When it comes to board games, like any other art, there are classics. The baseline titles everyone knows and that stay on the shelves for 30,40, 50, or even 100 years almost unchanged from their original form. Clue, Monopoly, Risk. Every decade has had new ones, but with the recent board game renaissance these classics have found new ways to get played with remixes, rehashes, and re-implementations. That same renaissance also means that these new version of old games need something special to make them standout. After all, why play Risk when you could play Twilight Imperium? Why play Monopoly when you could play Ticket To Ride? To meet these new audiences, classic games often pair up with popular genres and properties to get that extra oomph, and with those themes comes deeper structural changes that sometimes help them reach new heights of innovation and replayability.
Robo Rally Transformers
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
MSRP: $55.00
Robo Rally is a 90’s classic, pitting robots against each other in different races around their factory. Its combination of Battlebots-esque cartoon violence with it’s replication of actual programming means it remains a game that people think fondly of. While fans of the game can enjoy the 30th Anniversary Edition for a taste of that goofiness updated to 2024, the new re-implementation of the game by Renegade that focuses on the Transformers offers an interesting take on the formula. On top of the regular programmed movements and racing, players get to choose between the robot and vehicle forms to compete in the race, each with their own advantages on the desert or Cybertron tracks. Plus, there’s plenty of new elements to keep things varied like drifting, bombs, jump ramps, and more.
Star Trek: Catan
Publisher: CATAN Studio
MSRP: $65.00
Star Trek CATAN is one of the hottest commodities on the secondhand board game market for a reason: it rocks. Based in the TOS era, the game replaces the Settlers of the original CATAN with Starfleet’s starbases and outposts. Instead of roads you connect the planets together Starships, you’ll trade futuristic resources (dilithium, tritanium, food, oxygen and water), and fight off the Klingons rather than a Thief. You can also enlist the aid of the Enterprise crew (and Sarek) as support characters to help with development. Few remakes of classic games are so deft at not just making the original game fit into a new universe, but improve on it in so many key ways. If you get the chance to play this, or somehow can buy it at a reasonable price, it’s an excellent new way to experience CATAN.
GI Joe: Battle For The Arctic Circle
Publisher: Renegade Games
MSRP: $60
Another bit of new resurrection from Renegade is Battle for the Arctic Circle, which translates the historical wargame formula of Axis & Allies into the cartoon world of GI Joe. Rather than a battle between WWII factions, you choose from either the Joes or the villainous COBRA in a battle for Arctic supremacy. Not only does it make the A&A format a little more fun (if you’re not a history dork like me it can be a little dry), it also makes the game a bit more accessible for younger players. The new setting also allows for some mad science to come into play like Destro’s Weather Dominator being able to alter the terrain or the Rattler being able to land and takeoff pretty much anywhere.
RISK Warhammer 40k
Publisher: The OP
MSRP: $49.99
Risk is a classic in wargaming, so it makes logical sense for it to be married to Warhammer 40k. Risk remakes have always had little touches that make them feel special, but this version goes the extra mile by giving the different factions their own abilities and strengths to help them stand out in the battle for supremacy. The map itself is a lot more flexible and weird than the traditional Risk map and encourages a very different playstyle that feels more aggressive and in line with the 40k vibe. You’ll fight more, you’ll win more, you’ll die more. Blood for the Blood Bod, skulls for the Skull Throne.
Star Trek: Frontiers
Publisher: Wizkids
MSRP: $79.99
Double dipping into the world of Star Trek here but it really feels like the world of Trek makes it ripe for board game adaptation. Mage Knight, for those who aren’t aware, is considered one of the best board games of the 20th century thanks to a mix of RPG and board game that almost predicted some of the most popular modern games like Gloomhaven. Star Trek: Frontiers takes Mage Knight and moves it into its universe. Now you have the opportunity to crew your own ship with some of your favorite Trek characters as you battle it out with the Klingons and explore a brand new section of the galaxy. The strength of Frontiers, like Mage Knight, is in the sheer variety of playstyle: it can be a competitive strategy game, a co-op adventure, or even a solo title that lets you build your story the way you like.
Images via respective owners
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