Tabletop Games You Should Buy From Gen Con 2019

Going to pop culture conventions for over fifteen years, the one complaint I hear every so often is that there isn’t enough to do at conventions.

This cannot be said for Gen Con.

Gen Con 2019 was a delight, with so many games and events to participate in that newcomers commented to me that it can feel overwhelming. The convention did a good job organizing itself, with sections planned out, from food trucks to cosplay photos (s0 that lines and hallways won’t be gridlocked by picture taking). For those of you who would like to see our coverage of the cosplayers at Gen Con 2019, you can click here.

Below I have for our readers some of the best games I’ve played in the four days I was at Gen Con 2019. Please note though that if you were at Gen Con, then you probably have your own best games list (which please share in the comments section). These are just my personal favorites from my experience there. Here are some quick highlights of what I saw and played at Gen Con 2019:

SORCERER

Sorcerer is a two to four player strategy card game by White Wizard Games. The art for this supernatural card game is gorgeous. In Sorcerer, you play a magic user trying to take control of Victorian England from other masters of dark sorcery. The customization options in building your card deck and character are great. It’s everything I wanted from Magic The Gathering but couldn’t get.

Afterwards, I met with Rob Dougherty, CEO of White Wizard Games, who shared with me about their new expansion of the EPIC and Star Realms card game, and you can find out more about their kickstarter here.

MUSEUM

Maybe it was because of my love for the Mummy movies with Brandon Frasier and Rachel Weisz that I always wondered what would it be like to be a curator of a museum. Museum the board game by Holy Grail Games and Luma Games allows you to explore that fantasy as you and other players compete and try to gather the greatest collection for your museum. I highly recommend it for book and museum nerds.

CORE CONNECTION: RISE OF ATLANTIS

Two words. Giant mechas. Core Connection by Japanime Games is a deck-building card game for two to four players where you pilot your giant robot with unique tactics and enhancements to defeat the army of Atlantis. The Core Connection Spotlight Bundle officially becomes available to purchase in September 2019 and I can’t wait for my friends and I to pick this up.

NAMIJI

Namiji is a really tricky game to explain to people, as the concept of fishing as a board game may sound dull, but if you loved games like Life, where you both compete against other players while the game competes against you, you’ll like Namiji. This game by Funforge is very similar to Tokaido (which is also an amazing game), with new additional rules and a different setting. I look forward to seeing it on Kickstarter later this year.

WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLE PLAY

Originally, I wanted to check out Cubicle 7 for their Middle Earth role playing games that my rpg gaming group enjoys, but I left falling in love with the Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing game. It has 64 classes to choose from, an intriguing world, and challenging scenarios for players who feel they’ve done it all in other role playing games. Definitely pick this up if you see it at your local comic book store.

Check back at Nerd Caliber’s site everyday as there  are more games I played, such as Jaws, Ishtar, and more that will have their own separate, more in-depth reviews.

Photos taken by E. Ortiz