Ranking the Games in the 2026 Gamefound Spring Feast

0:01 Hey, I'm Alex Radcliffe from BoardGameCo, and today I'm going to be reviewing the most recent Gamefound Feasts. Which if you watched it, you may have already seen me talking about the games because I also present the Gamefound Feast. But this is one of those things where I do the whole Gamefound thing and showcase and talk about the game. So I'm a more of a, "Hey, I work for Gamefound. Here are the games that are in the Gamefound Feast." But then separately, I also review the games on my channel because I want to tell you which ones I'm most most excited about and why. The things that might be the most popular are not necessarily the things I'm most excited about and vice versa. This is where I tell you what I personally am most looking forward to in the Feast. If you don't know about the Feast, just a short recap of what it is, is every every three to four months, basically four times a year, Gamefound puts out a Feast event. This is a highlight, a showcase of upcoming projects you can expect to see over the coming months, six months, a year, whatever whatever it's going to be. Generally, I'd say the projects that are going to be in the next two to nine months, but they could be things a little shorter than two months.

0:54 Sometimes those things drift out and they become like a year down the road, but generally in the next two to nine months. That's basically what the Feast event is. It's a all-in-one showcase of these games all in one place at one time, so you can go ahead and see what might be something for you. And then I go ahead and talk about over here which ones I'm most excited about and why. But before we dive into these games, we do have a note from our sponsor for this week's video. We have a sponsor for the for Go On Board. They have The Witcher Legacy opened up their pledge manager a few weeks ago. So if you missed out on the campaign, which broke a ton of records on Gamefound, by the way, but if you missed out on the campaign, you can go ahead and check it out. They also even have a new pledge. They have the I Want It All pledge. So again, if you were following the campaign, if you want, there are some extra things that were added, some adjustments to the pledge levels. So there are things you might not be aware of either as a backer already or somebody who has not backed the game. This is basically set in the world of The Witcher: Old World, which is set in the world of The Witcher, and this is a legacy version of that, giving you a cooperative way or solo way to go ahead and play through The Witcher experience while having the mechanical aspects of The Witcher: Old World with much more focus on the story of it all.

1:58 That's The Witcher Legacy. You can check out the pledge manager. Please use my link down below so they know that I sent you. With that said, let's go ahead and dive into the Feast. I'll be starting off with the last three because the last three are all just games that are not for me at all and I have no interest in them because they're not for me at all and I'll explain each of those in turn. First of all, we have DC: Justice League Unlimited Role-Playing Game, which I I feel bad about a little bit cuz I I know the guys at D20. They're amazing group of people. Uh but basically, they just recently did The Lord of the Rings: The Foes of Middle-earth board game and they're doing this giant RPG. And I'm just not an RPG person. So like an RPG is just is so far down my list because I don't play RPGs. I'm always a little tempted to get into them, but I I practically speaking, it's just one more thing that I would put on the backburner as far as all the things I want to do. I'd rather knock out a few campaign games before diving full length into the world of RPGs. So it looks cool. Art looks good. It's DC, Justice League, all that. All those things are great. I'm just not the target audience for this.

2:52 The next two as well, I'm not the target audience for because they're games that I already know that I've tried the base games and I don't need expansion content for them. Those are going to be Heroes of Might and Magic: The Board Game Factory, Bulwark, and Forge expansions. I've already played Heroes of Might and Magic: The Board Game. I think it's a fine game, but ultimately I don't need that many boxes for the level the level of enjoyment I got out of the game doesn't justify the shelf space, amount of boxes, and rules overhead just where I personally am. Again, everyone's going to be different. There are some games I want all the stuff for. I just had Lands of Everlasting show up and oh my gosh, that is too much game in a box, but I still am excited for it. As opposed to Heroes of Might and Magic, I I'm just not excited enough to invest in like four calyx worth of games. And I'm not somebody who typically gets just the core box. If I like a game, I want it all and I don't like the game that much. Similarly, we have I mean, to say specifically, it's not that I dislike the game. I don't like the game enough to get it all. Similarly, we have The Breach: Breach and Hellcore expansion. I played the prototype of the first game way back when. In general, I've seen pretty positive enough buzz about it, so it could be one of those things where the prototype wasn't a good enough representation of the experience. But my opinion of the prototype was that there were a lot of cool concepts, but overall, it just didn't this again, big box miniature games have a higher barrier in terms of cost, in terms of shelf space, in terms of rules overhead, setup, maintenance, all those. And The Breach ultimately didn't work for me as far as crossing that threshold. So again, haven't played the final game and let alone even further expansions. So these three are just DC: Justice League, Heroes of Might and Magic, and The Breach. They're just a zero interest to me because I'm just not the target audience for them either because RPGs or base games that I don't feel the need to expand upon. Then we have over here, we

4:24 have Grim Era. This one is a little lower down primarily because I don't get a good sense of what else is being added to this. Like what else is being added? What is What is the game doing mechanically speaking? So the art looks good, the general sense, the monsters, the miniatures, all of that look good, but I don't have a good sense of what you're actually doing, which to be fair, a lot of the games that are coming up, I don't necessarily have a good sense of, but this more so than others, it just says there's miniatures and there's a map and a board and I don't know what the gameplay is going to be like. So it's not like a lack of interest so much as a lack of knowledge. It just has me lower down on the list as far as where this one is, but things could change because it could go anywhere. It could go anywhere. I have no idea. Then we have Earth and the Siege: War Zone. This is going to be a small unit skirmish game from the people from Dark Horizon Games. Their last game, the stealth base game, great game, thought it was very well done. Skirmish games are a little less my jam. Overall, there's a lot of great skirmish games out there. It is always a hard barrier to like beat like someone like, you know, comparing this to Oh my gosh, what was What was the um from Glass Cannon Unplugged, their their skirmish game. I can't remember the name of it, but like it's a very solid game with the game these speedy miniatures, buildings, and all that. I can't remember the name. I'm blanking on it.

5:26 Based on a video game. You know what it is. But either way, that's a very solid skirmish game. It It's hard to beat the skirmish games that I already have that I like, and I do find skirmish is a genre that I I tend to not have a ton of my collection to begin with. I just don't find myself playing them out quite as much. I find I I prefer skirmish adjacent things like MOBA-style games. So like MOBA-style games, Rum & Bones, Rum & Bones, the the Sky not Skytear, Onward. There's going to be different games that kind of hit that skirmish vibe for me with a bit more different things going on that I personally prefer. So straight-up skirmish, I just find I don't really pull them out that often. I've had some that I've enjoyed over the years. Super Fantasy Brawl was great. The the one from the one from Steamforged Games that I cannot remember Sky not Skytear. Uh Godtear. That was a solid one. But again, even when I like them, I just don't pull them out that much. We have Garden Dragons from BA Games. This one I'm intrigued by. I'm not quite sure exactly where this will land. I do like cute-sy little scoring optimization puzzles. Collecting little dragons is fun. In general, the idea of trying to like, you know, gather these tiles, placing them down, scoring for patterns.

6:27 All of that sounds good. These kinds of games, they could be, you know, amazing and I love them and they're so much fun, or they could be derivative and not doing anything new that I haven't seen done already. So it could go either way with this. I will say that I like games like this a lot. I don't know where this one personally will fall. Then we have Sengoku over here from Leo Colovini who did Principies as well as the other game. He did the other game, too. Principies and something else. I can't remember it. Brettwalda. That's what it was. But I haven't really played his other games until now. This one has me very intrigued as far as I love the theme of it. The action cards and combat seem interesting. The gameplay I don't know enough about yet. So I'm kind of going by his reputation as a designer so far combined with this theme and genre. Like Shogun was one of my first area control games I got into when I got into hobby board games, and I loved Shogun. And now Shogun over time, I've aged out on Shogun and I like other games more, but Shogun was one of my first area control loves that I had a great time with, and so I'm excited and intrigued to see what this one does. It still is a little lower down on my list because mechanically speaking, don't have a ton on it. I'm going by the designer reputation, the theme, and we'll see from there. A Life, A Life from Scala Games. I like these kinds of storytelling games. I like that. And it does seem like it's using AI artwork, which AI art, again, not to get too much down the rabbit hole, for me, it's more about how does that come through? This one does feel a little bit less, I don't know. Like when I look at the cover of the game and then I compare that to the artwork of the cards, it feels like I'm looking at two different games. And that feels like a little bit of a jarring mismatch for me. But I will say past

7:58 that cuz I'm I am willing to give the game a try and see where it is cuz I do like these kinds of storytelling games. We'll see. We'll see. So it has like something going for it in terms of the type of game, that storytelling, that this is my life, this is my journey, these are my hobbies, this is my job, these are the people in my life. I've enjoyed those games. I've always enjoyed. I don't think I've played a single game in that genre that I haven't enjoyed. Some I've held on to for longer, some for shorter, but they're always fun. There's something charming about the idea of like, I don't know, playing a game as if it's real life, role-playing The Sims. Like did you like did you play The Sims growing up? Do you still play The Sims? I love I love those stories that we tell about ourselves in these fictional universes where we kind of take that escape from reality to kind of have an alternate timeline cuz in this timeline, I actually do play sports and I I I went to work for the army and I also have like, I don't know. I You figure out the stories and I enjoy the I enjoy that mechanic. So I'm intrigued by the mechanic, and then there's that little strike against it of that AI jarringness between the the cover. And to be clear, they've said themselves they've used AI assisted, whatever, for the cards. So this is not me just wondering. I do I do tend to be mindful of just throwing out the accusation, but people have asked and they said, "Hey, the box cover is an illustrator and the card art is just done with AI assisted tools." But again, we'll see. I'm intrigued with that strike against it.

9:11 Then we have Naruto Shippuden Battle. This is an interesting one. If you watch the trailer for this one, I loved the trailer for this. I I have never watched Naruto in my life. I know nothing about it. It was absolute chaos. Maybe I would enjoy Naruto. Maybe that's that Maybe this is my sign to go watch Naruto. Now this is a skirmish game, so it does have that aspect. Kind of does make me think of Super Fantasy Brawl to an extent as far as, you know, you have these heroes, you have the board. Actually, you know what skirmish game I really enjoyed? Speaking of Go On Board, who sponsored the the the Witcher segment over here, they had the the Takin. Takin was a very solid skirmish game. I really I really had a lot of fun with that one. I'm always curious. Again, longevity, I don't know. I've never had a skirmish game that really lasted in my collection. I mean, I've had some that lasted years, but none that lasted forever. I don't think I currently have a full-on skirmish game in my collection. So Naruto, intrigued by. Takin, intrigued by, though I'm not talking about Takin right now. Uh, the miniatures look great, the video looks great, the art overall looks great. If they can deliver a solid enough game, hey, I'm down to try it. We'll see where it goes. But, uh, again, it comes with that asterisk around the genre itself is fighting an uphill battle for me. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy them, but there's a big difference between enjoying something and then holding onto it for, you know, 5 years. Then from there, we have Exceed Skytear. Now, this one has me interested. I This is a higher than it would be if it was just Exceed cuz I played some of these Exceed style games. I don't think I played Exceed itself, but there's that other one that I can't remember the name of it, but this other one that goes along with Exceed.

10:31 I'm not going to remember the name right now. I think it's also from Level 99 Games, but I can't remember the name, but it's like those two-player those those lean battler games. I played a bunch in the genre. I've always been intrigued by them. I always enjoy them to an extent. I also always find that it's a kind of game that is almost more of a lifestyle game. Those games are best when you really get to know the characters and you know the ins and outs and if I'm playing against you and you have those cards and I'm going to respond that way. They're games that really thrive off of knowing the characters in the game so you can best utilize those characters and respond to those characters if you're playing against them. And uh, the problem is I don't play games most games in my collection I don't play with that level of repetition that I can benefit from games where you really should know the characters involved. And so that has me hesitant. Uh, what has me intrigued is that Exceed Skytear, first of all, it's a Skytear theme which is more intriguing to me than Exceed on its own. I do like the Skytear line of games. I like Onward, I like Skytear Horde. So, that's all great. And then also the solo mode from One Stop Co-op Shop from Michael Kelly, there's a solo mode being introduced. That has me intrigued because that's like if I have to be facing off against somebody who either I know the game better or they know the game better, that's less my jam. a solo game, if done well, it does have me intrigued. Again, similar to Naruto, we're fighting a little of an uphill battle against the genre of the type of game and whether I'm the target audience for it. But also similar to Naruto, I'm interested despite myself. Then we have Mindbug Dinopunk. Mindbug coming back to you with a new revolutionary new game mode. All the depth and addictive deck building we imagine the fastest and most intense dueling experience ever created.

11:54 I like Mindbug. I like Mindbug a lot. I thought it was a very solid, card game in which the hook of it is the Mindbug which I can play the Mindbug any point to take control of a card you play which really added level of tension to the game as to when you bluff out your most powerful cards because just because I got my powerful card doesn't mean I'm going to win because you can Mindbug it. And so there's that aspect of when do I actually play those cards? When do I tease out with other cards? How do like do you hold on to the last minute to use the Mindbug? Do you go for easy quick control? I thought it was a decent amount of strategy in a very quick accessible card game. Ultimately though, card games again like this are going to be it's going to be a question of which ones last in my collection. Games like Radlands have lost with lasted, Wizard of the Grimoire has lasted, but Mindbug was a, uh, good fun time that didn't ultimately last. I am curious what this new mode adds and whether that will shift it up to that next level for me.

12:41 As it was I enjoyed Mindbug, but will this be more enjoyment or will it be more work for not more enjoyment? That I don't know. Still intrigued by it. Then we have The Lord of the Rings: Ascension from Stone Blade Entertainment. This is the Lord of the Rings IP on top of the Ascension board game. This is uh, I'm a little torn on this one because I like the Lord of the Rings IP a lot. Almost every Lord of the Rings, uh, IP game that's come out in the past few years has been really well done and I've enjoyed them. Uh, but Ascension as a as a game mechanic, I always felt that Ascension was and I do feel there are these camps kind of like Apple versus Android. I feel like there's the Ascension versus Dominion. I would always fall into the Dominion camp of games. I love Dominion. Ascension is more of a rotating line of of cards and I always felt that less planning and strategy and more I'll buy whatever is good for my deck as it comes out. I've never loved those line of games quite as much. Star Realms is probably my most favorite from those, but in general when there's a line of cards in a deck builder, it feels a bit too opportunistic and a little less planning. So, I am hesitant on this because again, the mechanics of Ascension, but I'm intrigued because Lord of the Rings, Legolas, the Samwise, the Gollum, all these cards over here in the Lord of the Rings IP, will they be able to, I don't know, will they be able to hook me on Ascension with this kind of fresh start and fresh IP to it? And the answer is maybe. It's definitely in the upper half of games that I'm looking at today because it's I still think Ascension is a good game.

14:00 I think I came late to the party on Ascension. I was already a Dominion fanboy and then combined with the mechanical aspects and combined with the theme. I didn't care for Cultist. So, so we'll see. We'll see. I am coming into it very open-minded. Then we have Umbra Knights from Brotherwise Games. This is one that it has me intrigued despite not knowing a ton about it. I do think the presentation is great. I do think the miniatures are great. Uh, the gameplay mechanics as far as what's going to make this one stand out over any other game, I I I don't I don't know. I don't know. It's a it seems like the kind I'd enjoy. I'm a sucker for good graphic design and good card art, so I I I I think I'm being pulled in this by like look at these player dashboards. These look like good player dashboards. It looks fun to me. Uh, will it be fun? No idea. I'm I'm being hooked. This one is saying like what the difference between something like Umbra and Grimoire, one of the higher ones for me and one of the lower ones for me, is really just do they manage to hook me somehow on what they're presenting? And the answer is they hooked me. This player dashboard looks great. I want this player dashboard in front of me and I want to play this game. I have no clue if I like it, but I but I want to try it. We have Cola Wars. Cola Wars from One More Turn Games, people who did Ascendancy. This being a new kind of economic strategy, a Eurogame. Think Distilled but with a, uh, more unique theme. Uh, that has me intrigued. The unique theme has me intrigued. I did like the, uh, the video as well for this. Felt very, um, leaning into the roleplay. But, uh, yeah, I'm intrigued by a Eurogame around this. I think Distilled was already a good game.

15:19 Distilled was already a very solid game that I enjoy, but it felt a little dry, uh, to me. And the pun not intended. Just I don't know what it was about it. It was a good game, but not necessarily as much for me. Uh, Cola Wars is is feels like it kind of might be like just vibey enough almost bringing you a dinosaur island, uh, you know, neon punk, uh, atmosphere to to your game board to to a Distilled style game. Again, mechanics we'll have to see and ultimately gameplay we'll have to see, but it does have me interested. And that that that the '90s vibe, is it '90s, '80s, '70s? I don't even know where we are. Has me interested. That's what I'll say. 1985, there we go. It's the '80s '80s. Then we have Narcos. Narcos from Smart Up. Again, this is one that is the the main reason I'm hooked on this one already is I think they're doing a great job with the the art of it. They're managing to capture the feel of Narcos as far as the theme, the art while not doing stills from the actual, you know, TV show and not. Rather they're bringing in this like kind of cartoonish style to it which I think it does a really good job.

16:14 The gameplay is going to be a big question as in general the board looks a little tight. I don't love the size of the miniatures relative to the board space. That has me a little uncertain what kind of game is this going to be? It feels it feels a little a little large. There's a very very large figures for the board spaces they're on. And and maybe that works. Maybe it does. I don't I don't know. But I can area control, pick up and deliver, a bunch of mechanics I do like. Pick up and deliver is always one that I'm a little hesitant on. So again, it's another one that I'm very interested in it without be like look at that plane. Look at that plane moving across the board. Look at these these things these goods being delivered. Running drugs or I assume they're drugs. Who's who's to say really? Uh, but yeah, I'm I'm interested. I'm interested but hesitant. And then we have similarly, we have Gangs of War over here. Uh, Gangs of War from Red Zone Games. This one has me interested because again, not a ton of information on the mechanics, but it does seem like they're trying to bring you a Scarface 1920 but shorter. That's what it seems like they're trying to do and I like Scarface 1920 a lot, but I also thought it was a little too long, a little too big for what it was. Uh, it was a little harder to table in my game group. It was one of the games that I really enjoyed for several years, but eventually I let go. Uh, this one is 60 to 90 minutes, a little on the shorter side. I'm curious what mechanics they'll be holding onto from Scarface. They have area control, asymmetric factions, constant interaction. They don't say deck building, so that's not quite the same there. Also, deck building I felt in Scarface felt a little little weak.

17:25 It didn't feel like the main mechanic of the game. It was a little bit of card the card construction. Not really card construction, deck construction. There's a little bit of that in the game, but it didn't feel like the strongest mechanic of it. So, I am interested. I I I thought Scarface 1920 was great and I am intrigued to see what they can do with this. Then we have over here Diabolus from, uh, Salt & Pepper. This the video hooked me on this one. This wasn't really on my radar before, but the unique theme designed by Danny Garcia, the the very unique theme, the great music of the video, uh, has me interested. And Salt & Pepper in general like some of their games have really been very very solid. So, like they've had a mix. For me they've had a mix. Some games that really landed incredibly well and I think are brilliant and some games that are less for me which makes sense. That's kind of like all publishers to an extent. But this the unique theme, the presentation designed by Danny Garcia, it definitely has me interested in thinking this is a you know, that midweight range. It's going to be coming in at like 120 minutes, a little longer as far as their games go.

18:14 They usually have the games in those like 30 to 90 minute range. Even 90 is a little long for them. So, it's a little heavier than what I typically see from Salt & Pepper. But, uh, I'm I'm intrigued. I Again, the uniqueness of it is really one of the big things that's pulling me in. It's like Eurogames these days like there's so many Eurogames. But like if you look at recent Eurogames, some of the ones that have really stood out, there was, um, speaking of Distilled, there was, um, Luthier. Luthier over there designing musical instruments, very solid. Galactic Cruise going on these epic cruises. Some feel a little bit more, uh, in the genre of what you typically expect to see from a Euro and some less so. And, uh, Fireworks and Fireworks Displays, that's very unique for me. And then we have Alexandria from Meeple Pug. This one has me a little hesitant. Meeple Pug's games so far all these big box like these, uh, these Mesopotamias, Alexandria, what was the other one they had? I can't remember offhand, but, uh, they had these like three big, uh, you know, cities effectively. These cities turned into games and all that. And all of them have had to have been really promising as far as the mechanics they've delivered. And so far they've all fought well, all there's been three of them so far and I've played two of them. The first that I've played have been really solid in terms of the base of the mechanics, but then also there were elements that felt like they still needed polish. And to be fair, I played them as prototypes, so polish makes sense on those things. But in this one, I I don't know where Alexandria will be for me, but I will say the strong degree of asymmetry as far as the different way the factions are contributing to the city, the way you power up your player boards, that tableau building, the action economy of the cards and the way they shift to the back, all of the mechanics that you can kind of get seen and presented in that 2-minute video they did, I I I am interested. I am very interested. Again, I have no idea whether this game will land. None of these games. None of the games do I know

19:45 if they'll land for me or not. What I do know is I like asymmetry when done well, when it feels really clever and accessible. I don't know where this one will end up for me, but I I am I like I like the player board. The way the player boards are powering up as you do them, it just seemed very compelling to me. So, call me interested in Alexandria. And the number one for me is Alterra. Alterra from IV Studios. Set in the world of 10, which actually a 10 interestingly enough was one of the IV Studio games that wasn't quite as much for me. I still want to keep playing it and see if I can do better in it, but 10 was one that I I always wanted to do better than I was able to do when I played it. But, Alterra is set in the same world, has the same art style. I was just great. I love the art style of Alterra. This one giving you a bag builder worker placement. So, I like bag building worker placement games. I love I love Endless Winter. I love Lost Ruins of Arnak. I love I love Oh my gosh, Dune Imperium. So, bag building versus deck building is you know potato potato and the worker placement combined with that. How are they implementing the combination mechanics? No idea, but the presentation, the look, the mechanics they they have has me very interested in what this one is going to what this one's going to be like and how much I'm going to enjoy it. And if you watched the recent IV Studio live stream, which card it is that Austin hates and why. I am very curious about that as well, but I have to play it first. But, that is basically my review of the Gamefound Feast games. Not really reviews. This is more just me telling you which games I'm most interested and why. Which ones hooked my attention and why. And the top three for me are going to be Diabolus, Alexandria, as well as Alterra.

21:09 Diabolus, Alexandria, and Alterra are my top three. Anyways, that has been a recap of the Gamefound Feast. Until next time, I'm Alex Radcliffe from Board Game Co. I hope you enjoyed this video and as always, I hope you have a good one.

21:45 [sighs]

21:45 Do you know that I'm actually pretty proud of myself cuz last week, well, this past week, it was actually yesterday. Really yesterday, I came up with a new word. Plagiarism.