Opinion - Three Games I’m Excited About
Objective coverage of the industry is one thing. But there are people behind the curtain. People with their own stories and their own opinions. Whether you like it or not, we’re going to be sharing those with you. Tune in for opinions, interviews, and other delightful deep-dives into the world of board games.
There are new games coming out at a rapid pace. Like, suffocate-you-in-a-pile-of-cardboard fast. Not all of them interest me, though. I’m not looking to build a massive collection. I just want to find a sizable group of games that I love and can play with varying degrees of frequency.
That being said, I still get hyped about certain games.
Everyone has their criteria. I enjoy worker-placement, sci-fi themes, heavy strategy, striking art, and unique design. What about you?
What makes a game buzz-worthy for you? What makes it something that you keep an eye out for?
Imperium: Classics and Legends
The Mico is one of my favorite board game artists. Kwanchai Moriya is getting up there as well for me, but I really gravitate toward the memorable characters that Mihajlo creates. Yes, the colors are contrast-heavy and grab your attention and the landscapes are attractive, but the people themselves possess a magnetism that I can’t get away from.
So, that was the first checked box. Then I saw the designers. Granted, I don’t know Nigel Buckle, but I’m familiar with Dávid Turczi and I’ve enjoyed his designs a lot. He’s been prolific these last few years.
Then I realized it was an asymmetric deck-builder game. I’ve loved asymmetric design ever since playing the Warhammer 40K races in Forbidden Stars. Another checked box. And deck-building has become something I’ve appreciated more, with recent releases like Dune: Imperium.
Imperium: Classics and Legends are standalone games, but you can add them together to mix all the different civilizations when playing. That means there is a lot of variability in how the civilizations will match up against each other. And solo play support is a certainty with Turczi involved.
Ultimately, I know very little about this game. But I’m excited. I’m hyped. And I really want to play it.
On Mars
This is out already. I know that.
But I haven’t played any Vital Lacerda games and I should probably fix that sometime soon. Because I like thinky brain-burners. I’m not great at them, but I like them.
And it’s about Mars, just like all the other games. I know that.
But I love sci-fi themes and there is a reason why Mars intrigues so many people. It’s exotic but oh so close. It’s alien but so familiar. It sparks the ideas of space travel, colonization, and the future of humanity.
Also, Ian O’Toole. That man knows how to make things look pretty. And On Mars definitely looks pretty. This is hitting the heavy strategy. It’s hitting the striking visuals. It’s hitting the sci-fi themes.
With a BGG weight of 4.63 out of 5.00 and a playtime of 90-150 minutes, it’s probably going to intimidate a lot of players. It intimidates me already. And I don’t even own it. However, if there was a way to enter into the Vital Lacerda world (honestly all of his games look interesting to me) then this might be it for me. It might be considered one of his heaviest designs, but that will not dissuade me!
Have you played a Vital Lacerda game? If so, what’s your favorite?
1815, Scum of the Earth
Coming to Kickstarter in March is a game that I have a historical affection for.
My mother has a Master’s Degree in History and she has spent much of my life sharing her love of history with the family. Military history is a big part of that and one of our shared favorite authors is Bernard Cornwell, who has a fabulous series on a British military figure (fictional) named Richard Sharpe. If it interests you, the television series based on the books is one of the few cinematic narratives in which Sean Bean doesn’t die…
And the Napoleonic wars are featured heavily in those books, along with Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, who was Napoleon’s British contemporary or rival.
All of that to say that I’m really fascinated by what Tristan Hall of Hall or Nothing Productions is going to be doing with this game. It’s the third in a series of asymmetric tactical card games and I don’t know how I missed the first two. Probably because there are too many games out there, but something like this—a game with a military setting in a historical period that I enjoy—is rare. Too many games focus on World War II or other big moments in U.S. history, but this is something niche. And I like that.
I have no idea if I’ll like the gameplay, but I’ve got heavy bias and hype on my side.
What games have you hyped right now?
Let us know in the comments!