It’s likely no surprise that I play a lot of tabletop games, and, as I’ve learned more about what games I like and gotten a better pulse on what games are coming out, I’ve found that there are games that I get excited about. To push this forward a bit, I wanted to do a post about the games that I’m most excited about getting in-hand. Some of these are games that I have played once or twice, while others I’ve only seen previews of, but look like they’re in my wheelhouse. To be honest, most of them I’ve backed on Kickstarter and I’m just waiting for them to ship!
So, here are the top five games I’m most excited about getting to the table:
#5 – Ashes Reborn
This is not a new game, per se, but it will be new to me when it finally arrives. I’ve played this twice, and I ordered a copy back in June of 2021, but it immediately got backordered with distribution issues, so I haven’t gotten it yet. I’m really looking forward to getting this and spending some time playing around with the different characters and decks.
Ashes Reborn is a mage-dueling game not dissimilar from Magic: The Gathering, though it uses dice as its mana generation mechanic that speeds up gameplay and adds a bit of extra fun. It eliminates the boosters and collectable elements and instead all cards are available as preconstructed decks that are playable right out of the box. If you do want to do some deck-building though, the option does exist – something I do expect to explore at some point (though, admittedly, preconstructed decks are awesome for initial games with new folks).
This is supposed to arrive by the end of the month – I really hope it sticks this time.
#4 – Primal: The Awakening
This is a game that I backed last year (February, 2021) on Kickstarter because it looked like a fantasy take on the boss battle genre. While the original release date for this was slated for March 2022, they’re now thinking September, which is totally fair and I’ll cast no shade on that front.
What caught me about Primal was, as I mentioned previously, that it’s all about the boss battles, but also because it was more of a fantasy game about being an epic monster hunter and getting more awesome over time. This is in contrast to Kingdom Death: Monster (the other entry in this genre that I already have), which is much more in the survival horror genre. I also was quite interested in the monster board – there are only four spaces for the hunters to occupy, with the monster in the middle, which makes for a much more compact abstraction. It also has a campaign, which I’m a bit of a sucker for, so that’ll be fun too.
#3 – Velocity Vanguard
This is another Kickstarter game that I backed last July (2021), but not before I got the chance to play a couple of games on Tabletop Simulator. This is slated to appear in October 2022, but there hasn’t been any updates on how things are going specifically, so it’s hard to say whether they’ll hit that target. I’m guessing this will be the latest to arrive of everything on this list, but still something I’m waiting for.
Velocity has an awesome schtick – the movement system is very physics based, where you’re managing your speed and direction, instead of your position explicitly, making movement around the board a puzzle within itself. I need more space ship games in my life, and the movement system is something I’ve really wanted more of in space games. I’m most excited about the scenario play, but it also allows for skirmish-style games, which could be really fun with all the different factions.
#2 – ISS Vanguard
Wait – another game with Vanguard in the title? Yes! ISS Vanguard is from Awaken Realms and I backed this one on Gamefound back in January (2021). This is theoretically shipping in July-ish, and it’ll likely be a bit before I can get it to the table, but that doesn’t really curb my enthusiasm.
Because… …This is another space ship game! However, instead of a tactical scenario/skirmish game, this one is a campaign game all about exploring solar systems while maintaining and upgrading a space ship and developing its crew. I’m very excited about this one, even though I haven’t gotten to play it at all, because it sounds so much like a Star Trek campaign board game that it’s hard to curb my enthusiasm. It checks so many boxes for me (cooperative, campaign, exploration, sci-fi, space ships) I couldn’t let it go by without backing it. It may be a while before I get my hands on it, but I still can’t wait!
#1 – Return to Dark Tower
The game that’s at the top of my list is Return to Dark Tower – this is the game that I’m most excited for, and it’s also the game that I’m probably going to get here the soonest (depending on how quickly Ashes Reborn actually ships). I backed this one in February 2020 – over two years ago – but it’s one that I knew right away would be up my alley.
First and foremost, Return to Dark Tower is from a publisher I trust – Restoration Games. I really liked Stop Thief, and their other games are ones that have looked nice and been rated highly, even if they’re not my thing, which provides them a high level of trust. Also, by the looks of things, this is going to be a game with table presence – between the tower itself and the nice round board, I see things that I like from this just from a production standpoint that shouldn’t be missed.
In terms of the gameplay, I was immediately excited by a co-op fantasy game that wasn’t a campaign – this fits a niche in my collection that I’ve been wanting; something I can play one-off when the opportunity arises, but with enough replayability that I may be able to play with new groups easily enough. Also, I like the adventuring aspect without a lot of extra setup – most of the adventuring happens on the board itself, and the remainder is app-based, so there’s no dungeon pieces to set up to augment the game. While I do have some hesitance for app-based games in general, I’m getting more adjusted to what they can accomplish and what the risks are, so I’m willing to take that chance on this one.
Honorable Mentions
In addition to my top five, I had a few honorable mentions. Radiant Offline Battle Arena is another card game with a bit of deck building and a bit of lane-based combat. It just fell off my list and is another game that I’ve just played a few games of (on Tabletop Simulator), that I’m really looking forward to playing again when I have it in-hand. Aeon Trespass: Odyssey is another boss-battler al la Primal: The Awakening or Kingdom Death: Monster, except that it takes place in an alternate Greek-style setting. I like this one mostly for the setting and the novel mechanics for the boss battle itself look pretty cool. Finally, Key to the Kingdom, also from Restoration Games just fell off my list. It looks like it might be out, and something I will likely pick up if I can find a way to get a copy, as it’s a recreation of an old favorite.