Upcoming Wargames + Giveaway | April 2026 | New Releases | Board Games
Transcript
Hi everybody, I'm Zilla Bliss and welcome to upcoming war games, a video where we talk about upcoming tabletop board war games in various states of production from companies across the planet. It has been a while since we've made one of these, so I have a lot of ground to catch up on. Therefore, in this video, I'm going to focus mostly on newly released games, games that have come out over the past month or two or on the verge of being released. And then as I make these more regularly again, I'll try to catch up into the future a little bit. We will be talking about some games coming in the future though. A lot of stuff to cover though. We've got 20 games stacked up in this video. As I start out, I want to mention this video is sponsored by Noble Knight Games, a board game retailer in the United States that ships all across the planet. Many of these newly releasleased games are available from them at slight discounts. And if you order $149 or more, you get free shipping, which is actually a big deal as shipping prices tend to increase over the past few months or so. So, if you're looking for a good deal on some new war games, Golden Knight Games is a place to check.
And they also specialize in used board games and other board games, role- playinging supplies, all kinds of stuff related to board gaming and tabletop gaming. So, it's a great site to check out. If you do use one of the links down below in the description, thanks very much as it does help out the channel. And lest I forget, we are giving away a $50 store gift certificate to Noble Knight Games. So, you can use that credit to buy some games. Uh, stick around to the end of the video to find out how to enter into that drawing. Let's jump right in and get started. Our first game, Infernal Machine from GMT Games in the newly released category. This game has just come out and it is available for purchase now. This is a game about the dawn of submarine warfare in the United States, the US Civil War. Soliter game. You can play as either the Confederate forces or the Union forces. And it is a multi-levelled game. You are designing this submarine, building the submarine, then sending it out on missions and conducting the tactical combat. The heart of this is its campaign system. It's got a progressive scenario-based teaching model that lets you play as you learn. I have a copy in hand and I've been looking through it.
I'll be creating some content for this one for the channel. It is amazingly deep. There is so much in the box. It's a business simulator. It's a combat simulator. It's a campaign game that's that weaves all these things together. It looks absolut ab absolutely fabulous and I can't wait to dig into it more. Infernal Machine game number one in our newly released category. Our second game in the newly released category is Purgatorio. This is volume six in the Men of Iron series from GMT Games. Newly released. It is shipping now. If you're not familiar with the Men of Iron series, this is a medieval combat series, the tactical level that is absolutely fantastic, two-player, but also solitire because of its chitpole system. I love playing this series solitaire. This particular edition has seven battles between the forces supporting the Holy Roman Emperor and forces supporting the Pope largely in Italy between mid 1100s to the mid300s, between the guss and the gibles to be a little bit more specific. This is an fantastic series. It's great to see it get continued support. Very playable, medium complexity, and again, just a ton of fun whether you're playing a two-player or solitaire. Just so happy to see this series continuing.
Purgatorio, a second game in our newly released category. Our third game in the newly released category is Operation Overlord from Vuka Sims. This is a D-Day based game and yes, there are a lot of D-Day Operation Overlord Normandy based games out there, but this is one of the fresher ones that I've seen. I do have uh an advanced copy in hand. I will be creating some content for the channel for this one. Big box. There is a lot of stuff in here. Just some highlights. Let's take a look quickly. I want to show you the scope and scale of it. So, it's a rather large scale game. It happens on a point-to-point base map throughout the whole peninsula. And a bunch of things. You've got events, but these events can drive different types of objectives each time you play. There's some alternate history events mixed in. You've got hidden movement because, as we can see, it's a block-based game. So, I wouldn't recommend this solitaer. This is most definitely a two-player game. One player playing the Allied forces, one player playing the the German forces. But there is a lot in this one. We've got this map that's point-to-point based, very creative block- based units, as we mentioned. There's card- driven events in the game, card driven objectives that are going to be different each time. And the outcome is based on comparing your results to the historical results. So you're, you know, you're going to give up ground as the Germans. The question is how much and can you deny the allies for some of their objectives in a timely manner. So a lot to like in Operation Overlord. I can't wait to dig into this one. Newly released from VUA Sims. Game number four, still in our newly released category, Compass Games new Combat
Eastern Front. This is volume four in the combat series. If you're not familiar with it, it's a solitire based game. Each counter is an individual man. The first game covered operations in Normandy where you fought as the US forces and there was a campaign game that was added in volume two. Volume three focused in on the Arnham combat. Volume four takes us to the Eastern Front. There's 11 scenarios. A lot of things in here. 11 scenarios. There is a campaign game. What's really nice about this, I'm going to show some pictures here as we go through it, too. What's really nice about this one is that com it it it's a maturation of the series and that it includes the series rules inside the game. So bringing all of the rules and changes and modifications and things that have been developed over the first two volumes into one series rule sheet. So lots of things in here.
There's also a random series generator. The maps look fantastic and this is an exciting series. It's great to see it continuing along. Big maps in here and I love the fact that it's taking us to the Eastern Front. You can see urban conflict in this one as two. So, good news for the Eastern Front, for the combat series fans. Eastern Front is out volume four in the series. Continuing our parade of new releases, Senuicon from Compass Games. Now, this is a game, a solitire game where you take charge of a Japanese submarine and lead it on a campaign of patrols lasting throughout World War II or until you meet your fate at the hands of the Allied forces. If you're familiar with The Hunters and Silent Victory, some other Gregory Smith games, this will be very familiar gameplay, but taking on all the different aspects and perspectives and nuances of the Japanese submarine experience in World War II. If we look at some of the images, we can see the game box here. We can see the charts where you're going to be keeping track of the damage to your submarine, the injuries to your crew, uh your torpedoes, and different statuses.
Here's your captain's evolution where you're adding medals and different skills that you get and promotions that happen over the course of your career. We have the zones where you could be patrolling during the war. And then our counter set where you're tracking things like damage, your torpedo count, different targets that you'll be going after, wounds on your crew, status of your crew, and so on so forth. Targets, tankers, and different capital ships that are possible. And then lastly, we have the patrol map where your submarine will be on patrol for its various missions and patrols during the course of the campaign. I uh for people that know me and know the channel, you know that the Hunters, Raiders of the Deep, the World War I variant of this, Silent Victory, these are some of my favorite solitire games to play because you can play an entire campaign in a very short span of time if you're really determined. I mean, you can play an entire campaign in 10 minutes if things go badly, but a mission is often 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes even shorter than that. So you can really make progress during a campaign in the course of an evening or two. Fantastic experience if you like solitired driven games where you're going to be in charge of a vehicle or something at the tactical level. Senuicon from Compass Games, newly released. Staying with our newly released focus is a game that I cannot pronounce correctly, I'm sure. Ladura de from Hexasim, but I can tell you what the meaning is. The war to end wars. Now what is this game? This is a strategic level game of World War I with a highly robust soliter mode also playable two players. Each turn is four months. You
can play the entirety of World War I in 14 turns or under two hours. Events, card driven events, highly robust counter set, a solo deck to guide the solo bot if you want to play that way. Technology tree as we can see here. This one looks like a lot of fun. I'm hearing some very positive reports from people who have played this one. I do have a copy of this one in hand as well, so I will be creating some content for this at some point on the channel. This one looks like a winner, and I'm really encouraged by the reports that I've been hearing from people that are playing it and thoroughly enjoying it in particular as a soliter game. So, if you're a soliter board gamer, you might want to check out this one. This also available, I believe, in Europe. It's from Hexim, but you might want to check GMT games, too, because I know they carry a limited number of HexaSim games. So, some GM GMT games might have some of this in stock as well. Also, in a newly released category, newly released in over the past few months since I've made a last episode, is Race to Berlin from Portal Games. This is a game I got a chance to explore as a port as a prototype two-player game where one player plays the German forces on the east front and the Allied forces on the west front. The other player plays the German forces on the west front and the Russian forces on the east front and you're both collapsing on Berlin trying to be the first one that gets there. Very fascinating mechanics for the front lines. Lot of fun playing this one two player. It's great to see it out in its final version. Um I've got some content about this game on the channel if you'd like to check it out. I'll put links down below in the description for a more detailed playthrough and exploration of
play. But Race to Berlin from Portal Games, a very solid two-player game about the end of World War II, where you've got some unique mechanics, some unique decision makers, and never enough resources to do what you want to do. So, it creates some great gameplay. Another game in the newly released category, Castle Novo 1539 from Draco Ideas. This is another game I got a chance to explore in prototype for format. played the two-player game with this one, but I want to talk a little bit about this one, too, because the differences between the prototype and the final version are simply spectacular. The map has been incredibly upgraded, much more color. They've also added a full soliter mode that was largely hinted at in the prototype. So, that's another thing to explore. If you're a soliter game player, you might like this one as well. And what is this about? Well, this is about the siege of Castle Nobo in 1539.
We've got Turkish Ottoman forces collapsing in on the city and heroic Spanish defenders trying to hold them off for as long as possible. You know, the Spanish are going to lose. It's just a matter of how long they can hold out. Card driven gameplay. And one of the things that I really like about this one is that if you're playing the defenders, if you're playing the Spanish, it's still a very active defensive role. So, uh, it it's a lot of fun to play, even though you know you're going to lose and the Ottoman forces are going to eventually finish your day. Fantastic components here. It's a blockbased game, two-player, so you won't be able to see your opponent's forces. I'm not sure how the soliter mode works with this, but it looks fairly robust and fairly welldeveloped. Lot of fun playing this one. I'm glad to see it reach its final form. Castle Novo 1539 from Draco Ideas.
Continuing our newly released category, we have Doodlebugs from Legion War Games. Check out the price up over my head. This is an economically priced baggie game that allows you to take charge of the British forces in the early days of Operation Ice Bar, which was the doodlebug, the V1 campaign of bombing London during the latter part of World War II. This is a soliter game that allows you to play as the British forces for the first eight days of the campaign in 1944. I've got a video up, a replay of this up on the channel. I just finished doing a video of a replay of this fast-playing storydriven game. It's very light on decisions, but it tells a good story and it also is a good simulation of what some of the factors were, light simulation as to what some of the factors in the defensive tactics of the British were during this campaign. So, if you're looking for an affordably priced war game to give you a few evenings of entertainment, you might want to check out Doodlebugs from Legion War Games. Sticking with our newly released category and sticking with Legion War Games, we have Fall of Berlin, volume two in the Russian Front series from Legion War Games. Another economically priced baggy war game from Legion War Games. Check out the price up over my head. The first game in this series was Valik Luc Luki. This takes us to the latter days of World War II. Hex Encounter two-player game. One player controlling the Russian forces and one player controlling the German forces trying to defend Berlin for as long as they can. If you're looking for a light, easy to learn, fastplaying hex encounter game, this might be a good choice. And again, it's uh economically priced. So, Fall of Berlin from Legion War Games,
newly released, newly released, more newly released, an impossible war from Bellica, third generation. This is there's a lot to talk about with this one, but let me focus in on the topic of the war first. This is the first carist war from in the mid 1800s in northern Spain. Now, this is a blockbased game. I'll show some pictures of this as we talk about it. Blockbased game, card driven with events, but there's also events for operations and tactics. Here's the back of the box. Over 70 blocks in the game that you're going to sticker. So, this very much is a two-player game with hidden information and fog of war as you don't quite know where your opponents and where your forces where the stronger forces are going to be. Uh, some here's some examples of the card. This is the map of the regions. I also want to move forward a little bit because I want to show you really nice artwork here too on the stickers. I want to show you the regional map here. So, this is a pointto-oint map in the northern half of Spain. Uh really nice production here with the wood blocks. I do have a copy in hand and at some point I will be trying to create some content for this one for the channel. But a lot to like here. If you like two-player games, Hog of War, big map, lots of blocks. So, I think this is going to be a nice robust look at this war, which is an area of history I confess I don't know all that much about, which is love to see these games have come out that cover areas and aspects of military history that we've just not seen before. So, an impossible war from Bellica: Third Generation. So, this might not be newly released. This might be released, but it it came out in between the last time I did an upcoming
War Games video and this one, and I wanted to include it in this one because I feel like this series deserves more attention. Assault Sicily 43's expansion, Prima Sole Bridge. This is the expansion to Assault Sicily 43, which is their uh sound of drums tactical combat system. It's, if you're not familiar with that, I have a bunch of videos up on the channel about Assault Sicily 43 using the prototype of the game, but the graphics have really become enhanced, and we'll take a look here as we move forward on some some pictures here. The graphics have really been up topped with the combination of sound of drums getting involved in the production of the gameplay here. So, we've got a fantastic World War II tactical system that doesn't have the complexity of an advanced squad leader. It really focuses on the gameplay experience and on the tactical decisions that you're making as a leader of forces. This the other thing that you should know about the assault series is that these games and expansions have campaigns in them. So, they're linked scenarios where your units are going to gain experience as you play. And it's it's a if you like games with legacy and you like tactical combat systems, this one can be one to definitely check out.
And again, there's uh some videos of gameplay on the channel. I'll put a link down below. So, Assault Sicily 43's expansion Prima Sole Bridge came out a couple of months ago, but I wanted to include it in this video cuz it's in the gap between episodes. Sticking with our newly released category, we have War Diary Publications: Battle of the Bismar Sea. This is one of another one of the economically priced Ziploc game bags. As I'm making this video, it's $30 and an under $10 shipping charge. So, very affordably priced game. Comes in a Ziploc bag. You get a map. You get some counters. And you get a modest medium difficulty 12page rule book. So, it's going to be fast to learn and fast to play. And what is this game? Well, in this game, you take charge of the Allied forces in World War II trying to stop the Japanese forces from resupplying their forces in New Guinea. Again, a soliter game. It's going to play fast with some interesting tactical and operational decisions to make. If you like World War II and you like soliter games and you're looking for something that's affordably priced, Battle of Bismar Sea might be something to check out. Shifting out of the newly released category to the imminent release category, we have Hunt for Blackbeard.
Available for pre-order and shipping soon from Fort Circle Games. This is a marvelously produced game designed by Vocal Runi that captures the last events of Blackbeard's life in 1718 off the coast of North Carolina. One player is going to play the role of Blackbeard. The other player plays the role of the Royal Navy trying to hunt him down. This is most definitely a two-player game because it's got some of the most unique and captivating hidden movement and hidden information play that I think you'll see in a game. Marvelously produced, loaded with historical information. It has all of Fort Circle Games beautiful touch and production and elements of weaving in history into the gameplay. I'll be creating some content for this one soon. I've got an advanced copy of it. I can't wait to dig into some two-player games. Hunt for Blackbeard from Fort Circle Games coming very soon. Shifting from imminent release to Last Call. These are games where it's the last chance to get the pre-order discount of games. We've got Baltic Empires from GMT Games. This is a two to five player game that allows you to explore the warfare and economic events of 1558 to 1721 in the Baltic States. Now, why am I excited about this game? Well, one of the major reasons I'm excited about this game is I saw the map. Okay, it's beautiful. It's absolutely gorgeous. But the the second reason and perhaps the major reason I'm excited about this is the designer is Brian Asv who also designed 1812 Napoleon's fate
fateful march from Vuka Sims which took that Napoleon campaign and added in such innovative and clear and just thoughtfulprovoking models for things like attrition and all of the hardship that the Russian forces faced and of course Napoleon's forces faced as they were on that fateful campaign. So, I'm very curious to see his take and his innovation, his creativity in this period of history, which admittedly is a period of history I don't know much about. And one of my goals is to learn more about it. And as we read the description of this game in here, the things that the players are doing make me think this is going to be the similar type of gameplay experience. In other words, more than just the conflict, it's going to look at the entire economic and political aspects of this time period as these nations fought for power in the Baltic states. So, we got players will have to develop their economy, strengthen their administration, secure trade hubs, and finally build armies to become the dominant power of the Baltics. And your five powers are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and then Prussia. And there are scenario counts if you have less than five players.
Yeah, this one looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. The artwork is just spectacular on this one, too. Baltic Empires from GMT Games. Last call, last chance to get the pre-order discount. Another Last Call game, Army of the PTOIC from GMT Games. This one designed by Mark Herman. This is the second game in his new Civil War series. The first one, of course, being the very popular and highly acclaimed Rebel Fury. This takes the action to the campaigns of 1862 and 1864 around the PTOIC. And this wh why am I excited about this one? Well, it's Mark Herman. His designs are very creative. And this is such a playable, historically grounded Civil War series that is so accessible to teach people and to just jump in and play it. It it it marries those two elements of historical accuracy and gameplay in a combination that's just fast and fluid. So, you know, it's easy to see why Rebel Fury had the success that it did. And I'm so excited to see this this series continue. Here, of course, is one of, you know, chunk of the map of Richmond. And then we've got the counter sets here, which are relatively straightforward. One of the cool aspects of this series is that I really feel like even though it's turn-based, you've got this fluidity to the motion in the combat that I've really seen captured in a turnbased game of uh of Hex Encounter Nature. So, Army of the PTOAC. Very much excited for this one. The second game in Mark Herman's Civil War series from GMT Games. Last call, last chance to get the pre-order price. Next game in our last call series is Thunderbolt, the Deluxe Edition from
GMT Games. There is a lot to say about this one, but I'll start out by saying this might be one of those games that has the high an incredibly high value purchase. So, if you're looking for how much gameplay can you get for your dollar when you buy a package of games or game, this one's got to be high up in there. And let me explain why. Well, uh, Richard Berg designed the first two games in the series. And then prior to his passing, he was working on this volume 3. But Mark Kerman has taken over the completion of this third game in the series with the series designer Alan Ray. And GMT has decided to update and repackage all of the two volumes in this series into this third deluxe edition. So this is really three games in one. And at that P500 price, this is an amazing deal. You've got first Punic War, second Punic War, a ton more scenarios from the first two games like the invasion of Pyus, the mutiny in Carthage. There's just a list of scenarios in here in here for this. And check out these maps. This is just spectacular. We've got Iberia here. Then down here, I the Italian. Oh my goodness. This looks great. Lots of naval elements in these games as well.
Entire Second Punic War, first Punic War. There's just so much in this. I mean, look at the scenario list up over my head. There's like nine 10 scenarios in there. This looks like it's going to be a fantastic purchase if you're looking to explore ancient combat around this time period in history. So, last call for Thunderbolt Deluxe Edition. Maybe one of the best values in wargaming as it comes out. Shifting now to our pre-order games, we've got 1943 Race to Rebal, designed by Vocal Rookie and published by Fallinkx Games. This is part of a two game, potentially a two game package that you can get on Gamefound from Fallank Game with the second game being the Tora Tora game. You can see two boxes here. So, there's a discount price if you get both. I don't know much about the Tora Tour to game. I do know quite a bit about Race to Rabal. There is a video on the channel with the designer Vari talking about gameplay and showing different aspects of gameplay. So, if you'd like to take a deep dive look at this game, I would recommend checking out that video.
But what is Race to Rabal? Well, if you're familiar with Keep Them Rolling, Race to the Rine, the other fallank game that takes a look at the Allied advance towards Germany in 1944 after the Normandy campaign. This game takes that same model and puts Vulcar Runi, the designer Vulkari's unique twist and vision to the action. This is a two to four player game where allied players, two allied players are driving towards Rabal and potentially two Japanese players are trying to hold them off for as long as they can. It's a game about logistics and strategy and outthinking your opponent and tricking your opponent into it's it's just got a lot of very fun gameplay elements that adds a bit of complexity I think to the game. So if you like keep them rolling Race to the Rine but are looking for something with a little bit more of a war game meaty edge to it, Race to Rabal might be something to check out. I've really liked what I've seen for this one. I really liked Race to the Rine. I really like the work that Vocar Runki does. So, I think Race Terabal combines two really cool things. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how the final product comes out. Race Terabal from Fallank Games. Next up in our pre-order category is Armed Conflict. This is a game that production is starting soon and you can still back the project on Gamefound.
This is a game I recently explored a prototype prototype for, and I just made some content for the channel. I'll put the link to that video down below. This is the first game from Bohome Games, which is a Finnish company. And when I think of this game, to get an idea of gameplay, when I think of this game, I think of uh Tactics 2 and Blitzkrieg, except modernized with a lot new visionary gameplay. When I looked at the game, I thought this looks interesting as a Hex Encounters game. But when you play it, it's very unique. Unique movement rules, unique combat, big hexes, so that each hex almost becomes its own little field of battle. Symmetrical armies on a fictional map. There's so much to like about this one. This is a really sharp gameplay game. Armed Conflict from Bohome Games.
Shifting now to crowdfunding. The crowdfunding campaign for this one has ended, but you can still back it on crowdfunding. This is Astress Titanics Deluxe from Pungo Games, aka Worththington Publishing. What is this game? Well, in 2010, this the original version of this game was published. So, this is a re-imagined version of this older game. And if we re talk about the gameplay, this is about you. It's a soliter game, but you can play it two or more players cooperatively. The Asteris Titanis is a massive spaceship and think of the board game Ogre, except in space. And that's what you've got here. And you lead, as a solitire player, lead a fleet of forces and under your command to try to destroy this spaceship before it wrecks you. Now, if we look down here, we can see a hex encounters space based map. We've got our own counters here.
These are the cards here for the bot. And then there are a number, I think there are 10 different titans. So, the enemy spaceships, these massive spaceships that you're going to have to blow apart as they're making their way towards your towards your forces and your planet. This playable in 90 minutes with an easy rule set. It looks like they've really sharpened up and reimagined the gameplay from the original version, too. So, made some improvements to clean it up and modernize gameplay. I was a huge fan of Ogre growing up. So, and I I wasn't aware of this game in 2010, Astress Titanis. So, I am all in immediately on this one, just hearing about the gameplay for this game. Can't wait to see how this one comes up. It's solitire game, ogre-like gameplay, except in space. 10 different titans. You can play it cooperatively. There is nothing not to like about Astros Titanics Deluxe as far as Titanis Deluxe as far as I am concerned. very much looking forward to this one from Kickstart from Pungo Worththington for the 20th and final game in this version of upcoming war games. I want to go to a game that's going to be somewhat distant future, but I wanted to mention it because I've been looking forward to this announcement for a long time. The game is Common Sense from GMT Games and designed by Sam London. Now, what is this game? This is a sandbox game of the American Revolution. One player controls the British forces. One player controls the revolutionary forces. And you battle it out in a game that's it's a tricktaking game that's based on events and the strengths of cards, but it really allows
you some amazing flexibility to explore a lot of different what-if possibilities of the American Revolution. You can hammer the Native Americans. You can bring the Native Americans as allies. You've got Prussian forces to work with. You've got the whole French joining the war element and who knows when that's going to happen. No two games will play out alike and they happen on this pointto-ointbased map. This is very much prototype art. So don't decide your bas your purchase decision based on this map. The final version will be a lot different. But a key aspect of this game too is the will to fight. So you're trying to break down your opponent's will to continue the battle if you're the British or the revolutionaries will to fight. That's one of the ways that you can win this game. the it's there's so much to say about this. There's so much creative fun gameplay that will lead to no two similar stories of the American Revolution. And yet with the trick taking based valuebased card game, you've just got so many interesting decisions every time you play a card. I got a chance to play this game in SD Hison. It's a type of game that as soon as you finish, you're like, "Oh, okay. I want to play it again and next time I want to try XYZ." I feel like there's a ton of depth to this game. Very much a two-player game, not a solitire game, but this is going to be a fantastic game. Here are some prototypes of some of the cards. It links to a lot of the different historical events, but when they trigger and how they trigger can be very different in any game. So, you don't play this to follow the the the historical simulation of the American Revolution. You play this as again that
sandbox of the American Revolution to enjoy the strategy and tactics and the competition of the two-player game and at the same time just exploring a lot of different ways that the American Revolution perhaps could have played out in an alternate history. Really a fun game. Highly recommended. It's just started now on its P500 on GMT Games. Definitely worth checking out. Common Sense from Sam London on GMT Games. Well, we have frittered away another half an hour talking about upcoming war games. mostly again for this version of upcoming war games, newly releasing games or games very close to releasing in the back end of their Kickstarter. I will catch up on these games and add more games in the next edition of upcoming war games. But for this version of Upcoming War Games, we are giving away a $50 gift store gift certificate to Noble Knight Games. Let's make this very simple so that there's no uh you don't read need a ton of thought to enter this competition. in the comments down below this video. Just enter in the name of the game that you are most looking forward to at this point in time. And it could be a war game, it could be a regular board game. Put in a PC war game, whatever you feel like putting in there. And then put in there uh # looking forward to. That's all you have to do is to put into the the part down below. At the next monthly update video, which should be out in a couple of weeks, I'll pick a winner for our $50 store gift certificate sponsored by Noble Knight Games. Thanks so much for watching everybody. I look forward to seeing what games are your games that you're looking forward to.