Five Hotly Anticipated Board Games: The Hype Factor February 2026

0:01 Hello and welcome to board stupid. My name is Wayne and I'm Matt.

0:04 It's time for another episode of the factor February edition. Yes.

0:11 And boys, we got a lot to talk about it this month cuz it's a lot of news, a lot of game like new games coming to retail some of to to the Kickstarter game pound. We've got a lot to talk about it.

0:24 So much stuff. So, if you want to hear everything about us, hit the subscribe button.

0:30 Hit the subscribe button. Ding the bell. Then join us as we pick a few games for you that we're very excited about coming this year. Let's go.

0:46 So, Matt, first one on the games we're very excited about, which is one we played at Essence Field last year.

0:51 Exactly. So, we can tell you a little bit more. This is um coming out on Kickstarter. Should be live right now. So check the link down down there and we're talking about of the new project from uh Mikey Boards. You know, we we love what what they do. Um and this one is for the gods. For the gods is a fantastic easy to learn area majority game that plays in about an hour. Matt and I played it at Essen and it was legitimately one of the best games we played the entire weekend despite it being in a prototype format. Yes, it was really cool. Um, area majority control where you go around the board with your with your ships and you need to build columns. Um, uh, get temples for the for the gods, get their favor. Uh, really really cool. Uh, before we describing what the games the mechanics are, um, just let me say that this game has been designed by the duo that brought us Undaunted. Yes, there are.

1:47 It's very different from Undanted, but it's Seo Benjamin and David Thompson and um uh Brett Gilbert as well. So, it's three three

1:57 in this case. But um so we were very excited when we heard about this game that we sat down and we're like, "Yes, this is this is really good and it's so simple and easy to learn and easy to play. It's beautiful. You just you got these tokens in the bag. They're basically segments for a column or a tower or a temple. Um, you draw five out and then you can either spend them, so you throw them back in your bag to move your ship across the waters.

2:22 Uh, and when you get to somewhere, you can then build a temple. Uh, and what you're trying to do is by the end of the game have the tallest temple, the most segments of your column in each of the areas. Uh, but specifically the areas that are going to score the most points.

2:37 Exactly. So each part, so basically you picking up pieces of a column uh from from your bag. um each one will have some pips on top and you can only use the same pips on the same column. So if you are in the territory on the left and you starting with a one, all the rest you need to put are ones. So if you draw no ones in your um from your bag, you know that probably you want to leave that territory for later. Yeah. Um, on top of that, there are special tiles that you're going to acquire with the symbol of the gods. And, uh, that is going to basically when you use it, will let you use the power of the gods that they're associated with. Uh, the gods are going to be five gods every every game, randomly seated.

3:18 Randomly seated. So, every time that you play, they're going to be different. And of course, their gods, they're going to do god stuff like let you move around like a prop.

3:27 Yeah. Take longer turns and all sorts of stuff. managed to build multiple things and so you want to use those powers at the right time at the right place to score the most.

3:37 It's awesome. By the way,

3:38 we played at two players, but you played that as well at four players. So, um it's very good at like every player counts cuz it's at two players, you got less territories on the on the map. So, it gets very much like I see what you're doing there. I'm going to do that. I'm going to try to set up traps. I'm going to make you believe that that's where I'm going to put all my stuff when I'm actually going to do the other things. While a four is very much more like aggroy almost maybe

4:05 way more interactive. Yeah, it's very very cool. Way more uh it's just an awesome game. Very very surprisingly simple to teach and learn. Uh this is a good one. So do go check that one out.

4:15 Yeah, for the gods live right now on link in the description. Check it out. So, for those that have been following the channel since the good old days of 2024, you'll know one of our favorite games of that year was Alai Dawn of Civilization, the combination deck builder and area majority game by Balamore and Olistinus.

4:35 Very exciting news for you that coming out basically now Matt expansion. Yes, it is Alai's seaf farer's expansion that you might pick that in the in the background because uh we were lucky to get a copy and play it because we really enjoyed Alai. We did a full review a couple of years ago now. So

4:53 yeah, you can see it in the description. Go check it out.

4:55 But it we really really liked it. And uh if you play the game, I would say you definitely need to have a look at this expansion because B on top of adding a new um uh a new clan, a new a new faction, uh adds a new map and new mechanics. So the um the new map is basically instead of having this giant territory, the territories are going to split in islands, different islands. So you will need ships to cross the to cross the water. So there is this new mechanics on how you're moving from island to island. H how do you do uh battle between the uh the sea and the and the island? And the new faction is this like dudes that can have dolphin as their pets and

5:41 and they're purple as well.

5:42 So they don't need they don't need boats. They just use the they ride their dolphin. Um but the game itself is is still I'll tie with this like added um other things. You can still using the new um the new faction in the old games. You can mix and match. So it's that is all that is all good and uh we recently replayed it again to talk about this one and we had a lot of fun. It's still like an amazing game.

6:10 Yeah, it's still excellent. Alire is a fantastic game. Again, if you like deck building and you like air majority, you're going to like it. It has a really cool system uh built into it and the seaf farers expansion it adds without being too much. It doesn't add too much complexity. It bolts in really nice and smoothly.

6:28 So if you're a big fan of that game then we certainly recommend you check out Seaf Farah.

6:32 Yeah. It's coming out right now.

6:34 Basically nowish. Yeah. So there we definitely recommend it.

6:37 Yeah.

6:39 The next one we want to talk about is not a specific game. It's just uh a fresh news that came out, but we were so hyped about and so worried at the same time that we we need to

6:50 we got to talk about it.

6:51 Um so we are talking about probably one of our favorite IP in in in life

6:58 full time. Yeah, full time

6:59 that never received a lot of love in the top in the like

7:03 board gaming world.

7:05 There's been a few poor attempt to it. Uh, and we're talking about Final Fantasy. So, Matt and I are huge Final Fantasy nerds. We love the franchise, Final Fantasy 7 especially, but I love many games in the series. Uh, and Final Fantasy as an IP has been done dirty by the board game industry. The games have been either appalling or bad. So, there's like they're they're pretty bad.

7:30 Yeah, there's been a bunch of like mostly card games or party games or

7:35 collectible games which no longer exist. So there's it's ripe for so much good stuff but it hasn't happened. So we've got some news uh where there is a company called Kesco who are launching Final Fantasy the board game inspired by uh or the spirit of the first three Final Fantasies. So the old school the OGs. Uh and it's going to be a one to four player cooperative game which we imagine that would be something like a dungeon.

8:02 Yeah. They talking about they want to bring the the JRPG spirits to the to the to the board game. Um, and if you know JRPG, like it's a classic like turnbased combat and

8:13 going in dungeons, collecting stuff, upgrading your equipment,

8:16 and it sounds really cool. Um, they made it apparently a deal for a multi- game. So, it's going to be not just one. Probably they're going to do do two or three. Uh, I hope they're not going to do Final Fantasy one with the same story with I hope it's going to be like a Final Fantasy cuz this is inspired by the the original ones. Um, this could be really cool. Uh, I I always dreamed about I think we talked about it like years ago about I would have loved to have a a dungeon crawler style. Yeah, boss battle style would be cool.

8:49 Yeah, with the with in in the Final Fantasy IP. But it also equally could also be really bad. So take this news with the excitement that we wanted to give to you but

9:01 with a pinch of salt.

9:02 Yeah, we we're going to follow this very closely. We're going to try to to find out more more things going on. But this is fresh news. We we have to tell you

9:10 because we're so excited about it.

9:12 Final Fantasy board game may be good. Who knows? But let's move on to the next one, shall we?

9:16 Yeah. Fingers crossed all of them.

9:19 Wait for the next one. We had a game that has been very hot on a lot of list lately since it's been announced and that is Entropy. The reason why it's been hot is first of all cuz the designer trio the creator game is quite quite

9:36 huge. Yeah, absolutely. We've got an Italian design trio at the top of this game. So yeah, very good. Yeah, we've got Simony. We have

9:46 I'll say the names. Simony Luchani you you all will know him from New Rats of Whiter Darwin Journey Golem Barrage blah blah blah. H Netor Mangon behind Darwin's Journey Newton Shakon base and then we got Tomaso Batista one of our favorite one uh with Barrage and Died Impera. So um quite like three big names that go get together to do uh something that looks like really really interesting.

10:16 Yeah, it looks slightly heavier. uh might be too heavy for our taste, but we'll figure out when we play it. Obvious got obviously got to play it. This utilizes a few things that M and I really like. We like Rondell system. Rondell's very interesting. So, you're going around a a circuit. You choose either an inner or an outer action and you do that specific thing. Uh you also have open objectives which are also very good and interactive because it's kind of a race to do those. And the game will be a variable length and it will end when any two of the objectives are completed which is very interesting.

10:45 Which one of the objectives? Cuz in this in this game we are creating life creating solar system and filling it with life. We're doing so like each player will have their their own board where they do like will help powerizing uh the action. Uh but you're basically like this like super bean

11:05 alien civilization

11:07 that go out into space. Oh that's an empty space. Let's put a solar system in there and then let's put some life in it. Uh so it sounds really interesting. It's a lot of interesting stuff. Uh we add a scheme to the to the rule book. It seems like as you say on the heavy side uh but at the same time quite interesting. It sounds interactive. The

11:27 theme sounds fun.

11:28 Yeah. The team is very similar to uh was the team for crafting the cosmos but made it in a more like heavy euro version rather than a multiolitaire.

11:38 Exactly that. So we're keeping a very close eye on entropy. A long time ago, I played in lots and lots of different rock bands and, you know, all sorts of bands really. I've been a musician for many, many years. And this next game that we're going to talk about basically reminds me of my entire growing up and yours, too.

11:57 Yes. Because we all been in a band and we all been shouting down the the microphones. I've always been shouting. That was my thing in the

12:07 Yeah, maybe Matt will splice some clips.

12:09 Uh, yes. I'll see if we can find something. Uh but um what we're talking about here is is is literally the game we're talking about is Garage Rock. Uh so this is is very American. It's very different from doing it in the UK or or in Italy where but way harder. But uh um these games was on Kickstarter last year. So it's going to be delivered this year and then going straight to retail. Probably we're expecting towards Q3, Q4. We'll we'll see. But I'm really sad that I missed the Kickstarter cuz this sounds amazing. Sounds great. Uh so basically what you're going to do in this like worker placements bent and upgrading game. You are one of those like garage band, one of those like little band that trying to make it h you need through um throughout the 16 weeks of summer because of course when you offer that is when you put everything in the band is everything. Um you're trying to upgrade your band. trying to buy um new instrument uh putting flyers around to make

13:12 new image get new clothes. Exactly.

13:14 And all of this leading up to the end of the game where you got the battle of the band. So everything will culminate at the end of the game that is going to be the basically the final scoring where the coolest band in the neighbor is going to be going to be the winner.

13:28 Yeah. Crowned the the the the band of the most famous band the band of the neighborhoods. But um so the the production looks absolutely stunning. I I do love the colors. I do like the the the vibe that the game has. This kind of like cartoony punk rock that is just like screams to to us exactly what we grown up with.

13:49 Exactly. This reminds me of my youth. It's freaking awesome. Yeah, this looks great. Uh it would be really fun to play. Um and me and Matt are suckers for music themes. So

14:00 yeah, this one sounds like pretty cool. Um, hope it doesn't do like Yeah, because there's been lately um a couple of other games are trying to do the same things like Rock Car 1977.

14:11 Yes. Yes.

14:12 Hit and miss. Uh, but this one and Draft Right Records

14:16 Draft Right Records as well. Yeah, hit and miss.

14:19 Yeah, some love there. Someone a little less I think we were more on on the Yes. Fine. Uh, but this one hopefully is going to be that kind of

14:29 this could be the one. I'm excited about this one. Absolutely. close eye on Garage Rock.

14:36 One of the channel um like favorite game at this point is Power Vacuum by Keen Bean Studio. We've been telling everybody, if you've been following the channel, you know how much we love that game. Uh so when the same team or the same dude Malachi uh came to us and say like, "Whoa, I got a new game." We were like, "Whoa, let us see.

14:57 Let's go play it." Uh we played this game um in multiple stages. We saw it like a couple of years ago.

15:06 Uh then we played again. Then we play the prototype right now. Yes. And we're talking about

15:12 Almighty. Almighty is a very interesting, very cool game that Matt and I have played a bunch at this point. And it puts you in the shoes of angry, somewhat grumpy gods. Not all of them. All of them. or or at the very least tempetuous and uh their rival.

15:32 Yeah, they who will manipulate, poke, smite, curse or sometimes bless the mortals of this land that you're going to be playing over. The game essentially uh takes the form of a lane battler where you're going to be playing cards to the various lands, the lanes of the game, which will generate certain amounts of belief. But that's not all. Obviously, the cards will have different effects on them. Uh they're going to be interacting with the mortals, and the mortals themselves also have special effects on them. There is so much interesting stuff about this game. I think we've had a blast with it over we did really Yeah, we did really had fun. This kind of like Yeah. territorial majority with the lame battler. Uh each god is going to be different. You got four type of gods, each one with their own specific power.

16:21 Uh, so there's going to be a lot of shenanigan and a lot of a little bit of take that, a little bit of strategizing, what where you want to be. Um, it's it's really cool and we're going to do a full preview video about this game. Uh, probably coming out next week or we'll see we'll see it'll be around here here or or there. You'll see it on the channel.

16:43 But the game is live right now while we speak should be live uh on Kickstarter. So again the link down

16:52 in the description

16:53 and uh we would definitely go and have a look. Beautiful production, beautiful gameplay,

17:00 so much character in the production as well, man. All the artwork is fantastic. The asymmetrical gods are awesome. It's just Yeah, there is so much to like about it as well. It's a really fun project.

17:10 Yes, go have a look and subscribe. Hit the the bell so you know when the when the actual pretal preview is coming out. Almighty, what a game.

17:20 Yeah.

17:22 So, that's it for another episode of the Hype Factor.

17:28 Yeah. And it's another one. Matt and I do these all the way up until Essence spiel. Yeah. So, we'll be doing them till around October and then it's in spiel and end of year season. But basically, every single month we're picking uh another five or six games to whatever news like kind of like tickle our hype. Exactly. Our hype senses where that we can get excited about and share the excitement with you, our our lovely boy, stupid fam. Um, but we'd like to know which of the games uh from this episode tickled your fancy.

18:00 Tickled you the most.

18:01 Yeah. Let us know in the comments below. Uh, and yeah, really good stuff. But also, we'd like you to

18:07 to get tickled by checking the Patreon page

18:10 by our Patreon where we could tickle you. No, let's not say that. Let's do that. I know. Just check out the pat.

18:16 No one's going to see.

18:17 No one's getting tickled. No one's getting tickled. Well, you can can have a look to all the extra content that we got on the on the patre page. Uh we constantly have like the video podcast coming out, the interview with the designer. Uh a lot of good stuff. On top of that, we got our WhatsApp group. You're going to get access to our WhatsApp group that is now

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