The tabletop area at PAX Aus 2026 was an impeccable showing of some great new — and on the way — card and board games. And after fully recovering from the PAX Pox, I thought you may like to join me in reliving all the tabletop action from the weekend.
So without further ado…
Trench Crusade
Trench Crusade hit the show floor with an incredibly detailed wargaming board.
It’s chock full of World War 1 soldiers fighting demons and ghosts, great horror tabletop vibes. If you aren’t initiated, it’s a tabletop skirmish game in an alternate WW1 timeline where hell burst forth into the real world. Small squads of heretics and faithful troops battle over trenches lined with catholic iconography. Think Dante’s Inferno meets Valiant Hearts, but with more dissentery.
Find out more about Trench Crusade here.
Balance of Power
Balance of Power is a competitive civilisation-building card game where you manage your kingdom, deploy spies and challenge armies.
What really got me was the beautiful hand-drawn card art, wax seals and the fact that the game scales to as many players as you have decks! 100-person battle royale? Hell yeah.
You can find Balance of Power here.
Netrunner
I also played a round of Netrunner by Null Signal Games. It’s an asymmetric game where one player is the evil mega corporation, and the other is a sneaky hacker breaking in and stealing all their credits. Big Bladerunner vibes! I can really see the tactical depth to this one, as each player has their own objectives and wildly different ways to get in each other’s way.
Fragged Kingdom
In 2024, I met Wayde Dyer, who was showing Fragged Empire, a post-post-apocalypse sci-fi RPG. This year he is showing off Fragged Kingdom, which is a fantasy take on the same survivalist world, where technology has given way to swathes of nature and fantasy intrigue.
Absolutely incredible art, all made by very skilled human hands. Wayde was showing off a setting book, as well as a core rules book. I also got to chat to Wayde about Fragged Aeternum, which is currently on Kickstarter. He described it as a Gothic Superhero RPG, where dark and horrific characters act like twisted superheroes. In one of his playtests, the big bad was literally the moon – real Majora’s Mask energy.
As one of Quest Daily’s resident TTRPG nerds, I love it when a designer does something new and different, and Wayde Dyer definitely does.
Caught in the Rain
On day two, I checked out Caught in the Rain, a very thematic little GM-less RPG in the Aus Indie Showcase.
You create an Investigator using a series of dice rolls and tables, then go through investigations that dynamically evolve based on your rolls. My investigator was looking into thefts at an art gallery, and chasing
It’s very Film Noir; imagine rain-soaked streets and grungy gumshoe investigators solving crimes.
The Ravensbridge Emporium team are also gearing up to their latest Kickstarter – 1,000 Rats Devour a City, which goes live in November.
Crayne Fractured Empire
Crayne Fractured Empire was a fun one! It’s a high fantasy deck-building game where up to six players create armies from eight factions. It’s very easy to get your brain around, collect cards and battle other players. The art is amazing, and the different factions play very differently.
The orcs I was recruiting summon reinforcements and blow up other cards when you summon them. It was one of those great gaming moments when I realised the synergy would keep summoning cards and building when I laid the groundwork. Really mechanically meaty game.
Check out Crayne Fracture Empire here.
Deathbed
Deathbed is a very cool competitive card game where players compete for the throne after the last king died.
It uses a standard layout of playing cards, and you must undermine your opponents by using the same sneaky tactics as them while preserving your own highest-scoring cards. Lots of opportunities to screw over your friends and battle for supremacy.
Great risk versus reward gameplay!
Bin Chicken – The Card Game
Bin Chicken: The Card Game is all about raiding bins as Australia’s greediest feathered friends.
You’ll steal sweet snacks and marry other players to share their haul, then break up partners and take half their haul for yourself! Definitely a new addition to games that can make or break relationships.
Find Bin Chicken The Card Game on Kickstarter.
Top of the tabletop
Every year, the PAX Aus Tabletop scene gets larger and larger. While there are always new things to check out, I’m really chuffed to see groups like Ravensbridge Emporium and Wayde Dyer coming back with new games to show off. For my money, I’m very keen on Fragged Aeternum and 1,000 Rats Devour a City.
If you’re out for a new game to play with friends, hopefully you’ve found something in this list to check out.
