I am big fan of the The Players’ Aid Wargame Watch articles. It gives me a great overview of the new titles, future releases and what is coming and hot in the wargaming space. They do tremendous job of searching through various publisher pages, Kickstarter, Gamefound, and other materials.

When I was reading their latest article (Wargame Watch – What’s New & Upcoming – June 2023) and browsing through the titles, marking that one or the other one as on my list, I just realized it would be cool to gather all my preorders in one place and finally have some understanding how many of them I have! Well, once I did the list immediate realization came that this might be cool material for article.

And thus here it comes – my list of pre-orders / supported campaigns / new editions for which I am anxiously waiting. Some of them are already in the shipping process (my wish, I know!), for some I will have to wait couple of years still. I hope they might be kind of inspiration where to find some new great titles!

Kickstarter / Gamefound:

1) Total War: ROME: The Board Game

Total War: ROME – The Board Game captures the essence of the video game and allows up to four players to play as the leaders of Rome, Carthage, Greece, and Gallo-Germania, covering the time period from 250 BCE to 50 BCE. The base game can be played in under three hours, with planned expansions that will allow players to dive deeper into managing battles emulating the video game further.

PSC PAGE

For the first title, I will describe something I have a great sentiment about! I love Total War Video Games franchise – played extensively Shogun, Rome, Imperial or Napoleon. So when I learned about the project – while suspicious at first as with every Digital to Analog transformation there is a huge risk of “overdoing” the game – I went through materials and decided this is really promising title. There is a good balance of what can be presented on board and calculated / coped with by players as in comparison to the computer game. When I am writing this post, we have good probability it will be published and shipped in 2023 – and having seen the prototype on Essen 2022 Spiel, I am sure it is worth waiting!

More about game:

2) Freezing Inferno – Finland vs. the USSR

Freezing Inferno is a 1 or 2 players wargame set in World War 2 covering the 1939-1940 conflict between the USSR and Finland. It is a hex & counter game with unique battle mechanism, a lot of strategy, some diplomacy and a number of features specific to the harsh winter conditions of the setting. Freezing Inferno is medium level complexity and lasts from 3 to 6 hours. Variable setup and random cards bringing effects to the game offers great replayability.

CAMPAIGN PAGE

Not an overly detailed description, isn’t it? But yo can get much more information on the campaign page. As for the game, what really attracted me is the theme, and the battle between Goliath (Soviets) and David (Finland) – does that ring a bell with current geopolitical situation to some extent? Well, it should!

That pretty small but significant in long lasting results conflict is not too extensively covered in publications and wargames. The “Winter War” was was pretty unique, with special focus and center of gravity put on guerilla and small groups tactics warfare. The game tries to give its due to this characteristic, at the same time putting the playability as main focus (miniatures are optional, not mandatory!). Two neoprene maps, solo mode and ton of other goodies makes this even more compelling!

More about game:

3) Heroes of the Pacific: Battle of Guadalcanal

In Heroes of the Pacific, you take command of the American or Japanese armed forces in a no-holds-barred skirmish. The chosen scenario determines the number of troops you have under your command, as well as your objectives. All you have to do is win!

To help you build and organize your army, Heroes of the Pacific offers a system of Recruitment Tiles and Recruitment Options. These tiles allow you to better track your army and its capabilities.

Each Game Turn, you secretly use your Order Tokens to command some of your Units and determine the order in which they will act. But Heroes of the Pacific is not just a tactical combat game. It is also a heroic action game. For you will command not only loyal soldiers, but also brave characters, cunning leaders with talents of their own. 

The whims and eccentricities of the gods of war are represented by Action Cards, which can give you that little edge you’re missing, or turn the tide of battle completely with a well-planned strategy. In the end, the commander who best leads his troops in accomplishing his objectives wins. So read on, soldier, and prepare for the test of war.

CAMPAIGN PAGE

Tactical LAND combat between Japanese and American forces during World War II – especially Guadalcanal? I immediately go for it. Having spent so many hours on NAVAL engagements in this theater during that period – as depicted by many great games like Pacific War or Empire of the Sun – I feel the land segment is slightly underrepresented.

It is also important that the Heroes System by Devil Pig Games is a proven solution for quite many years and you should not have any huge surprises here. On the other hand couple of rules adding twist needed to depict the Pacific Theater will be a welcome addition!

More about game:

4) SPARTA!: Struggle for Greece

In SPARTA! command Athenians or Spartans in a battle to rule the Greek world. Achieve dominance and control valuable regions that grant unique benefits – be it the wealth of Sicily, the fleets of Corinth, or alliances with larger cities like Thebes or Syracuse to provide fresh recruits for battle. You might even rally the Persians and Macedonians to your side.

March armies and sortie fleets to raid enemy territories. Siege valuable cities, and engage your foes in fierce battles. Steel your nerves when you enter the fray of battle, as it is bloody and swiftly resolved using an elegant card-based system. Lead your forces with legendary characters such as Pericles and Cleon. Each leader has a unique ability, be it combat prowess or cunning diplomacy. Characters may become experienced— flipping the leader to their upgraded form with a more powerful ability. Balance diplomacy, economy, and military might in this card-driven game of historic conflict! The Splendour Of Greece Is Yours For The Taking!

CAMPAIGN PAGE

Before I back any new wargame on Kickstarter, I am doing pretty thorough research – including what other fellow bloggers write about particular position. This was exactly the case with Sparta! – a pretty interesting and nicely designed 1-2 player title. When the campaign was launched, that title seemed as most complete but on the other hand – the deepest in strategy and tactical dimension (well, KS games sometimes try to hide it shallowness with… beautiful components and plastic figures!). Hope to get it soon!

More about game:

5) Undaunted: Battle of Britain

The RAF faces the Luftwaffe in this two-player deck-building game of aerial WWII combat. Summer, 1940. The German war machine has rolled through the continent in less than a year, crushing all before it. Britain is all that stands in the way of German victory in Europe. Command the pilots of the battle-tested Luftwaffe who are looking to extinguish all resistance and pave the way to invasion, or the resourceful and determined RAF opposing them at every turn.

Undaunted: Battle of Britain is a standalone game in the Undaunted series, adapting the core gameplay of the previous games to recreate the dynamic dogfighting of aerial combat. Maintain cohesion between your pilots, evade anti-aircraft artillery, and leverage talented aces to win the battle for the skies!

OSPREY GAMES PAGE

You do not have to convince me to a new title in Undaunted series. Mainly, because each installment after base game brings something new – vehicles, solo and team mode, campaign and now engagements in the skies. That makes each title a completely different experience although strongly rooted in the core mechanics.

This is also one of those entry games, which allows me to share that great hobby with my 8 & 10 years old kids. And this is definitely reason worth underlying – Undaunted can be a great gateway for all the young adepts of boardgaming. Can’t wait to see the game published!

More about game:

6) Age of Rome

Become the new emperor of Rome in this strategic worker placement game set in 44 BC, Rome. Each turn, you will build structures in different provinces assigned to you through a rotating board. Balance war, politics, trade, and religion while scheming against your rival players.

In Age of Rome, each player is assigned a hero with their respective player board, then are given secret quests and starting resources of Denarii, Followers, Scheme tokens, Legions, and Votes. Then they spend nine rounds competing on a rotating board to earn Glory Points.

Players can earn Glory Points in various ways. They may build structures, place Followers to vote and win a majority, send Legions to conquer regions, trade or collect items, or even build a Pantheon. Completed secret quests also earn Glory Points. After the 9th round, the game ends. The final score is determined and the player with the most Glory Points is declared the new Emperor of Rome.

PUBLISHERS PAGE

You know my weakness for Ancient Rome 🙂 I love theme in many settings and Age of Rome campaign quickly got my attention – although this will not be a wargame! After reading through numerous materials, rulebook, etc. I decided it has enough “freshness” to justify valid addition to my collection. Or maybe I simply succumbed to temptation of getting yet one more Rome-themed title? Well, the future will tell – you can as always count on my impressions shared on this blog!

More on the title:

7) Thorgal: The Board Game

Thorgal: The Board Game is a cooperative storybook adventure game for 1-4 players aged 14+. Players take on the roles of Thorgal, his wife Aaricia, their son Jolan, and Kriss—a deadly female warrior—, and go on a series of adventures.

The game consists of 7 stand-alone scenarios, each taking roughly 90-120 minutes of play. Scenarios do not form a campaign nor have any legacy features, so they can be played by different playgroups and over an extended period of time.

Thorgal: The Board Game comes with a book of maps. Each scenario is played on a different map that players explore while fulfilling scenario goals and promises completely different adventures, hidden opportunities, and vivid characters. Players are free to choose whether they travel in one group or split to cover more areas at the same time. They also perform side quests that might help them win a scenario.

Another important mechanic involves Character development. Each character gains experience during the game and advances their abilities. This dynamic progress allows players to make meaningful decisions about how to develop their hero in the game. Characters gather resources and craft objects to help them survive in the dangerous world.

CAMPAIGN PAGE

Well, I have to admit, to large extent this is a sentimental choice. I was brought up on Thorgal comics series created by Van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosinski. Those adventures created and influenced my imagination as a child – especially how the fantasy world should look like. But this is not only emotional decision – knowing the Portal Games publisher, I am confident we shall get a decent, re-playable and very interesting product. As the campaign was concluded pretty recently we still have to wait, which is the only downside 🙂

More on the title:

P500 / GMT Games:

You know guys that I am huge fan of the GMT Games titles. Thus it is not surprising, that many of the titles on my pre-order list comes from their P500 program. Let us see what I have chosen!

8) Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020

Mr. President is a solitaire game about governing as the President of the United States. It’s not an election game. It begins after you’ve been elected. It’s about sitting in The Chair and trying to advance your agenda while navigating ongoing crises, political enemies, public opinion, your relations with Congress and the press, and keeping your country secure in a world of rival nations and agendas that just seems to keep blowing up around you.

Mr. President is a resource management game, where you never have enough resources to achieve your entire agenda, and the path you take through an always unpredictable storyline rests on the choices you make. Depending on the results of those choices, and on the unfolding of a “different every game” story, you’ll either be thinking “POTUS? Piece of Cake!” or “Why was it that I WANTED this job?” many times in each game.

GMT PAGE

I am really looking forward to this very interesting solitaire title – and checking the GMTs publication schedule, it should be already on its way to me! My curiosity is additionally spiced up by the session reports published on Inside GMT blog, which are giving great level of details what we can expect from this game. I also find theme very much fitting for solo play – in the end, being a President, you are making all the final calls yourself!

More about the game:

9) Downfall

Downfall is a two-player game on the conquest of the Third Reich in World War II. One player controls the Western Allies and the other the Soviet Union in their joint effort to destroy the Axis. Though the two players share the goal of defeating the Reich, each seeks a victory that favors their dominance in post-war Europe. To this end, each player controls two factions:

  • The Western player commands the Western Allies faction and the OKH faction, that is the German and minor Axis armies battling the Soviet Union in the east (Oberkommando des Heeres).
  • The Soviet player commands the Soviet faction and the OKW faction, that is the German and Italian armies facing the Western allies in the west (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht).
BGG PAGE

I am a huge fan of late Chad Jensen. His rulebooks are role-model how such materials should be created – and nowadays I can firmly say that Kai Jensen took over from him with a great quality! I am so glad that his idea and concept will (hopefully soon!) come to fruition with the help of another great (and one of my favorite) designers – John Butterfield! And when you read about the game concept – well, is it not a delicious idea, which to some extent shows the beginnings of the Twilight Struggle which started after World War II?

More about the game:

10) Away Team

AWAY TEAM: The Voyages of the Pandora is a game of exploring alien worlds in distant star systems. You command the Pandora, an interstellar survey ship on its voyages of discovery. Each voyage sends Pandora to a different star system where you assemble away teams from the ship’s crew and equipment to explore planets, moons, and other sites of interest, with the following directives:

  • Locate exo-life forms and document their physiology and behavior
  • Collect exo-DNA, vital to genetic science and human adaptation to life in the stars 
  • Identify and survey environments suitable for human settlement and development
  • Search for intelligent life and alien cultures; and if found, establish contact with goodwill
  • Don’t get killed.

AWAY TEAM has three modes of play:

  • The solitaire campaign game provides an epic, interconnected, narrative experience for one player across seven star systems, providing over 80 hours of play time, exploration, and plot-twists.
  • The solitaire star system game provides one player with a repeatable play experience commanding one Pandora voyage to a single star system. You set the experience level of your crew and the danger level of each voyage.
  • The 2-player game puts players in command of competing away teams from Pandora in a voyage to a single star system—also a repeatable play experience.
GMT Website

Well, I am so excited about that game (not using that strong world too often) as I have very good example what John Butterfield can do with the space theme – see Spacecorp! Here we would have another creation from that author – not only theme & mechanics makes me very curious; like Enemy Action series, the title presents both 2-player and solo system (the latter pretty advanced). And as that author prefers card-driven solitaire experience, I am sure this will play greatly! Can’t wait to get my copy!

More about the game:

11) C&C Medieval Expansion 1 – Crusades

The Crusade Mid-Eastern Battles I expansion will instead focus on some of the major engagements of earlier Crusader history. In this first Crusade expansion, we showcase at least 16 Crusader scenarios and all the additional unit blocks you need to fight out these battles. New units include: Crossbow Infantry, Foot Knight Infantry, Turcopole Light Bow Cavalry, Heavy Knight Cavalry, and Heavy Military Order Knight Cavalry.

The Crusade expansion introduces many new game concepts as well: Impetuous Pursuit, Feigned Flight, Shower Shooting, and Charging Cavalry ability to pass through friendly stationary infantry units, all of which add historical depth and flavor. Still many game mechanics remain constant, like the deck of Medieval Command cards that drive movement while creating a “fog of war” and the battle dice that will resolve combat quickly and efficiently. There are also new and updated Inspired Actions for both the Crusader and Mid-Eastern armies.

GMT PAGE

It is a huge pity that my favorite and bellowed series – Commands Colors – are getting so few new titles and expansions in recent years. The Medieval Expansion 1 is one of a few. And it proposes such a great array of new mechanics, battles and units that most of us, fans of C&C, awaits anxiously for it publication. The number of P500 orders when the title was announced sky-rocketed (it is now at 1245!) but it was over 2 years ago… So while my heart really hopes to see it soon, my mind whispers it is still so far away.

More about the game:

12) Rebel Fury

Rebel Fury, Volume I of the Civil War Heritage Series, uses the low-complexity Gettysburg system featured in C3i Magazine #32. The Battles featured are Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Chancellorsville, and Fredericksburg (solitaire). Several of the battles are linkable, covering the entire Chickamauga-Chattanooga campaigns.

Rebel Fury places you, the player, in the role of the Army Commander (Lee, Burnside, Hooker, Bragg, Rosecrans, Grant).  You maneuver your army to find the enemy’s flanks, concentrate your forces for an attack, and determine where to commit your artillery assets. Each game in Rebel Fury is quick-set-up, quick-playing, and deeply interactive. The density of counters in each scenario is low, allowing you to see and experience the big picture of the battle.

GMT PAGE

I have to admit that my library of American Civil War wargames is pretty limited. Definitely, being European, this is not my primary topic of interest. Still, I am working on getting some quality titles to fill that gap and after great Gettysburg from C3i, I decided to back Mark Herman’s Rebel Fury. We will get couple of battles here, which on top can be linked, and all of them play in reasonable time. Of course, Mark Herman being in my top 3 wargame designers makes the choice even easier and promises great experience 🙂

More about the game:

13) Congress of Vienna

Congress of Vienna is a diplomatic Strategy CDG for one to four players. It is the fourth game after Churchill, Pericles, and Versailles 1919 in GMT’s “Great Statesmen” series.

CoV creates an enthralling gaming arena. It allows players to become the main characters of the dramatic, titanic struggle between the struggling Napoleonic Empire and the coalition of Russia, Austria, and Great Britain (with their Prussian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Swedish allies).

The game starts after Napoleon’s disastrous 1812 retreat from Moscow, covering the decisive years of 1813 and 1814. The abstract game map involves a strategic theatre portraying Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the boundaries of Poland and Prussia.

It also includes the secondary front of Italy, an area for depicting maritime warfare and the British/American War of 1812. This game by designer Frank Esparrago and developer Dick Sauer (with much appreciated input from Mark Herman) has been created to be played as both a diplomatic and strategic military conflict without losing the taste of the Napoleonic era’s great battles.

GMT PAGE

I played all Great Statements titles so far – having a blast with Churchill politics, great internal and external war concepts in Pericles or shaping the new, post Great War world in Versailles. The Congress of Vienna definitely suits the theme and concept of the series, and being inspired and consulted by Mark Herman, I am sure we are going to get a quality product. The only thing I could wish for is for the game to be published sooner!

More about the game:

Summary

I admit, there is couple of other titles on my pre-order list – but they are usually so far away from publication, that I will probably put them on the list next year. Above selection – maybe with the (sad) exception of C&C Medieval – has high chances to be published “in months” rather than “in years”. Can’t wait to get them – and as always, you can count on me reporting on those great games!