The Best New Games Debuting at Gen Con 2019 – Part 2

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con! - SahmReviews.com

Ahhh. So glad to see that Siri reminded you to come back today. We only touched the tip of the iceberg yesterday with Part 1 of our list of the best games debuting at Gen Con 2019! They’re alphabetical and the first of our series didn’t even get us all the way through publishers that begin with the letter C. How crazy is that since we aren’t even including all the games, let alone expansions?! 

We’re back today to fill you in on what to look for from publishers in the middle of the alphabet. You can read a little about each of the games and decide which are in your wheelhouse. If you’ve ever been to Gen Con then you already know that even with a plan in place, it’s quite easy to get lost, turned around, forget what you were looking for or…

…squirrel!

There are so many shiny objects to distract you. So make a plan now before you get overly-overwhelmed with Gen Con travel preparations. Print out the Gen Con map, highlight the booth numbers and what you’ll want to find there and stick to it when you’re on site. You’ll be glad you did.

Cryptozoic Entertainment

(booth #503)

Challenge of the Superfriends Card Game

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

The Superfriends have gathered at the Hall of Justice to take on the challenge of thirteen of the most sinister villains of all time. Play your cards right and you’ll defeat the Legion of Doom!

Based on the classic animated TV show, Challenge of the Superfriends Card Game uses Cryptozoic’s “Gryphon” card game engine to deliver a simultaneous, easy-to-learn tabletop experience. Each player has a ten-card deck that allows them to call forth allies or use super powers.

DC Deck Building Game: Rebirth

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

DC Deck-Building Game: Rebirth introduces movement to the DC Deck-Building Game universe through eight Standees, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman.

The game features both competitive and cooperative modes, offering two distinctive ways to play. In both modes, villains do not go into a player’s deck when defeated, but instead grant a one-time reward. In competitive play, defeated villains give players victory points, then go under their superhero cards. They can even be used to bribe rivals for various favors.

Daily Magic Games

(booth #250)

Chocolatiers

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

In Chocolatiers, you take on the role of a young chocolatier boxing up chocolates to make a decadent chocolate display! Sharing is caring in the world of chocolates, so while you’ll draw three chocolates into your hand, you get to keep only one!

Once you have your chocolates, discard them to claim box tiles for your display. Each box tile rewards you with victory points. When boxing chocolates, make sure to select boxes that will fit well in your display as you’ll get bonus points for getting the majority of connected chocolate-types. Can’t quite make the right connection for majority? That’s okay, because as a chocolatier you have the special ability to craft a WILD chocolate that matches with all adjacent chocolate-types.

The player with the most points wins the game! Do you have what it takes to become the next world-famous chocolatier?

eggertspiele

(booth #3027)

Era: Medieval Age

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

Era: Medieval Age serves as the spiritual successor to Roll Through The Ages. While Roll Through The Ages was a pioneer for roll-and-write-style games, Era is a pioneer for roll-and-build!

In Era, your dice represent different classes of medieval society as players attempt to build the most prosperous city. The “build” comes into play as players actually build their cities on their boards. You will use beautifully modeled three-dimensional components such as walls, keeps, farms, and other structures. By the end of the game, each player will have a unique city of their very own!

Era: Medieval Age is made even more challenging as players interact with each other in ways such as extortion, scorched earth, and, of course, disease! Hey, this is the Medieval Age, right? Speaking of which, Era serves as the first of a new series of standalone roll-and-build games from Matt Leacock and eggertspiele!

Fireside Games

(booth #1316)

Castle Panic Big Box

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Castle Panic, Fireside Games is proud to offer the Castle Panic Big Box for sale at Gen Con. For the first time ever, fans can get the base game and all 3 expansions: The Wizard’s Tower, The Dark Titan, and Engines of War together in one box. This amazing set also includes the 7 promo cards and 5 promo towers that have been developed over the years and a comprehensive rulebook, all in a collectible box with an organizer insert.

Gamelyn Games

(booth #2737)

Tiny Epic Mechs

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

It’s the year 3030, and technology offers humankind unimaginable entertainment. What used to be virtual reality is now reality, and sports that once occupied your flat-screen now occupy the world stage. The largest of them embodies the evolution and integration of athleticism and machinery. Once every five years, hundreds of millions of viewers tune in to witness the spectacle that is M.E.C.H.s: Mechanized Entertainment Combat Heroes.

Tiny Epic Mechs is an arena-style player-vs-player action-programming game. It features ITEMeeples with plastic molded power armors and a Mech suit that the ITEMeeples actually go inside of.

Grey Fox Games

(booth #2801)

Reavers of Midgard

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

Reavers of Midgard is a single worker placement game with elements of set collection, dice combat and engine building set in the Champions of Midgard universe.

In Champions of Midgard, your quest was to become Jarl. You battled back the trolls, draugr and some of the epic monsters that once threatened the sanctity of your humble port town. Now it’s time to go on the offensive.

In Reavers of Midgard, you’ll be looking to gain glory by raiding nearby villages for their riches, sacking well-fortified castles and battling both man and monster on the open seas. You’ll not only need to take your rowdy crew of vikings and the food needed to keep them happy along for the ride but you’ll also have to recruit a crew of elite warriors – the Reavers.

Run, Fight or Die Reloaded

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

Back from the dead and better than ever! Run Fight or Die: Reloaded is a revamped and refreshed edition of the Richard Launius game Run Fight or Die.

In the game, you play a hero trying to survive wave after wave of zombies coming straight for you! You play as a unique character with your own character traits including a minor, major and super combo. You’ll need them to fight off the zombies move closer to you every round. You run from location to location, searching for weapons and survivors in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Survivors may bring new skills to help you in your desperate fight for survival, or in some cases, new challenges to overcome. You’ll also need them along if you want to win as every survivor provides you victory points.

This streamlined version removes several decks from the original game, including the Fleeing deck and Event deck. Players rolls six dice instead of five and there are now different combos to mitigate against tough zombie-filled rolls. Additionally, players can now use followers to soak damage coming in from zombies.

Indie Boards and Cards

(booth #2447)

Aeon’s End – The New Age

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

Aeon’s End: The New Age introduces the Expedition system into the Aeon’s End universe which allows players to replay all of the content they own in a short campaign format. After each game, players will receive new treasures and player cards that allow them to become more powerful. However, the nemeses that players will face grow stronger and stronger with each battle.

 

Potemkin Empire

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

In Potemkin Empire, you play the role of a mayor of a small Russian village. You attempt to impress Empress Catherine by convincing her that you have the most prosperous and stable village in the land. But with her visit quickly approaching there’s no time to really fix your village, so you’re just going to have to make it look as impressive as possible. That is to say, you’re faking it. You’ll accomplish this by drafting interior cards that are either real or fake, then combining them with facades to construct an imposing, if flimsy, kingdom.

You score points by producing goods in your industrial buildings, exposing opponents’ fake buildings with spies, constructing government and cultural buildings, and passing off fake buildings as real ones. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!

Japanime Games

(booth #329)

Kamigami

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

Kamigami Battles: River of Souls is a standalone game and the first set for Kamigami Battles: Battle of the Nine Realms. The gameplay remains mostly the same as you play the role of a great God or a team of Gods, defending your reign from rival Gods by using the warriors and disciples loyal to you. However, in this version each player chooses to be a God of Egyptian or Babylonian Mythology and uses that God to take control of the cosmos. Promo God sets available with purchase! Plus, see demos of upcoming expansions!

KOSMOS

(booth #1649)

Brainwaves – The Brilliant Boar

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

In Brainwaves: The Brilliant Boar, each player takes cards showing different animal portraits on their reverse sides into their hand. They can look at the cards briefly when they draw them, but then must face the cards away from them. On a player’s turn, they can either take the top card from the deck into their hand or play one of their cards onto the table, attempting to make as many pairs as possible from the card just played and those already face up on the table. Whoever collects the most cards wins.

 

Brainwaves – The Astute Goose

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

In Brainwaves: The Astute Goose, players must identify a burglar hiding in a crowd. What did the culprit look like? What color were their clothes? And what animal accomplices did they have with them? Suspect cards are assigned a number, from one to six. Players look at these cards, then turn them face down. On a turn, a player rolls the two dice: one showing a number, the other a characteristic of a burglar card. If the player can identify the correct item on the correct burglar card, they claim that card as a reward, and then put a new card in its place. Whoever collects the most cards wins.

Brainwaves – The Wise Whale

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

In Brainwaves: The Wise Whale, players lay nine cards showing different colorful sea creatures face down after trying to memorize which creatures are on which cards. During a player’s turn, they reveal a new card from the deck. Then, they must reveal a card that matches either the creature or the color on this new card. If they do, they claim this card, and then lay out a new card face down in its place. Whoever collects the most cards wins.

 

Imhotep: The Duel

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

The competition of the builders continues in Imhotep: The Duel! In this game, players take on the roles of Nefertiti and Akhenaten, one of Egypt’s most famous royal couples. Game pieces must be cleverly placed so that players can unload the most valuable tiles from the six boats. While this is happening, each player builds their own four monuments in order to gain as many fame points as possible.

Roll for Adventure

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

The old kingdom is in danger. Enemy armies are attacking from all directions thanks to the Dark Lord, who seeks to cast eternal darkness across the land. Players must band together to collect the fabled power stones and complete the magical amulet. If they succeed, they’ll save the empire and win the game. However, should even one area fall under the control of the Dark Lord, the players lose the game immediately. A dice-rolling fantasy game for 2-4 players

 

Tribes: Dawn of Humanity

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

Experience 30,000 years of civilization in 45 minutes. Tribes: Dawn of Humanity is a civilization game with quick turns and fast rounds. The players lead their tribes in short, fast turns through the early history of humanity to the Bronze Age. They settle unknown lands and extract valuable resources through which they in turn discover new tools and inventions. Who will best prepare their tribe against events such as natural disasters? Who will take the lead, and who will follow in the footsteps? Each turn, a player selects an action from the action display: grow, explore, or move. The first action is always free, while additional ones cost valuable shells. The used action moves to the end and the next player takes another action. It is important to use your scarce shells wisely. The players start with a small tribe that can grow and become powerful as they are sent out to discover new lands and valuable resources. Who will be the most tactical leader and guide their tribe to victory?

Ubongo! Extreme Fun Size Edition

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

Ubongo Extreme Fun-Size Edition is a fast-paced, addictive, and easy-to-learn geometric puzzle game. Players race to piece together interlocking tiles so they fit perfectly on their puzzle boards. The Extreme Fun-Size Edition of Ubongo is similar to the original game but with hexagonal shapes. The Fun-Size Edition is a lower-priced, more-portable format. Now you can play Ubongo on the road, at the beach, at a restaurant, at work — anywhere you want to play this best-selling, award-winning, classic puzzle game. Here’s how it works: Each player receives a set of eight tiles. The tiles are polyhexes — geometric shapes formed of equal-size hexagons joined edge to edge in different arrangements. At the start of each round, each player gets a new puzzle board. Each player must perfectly fill the blank space on the puzzle board with tiles. Once the first player has solved the puzzle, the player shouts “Ubongo!” and the countdown is on: The other players must solve the puzzle within the time limit, or they will not earn any points. All players who solve the puzzle get a point, and the fastest player also gets a bonus gem worth one point. After eight rounds, the player with the most points wins.

Lookout Games

(booth #1819)

Patchwork Doodle

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

Patchwork Doodle is a roll-and-write version of Patchwork, with each player having their own 9×9 grid to fill in over the course of the game. Each player sets up by drawing a unique polyomino card from the starting deck, then drawing that on their sheet.

In each round, players lay out a number of polyomino cards in a circle, then place the rabbit between two cards. On a turn, someone rolls the die, moves the rabbit forward, then removes the card indicated by the rabbit. Each player must draw the polyomino indicated on this card in their grid. Once a certain number of cards have been played, the round ends, players score points, then you lay out more cards for the next round.

Looney Labs

(booth #1751)

Star Trek Chrono-Trek

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

In Star Trek Chrono-Trek, a time-travel game similar to Chrononauts but set in the Star Trek universe, each player becomes a Star Trek character with a unique identity and a secret mission. During the game, players travel backwards and forwards through history, doing all those things people have always dreamed of using time travel to do: Visiting the great moments of the past, peeking into the future, collecting up artifacts, coming to grips with the paradoxes of time travel, and of course, changing pivotal events and altering the course of history itself.

Explore the history (and alternate history!) of the entire Star Trek universe in this version of Chrononauts. Try to alter history to restore your specific timeline! Maybe you need to ensure that the Federation gets founded, or just retrieve the Orb of Time and some tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Next Move Games

(booth #3027)

5211

Convention season is upon us, and game debuts are all the rage. Check out what will be showing up for the first time at Gen Con!

5211 is a fast-playing card game with unique scoring methods that reward clever plays!

This game has cards 1-6 in five colors, and each player has five cards in hand. Players play two cards from hand simultaneously, then reveal them. They refill their hand, then repeated this process two more times, revealing only one card each of these times. The cards of the majority color will score — unless too many are present, in which case the color busts and the second most color scores. In case of a tie for majority, the tied colors are also out. These rounds are repeated until the deck runs out, and the player with the most points wins.

5211 is a new edition of 5 COLORS that has all new art as well as components that allow for up to eight players to compete at the same time.

Don’t forget that this is only the second part of our three-part series. Come back again tomorrow for the rest! Let me know if you need me to remind you to set an alert so you don’t forget.

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