Top 5 Boss Battlers

5. Marvel United

First of two Marvel games on the list. This one I think most people would overlook as a boss battler. I think it is even loose in terms of that. I go up against the villain with other players who are dealing with threat, rescuing bystanders and dealing with schemes from the villain. But it doesn’t feel like that traditional boss battler. Might be because you need to work up to facing down the boss.

But the game is great. And I like the variety in both the heroes and the villains. Each villain does things slightly differently, and it feels comic like in that. So when you face off against Red Skull or Ultron they feel different. And while the characters don’t massively change they play differently as well.

4. Final Girl

We’re going from Marvel to horror here with Final Girl. Final Girl is interesting because it really is a boss battler. If you’re not familiar with the concept, the final girl is the last survivor in a horror film. This is a very consistent trope, whether they make it out of the movie alive or not, well that is not guaranteed. But they are going to face off against the killer.

Final Girl the board game is going to lean into that trope. You are the last girl and you need to rescue people, find a weapon, and see if you can take out the bad guy. This is a great game and there are a ton of different girls you can play as and killers or bosses that you have to deal with. It’s a different feeling game, again, for a boss battler, but one that is a ton of fun.

3. Aeon’s End

One without minis, but Aeon’s End is definitely a boss battler. You face off as breach mages against a nemesis of some sort. This is a phenomenal game because each character does some things better than others. And each has a power that you want to use, but also that you need to balance against just doing damage and doing your deck building the most efficiently and effectively.

And then the nemesis is great as well. You need to worry about a number of things from them. The actions that are delayed that you can stop or the minions that are coming out that’ll keep on activating. This game just has that right blend of enough to always be interesting but not too much so it isn’t hard to play. And it is one that if you want to watch the legacy playthrough, I did one of those.

2. Marvel Champions

Second Marvel game on the list. Champions has you (and maybe one other) taking up Marvel heroes against a Marvel villain. This is one that was on the Dice Tower Top 10 list. And I think that it works, but it isn’t what I think of, traditionally, when I think of a boss battler. Mainly because there is no big mini that you are fighting.

But in Marvel Champions you take a hero up against a singular villain in a one off fight. You want to beat that villain and that’s your goal. Some villains might need to be beat in different ways but it comes down to that heroes versus villain. And that is what it is with a boss battler. Or at least part of what it is.

1. Oathsworn

Yes, this did end up on the list. Why, because I have played it, technically. It wasn’t a full playthrough of the game, but I got to do a combat at Gen Con in 2022. And I like Oathsworn a lot in what it does. The game uses a slick card management system where you are playing out cards to push others down to get them back into your hand. Cards only really flow as you play out more cards.

Each boss is also unique from what I’ve seen. I only have faced off against the first one, the rat on the box, but that one felt like a unique monster to fight. And then I’ve seen a tiny bit of the Meet Me at the Table gameplay that Bairnt and Colin did. But I didn’t want to watch much of that so I could avoid spoilers.

Final Thoughts

This is a trickier list, like i said. But I got to five and I like all five on the list. The one that I want to get to the table soon is Primal. But I am also painting the minis on that one. So I need to get a few more of them painted, and even consider which one I’ll face off against first. Once I do that, then I’ll be getting that one to the table, and likely streaming it.

Plus Kingdom Death Monster is sitting on my shelf waiting to get tried. And Catharsis is another boss battle that I should play. I’m guessing if I look around the game room more, I am likely to find more boss battlers that I need to get to the table. Like Wild Assent and who knows what else.

What are your favorite boss battlers? And which boss battlers do you think I need to try?

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Top 10 Crowdfunding Project To Be Delivered

10 – Mythwind

This one is such a weird one. I can see myself not liking this game. It’s Stardew Valley the board game, which is not something that I thought I’d want. More so than the actual Stardew Valley game which gives you and end game condition. But Mythwind from Open Own Studios (formerly OOMM Games) promises that, a game where you can just build everything. Like I said, this might not be for me, but I am very curious and want to try.

9 – Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin

On the flip side of Mythwind, Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin is a game for me. I already know that I like the system. And Kings of Ruin tries to take the things that people didn’t like, the grind, the keeping the Menhir lit, and make the game more streamlined for the story.

My little soapbox time. People are complaining about the grind and how hard it is to survive. The Story Mode takes care of most of that, extra house rules put in place show that people didn’t pay attention to what they were backing. Tainted Grail promised a hard campaign with attrition and grinding from day one. To complain about a game delivering on what it promised feels like a miss on the players behalf not the companies or the game as the complaints seem to say.

But back to Kings of Ruin. It’s more of a game and a system that I really love. I’m wrapping up the third campaign soon, and I want to know what story the are going to come with. Because story in this game is always so good.

8 – Agemonia

Agemonia is one that I late pledged. I couldn’t quite bring myself to pull the trigger when it was on Kickstarter (I believe), but late pledge got me. This is an adventure game with a lot of story and a campaign to it. Alex Radcliffe from BoardGameCo has a good video showing it off.

There are a couple of things that drew me towards it. Firstly it doesn’t seem to be as heavy as a lot of campaign games. As you might know from watching Malts and Meeples, I appreciate that. But also, I like the card system. It’s a nice system that in these specific scenarios changes up the board. So the world is dynamic as you spend time doing things.

7 – Stonesaga

The most recent one on the list and yes I am a bit biased knowing one of the people who worked on this game. But I’m still excited for it. It’s a nice system as you build out your stone age civilization. And the game does some fun things. There are a lot of mini games, they are fun. And there are some good decision making points which work nicely as well. Stonesaga is a legacy game, so know that about it, some elements will get used, but it’s not a single use legacy game.

6 – Robomon

Robot Pokemon is what Robomon showed off. A solo or two player adventure game, you go around capture and upgrade your Robomon. Sound a lot like Pokemon, it should. But there is never going to be a Pokemon game like this, I think, due to licensing. So Robomon looks like it will offer a lot of story and adventure in an interesting world. I like the idea that this is a very open world system.

5 – Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

Sleeping Gods is a game that I know a lot about. And I had a few minor issues (as well as a mistake in how I played it) that I thought would make the game more fun. Now, I’m not sure my mistake got changed, but my minor issue did in Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies. It is like Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin in that it took what players knew and used the feedback to improve it. So I’m excited to get this one in and see what new adventure awaits.

4 – Witchbound

Witchbound is the second newest on the list, from this year. And it might be one of the earlier to come in from these games if the creator can keep up their frenetic pace on turning out new story and artwork. But Witchbound is a point and click adventure of a board game with RPG elements. It’s what I would call a relaxing solo story game. You don’t need to hold a ton of rules in your head, so I am excited to dive into the whole thing.

3 – Primal: The Awakening

From one of the shortest to one of the longest, we have Primal: The Awakening. A monster hunting board game that can be played in a one off or as a campaign. I can’t wait to get this one in, and while it has been outstanding for a long time, they do provide updates. I am very interested in the deck construction and combat mechanics of the game. How they created such a small grid and still gave an interesting game and game play.

2 – Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread

Arydia is another late pledged board game. This is one where I couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I decided I wanted to get in on it still. Arydia is an interesting game in how it works on three levels. And I mean three types of maps. Firstly, you play on a world map traveling around. Then you have local maps, general areas that you explore and interact with people and points of interest there. Finally you get down to the tactical battle map.

That three levels of game play is just unique. And while a lot of games do these things separately, or at least two of them separately, Arydia more seamlessly moves between them. That is really interesting. Plus the game itself is just a big epic adventure game.

1 – Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapter

And finally at number one, we have a big epic adventure game. One that I saw game play of ages ago, and it is still so high on my list. I don’t know much about the World of Darkness RPG stuff that has Vampire The Masquerade in it, but I know I’m excited for this game. You can see some game play below.

That is just the prototype and there is a lot game and story in there. There’s even more with the game that is coming through Kickstarter. I like the different levels, again, how you get your main story through just story elements and a few decision points. But then you get to that tactical map, there is still more story and you can pick how to interact. But it’s really well done and it looks like a lot of vampire intrigue in the final box.

Final Thoughts

There are so many games that I am waiting on that just missed. The Chip Theory Elder Scrolls game, Tidal Blades 2 the dungeon crawler. Slay the Spire is up there, HEL: The Last Saga which I still hope to get. The Dark Quarter, a vampire mystery game. Divinius a legacy game or Arkeis an Egyptian themed legacy adventure game.

Like I said there are a ton of games. And I am going through my collection to get rid of games to make room for them. But all of these I want to see what they are like, and so many of them I hope are great solo games. So over the next two to three years, look forward with me for these games to come in and get a chance to explore them.

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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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Top 10 Campaign Games

10 – Marvel Champions: The Mad Titan’s Shadow

I had to put one of the campaign boxes onto this list for Marvel Champions. There are a number of them, a Spider-Man one, a Red Skull one, Guardians of the Galaxy, soon to be Mutants as well. But I went with The Mad Titan’s Shadow just because that box feels the most epic. And I can take anyone into that one and it makes sense thematically.

I’ve heard that these are lighter campaigns which is not a bad thing. It means that I could and maybe will, set it up sometime and just play it over a few evenings. And you know I’m going to be running Thor up against them, or maybe Doctor Strange. There are enough characters know that it might actually be a tricky decision.

9 – Massive Darkness 2

I picked this one up because it did have a campaign. And I want to get it to the table, at least for scenarios fairly soon. I like that you level up a lot in this game, and the minis are cool, the classes are cool, the weapons are cool.

Plus, this is also a lighter game. You don’t need to know nearly as much how to play it as some of the other games on the list. That means that even if I don’t play it as a campaign soon, it’s probably one I can sit down and knock out a scenario with some friends easily in an evening.

8 – Reichbusters: Projekt Vril

One that I also need to sort some more, which is why I haven’t played it yet. Reichbusters came out with an errata pack for improved card wording and rules. But because that was coming, I waited on playing it. Now I own it and, well, I need to sort the cards in.

This is going to be a game of sneaking into enemy base and trying to stop their experiments. Think kind of Howling Commandos vs Hydra, if I were to take it over to Marvel. There are crazy experiments going on, and monsters you need to fight. But every mission has an objective and if you’re too noisy, well, things are going to go sideways for you fast and you’ll get swarmed. So it’s not a guns blazing game, which I think sounds interesting.

7 – Betrayal Legacy

I did put a few legacy games on the list. Legacy games are campaign games too, and it surprised me a little bit, but the one at the bottom of that is Betrayal Legacy. I love Betrayal at House on the Hill, even with it’s wonky scenarios and problems with sometimes the traitor being too strong, sometimes the other characters. And I want to see what the legacy one has to offer.

I am really curious about the legacy aspect of it. You play as a family versus a character coming back generation after generation. I want to know how that plays out in the game. I think it could offer some cool game options and ways to progress and tell a bit story.

6 – Descent: Legends of the Dark

Moving back to just a campaign game, we have Descent: Legends of the Dark from Fantasy Flight Games. This is going to be their Descent, but not third edition, game, of exploring tiles, fighting monsters, and interacting on the map.

Like a lot of bigger Fantasy Flight games in recent history, Mansions of Madness, Journeys in Middle-Earth, and Star Wars: Imperial Assault, there is an app piece. I like it for this game, it was a bit much in Journeys in Middle-Earth, but in Descent it offers some fog of war. It is in that category of games like Massive Darkness 2 for me. It looks like a blast to play as a fun dice chucking game.

5 – Folklore: The Affliction

Now moving into another bigger game, and I think the top 5, with the exception of the legacy ones, are the heaviest of the campaign games that I own, at least right now. Of course there are more coming in. But Folklore: The Affliction is going to be a game that borrows a lot from pen and paper RPG’s. You roll more than a standard six sided die. And that is intriguing to me.

Plus, I like that it’s a darker setting. I don’t need all my fantasy to be grim and dark, but sometimes that is what I want. And since I always am the Dungeon Master for D&D, I believe that it’ll give me that RPG feel without me needing to be in charge of everything. Though, if I paly it solo, I will be, but I’ll be doing the same thing as the players.

4 – Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

Another Legacy game and this one just came in from Indie Boards & Cards. I played through the first Aeon’s End Legacy on stream. And I had a blast with that game. Plus, just in general I really like Aeon’s End, so much so that I keep on backing and tracking down everything for it.

Legacy of Gravehold is going to be another legacy campaign. Where I knew a little bit of the campaign for the original Aeon’s End Legacy, I know nothing about the story this time. I just know that the box is bigger and heavier. That probably means more cards, but I’m hoping for more story as well.

3 – Clank! Legacy

And the other legacy game is Clank! Legacy. This one is higher for me just because I want to play it with some friends. I love the Acquisitions Inc theme on it as their game play is hilarious. And I suspect that the humor in the game will be great as well. Plus, I like the system that it is built upon. I prefer Clank! In! Space! to Clank I think, but the legacy version with the fantasy theme, I’m still there for it.

This is a deck building push your luck game. You are going into it trying to complete missions and get treasures. And it’s competitive in that you are trying to be the best so that you can end up with the franchise within Acquisitions Inc. I have to imagine that the whole of the story is going to be goofy, and it sounds like there is a lot to unlock so that is exciting as well.

2 -Middara: Unintentional Malum

A huge box with two more huge boxes on the way. I give that as my excuse for not getting it to the table sooner, I want Acts II and III to show up as well. But really, it’s just such a table hog and such a big game, I am not sure that I want to play it solo, but I really do want to play it.

Middara has more of an anime style to it’s game look. The artwork, and from what I can tell, the world building and story look fairly anime. It is going to be a leveling up, dice chunking, monster fighting, dungeon crawling game. And I think it’s going to be one that I find to be a lot of fun to get to the table and play. But like I said, I suspect the game would work best with four players, or two players controlling two characters each.

1 – Stars of Akarios

Call me cult of the new if you want, and it’d be fair in this case. But I am excited to plays Stars of Akarios. This is a big space exploration and adventure game. What really intrigues me is how it is split into two parts. There is that space exploration and then you can be down on an planet as well. That is intriguing.

It also looks like it uses a combination of cards for modifying your attacks and things but also uses dice. And just the production quality on the game is great. While it is a big game, compared to some of the others, it looks like it should be easier to play solo. And I want to get it to the table and play it on Malts and Meeples.

Final Thoughts

I say this almost any time I talk about a campaign game. And I feel like I can redo this list in different ways pretty often. But I have a lot of them coming in. 15 more campaign games in fact, which is a lot. Now some can be played as more of a one off situation such as Primal: The Awakening. Otherwise might be smaller sit down and play a campaign of it in a sitting, Spire’s End: Hildegard. But most of them are going to be much much bigger than that.

Just to show everything that is coming, and there is a lot, in alphabetical order, we have:

1. The 7th Citadel
2. Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread
3. Chronicles of Drunagor
4. Divinus
5. Ehterfields
6. Frosthaven
7. HEL: The Last Saga
8. ISS Vanguard
9. Mythwind
10. Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood
11. Primal: The Awakening
12. Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies
13. Spire’s End: Hildegard
14. Valor & Villainy: Lludwik’s Labyrinth
15. Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters

What campaign games do you own, if any, that you want to get played?

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Top 10 Games I’d Crowdfund Again

So, you can really tell what sorts of games I tend to back on crowdfunding from this list. Though, it isn’t completely true. The big thing with making this list is that I know a lot of the smaller games I can pick-up at retail. So that definitely influenced my list.

I think if we were to talk about the games that might get played more often, it’d be a different list of my games backed on Kickstarter and Gamefound. But for the ones that I’d look at now and definitely go all in on, or go in heavily on again, definitely going to be those bigger campaign games.

As part of the conversation with the chat, join live and you can be part of it as well, we did end up talking about some of the smaller games that I backed as well. There are some that I’d be remiss if I didn’t want to back them again. And at the very end, even, I went and tracked down a few I know I will be keeping an eye on. So a lot of crowdfunding was covered but mainly about those 10 (cheated with an 11) games.

Upcoming Streams

Wednesday I am going to be playing the next scenario in Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. The video is already up so you can head over and click that notification bell to know when I am going live. The video is here.

As for next Monday, I am not sure what that stream is going to be yet. I think I might be looking to play a game of some sort. Most likely a smaller game so I can chat, but there are a number of games I am going to want to get to the table soon. There is also a chance that I will be doing an unboxing. I believe that I have Etherfields coming in soon as well as Marvel Dice Throne, and then not too long until Oathsworn. So I can unbox a lot.

What are your top games that you would back again on Crowdfunding?

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The $1 Crowdfunding Pledge

Let’s talk about the $1 pledge level. Why do I pledge at that level sometimes, and how often do I get more?

So what is a $1 pledge? It is basically a cheap way to get the updates on a Kickstarter campaign. With Gamefound you can follow along if you subscribe to it. But Kickstarter, is is $1 and often times it gives you access to the pledge manager as well.

The nice thing about a $1 pledge is that you don’t need all the money at once. If both Final Girl and Marvel Zombies run at the same time – they did – then you don’t need to give both of them a couple hundred dollars right at the same time. You back $1 now you can get one now and save up for the other one later.

But how often do I back for $1, once in a while, and I’d say maybe 2 out of the 6-7 that I did that with, I ended up adding in the pledge manager. One, for sure, that I did was The Witcher: Old World. And I believe there was another that I added. I don’t care enough, most of the time, to do $1 and get the updates.

The Drink

A Negroni again. It’s such a good drink, again a warm day and one that is nice to have on a day like that. But a good drink to have stuff around for. It is really one that I like to sip while grilling as well. On a hot summer day it is refreshing and with some ice in there, it doesn’t feel water down when the ice melts.

Upcoming Streams

Tomorrow I’ll be streaming, I think my plan is more Paper Dungeons. So join for some fun to play along. I’m still working my way through that campaign.

I talked about this on the stream, and maybe I’ll talk about it more tomorrow. But I am getting a gaming table with a topper. That will allow for me to leave a bigger campaign game set-up on the lower level and put the top on when I want to play something else. So once that comes, I am going to be getting back to streaming a larger game.

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