5 Hotly Anticipated Board Games | The Hype Factor September 2026
Transcript
Hello, welcome to Bull. My name's Wayne and I'm Matt and this is the final 2026 episode of the Hype Factor. We're
last one season.
Why is it last one?
Because we're going into spiel season and then it's all about spiel
and then it's end of year.
It's end of the year after that. So,
this is the last episode, but uh again we talk about games that are coming out or they're coming out on crowdfunding that we are really excited. Uh, some we know a lot about them, some we need a little bit less, but we are still the Spidey sense to go like so.
There we go.
Okay, the first one uh is a game that we were lucky enough to actually play. Uh it's on game found right now. I think the it's still live while this video is coming out, but it's it's last last few days. We should have talked about it before, but life got in the way. We can't do much. Uh but it's the new game from Ludus Magnus, uh Italian ex excellency, isn't it? is the new game from Tomaso Batista and Stephano Castelli. Uh, let me point out Tomaso Batista is
a great guy overall. Overall great guy and he done some very cool games talking about barrage died empera the very recent entropy. Uh, he knows what he's doing and the game is opera mana.
Opera mana is a game that I suppose I wouldn't have expected to come from a surprise.
It was quite a surprise to come from Ludas Magna Studio. It is a very classical feeling Euro game. Yes.
Which is and it's a really nice one as well. It is a essentially a pure resource management type game uh where you're going to be moving a your artisans around the various cities uh in order to uh collect different resources to be the greatest uh I suppose designer architect uh who is contributing to the cathedral the big cathedral in in Florence the the opera man. So yeah, during your turn, you you will take your um your workers and go in one of the three cities available. Each cities is divided in the top section and the lower section. That's very important because if you go there are cards uh on the top and the bottom each one of the cities and you're going to have cards in your hand. Uh the one at the top of the cities are the stuff that you need to pay. It's kind of like the city taxes.
City taxes. Yeah.
And the one at the bottom are the stuff that you're getting out of the cities. So what are you acquiring from uh from that city h whenever you uh go on top or the bottom of the cities, you will remove one of those cards and replace it with one from your hand. So there is this very nice game of uh I really need uh this or that type of resource. So I'm going to swap that cards uh in in the outcome of of what I need and I'm going to get the resources. the resources then you will help um yes building the big catal sending the the materials there and there is this kind of like not ball control but it like first come first serve to take bonus in there but on top of that on your board you will um be able to upgrade your board uh building buildings that will give you uh certain bonuses or doing something shenanigan uh you got this very cool resource management on your board where you got two uh two kind of like things that you need to check is like the uh raw materials and the actual mastery that you got with that material. So you will go up and down with with that. Uh and then you got the um prime material as well that are the the good ones that you can set to the cathedral or you you will use to build your building to go on your board. But overall it's a great Euro game.
Yeah. Really fun Euro game. As a matter of fact give me feelings of the White Castle. Not the same game at all but just had that kind of feeling. It has it's nine turns long. So it's quite tight on it because it's pretty regret you made I should have picked up that carret should have done that shouldn't have gone there. Yeah, one of those and I love that. I've always I always enjoy that feeling in games. So um this one really surprised me. I had a lot of fun with it. Um definitely worth checking out. Yeah, I I was uh a little bit like out of the blue because like beside knowing um the the designer and and the studio of course like they are famous for a lot of other different type of games with a lot of minis, a lot of stuff and having these things that got this classic very classic feeling of resource management and management uh with the open market to get the to get the card. Uh but at the same time it's classical but modern and he plays really well. I was
yes surprised. So yeah, definitely you guys should check it out before the campaign finishes. I'm sure then then it's going to be late pledge and everything. Uh I think the game is going to be at Essen as well. Uh but if you're in the market for a new sort of modern issue, go check out
surprise surprise. Really good.
Yeah. The next game that we're going to talk about is one that I saw at UK Games Expo this year and it looked absolutely insane. It's a very ambitious project by a one-man band pretty much an independent
Lucas Berdoski.
Yep. Absolutely. From his publisher Fu Dice.
Yeah, that's I say it all the time.
Bringing Dice. Uh and it's Cat Veil. This is essentially a big
adventure game. Sandbox sandbox adventure game with with anthropomorphic cats dressed like um knights and Robinoodi style. Uh so couple of things about this game. So first of all, yes, he's one one man band. Uh the artwork is great beside being cats cuz we are dog people. We're dog people. Dog veil.
I told him he should have dog veil, but anyway. Um uh all the art is made by Ism is is absolutely insane. Um the project is as you said
ambitious is ambitious. So doing a sandbox game is already requires a lot uh but it put his heart in it. I think that the game has been developing for like the last six or seven years. Um the campaign is live right now. It's going very well. Of course, because the artwork is fantastic, but there is a game there. It's not just looking nice. Um, again, with all the sandbox games, it's always very difficult to balance what what it is, but uh we we spoke with him at at UKG and he's uh it sounds it sounds mega mega interesting. This one I got my little fingers on the back on the on the
back because you've got a sense of exploration. You got a tile based map that will be different each time. You can choose to be sort of more aggressive and bloodthirsty or more of an exploration type uh play. There's some dice chucking. There's some action point system sort of thing going on. There's a little bit of bidding. There's even like a semi-ooperative element at the part of the game as well. There is a lot.
Oh, you can mix up the other people and still there they cat food or whatever they they did. Yeah, cat.
Yes, I would have preferred dog veil, but definitely go check veil.
If I said the word gloom haven to you, what image does that conjure? big minis,
massive campaign,
giant box
exploration, hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of setting up.
But this is not that. This is the new game from that team, Matt.
Yes, we mercenaries wanted. Now, when I saw new Gloom Haven things, I was like, "Yes, let's go." Then I opened it and was like, "Wait, what? It's a card game.
It's a card game.
It is a card game." But then I started learning a little bit more. I was like, "Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I'll definitely going to get this one. Uh basically what you're going to do, you're going to um draft cards around the table with all the with all the other players. And what you're going to end up being is having three cards and three cards that represent mercenaries. So, uh all the characters that if you play the Gloom Haven or the Gloom Haven universe things, you will recognize very well. Um and each one will have certain stats, will have certain special power. And what what you're trying to do is to create the most synergic team with those three cards. Uh for the first couple of rounds, there's going to be um a contract out on the on the board for everybody to fulfill. Uh of course, you want to be the first one to fulfill those things. And you will need for example uh this or that start to fulfill that things. Like enough my my hand is really good. Yes, I can do it. I grab the money. Um, at the end of each round when all these things is finished, uh, you will keep one of the mercenaries.
The other goes on the bench and you're trying to build for the end of for the third round. Yeah. Like a special teams of your team, your crack team that will fight in the arena against all the other teams. And then this is like the the final showdown for the game. Um, it sounds super cool. Uh, the all the design idea and stuff. I read a little bit of um about it is like taking inspiration from from all the like more like kids game like car kids game back in the in the 80s or the '9s. Uh was that one Top um
Top Drums Top Trump Drums. Uh that is the what gave the designer the idea of of this. Um look, it's a car game. It's a it's a it's a 30 to 60 minutes car game with drafting and all the Gloom Maven vibes to that. I'm absolutely yes.
I'm excited. Yeah, Sephair Games, they've done some incredible projects. So, really excited to see what they've got with Mercenaries Wanted. One things that I've been kind of obsessed with for the last uh last few week I didn't know anything about it um is this YouTube uh series called the space king that is basically is if you if you don't know what it is they take the the Warhammer law uh mix it with something like Rick and Morty and this is independent cartoon uh definitely not for kids that is on that is on YouTube. It's
like a 40k parody.
Yeah, very much a parody.
Don't watch it with kids. Literally, do not watch it with kids. But it's absolutely cracks me up. Like, I binged it and uh I'm I'm absolutely in love. And guess what? They doing a board game. They doing Space King the board game that is live now on Kickstarter. Now, that thing's already made almost4 million. So probably don't need us at all.
No, no, no, no. But I want to mention it because uh it's it's absolutely silliness. The games is very much looks like Hero Quest. It looks like straight from the 80s.
Yes. It looks like um Hero Quest or or the Space Crusade like that was the the space one uh where you're going around killing aliens, upgrading your weapons, and kind of like need to be really aware of what the other people are going to do cuz they might backstab you. Uh but it's so silly and it's so good that it deserve a mention. So, this is one of those absolutely crazy projects that has kind of evolved from a pure sort of uh project of love from the animation team into now becoming a nearly4 million pound board game which is incredible. Absolutely.
It's incredible.
Manic. And the team are putting their heart and soul into this. And Matt and I have been 40k nerds since we were like this high. So, and so yeah, anything really.
That pirate was absolutely insane. Now, if the game is going to be good, look, I don't even want to know it. I just I don't even want to know.
We just need to try it. Uh yeah, if you like that, if you if you're a fan of Space King, which you probably are, this freaking 4 million
let us know in the comments below. And if you haven't heard of this game, go check out on Kickstarter.
Space King. So we mentioned uh UKG earlier uh we we cut veil. Another um game is that we saw behind closed door on the same night actually uh was Vroom. It's very uh quirky game that Yeah, it we might talk about it a little bit more during spiel, but uh Wayne, talk us about V room Vroom is a cooperative racing game. So interesting already like cooperative racing with communication limits. So it's a limited communication game as well. And essentially the conceit of room is you've got your little mini wooden car which you would have played if you were really old like me or something like that as a kid. And then also you'll create a madeup circuit over an indeterminant length. Entirely up to you.
And what you're going to be doing is on your turn drawing from a deck of cards. The cards will have both a color sort of matching the colors of one of the cars uh and a number on it. From there you're going to move your car along whatever you think that is worth. The next player will do that and everyone else will do that around the table. And then you'll eventually end up with a a finishing line, right? A all the cars crossing the line. You then need to reveal the cards and the values of the car cards that you've played needs to appropriately uh match the order of the cars that finish.
Yeah.
So the car in first place uh all of the cards uh need to be the highest value card.
Exactly. Um it's it's quite interesting because uh basically when you pick up the cards I'm going to move my car. I don't know. I got five red. I'm going to move this. This I think is a five. And Wayne, if he picks five um purple, for example, he needs to kind of like in theory match where I am, but maybe he thinks that to me that is a seven, so it's going to be shorter than me. So that this is is a very cool um idea behind the game. It's it's way easier to play than than explaining it. Um the other cool very things about the the the game itself because in the box is going to be a lot of module that you can that you can add to create. So these are basically the basic rules and then you can add more more and more complexity to the game. So it starts as a kids game and it goes up in complexity adding these other
mod like this combination between sort of bomb busters and the mind games like this kind of putting things like that together. It is the mind with cars
kind with cars and the racing type thing. Really, really fun. This sounds absolutely really just super enjoyable and for me might be a little bit of a sleeper hit. So, I'm really excited to try.
This might be a big surprise if he's managed to get visibility with the with a with a V wide audience. So, uh definitely go and check it on BG or whatever if you can find it. So,
and we might talk more about it.
Yeah. Vroom vroom. The team that brought us Sniper Elite and the more recent Joyide, so two very arcadey games, are back with yet another crazy arcadey experience again. Another blast feeling from the 80s. Yes, very much.
Dino Battle Rebellion Unplugged coming back with another crazy idea.
Yeah, you go to war riding dinosaurs. a dream.
The dream every 40 plus year old uh millennial man. Uh, so this is the guys themselves calling this an Amary trash. I hate the words, but this is what the game is. Is chucking a lot of dice, um, playing having cards management to activate this or that dinosaurs and just basically going to fight against kind of riding a T-Rex or riding a pterodactyl and chucking dice, trying to control the areas, trying to survive. Uh all of this with just like when a very quirky cartoony production uh it's like it's is great where when Benji at Rebellion Plug talked about it um this came a while ago we were like is it Dino Riders remember Dino Riders? Uh it's basically it's Dino Riders. You're not going to have the missiles or machine guns but it's very much that. So um it sounds silly. Sounds silly. Super fun.
Yeah, absolutely. You've got obviously the dice trucking and stuff like that, but it's not just killing your enemies. You're going to be getting points for controlling different areas and different targets around the battlefield as well. You might have objectives to go and achieved in order to get uh points as well. So, this sounds really, really fun. It's actually, weirdly enough, a re-implementation of a German battling game. Uh, wait, let me see if we can say this one. So, I think I have no idea. is
but no no what I'm going to tell you is the designer duo behind the game so is Steven Baker and Roger Ford we mentioned literally just a minute ago without knowing it Space Crusade they are the designer of Space Crusade and Heroescape
yes silly rolling dice riding dinosaurs be pretzel but we're some ones that know how to do that stuff
absolutely in an updated Hey, let's go do some battling in Dino Battle.
And the campaign is live right now. Game found link below live.
So, that was it for the last episode of
The Hide Factor 2026 season is over.
Well, it's over. We're going to spill season now. It's going to be even more. There's going to be I factor every day basically for the for the next two months. Breathing drowning. It's going to be there's going to be so so much. And again, there's been a lot of games like that are very interesting coming out on crowdfunding. It's been it's been kind of like a weird year for the all the crowdfunding and and the games anyway and the retails coming out. It's just kind of weird some heavy as well, I feel.
Yeah, there a lot stuff like left to the to the end of the year. But um but what we're here to to talk about whenever they those come out whenever we got new news or information of like some uh rumors here and there, we'll just we'll we'll tell you what we're trying to do.
Absolutely. So, if you want to get in on some of those whispers and rumors ahead of everyone else, then why don't you check out
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Yeah. And don't forget the WhatsApp group and the Discord and all that stuff.
Meetups and all sorts of business. But if you don't want to do that, of course, you can just subscribe button.
Absolutely. You might even get your own dinosaur. I'm not promising, but just
there. You might the al god of YouTube might give you one for just clicking the button. So try try if you try let us know in the comments.
Yeah, absolutely.
Uh Matt, anything else before we leave? No, I think we good. Check out our videos and we're going to see you at the next one. Ch. Here's what you see.