What are we waiting for

CHENNAI: Last week, we took a look at some of the video games coming out in 2021 that we’re excited about; this week, it’s all about the board games. Here are the upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on.

Canvas
Canvas is a simply beautiful card game about layering transparent cards over each other to create pieces of art. The gameplay looks engaging, and this looks set to be one of the loveliest games in my collection.

Darwin’s Journey
As I type this, this is still live on Kickstarter and doing very well indeed. No surprise, that, because it’s from a reputed designer and publisher team and it looks simply magnificent — so many crunchy decisions, and it’s probably the most complex game on this list. 

Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat is a two-player game from designer extraordinaire Steve Finn, which casts players as Sherpas establishing base camps on the titular mountain while also trapping game. It’s a fiendishly clever duel, where every move you make opens up opportunities for your opponent.

Streets
Streets is….well, if anything, it’s almost too charming and pleasant! Picking up right where they left off with Villagers, Sinister Fish Games looks like they might just make lightning strike twice with this clever tile-layer.

Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles
The combination of designer David Turczi and publisher Mindclash Games has already given us Anachrony, which happens to be my favourite game. Little wonder then that I’m on tenterhooks for Perseverance, which contains the first two ‘games’ in what will be an eventual four-game 
campaign series.

Dune: Imperium
Okay, this is a bit of a cheat because this technically came out in 2020. Firstly, however, 2021 will be the year I get to play it; and secondly, this is Dune, so all bets are off. I love the book, I’m cautiously excited for the movie and the game’s been getting rave reviews so I can’t wait to try it.

Foundations of Rome
If you take a look at the gargantuan box that Foundations of Rome comes in or its host of wonderfully detailed miniature buildings, it’d be easy to dismiss it as a typical style-over-substance Kickstarter. However, there’s a really sharp game at the core of it and the striking presentation just ensures more people will get to experience it.

Core Space: First Born
Core Space is probably the most striking sci-fi miniatures game out there because it comes with its own set of wonderful 3D terrain that really brings its scenarios to life. First Born is Core Space 2.0, with more of a co-operative focus as the traders of the first game encounter the titular 
alien race. 

It’s a Wonderful Kingdom
We close with what is certainly the newest game on this list — it was only announced about a week ago! It’s a Wonderful World is one of the finest card-drafting games to come out in recent years, and adding engine-building to the formula made it a keeper for me. Now, It’s a Wonderful Kingdom appears to be a fantasy-themed reimplementation of its predecessor as a two-player-only game — colour me interested!

Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Collector’s Edition
This might be jumping the gun a bit, because the Kickstarter for this game isn’t even live yet and so we’ve no idea if this will actually be released this year. However, the original is a game I adore and, given the lavish treatment Suburbia received for its Collector’s Edition, I just can’t wait to see what they do with this one.

Arjun Sukumaran  http://goo.gl/uNBWN3
(Arjun is a gamer, book lover and an all-round renaissance man)