Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Obligatory End of 2016 Post Part VIII: Top Interests of 2017: Top 10 List (Games 1-5)

Alright!  I’ve finally made it to the end of my “End of 2016” posts with the top 5 games that I’m interested in that are coming out (or have come out) in 2017!  These are all games that I haven’t had a chance to play or try out yet but they are the games that I’m incredibly curious about.  Before I go on to the next five games feel free to check out the provided links to see the previous posts in the series.








Okay, with that out of the way let’s move on to the main event!  These are games 1-5 on my top 10 post thus placing them at a place where there is a good chance that I’ll pick them up at some point during the year!  I am very excited for these games!  I hope you enjoy the read!



Charterstone is a Legacy-esque game where players will be building up the kingdom of Greengully by colonizing a new area.  The game is designed by Jamey Stegmaier and released by Stonemaier Games.  The game uses worker placement, action selection and Legacy-styled ideas as its primary mechanisms in the colony building game.


Each player takes the role of a citizen who is chosen by the Forever King of the kingdom of Greengully to help colonize a new area beyond their borders.  The players will mainly use actions that are on the board and during the game will be creating new ones by placing stickers on the board which will open up new and different actions.  In the beginning there won’t be much to choose from but as the game continues more and more actions are opened up thus creating new and different choices throughout the experience.  The players will go through 12 games building up their charter and by the end will have a one-of-a-kind charter that they created.  I’m really looking forward to this game as I think Stegmaier does a great job with his games in both scope and execution.



Dinosaur Island is a worker placement game where players will be building up their dinosaur park much like the movie Jurassic Park.  The game is designed by Jonathan Gilmour and Brian Lewis and is published by Pandasaurus Games.  The game uses worker placement, set collection, tile placement and dice rolling as its primary mechanisms as the players work on their parks.


Each player will get a board where they will be creating their dinosaur park by gaining new DNA strains in order to combine them and bring the extinct creatures back to life.  The players will be able to place their workers to create new rides, enclosures and vendors.  They will also be able to gain different strains of DNA in order to create different dinosaurs.  You can create friendly herbivores or move even further in the DNA strains and create the hungry carnivores.  Bringing on a pack of velocirapors can bring a lot of excitement in the park but it could prove disastrous if they break out and eat the park visitors!  I love the theme of this game and think the art by Kwanchai Moriya is perfectly suited for the game.



Alien Artifacts is a multi-use card game where players will be using their cards to explore, expand, exploit and exterminate.  The game is designed by Marcin Senior Ropka and Viola Kijowska and published by Portal Games.  The game uses multi-use cards, card drafting and exploration as its primary mechanisms as the players will be creating their corporation and exploring the galaxy.


Each player takes on the role of an interplanetary corporation who is trying to its power in the galaxy by building their ship, researching new technologies, and exploring the galaxy for things/beings to exploit.  Every turn the players will get to draw some cards and then use them in different ways.  This game is a multi-use card game so there are many options and decisions to make for every card the player takes.  These cards will let the players do a variety of actions including discovering planets, buy technologies, increasing military might, and increasing your holdings just to name some of the decisions.  The art is starting to look very good and with Portal Games driving the ship I think this will be an excellent game that I can’t wait to get my hands on!



Victorian Masterminds is a worker placement game where players will take on the role of villains after the death of Sherlock Holmes as they vie for their chance to take over the world and wreak havoc.  The game is designed by prolific greats, Antoine Bauza and Eric M. Lang and is published by Space Cowboys.  The game uses worker placement and action selection as its primary mechanisms as the players will be attempting to cause as many problems and terror in the world as possible.


Each player will take on the role of a villain mastermind as they are attempting to create the most devastation after the death of the great Sherlock Holmes.  They will take their worker agents and place them in different spaces, face down, and then will flip them over and take the action of the space as well as the action of the agent they chose.  These agents are sent in to destroy buildings, kidnap scientists, complete missions and collect resources which they will use to create a death dealing machine.  I am very excited about this release as it is by two fantastic designers, published by a fantastic company, and has worker placement!



Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 is a Legacy-style game where players take on the role of survivors attempting to find out what is going on out in the world after tragedy strikes.  This game is designed by Rob Daviau and Matt Leacock and is published by Z-Man Games.  This game uses co-operative play, set collection, point-to-point movement and variable player powers as its primary mechanisms as the players attempt to stay alive and hopefully save humanity.


Each player takes on the role of a different survivor of a horrible, world-spanning plague which destroyed most of humanity in its wake.  This game is the second of the series and will feature Legacy elements as the players will fight to survive.  There isn’t a ton known about this game yet as they are trying to keep a tight lid on things so it is a surprise when it is released and gives the players a sense of discovery as the first one did.  This one finds the players on floating cites called “havens” just before they go out into the world to scout the areas and see what has happened during humanities absence.  This game is one of the most exciting game releases in a while and I can’t wait to get my hands on it and play it with my wife and friends.

Well, there you have it, games 1-5 of my top 10 interests from 2017 that I haven’t played or tried yet.  Thanks so much for reading throughout the “End of 2016” series and come on back for my next series which will take a look at the games coming out at Origins 2017.  Until next time, game on!

No comments:

Post a Comment