The board game industry is still booming, and every year hundreds of new titles are being released. And even knowing that I’ve promised myself to play more games, but buy less of them, there are some titles being released this year that I absolutely cannot ignore. Some I’ve already purchased through Kickstarter, while others are quite new for me too. In this list of ten games I have tried to fit games that can soothe any kind of gamer, from the hardcore heavy gamer to the new or light weight player.
Arcs (Leder Games)
trick taking / hand management / action points / 2-4 players
Even though I haven’t played that many games of Root and I haven’t played Oath at all, I have always been intrigued by the games of publisher Leder Games. So when Arcs was introduced as “a sharp sci-fi strategy game, set in a dark yet silly universe” that implements elements of trick taking, I was sold. This was the Leder game that needed to be in my collection. Since I’ve been raised in a traditional card play family, trick taking always has been one of my favourite game mechanics and I am so curious in what way it will be implemented in Arcs. So you understand that I had no choice and had to back Arcs on Kickstarter. Right?
Weirdwood Manor (Greyridge Games)
cooperation / dice rolling / hand management / action selection / 2-4 players
After seeing a prototype of this game at Essen Spiel 2022, I fell in love with it then and there. The comic book-like look of the game, the smart mechanic of the rotating board pieces and – yes, here we go again – the asymmetrical player powers made this game a must buy. Unfortunately, I had to wait for the Kickstarter campaign to launch, but if all goes well, Weirdwood Manor will finally be delivered this year.
In this Scooby Doo like cooperative game with roleplaying elements, players have to protect the magical Weirdwood Manor against a scala of Fae monsters. Each action in the game takes time, which means that the interior of the haunted house will change after each turn. Hiding known area’s for players but in the same time revealing new ones. How cool is that!? I am normally not the biggest fan of cooperative games, but what can I say. Weirdwood Manor just pushed the right buttons for me.
World Order (Hegemonic Project Games)
area majority / deck, bag & pool building / hand management / 2-4 players
Last year my most enjoyed play was a seven hour play-through of Hegemony, a monster of game which is pure genius. It feels like a very accurate simulation of our social economic system of capitalism. And even though that sounds incredibly heavy (or boring maybe, which it is not at all), the game plays quite easy (albeit quite the challenge to learn to new players).
And now the team of academics that has designed Hegemony will return this year with World Order. In this new game players will be acting as one of the four dominant global powers of the 2010’s: the United States, China, Russia and the European Union. It is said to be a game of negotiations, area control and asymmetric powers. I will be blocking a weekend for this one.
Restart (Teetotum Game Studios)
push your luck / tableau building / engine building / 1-4 player
After hearing about Restart for the first time I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the game. In Restart players travel back in time to prevent an apocalypse from happening. Players build a tableau that is spread over three eras in time. By creating chains on this space/time board, certain effects are triggered, hopefully changing the course of mankind by preventing disaster from happening.
In the meanwhile players need to safeguard their sanity and of course act with care. A minor misstep in the past, could lead to massive changes in the future. Restart offers the option the restart a new game in a the new future, a status quo that you have created in your previous game, seemingly adding a twist of legacy into the experience. What can I say, I am just a sucker for time travel.
Imperium Horizons (Osprey Games)
deck building / hand management / end game bonuses / 1-4 players
One of my favourite games of the last couple of years is without a doubt the deck annex civilisation builder Imperium, designed by Nigel Buckle and David Turci. So you can imagine that I am quite excited that after Classics and Legends, this challenging card game gets a new addition in the form of Imperium: Horizons. This latest stand alone edition of the game is adding a whopping 14 playable people (both historical and fictional), bringing the total to 3o very asymmetric civilizations. So I’ll better stock up on those sleeves.
Kelp (Wonderbow Games)
dice rolling / hidden movement / deck & bag building / 2 players
I love two player games that offer me a little bit of challenge and I love asymmetry in games, and Kelp seems to offer both of that. Kelp is 1 versus 1 underwater game, in which one player plays as an elusive Octopus and the other as a fierce Shark. In this game of hide and seek, the players literally play a different game, that mimics the natural behaviour of these two sea animals. The shark hunts by building up a bag of dice and rolling them and the Octopus hides (behind these wonderful mahjong styled stones) by building up a deck of cards and playing those. And if that isn’t enough to get your rocks off, the production and design of this game is jaw-dropping. Get it. Jaws…
Cascadero (Bitewing Games)
tile placement / route building / chaining / 2-4 players
I have to confess that the beautiful art of Ian O’Toole lured me towards this game. Reiner Knizia is known as the master of the less is more-adagium in boardgame design. For me personally, his games feel brilliant sometimes and quite boring at others.
By sending out your ministers and their envoys to build trust and trade routes between cities, you can score points in different ways. There is a push your luck element involved because you can choose to go for the long term strategy by building long network chaines, or go for that low hanging fruit. But don’t forget you’ll only score if you also complete your end objectives. So, never loose track of that goal.
Things in Rings (AllPlay)
party game / word game / deduction / 2-6 players
I am the guy who says he doesn’t like party games, but if one hits the table can’t get enough of it. I am such a board game snob! Time to change that and add a party game to this preview of the year. Things in Rings is the upcoming game by the creator of the very intelligent two player abstract game That Time You Killed Me, so hopefully Things in Rings feels just as smart.
In this game of words, deduction and triple Venn diagrams, one player takes up the role of the knower, who knows the logic behind each of the three rings. The other players try to figure out this logic by playing their 5 handcards in these rings. It’s like the New York Times’ game Connections, but then with circles.
Explorers of Navoria
action drafting / tableau building / worker placement / 2-4 players
Lately I am really enjoying these tightly designed midweight games like Via Nebula and Celtae, in which every (simple to teach) move matters and a game of four players takes about an hour and a half. And since I have a strong feeling that Explorers of Navoria falls within that category, I’ve put in a late pledge for that game.
In Explorers of Navoria players draft action tokens from a bag which can be spend on adventure cards. These cards can be used for different things, like exploring Navoria (duh!), crafting items for in your tableau or boosting certain actions or abilities. So it seems that the colorful design camouflages a certain depth, which makes me very curious. I’ve backed the game plus expansion on Kickstarter.
Invention – The evolution of ideas
action drafting / tableau building / worker placement / 2-4 players
There’s a group of people that are big fans of the games of Vital LaCerda, but I am not necessarily a member of that cult. I think I’ve only played On Mars twice (which I quite liked). Don’t get me wrong: these games are masterfully designed and the art and production are always stellar, but frankly the prices are far too high for me. 150 bucks for one game, that due to its complexity will scarcely hit my table? That is simply too much for me. For that price, I can buy three games that will be played more often. But if there would be one LaCerda game that I would consider buying it would probably be Invention: The Evolution of Ideas. Or maybe I should wait on Speakeasy…
So these are my ten most anticipated games of 2024. What are the games you are looking forward to?