MIKE’S TOP TEN ANTICIPATED BOARDGAMES OF 2017

Books Games are best judged by their covers, FACT.

DukeofChutney wrote: Books Games are best judged by their covers, FACT.

I hope so, because the cover art for the game Pete and I made is fucking rad. But I can't show it to you yet.

Leaked image:

I was leaning towards no, but then I saw "hi-fi STEREO".

What, Talia Shire and Ray Walston aren't enough for you?

Not gonna lie...if I had known that this was coming out it most certainly would have made the list...and it would be pretty close to the top!



Totally pumped for this one. GF9 is saying early June as a release date, but there is almost no chance of that happening. I'd say it's a post gen-con, August/Sept release at the earliest.

Rad is a great movie, guys. The little shitty rural Canadian town looks some kind of eternal purgatory. Of course these kids would be obsessed with BMX biking, what the hell else is there to do? There's even a Sparks song during the lame prom sequence featuring BICYCLE DANCING. Great movie.

Pre order for Big Trouble:

bigtroublegame.com/

I'm intrigued, but not to the point of $100 for the deluxe version.

Kind of surprised they didn't go Kickstarter.

The Doctor Who game has been something of an ongoing saga over on BGG. By all indications it's taken the shape of an elaborate dice game, not unlike Elder Sign. There was also a move away from the larger $75 production to a smaller $50 box, knocking out two players (and two versions of the Doctor) in the process. Those will come with expansions.

There's some handwringing over all of this on BGG. Several people seem disappointed in the dice-based game that appears to be what we're getting, and there's been some out loud wondering if it'll capture the theme at all. (Seems hard to know that if we haven't played, but whatever.) Some people are also bummed that two Doctors have been cut, but I think that's more a product of fear that there won't be any expansions and that it'll be dropped like the WWE game.

I think the overlap of board gamers and Doctor Who fans is probably too broad for this game to flop, but I have modified my expectations accordingly. I am still generally optimistic, but then I've got a bigger acceptance for "abstraction" when translating stuff like this. I'm not sure what a perfectly "thematic" experience would even be for Doctor Who. Mostly I'm looking for a game that allows me to find creative solutions to problems, and lets me grow attached to specific characters within the game, even if it's only for a little while. I suspect both of those will be much easier to accomplish once there is some expansion content out for the game.

If we're talking about the WWE game from GF9, that game deserved to die. It was terrible. I'm a wrestling fan. I was ready to look the other way on a lot of crap.

stormseeker75 wrote: If we're talking about the WWE game from GF9, that game deserved to die. It was terrible. I'm a wrestling fan. I was ready to look the other way on a lot of crap.

Huh, I thought it was pretty good. It was lean on content though, and it really needed a better way to handle multiplayer situations.

san il defanso wrote: The Doctor Who game has been something of an ongoing saga over on BGG. By all indications it's taken the shape of an elaborate dice game, not unlike Elder Sign. There was also a move away from the larger $75 production to a smaller $50 box, knocking out two players (and two versions of the Doctor) in the process. Those will come with expansions.

There's some handwringing over all of this on BGG. Several people seem disappointed in the dice-based game that appears to be what we're getting, and there's been some out loud wondering if it'll capture the theme at all. (Seems hard to know that if we haven't played, but whatever.) Some people are also bummed that two Doctors have been cut, but I think that's more a product of fear that there won't be any expansions and that it'll be dropped like the WWE game.

I think the overlap of board gamers and Doctor Who fans is probably too broad for this game to flop, but I have modified my expectations accordingly. I am still generally optimistic, but then I've got a bigger acceptance for "abstraction" when translating stuff like this. I'm not sure what a perfectly "thematic" experience would even be for Doctor Who. Mostly I'm looking for a game that allows me to find creative solutions to problems, and lets me grow attached to specific characters within the game, even if it's only for a little while. I suspect both of those will be much easier to accomplish once there is some expansion content out for the game.

Didn't the lead designer at GF9 die? Is it possible that Doctor Who was still in development at that point, and may have been finished by a different designer? I'm not surprised by the decision to shrink the base game and shift extra players and content to expansions, because that seems like a standard part of the GF9 business model. And it's fair to the players to offer a less expensive base game which they can enhance with expansions if they enjoyed the base.

Based on my limited exposure to Doctor Who, it seems like the perfectly thematic Doctor Who boardgame experience would require players to excitedly shout out a description of what they are doing while they roll the dice.

Shellhead wrote:

san il defanso wrote: The Doctor Who game has been something of an ongoing saga over on BGG. By all indications it's taken the shape of an elaborate dice game, not unlike Elder Sign. There was also a move away from the larger $75 production to a smaller $50 box, knocking out two players (and two versions of the Doctor) in the process. Those will come with expansions.

There's some handwringing over all of this on BGG. Several people seem disappointed in the dice-based game that appears to be what we're getting, and there's been some out loud wondering if it'll capture the theme at all. (Seems hard to know that if we haven't played, but whatever.) Some people are also bummed that two Doctors have been cut, but I think that's more a product of fear that there won't be any expansions and that it'll be dropped like the WWE game.

I think the overlap of board gamers and Doctor Who fans is probably too broad for this game to flop, but I have modified my expectations accordingly. I am still generally optimistic, but then I've got a bigger acceptance for "abstraction" when translating stuff like this. I'm not sure what a perfectly "thematic" experience would even be for Doctor Who. Mostly I'm looking for a game that allows me to find creative solutions to problems, and lets me grow attached to specific characters within the game, even if it's only for a little while. I suspect both of those will be much easier to accomplish once there is some expansion content out for the game.

Didn't the lead designer at GF9 die? Is it possible that Doctor Who was still in development at that point, and may have been finished by a different designer? I'm not surprised by the decision to shrink the base game and shift extra players and content to expansions, because that seems like a standard part of the GF9 business model. And it's fair to the players to offer a less expensive base game which they can enhance with expansions if they enjoyed the base.

Based on my limited exposure to Doctor Who, it seems like the perfectly thematic Doctor Who boardgame experience would require players to excitedly shout out a description of what they are doing while they roll the dice.

Good call on the lead designer's passing, I had forgotten about that.

I think a smaller scope of game is actually kind of welcome. Both Spartacus and Firefly are fun, but they are just a bit too long for regular play. The smaller package here is probably more in line with the sort of game it is. Fifty dollar games are about as cheap as they come anymore.

My most cynical interpretation of a Doctor Who game would be one where swap character locations for thirty minutes and then defeat the final baddie with the power of love.

I'm far from a huge Dr.Who fan, but I do enjoy a lot of the series, especially pre 12th doctor.

The best bits about the show are most of the random bits that have little if anything to do with the series prior to that episode. It shines during those campy misadventures.

How this would translate in game, I dunno. But then again after trying over a dozen Dr who games I'm convinced games aren't the medium for that IP.

Torchwood might be a better fit to slap a game on to.

I ran into this article a couple weeks back before I knew who you were and what this place was. Just wanted to say it was great (still is).