GenCon, the USA's largest tabletop gaming convention, will be kicking off this Thursday 1st of August. Companies from all over the world will be heading over to Indianapolis and as always they are bringing their latest and greatest games with them.

Here are a few of the exciting announcements for you to keep an eye out for at the show.

Weta Workshop - GKR: Heavy Hitters, District 9, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Party

Weta Workshop are returning to GenCon where they will not only have GKR: Heavy Hitters, but will also be showing the latest updates for District 9, as well as something rather unexpected for The Hobbit.

Weta were kind enough to prepare a press release for us, giving a bit more information on each of these:

If a post-apocalyptic Robot Rumble for Mega Corporations sounds like your thing you can check out GKR: Heavy Hitters, Weta's first Boardgame release. (Warning: this game comes with some sweet mechs!)

If aliens and their tech are more your style - they will also be running District 9: The Boardgame demos ahead of their Kickstarter Relaunch in September.

With a whole new board design from Senior Concept Artist Christian Pierce (see below) and the added fun of Asymmetrical Starting Boosts for each Faction, this game definitely brings out your strategic side - and your love of cat food!

These hand painted minis (see above) from the game have just made it through customs and are on their way to Indianapolis for some Prawn/Mech mayhem.

Last but certainly not least, Weta will also be play-testing their newest Boardgame: The Hobbit, An Unexpected Party.

Still in prototype phase, what we can say is that this Card Game for 2-4 players will be illustrated in the style of Weta Workshops amazing Mini Epic collectibles and looks to be a fast, fun and light-hearted card based table top game.

Here's what we know:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Party captures the opening scenes of The Hobbit where the Dwarves arrive unexpectedly at Bag End much to Bilbo's chagrin. This easy to pick up and play game captures the mischief, chaos and fun of the Dwarves playing tricks on and teasing Bilbo under the watchful eye of Gandalf.

As you might imagine, I am extremely excited to find out more about that Hobbit game. Giant mechs and aliens are all pretty cool, but a hobbit is a hobbit! Hopefully, we'll see more about this at the event.

Weta Workshop can be found at Booth #503.

Knight Models - GenCon Exclusive Harry Potter and Batman Minis

Knight Models are setting up at booth 2860 and they have a couple of special editions miniatures exclusively available at GenCon.

For Batman fans, we have Grifter.

Grifter is an expert marksman and combatant, but there is far more to him than just being a gun-toting badass. He also wields some powerful telekinetic abilities.

Meanwhile, over in the Wizarding World, GenConners can find the goblin gangster Gnarlak.

Gnarlak operates a magical speak-easy and turns up in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them as a less than salubrious source of information.

Both of these models look fantastic. If you're at GenCon head over to Knight Models and check them out.

Modiphius - Fallout and Elder Scrolls

Modiphius will be at GenCon, where they will be launching the exciting new Fallout Wasteland Warfare RPG.

This RPG builds upon the success of Modiphius' Fallout miniatures game, Wasteland Warfare, giving players a whole new way to set out and explore the post-apocalypse.

Of course, the wasteland is a dangerous place, and Modiphius have just made it even more so as they will also be launching their new Raiders set.

The Raiders are scavengers, sending out cheap troops with cheap equipment to overwhelm their enemy, while Chem-crazed psychos rush in to tear people apart.

They will also be showcasing the starter set miniatures for their upcoming game Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms, and their special Dragonborn Triumphant miniature will be available to pick up.

Plenty of Bethesda-inspired goodies for players to pick up, and no doubt Modiphius will be bringing loads of other stuff from their many and varied RPGs to look through too.

Modiphius are setting up their wasteland in Hall G, Booth #2569.

Paizo - Pathfinder Second Ed.

This GenCon will also see the much-anticipated launch of Pathfinder Second Edition from Paizo.

Pathfinder is one of the most popular fantasy RPG systems out there and I know people have been excited to get to grips with this new edition.

Paizo will also be running a number of panels introducing people to the new edition, including an Introduction to 2nd Edition, Making Your First Character, an Adventure Design Workshop, and a discussion of the Design Philosophy.

These sit alongside the various demos that you'll be able to find at the event, meaning there will be lots of opportunities to find out more about this next stage in the evolution of Pathfinder.

Plastic Soldier Company - Runestones, Rome and Roll, and Defence of Procyon

PSC Games will be at GenCon, and they are bringing with them three new exciting games that are heading to Kickstarter this autumn.

Runestones is a two to six player fantasy wargame by Martin Wallace. Players take control of a fantasy race, each with their own unique abilities and units, and seek to gain points by plundering your opponents' villages.

We were lucky enough to get a look at Runestones at UKGE this year and it's good to see it appearing at GenCon too.

Rome and Roll is, as the name might suggest, a roll-and-write board game in which players seek to rebuild Rome after much of it has burned to the ground.

This is a game that caused a bit of a stir among us here in the office. Roll-and-writes are growing in popularity and the theme and focus of this one promises to make it a fun one.

The Defence of Procyon III is an interesting asymmetric game for two to four players. Players pair off into teams of two, one playing an invading alien force, while the other takes command of a defending human settlement. One player from each team is in charge of their team's  space fleet, while the other leads their ground forces.

All three of these games are very promising and I hope we will get to see more of them as PSC show them off further at GenCon.

CMON - Teburu and Tabletop Troubadour

As always, CMON are looking to make a splash at GenCon, starting with their newly announced Teburu.

The first prototype of the Teburu system will be at GenCon, and people can sign up to demo it.

Another exciting announcement is that CMON are teaming up with the awesome guys of Tabletop Troubadour for a special expansion to Zombicide Black Plague.

Together, they are making a 3D table customed designed for the world of Hagglethorn Hollow. Development is still underway on this project, but at GenCon you will get an exclusive first look at the gameplay prototype.

Johnny and Ike from Tabletop Troubadour are awesome guys so if you see them at the show make sure to give them a high five from us.

Aside from these, CMON will also be showing off Death May Die's R'lyeh rising expansion, an early copy of Bloodborne: The Board Game, and a prototype of Trudvang Legends, so if you want to see more of these or any more of the new games they will no doubt be announcing head over to their stand at booth #417.

Asmodee - MegaCity, Obscurio, and Space Cowboys

There is tons happening with Asmodee at this year's GenCon. First of all, there be some big announcements from the Fantasy Flight Games In-Flight Report on Wednesday. The stream will be going live on Twitch and YouTube from 19:00 EDT so keep an eye-out for that!

Aside from this, Asmodee have a ton of new titles from across their various companies.

Days of Wonder's Ticket to Ride: London will be turning up.

This variant of the classic board game is usually a Walmart exclusive in the US, so this could be a good opportunity to catch the bus.

Libellud's have a few magical tricks up their sleeve with Obscurio.

In this game, players take on the role of wizards escaping the clutches of an evil sorcerer. However, one of their number might very well be a traitor... cue dramatic music!

This is followed up by Hub Games, whose new game MegaCity: Oceania mixes dexterity with light-euro strategy.

This is not to mention a demo version of Space Cowboys' T.I.M.E. Stories Revolution, Patchwork Doodle, from Lookout Games, Yggdrasil Chronicles from Ludonaute, and Last Bastion from Repos.

Add to this and some limited copies of CMON's A Song of Ice and Fire Starter Set and you have plenty of reasons to head over to Asmodee's stand at booth #1719.

Corvus Belli - Infinity: Defiance

Corvus Belli are going to be running demos of their upcoming scifi dungeon crawler Infinity: Defiance, giving players their first chance to experience this new look at the Human Sphere.

They recently published a preview, showcasing the prototype they will have with them at the event.

We've been following the development of Defiance closely, so it's really good to see it making its first appearance on the tabletop.

Whew! That's a lot to get through.

Unfortunately, we ourselves won't be attending GenCon this year, but we will be keeping an eye out for any further  announcements.

Make sure to also keep an eye on this article, as we will continue to update it on the run up to Thursday's GenCon launch.

What are you excited to see at GenCon 2019?