Episode 25 – Predictions
Another year has come and gone, and what a year 2020 was. We did make some board game predictions at the beginning of last year, so now it’s time to check if we were right, and to make predictions for the year ahead, for 2021.
If you have board game-related problems you want our help with, then feel free to ask them in our dedicated Discord channel at https://discord.gg/fxQTVGW
Intro Music: Black Moons by The 126er on YouTube
Games List
In order of appearance:
- Assembly from Wren Games:
- Antoinette‘s review: https://youtu.be/qkpfKJWJFyc
- Oliver‘s review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2018/11/17/assembly/
- Sensor Ghosts from Wren Games
- Antoinette‘s review: https://youtu.be/_qFzfoLauVY
- Oliver‘s review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/05/11/sensor-ghosts/
- The Quacks of Quedlinburg from Schmidt Spiele:
- Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile from Leder Games
- Root from Leder Games
- Batman: Gotham City Chronicles from Monolith Games
- Detective from Portal Games
- Oliver‘s review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/05/18/detective-a-modern-crime-board-game/
- Oliver‘s unboxing: https://youtu.be/6Xsr9zzqUFo
- UBOOT: The Board Game from PHALANX
- Chronicles of Crime from Lucky Duck Games
- Tinners’ Trail from Alley Cat Games
- The King is Dead: Second Edition from Osprey Games
- My City from KOSMOS
- Antoinette‘s review: https://youtu.be/DfvrfVVSK74
- Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion from Cephalofair Games
- Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 from Z-Man Games
- Fog of Love from Hush Hush Projects
- Holding on: The Troubled Life of Billy Kerr from Hub Games
- Mariposas from AEG
- Keyforge: Call of the Archons from Fantasy Flight Games
- Oliver‘s review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/01/12/keyforge-call-of-the-archons/
- Oliver‘s unboxing: https://youtu.be/9HsyYwVcev8
- Discover: Lands Unknown from Fantasy Flight Games
- Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road from Osprey Games
- Antoinette‘s review: https://youtu.be/iTqhKFLxznw
- Wingspan from Stonemaier Games
- Antoinette‘s review: https://youtu.be/iTk92EiaCic
- Oliver‘s review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/03/16/wingspan/
Congratulations on your new job, Antoinette!
I’ve remained employed and my game purchasing has certainly gone down – even though I’m playing new things on BGA and yucata I’m getting very little use out of the physical games I already have. (Though I did buy VOLT after playing on yucata.)
I think people who would be happy to play digital boardgames overlap a lot with people who’d just be happy to play a computer game. When I’m at the table I’ve gone to the trouble of sitting at the table rather than in front of the computer, so I don’t really want to play a computer game…
As a frequent solo gamer, I think the quality of solo modes is going up too – rather than being a last-moment Kickstarter bonus as has happened a few times.
Given how expensive app development tends to be, I suspect publishers will continue to look at sales figures before committing the money. (As distinct from TTS/Tabletopia/etc. where it’s much easier because you don’t need to code up the rules, just produce the cards/board/etc.) But I may be wrong!
An aspect of the representation thing: I get the feeling that there are increasing numbers of people like me prepared to admit to disliking games where all the female characters look and dress like underwear models and all the male ones are big and tough. I’m not going to have a game on my shelves that would embarrass me in the mixed company in which I generally play games, and I think more players are now saying “no, I will not buy stuff that looks like that”.
And yes, all right, I have started a boardgaming podcast – with Lee Broderick (cornishlee on BGG). https://tekeli.li/mgtt/
Thank you for your comment, Roger. Yes, Antoinette is chuffed with it and I think she’s doing amazing work. I’m glad to hear that you’ve been able to play online more and that solo games are becoming better. It’s great that publishers make solo modes almost a minimum requirement now. I also love to hear that you don’t subscribe to the usual female and male character stereotypes in games. Things need to change. Finally, congratulations on launching your own podcast. I’ll have to take a listen at some point.