The Great Wall of China. It was created to protect China's northern border from invasion. However, the wall alone was not enough to keep the enemy out. It took the work of generals commanding their tr
The Great Wall of China. It was created to protect China's northern border from invasion. However, the wall alone was not enough to keep the enemy out. It took the work of generals commanding their troops up and down the wall. That's where you come in. Awaken Realms has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Great Wall, a new worker placement board game.
From the campaign:
The Great Wall is a new major board game from Awaken Realms (creators of Nemesis, Tainted Grail, Etherfields, and many other acclaimed products) and our fresh take on Euro / Worker placement type of Board Games!
Players will take the roles of generals of an ancient Chinese empire who lead the defense against ruthless hordes. You will need to gather allied advisors, manage your workers, recruit armies and, together with other players, raise and defend the Great Wall! As the game progresses, you will often need to negotiate and interact with other players, but make no mistake – there can be only one winner
The campaign's more than 12x funded already with 20 days left to go.
drew 223 days ago
Awakened Realms really have followed the CMON formula for Kickstarting games.
This one promises to be massive, just like the last one, and the one before that.
Marcus 223 days ago
Do you think Kickstarters are the way of the future for established companies? When you have resources from previous games, why do you think Kickstarters are working for CMON and Awakened Realms?
Awaken Realms has launched their highly-anticipated Etherfields Board Game Kickstarter. Created by Michal Oracz, players head into the realm of the Dream Crawlers. It's a strange, ethereal world where
Awaken Realms has launched their highly-anticipated Etherfields Board Game Kickstarter. Created by Michal Oracz, players head into the realm of the Dream Crawlers. It's a strange, ethereal world where your decisions will have lasting impacts on the game. Build your character up over time and become the ultimate master.
From the campaign:
Etherfields is a new major miniature Board Game by Awaken Realms. We call this totally different BG experience a Dream Crawler – you will dive into surreal and artistically crafted world and follow one of a kind co-op / solo campaign adventure for 1-4 players. Everything you do will change the strange rhythm of the Etherfields dream world, where even the wildest fantasy is possible.
Gameplay created by the Board Game veteran Michał Oracz (author of This War of Mine: TBG, Neuroshima Hex or The Edge: Dawnfall and many others), will test not only your logical skills but also your intuition, deduction, and emotional intelligence. Develop your character from scratch using advanced deck-building, travel through the dream-world map and delve deeper into chosen locations.
To say the game is "doing well" is a ridiculous understatement. It's over 2.5mil in funding and still has 20 days left to go.
Awaken Realms has been hard at work at a new board game. It's called Etherfields and it's been designed by Michał Oracz, who has quite a resume to his name. They'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign
Awaken Realms has been hard at work at a new board game. It's called Etherfields and it's been designed by Michał Oracz, who has quite a resume to his name. They'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign for the game soon and wanted to show off what the campaign will look like. Also, they want to make sure people sign up for notification when it launches, since if you back in the first 24 hours, you'll get an extra figure for the game.
From the page:
Welcome to Etherfields Kickstarter campaign page! This is just a draft, that we will graduatelly update with new informations. If you feel, like you don’t want to miss when this game will go live, make sure to click “Notify me on launch” button at the top of the page. Thanks!
Etherfields is a new major miniature Board Game by Awaken Realms. We called this totally different BG experience a dream crawler – you will dive into surreal and artistically crafted world and follow one of a kind co-op / solo campaign adventure for 1-4 players. Everything you do, will change the strange rhythm Etherfields dream world follows and wildest fantasy is possible here.
Gameplay created by Board Game veteran, Michał Oracz (Author of This War of Mine: TBG, Neuroshima Hex or The Edge: Dawnfall among many others), will test not only your logical skills, but also intuition, deduction and emotional intelligence. Develop your character from scratch by advance deck-building, travel through dream-world map and go deeper into chosen dream-locations.
Saturdaaaaaaaaaay! Woo! All the woo! Continuous woo!And, as I'm sure many of you are well-aware, it's the last Saturday before Gen Con. So get in all the prep you can now before heading out for the sh
Saturdaaaaaaaaaay! Woo! All the woo! Continuous woo! And, as I'm sure many of you are well-aware, it's the last Saturday before Gen Con. So get in all the prep you can now before heading out for the show this week. Me? I'm playing some D&D. But I've planned ahead and scheduled these reviews for you that I know you so desperately desire.
Today we have: The Edge: Downfall, Rise of Tribes: Deluxe Edition, Expancity, War of the Cross, Moonshiners of the Apocalypse, But Wait There's Even More, Valhal, Dino Party, Scythe: The Rise of Fenris, TopSpin, Rival Realms, Carthago, Ninja Taisen, Battlegroup Torch, The Edge: Downfall, Everdell, Sunset Over Water, Dale of Merchants, and Pulsar 2849.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at the brand new The Edge: Dawnfall board game and this thing is MASSIVE! It offers 3 modes of play: a competitive miniatures game, a fully cooperative multi-player campaign game and a solo campaign experience. Each game mode is an awesome and well executed experience and yet again adds to Awaken Realms stock of excellent games!
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at the brand new Rise Of Tribes from Breaking Games and Team this is a winner in my book! It's a solid buy recommendation. You are getting a great worker placement and area control game here and it drips with theme. the game is simple, clean and offers a lot of different ways to be the first tribe to 15 points - winning the game. As you start the game you truly feel like a small tribe growing in power round to round. The dice mechanic offers a good way to create some choice on which actions you decide to take, although they do not dictate with actions you take - I like this. It give the player the choice to still take the actions they want even if the dice do not provide a bonus. So check this one out when it releases in Aug and get in on the giveaway, as its an EPIC LEVEL one.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Breaking Games brand new Expancity. Here you will be building a downtown landscape with both commercial and residential buildings. Then scoring points once you cap them off with a roof - but be careful not to violate the building codes, as city council will be watching! So get your contracts and start designing your very own downtown!
A game of Valhal proceeds round by round through three stages, where each stage represents a season of the year. With winter and spring, players are planning their voyages and constructing buildings to help them train warriors faster and build new ships. During the summer, in addition to normal activities, the Vikingfahrt occurs and players roll dice to see what spoils and glory their adventures have yielded.
If I had to choose the favorite game type my kids prefer, then it would be dexterity games. From Terror in Meeple City, Ice Cool, Riff Raff, or PitchCar to name a few, they love playing these games that challenge their reflexes and coordination. What keeps my kids coming back to dexterity games is that they have more success than other game types. And the victory is so much sweeter when it’s over mom and dad.
This brings us to today’s review, Dino Party from Ankama. In this game, players throw dino meeples onto the board to make pairs and increase their number of dinos to their hand. Dino Party is a family friendly dexterity game that plays best with 4 and plays in about 20 minutes.
Kickstarted Scythe Collector’s Edition. It arrived and I loved it. Picked up Scythe: Invaders from Afar. It added two new factions to the game and two new player mats. While not revolutionary, I liked the variability this expansion added. Reviewed Scythe: The Wind Gambit. I also liked this expansion, especially the new Resolution Tiles.
Ok, now that my Scythe history is out of the way, let’s get to why you are here – to learn more about Scythe: The Rise of Fenris (simply Fenris going forward).
I was stoked (I loved Point Break!) to be given the opportunity to review Rise of Fenris. I was looking forward to experiencing the re-settable and replayable campaign that is the meat of Fenris. At the same time, I was saddened because explicitly stated on the box was “the conclusion of the Scythe expansion trilogy.” I truly love the Scythe universe, from the art to—most importantly—the gameplay. Is Rise of Fenris the swan song Scythe deserves or will it go out with a whimper?
Dexterity board games come in all shapes and sizes. Some will have you tossing plastic coconuts across the table (Coconuts), while others might have you balancing wooden pieces on a swaying ship (Riff Raff). And that’s the great thing about the genre, you can be as creative as you want to be with the components.
Today we are going to be looking at TopSpin, a newcomer to the genre that, unsurprisingly, uses a spinning top as the core mechanic. The rules are fairly simple, but winning can be anything but. Let’s take this game for a spin and see if it’s worth bringing to you tabletop.
Imagine a world where a little boo-boo happened with a card trick and two magicians find themselves standing in the empty land of Fantastiqa before it was formed. First thought: That was one heck of a card trick. Second thought: And one heck of a boo-boo. Anyway, the world is now a blank canvas for them to shape however they want.
Fantastiqa: Rival Realms (known hereafter as FRR) has you placing cards in order to create your magical realm, and then exploring that realm by moving your standee over the “board” you have created. In order to build and move, you’ll have to carefully manage your card resources, gather artifacts, and recruit mythical beasts to assist you. The player who creates the “best” realm (scores the most points) is the winner.
Carthago is a hand management card game for two to four players. Players are merchant families in Carthage trying to gain the most wealth and prestige by improving their standing in the merchant guild. The player with the most points wins.
Ninja Taisen is a two-player game in which you control one village’s ninja clan. To win, you must reach your opponent’s village or eliminate all of their ninjas.
There are 11 tiles placed between players: two village tiles are at opposite ends of the nine path tiles. Players begin in their left-side home village and advance to their opponent’s right-side village.
Each player gets an identical set of 10 ninja cards with one designated as the shogun. The shogun is placed on their home village, then the ninjas are shuffled and placed randomly on predetermined tiles.
Battlegroup Torch is the latest supplement to the Battlegroup World War II rules, written by Warwick Kinrade and published by Iron Fist Publishing and the Plastic Soldier Company.
This book is hardcover with 230 full colour pages, and is of similar format to previous books.
Torch is a direct sequel to Battlegroup Tobruk, and covers the second half of the desert war, starting with the Battle of Gazala and finishing with the final defeat of the Axis forces following the fall of Tunis.
Following the introduction, the next 50 pages of the book provides an overview of 1942 and 1943. Interspersed with black-and-white period photos is a description of all the major operations and battles which took place across Egypt, Libya and Tunisa.
Those of us who lack the always enviable skill of artistry, especially that skill of painting can rejoice, finally, that there is now an alternative to colour-by-numbers and those adult colouring books (which failed my expectation on the adult front) with Sunset Over Water, a lightweight, quick game of painting landscape masterpieces and selling them off.
Warning: This review was written with a thesaurus close at hand, primarily used for synonyms of charming and delightful, because, well, Sunset Over Water is both charming and delightful. Indeed, you will be enchanted by the simplicity of the rules, and you’ll find the artwork presented on the landscape cards to be quite enchanting, but there is more to this game than meets the eye, in fact, you’ll have a very jolly, if not somewhat twee and bohemian time playing this little gem.
Players are competing to become members of the Extraordinary Guild of Traders by being the first to arrange their stall according to the Guild’s specifications. This makes Dale of Merchants a race: the first player to set out 8 stacks of goods (cards) in front of them wins. Each stack must be built of cards from your hand worth an increasing amount and from the same animal set. The first stack must be worth 1, the second 2 and so on until the final stack needs to be made up of cards worth a whopping 8.
Once you’ve used a card to build a stack you can’t reuse it, meaning that the entire game revolves around deciding when to hang on to your cards for their effects and spending power, and when to sacrifice them to create the stacks you need to win. It’s as much deck-dismantling as it is deck-building.
The game of Pulsar 2849 is a dice drafting game where players use their dice to explore the galaxy, establish and activate pulsars, and harness new technologies in an effort to score the most points by the game’s end. The game is broken into several rounds consisting of the dice drafting phase, followed by the actions phase where the players utilize their dice, and then the cleanup phase where end of round points are scored. At the end of the game, a final scoring is performed and the person who is highest on the victory track is the victor.
Woo! Saturday!And I'm finally mostly over being sick. You never realize just how much you are thankful that you can breathe through your nose or take a couple breaths without coughing until that's exa
Woo! Saturday! And I'm finally mostly over being sick. You never realize just how much you are thankful that you can breathe through your nose or take a couple breaths without coughing until that's exactly the opposite of how you're doing. Ah well. While I groove along to The Guess Who (because why not?), let's get you some gaming reviews.
This week, we've got: 51st State Master Set, Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past, Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle: The Monster Box of Monsters, Arkon, Pockety Odyssey, Noises at Night, Siege Storm, Rambo: the Board Game, Hardback, Voodoo, Palette Swap, Vast: The Crystal Caverns, Pryamids, Kingsburg (2nd Edition), Crossfire, Through the Desert (Euro Classics Edition), Nemesis, Bad Squiddo Games Onna-bugeisha, and Test of Honour: Ninjas of Iga Warband.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shadows of the Past is a one versus all miniatures skirmish game. Up to four players take on the roles of the Turtles and face off against the player using the forces of evil.
The Monster Box of Monsters is the first expansion for Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle. It adds more difficulty and more content, including a new Hero to help you and creatures to fight.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Siege Storm a brand new (super new) TCG out of Awaken Realms and designed by Marcin Swierkot. A very cool new take on a traditional card game. There are tons of TCG's out there and this adds to a market that is already saturated. Thing is....its different in many ways and feels like a completely different experience than your standard run of the mill TCG's. Its not just the fantastic artwork but the game play mechanics and layout of the cards really feel like much more than your standard card game. Excellent design and very fun, versatile, and quick experience! Well done Marcin!
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Rambo The Board Game a brand new one from Everything EPIC, which is currently in kickstarter (upon uploading this video) and the link is below! Here you will find a very nice and fun easy tactical miniatures war game. Simple mechanics and combat keep this title a really good gateway for anyone and the missions are based on the movies. I find the game has excellent theme and you really feel as though you are on a mission in the jungle to bring justice! This is not one to miss and is a very fun mission by mission based game!
Hardback is essentially a race game to be the first player to earn 60 points. Each player starts with a 10 cards deck of letters, eight identical and two random ones.
Each player is trying to be the first to score 11 points by casting curses on the other players. To do this, players will first need to roll five dice. If you happen to roll the required ingredient for a curse, you can spend those dice to cast it onto another player and earn victory points. This will cause the player to do certain actions during the game, such as talk like a frog, cover one eye, or don’t let your feet touch the floor. If that player doesn’t follow the curse requirements, the casting player earns extra points.
In Palette Swap, you attempt to complete your color schemes via mixing, matching, and trading colored cubes with other players. Each player is given a color palette and six color schemes to complete based on the colors contained on their palettes and other players. A small set of primary colored cubes represent your actions – swapping with other players, mixing yours and their colors, or gaining a cube of a color they possess. Once your palette and an opponent’s contain the right colors, you complete color scheme card. The first to complete all six of their cards wins.
Explaining the entire concept of the game involves a brief description of each of the five sides in play. In general, various creatures and/or heroes find themselves at odds inside a cave littered with crystals and treasures. Each side has a separate goal depending on which other sides are also in play. The general game structure is one of continuous rounds until one side fulfills their win condition.
Players in Pyramids are ancient Egyptian architects. They complete structures by acquiring building cards from a center pool and then adding them to various buildings, including a mandatory pyramid.
Apart from the cosmetic changes in all new illustrations, a slightly redesigned board, revamped components and custom dice, this new edition from Z-Man Games plays exactly the same as the original. However, it also includes all five of the modules from the separate expansion To Forge a Realm (identical rules, as well), plus a couple of additional ones. These may be mixed and matched or thrown in all together as your heart desires – or the Queen demands.
Not to be confused with the action-packed disc-shooting game from the 1970’s (and yes there’s a new version in stores), or that other card game about futuristic agents and operatives, this Crossfire is a hidden role game set in the Specter Ops universe about agents and assassins and protecting a VIP.
Roles are dealt at the start of a round, but it’s not a straightforward deal. First everyone is given a role card (and a chance to look at it). Then everyone pass that card to the left and looks at their new role. Next, every 3rd player shuffles their role cards with their neighbors’ on either side, and deals them back out again – and finally, everyone has their final role.
Through the Desert is a network-building game for two to five players. Players are nomadic caravan leaders trying to connect their caravans to the most valuable desert territory (namely, oases and watering holes). The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
The aim of the game is to get home, ensure the navigation computer is pointing in the right direction, make sure the engines are working and get back in the hibernation pods before the ship jumps to hyperspace. I think. One of my initial problems with the Nemesis prototype is that although the rulebook is by no means awful, it appears to leave a lot of aspects of the game open to interpretation, and appears to be missing some rules completely. Now we are talking about a prototype game here, so it’s understandable that this is by no means the final rulebook, but it does make providing my thoughts on the game rather problematic.
Ninjas of Iga is the latest box set of miniatures to be released by Warlord Games for their Test of Honour Samurai skirmish game – it is the second box set they have released which includes all new metal miniatures.
Do you know what nemesis means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent, personified in this case by a 'orrible bear, me.Or, in this particular instance, Nemesis means
Do you know what nemesis means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent, personified in this case by a 'orrible bear, me. Or, in this particular instance, Nemesis means a new semi-cooperative sci-fi board game that's tearing up the funding over on Kickstarter. Take on the role of a crew member looking to survive horrific aliens while also trying to complete your own, secret goal that may not jive with what your other crew members are trying to do.
From the campaign:
Welcome to the world of Nemesis! This new board game, designed by Adam Kwapi?ski, is the result of a collaboration between Awaken Realms (creators of This War of Mine: TBG, The Edge: Dawnfall and Lords of Hellas) and Rebel (creators of Drako, Dream Home and K2) . It's a 1-5 players semi-cooperative Sci-Fi horror where you and your friends try to survive while attempting to fulfill your secret objectives that may sometimes collide. It will also enable full co-op as well as solo play experience.
Nemesis offers one-of-a-kind gameplay, that you currently won't find anywhere else in the board game world. It has been in professional development for over three years, so it already plays very well, provides good balance and contains a multitude of interesting mechanics, as proven by the prototype reviews below.
If you like Sci-Fi survival settings and ships swarming with alien life forms, you will love it - and if that genre was never on your radar, this game is likely to change your mind!
The campaign's already raised over $2mil, so I'd say things are going well. There's still 16 days to jump in, if you want.
It's Saturday. And not just any type of Saturday, but Saturday of a 3-day weekend. I can't think of a much better sort of Saturday... Well, maybe Saturday of Gen Con. But that's a pretty damn busy Sat
It's Saturday. And not just any type of Saturday, but Saturday of a 3-day weekend. I can't think of a much better sort of Saturday... Well, maybe Saturday of Gen Con. But that's a pretty damn busy Saturday. But for "above average" Saturdays, I'd say that 3-day weekend Saturday is a pretty good Saturday. Do you think I've typed the word "Saturday" enough by now? Well, I don't know what you've got going on today, but I'm going to be delivering games to a friend, and then possibly having minis delivered to me. Because it's an awesome Saturday. I'm also here to show off some reviews for you.
This week we have: Nemesis, Everdell, Fox in the Forest, Hamsterrolle, Codenames: Disney, Escape Room in a Box: The Werewolf Project, 878: Vikings, Kepler-3042, Okey Dokey, Santorini, Finished!, Ex Libris, and Hunger: The Show.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at the BRAND NEW and STILL IN PROTOTYPE Nemesis by Awaken Realms and rebel. what is even more awesome about this is the fact theMCGuiRE review is GIVING AWAY THIS LIMITED PROTOTYPE to one lucky subscriber.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Everdell a brand new game from Starling Games and Game Salute. We are doing yet another prototype giveaway on this title. The game is awesome and follows a traditional worker placement game and mechanic. you have to be very decisive as you can only take one action on your turn (place worker, play a card or activate the season). Artwork is amazing and the game drips with theme and visuals. You will want to play this game just on how its looks and feels - game-play is very fun and end game design is perfect with this genre.
Thanks to some holiday get-togethers, I had plenty of gaming time with the family last month. And I’m sure I’m not alone in that one, as board games make any holiday party that much better.
As you know, in Parental Guidance, I introduce new games to my parents outside of the usual gateway games. The goal is to help you find new and interesting games to play with your family and non-gamer friends. While we all love the old standbys, variety is the spice of life.
As usual, I’ll start by giving you a quick summary of the game I chose, followed by my thoughts on why I thought it would be a good fit for a pair of non-gamers. Then my mother will close things out by letting you know how good she thought my selection was.
This game takes the same format as your standard escape room: you have 60 minutes to complete your mission by finding clues and solving puzzles. This game puts you in the role of having to find the cure for a werewolf virus.
When you to start the clock, you unpack the Escape Room in a Box to find a bevy of materials, papers, locked boxes and the like, all which provide clues to be used in solving a series of puzzles in some manner in order to proceed further into the game. Along the way, hints become available at specific time intervals if you get stuck on a specific puzzle. In the end, solving the culminating puzzle allows you to discover the cure to the lycanthropy and win the game. If time runs out, or if you use too many clues (and are honorable gamers) then the game defeats you and you turn into a werewolf.
The game begins with the English faction player(s) setting up the unsuspecting forces of England by placing plastic army figures throughout the map. Cities and towns have garrisons of units, but much of the countryside shires are barren of military force. The Viking player(s) will populate their first army led by the leader(s) represented through cards. Units are placed directly on the card if they are part of the leader’s army.
Kepler-3042 is played over 16 rounds in which players will compete to explore, colonize, and terraform various planets in the galaxy. The board is divided into three zones, with only the planets in the zone closest to Earth initially visible. The planets are spread around the board randomly, adding to the replay value of the game.
Each turn you can perform one of nine actions, optionally up to 2 bonus actions, and then move your ships. Available actions include building spaceships, generating resources, colonizing planets you have landed on, and terraforming planets you have colonized. You also have a technology board which to spend actions on, allowing you to upgrade your proficiency with various technologies, effectively powering up future actions. Progress on the technology track becomes crucial to unlock your ability to travel faster, exchange goods between planets, and produce on and terraform your colonies.
The animals have gathered for a music festival to all play their part in this special event. In the deck, there are five suits of different colors numbered 1-8. The main idea of the game is to try to play all the musicians to complete a grid of 5 rows and 10 columns with each row making up one of the colors in the deck. Seems like a simple task, but the restrictions on how those cards can be played is where the game begins.
Santorini is primarily a 2-player game, pitting players in a contest of skill to see whose workers can build a tower and ascend to the top of it. Variant rules for 3 and 4 players are included.
Finished! is a solitaire hand-management/deck-sorting puzzle game. The goal is to sort the deck in ascending order from 1-48 before you run out of coffee.
Ex Libris is a worker placement/set collection hybrid that also manages to include a spatial element in the gameplay. You’d think that this might be one mechanism too many, but it all works well together.
In Ex Libris, you are trying to win the coveted position of Grand Librarian. This position is awarded to the person with the best library. To win the job, you’ll have to send yourself and your assistants out into the world to source the finest books. Once you’ve got them, you have to shelve them in order, create strong bookshelves to hold them, and make sure you feature prominent works and avoid banned books. Plus, you want a variety of books to cater to all readers!
A casting call has gone out for the reality show “HUNGER”! Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime? Do you have the wits to survive, with other participants, on a deserted tropical island? Or simply want to win $1,000,000? If so, HUNGER is searching for self-reliant contestants to attempt this bold adventure.
HUNGER: The Show is a fast paced family game with rich player interaction. To win, you have to predict your opponent’s actions. On the island, you can gather fruit and catch chickens to get more food. But to win, you also have to collect raft pieces. It’s a good thing that no one would ever think of stealing food and raft parts from other participants…
*holds hands out in front of me* Aliens...Lords of Hellas takes a look at what it would have been like if the Ancient Greeks weren't talking about gods and demi-gods in their stories, but extraterrest
*holds hands out in front of me* Aliens... Lords of Hellas takes a look at what it would have been like if the Ancient Greeks weren't talking about gods and demi-gods in their stories, but extraterrestrial beings, fighting against one-another and doing heroic deeds. Man, I really want to get Giorgio Tsoukalos' autograph. Anyway, the game is up on Kickstarter now.
From the campaign:
Lords of Hellas is a fast-paced territory control game with adventure elements for 1-4 players. The game is set in the Dark Age of Greece, an era shrouded in mystery. Is it possible, that what people of that time saw as Gods, were just beings from another planet, bringing advanced technology to the world?
I'd say the campaign's doing well. By that, I mean it's more than 10x funded with still 20 days left to go.
Well, it's almost like the week is getting back on schedule, even though it's Saturday. I woke up. I got groceries. I'm now typing up the Review Roundup in my living room while listening to music and
Well, it's almost like the week is getting back on schedule, even though it's Saturday. I woke up. I got groceries. I'm now typing up the Review Roundup in my living room while listening to music and contemplating the rest of my day. Sort of nice to get things back to how they should be. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Anyway, as it's Saturday, it's time to get you those review articles I know you all so desperately desire. So let's get to it.
Today we have: Knot Dice Deluxe, Via Nebula, Lords of Hellas, 12 Realms: Dungeonland, 1754 Conquest: The French and Indian War, Star Realms: Colony Wars and United Expansions, Tournament of Towers, Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, Tesla vs. Edison: Duel, Balloon Pop, Terra Mystica App, Star Trek Panic, Sagrada, Yokohama, Ravage: Dungeons of Plunder, and EXIT: The Game - The Secret Lab.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Lords of Hellas from Awaken Realms. This is the second video in a 2 part series looking at the game play and mechanics. The first video was an overview of the miniatures and components. So if you want to see everything up close - please watch the component overview video.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at the new kickstarter 12 Realms: Dungeonland from Mage Company. This is based in the 12 Realms universe with all your favorite characters! The difference in this game vs 12 Realms is this is a fantastic dungeon crawler that is very satisfying as you customize your characters with skill tree's available to each character in the game.
Every now and then a game system comes along that delivers a refreshing jolt to all that’s come before it. It’s often something that makes you ask, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
1754 Conquest: The French & Indian War, the latest in Academy Games’ Birth of America Series, manages to bring the familiar game play of its predecessors, but with enough differences to make purchasing this historical gem worthwhile.
Star Realms Colony Wars stand alone expansion and the United expansion attempt to expand the success of releases with new ships and mechanics. Since I am covering several Star Realms in this review, I’ve broken them up more specifically below.
While there are a few different variants on play (family mode, mulligans, etc), the basic game play in Tournament of Towers has players stacking oddly shaped pieces with the goal of creating the tallest tower worth the most points. Using a system of piece values and card drafting, players must make it through two rounds of stacking if they hope to win the tournament.
Players sit in the roles of countries trying to develop industry and energy production over a period of time roughly from the end of World War II to the present day. Throughout the game, players will construct buildings, power plants as dice, and manage the pollution in their environment with the aim of scoring the most points.
Players in Tesla vs Edison: Duel take on the role of rival inventors trying to spread the gospel of alternating or direct current. In the game, each player plays projects and takes control of companies via a shared collection across three regions of the United States. What develops is card play with area control where the player with greater area strength claims the spoils. Players can win instantly or by accumulating points after three rounds.
In Balloon Pop! players try to score the most points by coming close to, but not reaching, the top of the scoring columns on their score sheets. Like Icarus, you want to fly as high as you can without getting too close to the sun. Each score sheet is composed of six columns of numbers, with a column for each side of the dice: the colors yellow, blue, and red, and the symbols star, moon, and diamond.
Terra Mystica (the board game and the app) is an engine- and network-building/resource conversion game for one to five players. Players control fantasy races in the land of Terra Mystica, trying to shape the land into habitable quarters and advance in the elemental religions. The player with the most victory points is the winner.
In many ways Ravage: Dungeons of Plunder is a typical dungeon crawler and in its basic premise I have to say that there isn't a huge amount of original ideas in the game. You'll venture into dark depths, kill monsters, grab loot, level up and hopefully last long enough to take on the story's goal. But Ravage puts a few interesting tweaks into the age old formula and wraps it up in a package of beautiful artwork and striking graphic design.
You may have noticed a surge in the number or Escape Room style board games appearing over the last few months. Fresh on the heels of cooperative puzzle games like TIME Stories comes a whole range of one-time puzzles based on the escape room phenomenon that is gripping the world. If you are like me, and live at the arse end of nowheresville you will most likely not have had an opportunity to visit one of these experiences.
Thankfully system like Unlock, Escape the Room and EXIT allow you to experience these cooperative puzzle sessions at home. We were lucky to receive a copy of EXIT The Secret Lab from Kosmos and so the opportunity of a bank holiday weekend meant I was able to lock ourselves into the dining room after a Sunday roast and see if the Tudor family was clever enough to escape a devious laboratory.
The Edge: Downfall is not a new documentary about the waning fame of U2. No, it's a new board game by Awaken Realms that's up on Kickstarter. Choose one of the six factions and compete on two differen
The Edge: Downfall is not a new documentary about the waning fame of U2. No, it's a new board game by Awaken Realms that's up on Kickstarter. Choose one of the six factions and compete on two different levels: the conflict board and the campaign map.
The game offers several different modes of play. You can go totally solo, looking to take on the Darkness faction all on your own. Or, with two faction boxes, you can face off 1-v-1 versus your opponent. Feel like having some brotherly love going on? You two can team up. Or, you can get up to 4 of you to either play team-versus or cooperative.
The campaign is already over 4x funded with still 19 days left to go.
Seems we're getting a lot of popular video game titles coming over as tabletop games lately. There's Bloodborne and Dark Souls. Now there's This War of Mine. For those that might not have played This
Seems we're getting a lot of popular video game titles coming over as tabletop games lately. There's Bloodborne and Dark Souls. Now there's This War of Mine. For those that might not have played This War of Mine (such as myself, since I'm not really a video game guy), just think if, one day, you woke up and found that a war was raging all around your city. You're not a soldier (probably), but now you've gotta deal with surviving in a war zone.
The game's a board game, but is designed with a distinct role-playing game feel. You'll have to make tough moral decisions as you scrounge for food and medicine, fight off others trying to take away what little scraps you have, and look for shelter. The game is fully cooperative, seating 1-6 players.
The game's already well above their funding goal. So it's on to working through stretch goals for the next 19 days.
Awaken Realms is running a Kickstarter campaign for The Edge, their new post-apocalyptic steampunk miniatures skirmish game. They've got two factions up currently, the Chapter and the Demons. You can
Awaken Realms is running a Kickstarter campaign for The Edge, their new post-apocalyptic steampunk miniatures skirmish game. They've got two factions up currently, the Chapter and the Demons. You can get the starter sets together or separately as different pledge levels. They've already made it over their funding goal, with still 27 days left on the clock.
The Edge is planned to be a standalone universe with a long term development plan. One of our goals is to keep the feeling of consistency in our story and models. We are dedicated to create a great universe with compelling story and grim, steampunk environment, supported by well-thought and fun to play mechanics and the best quality models.
Models will be set tin 28mm scale and will range from smaller infantry through beasts and vehicles to huge constructs and gigantic monsters. Everything will be cast in quality resin to ensure highest level of detail.
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Awakened Realms really have followed the CMON formula for Kickstarting games. This one promises to be massive, just like the last one, and the one before that.
Do you think Kickstarters are the way of the future for established companies? When you have resources from previous games, why do you think Kickstarters are working for CMON and Awakened Realms?