Summer isn’t over yet and there’s still a ton of new tabletop games on the way, that includes video game tie-ins for XCOM and Cult Of The Lamb.
Unlike for video games, there is no summer games drought when it comes to tabletop games and the last few months have seen dozens of new releases and announcements. There’s been yet more video game adaptations, as well as animation crossovers for Justice League and Ghost in the Shell, and the latest for Warhammer and the Pokémon trading card game.
At the same time, the Disney Store in Oxford Street had to shut its doors, as crowds from all over Europe tried to get their hands on the latest Lorcana offerings, as Disney’s trading card game becomes ever more popular.
There’s never been so many excuses to hit your local gaming café, and take advantage of their aircon while building the perfect deck or plotting against friends over a cardboard map.
Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon launch box
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11th Edition already? How time flies when you’re the biggest tabletop gaming company in the world. The battle for Armageddon returns with one of Games Workshop’s biggest Warhammer 40,000 releases in recent years, with a brand new clash between the Imperium and the Orks.
The launch box delivers two complete armies, including Space Marine units such as the newly sculpted lieutenant and tactical squads, alongside a brutal Ork force packed with characterful miniatures including Boyz, Nobz, and heavily armed war machines. The push-fit models make it an accessible starting point for newcomers, while veteran hobbyists have loved the updated sculpts.
Built around the streamlined Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition rules, the set introduces faster gameplay, refreshed mission systems, and smoother army building. With recent rumours about Games Workshop using AI put firmly to bed, this is more than a starter set, it’s a celebration of everything fans love about the 41st millennium.
Out now: RRP £150
Riftbound: League Of Legends TCG Vendetta
Riot Games is proving it means business with Riftbound: Vendetta, the latest expansion for its League Of Legends trading card game, that pushes competitive play deeper into the world of Runeterra. This set focuses on legendary rivalries, introducing new versions of champions including Shen, Zed, Mel, and Ambessa – alongside more than 160 new cards designed to shake up deck strategies. New mechanics such as flow, burn, and empower give you more ways to control battles, while unit-gear cards add another layer of customisation to champion builds.
Like previous Riftbound releases, the appeal comes from combining tactical card play with the personalities of League’s biggest characters. Whether you prefer aggressive champion-focused decks or slower strategic builds, Vendetta offers plenty of new tools for competitive players.
With stunning alternate art cards and collector-focused Showcase cards, this is another major step forward in Riot’s attempt to challenge the biggest names in the TCG world.
Out now: Showdown Deck RRP £35
Disney Lorcana – Set 13: Attack of the Vine!
Disney Lorcana is rushing towards Spooky Season with Attack of the Vine, an expansion that brings fresh characters, clever new mechanics, and plenty of reasons for collectors to start hunting for those elusive Enchanted cards.
The 13th set sees the mysterious Vine spreading across the Inklands, introducing a new storyline alongside fan favourite Pixar worlds including Monsters Inc., Up, and Turning Red. The set also introduces dual-named characters, including combinations such as Sulley & Boo (I love their dedicated playmat), creating exciting new deck-building possibilities. While new abilities like temporary shift and floodborn shift add more tactical depth for competitive players.
With more than 200 cards to collect, top chase cards include my favourite Meilin as a singing red Panada using the Karaoke Queen ability and the iconic Belle and Beast card, which can fetch up to $2,000 on eBay.
Out now: starter deck around £20
Ravensburger Pokémon, 40,000 piece Jigsaw Puzzle
I definitely don’t have room left in my flat for anything Pokémon related, especially not a 6.8m by 1.9m puzzle, but I really want it even at its eye-watering price. This jaw-dropping 40,320 piece jigsaw puzzle is one of the biggest officially licensed puzzles ever made, turning Nintendo’s monster-catching phenomenon into the ultimate challenge for collectors with far more patience and floor space than me.
Featuring every pokémon area, from Kanto to Paldea, the enormous artwork is a colourful celebration of almost three decades of the franchise, packed with familiar faces including Pikachu, Charizard, Mewtwo, Eevee, Lucario, Greninja, Garchomp, Miraidon and Koraidon. The puzzle arrives split into multiple numbered bags, allowing you to complete individual sections before tackling the mammoth final assembly.
Even so, with a finished weight of around 20kg and a price tag of over £500, it’s a major commitment. But for diehard Pokémon fans looking for the ultimate time waster and display piece, this might just be the most ambitious piece of memorabilia released (so far) this year.
Available from 1st September: RRP £549.99
Warhammer: The Old World – Fantasy Battles In the World of Legend core set
Featuring an amazingly huge Chaos Dragon, the new Warhammer: The Old World core set finally delivers a true starter box, pitting the disciplined armies of Grand Cathay against the brutal Warriors of Chaos in spectacular rank and file battles. Packed with 54 beautifully detailed miniatures, an updated rulebook, and everything two players need to begin, it’s the strongest entry point the game has seen for those looking to build a new (overpowered) army.
The tactical gameplay is deeper and more demanding than Age Of Sigmar or Warhammer 40,000, rewarding careful positioning, clever manoeuvres, and old-school battlefield strategy. It also brings with it another way of playing the game in a more manageable way, with a lower point cost called Battle March.
Grand Cathay’s debut is a particular highlight, with stunning new miniatures that perfectly capture the faction’s elegant Eastern aesthetic, while the revamped Chaos range is every bit as intimidating as fans had hoped. It’s not the quickest game to learn, but for strategy lovers and long-time fantasy devotees, this is a triumphant return to the World of Legend.
Out Now: RRP £150
The Ghost In The Shell: Tabletop Roleplaying Game
While the new anime on Amazon Prime may have divided veteran fans with its freestyle animation and chortling Tachikomas I’m sold on its cuter style. However, this new role-playing game is based on the original Masamune Shirow manga and puts players in the cyber-enhanced boots of Section 9 operatives dealing with cybercrime, political conspiracies, and the blurred line between human and machine.
Rather than simply recreating the action of the films and series, the game focuses on what makes Ghost In The Shell so popular, with questions about identity, artificial intelligence, and what it means to be human in an increasingly digital world – something we can all relate to. Players can customise their cybernetic upgrades, investigate complex cases, and use advanced technology to tackle threats across a futuristic Tokyo.
With its mix of tactical combat, detective work, and deep world-building, this is a tabletop experience aimed at fans who want more than just another cyberpunk shootout and are looking for more depth than Cyberpunk 2077’s deck builder.
Out May 2027: Collector’s Bundle £149
XCOM: The Miniatures Game
There may never be another XCOM video game, but between this and Star Wars Zero Company, from some of the same developers, this is as close to a renaissance as you’re likely to get. The miniatures game isn’t out until next year, but from what I’ve seen so far it looks like a lot of fun and transforms the beloved strategy series into a tense tactical battle worthy of the franchise.
Anyone who’s ever watched a carefully planned XCOM mission collapse because a soldier missed a 95% accuracy shot will already know the series was practically born for the tabletop. XCOM: The Miniatures Game leans into that brutal tactical tension, swapping the screen for beautifully detailed miniatures while keeping the desperate squad-based action intact. Built on Ivan Sorensen’s excellent Five Parsecs From Home ruleset, you’ll recruit soldiers, research alien tech, expand your base and throw your elite squad into increasingly impossible missions against Sectoids, Floaters, Chryssalids and other familiar horrors.
It’s fully playable solo or cooperatively, while an asymmetric mode lets another player command the alien invasion. The miniatures look fantastic and the campaign promises meaningful progression rather than one-off skirmishes. If Modiphius can capture even half the nail-biting panic of the video games, this could be one of the year’s smartest licensed adaptations and, yes, you’ll probably still blame the dice.
Out January 2027: pre-order £185
Cult Of The Lamb: The Board Game
Considering I own the plushie and double-fold vinyl for the video game, there’s not a chance that I would be missing out on Paper Fort Games’ Kickstarter, which has somehow bottled Massive Monster’s gloriously twisted mix of cute woodland critters and cult indoctrination into a tabletop adventure that looks every bit as chaotic as its video game inspiration.
And it’s not just another dungeon crawler, with devilishly familiar cute artwork slapped on. Every expedition into the wilderness is balanced by running your increasingly devoted flock back home. That means recruiting followers, constructing buildings, unlocking new doctrines, and making the sort of morally questionable decisions that somehow seem perfectly reasonable when everyone’s wearing tiny animal robes of plastic!
The adorable miniatures are an obvious highlight, but the gameplay looks surprisingly meaty too. Crusades promise tactical combat, meaningful upgrades, and plenty of replayability; while the worker placement mechanics should create just enough friendly sabotage between players.
Licensed board games don’t always survive the jump from screen to table (did we really need so many tabletop outings for The Last of Us?), but this one seems to understand exactly why I fell in love with Cult Of The Lamb in the first place. Equal parts cute, creepy and satanically unhinged, everyone please get on the Kickstarter and vote for the giraffe follower stretch goal, he’s my fave.
Out December 2027 – all-in pledge £249
Pokémon TCG: Mega Evolution-Pitch Black Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box
If you’ve spent as much time as I have this month in the digital queue for the Pokémon Center, trying to get a chance at any of the 30th Anniversary TCG sets, getting hold of Pitch Black was a doddle in comparison. While it doesn’t have the kind of eye-catching chase cards fans coveted from Ascendant Heroes, it can’t be faulted for featuring the darker, more dramatic style of the Mega Evolution era.
Collectors are already setting their sights on stunning Mega Pokémon ex cards, including Mega Darkrai ex (Special Illustration Rare), Mega Darkrai ex (Mega Hyper Rare), and Morpeko ex (Special Illustration Rare).
With powerful pokémon, eye-catching artwork, and plenty of competitive potential going into the World Championship later this month, Mega Evolution-Pitch Black delivers the perfect mix of nostalgia and fresh strategy, before the deluge of 30th anniversary goodies hit the shelves. Even if you can’t make Worlds this latest Elite Trainer Box has enough tournament-winning cards to keep you happy at home.
Out now – RRP £49.99
Justice League Unlimited: The Roleplaying Game
The new Justice League game is looking to give DC fans the chance to create their own superheroes and fight alongside legends including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Green Lantern.
Co-written by legendary DC writer Mark Waid, this is the first officially licensed Justice League role-player in almost 20 years and lets you create original heroes from lineages including Kryptonian, Amazonian, Atlantean, and speedster. The system is built around more than just punching villains too, with your hero’s moral code defined through five ‘tacit clauses’, while ‘interlude moments’ encourage role-playing between the universe-threatening set pieces.
When things do go wrong, the clever entropy system and crisis die can throw the entire campaign into chaos with surprise alien invasions, time travellers, or other comic-book curveballs. The lavish miniatures are packed with fan favourites, alongside villains including Darkseid, Lex Luthor, and The Joker (I love his purple and green dice). Throw in two brand-new canon villains, created by Mark Waid exclusively for the game, and this already feels like a love letter to DC fans rather than another licensed cash-in.
Out May 2027 – all-in pledge $320 (£238)
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