News

• Spiel des Jahres Winners: JinxO, Rebirth
• After 10 years, Mechs vs Minions gets its first expansion – Bandle City
• CGE: Kingdom Come: Deliverance: The Boardgame
• CGE: Surprise Shipment expansion for Lost Ruins of Arnak
• Small Batch, a Distilled spin-off game from Paverson Games (coming ‘27)
• Dominant Species, new print from AllPlay, with Ian O’Toole artwork & graphic design. And yes, solo mode from Dávid Turczi & team (including Nick!)
• Crash Landed from AllPlay is designed by Robert Hovakimyan and Sen-Foong Lim with artwork by Jake Morrison, and puts players in the role of survivors after their ship crashes on a mysterious alien planet.
• Restoration Games blueprints panel was a little underwhelming; nothing much too exciting unless you like Unmatched, Study in Terror and collab with Slay the Spire
• Rain ends play at GenCon
• Tag Team: SNK Arcade Legends. A seventh character, Iori Yagami, is available as an exclusive pre-order promo.
• Clank! 10th anniversary big box edition coming to Kickstarter.

Crowdfunding

• HOXFALL
• Space Junkers
• The Lord of the Rings: Ascension
• STAG
• The Guild: Ren Faire’d
• Children of Time: The Roleplaying Game

What we played 

• Joel 
  • Cosy Stickerville
  • Excalibur
• Nick
  • Moon Colony Bloodbath
  • Star Trek: Space Hunt
  • Bomb Busters
  • OverPower
  • Prussian Rails

Ways you can engage or contact the show

Here is the link to our Discord channel, Devon Dice: https://discord.gg/ma7Z4Jvv2z

Find us on all the socials: @DevonDiceUK, Facebook page, BGG Guild

On X / Twitter: @DepressedMonk3y @The_BreweryTour @njshaw2  

On Bluesky: njshaw2.bsky.social, devondice.bsky.social

On the web: www.devondice.co.uk

YouTube – DevonDiceUK Please like and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/@DevonDice

devondice2015@gmail.com

Quick News

• Spiel des Jahres nominees announced:
  • KennerSdJ:
    • Boss Fighters QR
    • Rebirth
    • Moon Colony Bloodbath
  • SdJ:
    • Dito! (JinxO)
    • Cozy Stickerville
    • Morty Sorty Magic Shop
• Whose Turn Is It Anyway – rebrands / relaunches as Just Play Podcast, hosted just by JP

Crowdfunders

• Concordia Special Edition
• Altera – the new game from IV Studios
• Shug – the UKGE party game winner for a whole 10-minutes 😀
• ROKR Dinosaur Lab Pinball

Coming Soon

• Isle of Penguins
• Thunder Road: Ignition

UK Games Expo Wrap-up

• Hotels
• Parking
• Interesting stands
  • Nice art stalls
  • Socks stand
  • Pin collection
  • Bring and Buy
  • Press Event
  • Attendance: 51,196 unique attendees, 87,837 turnstile attendees
• Events
  • Nick: How was: Discworld: All That is Gold Is Not Butter 
• Games demoed/played
  • Joel:
    • Space Junkers
    • Flip Pick Towers 
    • Camping Season 
    • Big Shot 
    • Papyria 
    • Yubibo
    • For the Gods
    • Hachette games 
    • Rattlesnake
    • Symbiosis
    • Courtisans
  • Sam
    • Mythologies
    • First Giants
    • Link City
    • Star Wars: Battle of Hoth
    • Clank! Catacombs + both expansions
    • Finspan + expansion
    • DC Breakout – finally picked up a copy
  • Nick: Mostly same as Joel. 😀
    • Mountain Goats
    • D.O.T
    • Trouble on the Tempus
    • Kobayakawa
    • For the Gods
    • Tenby

Ways you can engage or contact the show

Here is the link to our Discord channel, Devon Dice: https://discord.gg/ma7Z4Jvv2z

Find us on all the socials: @DevonDiceUK, Facebook page, BGG Guild

On X / Twitter: @DepressedMonk3y @The_BreweryTour @njshaw2  

On Bluesky: njshaw2.bsky.social, devondice.bsky.social

On the web: www.devondice.co.uk

YouTube – DevonDiceUK Please like and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/@DevonDice

devondice2015@gmail.com

News

• Clank! Master Thief Edition announced
• Bloomsbury want to offload Osprey Games
• Golden Geek Awards announced
• Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG + Unstoppable on Backerkit
• UKGE Judges Choice Awards announced

UK Games Expo

• Quick overview of changes to the expo
• Only Nick has tickets for an event – though Sam just found out the original Treyguard from Knightmare the TV show is guesting Knightmare Live on Saturday night!
• We run down a very loose top ten games we’re excited for

Ways you can engage or contact the show

Here is the link to our Discord channel, Devon Dice: https://discord.gg/ma7Z4Jvv2z

Find us on all the socials: @DevonDiceUK, Facebook page, BGG Guild

On X / Twitter: @DepressedMonk3y @The_BreweryTour @njshaw2  

On Bluesky: njshaw2.bsky.social, devondice.bsky.social

On the web: www.devondice.co.uk

YouTube – DevonDiceUK Please like and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/@DevonDice

devondice2015@gmail.com

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bastian/better-together License code: DG5OGTZEG80OP2S0

Yes, the news and crowdfunding sections are now wildly out of date, but somehow it is still entertaining. We hope you enjoy the episode, and stay tuned, as our UKGE preview show is coming up next.

Conventions

• The Torquay Full Board Gaming weekend – available to book now for Jan 2027
• Fox and Hound’s Boardgaming Weekend – last weekend, podcast to follow
• Baycon: 8th-12th April, in Kennford

News

• Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit gets a Restoration Games restoration as The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit.
• Asmodee acquires Japon Brand.
• Awaken Realms makes a statement about their use (or not) of AI in their games’ artwork.
• Smaller Games are the new ‘thing’ in gaming for 2026.
• Dicetower review of Roborover: 2077 Last Hope, but Grimcoven gets some great reviews

Crowdfunding

• Brass: Pittsburgh
• Apex Carnivore
• Here to Slay DUNGEONS
• The Official Cyberpunk Trading Card Game
• Slay the Spire: Downfall
• Fight! Mortal Kombat Deckbuilding Game – based on Cyptozoic’s Cerebus deck-building engine
• Capitals of Tactoria

What we played 

• Joel 
  • Koi
  • Festival
• Nick
  • Western Legends
  • Rummy
  • Bus & Stop
  • Belfort

Conventions

• The Torquay Full Board Gaming weekend: Just happened this past weekend
• Fox and Hound’s Boardgaming Weekend: 20th-22nd March
• Baycon: 8th-12th April, in Kennford

News

• As reported a few podcast episodes ago, W Eric Martin has now left BGG to run his own independent news site, Board Game Beat. No clue as to if anyone will take over BGG’s News blog.
• Sam Healey leaves the Dice Tower amidst a bit of controversy
• A new Forest Shuffle stand-alone game: Smoky Mountains, plus a Forest Shuffle Dartmoor expansion, Exmoor, announced.
• Two new King of Tokyo spinoff games announced: King of Tokyo Duel: Tokyo Bay, and King of Tokyo: Godzilla.
• Clank! 10 years old
• Labyrinth + Carcassonne crossover

Crowdfunding

• The next Scott Almes’ game: Tiny Epic Invincible
• Pampero reprint + new expansion
• A triple KS of Trick Takers from Portland Game Collective
• Knizia’s next rebranding is for his older game, Spectaculum, as Gold Country
• Mythwind – new expansions
• Stellar Ventures – described as “cube rails in space”

Flash Point: Fire Rescue Micro Space Empire Kingdom Builder 11 A Game of Thrones 19 My Happy Farm

Ways you can engage or contact the show

Here is the link to our Discord channel, Devon Dice: https://discord.gg/ma7Z4Jvv2z

Find us on all the socials: @DevonDiceUK, Facebook page, BGG Guild

On X / Twitter: @DepressedMonk3y @The_BreweryTour @njshaw2  

On Bluesky: njshaw2.bsky.social, devondice.bsky.social

On the web: www.devondice.co.uk

YouTube – DevonDiceUK Please like and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/@DevonDice

devondice2015@gmail.com

In this episode of the Devon Dice Podcast, Joel is joined by Nick to dive into a nostalgic showdown of their best games of 2016 and 2021, comparing favourites, surprises, and all-time table hits from two great gaming years. The duo also cover upcoming conventions, including Torquay Gaming Weekend, AndyCon, and the Fox & Hounds Board Gaming Weekend. Along the way, they tackle the latest news—such as Cole Wehrle leaving Leder Games and the cancellation of the TAKE crowdfunder—plus a stack of crowdfunding highlights before counting down their Top 5 lists and honourable mentions from both 2016 and 2021.

Upcoming conventions:

• Torquay gaming weekend (Full Board Gaming) at the end of January
• AndyCon
• Fox and Hound’s 20th-22nd March Boardgaming Weekend

News:

• Cole Wehrle leaves Leder Games, causing the planned forthcoming TAKE crowdfunder to be scrapped.

Crowdfunding:

• Colt Express: Complete Collection
• Mountain Goats Legacy + Enchanted Ivy
• Old King’s Crown: 2nd printing + new expansion
• Arborea: Reprint, + new Corruption & Rewild expansions

Top 5 of 2016, top 5 of 2021

• Merchants Cove 
• Mechs vs. Minions 
• Red Rising 
• Ark Nova
• Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure
• Terraforming Mars
• Imperial Steam
• Descent: Le
• Great Western Trail
• Junk Art
• The Hunger
• Golem
• Vast: The Crystal Caverns
• Excavation Earth
• The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
• Crisis
• Happy Salmon
• Boonlake
• Lorenzo il Magnifico
• Citadels (2016 Edition)

Ways you can engage or contact the show

Here is the link to our Discord channel, Devon Dice: https://discord.gg/ma7Z4Jvv2z

Find us on all the socials: @DevonDiceUK, Facebook page, BGG Guild

On X / Twitter: @DepressedMonk3y @The_BreweryTour @njshaw2  

On Bluesky: njshaw2.bsky.social, devondice.bsky.social

On the web: www.devondice.co.uk

YouTube – DevonDiceUK Please like and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/@DevonDice

devondice2015@gmail.com

Upcoming conventions:

• Torquay gaming weekend (Full Board Gaming) at the end of January
• AndyCon
• Fox and Hound’s 20th-22nd March Boardgaming Weekend

• News

  • Fox and Hound’s 20th-22nd March Boardgaming Weekend
  • Stonemeier’s big news dump:
    • Wingspan expansion #4 is South & Central America and Caribbean, and includes smaller Hummingbird cards and a new card action. Coming Jan 21st.
    • Euphoria new “revised edition”, which will include the expansion.
    • New Scythe vs Expeditions 2p battling game, which can use factions from each of the other games.
    • Viticulture new expansion.
    • Next Finspan expansion due Q2.
    • Namiji, in the new Stonemeier edition, due Q4
    • New unnamed Wingspan spinoff game which is meant to be a quick (20min) and smaller-table-hog version, more suitable for introducing to players new to boardgaming.
  • AllPlay announces Mountain Goats Legacy, and Enchanted Ivy, solo only!
  • Dice Tower Gamefound campaign
  • Breaking news (just put on BGG), for GenCon releases:
    • New sequel to The Crew: The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth
    • New Deluxe edition of The Gang

  Best played games of 2025, new games to us. 

  The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth

• Harmonies
• Light Speed: Arena
• The Guild of Merchant Explorers
• Pirates of Maracaibo
• The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition
• Vantage
• Transgalactica 
• Rainbow
• 1A.M. Jailbreak
• Boss Fighters QR
• Endeavor: Deep Sea
• Railway Boom
• Finspan
• Spectacular
• Rock Hard 1977
• Coming of Age
• Flash Point: Legacy of Flame
• Petiquette
• Finspan
• Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan
• River of Gold
• Let’s Go To Japan
• Wriggle Roulette
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game
• The White Castle
• Tag Team
• Fire Tower: Rising Flames
• Civolution
• Lost Ruins of Arnak: Twisted Paths
• The Game Makers
• Pirates of Maracaibo
• Star Trek: Captain’s Chair

Ways you can engage or contact the show

Here is the link to our Discord channel, Devon Dice: https://discord.gg/ma7Z4Jvv2z

Find us on all the socials: @DevonDiceUK, Facebook page, BGG Guild

On X / Twitter: @DepressedMonk3y @The_BreweryTour @njshaw2  

On Bluesky: njshaw2.bsky.social, devondice.bsky.social

On the web: www.devondice.co.uk

YouTube – DevonDiceUK Please like and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/@DevonDice

devondice2015@gmail.com

Joel’s list of all new to him, played games:

 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game 

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship

Going Off Script

Search your feelings, you know it to be true…: there is no script.

• W. Eric Martin is leaving BGG & starting an independent board game news site (launching in Feb 2026)
• Tag Team expansion announced
• Ark Nova becomes #2 on BGG
• Is this the end of reprints?
• Fox & Hounds March ‘26 boardgaming weekend

• Some Year-in-Reviews

TV Shows, Movies, Video Games, Books & Podcasts

Lewis:

• TV:
  • Star Trek: TNG
  • Yellowstone
  • Silo
  • Marty Supreme
  • Scrubs (new series)
• Films:
  • F1: The Movie
• Books:
  • 1984
  • The Age of Diagnosis

Nick:

• TV:
  • Alien: Earth (season 1)
  • Wednesday (season 2)
  • Only Murders in the Building (season 5)
  • Inspector George Gently
  • Stranger Things (season 5 first half)
• Podcasts:
  • Cyber Hack
  • Tony Robinson’s Cunning Cast

Joel:

• TV:
  • Slow Horses
  • Peacemaker
  • Fallout (season 2)
  • Upload (season 4)
  • Severance
  • The Pitt (looking forward to it)
• Films:
  • Mission Impossible films
• Books:
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl
  • The Psychopath Inside, Professor James Fallon
  • My Parent the Peacock: Discovery and Recovery from Narcissistic Parenting
• Video games:
  • A Game About Digging A Hole
  • Supermarket Simulator
  • Roadcraft
  • Expedition 33
  • Marvel Snap. Still! 😀

Ways you can engage or contact the show

Here is the link to our Discord channel, Devon Dice: https://discord.gg/ma7Z4Jvv2z

Find us on all the socials: @DevonDiceUK, Facebook page, BGG Guild

On X / Twitter: @DepressedMonk3y @The_BreweryTour @njshaw2  

On Bluesky: njshaw2.bsky.social, devondice.bsky.social

On the web: www.devondice.co.uk

YouTube – DevonDiceUK Please like and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/@DevonDice

devondice2015@gmail.com

Devon Board Game Weekend – March ’26 Room Reservations can be made from at by calling 01769 580 345 or emailing relax@foxandhoundshotel.co.uk from 11am 05/12/2025

Not-a-lot-of News

• New HEAT expansion, Rocky Roads, coming at Cannes 2026 (source)
• Wise Wizard Games forced to downsize to cut costs
• Braincrack Games closes its doors

Crowdfunders

Already ended in November:

• Zombie Princess [ended 24th Nov, but Late Pledge Available] – Bezier Games’ follow-up to their Rebel Princess hearts-based game, with this spades-based game
• Song of Silveranth – [ended 3rd Nov, on $750k]  new Ryan Laukat open-world game
• Terra Mystica Special Edition – [ended 4th Nov, on $1m], a deluxe edition of Terra Mystica
• Movers & Shakers – [ended 6th Nov] trains FWT!

Still running:

• Snowdonia: The Grand Tour – [ends 3rd Dec] from Naylor Games; updated with new graphic design, artwork, and lots of new scenarios + final fix pack for the NSKN Deluxe Edition
• The Great Library – [ends 19th Dec] the new Lacerda game
• Rove: Anchorpoint expansion – [ends 8th Dec]

Coming soon:

• RA: The Dice Game & Rheinlander – updated versions of some Knizia games, with Ian O’Toole artwork, start 2nd Dec.
• Tigris & Euphrates – a new edition of another beloved classic Knizia game, with Ian O’Toole artwork, starts Jan ‘26.
• Terraforming Mars: Legacy – long-teased legacy version of Terraforming Mars, coming Jan ‘26. Very little info so far, except that it is apparently crowdfunding just scenarios 1-3 at first, then another campaign sometime later for scenarios 4-6.

Conventions Wrap-up

Conventions we’ve been at recently

• Essen Spiel – 22th – 25th Oct – we couldn’t make it. Sounded fun though. 😀
  • See Nick’s Essen pics on the website
• Fox & Hounds board game weekend – 17th – 19th October
  • Wrap-up
• Ocean City Games Expo – 25th October
  • Wrap-up
  • Brethren
• Gridcon – 21st – 23rd November
  • Wrap-up
  • Played together:
    • Boss Fighter QR
    • Railway Boom
    • Pirate Republic: Africa Gambit
    • Sanctuary
    • Return to Dark Tower
    • Light Speed Arena
    • Wroth
  • Joel’s Plays:
    • Emberheart
    • Railway Boom again 
    • Coming of Age
    • Boss Fighter QR again
    • Fearless
    • Tag Team
    • Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth: Allies expansion
  • Nick’s Plays:
    • Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship

Conventions

• Fox & Hounds board game weekend – 17th – 19th October
  • Hotel rooms not sold out
  • A few day/weekend tickets are still available?…
• Ocean City Games Expo – Sat. 25th October
• (Gridcon in November, but that’s long since sold out)

News

• There goes another one: Ludonaute to stop publishing new games
• Asmodee announce plans to release more kids-version adaptions of classic games
• People’s Choice Top Solo Games 2025 voting is open
• New Stonemeier game announced: Origin Story 
• Restoration Games announced a load of new stuff:
  • New Unmatched stuff 
  • New Thunder Road Vendetta expansion Interstate of Decay (KS Spring 26)
  • Return to Dark Tower expansion, The Expeditions (KS Oct 25)

Crowdfunding

Kickstarter

• The Game Makers (ended)

• Art Society: Deluxe + Expansion (ended)

• Galactic Cruise: Achievements Expansion (ended)

• Dinosaur Island: Fully Charged (ends 11th Oct)
• Garden Trilogy – Paradise of Dinosaurs, Birds, and Fish (ends 15th Oct)
• Mystic Lands from AEG – coming soon
• Vampire Survivors: The Board Game – coming soon

Gamefound

• Ark Nova – 3Dition (ended)

• Blood Rage: Valhalla (ended)

• Terra Mystica Ultimate Edition – coming soon

Played Games

• Nick

• • • Ayar: Children of the Sun
    • Jerusalem
    • Duel for Cardia
    • On BGA:
      • Tag Team
      • Moonshine

• Joel

• Wyrmspan: Dragon Academy 

• • • Merchant’s Cove (boxing it all up)

• Lewis

• • Escape from Colditz
  • Betrayal at House on the Hill
  • Tapestry
  • Britannia

​​

Ways you can engage or contact the show

Here is the link to our Discord channel, Devon Dice: https://discord.gg/ma7Z4Jvv2z

Find us on all the socials: @DevonDiceUK, Facebook page, BGG Guild

On X / Twitter: @DepressedMonk3y @The_BreweryTour @njshaw2  

On Bluesky: njshaw2.bsky.social, devondice.bsky.social

On the web: www.devondice.co.uk

YouTube – DevonDiceUK Please like and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/@DevonDice

devondice2015@gmail.com