CHENNAI: As 2018 gets underway, let’s go over a few of the most exciting new board games that could be gracing our tables this year
Scythe: Rise of Fenris
Scythe has been a juggernaut of recent boardgaming times, right from its announcement all the way through its hugely successful launch and that of two expansions. Now the Scythe saga is coming to an end with The Rise of Fenris, out this year, but it’s going out in style. Rise of Fenris adds multiple modules for players to try, but — most excitingly — a legacy-style campaign.
A Nice Cup of Tea
A Nice Cup of Tea is a game about the building of the Darjeeling and Himalayan Railway. Designed by Tony Boydell, who also created the acclaimed Welsh railway-building game Snowdonia, A Nice Cup of Tea certainly has the pedigree to get fans of the genre excited — and that’s without even taking the theme into account!
Edge of Darkness
Mystic Vale introduced the concept of ‘card crafting’ to the world — where you upgrade the cards in a deck by literally adding sections to them. Edge of Darkness takes that concept and runs with it, adding worker placement and a fantasy theme. Players will compete to be the most powerful guild in a city under siege...but power only matters if the city doesn’t fall.
Stuffed Fables
In Stuffed Fables, players take on the roles of stuffed animals who bravely venture into the realm of dreams to do battle with the nightmares plaguing the little girl who loves them so. That’s a pretty unusual theme for a game that promises to be an evocative and challenging co-op (with some gorgeous miniatures too).
Century: Eastern Wonders
Century: Spice Road was on a number of people’s top ten lists for 2017 (including mine). Part of its appeal was the promise that it would integrate with the other games in the Century series, and Eastern Wonders — the second game in that series —_was recently announced. Less abstract than Spice Road, Eastern Wonders seems to be a deeper game and the interaction between the two, if done well, could be one of the highlights of the year.
Escape Plan
Speaking of award-winning designers, Vital Lacerda is a man who’s known for churning out incredibly complex economic simulations. So when his next game is about the aftermath of a heist, where the gang splits up and everybody’s trying to escape the city or divert the cops towards someone else because it’s every man for himself — that’s worth sitting up and taking notice.
The Rise of Queensdale
We’ve had a few legacy games come out over the last few years — games where the game state physically changes in between sessions, rules are added or removed and lasting changes are made to the components. What sets The Rise of Queensdale apart from the rest is that it’s coming from the award-winning design duo of Inka and Markus Brand — and so we could be in for something special here.
UBOOT: The Board Game
A real-time game about submarine warfare? That sounds familiar...but unlike Captain Sonar, UBOOT is a fully cooperative experience and is shaping up to be a deeper (no pun intended) game — with much more room for strategy, and a variety of hazards in your way.
And there you have it — a few of the games that people should be excited about this year. It’s early days yet, of course, but I’ll be very surprised if any game on this list doesn’t turn out to be a winner. So, lots to look forward to!