Well I made it to Indianapolis for my one day tour of Gen Con. I got up insanely early to make the drive into Indianapolis, and managed to find parking only one block away from the convention center. For the first time, I pre-booked parking at a nearby downtown garage, and while the cost was somewhat breathtaking, the proximity to the convention center was highly appreciated as well as the lack of anxiety about trying to find parking as normally happens with my Gencon trips.
After a short line to prove my vaccinated status, I got the yellow wristband that allows me to enter the Con itself (or allows me to buy beer at the bar). Admittedly, it took me a bit of time to find the right room. To GenCon’s credit, all the emails told me where to go, but there was a surprising lack of signage from the doors and other main entry points as to where I would find said line.
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.
“…the fact that my son & I played it five times in the first 2 1/2 days ought to tell you something…”
What follows is a re-examination of my original review of Restoration Games’ Return to Dark Tower… with 14 more plays under my belt with a whole lot more players. In it, I’ll let you know more about playing solo, going head-to-head (sort of) in competitive mode, invoking the Gritty setting, the current 2nd edition Kickstarter and upcoming Covenant expansion, and enjoying the game so much that we just played it 4 times in 72 hours over the weekend.
New paragraphs added to the review will be in this lovely shade of blue, so those of you who only want my most recent observations can skip the parts you’ve seen before. I’ve added some new pictures as well – and there are also some subtle edits to clean up dates and so on… all part of the fine customer service we offer here on the Opinionated Gamers!
Just over two and a half years ago, I wrote a lengthy blog post about my history with (but mostly without) the original Dark Tower game… and how the siren call of the Restoration Games reimagining managed to pluck precious board game purchasing dollars from my wallet.
Well, it arrived one Friday in March around noon – and by late afternoon, my son & I were immersed in a battle to force Ashstrider out of the tower so we could defeat him. (And we did – in words of Monty Python, “There was much rejoicing.”) We took a dinner break… and then we took on Isa the Exile – successfully, I might add.
Saturday morning we added the Alliances expansion… and both the Lingering Rot (morning) and Gravemaw (afternoon) roundly defeated us. Sunday afternoon found us fighting Utuk-Ku the Ice Herald… and finally being successful while playing with the expansion.
To flesh out the header at the top of the page – when your 16 year old son who prefers shorter games (Unmatched, Exceed, Jump Drive, etc.) is willing to play a 90-120 minute game FIVE TIMES in just over 48 hours, you know it’s something special. It’s just as true when I’m personally willing to play the same 90-120 minute game five times in a weekend.
…when you get to hang out with friends for a weekend.
A long weekend.
From Wednesday evening to mid-Sunday afternoon, I enjoyed the hospitality of Dale Yu (the grand poobah of the Opinionated Gamers) and enjoyed the company of two other OG writers, James Nathan and John Palagyi.
In roughly 90 hours, we managed to play 34 different games for a total of 40 plays. 25 of those games were completely new to me. Dale & I also managed to take in a MLS soccer game between our home teams (Nashville FC and FC Cincinnati) that ended in a 1-1 tie.
And now I’m going to spend some time giving you quick capsule reviews of all of them.
Rather than deal with the weekend chronologically, I’m going to sort them by our OG rating categories… and sort them alphabetically under each category. Please note: these are MY ratings. Your mileage may vary – drastically. (Reviews linked are here from the OG… but not necessarily written by me.)
Mixlore is a design house that has designs that you might be familiar with if you frequent the game aisle at Target or your other friendly local big-box store. Titles such as The Shining, Top Gun, Queen’s Gambit, Ticket to Ride Track Switcher, Catan Logic Puzzle are all from this creative center. I also know them for their quirky and sometimes trendy packaging – such as Ramen Fury, a game which came packaged like a package of instant noodles and Burger ASAP which comes in a cardboard box that looks like it could hold a sandwich that comes with two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun….
The Opinionated Gamers have long been a fan of escape room games and puzzle pastimes. We have done plenty of physical escape rooms, online puzzle hunts, and lots and lots of escape room games, from well known franchises (Exit, Unlock, Escape The Room, Werewolf) to one-off challenges and even a few puzzle books.
We were recently contacted by a company new to us, Puzzling Pursuits. They are based in California, and they now have 4 different game boxes (2 each in two different story lines). We were sent a care package of two games to try out, and we have now had the chance to play both of them.
