Five Great Wargames for 2025

[@TabletopUpgrades]

Your presentation skills are unreal, I checked your subs expecting to see hundreds of thousands of subs , surely it can only be a matter of time! Really impressive, well done!

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@TabletopUpgrades Thanks very much - I'm still relatively new to this, but that's really encouraging. 🙂

[@deusirae7697]

One of the best wargaming channels I have ever encountered! Really looking forward to see your videos through 2025!

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@deusirae7697 Thanks very much! I am just finishing the editing on the next vid. 🙂

[@deusirae7697]

@@The.Game.Cave. just the good news for me then:)

[@GrahThirtyOneA]

I have to say, Maladum is a real treat. The terrain is crazy good, the miniatures are great fun to paint (hint: look out AJ Paints youtube tutorials) and the game is quite a detailed dungeon crawler. Not everything that comes on the board is out to get you. The 'ai'-controlled forces generally go at whoever is closest and can be nasty but they can also appear at the other side of the dungeon and seem to often get mopped up by wandering denizens that turn up occasionally. You just have to learn when to retreat off the ap rather than going for that one more shiny wafer thin treasure token!

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@GrahThirtyOneA Some good advice. Of course, resisting that 'one more shiny item' can be easier said than done! 😊

[@peterixon8708]

Thanks for the Maladum suggestion

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@peterixon8708 I've had a lot of fun with it. Just allow time for set up and tear down. 🙂

[@badnamebob]

Nice list Carl! TTCombat has a really nice lineup of games. Personally, I hope they revamp Dropzone Commander next. Happy New Years to you and yours!

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@badnamebob I love Dropzone, but it's never quite captured the number of players it needs to 'hit the big time'. Perhaps it will need another edition - perhaps a full change over to plastic...Who knows?

[@danielwielki3490]

thx for resumen of this amazing games 👍👊

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@danielwielki3490 My pleasure. I certainly don't mind spending time playing them! 🙂

[@altertroll9135]

Nice video.We start 2025 with Legions Imperalis from GW.Testing Carnevale from TTcombat was my wish for 2025.Maladum yes but i wait for the german version (easier for my friends).Starting a road to Spearhead from GW gives me a reason to paint my Skaven.I for myself start with the first campaign of League of Dungeoneer.I wish all a good gaming year 2025.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@altertroll9135 That sounds like a fun selection of games. Have fun! 🙂 I've considered picking up Carnevale. The range of gangs looks very interesting.

[@KenCrabshaw]

​@@The.Game.Cave. Carnevale is highly recommended!

[@nealbarton7434]

Great set of games for 2025 here. I’m also excited for mantic’s warpath landing in March. I’ve already picked up halo and returning to dropfleet.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

It's a great time for 10mm gaming. I'm pretty sure I will check out Warpath myself once it hits the shelves!

[@nealbarton7434]

@@The.Game.Cave. full spectrum dominance is on that radar for me. Great terrain which can be scaled up to 10mm

[@pdj672]

Good video. Nice to see more content from you.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@pdj672 Thanks. December has been a month of illness in my house - hopefully, normal service will now resume!

[@pdj672]

@ I hope everyone is feeling better.

[@amelia.g.w]

Cool video! 👍👍

[@stevewintle8669]

Those drop fleet miniatures look sweet Carl

[@The.Game.Cave.]

They are lovely models.

[@danj3051]

The new infinity N5 looks fun, the models in operation Sandtrap are cracking plus rules and stats are free online. I am also looking forward to playing the silver bayonet - it’s not new but looks like a lot of fun.

[@danj3051]

Oh and nemesis retaliation. The third and final nemesis game from awaken realms. It’s kickstarter raised over $18mn and it looks like a fantastic game

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@danj3051 Great choices. The only thing that has stopped me playing Infinity is the use of metal models. They look amazing when painted, but the fiddliness of metal gives me pause. Silver Bayonet also looks cool. Sharpe with monsters!

[@danj3051]

Infinity models. Yes I agree, The metal models gave me a bit of pause, but seeing some videos of them being put together was reassuring. They look very well engineered so decided to take the plunge - my set should arrive in the coming days

[@AlexanderGiraldez]

Nice to see some overlap. I plan to play Middle Earth and Dropfleet Commander 2.0. I’ll also play A Song of Ice and Fire, BLKOUT and Legions Imperialis.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@AlexanderGiraldez Some great games on that list. ASOIAF is another favourite of mine. I'm looking forward to the skirmish version that CMON is releasing later this year.

[@AlexanderGiraldez]

@ yes I think opening both games up to different eras (before or past War of the 5 Kings) brings in a lot of potential

[@Aneirinprime]

Too many interesting games! Had a depressing thought that if you played one game a month you would only get to play each of those games maybe twice!

[@The.Game.Cave.]

It's the old problem, mate - so many games, so little time!

[@danj3051]

Nice video. It’s such a golden age right now with fantastic games everywhere, sci fi, cyber punk, fantasy, grim dark, historical etc, skirmish, epic scale, complex rules, simple rules. Amazing board games, interesting mechanics.

[@paulcrowther4514]

'Grinning like 12 yr olds'... so Nye and Mr. Wintle then. Hope you've all had a great Xmas. Keep em coming Carl

[@stevewintle8669]

​@@paulcrowther4514 you too 👍

[@andersand6576]

Drop fleet commander is definately on my 2025 list, and maledoom looks interesting.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@andersand6576 Very different- but both great games. With two players, Dropfleet is the way to go - Maladum works best (in my humble opinion) with three or four.

[@Nicolas-yd2mw]

Maladum is my goto game for 2025 and it is a bargain : amazing quality for very affordable price especially compared to terrible games such as Warhammer quest : Cursed city. In Maladum you have inserts for every miniatures, tokens and cards. Plastic rulers, plastic pegs and character cards. A leather token pouch, drywipe pen and paper rule books... but the big win for me was... a neoprene game mat... there's just no company around that sells a game like this with a neoprene game mat ! Also the cardboard terrain provided, wich is a specialty of Battlesystems, is absolutely gorgeous (dont forget to paint terrain pieces sides to make it look even better). Also the ruleset is excellent : all classes are funny to play and magic is, for once, smart. As an example you can use terrain to your advantage to smash enemies on walls or be a ninja wizard and phase through walls to grab the loot as fast as you can. Warning: minis are in pvc and you have to be carefull when sanding mold lines. Especially for Callan, where some lines can be on his head and be very hard to remove.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@Nicolas-yd2mw That's a great summary of the game's many strengths!

[@KenCrabshaw]

Maladum is effectively the fantasy version of Core Space. Check that out.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@KenCrabshaw Absolutely - I'm a big Core Space fan! The scenery is also great for science fiction wargaming - I've used it for both Firefight and Star Wars Legion.

[@quentinguichard5423]

Shout out to Maladum. We truly are in the golden age of skirmish.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@quentinguichard5423 Totally agree. Maladum is a game I sometimes leave set up on the table, just so I can sneak in a game!

[@WhatsUpGazpacho]

Everything looks great, well except for LotR and Trench Crusade. Those Striketeam Commander minis look cool too.

[@Daemonish]

All very cool games, but i think Armoured Clash will be my main focus in 2025.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@Daemonish That was game number six on my list, I kid you not! I've been assembling the Crown models from the two-player starter set. They are beautiful sculpts.

[@urbandruiduk9928]

I do love Maladum, but my God is it difficult. Three hours of setup to get your entire party wiped out in three turns can get a bit frustrating. Those grave points make it a completely different game to Core Space..

[@The.Game.Cave.]

I do think that Maladum is tougher than Core Space. Both games have quite a long set up time. When I can, I leave the game out so we that we can play a few sessions over a couple of weeks. I've also used a bead tray to carefully store tokens. That helps quite a bit.

[@septimus64]

I backed Trench Crusade after assembling and painting some models from etsy.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

Which warband have you gone for?

[@septimus64]

@The.Game.Cave. New Antioch Prussians

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@septimus64 Nice. I ordered an Antioch warband in the Kickstarter. I also like the look of some Westfalia models for the faction.

[@septimus64]

@@The.Game.Cave. i downloaded the free westphalia stls and may get the red brigade too.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@septimus64 Cool. Do you have a 3D printer?

[@yagsipcc287]

These are all good but also very big games there are lots of small games that offer as much or more gameplay value at a fraction the of the cost. Forbidden Psalm series of games there are 5 of them with different rules, themes and tyoes of gameplay based around the themes. One books is 30 bucks PDFs are half that. The Sliver Bayonet another game similar both are skirmish warband games woth solo, co-op and vs ways of playing. Again the core book for this is what 20-30 bucks at a stretch low model counts use anything you have or want to make for it. The Five series of games (5 parsecs or 5 leagues) cheap with tons of gameplay again solo or co op built in can easily do vs if you wish as well as tell your own ongoing story if you wish to play like that. Rangers of Shaodw Deep another solo/co op game base game again is about 30 bucks as one expansion so far that is not required at all. Lots of missions through a campaign lots of fun with lots of ways to play as you buikd tour rangers.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@yagsipcc287 Silver Bayonet is certainly a game that intrigues me. I have an (unpainted) set of Sharpe's Rifles minis that would be perfect for it. I shall have a think about doing a video for 'smaller' games. 🙂

[@yagsipcc287]

@The.Game.Cave. sweet! Yeah the games might be smaller in cost but as big in content for the most part 😁 The Silver Bayonet is fun as hell something for everything. Cost effective gaming as well as supporting smaller creators is a good thing overall.

[@Erik-hh9bp]

I'll give two more. Warhammer The old World. They are unlocking Cathey, and Ind soon. Something GW should have followed up since the 3rd edition. The last is Bolt Action, you have ww2, or a spin with technology. Thanks for the heads up, I'll check them out. (I really need to dust off my Throng from Karaz-A-Karak.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

I will be interested to see the Cathay models. Was there a Dogs of War unit back in the day?

[@Erik-hh9bp]

@@The.Game.Cave. from Cathey? I don't believe so. But yeah, I'm interested to see what new Army's come out. Rumors of Ind. That would be cool to see a. Bunch of Elephants marching across the battlefield.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@Erik-hh9bp That does sound cool. I played some Warhammer - I want to say 5th Edition - back in the day and had a lot of fun. I just hope there are more new models for The Old World, rather than a recycling of old stuff.

[@Flipflopskipskop]

I'm really looking forward to Warcrow.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

I love the orks in this world. Very cool.

[@Flipflopskipskop]

@The.Game.Cave. so far for some reason after looking at everything I am leaning toward the Hegemony. I dunno why they just strike me as a solid military and I dig that kind of thing.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@Flipflopskipskop They have a European flair - and the paint jobs, with fancy striped trousers, look amazing. I'm not sure I could manage that, though!

[@Flipflopskipskop]

@The.Game.Cave. my paint jobs look like a dog ate paint and went 💩 on the models.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@Flipflopskipskop 😆 Maybe skip the stripes, then!

[@alexandrekabes1349]

Halo Flashpoint needs to expand the armor types and weapons. I won't consider it complete until I can build the entire Blood Gulch Crew.

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@alexandrekabes1349 I think there'll be a steady release of add-ons over the next few months.

[@1teamski]

My problem with miniatures wargames like Halo is that they are not much more than paintball games in miniature. Move around a room with obstacles and shoot at each each other. Once I had that vision stuck in my head, I lost any interest in them.....

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@1teamski It's definitely a lighter game, but as my gaming group and I flit around from system to system, I find there's a place for something 'pick up and play'. Plus, I gave my nephew a copy of the Recon edition for Christmas - and the gaming world has another new recruit!

[@the40belowscalecorresponde18]

Meh, all skirmish games

[@The.Game.Cave.]

@@the40belowscalecorresponde18 Would you call Dropzone Commander a skirmish game?