UKGE 2026 Preview - 15 Games I'm Excited For, Yotei, Whisperwood, Drillers & More!

0:01 Hey everyone, it's Adam from BoardGameCo and UK Games Expo is 11 days away. It feels a little insane to say that it's just 11 days away, but time flies. Here we are and that means it's time for a 15 games I'm excited for at UK Games Expo. Last year was my first UKGE. I enjoyed it with a lot of small caveats. The food wasn't so into. I almost missed my flight back home, which was not the best, but other than that, I do enjoy international travel. I thought it was a fun show and it's also a nice to see the ones I don't typically see. I see all the US shows all the time, but UKGE and SN last year was my first year doing them and I'm excited to be going back to both of those this year. That means we're going to go ahead and take a look at the BoardGameGeek preview list. BoardGameGeek UK Games Expo preview list. They do this every single year with all the various conventions where they have all the games or at least the whatever games publishers submit that will be demoed at those conventions. We have 293 titles currently on this list.

0:56 Before we dive into them though, a note that All Play is a channel sponsor. If you go to allplay.com, you can find a variety of games from both themselves and their partner publishers. And if you're on the UKGE preview list, you can actually filter by publisher. I filtered to All Play Games and Bitewing Games, Bitewing being one of their partner publishers, and you can see the specific games that they have coming up in case you're interested in stopping by the All Play booth and seeing their giant cabinets full of assorted games. With that, let's go ahead and dive into it. I have this list sorted by thumbs. I will be going through these though in order of least to most excited myself. I will say when it comes to these preview lists, I find that sometimes the ones I'm excited about really do land and are amazing or incredible. Other times they are complete waste of times and not at all what I end up uh getting or being excited for down the road. But that said, this is what I'm currently excited about in order from the ones I'm currently excited about. Starting off with number 15, which is Bunny Kingdom Town. This would have been number one except for the fact that the 6.8 score and the various ratings that are currently there make me think that maybe it's not going to be the game that I I I want it to be. I love Bunny Kingdom.

1:56 It's definitely one of those underrated games, at least for me. I think it's phenomenal. I love the drafting, so much decision space. I think it's an incredible game we get to feel cool the entire time. And so, hey, another dual version of a game I already like, I'm totally here for it in theory, but sometimes those dual versions are not actually the games that you hope that they're going to be. Sometimes they're just like, hey, a new way to sell a game without necessarily being a good game. And the ratings so far make me think that maybe that like a lot of the ratings are like, hey, just play the original Bunny Kingdom at two players. That's a better Bunny Kingdom experience for two players. And that that has me a little more hesitant. I am still excited for it because I mean, hey, I have to give it a try. I've enjoyed a lot of 6.8 games in my life. But hey, we'll see where this one goes. Bunny Kingdom Town, my number 15. Coming in at 14, the later ones down here, other than Bunny Kingdom Town, are generally games that I know a little less about. We have Almighty from Malachi Ray Rempen. He's done a bunch of whimsical games. This is a game all about gods and controlling gods. It actually seemed very similar, very reminiscent of Gods and Mortals that was just a active crowdfunding campaign. But you're trying to be mindful of the puny mortals who would worship other gods and dealing with their sacrifices. It seems like an interesting game with a degree of degree of variable player powers, a hand management, all these fun things.

3:01 His art in his games is generally top-notch. Overall, I'm intrigued by this one. His the games he creates are very whimsical. Like this kind of character art that you see here, very on brand for his type of stuff. And they're very entertaining. The gameplay on the other hand, not entirely sure. I'm not saying it's bad, but I'd say that usually the whimsicalness of his games pulls me in far more than the actual gameplay. So, I am intrigued, but hesitant around this one. We have Flip Pick Towers from Osprey Games. So, I don't know if you saw this. It sounds like Osprey Games are getting out of heavier games. Although, I don't know what counts as heavier game, so we'll see if something like this is definitely on the lighter side, but I don't know where it lands. We'll see. But Flip Pick Towers over here is going to be a roll and write game with charming drawn castles in which you're trying to fulfill a variety of objectives by putting things into those little castles. I can't tell how much of this is going to rely on actual art. It seems like not really relying on the actual art so much as the whimsicalness of it all. And then of course, there's going to be the question of how easy it is to read what's going on the table.

3:53 But, call me interested. Ratings are pretty solid so far, coming in 7.7, which is pretty decent, especially for a roll and write game. Roll and write games are usually on the lighter side. Lighter games usually have a lower average rating. So, a 7.7 is actually pretty strong. Love the color scheme. Love the style of it. Intrigued by it. That's Flip Pick Towers. We have Karak Labyrinth, another roll and write game, not really roll and write, another writing game. Uh this is set in the world of Karak, a game system that my kids have generally loved, and I find that I don't actually want to play. I don't mind Karak, but the problem is I find that the game drags when playing it with my kids, and it's a slower experience than I would like. But, that does have me interested in Karak Labyrinth over here, a real-time drawing game. A real-time drawing game that also has solo play as well, where you're going to be drawing through making your way through your dungeon. Now, this is interesting because this on its own would not pull me in because so many games have done this kind of like, "Hey, draw your way through a dungeon" kind of thing, and some have done it better than others, and I definitely find myself being a bit more hesitant as far as which ones are really going to land.

4:45 Like, which game is going to be like, "Okay, great. You did it really well. You were actually compelling and worth getting your hands on." The thing that has me interested here is it's in the world of Karak. So, combine a game that could be a lot of fun, we'll see, combined with a world that my kids like, and I might be intrigued to play, and this has me willing to definitely give this one a shot at the very least. Coming in from there, we have Container. Container is a reprint. This is the All Play reprint of the original Container, a game that was out of print, hard to get your hands on. A Container is basically a mimicking a shipping. You're basically going to be trying to uh ship your your containers. The the hook is that other players are shipping your containers, and then you have a variable value a variable value to your containers that will be revealed at game end. You're trying to The The rule set is pretty straightforward, pretty simple, which fits very much in All Play's uh wheelhouse of games, while being definitely on the heavier side as far as the strategy of it all. But, this is Container. I've never played the original. I'm intrigued to play this one, uh and this will be at UKGE.

5:36 We then have Jason and the Argonauts. This one's not going to be out yet. It's going to be available to demo. Uh well, I I assume demo cuz it's on the list over here. But, Jason and the Argonauts Argonauts is from MV Born Games. I believe it's currently on crowdfunding right now, if I'm not mistaken. Highest funded game from the from MV board games uh to date. But, this is based on Hercules and the 12 Labors. It's a spiritual successor, which has me very interested in this one. I had a chance to see it briefly, I want to say at Gamma if I'm not mistaken, but it might have been a different show. But, it's basically going to be building upon what Hercules and the 12 Labors did, which I did like, but I had some critiques as far as I felt like Hercules and the 12 Labors was a very solid theme, great card great art, uh great presentation, makes you feel powerful as you go through it. But, I definitely had some small complaints uh primarily around how linear the early game was, as well as the I can't remember the name of the cards, but the cards you have the basically the event cards that could drastically shift the entire game. And I know he's taken that feedback into account to some capacity. I don't know how much, but uh that feedback has been taken into account. So, as he builds out this uh follow-up, this uh successor Jason and the Argonauts, I'm hopeful that it'll be all the things I liked about Hercules while being a better experience. Then we have Codenames: Critical Role Adventures, which would be lower on my list of Codenames uh games that I'm interested in, except for the cooperative play. You see, I don't really care about Critical Role. Nothing against them. I'm just not a Critical Role viewer. So, to me like Critical Role Adventures like, okay, so Codenames with a theme that I don't know about or care about. But, I do like dungeon crawlers dungeon crawlers as a theme in general. I like RPGs as a theme. So, taking that role of RPGs going to have that familiarity. So, for example, if you have pull up one of these these cards over here, we have dragon, dexterity, campaign, fireball. Like, four of these words over here, they don't have to anything to do with Critical Role Adventures. They're just

7:07 generically RPG type stuff. So, I'm interested in that, but then the real hook for me is that this is going to have cooperative play with like leveling up your characters to defeat a final boss. I have no idea how that's going to manifest in a game of Codenames. Like, how are you taking Codenames, a game about exchanging words and clues, and then making it so you can level up your characters in cooperative play to defeat a final boss? If they actually manage to land that, then amazing. A new way to play Codenames. I love new ways to play games I already like. Alternatively, it might be a complete uh miss. I don't know which way, but I'm definitely intrigued to find out. Then we have Whisper Word over here. This is another one I I a chance to see at Gamma. I got a chance to play out a first round of Whisper Wood. Uh Whisper Wood is from Carbon Alchemy. It's their new, you know, uh it's more I think it's worker placement. Like I'm trying to remember like the mechanics were basically worker placement, tableau building, uh a little bit of a world map as well. There's a bunch of elements and and areas you're trying to a little bit bag building. There's bag building is uh two. But you're basically trying to I don't even know how to explain the game.

8:00 I don't know okay, I played a full round of this game. I don't know how to explain the game overall. I know the things I was doing to build up my tableau. I don't know the uh end game goals of what you're trying to do. But the first round was certainly intriguing as far as making me feel like that that escalation of my character, that escalation of how I'm going to be able to do more and more depending on how you build up and upgrade your actions. So all of that has me intrigued. I have not played a full game. This is not yet in that realm of uh oh my gosh, I love this game. This is very much in the realm of I see what they're going for and I'm intrigued and want to play it out. That's going to be Whisper Wood, the newest game coming from Carbon Alchemy. Then there's Ringo from Paverson Games. Paverson Games has done Luthier, they've done Distilled. Uh both fantastic games. Luthier more my alley. Distilled was a little bit more uh it it was positive plus for me. Uh but Ringo over here, this one seems to be the one that I am most primed to like just from a gameplay and theme type of a approach. Luthier was very solid. Luthier looked beautiful on the table. But uh Ringo over here, Ringo is going to be a game which you're going to be uh mastering a a militia force to help support the efforts of the shogun. It's going to be worker placement, uh auction mechanisms. Uh the game I had a chance again UKG last year.

9:05 I think I saw a first prototype of this which it didn't look nearly like quite fleshed out. I think it looked This is probably a similar Yeah, something like this is what it looked like when I saw it last year. I believe this is UKG. Prototype No, this is by Essen Spiel. Essen Spiel. So it hadn't developed much by then. But it has me very intrigued overall from the gameplay stance and I'm intrigued as far as the theme overall has me for pulled in. And again Paverson Games in general, their games have been top notch. So interested without knowing yet enough about it. Then there's Orlov. Orlov over here which I believe was it Devir who picked it up? No, someone else picked up Someone else picked up the localization of it. I don't remember who it was uh who picked this one up. But this was like the hit of Essen last year. Uh apps looks absolutely beautiful on the table. Ratings are are through the roof. It seems like one of those Euro games that really landed it, which every year there's always a few that really knock it out of the park. And Orléans seems like to be like the one from this past Essen. The problem is it's been hard to get your hands on it.

9:50 So, I'm interested. I'm interested in this one to see again, looks beautiful on the table, uh high ratings, high reviews, all of those things I like like I just got What's the game I just played? There are a few games that I was late to the party on this past year. We call, revive, Darwin's Journey I was so late to the party. I find with these Euro games, Euro games in general, uh uh because they're all ways of converting things to points, which technically all games are doing that. I find it takes a lot for me to really jump onto the Euro bandwagon to say this is a Euro I need to get my hands on. But over time, with enough attention and interest and rave reviews, I eventually give them a try. And sometimes they really land. Again, lots of these games, Shackleton Base, Darwin's Journey, Pirates of Maracaibo, these are all Euro games, uh Revive. These are all Euro games that when I played them, I was late to the party, I was behind the curve, uh but they're amazing. And sometimes they're not amazing, so there's also that I should remind myself of, too. Then there's Las Vegas. Las Vegas over here. Rafa This is a Ravensburger doing a reprint of this game. This is one of those incredible games. It's a 7.4 rating, which I I I mean this is Listen, this is a light dice chucking game, but I find it to be so much fun. I've played this game dozens and dozens of times. I have had so much fun across a wide variety of game groups. In Las Vegas, you're basically rolling dice and then you're trying to assign those dice to various casinos to get the pot at that casino, which is dealt out randomly each round.

10:59 The hook of it is that you have to have the most dice, and ties means you're both eliminated. So, for example, on this tile over here, you see two pink and two red, blue's actually getting the highest bill over there because the blue and pink are eliminated from the the nature of the way ties work. So, you really have to get ahead of other players. You can't just get into a a a a fight off against other players if you neither one of you is going to back down, because other players are going to be the beneficiary of that. That combined with the fact that you only have so much guarantee over the actual roll you're making with your dice, and this has been a fast-paced fun game that I'm excited to see a new version, a a of this one out, because I think this is a game that everyone should have the opportunity to try and sometimes games go out of print and that's what reprints are for. Then we have Yotai over here. Yotai was just at a crowdfunding campaign for Mighty Boards over here. It looks absolutely charming. This game in this game you're going to be cra- crafting the most enchanting Hokkaido town with potatoes. Potatoes is your currency. You're bidding with potatoes, unearthing more potatoes. The art the the styling of it looks very cozy, very accessible. Again, gameplay is always going to be king over everything else for me, so that's the tricky part cuz the rating of eight over here how much of that is being boosted by the charm of the game, but it looks to be a relatively short game, 30 to 60 minutes with a charming theme, good components, and good gameplay. I believe I saw this at Essen last year and I tried to get my hands on it and they were like they were not selling any copies. They're like, "Nope, we we're just like the demand was too high." If it was I believe it was Yotai. I'm 99% sure it was Yotai that they were sold out at Essen and you couldn't get your hands on it. So having a new crowdfunding campaign makes sense and it'll be available at UKGE. Then coming in at number three, we have Grunts. Grunts from All Play over here.

12:27 This is one in which is basically the theme would not have pulled me in, but I had a chance to play this one at Dice Tower Retreat, I want to say. One of the Dice Tower events last year I had a chance to play this before it was actually out yet. But this is I believe it's a well, it's at UKGE as well you can go ahead and get your hands on it. But it's basically a tactical two-player game in which you're trying to be mindful of the various paths you can take between your tanks, your airplane, your units all the while you're trying to control the various areas of the battlefield while slowly eliminating your forces or your opponent's forces. It is incredibly tense. It lots of counting. That's the thing I like in two-player games where you it's really about, "Okay, I can do this, but you can respond like that." And then I can respond like this and you can respond like that. And you go back and forth trying to outmaneuver your opponent and thinking through the different actions they can take. It is very strategic, very well done. I thought this was absolutely brilliant. And the theme is, you know, it's it's it's a war theme which is usually less my jam, but I don't mind war themes when they're cutsey and this definitely leans into the cutsey kind of vibe. I definitely try definitely check this one if you have a chance. If you like two-player tactical abstract games, that's what Grunts is. It is worth checking out.

13:25 It's the kind of game where the art I don't think would pull you in. Well, I shouldn't say the art would pull you in. I would I should rephrase that as it's the kind of game that looking at the art I would not have gotten the experience I thought I was getting out of it, okay? Or I I said that poorly again. The experience I got was not the experience I was expecting to get. That's probably what makes the most sense. And so I I I think if you're a fan of two-player abstracts, this should definitely be up your alley. Then we have coming in at number two, we have Four Souls Dartmouth. This is the first expansion to Four Souls Dartmouth, not the first expansion to Four Souls, but we had Four Souls, then we had Dartmouth, which by the way, as much as I love Four Souls Dartmouth, and I do love Four Souls Dartmouth, I will say that the second game in the Four Souls series is like, "Hey, we have trees, and then we have moors." I feel like they could have done like ocean shuffle. They could have done ocean shuffle, okay? Or I still want to see that April Fools joke, remember Dragon Souls, that April Fools joke? I still want to see that. So, there's so many themes they could have gone with, and they're like, "Hey, let's do from trees to like other trees."

14:22 I love Dartmouth, I do. I love both games, I own both games, but I really think that they have a lot of ways they can branch out without just being more green things and insects. But either way, all that little mini complaint aside, Four Souls Dartmouth, I'm happy there's a new expansion coming, because I think Four Souls is excellent, I think expansions improve the experience, and I'm happy that Dartmouth is also getting expanded upon, because hey, more cards, more of them, more and more ways, more and more things you can integrate, assuming they balance them well like they did with the other expansions for Four Souls. Then I am all here for this a good expansion to a game I absolutely love. And then number one is Driller's. Driller's from CGE, and one of the things that's actually funny about this one is if you look at the the the reviews on this, the reviews, one of the negative reviews has me more interested. I should start by saying I don't care about deck builders. I feel that etc. etc. etc. It felt similar to Lost Ruins of Arnak with a stronger emphasis on deck building and no worker placement. I love Lost Ruins of Arnak. I want Lost Ruins of Arnak to have a stronger emphasis on deck building. In Driller's, you're basically building a deck. Uh you're building a deck as you attempt to mine further and further down, and then get more stuff to build a better deck and mine more and more further down. So, it has that kind of progressive element similar to uh Lost Ruins of Arnak you're going up a temple track, but now you're going down into the earth. Up versus down, it's an entirely different game.

15:29 But, the art looks great. Uh the presentation looks very solid. The that the mechanic of deck-building I am all here for. I love deck-building. The only question is whether they can actually make this feel reasonably distinct. All jokes aside about that comment as far as how it does actually pull me in, similar to Lost Ruins of Arnak, one of my favorite games of all time, but with more deck-building, yes, please. I do recognize that it's something that can be hard for deck-builders to truly stand out because there are so many deck-builders out there. So, this could be a CGE game that knocks it out of the park. They've done great with Settlers for me. They've done great with Arnak for me. They've done great with a variety of other games that I'm not thinking of off hand. But, then again, their last game that I that I could totally bounced off of was Oh my gosh, what's the game? What's the city game? The the city I can't remember what it's called. The the um it's it was so forgettable to me. Could've Had a Horr. Could've Had a Horr, completely forgettable to me. So, not every CGE game is a banger. I am hopeful and optimistic that this one might be, but ultimately we shall see. Anyways, that is your UKGE uh little 15 games I'm excited to see over there. Some available to buy, some available to demo. I will see what I actually come home with. Typically with the international cons, I only come home with one or two games because luggage space is at a premium. Uh and then the others I just, you know, wait till Origins or Gen Con and see what I can get my hands on there. But, at the very least I can try some of these and that's exciting, too. Anyways, until next time.

16:40 I'm Alex Backer from Board Game Co. I hope you found this video helpful in some way. And as always, I hope you have a good one.