Every fall brings board gamers to Essen, the largest convention purely focused on tabletop games (GenCon, by contrast, covers a much broader hobby swath). Designers show off their new ideas, publishers sell early copies of their newest titles while demoing those yet to come. It’s both a fair and a hype machine. In our hobby, it’s easy to get excited about the new (which is awesome), but today we’re going to showcase the awesome alternatives to some of Essen’s highlights. The games you can play now, not some time next year or when a full print run gets off the ground. So read on and find some great games to tide you over until Essen’s best hit store shelves.
Sanctuary Refines Ark Nova’s Zoo
Any follow-up to Ark Nova is going to get plenty of buzz, and Sanctuary is no different. What is, however, is Sanctuary’s scope. You’re still building a zoo, and you’re still doing it through action cards whose power comes from their slot. From there, Sanctuary takes a scalpel to its bigger sibling, excising fiddler actions,
replacing a huge second card deck with tiles, and putting more emphasis on the animals. It’s elegant, easier to table, and quite a bit shorter. A solid stepping stone up from beginner euros in this space, like Cascadia or Bärenpark while making it easy to upgrade into Ark Nova when your group’s ready.
Along similar lines comes Nature, a re-imagining of staple light-to-medium euro Evolution. Here you’re sculpting species instead of zoos, with various modules adding in biomes (think arctic, or dinosaurs) as you desire. You might eat your friends, something that Sanctuary doesn’t go for, but some casual take-that adds healthy interactivity to what’s often a multiplayer-solitaire affair.
Should you really like the tile placement puzzle, though, you’d be hard pressed to find a better marriage of zoo and tiles than Uwe Rosenberg’s New York Zoo, a race to build your zoo efficiently while populating it with breeding critters. What seems simple at first gives way to clever play, strategizing which animals to drop where, what tiles to take, and more, all in less than an hour.
Updating the Civilization Game with Recall
Recall, a pseudo-sequel to Revive explores a similar theme: building up a civilization from scratch using medium-heavy euro game mechanics. This style is the delectable meal of board gaming, a mix of action efficiency, combos, theme, and just enough interaction to keep you paying attention when it’s not your turn. Revive is the easiest recommendation to make here, as Recall clearly builds on many of the same ideas. And that’s a good thing, because Revive, with its deck-building, asymmetric factions, and, with the expansion, fascinating decisions is a great one.
Should you glom on more to the civilization theming, you have your pick of excellent titles. Recall’s science fiction bent lends itself to the asymmetric adventures of Circadians: Chaos Order or the space-faring 4X Eclipse: Second Dawn. Grounded options include Clash of Cultures or, yes, the actual Civilization game. All of these bring strong productions, nigh infinite replayability, and a range on the euro scale from war game to waving at one another from across the table as you count up your points.
Eldfall Chronicles Mixes Up the Fantasy Quest
Free Company broke onto the scene a few years back with their fantasy skirmish game Eldfall Chronicles, noted both for its beautiful miniatures, gorgeous 
production, and nifty co-op mode. This year, at Essen, they debuted their dungeon crawler sequel, Eldfall Chronicles: Northern Wind, which brings an immersive bundle of missions, narratives, and new characters while maintaining the skirmish game’s speed. They’ve also included the option to have a GM as well, something I wish more games in this space would accommodate, just to give enemies added dimensions beyond AI cards. All that said, Eldfall Chronicles isn’t all that easy to find yet, so if you’re craving miniatures combat in a fantasy setting, I’d go first to Godtear.
A splashy fantasy skirmisher with accessible army sizes and prebuilt miniatures, Godtear offers tons of action and tactics without the investment and time requirements of other hobby miniatures titles (much like Eldfall Chronicles, there’s set faction packs that give you all you need). We dove deep into the game here, and it remains a standout. Plus, you can find organized play nights to bring your force out to your local store and show off your sublime tactics.
On the dungeon crawler side, Descent: Legends of the Dark received its first major expansion this year. The app-driven adventure makes for an easy entry point to the genre, while providing plenty of narrative choice, compelling combat, and sumptuous production values you’d expect for these games. There’s more than enough questing and monster-slaying here to keep you busy until Northern Wind is more readily available.
Butcher and Bolt brings Immersive Stealth Action
Making the Essen photo rounds was Butcher and Bolt, a compelling sneak-and-spy miniatures war game set in World War Two. It’ll launch on crowdfunding at some point soon, bringing its immersive skirmish gameplay (and the terrain – incredible) to your, hopefully huge, tabletop. You’ll have some time before Butcher and Bolt arrives, though, so if you want to take your table, or your WW2 skirmish gameplay for a test run, you have some options.
First and foremost is Bolt Action, a game we’ve touched on a few times. Miniatures, terrain, and WW2 (among others) skirmish gameplay. You’ll get dice, objectives, and tactical combat aplenty, plus a vibrant organized play scene. If Butcher and Bolt intrigues because of its models and 3D elements, then Bolt Action would be my first recommendation.
But if it’s less the models and terrain and more the stealth, I’d point you in a couple of different directions. First, Triton Noir’s V-Commandos series offers a very
similar pitch to Butcher and Bolt, except it comes with cardboard and tokens rather than minis. You’ll run a team of unique infiltrators, taking on tricky missions in mini-campaigns whose results blend into the next to tell ripping narratives. Do you risk triggering an alarm to get across the base faster, or spend extra, valuable time sneaking into the commandant’s office to disable it? These play fast, even up to four, and are tense before you’re discovered and hilarious after.
If you’re a solitaire or 2-player fan, I’d also recommend checking out the newer SAS: Rogue Regiment. Taking place after D-Day, this special production splits the difference here with some 3D terrain and figures, while upping the complexity, decision space, and tactical nitty gritty to give a tighter adventure over V-Commandos. It’s the vibe you’re looking for – dashing along with expectations of chaos, or a nail-biting, every-move-analyzed stealth tactical experience. Regardless of which you’re leaning towards, there’s game aplenty to keep you entertained until Butcher and Bolt gets to your door.
Squad Tactics Shine in Vanguard
If Butcher and Bolt brings stealth tactics in 2026, Vanguard, by Warlord Games, goes for more traditional mixed-arms tactics. We’re talking WW2 here, done up with a high quality production as befits the maker of Black Powder. Played on hexes, with cards stuffed with unit stats, custom dice, and thick cardboard everywhere, Vanguard makes a striking entrance. Until it does, though, you’ll be well served by the shoulders on which it stands.
Classics abound in this arena, from Advanced Squad Leader to Combat Commander to the more recent Undaunted series. In all of these, you’re taking a group of gritty soldiers on missions against another player, adopting tactics, dice rolls (or, in CC’s case, card draws), and the unique strengths of your forces to capture objectives or obliterate the enemy. If you’ve never played a game like this before and want to know where to start with an eye towards Vanguard’s release, however, I’d start with the Memoir ‘44’s recent refresh.
On the heels of a Star Wars re-theme, Days of Wonder has given their twenty year-old soldier a facelift. The new edition updates the miniatures, the box storage, adds some scenarios, and more nips and tucks. It’s an invigorating upgrade, and remains an excellent entry point into hex-based combat at this level. From there, dip your feet into Undaunted: Normandy and you’ll have all the tools needed to enjoy Vanguard on its release.
