The View from the Turret

The Best Games Not Yet Published, 2010

Posted on 20Jan10 Updated on 12Jan11

Another new year, another new set of games and miniatures to lust after! It is time for our annual look at the games and miniatures we are most anxiously awaiting in 2010. Our 2009 prognostications did pretty well so here we go again. As always, there is no guarantee any of these titles will be published in 2010, nor that they will be any good if they are, but we are optimistic.

Miniature Games

• Flames of War [Battlefront] – 2010 is already set to be a big year for FoW fans. The Market-Garden material is on its way including the new campaign game, the new Eastern Front book is out, new terrain is out with more on the way, the new Army Kit bag is out, and the Vietnam range is basically sold out. Still on the way is early war and certainly some more surprises. We hope they will do more Vietnam releases.
• WH40K [Games Workshop] – 2009 was a great year for 40K and 2010 will probably be just as good. The excellent new Tyranid models and codex are out and the battle missions book should be out soon. On tap next is a redo of the Blood Angels Space Marine codex. Plastic Imperial Guard Storm Troopers is a rumor that won’t go away and a new Chimera is confirmed. What else we will see in 2010 is hard to say at this point but it will almost certainly be good.
• WH40K Forge World – FW continues to make great stuff and Imperial Armor Vol 8 should come out in 2010. But 2009 saw almost no Aeronautica Imperialis items. It is a great game and we hope they will do something for it in 2010.
• Warhammer Historical – They caused a stir with their new 28mm WW2 skirmish game demo. We should see this released as a set of rules this year.
• Firestorm: Armada [Spartan Games] – Spartan produced an instant classic with FA. We should see the four core fleets get more units and perhaps the Directorate and Relthoza fleet models will release in 2010. Fleet specific card decks is another rumor.
• Incursion [Grindhouse Games] – Grindhouse’s  ‘weird war’ version of Space Hulk and Wolfenstein 3D set in an alternate WW2 universe will ship in February. We should see new miniatures for the game in 2010 and maybe even an expansion.
• 15mm Sci-Fi – Ground Zero Games, Critical Mass Games, Rebel Minis, and Khurasan Miniatures all released outstanding 15mm sci-fi minis in 2009. 2010 should see all their ranges expand. Now if we could only find a set of rules we like to use with them. Where is FoW in space?!
• AT-43 [Rackham] – 2009 saw two new armies released (the Cogs and ONI) with some very nice, and not so nice, models.  There are rumors of another new army for 2010. But with nothing happening on the rules/campaign front we are much less excited than we once were.

Board Games

• Conflict of Heroes: First Men In – Normandy 1944 [Academy Games] – The CoH system is an outstanding squad-level WW2 tactical game system. It uses innovative action point and card mechanics that keep the rules to a minimum but offer great playability and simulation value. COH: Normandy 1944 is the next game in the series and should release late 2010 or early 2011.
• Storm Over Normandy [Multiman Publishing] – SON is the next game in MMP’s SO series. We put Storm Over Stalingrad on our Top Picks list and SON should be even better. Of course with MMP the game may be out in 2o10 or 2020 so who knows.
• GMT Games – They have a number of good looking titles in the pipeline including Stalin’s War, Normandy ’44, and Blood & Sand.
• Combat Commander [GMT Games] – Battle Pack #3: Normandy is already set for 2010. We still hope to see a Battle Pack for the Pacific.
• Lock ‘n Load Games – LnL has some great games set for 2010. All Things Zombie and Dawn’s Early Light should be out soon. Their long awaited White Star Rising, their first WW2 version of their World at War modern platoon-level series, should certainly ship this year.
• Where Eagles Dare [Multiman Publishing] – The Devil’s Cauldron was released and the southern portion, Where Eagles Dare, is now on preorder along with the smaller No Question of Surrender. The system is well done overall and if you enjoy monster games it is a must get.
• Horus Heresy [Fantasy Flight Games] – The new Horus Heresy board game from FFG is looking very nice. 40K fans will get a good strategic game at last. Considering FFG’s track record this should be a good bet.
• Tide of Iron [Fantasy Flight Games] – FFG only released map boards in 2009 so hopefully we will see something good in 2010.
• Ogre [Steve Jackson Games] – In 2008 SJG announced it was working on a new Ogre 6th Edition “with high-quality components.” Initially this got us very excited. Ogre and GEV are two of the classic wargames of all time but even after 25 years SJG has never managed to release a quality boardgame version (mounted map, thick color counters, etc). Delays and talk of ‘cost overruns’ are making it look like Ogre may once again get cheated out of a quality presentation and it did not make it out in 2009. Why GMT Games, Multiman Publishing, Lock’N Load Games, and even the new Academy Games can release luscious, high quality boardgames and SJG has been unable to do the same for one of the hobby’s classics is a complete mystery. But there is still hope. Maybe 2010 will be the year?

Computer Games

• Achtung Panzer [Paradox Interactive] – 1943 Battle of Kharkov. The game features both turn-based and realtime play with both operational and tactical modes.
• Combat Mission [Battlefront.com] – BF released Shock Force British Forces for their modern successor to the classic Combat Mission series, Combat Mission: Shock Force, in 2009. We still hope to see a WW2 title soon but in February Battlefront announced their next game in the series will be Combat Mission Afghanistan. It will be a stand-alone title not an expansion and should be released mid-year.
• Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge [Panther Games] – A new Battle of the Bulge game (you can never have too many!) from the makers of one our all time favorite computer wargames, Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich. CO: Battles from the Bulge basically brings the latest version of the AA system to the Bulge. “Players have the opportunity to take command of Corps, Division, or Brigade levels of troops for a real-time strategy game in a series that boasts some of the most challenging AI in a wargame. ” You can see screen shots of CO:BftB at The Wargamer.
• Heroes of Stalingrad [Lock ‘n Load Games] – LnL announced they are almost finished with Heroes of Stalingrad so we should see it in 2010 at last! For now there are still the old videos. HoS looks to be similar to some of the classic computer wargames of old in that it is more of a computerized version of a traditional board wargame.

Also see our Best Games Not Yet Published – 2011.

[Updated: 12FEB10]