at Gen Con and I adored it. There is this great card system where cards have to cool down before you can use them again. And then you decide how many dice you are going to roll, some are required, but the more you roll the more chances you to bust and miss, but the greater a hit could be. Or you could play it safer and draw cards, but eventually that deck of cards will run cold and do you switch to dice then?

1b. Primal: The Awakening

Next tied at the top is Primal: The Awakening. This one is another boss battler game. And this one I should probably get to the table sooner than some. A nice thing about Primal is that it doesn’t need to be a campaign, you can also play it as a one off. And that would definitely make it easier for me to get it to the table.

But this is a game that is all about the boss battle. There is a little story between scenarios and a chance to upgrade, but it’s not going to be nearly as much other stuff as just a pure battle. And the battle is different as well. You play on a tiny board with just four sides of the monster that you can be on. And depending the stance the monster is in, you need to be in specific spots to do damage. Add in card play for this which you can pull of powerful combos, that’s great. Of course, depending on what cards you play, you might trigger a lot of monster reactions.

1a. Arydia

And finally the most recent game to the campaign game collection. This one barely beat out Elder Scrolls for that title, we have Arydia. Arydia is another game that I passed on originally when it was on crowdfunding but then I went back and late pledged it. I just kept on being drawn into one part of the game.

The game is at three different levels. Now I don’t mean that you build stuff up on the table. I mean that you explore the world at three different levels. You explore at a high level where you get general encounters and interactions. Then you can dive down deeper and start to interact with specific characters or explore a location in more detail. Finally, you might then drop into combat which is tactical movement on a map. And that massiveness of the world really drew me to the game.

Final Thoughts

You might think that is enough. But there is going to be another list, probably tomorrow for games that I want to come back to or that are new editions or versions of games that I’ve already played as campaign games. I expect that is only going to make it to ten, but that’s a lot. And this list even didn’t include everything. The campaign in Solomon Kane could have made the list. And I know that I just didn’t see some games on the shelf that would have made sense for the list as well. And there are games that I likely missed too because I don’t think of them as campaign games.

What campaign games do you want to get played? And how do you find time to play them all? Or are you like me where you have more campaign games than you can play?

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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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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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Pros

• Theme/known IP
• Entry Level Pledge Price
• Known company
• Great Minis

Cons

• Entry Level Pledge Contents
• Previous video game adaptations from the company
• Stretch Goal structure

The Page

You are going to see one comparison made pretty often and that’s going to be with with Primal: The Awakening, which is another monster hunting game. But looking at this page, I think that it looks pretty solid. I like how they have everything laid out in terms of explaining what is in the different pledge levels.

But I am going to knock the pledge levels some. It looks like it could be solid with the entry level pledge, but you get zero daily unlocks. I get that they are trying to keep the price point low, but it is 4 monsters and 4 heroes. Not every campaign needs to have a million different options to play, but that isn’t much. And that is one of my cons, their previous video game adaptation, Horizon Zero Dawn, might be a great game, but you need stretch goals. The basic box provides way to little content, and from the looks of that entry level pledge, it will again.

Otherwise, I like the page layout and they spend a fair amount of time on the game play. I’ll get into that in more detail in the next section. They definitely highlight the size of the minis on the page as well, but this, like Primal: The Awakening, is always going to have giant minis. The only thing look wise that I don’t like is the board. In one picture you see it close-up with a bunch of a white circles on it, and it just doesn’t look as put together as it should.

The Game

Game play seems interesting. You level up your characters and characters are unique which I really like. The monsters even level up as well. Three different levels per monster to the point when you defeat any of the monsters as four star monsters you win the campaign. Or you can play one-shot arena battles against a monster. I like the fact that it has those combos.

I also like that much like Primal: The Awakening, the game play seems to be based around cards. In fact, looking at everything, I’m not sure I see any dice. And a game like this could easily have just been a dice chucker. That gives me more faith, like I was saying about Horizon Zero Dawn, that this will be a solid game mechanically.

The leveling up system looks interesting as well. It appears to give you some options as to how you can do that and how you can branch. When you have the option to level up, I don’t want it to be just one fixed path. I don’t believe that Monster Hunter World will give you that.

Back or Brick

So let’s dive into this. Is this a Back or Brick for me? Right now, this looks like a Brick for me. If the daily unlocks were coming to the entry level pledge, I’d probably be in on it. But it feels like this is a limited pledge level that is mainly just going to make you wish you’d gotten more and then pay larger numbers over on Ebay later. Also, if I hadn’t already backed Primal: The Awakening, I’d be more apt to back this as well. I think that Primal: The Awakening might be a simpler game to play and easier to get to the table. Will this be a bad game, probably not, but I wouldn’t get the Entry Pledge.

How about for you, is this a back or a brick?

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Pros

• Theme
• Game Play
• Campaign
• One-off

Cons

• Price

The Page

This is a well laid out page, and it does a good job of highlighting the right things. By that I mean that it isn’t only just showing off the minis, sure we get lots of shots of them, but they do hit on game play as well, and they have play through videos up on their page as well. And it’s not just playthrough videos, they have previews, they have how to play videos, and they have them not only in English. Now, I watched some of the ones in English, but I like that they are reaching out to a larger audience by not just having it in English.

And it’s not just in video form, they also have a ton of details on game play on the page as well. It goes through how the boss battles will work. But not just the boss battles, but how character progression goes and more. Reggie Games has created one game before this, but that one clearly went well for them, on the second try and this one they look like they are a long time professional Kickstarter company with the layout of this page.

The Game

I hadn’t checked out much game play until I saw that the Rolling Solo YouTube channel had done a playthrough of a boss battle. That really caught my attention for a few different reasons.

Firstly the card play is very interesting. I like when what you play and what order you play it in matters. Not only can it matter for how you attack and how you do defense, but it can also matter for how the monster will react. The fact that there isn’t so much a monster turn, but monster reactions to what you do is great, it feels really dynamic in how it plays out. Yes, the characters will take some attrition damage at the end of their turns, but it isn’t a big amount of damage like the monster attacking.

I also found it interesting that this wasn’t on a big map, so no fighting through minions, but more than that, no hex or square based movement. It’s simply the monster in the center of the board and four spots around it that characters can move. But it doesn’t lose a tactical nature. Depending on the phase of the monster, you go through various damage tiers, where you can even deal it damage will change, it might be the front and back and then the back and sides.

The drawing of the monsters aggression was really interesting as well. It feels thematic as one character will do a massive amount of damage and the monster will focus on them, but then another player might and the focus will change as time goes on.

Finally, the characters also seem unique. In the Rolling Solo playthrough one of them had a bow and was ranged and could basically pepper the monster with some small bits of damage which adds up over time, whereas the other was more of a tank and drew the aggression. They were able to deal out some bigger hits but not always as consistent damage.

Back or Brick

Right now, I’m leaning towards this being a Back for me, but I’m only in at $2 right now so that I can get access to the pledge manager. What really sold me on this one was the fact that it’s a big boss battler but you can do it in a stand-alone fight as well as a campaign. I have a boss battler that is coming in Oathsworn, but that’s a big epic campaign that has a massive story section as well as boss battle at the end of each story. This one is all about the boss battle, I also am really interested in it because no dice that I remember in the playthrough so while there are random elements it isn’t a purely dice chucking Amerithrash game. The only thing holding me back is the price point, which I get because of all the massive minis in it, so I’ll probably just put more money in during the pledge manager.

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

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