Convention season is huge in the board games industry. New titles are being announced left and right, with many on the docket for release at major conventions, such as GenCon, throughout the summer. Here's a quick roundup of some of the board game news to cross our desk this week.
Portal Games
Portal Games has announced that pre-orders have opened for their upcoming strategy game Cry Havoc, which will be released at GenCon. Designed by Grant Rodiek, Michal Walczack and Michal Oracz, Cry Havoc is an asymmetric, card driven, area control game that will pit 2 to 4 players against one another in a battle over control over the resources of a single planet. The game promises a 'unique battle system' dubbed the Battle Objectives Resolution, and features some outstanding artwork. Like other recent Portal games, Cry Havok incentivizes customers who pre-order by offering promotional components for those who choose to pre-order. In Cry Havok's case, pre-order customers will receive a set of 8 promotional Objective cards. More info can be found here, and the game can be pre-ordered for $75 here.
Tasty Minstrel Games
Tasty Minstrel Games has announced plans for six upcoming titles, including new titles Guilds of London, and Thief's Market. Guilds of London is a 2 to 4 player game that sees players compete to become the Lord Mayor by using cards that can be played for one of multiple effects. It is set to release in early August, although Tasty Minstrel Games will have a few copies at Origins, so if you are attending, keep an eye out.
Thief's Market is the product of a successful Kickstarter campaign, and Tasty Minstrel Games plans to deliver it to backers as well as provide a full release by GenCon this year. The game is a dice and cards game where players compete to see who will become the greatest thief of all time.
Tasty Minstrel Games will also be bringing a few games to the U.S. that were previously published elsewhere, or by different companies. The first of these titles, Yokohama, a title set in the Meiji period of Japan, will pit players against each other in a contest to become the greatest merchant, will be launching a Kickstarter on June 21.
Orelans: Invasion, the first big box expansion for the amazing bag-building game Orleans is set to drop later this year. Tasty Minstrel Games hopes to have it ready for release by GenCon, but have yet to set a firm release date. Invasion will be compatible with both the regular and deluxe versions of Orleans.
Next up for Tasty Minstrel games is Ponzi Scheme, a game that places players in charge of their own fraudulent investment schemes. Players have to try to acquire as much money as possible while avoiding going bankrupt when their investors come to collect. The game lasts until one person goes bankrupt, with the winner being the surviving player with the most profit remaining. Tasty Minstrel Games has tentative plans to release some copies at GenCon, with a full release planned for later in the summer.
Greater Than Games
On the heels of their extremely successful Kickstarter for Sentinels of the Multiverse: Oblivaeon, Greater Than Games has announced two more upcoming Kickstarters. The first, slated to go live on June 9th, is for Exoplanets, a game originally published in Poland. Exoplanets is for 2 to 4 players that has players creating entire planets and altering the space around them, including creating and developing life on those planets. Players can terraform planets to reach their goals, and will be competing to alter the entire planetary system in order to accrue the most Creation Points before the energy of the system's star is depleted.
Next, Greater Than Games will be bringing Fate of the Elder Gods to Kickstarter on July 19th. Designed by Richard Launius, Darrel Louder and Chris Kirkman, this Lovecraftian themed game has players take on the role of various cults who are trying to summon ancient evil, and herald the fall of mankind. Fate of the Elder Gods is a card driven game, and will see players race to summon their god before humanity can be saved by investigators who are determined to stop them. Players will use their cards to move around the Fate Clock to take special abilities, or they can ready their cards in order to cast them as spells. Spells can also be readied and held in reserve in order to make casting spells even easier, so players will need to decide how and when to best use their cards for maximum effect.
Stonemaier Games
Stonemaier Games has announced an expansion for the soon to be released Scythe. Scythe: Invaders from Afar will add two new factions to Scythe, the Albion and Togawa. Initially, the expansion was going to introduce the two new factions without increasing the maximum player count, but designer Jamey Stegmaier created rules to expand the player count so that players wouldn't need to create house rules to do so.
Victory Point Games
Victory Point Games has started selling mounted maps for some of their most popular games that come with printed cardstock maps in the box. There are maps on offer for Cruel Necessity, Empires in America, Edition 2, España 20: Volume 1, Healthy Heart Hospital, Hundred Days 20, Imperial Stars II, Prussia 20, and Wallachia 20. Maps range in price from $9.99 to $29.99 and should really increase playability of these titles for players who prefer mounted maps.
Quick Take
I'm really excited about most of these games, especially Orleans: Invasion, Cry Havok and Yokohama. I can't wait to attend GenCon and lay my eyes on some of these titles in person. Which games are you excited to see release this year?
What games are you looking forward to at GenCon? Any of these interest you? Share your thoughts below!
