Most Anticipated Historical Board Game Releases in 2023

Happy new year, everybody! I hope it will bring you much joy. I also hope it will bring you board games (which is basically the same thing). The question is, however: Which games? – Here are a few 2023 releases which look most intriguing to me.

As always, don’t take this as a shopping list (neither for you nor for me). Over the course of 2022, I bought one single game. That was all. (More entered the collection as gifts, though.) Your taste in games and your discretion how many new games you want to chase decide what will end up in your shelf (and, hopefully, on your table)!

After that reminder, on to the games. As all of them are set in human history, they are ordered from most ancient to most recent.

Essen SPIEL Recap 2022

Once more, the SPIEL fair at Essen has come to an end. It’s been a few intense days of looking, meeting, and, of course, playing. I took things a bit slower this year, not playing quite as many games and instead focusing on the enjoyment of those that I played. I think it worked well. Here’s what I particularly enjoyed.

SPIEL 2022: Most Anticipated Board Games

You say „board game fair“, I say “SPIEL” at Essen. It’s the Mecca for the tabletop gaming faithful. Four days of playing, trying, and buying. 160,000+ visitors (before COVID, that is). I’ve been there a few times over the last years for two days each and found it an intensive board game experience. After a two-year hiatus, I’ll be attending again this year. In preparation, I have perused Board Game Geek’s list of releases (fairly expansive, also including new editions, expansions etc.) which stands well over a thousand items for the most interesting (often, but not always history-themed) games so you don’t have to.