It’s the middle of GenCon… which, in the world of board games, can be an exciting time as new games are announced and discoveries are made in the labyrinthian halls of the dealer’s rooms.

But you don’t have to head to Indiana to find out about nifty new things and/or potential nifty new things – we here at the Opinionated Gamers (aka “the O.G.”) keep our nose to the grindstone, our ear to the ground, and just generally spend way too much time online.

Thing #1: Return to Dark Tower: Covenant

I’ve already written a little bit about this in my re-review of Return to Dark Tower, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that other board game media folks are getting to play Covenant at GenCon and will soon tell you all about it.

In short – new editions of Return to Dark Tower (and all of the goodies) are being crowdfunded right now on BackerKit… along with this really awesome looking new expansion. The campaign ends on August 16.

Thing #2: Northgard: Uncharted Lands

My blinged-out Kickstarter copy arrived a couple of weeks ago – and it’s hit the table three times since then. I wrote a first impressions preview back in 2020 (during the KS campaign) with the prototype – and I have to say that the finished version is even more polished and enjoyable. Can’t wait to play it again!

For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a 4X game that moves along quickly and offers really interesting trade-offs in expansion, combat, building, and passing in order to get the best possible action for your next turn.

Things #3 & #4: Undaunted: Stalingrad AND Undaunted: Battle of Britain

This is the first of two announcements from Osprey Games that are making my summer that much more wonderful… there are TWO more boxes of the excellent Undaunted system coming our way!

The first will be Stalingrad in the fall of 2022 – in what looks like a much bigger box and a lot more stuff (300+ cards, 100+ map tiles, 150 missions).

The second will show up some time next year – Undaunted: Battle of Britain! Since my first true solo board game was the brilliantly designed R.A.F., I can’t wait to see this one hit the table. Well, my table.

Thing #5: Imperium: Horizons

I told you there were two announcements from Osprey – the second one just hit this week! There will be a third stand-alone box in the Imperium series (Classics/Legends) which I think was the best game/system of 2021. (You can quibble about it as a 3-4 player game… but it’s fantastic as a solo game and really wonderful with 2 players. Note: I like it with the larger player counts, but not everybody agrees.)

Imperium: Horizons will add 14 new civilizations to the mix… and will also include a new trade module to add that element to the game.

If you want to hear me gush about the game, check out my review right here on the OG.

Thing #6: Heroscape: Age of Annihilation

And finally, something we know almost nothing about – except for a teaser clip from Avalon Hill dropped on Wednesday afternoon on Twitter (I told you we spend way too much time online) and a few tidbits from Heroscapers.com (Craig Van Ness is in charge of the design team, which is very good news).

And, yes, a whole lot of speculation and claims of insider info from a bunch of vloggers… but the reality is that we don’t actually know very much.

As a long-time fan of Heroscape who still has three rolling cases of figures & terrain in my garage, I’m both excited and terrified to see what happens next. I’m hoping that this will be more of the great design stuff that came out between 2004 and 2010 (we won’t count the Marvel box) and not the mess that was Arena of the Planeswalkers.