These Are the Most Exciting Games From the Largest Tabletop Gaming Convention in America
Luthier, expected by September 2025, $90
Luthier is the second game from Paverson Games, the publisher of Distilled, one of our favorite strategy games. It's a worker-placement game all about making instruments during Europe's Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods.
We love Distilled, and it's always exciting when a publisher hits it out of the park on the first try. But such success also puts a lot of pressure on the next release, so we're excited to see that Luthier seems to be bringing a similar attention to detail and integration of theme that we appreciate in Distilled.
Throughout the game, you place your workers (keeping their value secret, in a mechanic called 'secret bidding') around the board to take different actions — building instruments, attracting wealthy patrons, putting on performances, going to market, and so on. Doing so can give you extra power, materials, and other bonuses. The higher the value of a worker you place at a location, the earlier you'll be able to take the associated action, and the more powerful that action will be.
Worker placement is a popular game mechanic, and combining it with secret bidding is an interesting new wrinkle that we're curious to see in action. This game also looks gorgeous, with details in the art and board design that reinforce the theme. And if Distilled is any indication, the box organization should be great.
Luthier should be available to the public in August or September. We'll be testing it to see how it compares with our current favorite strategy games. Players : one to four
: one to four Duration : 90 to 150 minutes
: 90 to 150 minutes Rules: BoardGameGeek
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These Are the Most Exciting Games From the Largest Tabletop Gaming Convention in America
Paverson Games Luthier, expected by September 2025, $90 Luthier is the second game from Paverson Games, the publisher of Distilled, one of our favorite strategy games. It's a worker-placement game all about making instruments during Europe's Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. We love Distilled, and it's always exciting when a publisher hits it out of the park on the first try. But such success also puts a lot of pressure on the next release, so we're excited to see that Luthier seems to be bringing a similar attention to detail and integration of theme that we appreciate in Distilled. Throughout the game, you place your workers (keeping their value secret, in a mechanic called 'secret bidding') around the board to take different actions — building instruments, attracting wealthy patrons, putting on performances, going to market, and so on. Doing so can give you extra power, materials, and other bonuses. The higher the value of a worker you place at a location, the earlier you'll be able to take the associated action, and the more powerful that action will be. Worker placement is a popular game mechanic, and combining it with secret bidding is an interesting new wrinkle that we're curious to see in action. This game also looks gorgeous, with details in the art and board design that reinforce the theme. And if Distilled is any indication, the box organization should be great. Luthier should be available to the public in August or September. We'll be testing it to see how it compares with our current favorite strategy games. Players : one to four : one to four Duration : 90 to 150 minutes : 90 to 150 minutes Rules: BoardGameGeek
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