This week Mike reveals his Top Ten Most Anticipated Games
Date: Thursday, September 02, 2010
Author: Michael Barnes
8) Labyrinth: The War on Terror (GMT Games; ETA: October)
Designer Volko Ruhnke is best known for his excellent WILDERNESS WAR, a card-driven wargame set in the French and Indian War. For his new release coming soon from GMT games, Mr. Ruhnke is going after a much more controversial subject- the post-9/11 War on Terror and the political, economic, diplomatic, social, and military issues surrounding it. The game has already proven to be a hot button issue, with gamers debating whether or not the subject matter is appropriate for a board game. I say that if you’re willing to play a game as the Wehrmacht, Turks, Mongols, Vikings, Crusaders, or Colonial-era plantation owners then it shouldn’t trouble your morality at all to play a board game as Islamic Jihadists. Or George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld for that matter. It’s an intriguing, interesting and very relevant subject for a board game and I’m looking forward to seeing not only how Mr. Ruhnke translates the diverse and complex issues surrounding the War on Terror to the mechanics of a post-TWILIGHT STRUGGLE card driven wargame, but also how he as a games author interprets them. This could be one of the most interesting- if not most important- games of 2010.
9) Betrayal at the House on the Hill (Hasbro/Avalon Hill; ETA: Fall)
This game is a do-over. Around Halloween of 2004, Avalon Hill released this interesting but screwed up horror game wherein players explore a haunted house, gradually revealing omens until certain factors lead players to discover the “haunt”- and one or more players turn out to be the bad guys. It was a brilliant concept, but the fifty possible haunts were riddled with problems that ranged from minor irritations all the way to completely crashing the game. And then there was that “underground lake” tile that was somehow on the second floor of the house. The game is getting a second edition this year with the promise of fixed haunt books and some new ones to boot, so I’m looking forward to giving it another chance. I never really cared for the game, but it was tremendously popular among a wide range of gamers and even non-gamers, so I think this could be a big success. And maybe I’ll be a little more amicable toward it when there’s not the threat of the game breaking down three quarters of the way through a session.
10) Mystery Game (Games Workshop; ETA: Fall, if at all)
Last year’s re-release of SPACE HULK was a watershed moment in hobby gaming. It brought one of the great board games of all time back into print (albeit briefly), it set a new standard for production quality, and unfortunately it established a precedent for the $100 board game. There’s been wild speculation and conjecture as to whether Games Workshop will do another limited release reprint of a classic game. Signs and rumors abound, but I’m hoping that their next trip to the vaults produces a definitive edition of something like WARHAMMER QUEST or ADVANCED SPACE CRUSADE. Or even a full-on SPACE HULK expansion set. I’d also be interested to see an all-new Games Workshop board game, although it would seem that would be delegated to Fantasy Flight at this point. I’m almost never willing to spend big bucks on a game, but I like the concept of a high profile, “prestige” edition of a classic game and I’ll be first on the preorder list for it if it’s a good one. I’m hoping that GW tries to get lightning to strike twice this year with a new reprint- they blew through some 70,000 copies of SPACE HULK like it was a dozen jelly donuts and a stack of Hentai porn at Gen Con.
