Friday, March 29, 2024

Fandomentals At Gencon 2018: Our Most Anticipated Board Games

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For the first time ever, The Fandomentals is going to GenCon! Running from August 2nd through August 5th, GenCon is the single biggest gaming convention in the world. For the second year in a row, the convention announced in a press release that they’ve sold out of four day passes days before the convention even begins! And it’s no wonder they’ve sold out. With over 200 new board games alone debuting at the con, there’s a lot to see, do, and play. Here are the 10 games we’re most excited to try at Gencon 2018.

1. Samurai Jack: Back to the Past

Publisher: USAopoly

From the developers of The Thing: Infection At Outpost 31 and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, Samurai Jack: Back to the Past is a co-op card drafting game based on the fifth season of the hit animated show from Cartoon Network. Players take the role of Jack and his friends as they travel from place to place to gather honor and defeat the evil that is Aku.

Why We’re Excited:  It truly seems like a love letter to the iconic series. Project Raygun has brought their legendary craftsmanship to the table with loving vinyl figures of Jack, Aku, Ahi, The Scotsman, Monkey Man, Sir Rothchild, and Max as well as vivid cards that use art from the show itself.

2.  Red Dragon Inn 7: The Tavern Crew

 

Publisher: Slugfest Games

Since its debut in 2007, Red Dragon Inn has become a monster among the tabletop gaming crowd. The game has won over the hearts of gamers thanks to its gentle skewering of fantasy tropes, beautiful art, and unique and varied gameplay. One of the most re-playable party games ever, the games have featured killer rabbits, blind navigators, and bomb throwing goblins. But finally, in its seventh expansion, we’ll get to finally play as the long-suffering staff of the eponymous inn. From the jovial owner Warthorn Redbeard to the woman known only as “the Wench,” the staff finally gets a chance to put their feet up and enjoy a mug of ale like anyone else. The new expansion isn’t the only addition to Red Dragon Inn, either.

Slugfest and Steve Jackson Games have joined their mighty powers to bring Spyke and Flower from Munchkin into the Red Dragon Inn. The two can dual each other to prove who’s more min-maxed, or join in the fun of the main games in Red Dragon Inn’s first ever standalone Ally pack.

Why We’re Excited: The Red Dragon Inn is genuinely one of the best-designed games series out there.  The art is lively, the writing is clever, and it’s just fun as hell to play. Plus it has the added option of play with real alcohol, which needs to become more of a trend.

3. Legends of Sleepy Hollow

Publisher: Greater Than Games

Set three days after the Washington Irving tale, Legends of Sleepy Hollow places players right in the middle of Tarrytown circa 1790. They can become one of four townsfolk as the search for the disappeared Ichabod Crane begins. Much more story driven than most other board games, Legends takes place across 8 chapters and features secrets, twists, and even combat with attacks unique to each character. Players will balance their action pool with their characters fear levels ad they delve into the real story behind Sleepy Hollow.

Why We’re Excited: For one thing, the art is gorgeous. Abigail Larson was clearly drawing on her love of Tim Burton when she brought the game to life, and it evokes not just Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice, but also the more recent autumnal classic Over the Garden Wall. It also seems to really aim to use board games as a method of storytelling, rather than just being an excuse for strategy or competition. As immersion in video gaming reaches new heights, its no wonder that board games are getting in on it too. We’ll for sure checking this one out.

4.Blood on the Clock Tower

Publisher: The Pandemonium Institute

Its rare for a brand new studio to come out swinging this hard with their first release. Blood On The Clocktower is a deduction based game where two teams, Good and Evil, square off to either destroy the town or banish the demon forever. Similar in play style to Ultimate Werewolf and Town of Salem, each player takes on a role acting to help or hinder the spread of evil. Unlike those games, the game doesn’t end when you die. Rather, players become ghosts who can affect the game from beyond the grave.

Why We’re Excited: We love new developers. The old blood comes out with new games all the time, but the tabletop world can sometimes seem stale once you get below a certain age of publisher. But Pandemonium is bringing some real excitement to their first GenCon with a game that puts a unique spin on the extremely popular deduction genre. The addition of storyteller promises to take the lies and scheming to another level and helps add to the creativity as well.  If it’s not on your pre-order lists yet, I’d get on it.

5. Crusader Kings: The Board Game

Published By: Paradox Interactive/Free League Publishing

DEUS VULT, my brothers and sisters! Yes, the deep and sometimes incredibly confusing world of Paradox grand strategy is moving off of computer screens and onto a game board! This is Paradox’s first foray into tabletop gaming, and they’re swinging for the fences. The new game sticks closely to its digital counterparts, with each character controlling a dynasty that spans decades. Players will juggle intrigue, war, and horse popes as they fight to dominate the anarchy of Medieval Europe. Or, at least, get a genius heir no matter how many wives they have to kill. This isn’t Paradox’s only GenCon release, as they’ll also be demoing the tabletop adaptation of Europa Universalis as well.

Why We’re Excited: Paradox Games have a steep learning curve, but they aren’t time sinks just because. There’s an insane amount of depth and craftsmanship to their games, and they’ve brought all of that to bear in their first tabletop game. The art is crisp, the colors pop, and they did a fantastic job recreating the look and feel of the original game. While there’s no word if Glitterhoof, everyone’s favorite chancellor, will appear, we’ve got our fingers crossed.

6. Masque of the Red Death

Publisher: IDW

IDW is on a damn roll this year. Not only has their Legend of Korra: Pro-Bending Arena become a bestseller and a beloved part of the fandom, but they’re bringing a slew of games based on amazing properties to GenCon. But while we love Batman and the Ninja Turtles, its Masque of the Red Death, possibly the most goth board game ever made, that caught our eye. Based on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, the players must balance their party duties with the encroaching plague. Drink, gossip, and carouse as all the while the Red Death encroaches on your lives. The most popular noble wins…IF they survive.

Why We’re Excited: Look at it! It’s beautiful! Filled with the unique art of Gris Grimley, IDW makes this game pop with lots of 3D standees and items. Plus the balance of doom and partying is always fun, reminding us of the Winter Palace in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Whether you’re a Poe fan, a board game fan, or just terminally goth, this game is a must-play.

7.Sovereign Skies

Publisher: Deepwater Games

Deepwater has one of the most varied inventories at GenCon. Dedicated to creative and well-designed games, they’ve taken on a real challenge this year. Sovereign Skies is an epic strategy game where factions vie for resources and galactic dominance. Seems like one of those “all night” games, right? Not really. Designer Aaron Andrew Wilson has worked to condense strategic space opera to a playtime of only 45 minutes! Players will occupy colonies and recruit politicians as they battle it out on the edge of space.

Deepwater is also debuting the 50’s tinged city planning game Welcome To at this year’s GenCon as well.

Why We’re Excited: Games that play under an hour rarely tackle a subject as epic as the Space Opera. Being able to do all the best parts of a strategy game without spending three house haggling over wheat is incredibly attractive. Plus the art is stunning, nothing new for the very aesthetic-minded Deepwater.

8. Raccoon Tycoon

Publisher: Forbidden Games

At first blush, Raccoon Tycoon looks like a well-constructed resource management economy game. Players each control a commodity and must corner the market by building buildings and collecting railroads until you become the top dog.

For some people, that might send them straight to sleep.

But then you hear the perfect pun and see the art (which is beautifully done by Annie Stegg Gerard). It’s RACCOONS! AND FOXES! Dressed in little coats and vests! Woodland critters doing ruthless land deals! It’s like if Ticket To Ride were cute…and fun.

Why We’re Excited: IT’S WOODLAND CRITTERS IN TINY NINETEENTH CENTURY ATTIRE DOING BUSINESS DEALS! LOOK AT HIS LITTLE HAT! LOOK AT HIS LITTLE TIE! I BET HE TALKS LIKE PATRICK STEWART!

9. Gorilla Marketing

Publisher: Roxley Games

I think something is in the water these game devs are drinking. But it’s good. Because Roxley decided to take the perfectly functional “random party game” idea and make it better. How you ask? The same way DC wrote Batman in the Silver Age: add Gorillas. The game takes place across two rounds. In the first, the players name the thing that they will advertise, whether it be college courses, bands, food trucks etc. In the second, the players then must come up with a tagline for that product. The winner isn’t just who’s funniest, but who meets the criteria of the judge’s card.

Why We’re Excited: See: Raccoon Tycoon, but with gorillas.

10. Evil High Priest

Publisher: Petersen Games

This one has been on our radar for a while. The “dark cult” genre is a staple of tabletop gaming, and Evil High Priest is a welcome addition to the genre. Rather than warring cults and warring monsters, the players of Evil High Priest are all in the same cult, worshiping the same unknowable eldritch being. But there can be only one high priest. Players must gather cultists, perform dark rituals, and terrorize the local townsfolk in the name of their dark master, all while dodging the pesky investigators. The winner is the player who has the most power and treasure when the final seal breaks and doom comes to the world.

Why We’re Excited: Cult games are just fun as hell. There’s something about millennials that just attracts us to the weird and dark. And in today’s political climate,  summoning the Great Black Goat Shub-Niggurath doesn’t seem like a half bad idea. Petersen is a company that strives to create high-end games, and it shows in the rich details and unique art that fills Evil High Priest to the brim.

 

So that’s our list! See anything you like? What games are you excited about this year?


Images via Gencon LLC and the respective publishers

Author

  • Dan Arndt

    Fiction writer, board game fanatic, DM. Has an MFA and isn't quite sure what to do now. If you have a dog, I'd very much like to pet it. Operating out of Indianapolis.

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