Gen Con is fast approaching, and along with the annual Essen Game Faire, it’s one of the biggest times for new board game releases. As of this writing, there are over 500 new tabletop games either being released or demoed at the convention. That’s a lot of new content. For those curious about which games to keep an eye out for, the BGQ Crew has listed out our most anticipated games of the convention this year. Which game has caught your eye? Let us know in the comments below.

Most Anticipated Games of Gen Con 2024

Aeterna

Chosen by Brandon
Martin Wallace, of Brass and Age of Steam fame, is back with another offering through Ares Games. Typically Wallace games have a strong focus so I’m looking forward to trying a demo of this if it is indeed available. I’m not intrigued by the setting (do we need another game about Rome?) though the hand management and worker placement combination, coupled with an unrest mechanism, may be enough to push this into a late 2024 purchase. It also has a wide-ranging timeline (through three eras) which may add some depth to gameplay. The game cover artwork is great and the component quality from early photos also looks intriguing. Can’t wait to see the rules for this one!

2-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 45-120 minutes

Star Trek: Captain’s Chair

Marcus (plus Austin and Alex)
Marcus’ Take: Tony said this was a real life Sophie’s Choice for me. Star Trek: Captain’s Chair and Star Trek: Into the Unknown are both coming up at Gen Con. Ultimately, I think I have to give the edge to Captain’s Chair here. While Into the Unknown looks intricate and a great Star Trek experience, I do already love Star Trek: Attack Wing, which will be a high bar to clear. I also enjoy the Bandai Trek deck-building game, but it is a very early (and in terms of Star Trek, incomplete) deck-building game. Captain’s Chair looks much less basic and sounds like it captures the Star Trek theme well. Plus, the starting captains include Captain Burnham from Star Trek: Discovery. Including parts of the franchise from across the 60+ year history right from the start is something I’ve wanted to see Star Trek games do more often. I’m here for it! It gets bonus points for including Picard instead of Kirk in this initial set (as Picard is, indeed, the superior captain).

Austin’s Take: I don’t have much experience with Star Trek, but I am a big science fiction fan, and an even bigger Imperium: Classics/Legends/Horizons fan, and Captain’s Chair looks like an interesting iteration on that core system. The designers have wisely winnowed the player count down to just 2, and that focus on head-to-head competition means there should be more player interaction, which is my only gripe with the Imperium system. I’m also excited to see how the mechanisms translate to a smaller scale, looking at a single captain rather than an eon-spanning civilization. And if the solo mode is even half as good as Imperium, this could easily jump to the top of my favorite solo games, especially if WizKids puts out regular expansions.

1-2 Players • Ages 14+ • 60-120 minutes

Invincible: The Hero-Building Game

Chosen by Brian W
If you’re like me and enjoy the Invincible cartoon series, then this is probably a game that both you and I are looking forward to. This co-op allows 1-4 players to be either Atom Eve, Rex Splode, Robot, or Invincible as new members of the Guardians of the Globe. This is a campaign style game that follows the cartoon season 1 of the series and it’s a blend of bag-building and tableau-building that allows you to customize your hero each episode. Plus it has a press-your-luck mechanic to help activate powers and learn new ones but you can push too far and crash out for the round. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to demo and try this one out.

1-4 Players • Ages 13+ • 45-90 minutes

Neodreams

Chosen by Matt
Neodreams is a sci-fi worker placement game from Hobby World designed by Ivan Lashin, who previously did Smartphone, Inc. and Furnace. In this futuristic setting, dreams can be manipulated through technology that implants exotic vacation experiences or embeds new skills into sleeping minds. But it ain’t cheap. You’ll be playing as the CEO of a dream corporation seeking to exploit this new tech realm and give your paying clients everything they’ve dreamed of. The theme has shades of Total Recall and The Matrix, and the artwork feels like something out of a hologram ad from Blade Runner 2049. I’m sold; ready to plug in baby. (I’m also excited about Star Trek: Captain’s Chair, and yes, Picard is superior.)

2-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 30-60 minutes

Trail Story: America

Chosen by April
I’m intrigued by the theme and setting of this game—trekking through 1930s America and collecting experiences to journal about. It seems to have lots of little touches that will help the story play out in your mind as you go. I also like that this is a real world setting, rather than a fantasy one. While I’ve played no other designs from Dan Manfredini, and—admittedly—none of his other titles look that notable, I have high hopes for this one.

2-4 Players • Ages 10+ • 90-120 minutes

Comic Hunters

Chosen by Tony
A game that has long interested me but also eluded my collection is Comic Hunters. It’s a game about collecting comic books, which is something I have a lot of experience in as my childhood was filled with weekly trips to the comic shop. However, this title was only published in South America (due to its Marvel license) and is really hard to get. Yet a team-up of Arcane Wonders and Spin Master Games has brought this game about collecting comic books to the US with an updated version (and in English this time). I’m glad they were able to keep the Marvel IP, as it contains artwork from some pretty classic Marvel comics and that’s a big part of the draw for me. I look forward to finally giving this one a try!

Honorable Mentions: I can only pick one game, but there are quite a few other ones that look great: The Mandalorian Adventures, River of Gold, Blast Track, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners: Combat Zone

1-4 Players • Ages 14+ • 60 minutes

Pagan: Fate of Roanoke

Chosen by Jason
I love a solid two-player game. These are the easiest for me to get played. Pagan: Fate of Roanoke is asymmetrical and card-driven with elements of worker placement, area majority, and deduction/bluffing. While that last mechanic tends to be my least favorite (think social deduction), there are enough other pieces that make me want to see how it all comes together. I’ve continued to long for something as consistently good as Watergate, so here’s to hoping we have another worth checking out.

Honorable Mention: Lure. This is an English version of Dice Fishing: Roll and Catch, which I’ve had for a couple of years. Don’t let the terrible BGG score scare you off (those are a notably unreliable metric anyway). If you’re a fan of dice throwing, betting, and pushing your luck, it’s a fun game to add to your casual game night.

2 Players • Ages 12+ • 30-60 minutes

Knitting Circle: A Calico Game

Chosen by Emma
I have a number of passions in my life: board games, knitting, kittens, basically being an octogenarian in an elder millennial’s body. Calico is a reliably entertaining puzzle game, and I’m excited to see the brand expand. Knitting Circle is a 1-4 player stand alone game in the Calico Universe, where players are selecting yarn out of a basket to make color and pattern matching knitted garments. Your cat can help you make selections by swiping yarn out of the basket, as cats do. What I’m most interested to see is if the game delivers a challenging solo mode puzzle. This has all of the ingredients for a game that will be a staple on my game table, so my hopes are high.

1-4 Players • Ages 10+ • 30-45 minutes

The Smurfs Hidden Village

Chosen by James
There’s a ton of things I’m drawn to and I almost selected the Mandolorian Adventures because I love Star Wars and adventure games but opted to go with The Smurfs so I could write whatever I smurfin’ want to about this smurfin’ game. It’s a cooperative worker placement game where your smurfs gather resources and build inventions to rebuild the mushroom village and avoid Gargamel and Azreal. I’ll admit it, the theme is doing some heavy lifting as I remember when the Smurfs were all the rage between the little collectible figures and the cartoon show. I expect this to be a lighter family game but it good be another good gateway game into more complex games for non-gamers and being cooperative makes it that much more inviting. I appreciate the lead developer saying they’re working on different difficulty levels with the hardest being smurfmare.

1-5 Players • Ages 8+ • 45 minutes

The Gang

Chosen by Chris
The correct answer to this query is that I am excited about every game on offer at Gen Con. My outstanding colleagues (and even a few of the non-so-outstanding ones) have already highlighted a bunch that I’m really looking forward to including Comic Hunters and Star Trek: Captain’s Chair. I also want to take a look at Windmill Valley from Dani Garcia and Cities, the new Phil Walker-Harding/Steve Finn collaboration. But I’m going to pick a small coop game that has piqued my interest as a former tournament poker player. The Gang takes standard Texas hold ’em and turns it into a hand-optimization puzzle where players use shared information to make the best single poker hand. It sounds a bit like The Crew and I’m very interested to give it a try and relive my former glory as a below-average rounder.

3-6 Players • Ages 10+ • 20 minutes

Endeavor Deep Sea

Chosen by Brian B
Endeavor is one of my favorite Euros. It is fast, strategic, and plays well at all player counts. I skipped the Endeavor Deep Sea crowdfunding project because I wanted to see the reviews before purchasing. I love the idea of the random map, the multiple scenarios, and being coop; however, would it just be a rethemed Endeavor, or truly shine on its own. I am hoping to try a demo at Gen Con and, if it is as good as it seems, pick a copy up!

1-4 Players • Ages 10+ • 60-120 minutes