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Five early contenders for game of the year 2024
Fantastic games come out every year, and as we amble our way into the second half of 2024, we thought it would be a good idea to look back at the games released in the latter half of 2023 and the early stages of this year to see what gems we could turn up as early contenders for game of the year. I also have an overall contender, which is not yet available on general release, but has been delivering to Kickstarter backers in the last month or so. That is the latest Garphill game, Ezra & Nehemiah, which is a mechanical greatest hits kind of game where you take part in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. I’ve played this a few times on Tabletop Simulator and have enjoyed reading posts and reviews from fellow bloggers, so I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy some day. But for now, let’s look into the current contenders.
Wyrmspan – Luke Pickles
When Wyrmspan, a Wingspan game, was announced, it’s fair to say there was a collective raising of eyebrows. We’ve talked about the memes and the opinions which came about and I can say categorically that they were very much unfounded. Wyrmspan plays similarly to Wingspan, using a big stack of cards to build a tableau of winged creatures. You have resources to entice the dragons into the caves, but you generally gain resources for building out new caves. There are other changes too, like the actions being a variable amount each time, a guild track to romp around and… well… dragons!
I’m a massive fan of Wingspan, but Wyrmspan has leapfrogged it to my favourite of the two, even with just a couple of plays. Whilst Wingspan has had a lot of support over the years, and will continue to have a whole host of more birds coming down the line, Wyrmspan is fresh, and introduces some fantastic new mechanisms. I really do think this will be a contender for game of the year when it comes down to deciding. It’s light enough to introduce to a new player, and yet has enough depth of strategy for the experienced Wingspan player to keep happy.
Firefly: The Game - 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition - Northern Invasion Stu
In 2024 something wonderful happened. Gale Force 9 released a tenth anniversary collectors edition of one of the greatest board game adaptations of all time that is based on a tv programme - in this case, one of the most loved shows to ever be broadcast. Before I go on I need to be clear that to enjoy Firefly: The Game you don’t even need to have seen the show. Although, if you haven’t seen the show maybe you need to reconsider your life choices and take a few hours to catch up.
The original Firefly game consisted of the core game and a stack of expansions that were released shortly afterwards. I had been trying in vain for years to acquire the Kalidasa expansion and it was infrequently available through auction sites for outlandish sums. When the 10th anniversary edition was announced, I was always going to invest regardless of the content. However, the content turned out to be more than I could have wished for.
This edition brings together all of the previously released content and adds a truckload of additional features and components. The enormous box includes over 1000 cards, pre painted ships, a neoprene mat spanning the whole damn ‘verse, additional pilots, and even a whole new solo gameplay mode. This game is special. Exceptional in fact.
It’s hard to explain how much content the collector’s edition includes. There’re around 40 different stories to play, nine of which are solo, and there are so many options that it’s going to be unrealistic that you’re ever going to have the same experience twice. With this much replayability you and your crew can be big heroes again and again. Do you want to be a smuggler, the captain of a passenger vessel, a courier, or a simple bounty hunter? No problem.
I can’t even begin to scratch the surface in describing Firefly: the game here and it’s going to take me years to get through the content of this massive collector’s box (seriously, if you wanted to take this on holiday it would definitely need its own seat). If you like the game or the show, or even just sci-fi in general, go and buy this game before it sells out. I doubt there’ll be a 20th anniversary release.
La Famiglia – John H
I am a huge fan of team games: 878 Vikings, Cyclades Titans, Dune Imperium Uprising – I love ‘em all. So I jumped at La Famiglia when I saw it was a 2 v 2 and that it combined some pugnacious area control with an interesting action selection mechanic.
In fact it's the latter that really piqued my interest – choosing what action to take, whose counter to use and balancing choices between gaining money, deploying units, playing orders and upgrading your asymmetric player board all creates some delightfully agonising decision making.
The area control part is cracking, too. Choosing where to place the scant number of orders you will manage to get down. Deciding whether to clear enemy troops with a hard hitting car bomb, or going for an assault with your own people to actually take ground. Thinking about the initiative on the orders as they are revealed and making tactical choices on whether to attack the area you originally intended or maybe an adjacent one to eliminate the possibility of an enemy order there being able to trigger.
Then there is the combat itself – which is controversial amongst reviewers but I really enjoyed. Once the initial attack damage is resolved the attacker has to decide whether to soak the extra casualties of a brute force arrack or opt for a finesse attack which involves a short card game akin to 3 card brag. And I have seen the choice to finesse become really pivotal with hilarious consequences.
So put this together with some stunning art and design, and if you can get exactly 4 players who want a team scrap and are up for something pretty meaty, choose La Famiglia and you are in for a treat! Va bene!
Star Wars Unlimited 2 Player Starter – Jacob Dunkley
I haven't been a Trading Card Game fan since I dabbled in playing Magic: The Gathering in the late 90s as a spotty teenager but given my love of Star Wars, I was surprised I didn't immediately jump in from the beginning with Star Wars Unlimited.
In mid-June I decided to start my journey by picking up the Spark of Rebellion 2 player Starter Set which is actually all you need to play the game with your friend, mum, child or dog. Contained in the set are two complete decks featuring Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, 2 paper play mats, rules and all the tokens you'll need. You’ll each take control of one of these leaders with a pre-built deck to take on the other player.
Games of Star Wars Unlimited are fast and easy to learn, with a limited number of actions you can take, I love the snappy fast play with games taking around 20 minutes to play. You start off by drawing 6 cards and using 2 of them as resources, with your units, events and upgrades all having a cost to play. Each turn you’ll be playing cards from your hand and using the cards you have in play to try and reduce your opponent’s base down to zero health to win the game. Ever wanted to equip C3PO with Luke’s lightsaber? Well now you can, and use him to take down stormtroopers. I love the art in this game which is all new and nicely stylised to give it a unique look and feel.
Both of the starter decks feel well balanced and in theory are all you need to play the game with a friend but there is obviously the option of going further down the rabbit hole with booster packs. With a new starter on the way featuring Moff Gideon and the Mandalorian I can see the amount I play this game is only going to grow before the year is out.
Divinus – Luke Pickles
Back in 2022, a Kickstarter campaign was launched by Lucky Duck to fund a legacy game like no other. It consisted of a terrific story of the Greek and Norse gods fighting over the right to rule, and players taking on the role of demigods, helping to shape the pantheon to their own design. With a combination of tile drafting and placement similar to Carcassonne, with the app driven story and the mythologies I love, this should have been an instant back for me.
Except I missed the campaign. Entirely. Until around January this year, at which point I started looking frantically for a copy. Happily I managed to get someone’s unwanted pledge of Divinius at AireCon and throughout the year, I’ve been able to play a good chunk of the game. I am thrilled with my discovery as the story makes the various twists and turns involving the pantheons I love to play with. What I’m excited by is that the campaign is fully resettable, with the vinyl stickers which modify the dice able to be peeled off and reused, and there is the little Shadow of Yggdrasil expansion that I want to tackle.
There’s a lot in the box, but the rulebook and the app guide you through the epic story, and I’m enjoying it immensely. I’m excited to keep going with the campaign and if you’re interested in exploring a legacy style game, I’d highly recommend this one.
