Re-Roll: This Week’s Tabletop Game News for the Week Ending January 15, 2021

Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending January 15, 2021. 

Gaming News

• Pandasaurus is now taking orders for Umbra Via, a game where “players compete to control and complete the most cunning paths” through their garden.
• Asmodee imprint Unexpected Games is taking preorders for their first title, The Initiative, a cooperative game where players “take on the role of teenagers in 1994 who have found a mysterious board game called The Key.” While playing the game-within-the-game, players follow missions from an interactive comic book. The game is designed by Corey Konieczka, who currently leads Unexpected Games after a career at Fantasy Flight, where he worked on titles such as Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, Star Wars: Rebellion, and Mansions of Madness: First Edition.
• Renegade Games is taking preorders for Hadrian’s Wall (watch here on GeekDad for a full review soon) and Embarcadero.
• Portal Games is set to release The Vienna Connection, a stand-alone title in the Detective series. It’s also available for pre-order.
• Casual Game Revolution has opened voting for their “Best Casual Game of 2020.” Their nominees are GeekDad Approved My City and GeekDad Game of the Year Finalists Back to the Future: Back in Time and Calico. Voting is open now and runs through January 24.
• The Altered Carbon Roleplaying Game is now available from Renegade.
• Despite the slow initial rollout of the vaccine, there is still hope that by late summer or early fall we’ll be getting back to normal. With that in mind, GAMA has announced that they are pushing the Origins Game Fair, normally held in June, back to fall. The convention is now scheduled for September 30-October 3 and will still be held in Columbus.
• Hack & Slash is an upcoming card and dice game from Steve Jackson Games, due out soon.
• Hyperspace Smuggler has been signed by Leder Games, which will retheme and rename the game.

GeekDad Reviews

What we’ve reviewed this week:

• Michael Knight reviewed Herobane.
• Jonathan Liu reviewed Pingyao: First Chinese Banks.

What We’re Playing

Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:

• Michael Knight played Herobane, Fantasy Realms, and Magic: The Gathering.
• Jonathan Liu played The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Carcassonne, and Umbra Via.
• Robin Brooks played Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm and Mörk Borg.
• Michael Pistiolas played Boss Monster, Guildhall, Harry Potter: Hogwart’s Battle, and Wreck Raiders.
• I played The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine and Rummikub, our featured image this week.