Board Game News

Send Rats into Space, Level Up in SolForge Fusion, and Capture Spacetime in The Paradox Initiative

Do I have more game pics and announcements from GAMA Expo 2022? Yes, I do! Let's see what else I saw:• In yet another sign of how badly production and shipping woes are hitting the game...

Fight as a Rat Queen, Build on the Winchester Mystery House, and Prepare for Super Fantasy Brawl

Let's keep rolling with more game pics and announcements from GAMA Expo 2022:• In August 2021, U.S. publisher Deep Water Games ran a Kickstarter campaign for Rat Queens: To the Slaughter, a 2-4...

Agricola 15th Anniversary Edition Coming at SPIEL '22

Let me start with a reminder that I don't participate in April Fools Day pranks. With that out of the way:German publisher Lookout Games has announced that at SPIEL '22 it will release Agricola...

Embrace Your Inner Viking with Pax Viking and Standalone Prequel Vendel to Viking

In February 2022, Ion Game Design announced a pre-order for Vendel to Viking, an upcoming standalone prequel to Pax Viking, from Ion's lead designer Jon Manker. Vendel to Viking sets 1-6 players...

Can You Win Over Florence as the Best Prince...or Princess?

At SPIEL '22 in October, publisher Korea Boardgames plans to release a new version of the classic board game The Princes of Florence from Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich.For those not familiar...

Designer Diary: The Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw

Today I would like to take you on a journey, and while it is only a minor event when compared to the last two years, I'll tell you my story of how a quick reaction to a potentially disastrous...

Bring Energy to Uruguay in Pampero, and Make a Place for Yourself in Buru

Let's continue with game pics and announcements from GAMA Expo 2022:• In June 2021, U.S. publisher Crafty Games completed a Kickstarter campaign for Buru from Stephen Wren, and the game is now...

Remix Marvel Heroes, Loop Through Tragedies, and Prepare for Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught

At GAMA Expo 2022, U.S. publisher WizKids had a small room to itself apart from the exhibitor hall, possibly because it had so much to display in terms of games, miniatures, and collectibles,...

Designer Diary: Voyages

At the end of 2020, I decided to join a virtual game jam. I hadn't taken part in one before, and it seemed like a fun way of getting out of the design rut that I'd found myself in. The event,...

Game Prep ASMR: Ark Nova

For those of you who feel that I'm a reckless madman who doesn't treat games well, I present an alternative side of myself.Which one is the true Eric? Or are both true? Could Eric, in fact, be a...

Keep 'em Rolling to the Rhine, Levy Your Forces in Agincourt, and Vie for the Crown in 1066

• UK publisher PHALANX is launching a "WW2 Games Redux" Kickstarter campaign (KS link) on April 4, 2022, including euro-wargame hybrid Race to the Rhine: Keep'em Rolling, along with a reprint...

AEG Wants You to Reconstruct Wallpaper, Bet on Horses, and Shake That City

In November 2021, I previewed the 2022 line-up from Alderac Entertainment Group following a press event at Gen Con 2021, and at GAMA Expo 2022 Vlad Orellana gave me a bit more info about some of...

Devir Wants You to Stack Food, Help Santa, Build Another Cathedral, and Grab Cards Without Hurting Yourself

I've published bits and pieces of what I saw at GAMA Expo 2022, but I still have a lot to unpack from my camera and notebook, so let me focus on one publisher's offerings in this post — Devir,...

New Rails to the North for Great Western Trail, and Growth and Disaster for Ares Expedition

• As many people suspected would happen, publisher eggertspiele has announced a second edition of Alexander Pfister's Great Western Trail: Rails to the North.Here's the pitch for this expansion...

Support for Ukraine from Publishers and Game Industry Professionals

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine still ongoing at this point, many game publishers are taking action to support the citizens of Ukraine, either through direct donations or through the release of...

Keep Your Civilization from Suffering Empire's End, and Say Ahoy-hoy to the Mollusk Union

Washed out bya setting sun• Let's cover a few more of the new and upcoming games that I saw at GAMA Expo 2022, starting with Ahoy from designer Greg Loring-Albright and publisher Leder...

Knizia and KOSMOS Welcome You to My Island

German publisher KOSMOS has started to tease late 2022 releases on its Instagram channel, with one of the two games revealed so far being Reiner Knizia's My Island.As is clear from the name and...

Takeaways from GAMA Expo 2022: Distribution, TikTok, and...Normalcy?

I have other things to work on for BGG News posts, so for now I'm going to let this video stand on its own aside from this summary of its contents:• Despite the need for a vaccine card and...

Smash Up Disney Characters in a Sorcerer's Arena, and Prepare for a New Revolution

• I'm back from GAMA Expo 2022 with a pic-packed phone and a notebook filled with scrawls that I might not be able to decipher in a few days, so let me showcase some of what I saw at the show,...

Build a New Small City, the Best Planet, the Greatest Roman City, and an Otherworldly Theme Park

• Alban Viard's Small City is one of many games that I discovered when it was out of print, yet I had to have it. I ended up paying a premium to get it, knowing full well that a new edition was...

Can You Handle Way Too Many Cats while Navigating a Library Labyrinth?

• Way Too Many Cats! tells you what you're going to get right in the title, with designer Carla Kopp of Weird Giraffe Games putting you in charge of a cat adoption center in which you want to...

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice Is Coming to Retail

In 2018, Canadian publisher Triton Noir crowdfunded Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice, with this game from Thibaud de la Touanne, Fabrice Lamidey, and Manuel Rozoy adapting the Assassin's...

Flat River Group Acquires Luma Imports and Synapses Games

In December 2021, distributor, consolidator, and retail partner Flat River Group acquired U.S. publisher Greater Than Games.On March 14, 2022, on the first day of GAMA Expo 2022, Flat River Group...

Game Overview: Into the Blue, or Knizia's Same as He Ever Was

I briefly covered Reiner Knizia's Into the Blue in a mid-February 2022 round-up, but now I've played the game more on a review copy from publisher Funnyfox and am ready to talk about it.Let's...

Game Overview: Red Flag Over Paris, or Card and Cube Tension Galore

Card-driven games (CDGs), such as Twilight Struggle or Watergate, have always hit a sweet spot in my gaming brain. They made me realize, and constantly remind me, how many tough decisions can...

Do You See What You Think You Saw in Rear Window?

In addition to all of the titles I covered in February 2022, U.S. publisher Funko Games has one other release due out in Q2 2022 from the ever-busy Prospero Hall design team — Rear Window, a...

Embrace Your Dark Side in Star Wars Villainous

Ravensburger has announced a new title in its enormously successful Villainous franchise — Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side, with this standalone game for 2-4 players due out in...

Designer Diary: First Empires, or Let the Good Times Roll!

In general, my games have been pretty different from one another mechanically. I create games primarily to entertain myself, and I would get bored quickly if I remade variants of the same core...

Gamefound Teases Andromeda's Edge, Thorgal, Ra, Oak, and Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

On March 7, 2022, crowdfunding site Gamefound launched Gamefound Feast — teasers for upcoming games that will be (if all goes as intended) funded by backers and delivered to them down the...

Game Overview: Picture Perfect, or Don't Throw Away Your Shot

Anthony Nouveau's Picture Perfect is both an ideal game and less than it could be.The concept of the game is beautifully presented and clear: You are a photographer who is trying to take the...