It’s that point of yr again. The vacations are over, convention season is ramping up, and we’ve all already failed at most of our Latest Yr’s resolutions. But that also means we get to take a stay up for the approaching yr and see what games have piqued our interests. And that’s what we’re talking about today. The BGQ staff has peered into their Palantírs, asked the mirror on the wall, and browsed Kickstarter to see what games we’re most enthusiastic about this yr. So let’s get to it.
Triomphe à Marengo
Chosen by Dylan:
Sometimes, a game has enough prestige behind it that you already know it needs to be good. Histogame has published some incredible games of their small library, including my favorite wargame Maria, the precursor to The King is Dead (König von Siam), and one of the crucial prestigious war games of all time, Napoleon’s Triumph. Triomphe à Marengo is designed by Rachel Simmons, whose block war game system has produced three of essentially the most renowned Nineteenth-century war games, including the aforementioned Napoleon’s Triumph. Simmons is revisiting her first design with Triomphe à Marengo, and I’m ecstatic to see the system in print once more. Pick this up while you’ll be able to.
2 Players • Ages 16+ • 120 minutes
The Queen’s Dilemma
Chosen by Brandon:
A simple selection each based on the indisputable fact that I’ve backed this through crowdfunding, and in addition on account of absolutely the joy of its predecessor. The King’s Dilemma took a narrative interactive legacy, and threw its participants deep into the moral underpinnings of a fantasy society faced with brutal decisions. The most recent entry looks to do more of the identical council negotiation, but this time from a more personalized perspective. It’s going to also feature a story in the identical universe but well into the long run. There will likely be a recent ideology system. Yes, please. And the map will now evolve moderately than be a static space. Gather your pals, manage the troubles of the land, and increase your political power. All under the Queen’s watch.
3-6 Players • Ages 14+ • 60-90 minutes
Air Postal
Chosen by Andy:
Immediately, the whole lot I’m looking forward to within the gaming world is from the crowdfunding area of interest, and of the games I’ve backed, the one I’m most intrigued by is Air Postal. I’m an enormous fan of the aesthetics of old airplanes (and the truth is, I’m also working on an aviation-themed game of a rather earlier epoch), so seeing how well illustrated the sport is, evoking that inter-war spirit of pioneering a recent industry, has me very excited. We’ve all been down this path before: jazzed as heck by the tease of a Kickstarted game, lured in by theme and the art, and unsure as as to whether the gameplay will live as much as the promise. But that is that delicious moment of anticipation, when a game has just been funded and the chances are still incredible: production hiccups haven’t set in yet, achievement partners haven’t gone out of business yet, etc. The sport will involve constructing postal routes (hello Thurn und Taxis!), upgrading your airplane technology, and dealing on secret objectives. Will I adore it once I get it? Who knows, but for now Air Postal is the sport I most hope to see on my doorstep in 2023. Besides Envelopes of Money, in fact.
1-5 Players • Ages 14+ • 45-120 minutes
Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum
Chosen by Michelle:
Steam Up has lived rent-free in my head since I backed it in November 2021, defying the common Kickstarter considered “Oh I forgot I backed that”. Its eye-catching stackable steamers and uniquely-molded dim sum pieces were the very first thing I noticed, featuring BBQ meat buns, shrimp dumplings, meat dumplings, phoenix claws, and sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves. Players will decide to be certainly one of twelve Chinese Zodiac animals trying to eat at this dim sum restaurant, attempting to rotate the double-layer turntable of their favor for the last word feast. Fortune cards and Fate cards can switch up the pace and shift the sport so players are kept on their toes during play. I’m excited to see what else Hot Banana Games has in store for the long run as they proceed to develop authentic Asian-themed board games to all tables, delivering the representation I’ve been searching for.
2-5 Players • Ages 10+ • 45-60 minutes
6: Siege – The Board Game
Chosen by Tony:
I had a troublesome call of which game I’m more involved in this yr, 6 Siege or Hyperspace. Oddly enough, each games are much delayed and being made by firms just about on life support (by all appearances). But I’m going to have to offer the nod to six Siege. I had a probability to do this during its Kickstarter (via Tabletop Simulator) and really loved the gameplay. It’s an asymmetric game where one player is attempting to defend a location, and the opposite must break in. But this isn’t any old siege game with catapults and swordsmen. It’s based on the Rainbow 6 video game and features fast and frantic motion. I’m really hoping this one arrives this yr because I can’t wait to play it again. Oh, and to take a page out of Andy’s book, keep a watch out for the discharge of Startropolis Second Edition releasing soon!
2-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 60 minutes
Zoo Vadis
Chosen by Jacob and Spencer
Zoo Vadis is a reimagining and reskinning of Reiner Knizia’s “classic” negotiation game, Quo Vadis?. I say “classic” in air quotes because I used to be actually not conversant in it until I examine this release, though a few of my friends who’ve been within the hobby a bit longer than me swear by it. The unique conceit of the Quo Vadis? is that this: A negotiation game portraying the means of Roman elites moving up the cursus honorum (the sequence of public offices held by those with aspirations for higher office within the Roman Republic. A up to date example is perhaps: you’ve gotten to turn out to be a Yale University Skull & Bones member before you turn out to be a Congressman, before you turn out to be an oil executive, before you turn out to be CIA director, before you turn out to be Vice President of the US, before you turn out to be President of the US. Et Voila! George H.W. Bush). For a history nerd like me, that’s my bag, man. I like to listen to about boring-ass inbred Romans convincing each other that they needs to be allowed to turn out to be Prefect first.
But hey, some people like fuzzy animals in a zoo as an alternative, so what’re you gonna do? I’ll say, there’s been a spate of games reskinned into animal themes recently. The wonderful German negotiation game Tiefe Taschen was reskinned into Goodcritters; Air Land & Sea was reskinned into Critters at War; Libertalia was recently reissued as Libertalia: The Winds of Galecrest, featuring a ship stuffed with anthropomorphic buccaneers. On one hand, it’s somewhat infantilizing, as if those that play board games aren’t mental enough to be involved in a game’s historical precedent. However, it offers gamers a much less stuffy, more colourful – albeit totally un-relatable and fantastical – theme and setting, one which’s unmoored from their historical baggage. Zoo Vadis’s theme is utterly incoherent. Zoo animals must lobby one another to participate within the zoo’s star exhibit and ultimately be elected Zoo mascot. Okay, sure. That said, after early glowing reviews from a number of outstanding game writers/Youtubers, and clearly being designed by Ultimate Designer Daddy Reiner Knizia (I feel that’s his official title, Ultimate Designer Daddy), it was enough to pique my interest. Adding to that the really excellent production quality of the board, pieces, tokens, etc., and again, it being a negotiation game (I’ll take all of them, thanks), I’m definitely excited to offer Zoo Vadis a go. It hit Kickstarter earlier this week and has already surpassed its goal.
3-7, 10, 20-40
3-7 Players • Ages 10+ • 20-40 minutes
Lifetime of the Amazonia
Chosen by Marcus:
This game’s predecessor, Wild: Serengeti (apparently being renamed Lifetime of the Serengeti when reprinted), got here out last yr, and was incredibly cute with its detailed animal meeples. The primary critique I’ve seen of that game is that it overstayed its welcome by about one round with some. Amazonia got here to Kickstarter late last yr and seems to preserve all the great things of Serengeti. It has a plethora of lovable animal meeples from jaguars and tamarins to dolphins and manatees. It’s also a really different game. You are attempting to construct ecologically diverse jungles with animals, flowers, trees, and different environments. The aesthetics all seem like great, including the “Waterfall of Life” that takes care of tracking different elements of the sport state (available in wood for those concerned about wear-and-tear on a punchboard version). There are going to be a big selection of how to play, including solo and cooperative, and a “light” mode to offer the sport more brevity for those than want it. Can’t wait to see the finished product.
1-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 60-150 minutes
Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread
Chosen by James:
This almost made my 2022 list but with most Kickstarters delivering late, that wasn’t a path I dare tread (unlike Brian Biewer who dared). Anyway, once I first saw Cody Miller’s design on Kickstarter it stood out from most dungeon crawlers by more closely resembling a computer-based RPG where you wander all over the world interacting with people and locations as you go from zero to hero in a vibrant fantasy world. Having other players role play encounters makes this cooperative game about as close as you’ll be able to get to the mythical RPG-in-a-board-game-box without actually playing an RPG (D&D was probably the unique one versus many games). While the sport could have a storyline it’s also an open world as you are trying and earn Quills to redeem yourself on your past transgressions. I’m excited to maneuver the pre-painted miniatures around a town and use overlays to enter a constructing and consult with the barkeep to get a quest or a drink. After which place a second overlay for the cellar that results in a dungeon where I can battle enemies and earn loot. The combat system looks interesting with weapon attacks being simpler with higher dice rolls and enemy hit locations that may trigger secondary effects. Enemy attacks goal specific body locations which tie into the equipment system where equipment is represented by tiles that fill out your player board. And every character path (their name for classes/professions) has their very own custom gear that will likely be collected in the course of the adventure. Many adventure games are one-and-done but I feel Arydia is perhaps certainly one of the special ones that may be revisited and enjoyed in case you take some different paths.
1-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 60-120 minutes
Age of Rome
Chosen by Chris:
I’m typically not great at tracking upcoming game releases. What can I say? Often my backlog from previous years’ “most anticipated games” lists takes up most of my attention and time. So I made a decision to take a look at the games I even have pre-ordered which are coming out in the following few months and am subsequently choosing Age of Rome as my most anticipated game coming out this yr. It has players laying tiles onto spaces that can rotate every turn and limit what actions everyone can take depending on what section of the board is in front of them. It looks like a singular concept and I’m curious to see the way it all comes together at various player counts.
1-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 60-90 minutes
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dark Aelves
Chosen by George:
I would like to start out that this is completely speculation and will not come to pass in any respect, but there have been some hints dropped that we may finally be seeing the dark aelves that we’ve been waiting for in Age of Sigmar later this yr. Not only is there a warband symbol leaked on the roadmap for Warhammer Underworlds (which could just be a recent chaos warband as well), but we’ve seen Malekith, their leader, mentioned multiple times in several books. As to where they fit within the pantheon of grand alliances, what the mortal realms have morphed them into, and what their model range will appear like we are able to only guess at. I will certainly be picking up the entire range if this speculation involves fruition. Even in the event that they don’t show up this yr, the third edition of Age of Sigmar goes strong with a big slate of recent battletome releases and recent models confirmed to be coming this yr, there isn’t a scarcity of anything to stay up for. I’ll be keeping an in depth eye on previews all year long hoping for some more clues to drop.
2 Players • Ages 10+ • 40-180 minutes
Motor City
Chosen by Matt:
Motor City is an engine-building roll-and-write game that has players supervising an auto plant in Detroit to construct a muscle automotive empire. It’s the third in a series of heavier, strategic roll-and-write games from designers Matt Riddle and Ben Pinchback, this time also with Adam Hill. The 2 previous games, Fleet: The Dice Game and Three Sisters, were excellent entries into the genre with the latter being my favorite game from last yr. One in every of the primary draws of those games is the flexibility to drag off satisfying combos, triggering quite a few abilities and marking off myriad boxes with a single drafted die. In Motor City, you’ll be researching and engineering prototypes, producing muscle cars, testing them on the track, and selling those hotrods. And as luck would have it, I received my shipping notification for Motor City this morning, so I won’t should anticipate this release for for much longer. Once I’ve gotten a number of plays in, you’ll be able to expect a solo review on this very site. Matt’s favorite muscle automotive is a 1969 Dodge Charger.
1-4 Players • Ages 12+ • 45-60 minutes
Monster Hunter World: The Board Game
Chosen by Brian B: 
I like Steamforged Games board games based on video games (Horizon Zero Dawn, Resident Evil), and Monster Hunter is in my top 5 video game franchises of all time, so this can be a no-brainer for me. I went all in in the course of the campaign. The sport is alleged to deliver in early 2023 and I cannot wait. Yes, the minis will likely be incredible, the card-based gameplay looks interesting and it includes the part carving/equipment crafting that Monster Hunter is thought for, but what I actually cannot wait for is to have the option to play multiplayer with people I do know. I even have to all the time join random lobbies when playing the video game version as nobody I do know plays the sport. I cannot wait to introduce my friends to the world of Monster Hunter via the tabletop version!
1-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 60-90 minutes
