Ahoy

2 Plays (3 & 4 Players)

ARRR!!!! With the release of both Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest and Ahoy this year, I’ve certainly gotten into the pirate spirit (apparently the 1400 other pirate games failed to get me in a piratey mood).  Where Libertalia captures more of the backstabbing greed of piracy, Ahoy leans into the high seas adventures.

As is Leder Games’ trademark, there is plenty of asymmetry to be found here. 2 factions — the Bluefin Squadron and Mollusk Union — compete with each other to control region tiles while two other factions act as pickup and deliver smugglers. 

Rounds proceed with players rolling their 4 or 5 dice and then taking turns to assign dice to actions on player boards. Your board actions allow you to sail around, load your cannons (in preparation for battle), repair your ship (clear action spaces that get blocked by damage tiles), and utilize unique abilities. You can also recruit more crew members from islands — in essence adding powers and actions to your growing card tableau.  

As promised, Ahoy is much more streamlined and easier to get into compared to Root. The rules are simpler, the asymmetry is lighter, and the game is supposed to be quicker (although I will note that both of our plays went beyond 90 minutes, certainly a bit longer than ideal for this weight of game). Overall, there’s a refreshing brevity to the turn-by-turn gameplay.

The map starts out with merely two region tiles, and players can voyage off in any direction their seafaring heart desires to create a unique sprawl of ocean features. Each region comes with its own value die, and that value may gradually increase if smugglers decide to deliver goods there. 

As the region dice spread outward and tick upward, the big dogs of the sea begin to salivate for control. The Bluefin Squadron spreads patrols and erects island fortresses while the Mollusk Union gathers and deploys comrades. Positioning their faction pieces is key to success, as each region will grant points equal to its value to whoever controls it. 

While the two heavyweight factions spread far and wide, the smugglers are simply looking to weave in and out of islands as quickly as possible with their precious cargo. Encountering enemy ships can sometimes be a great inconvenience — forcing the active player to stop dead in their tracks because somebody loaded their cannons and is looking for a fight. Of course, the smugglers have cannons of their own and a victory in battle can result in a lucrative reward from their player board.

The smugglers aren’t completely disinterested in the area control war, though.  While they aren’t competing in it themselves, they are placing bets on it. Each card of cargo that gets delivered becomes a pledge where the player secretly tucks it under a Bluefin or Mollusk token. This is a chance to score bonus end-game points if the bet was correct (who controls the islands which match that card’s suit?). This may even persuade a smuggler to help out the faction they are invested in for specific regions.

Like any deeply asymmetric design from Leder Games, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on here… and just as much potential for one player to have a great experience as another has a rough experience. Leder is not the type of publisher to sell a game with guard rails — there is ample opportunity for opponents and luck to rain on your pirate parade. But there is also a lot of freedom to chart your own course and explore the wacky possibilities.

I’ll be honest, I came into Ahoy excited but apprehensive. The concept and presentation were thrilling to me, but it certainly has some big shoes to fill as a follow up to the likes of Root and Oath. Thus far, I’ve been able to try both the Bluefin Squadron and Smugglers. In both cases, I had a grand old time. The Bluefin Squadron felt like a great territorial tug-of-war with those pesky Mollusks. The Smuggler felt more like a slippery troublemaker who doles out bruises and bonuses in equal measure. The crew cards I’ve recruited have also played a significant role in my strategies thus far and been key contributors to my success.

The fact that I can essentially play 3 refreshingly different versions of Ahoy (based on my faction) with impactful crew specialization on top of that makes me eager to set sail once more.

Prognosis: Good

Orleans

2 Plays (4 Players)

My first taste of the legendary Orleans actually came in the form of trying its spiritual sibling, Altiplano, over three years ago. That play feels like it was from another lifetime, probably due to the fact that I’ve played hundreds of other games since then and because it was in the before times. But I still recall feeling incredibly underwhelmed by Altiplano due to a sloppy rulebook, long playtime, and dearth of player interaction.

Here is what I wrote about Altiplano after giving it a go, “My major complaint would have to be the nearly complete lack of player interaction. 99% of the rounds could be played simultaneously, yet that 1% outlier situation keeps you from doing so and thus extends the length of the game even more.  When a non-interactive game can last nearly two hours with only two players, at that point I would just rather play A Feast for Odin (which provides a far more satisfying resource conversion Euro experience).”

So that predictably killed my interest in trying Orleans. But I’ve since had the opportunity to play a friend’s copy of this game twice (once last year, and once again this month), so at this point I might as well give my proper first impressions.

The good news is that I find Orleans to be better than Altiplano. The bad news is that I think it’s only marginally better. It still checks my main complaint of being largely solitaire with just enough interaction to noticeably slow the game down without providing genuinely meaningful or satisfying interaction. At the very least, Orleans mitigates this issue better by having a cleaner system and faster pace than Altiplano.

On top of that, where Altiplano is invested in bland resource conversion, Orleans is more interested in engaging engine building. In Orleans, you’re essentially drawing workers out of your bag which can be assigned to their matching spaces on your player board to earn you more workers, increase the number of tokens you can draw each round, and create new action opportunities and discounts on your player board. As you build your bag and improve your board, you’ll feel much more powerful and flexible in later rounds which makes for a satisfying arc.

The game board also provides plenty of tracks for players to advance up as well as many flavors of points to collect from money to goods to citizen tiles. It’s a clean system with a variety of strategies to explore, so I can see why it’s popular. Back in 2014, when it initially released, its bag building mechanism was certainly more novel and fresh. Its success has likely served as inspiration for many bag builders since then, which is perhaps both a compliment and a curse. With bag building being more common and familiar nowadays, Orleans has perhaps lost some of its novelty and uniqueness. For me, the game feels largely similar to many other Euros I’ve tried, to its detriment. But it still provides a solid engine building experience.

Prognosis: Fair

Kabuto Sumo: Total Mayhem (Expansion)

7 Plays (2 Players)

I recently categorized Kabuto Sumo as a Lover in my recent Revisiting the Best Board Games of 2021 post. The brand new expansion, Total Mayhem, has been a great reminder as to why we love getting this game to the table.

Where the base game offers a wide array of asymmetric characters with delightful names, charming illustrations, and amusing abilities, there was already plenty of variety in the box to keep me happy. Total Mayhem doesn’t just take the setup combinations to infinity and beyond, but it also adds another layer to the gameplay. 

The first expansion — Insect All-Stars — already added 8 new characters to the mix, so Total Mayhem instead focuses on introducing new modules to the experience. This latest expansion comes with 8 double-sided Total Mayhem cards — each having a Match side and an Item side. The match side generally introduces an additional winning objective to the session. You can always still win by knocking out your opponent or forcing them into submission (when they run out of pieces in their inventory). But now with Total Mayhem you can play with some wild goals like:

• If you push your torch piece to the dead-center of the ring, you win the match
• If you cause the table to collapse, you win the match (this one features an elevated rectangular block resting on two legs)
• Knock the guitar off the ring twice to win (each time it gets knocked out by a player, they must push it back into the ring on their next turn)
• Drop 16 little thorn pieces onto the ring at the start of the game and lose the match if you knock out 4 or more of them

We’ve enjoyed the added dimension these cards bring to the strategies and tactics of this simple dexterity game. You’re constantly scrambling for the easiest path to victory while dancing around the slippery slopes to defeat. But a match card isn’t the only thing you add to a session. True to its title, Total Mayhem also has you lay out an item card to contribute to the chaos.

These items basically act like a shared signature move that any player can utilize. Some items are earned through stacking pieces, others through inventory payments to opponents, and yet others through knocking out enough pieces on your turn or none at all. Kabuto Sumo definitely shines by mixing up the shapes, sizes, weights, and physics of its disc-pushing mechanism — keeping things weird and wacky from one play to the next.

It’s clear that the creators of Kabuto Sumo and its expansions have had a blast with this charming dexterity game. From the unique challenges that each new card offers to the hilariously epic items and illustrations that bring its theme to life. While this expansion certainly ramps up the mayhem and speeds up the game, it’s not likely to change anyone’s mind. If you enjoy Kabuto Sumo like me, then you’ll find more to love in this latest expansion.

Prognosis: Excellent

Carcassonne: The Castle / Zamek

2 Plays (2 Players)

Carcassonne is as classic as board gaming gets and one of the few transcendent titans of the industry that has remained in my collection.  Where Catan was replaced by Concordia and Bohnanza, and Pandemic was replaced by Pandemic Iberia and Siege of Runedar, and Monopoly was replaced by Chinatown and Lords of Vegas, and Jenga was replaced by Crokinole and Men at Work, Carcassonne has remained protected from my culling wrath.  That may change now that I own Carcassonne: The Castle.

My favorite way to play Carcassonne has always been at 2-players. With Carcassonne: The Castle, Reiner Knizia comes in as a guest-star designer and gives the core premise a heightened 2-player focus.  Players are no longer restricted to connecting matching edges (fields to fields, city to city, etc.), instead they are restrained by a surrounding wall which serves as the game boundaries. 

The wall introduces many interesting dynamics to the Carcassonne experience.  For example, it can serve as a boundary to your ambitiously large area—one or more surfaces that you don’t have to worry about enclosing with a different type of terrain.  With the starting tiles printed around it, the wall also allows players to spread inward from multiple areas rather than be stuck in one place.  Finally, the wall serves as a score track with every rook along the wall containing a bonus tile; this bonus tile is awarded to the player who gets their score marker to stop exactly on it (passing over the bonus tile means you don’t get it!).  

Where vanilla Carcassonne sees players lunging for any and all points as quickly as possible, The Castle unveils a tactical layer by encouraging players to score specific amounts of points at specific times along the score track.  Suddenly the perfect tile to enclose a point-scoring area may come at an inconvenient time (when the points don’t line up with the next rook along the score track).

The tiles themselves also feature some twists to the formula.  Roads are still here (and still must connect to other roads or the wall), but having one or more stocks along a road will double its points. Pigsties score 2 points per tile (Pigsties are found in the version I’ve been playing—Zamek).  Houses only score 1 point per tile, so not as good as pigsties on their own, but the player with the largest housing area at the end will score points equal to the largest empty space within the wall.  So if a player knows they won’t win the housing competition, they must try to cut down on their rival’s points by dividing up the empty space before the tiles run out and the game is over.  Scoring the largest empty space is yet another genius use of the enclosing wall.

All of these twists add such a scrumptious tension to the solid Carcassonne formula.  Should I wall in my opponent’s growing pigsty by placing this field tile next door? (remember, you are allowed to mismatch edges here) Should I enclose my house area now to guarantee myself the points and leap frog over the valuable bonus tile in the process?  Should I add a stock to this road and put a big target on it for my opponent to go after?  These considerations and many more are found throughout the game.  

Carcassonne: The Castle is such a brilliant little 2-player game that it makes me wish Dr. Knizia would do more all-star team-ups with other beloved classics.  What would Reiner’s take on Pandemic look like? I wonder…

Prognosis: Excellent   

Wormholes

2 Plays (2 & 4 Players)

I can still recall the buzz around Wormholes when it was first announced. The very title of the game eluded to the exciting possibilities: that of a shared board morphed and transformed by players into a tangled web of interconnected wormholes. It simply made sense and tickled the imagination.

So how does Wormholes deliver on that thrilling promise? In many ways, it does exactly what it promises to do. Ships start with the energy to move three measly spaces through an enourmous, hex-based galaxy. But players can drop wormholes around them as they please; and use of those wormholes — blipping from one end to the other — requires no energy at all. Thus, the game contains a nice arc of starting with meager movement turns and ending with elaborate orchestrations of passenger pickup and delivery.

You’ll not only plan and use your own wormholes, but you’ll also integrate opponent wormholes into your navigation. And if your opponent happens to drop a wormhole in a smart spot, then they’ll be raking in the bonus points as every use of a wormhole by an opponent nets the wormhole owner a point. Those bonus points are important to keep in mind, but the meat of your points come from actually transporting passengers to their desired planet.

Based on what cards enter your hand (or the open market), you’ll adjust your tactics to milk the most delivery points out of each turn. As the game progresses onward and the wormholes spread far and wide, what initially seems impossible or inefficient can suddenly become solvable and smart. The advanced side of the space tiles also add satisfying depth to this route-planning puzzle — where an orbit zips you around a planet, nebulae similarly offer a free ride, wild wormholes are free game for anyone, photon cannons launch you in a straight line as far as your heart desires, and black holes teleport you away according to the whims of Lady Luck. 

By harnessing the great anomalies of space along with the man-made wormholes, you’ll be able to weave together some satisfying space-traversing combos. Unfortunately, the creativity and joy of Wormholes both starts and ends at exactly that: movement efficiency. 

For some folks, a streamlined pickup and deliver puzzle is all it needs to be. We showed Wormholes to a very casual gaming couple and they had a blast with it, even stating afterward that they could see themselves buying it (I don’t remember them saying that about any of the other many games we’ve shown them — so kudos to this game). 

For other folks, perhaps those more like myself, Wormholes might feel a bit 1-dimensional after a couple plays. You’re trying to navigate and deliver to 8 or 10 different planets during the game, but those planets might as will be called “Point A,” “Point B,” “Point C,” “Point D,” etc. Each card is simply a 2-point objective telling you “Deliver me to point ___.” You’re not so much explorers of the final frontier, rather Taxi cabs performing repetitive work across a vanilla solar system. Although being a Taxi cab sounds much more interesting, as you’d actually get to meet wildly different and interesting people and be rewarded equal to the distance you transported them. In Wormholes, an inconvenient card that enters your hand is nothing more than a faceless passenger who makes you curse your poor luck of the draw and plan to cast them aside on the very next turn.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that beneath the interesting efficiency puzzle of Wormholes lies a largely flavorless experience where the only thing of substance is the next hit of points. Trash cards, draw cards, move, deliver, deposit points, rinse, repeat. It’s clean and polished, for sure, and precisely as lengthy as it should be.

Wormholes somehow makes the most boring part of space (floating through it) the most exciting part while making the most exciting part of space (the diverse planets and life) the most dull part. And although it provides a shared map that allows players to punch a ton of space/time holes in it, the game surprisingly feels like a solitaire top-decking efficiency puzzle with some incidental interaction rather than a strategic tussle of the galaxy’s greatest minds. Whether that’s a good thing or not will depend entirely on the gaming group.

Prognosis: Fair

Space Worm

3 Plays (2 Players)

Speaking of worms in space, let’s talk about Space Worm! This relatively new Knizia roll & write (from 2020) saw a limited release by a UK publisher, and I couldn’t help but purchase a copy when I spotted one in the US BGG marketplace. While it certainly is a title within the very genre that I have largely disowned, it is also a design inspired by the retro video game Snake, and that sounded pretty cool.

In Space Worm, 2-6 players take turns drafting a die from a pool of 8 total. These are six-sided dice with the 6th face being replaced by another 1. When you select a die, you must draw a straight line on your dark space paper (using a bright metallic pen) that is equal in length to the value of the die. Each time you choose a new die, you can of course continue in the same direction or take that opportunity to make a left or right turn. And as all good snakes know, you can never crash into your own growing tail.

Each player’s hungry space worm is eager to swallow all the fruits and planets spread out across their paper. The more planets you swallow, the less negative points you’ll be penalized at the end of the game. Meanwhile, the fruits are a light competition between players to swallow all of one type first. The first player to swallow all the strawberries will gain 4 points, the next will get 3, the next will get 2, etc. If you happen to swallow a fruit with a matching color die, then you’ll even gain a bonus point. The game also includes 4 unique maps with different arrangements and neat little additions like super fruits and wormholes.

Finally, each time you are unable to use one of the available dice from the pool (because you would crash into a wall), you lose a 2-point life. Once a player loses all 4 lives (or eats all the fruit) the game is over.

So it’s an interesting mixture of route-charting, objective racing, and dice drafting. One feature of Space Worm that you don’t normally expect from a roll & write is that of brutality. Particularly at lower player counts, it’s easy to keep a trained eye on what your opposition desperately wants from the dice pool and hate draft it away from them. Where the difference between first and second place in fruit claiming is only ever a single point at 2-players, it is fortunate that the focus shifts away from the immediate fruit nabbing and toward the full-round dice planning.

Much like the best moments of Azul, you’ll study your opponent’s objectives, line this information up with the drafting options, and puzzle out the best drafting decisions and plans for your own needs. There’s a zesty back and forth tango to it all. As the drafting options dwindle, players will be relieved when a new round finally starts with all 8 dice being rolled again and the 1st player marker passing clockwise.

Long-term planning is vital to success in Space Worm, because if you corner yourself in a risky area (where your only option is to draft a low number or lose a life) then you might find yourself careening toward a premature game end. In our first game, my wife and I stayed fairly even until she started the round with a new dice roll and (against all odds) didn’t roll a single 1 (the only result that could get her out of a tight corner). Suddenly, all of her carefully executed plans along the way didn’t matter and her full supply of lives quickly vanished.

In fact, that’s sort of how every game has ended thus far. The extra little points we sweated and scraped for along the way ended up not mattering all that much because one player eventually trapped themself and destroyed their score. I’m still not sure whether that kind of conclusion is fully satisfying or not — one person’s worm suddenly combusting into an absolute dumpster fire while the other person looks on in gleeful pity. But I suppose the ending might feel more competitive with more players; and it’s not too big of a deal anyway when the game is so fast.

Space Worm starts out open and free, but over it’s 20 minutes you’ll quickly feel the noose tighten around your slimy neck. The game ever entices you to make a risky turn for just one more point, and your opposition will always be waiting in the shadows for that moment where you slither just a little too far. Because it combines the worn-out roll & write formula with some spicy push-your-luck worm traversal and much-needed bitey drafting interaction, this one has the potential to keep growing on me.

Prognosis: Fair

John Company: Second Edition

2 Plays (4 & 5 Players)

I was listening to a recent interview of Cole Wehrle (designer and publisher of John Company: Second Edition) and one thing he said especially stood out to me.  In essence, he stated that many game designers fall into the trap of optimizing their game for the first play rather than for returning players. They work to flatten the mountain when they should instead seek to smooth the ramp. 

This statement rang true for me because I’ve seen it in so many modern publications. Hard lessons are replaced by soulless bonuses, clever complexities are cast aside for wooden approachability, guard rails are thrown up at every dangerous corner, and emergent explorative depth is sacrificed for a carefully controlled agenda. But if there is any game which is optimized for returning players rather than the first play, it’s John Company: Second Edition (and all of Cole Wehrle’s designs, for that matter).

As its title suggests, John Company the board game offers a deep dive into the political workings of the British East India Company — greed, grime, and all. Unlike many of our hobby’s Euros which glaze over the horrors of history and merely use such convenient settings as rose-tinted wallpaper, John Company charges straight into the belly of the beast of imperialism and globalization. Here, players are actually given a peek behind the curtains of careless greed, and they’ll come away with a better understanding of what John Company did to countless victims and how those in power were complicit in enabling its moral crimes.

As a mere essay on history, business, and social science, John Company: Second Edition is a fascinating creature. The fact that a board game can provide such an immersive, enlightening, and introspective experience is proof enough that this hobby is as much an art as it is a form of fun. But John Company manages to conjure two miracles in one by being both historically illuminating and thoroughly entertaining.

As the first page of the rulebook states: “In John Company, players assume the roles of ambitious families attempting to use the British East India Company for personal gain.” It also spends an entire page hammering home the point that this is a negotiation game, through and through. That is a very important point to remember as one gets lost in the weeds this procedural roller coaster.

Of all the Cole Wehrle games I’ve played (Root, Pax Pamir, Oath, and now this one), it certainly seems like John Company required the most effort on my part to learn and understand before the big teaching session.  I spent hours in preparation — reading through the rulebook, watching an entire teach and playthrough, and then reading through the rulebook once more. Being the designated teacher of John Company to a game group is like preparing for a final exam — you better know your stuff or you’re in for a rough one.

Despite the fact the Mr. Wehrle puts all of his optimization eggs in the repeat plays basket, that doesn’t mean that this game isn’t approachable. From the gorgeous game board organization to the carefully crafted cards and aids to the warm welcome sheet to the starting scenario, you can tell that Wehrlegig Games cares as much about constructing a smooth ramp as they care about preserving the mountain of strategic possibilities. And what a freaking mountain this game is.

After only playing the starting scenario a couple of times, yet spending roughly 6 hours exploring its depths, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface here. There are yet more events in India to face, more British laws to consider, more offices and roles to explore, more cunning strategies to uncover, and that doesn’t even touch on the advanced scenarios featuring deregulation and a completely different side to the player boards. John Company takes the concept of “replayability” and punts it into the next dimension.

On a basic level of gameplay, players proceed through a set number of rigidly structured rounds unless the company fails, triggering an early game end. You’ll spend your energy jockeying for positions of power within the company, often bribing or blackmailing your way into office, just so you can rake in the financial gains and swaddle your family members in point-scoring luxury. The goal is to generate opportunities for retirement and betrothal, all while fueling these opportunities through your wealth and success.

The path to victory is through the various offices and roles of the East India Trading Company. The chairman greases the cogs of the system by allocating finances to the various treasuries. The Director of Trade positions writers and ships and sends special envoys to prepare the company for action. The Manager of Shipping fits, buys, and leases ships to enable trading across various regions of India and Asia. Military Affairs organizes the officers and commanders of each army, who deploy like a tyrannical plague on the map. The Presidencies oversee trade in their areas to help keep the company thriving. The Prime Minister reveals policies and proposals to be considered and voted upon. 

Through both the inner workings of the company and the politics of hiring replacements, all of these offices and roles are deeply intertwined, making for a rich playground of negotiation. The company is far bigger than one person, and its survival hinges upon the cooperation of everyone involved, including Lady Luck. Much of what players will aim to accomplish within their various roles requires “Success Checks” — basically chucking a handful of dice and praying for at least one result of a 1 or 2. The probabilities of success, failure, and catastrophic failure are laid out plainly on each player board, and players must decide how much they are willing to spend to gain extra dice and minimize the risks.

Yet even when dice in hand are seemingly plenty, there is always a chance of failure when dealing with unwieldy India. So much of the game is about rolling with the punches and making the most of the latest mess of company problems. Perhaps your ambitious plans for trade in Bombay turned into an absolute dumpster fire, leaving your aging president destitute of retirement savings, but maybe his close relative, the Prime Minister, can pull a few strings to help him still land a place in his dream retirement home. Sure, maybe the company is sailing full-speed ahead toward a destructive iceberg, but at least you still have time to drape yourself in luxuries as you fall back on your local workshops to get through the impending economic disaster and sinking company ship.

For a game where so much of the overall outcome is out of your hands, players have rarely had so much freedom to collaborate, cooperate, coerce, and conspire. And whatever happens with the company, however the final scores shake out, the real fun will always be the coalitions that were formed, the deals that were struck, the promises that were fulfilled, and the backs that were stabbed along the way.

Prognosis: Excellent

Whether you’re into:

• Highly interactive games like Ahoy
• The quick gameplay and vivid Kwanchai Moriya illustrations of Kabuto Sumo
• The clever decision space of Knizia designs
• The meaty negotiations of John Company
• Or all of the above…

Our upcoming Kickstarter project is likely to be right up your alley! And it’s the best way to support Bitewing Games in our efforts to both share and create board games with a bite. In January 2023, we’ll be launching Zoo Vadis (by Reiner Knizia) and Gussy Gorillas (a Bitewing Games original) — two wildly clever games of trading and negotiation. Be sure to head over the pre-launch page and click to be notified the moment it launches. Thanks for your support!

Prognosis: a forecast of how the game will likely fare in my collection, and perhaps yours as well.

Excellent– Among the best in its genre.  This game will never leave my collection.

Good– A very solid game and a keeper on the shelf.

Fair– It’s fine. It’s enjoyable. But I’m not likely to seek it out or keep it around.

Poor– Really doesn’t fit my tastes; not one I want to revisit… but hey, that’s just me.

Hopeless– Never again. Run & hide. Demon be gone.

Article written by Nick Murray. Outside of practicing dentistry part-time, Nick has devoted his remaining work-time to collaborating with the world’s best designers, illustrators, and creators in producing classy board games that bite, including the upcoming Zoo Vadis by Reiner Knizia. He hopes you’ll join Bitewing Games in their quest to create and share classy board games with a bite.

The post 1st Impressions of Ahoy, John Company: Second Edition, Wormholes, Kabuto Sumo: Total Mayhem, and more! appeared first on Bitewing Games.

With all the “Most Anticipated Games of 2022” lists I’ve seen over the past few weeks, it feels like Bitewing Games is a little late to the party. On the other hand, I’ve been surprised to see very little overlap between my list and the many others out there. So today it is my honor to shine a spotlight on many promising—and possibly overlooked—titles.

From quick, simple card games to sprawling legacy campaigns… from loud, hilarious party romps to tantalizing expansions, my most anticipated board games of 2022 list covers the entire spectrum of exciting upcoming releases. And these are just the ones we know about so far…

Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes

Expected Release Date: Now

Well it appears that Caesar being on our 2021 Holiday Board Game Gift Guide was wishful thinking.  But now that this promising war game is finally starting to show up on shelves and doorsteps, it feels like second Christmas!  Don’t be surprised it this one ends up claiming the title of best 2-player game of the year.  Father Paolo Mori and the older sibling to Caesar (Blitzkrieg) are that good.

Why it’s Exciting: Tense, bitey tug-of-war games frequently hit the spot for me.  While this one isn’t as blatant of a tug of war as Blitzkrieg, it still appears to capture a similar essence.  It also gives me faint vibes of another classic tile laying game—Samurai.  Those two bangers are very good company to be in.

Ghosts of Christmas

Expected Release Date: February 2022

Thanks to clogged ports and delayed shipments, some of the games here are spillover from last year’s most anticipated board games list.  Ghosts of Christmas is the first in a trio of games that Board Game Tables launched on Kickstarter last year.  Sadly, this game may have just missed Christmas 2021, but I suppose it’s not a big deal because here you’ll be able to time travel as you play tricks in the past, present, and future.

Why it’s exciting: BGT has developed a new hobby of unearthing bizarre Japanese designs and bringing them to a wider, western audience.  Folks like me who love wonky card games should have this on their radar.

Bear Raid

Expected Release Date: February 2022

Game two from the BGT trio is none other than Ryan Courtney’s Bear Raid.  Fun fact: Ryan told me that he’s not a big fan of games where politics (wheeling and dealing, messing with others’ plans, persuading opponents in directions that help yourself and hurt others, etc.) can influence the outcome, and Bear Raid is in many respects this type of game, so he basically designed a game that he personally isn’t into.  How about that.  The important thing here is that Ryan’s playtesters love this stock investment romp… and it’s whimsically illustrated by Nick Nizzaro.  I was born ready for this one.  Yet for those who are hoping for a more warm and welcoming game from Ryan, we’ve got you covered (more on that later).

Why It’s exciting:  I love a good interactive game where you can bet on or invest in various options.  Whether it’s a horse, a camel, a battalion, or a company, the moment you feel personally invested in a thing’s success is the moment where the excitement begins.

Factory Funner

Expected Release Date: February 2022

I’ve never associated factories with the adjective “fun,” but this final game in the BGT trio is poised to change all that.  I recently shared my top 10 spatial puzzle games, and Factory Funner made that list thanks to questionable combination of gut-feeling and critical acclaim.

Why It’s exciting:  The crunchy spatial game play, the stylish art, the flexibility of tile arrangements, and the quick playtime all speak to me in this updated version from BGT.

Sound Box

Expected Release Date: March 2022

I’m not sure which is more surprising: the implication that Horrible Guild needed to take Sound Box to Kickstarter or the fact that it only raised 12k Euros.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they spent roughly that much just to market the game—what a depressing thought.  Of course, launching a party game during COVID may have had something to do with that… Regardless, I’ve got my money on this game being a hoot (literally—I’m a backer) and gaining a second wind once it hits tables.  The design team behind The King’s Dilemma and Railroad Ink have created a game where players must cooperate to listen to each other’s weird sounds in a quest to pick out the right topic cards.  Imagine Codenames where the clues are a chaotic jumble of simultaneous noises and you’re basically there.

Why it’s exciting: Also imagine your partner, sibling, parent, or friend trying their best but epicly failing to recreate the sound of a printer… or a golf tournament.  Need I say more?

Root: The Marauder Expansion

Expected Release Date: Q2 2022

Few things bring me as much joy as a new box of Root goodies.  Between the exciting faction variety, charismatic art by Kyle Ferrin, and colorful Leder Games production, Root and its several expansions never fail to capture my heart.  The Marauder Expansion is particularly notable in that it apparently offers an enhanced experience a lower player counts thanks to the new hirelings.

Why it’s exciting: “Some critters just want to watch the world burn.” Such a sentiment can be said about about the new faction Lord of the Hundreds—an unhinged rat who incites ‘torch-wielding mobs.’  Meanwhile, the Keepers of Iron are disciplined Badgers on the hunt for ancient relics.  What’s not to love here?

John Company: Second Edition

Expected Release Date: June 2022

Speaking of exciting new games from Root designer Cole Wehrle, John Company: Second Edition is hot on the heels of The Marauder Expansion’s scheduled release.  While this is only the second game to come from the brothers Wehrle and their company Wehrlegig, the first one (Pax Pamir: Second Edition) is one of my favorite games ever.  Thus, a meaty game of negotiation and politics from Cole is exactly the kind of thing that could easily become my favorite game of 2022 (and of all time).  It’s gonna be a good summer of gaming, my friends.

Why it’s exciting: If gorgeous, historical board game productions from a boundary-pushing game designer sound like your kind of thing, then Wehrlegig Games is a publisher you should follow.  They’ve already proven that their games are a labor of love, and John Company: Second Edition is set to please folks who enjoy deep, immersive, and dynamic political experiences.

Soda Smugglers

Expected Release Date: June 2022

I can’t believe we’ve had to stretch all the way to June to find a new Knizia game to be hyped about!  But worry not, because the second half of the year should more than satisfy Knizia fans.  These next three games are ones that I’ve already played a ton of, but that’s because we here at Bitewing Games are their publisher.  Personally, I’m excited to see our vision for Soda Smugglers achieve its final form—bottle cap tokens, hilarious bribing, and all.  For people who want a quick, clever bluffing game that is dead simple to teach, Soda Smugglers should be right up your alley.  You can even still preorder the standard or limited deluxe edition here and be one of the first to own it.

Why it’s exciting:  Harmless, simple, and fast bluffing games are perhaps some of the best gateway and/or filler games out there.  Nothing breaks the ice better than witnessing a seemingly gentle person attempt to cross the border with a couple suitcases jam-packed with illicit soda bottles.  And few things are as funny as watching the border guard fall for a bluff or a wily traveler shoot themself in the foot with a mistimed double-bluff.

Pumafiosi

Expected Release Date: June 2022

Along the same lines, Pumafiosi is another offering from Reiner Knizia and Bitewing Games.  This one features a unique style of trick-taking where the second-highest card wins the trick and slots their winning card into a push-your-luck style hierarchy.  To top it all off, it features zany Puma Mafia characters galore.

Why it’s exciting:  Similar to Ghosts of Christmas, here we have another wonky card game that slowly reveals layered strategies as you peel through the onion.  This is a small game with a big payoff in how it rewards multiple plays.  Plus the Pumafia art and lore spread across the entire collection is simply a joy to explore.

Hot Lead

Expected Release Date: June 2022

Finally, Hot Lead rounds out the Criminal Capers Collection with a new twist on auctioning from the master designer of auction games himself.  With the help of 19 illustrated investigators, you’ll be undercover collecting evidence on criminal organizations.  Just like the other two games, this one is quick, simple, and addicting.  Again, if you’re interested, you can preorder here.  This is currently the best and only way to support Bitewing Games as a publisher and content creator.  We love sharing and making games that bite (it’s in the name), and we appreciate the support!

Why it’s exciting: Those who appreciate auctioning games are likely fans of Knizia’s stone-cold classics including Ra, High Society, and Modern Art.  With Hot Lead, we were thrilled to discover that Reiner had funneled his mystical auction design powers into an even faster experience while giving the game its own distinct flavor.  Furthermore, you get the best of a push-your-luck experience where the glorious triumphs feel amazing and the stinging failures are as quick as ripping off a band-aid.  Either way, you’re always hungry for another go.

Beyond the Sun Expansion

Expected Release Date: Q2-Q3 2022

We don’t know much yet, but word on the street is that the upcoming expansion for Beyond the Sun provides more incentives to focus on the planet board (colonization and area control).  But to be honest, anything that gives me more reasons to revisit this excellent tech-tree bonanza of a Euro has my interest.

Why it’s exciting: Beyond the Sun is one of those types of games that feels like it has endless possibilities thanks to the uniquely unraveling tech tree.  Adding more possibilities to those ‘endless’ possibilities is a thrilling prospect that has me wondering what lies beyond Beyond the Sun.

Ahoy

Expected Release Date: Q3 2022

Ahoy is the next direct-to-retail game coming from Leder Games.  This one is described as an asymmetric pirate strategy game for 2-4 players that plays in roughly 1 hour.  Two players will play as oppositional governments (one insurgent, the other established) while the other two players act as smugglers who influence the topology and value of the map that is being contested over.  According to Leder Games, this one is already finished and heading to manufacturing.

Why it’s exciting: Folks who love the idea of Root but dread the baggage that game comes with it (meaty teach, steep cost of admission, etc.) can look forward to Ahoy being the more approachable design that scratches a similar itch.

Trailblazers

Expected Release Date: Q4 2022

Assuming we don’t hit any significant delays, it’s very possible that our next release after the Criminal Capers Collection reaches tables before the end of the year.  We recently unveiled the first details of Trailblazers by Ryan Courtney, and more juicy info will be trickling in over the coming weeks.  Those who enjoy spatial puzzles will find much to love here between the three solo modes, wide player count of 1-8, charming outdoor adventure theme, simple ruleset with a high skill ceiling, and handy travel case.  Be sure to subscribe to the Bitewing Games newsletter to follow the game all the way to the Q2 Kickstarter launch!

Why it’s exciting: Ever since my first play of the excellent Pipeline, I always thought it would be cool to see a game that really focuses in on and explores the possibilities of a pure spatial puzzle game based solely on Ryan Courtney’s windy pipe domino tiles.  Trailblazers is that game.  Trailblazers is to Pipeline as Patchwork is to A Feast for Odin.  Here you can simply concentrate on constructing ambitious, exciting routes within a charming theme and colorful presentation that will appeal to anyone.  

Horseless Carriage

Expected Release Date: Q4 2022

Publisher Splotter Spellen is known for many strategic classics including Food Chain Magnate, Bus, Indonesia, and The Great Zimbabwe. Fans of their designs have come to love the trademark Splotter traits of pure strategy, punishing decisions, brutal interactions, and deep gameplay. While details on Horseless Carriage are sparse, we do know that this is another economic game about creating and selling automobiles in the dawn of the industry.

Why it’s exciting: Horseless Carriage is the first entirely new game put out by Splotter since 2015’s Food Chain Magnate. With FCM being their highest ranked game and most recent game, that means Horseless Carriage has big shoes to fill. Whether it lives up to those high expectations or not, Splotter fans can finally celebrate the end of a 7-year new game publishing drought.

Sidereal Confluence: Bifurcation

Expected Release Date: 2022

I was recently delighted to discover that one of my favorite high-interaction games is getting an expansion this year.  Thanks to a cross-country move and COVID, it’s been trickier to get Sidereal Confluence to the table lately, especially where the game shines best with 5+ players who enjoy wheeling and dealing.  I’m hoping to dive deeper into this epic game of negotiation before this exciting expansion releases.

Why it’s exciting: Bifurcation is set to effectively double the variety of asymmetric species players can use during the game. It introduces a new variant to each of the 9 alien species in the game—meaning new mechanisms, new strategies, and new trading opportunities.

My City: Roll & Write

Expected Release Date: 2022

Last year, I interviewed Dr. Knizia about his plans for a follow-up to the phenomenal legacy game, My City.  He hinted that there would be a sequel, but it would explore new gameplay rather than retread the same ground.  It turns out, that sequel has been reveal as My City: Roll & Write.  From the box cover, we can gather that many of the core concepts have been carried over: the city sheet shows a very similar layout to the original game’s board including mountains, a river, rocks, and trees.  The art also shows similar polyomino shapes and three different building types.  

Yet this version can play a wider range of 1-6 players and features a smaller (and presumably cheaper) box of 12 episodes rather than 24. The major question is: How will the roll & write aspect of the game change things up?  Will we see new dice introduced across the four chapters?  I’m normally not one to get excited about a roll & write, but I’ll make an exception for the follow-up to My City.

Why it’s exciting:  Those who play Knizia dice games would largely agree that Knizia understands how to make the most of dice.  The man even wrote an entire book on dice games, for crying out loud!  So the introduction of dice to the My City system means that these 12 episodes will likely have all kinds of new tricks up their sleeves.

Crescent Moon

Expected Release Date: 2022

If a meaty expansion to Sidereal Confluence isn’t enough for you, then perhaps you’ll be able to satisfy your negotiation cravings with Osprey Games’ ambitious Crescent Moon.  This mammoth design apparently takes 2.5-3 hours to play and can only be played with 4-5 players.  You’ll take on the role of a wildly asymmetric character who has unique objectives, actions, and powers in an area control competition of alliances, rivalries, and negotiations.  Based on that description, fans of Cole Wehrle designs should take note.

Why it’s exciting: From a publisher standpoint, putting out a game with such a narrow target audience (groups of 4-5 players who enjoy meaty, asymmetric games) is a tricky proposition.  What this tells me is that publisher Osprey Games really believes in this project enough to take such a risk.  Combine that with the fact that they’ve been putting out some excellent games recently (Undaunted, Brian Boru, etc.) and suddenly this one has the potential to be something truly special.

Ra

Expected Released Date: 2022

Reiner Knizia fans won’t have to wait too much longer for one of his most popular classics to make a triumphant return.  We’ve finally seen a magnificent box cover from artist Ian O’Toole, and that’s only the tip of what’s bound to be an iceberg of stunning visuals and clean graphic design.  We also know that 25th Century Games is aiming to make this the best production of Ra ever.  So whether you own and love this fantastic push-your-luck auctioning design or not, the latest version of Ra should be on your radar.

Why it’s exciting:  A new version of Ra illustrated by Ian O’Toole is like the Spider-man: No Way Home of board game team-ups.  They’re bringing back a classic, critically acclaimed, beloved experience (Doc Oc, Green Goblin—Reiner Knizia’s Ra) and pairing it with something popular and exciting (Tom Holland’s Spider-man aka Ian O’Toole).

The Queen’s Dilemma

Expected Release Date: 2022?

If you’ve played the 2020 Kennerspiel des Jahres nominee, The King’s Dilemma, then you understand how much work went into this legacy game of tug-of-war politics.  Thus, it’s understandable why The Queen’s Dilemma has been announced but not given a release date.  The big change here is that the tug-of-war resource tracks from the King’s Dilemma are being replaced with a kingdom map where players control regions, gather resources, and develop their areas.  I can’t wait to see how this game of tense voting and impactful decisions is taken to the next level. 

Why its exciting: For folks who were underwhelmed by the mechanical side of The King’s Dilemma—dragging resource tokens up and down a track—The Queen’s Dilemma seems to be aiming for a more ambitious area control + Euro experience.  Beyond arguing and debating how the kingdom should be run, players will now get to see their decisions take effect on a map and feel even more invested in their slice of domain.

Fit to Print

Expected Release Date: 2023

While Fit to Print is not scheduled to release until 2023, it’s worth noting here because the game is coming to Kickstarter this year.  Beyond coming from the increasingly popular creators of Calico, Cascadia, and Tiny Towns, Fit to Print caught my eye with the whimsical artwork by Ian O’Toole.  One of my favorite movies of all time is Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox., and this game box gives me very fantastic vibes of the fox variety.  Mr. Fox himself even works for a newspaper, so the game’s theme is obviously a warm (and welcome) nod to that delightful stop-motion animation movie.  Players will be racing to arrange the best front page of their newspaper in this real-time spatial puzzle game.

Why its exciting:  For many gamers, Flatout Games have been on a hot streak of attractively approachable yet engaging publications, and Fit to Print is set to continue that streak.  Bringing in a design from the creator of Tiny Towns seems like a perfect match here, as Tiny Towns shares much in common with Calico and Cascadia.  If you love any of these games, then Fit to Print should certainly be on your watchlist.

Amun-Re: 20th Anniversary Edition

Expected Release Date: 2023

Amun-Re: 20th Anniversary Edition is another new reprint of a Knizia auctioning classic, and it’s likewise an upcoming 2022 Kickstarter that won’t hit tables until 2023.  But even 20 years on from its initial publication, it remains strongly ranked in the top 500 games of all time on BGG.  This new version will see the classic team up of Vincent Dutrait art with Reiner Knizia gameplay plus 3 entirely new expansions.

Why its exciting: I recently acquired an older copy of Amun-Re and it has proven to be a solid design that has been worth keeping around.  It’s a mark of a good Euro when I’d often rather play it over other Euros that are up to 20 years newer.  That said, Amun-Re has widely been regarded as a game that is good for primarily 4-5 players.  It sounds like publisher Alley Cat Games is aiming to improve the experience at lower counts with the help of an expansion, and that is certainly something to be excited about.

Arcs

Expected Release Date: 2023

While Cole Wehrle was designing his latest ambitious strategy game, Oath, he had many wildly intriguing design ideas that ultimately didn’t end up in Oath.  Arcs is the space-themed exploration of those leftover ideas set to come to Kickstarter in 2022.  It’s described as a short campaign game played over a few punchy episodes (or one long session of 3-5 hours) with branching narratives that can be enjoyed across many campaign sessions.  It’s also easier to teach than both Oath and Root.

Why it’s exciting: Arcs approaches the same question that was posed by 2021’s excellent Brian Boru: How do you combine trick taking with a strategy board game?  According to Cole, Arcs answers this question in a very different (and meaner) way from Brian Boru.  Any game that sounds like the love child of Oath and Brian Boru immediately has my attention.

Article written by Nick Murray. Outside of practicing dentistry part-time, Nick has devoted his remaining work-time to collaborating with the world’s best designers, illustrators, and creators in producing classy board games that bite, including the upcoming Trailblazers by Ryan Courtney. He hopes you’ll join Bitewing Games in their quest to create and share experiences that, much like a bitewing x-ray, provide a unique perspective and refreshing interaction.

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