• One of my favorite highlights from Gen Con 2022 was getting the opportunity to learn and play Hoplomachus: Victorum, from designers Josh J. Carlson, Adam Carlson, and Logan Giannini, and Chip Theory Games. Silly me did not schedule a meeting with Chip Theory, but after being excited and sufficiently teased from a short demo, they invited me to join content creator Kasey (aka Brain_in_a_Jar) for a 2-hour private demo of Hoplomachus: Victorum, which had me drooling even more.
Hoplomachus: Victorum is an exciting, solitaire, gladiator combat and adventure game set in the world of ancient mythology. It is played as a campaign where you lead one of a variety of different heroes on a journey and challenge a slew of baddies to prevent Mount Vesuvius from erupting. In a campaign, you travel the ancient world competing in events, fighting in arenas, growing your forces, and developing your capabilities to level-up your hero. Each campaign is split into four acts, and each act is played over up to twelve weeks/rounds, where you must defeat three primuses and then win a final battle at Mount Vesuvius against one of Pluto’s scions, or even Pluto himself.
All geared up to take down Hydra…
I was really impressed with the gameplay of Hoplomachus: Victorum after playing through a few weeks, but Chip Theory also knocked it out of the park with the components. Every component is premium quality, but also very functional. As an example, the different types of dice are gorgeous, feel nice in your hands, and have unique graphic design so you can easily see how many hits/successes are on each die without having to pick it up and rotate it to inspect each side. I also loved all of the different neoprene mats with unique art representing the different arenas.
I suspect solo gamers and fans of the Hoplomachus series are going to really dig Hoplomachus: Victorum. I had a lot fun playing through it with Kasey too, so it could also be enjoyable as an unofficial co-operative experience for two. Whether you’re a solo gamer or not, Hoplomachus: Victorum is worth checking out if you enjoy challenging, strategic, and immersive gaming experiences. Hoplomachus: Victorum and Hoplomachus: Remastered, the reimplementation of Hoplomachus: The Lost Cities and Hoplomachus: Rise of Rome, are both due out in mid-October 2022.
For a few other Chip Theory Games updates, Too Many Bones: Unbreakable, the standalone conclusion to the Too Many Bones series, will be available in December 2022. Meanwhile, the Chip Theory crew is very pumped about the future release of Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era, which is in development.
• At Dire Wolf‘s booth, Eric and I got a sneak peek of Paul Dennen‘s Clank! Catacombs, which introduces tile-laying to the popular deck-building adventure game Clank! The tile-laying in Clank! Catacombs throws new challenges at players and will make each game feel different and fresh. You can play Clank! Catacombs with 2-4 players using only the all-new dungeon deck, or you can include cards from previous Clank! expansions.
Dune: Imperium – Immortality is another exciting, upcoming release from Paul Dennen and Dire Wolf. Immortality is a new expansion which introduces some new spice to Dune: Imperium with a new Tleilaxu deck, scientific research, and card drafting. Even though I’m behind and still haven’t played the Rise of Ix expansion yet, I’m very excited to try Immortality.
The Bene Tleilax scientific research board
Both Clank! Catacombs and Dune: Imperium – Immortality will be available in Q4 2022.
• I got a quick demo of Oak, a worker placement and hand management game from designer Wim Goossens and Game Brewer. In Oak, 1-4 players control tribes of druids in a magical world where you perform actions to make your druids more powerful to impress the mighty Oak (majestic tree).
Oak game board
Players start with three action cards corresponding to the different temples on the game board, where you can take different actions to upgrade your druids to give them special abilities, meet mythological creatures, build sacred places, and more.
Upgradeable druids (workers)
Kramer and Kiesling‘s The Palaces of Carrara (Second Edition) was looking good on display at Game Brewer’s booth. I’ve heard good things about this classic, so I look forward to trying it when it’s available in early Q4 2022.
The Palaces of Carrara (Second Edition)
• Elf Creek Games had Robert Fisk‘s eye-catching prototype of The Clocks of Hickory Docks on the table, which I had to stop and ask about. The Clocks of Hickory Docks is an upcoming release which is all about mice making watches. It features a two-way rondel for taking actions and acquiring gears, contract fulfillment, resource management, and a follow mechanism. The Clocks of Hickory Docks is targeted to launch for crowdfunding in Q4 2022 or Q1 2023.
The Clocks of Hickory Docks prototype
• If you’re looking to get your hands on a mice-filled game sooner, be sure to check out Sawyer West‘s Hickory Dickory which is a Q4 2022 release from Plaid Hat Games. In Hickory Dickory, 1-4 players control teams of mice competing in a royal scavenger hunt inside a cuckoo clock. It wasn’t being demoed at Gen Con, but it appears to have excellent table presence to support the theme, so I’m looking forward to checking it out.
Game layout image posted by the publisher
Familiar Tales, the latest release from Mice and Mystics designer Jerry Hawthorne, was being demoed at the Plaid Hat Games booth. Familiar Tales a co-operative, deck-building, fantasy adventure game where 1-4 players work together as a wizard’s familiars trying to keep a princess alive. Familiar Tales is a narrative, campaign game which is driven by a browser-based app and a fantastical story book filled with branching paths and memorable characters.
While I was at the Plaid Hat Games booth, Niki Shults mentioned there’s a reimplementation of the popular pirate adventure game Forgotten Waters in the works. I’m very curious to hear about the new theme and what it’s all about.
• One early morning at Gen Con 2022, I arrived an hour before doors opened to the public to meet with Bernie Lin from Dead Alive Games for a rundown of their new and upcoming releases, Omicron Protocol and Lunar Rush.
Brendan Kendrick and Bernie Lin‘s Omicron Protocol is a cyberpunk-themed, squad-based miniatures board game for 1-4 players, which can be played either competitively against another player/team, solo, or co-operatively. Each round, you spend action points to activate your characters, using movement and tactics to survive the onslaught of the Cyber-Memetic Sociopaths (CyMS), the “cyber-zombies” of the game.
A slew of components for Omicron Protocol
In Lunar Rush, designed by Steven “Skippy” Brown, 1-4 players compete as companies seeking to efficiently mine the Moon to maximize their profits on Earth. Each turn, players use their victory points to bid for the best space routes to and from the Moon. The slower the route, the more you can take on the ship.
Art and components are not final
Each player has a Moon base player board with upgradeable spaces. While on the Moon, players simultaneously upgrade their bases and place workers to produce the resources they need to ship back and sell to Earth’s luxury markets. After seven rounds, the player with the most victory points wins.
Stock market for lunar goodies
While Omicron Protocol is available from the publisher along with the Up to No Good expansion, Lunar Rush is targeted to launch on Kickstarter in September 2022.
