Essen is just around the corner. The show is one of the biggest out there and many companies will be showing off their new games. Funforge will be doing just that with Nimiji, a new stand-alone new ga
Essen is just around the corner. The show is one of the biggest out there and many companies will be showing off their new games. Funforge will be doing just that with Nimiji, a new stand-alone new game in their popular Tokaido range. Will you be at the show? You'll have a chance to check it out. For the rest of us, there's a YouTube video showing it off, and it'll be available later tihs year. So there's that.
From the post:
A few words about namiji.
" after surveyed the tokaido, embark to discover the wonders hidden off the coast of Japan. "-Antoine Bauza, author of namiji and tokaido.
Namiji is the next game of the tokaido range, although it is an independent game. This is a spiritual suite proposed in the same box format (same dimensions) as his big brother tokaido (Namiji is not an extension for tokaido. Both games can play regardless of each other.
A presentation video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHfI0Gbpm4U. The copy of namiji visible in the video is a prototype (illustrations and non-final components). The game will of course be beautiful when it comes out, like the graphic universe of tokaido.
The release of namiji is scheduled at the end of 2019. Come and play it on booth funforge at Internationale Spieltage SPIEL: Booth 1 f127.
Woo! Saturday! Woo!I've... got nothing, really. I'm about to head over to a friend's place to game. So let's just dive into the reviews, shall we? We shall.This week, we have: Wordstacker, Wordsy, Dra
Woo! Saturday! Woo! I've... got nothing, really. I'm about to head over to a friend's place to game. So let's just dive into the reviews, shall we? We shall.
This week, we have: Wordstacker, Wordsy, Dragoon, Founders of Gloomhaven, Quest for the Antidote, Tokaido, Marvel Legendary: Noir, Quiver, Thunderbirds, Beasts of Balance, Stop Thief!, Zoo Ball, Automobiles: Racing Season, Between Two Cities: Capitals, Far Space Foundry, Good Cop Bad Cop, Unlock!, The Cohort, Star Scrapper: Cave In, Century: Spice Road, This War of Mine, Barenpark, Heldentaufe, Kingdomino, Pathfinder Adventures app, and Space Invaders Dice.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Dragoon from Lay Waste Games. We also get a look at the new rogue and barbarian expansions made available through kickstarter!
What a great and fantastic looking game - unbelievable! Available in both Gold and plastic editions! So go for the gold and get 50 gold before anyone else for the win in this awesome tactical game.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Founders of Gloomhaven, the brand new game from Isaac Childres and I can't wait for people to get their hands on this one. It's a euro at heart but fuels the lore of Gloomhaven as you are founding the original city before what you experience in the campaign of Gloomhaven.
You get a lot here in this game! Worker placement, card management, resource management, strategy, great artwork, and fantastic mechanics! the kickstarter is going on right now! If you are a Gloomhaven fan - you are going to want this title in the Gloomhaven universe! (at least I think so - the theme is rich and lore is definitely there - this is a different game though - so please make note of that.)
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Quest For The Antidote, a new one from Upper Deck and a very fun family game indeed! In Quest For The Antidote you are questing around a very fun filled map to acuqire the components you need for your antidote. you only have 50 breaths to make it happen, so make every move and action count!
Tokaido is a game in which you gain VP for the experiences you take in on a journey. But you can only do so much and compete with your opponents for the same experiences.
Marvel Noir is the latest expansion for Marvel Legendary the Deckbuilding Game. It features heroes and villains from the Noir Universe and mixes up gameplay a bit.
The Quiver is a card-carrying case you can use to make your card games or small board games portable. You can even use it for carrying other things you want to keep organized and protected.
Thunderbirds the board game was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the TV show. It is a cooperative game where players must rescue victims, stop disasters and thwart the Hood.
The Capitals expansion adds 3 new elements that, according to Stonemaier Games, are designed to all work together, so you should either play with all of them or none. That being said, you could probably mix and match if you wanted to. In addition to the three game play changes, the expansion also comes with some new city tokens.
The specific functional aspects of Far Space Foundry would take a bit too long to explain in this article. In brief, players are space merchants mining asteroids for two different types of ore. Mining occurs in the first half of the game and a rondel/mancala mechanism delivers that ore to a player’s freighters.
In the second half of the game, the ore is used to produce goods which can then be “charged”. Points are scored for maximizing the utility of a player’s ships and the number and kinds of products produced. Points are also deducted for empty space on ships or not upgrading ships.
Players are assigned the team of either being honest or crooked cops by being dealt three secret role cards to each player, with the majority of role cards in hand determining which team a player is on. Two players are also secretly assigned the role of the leader of each of the teams. The goal of the game is for the players to determine who the leader of the rival team is and eliminate them from the game.
Each game of Unlock! comes with a deck of cards and a smaller “tutorial deck”. The teaching deck is identical in all versions of the game.
Players begin the game with a single card deputizing the room they are in and a deck of cards (we sorted our deck by number before the game to make it easier to find cards). During the game, players will need to solve puzzles to gain access to new cards, leading them further down the rabbit hole.
The starting player and every player following has three phases to their turn. They first take two cards from the shuffled deck, look at both of them, and give one to a player of their choice and keep the other.
The second phase is optional and allows players to take a card from their hand and place it face-up on the table to start or add to a Cohort. Once a player has played the required number of unit cards to complete the Cohort, the set is placed face down and the player no longer suffers the effect of that unit type. They also choose a player to discard all the cards from their hand. In the last phase, the player discards down to the maximum hand size of 4 if necessary.
I have come to the realisation that the hallmark of a great game is one when you look at your options, mull over your choices and then let out a cry of exasperation. It is that moment when you realise that to pull off that game winning moving you really should have started your plan in motion three turns ago, or that you are simply one action or one resource short of pulling off a complete blinder.
I say this because my time with Star Scrapper: Cave In has been embarrassingly short, to the point where I feel slightly dishonest in using the word review in the title, (not too I guilty mind you as an article titled first impressions never gets the traction it deserves) but I will say within my brief time with Star Scrapper Cave In there have been multiple cries of anguish, so surely it is a truly great game.
I’ll just come out and say it. Century Spice Road from Plan B Games is a surprise for me. And a very pleasant one at that. Steve talked about it in one of our recent podcasts and he liked it. So much so that before he’d finished banging on about it, I’d one-clicked it during the recording and waited to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out that our resident Welshman may have had a point.
Anyone alive in the 90s who owned an Amiga will almost certainly have remembered the Sensible Software game “Cannon Fodder”. If you don’t remember the game, look it up. I’ll wait.
I mention Cannon Fodder because it came with the tagline: “War has never been so much fun”. And it was right – Cannon Fodder was awesome and still stands as one of my favourite games of all time. Making those little men dance across the screen as you shot their twitching corpses was highly entertaining, if a little morbid.
Cannon Fodder, however, is a complete polar opposite to the subject of this review – with the tagline “In war, not everyone is a soldier”. Also beginning life as a video game, This War of Mine is a rather brutal and harrowing depiction of the early 90’s Siege of Sarajevo from the point of view of a group of civilians trying to eke out an existence in a city that’s seen more shells than Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It’s fair to say that absolutely nothing depicted in This War of Mine could be described as “fun”.
The correct term to describe Bärenpark is a polyominoes positioning game (or Tetris shapes as I prefer to call them). Each turn you will attempt to place one of the odd shaped pieces, made of either public amenities or one of the various bear enclosures, into your park. The name of the game is efficiency, as you race to fill your park as quickly as possible but also maximise its scoring.
The day that you have been waiting for has come. At last, you can prove that you are worthy of being a member of the Hero‘s council. Show them your skills by collecting the golden monster teeth. But be aware – the lands of Taora are not as peaceful as they seem. Rumor has it, that in the dark and gloomy Netherworld, some friends become enemies…
Now get up and hurry! The Heldentaufe already started. Be the first who returns the teeth of glory.
As the name implies, Kingdomino is a twist on the classic tile-laying game, dominoes. This game takes it up a notch by adding pretty art, castles, a twist on the turn order rules, and different scoring. The goal remains the same, however: Score the most points.
Each player has king meeples (the number depends on the number of players), a castle, and a starting tile. The castle is placed on top of the starting tile at the beginning of the game and placed in front of yourself. This is the humble beginning of your kingdom.
Once upon a time, we reviewed the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, a legacy-style card game/RPG mashup that let you build your character in the form of a deck and some limited stats over a series of adventures. Now, Pathfinder Adventures is a digital version of PACG available on all platforms – including Steam – and part of Asmodee Digital’s prolific board game app library.
The game’s premise is just like the original: aliens are attacking the Earth and it’s up to you to blast them all to smithereens. Each player takes a score sheet that looks just like the video game, with space invaders neatly laid out in a 11×6 grid and each row of invaders worth different point values. At the top of the sheet are the hard-to-hit UFOs worth the most points.
Yes, I know it's Tuesday and not Saturday. But Saturday I was preoccupied wondering how he (Jonah) eats and breathes, and other science facts. And then Monday I was recouping from the weekend of laugh
Yes, I know it's Tuesday and not Saturday. But Saturday I was preoccupied wondering how he (Jonah) eats and breathes, and other science facts. And then Monday I was recouping from the weekend of laughing my ass off. So today's going to be a bit of a catch-up day. Anyway, let's get to it.
Today we have: Phara-Oh-Oh!, Res Publica: 2230AD, Quests of Valeria, Vinhos Deluxe Edition, Mess Machine, Tokaido App, T.I.M.E Stories: Expedition: Endurance, and Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle.
Robbers raided pharaoh Anopheles grave long ago and stole the treasures buried with him, including his precious scarab beetles. Since that time, the mummy of Anopheles has been roaming the halls of the pyramid scaring away anyone who dares enter.
You take the role of a courageous hero, looking to break the curse of Anopheles. In order to do so, players will need to enter the pyramid and find enough scarab beetles to break the curse. While the pyramid is old, one trap is still functional.
Res Publica: 2230AD is a slightly modified and reskinned version of a much older game, Res Publica. Designed the Reiner Knizia, the original was set in ancient times, but now we’ve clearly progressed into the future and colonizing space.
Players will attempt to trade race and technology cards with each other to collect sets. Sets can be cashed in to complete missions or build useful buildings throughout the game. Each player has 4 missions and once one player has completed all of their missions, or the technology deck runs out, the player with the most points is the winner.
In Quests of Valeria, players will be taking turns recruiting adventurers and sending them out on quests. Each completed quest will not only grant the player precious victory points, but also bonus actions that can immediately be taken. After one player completes their 5th quest, then the game ends and the player with the most points wins.
I’m not going to break down every rule of this game because that would take forever. There are two versions of the game in the box: The “2010 Reserve” version, which is the original Vinhos, and the “2016 Special Vintage” version which is billed as a more streamlined, and (slightly) simplified version of the game. (There aren’t many differences between the two and the rulebooks do a good job of highlighting what is different. If you know one version already, you can quickly master the other.) Since I have the version with Kickstarter stretch goals included, there are also four small expansions included. Whew, that’s a lot to learn, explain and differentiate. We’d be here until the next grape harvest.
In Mess Machine, players are trying to build a toy without the automated circuitry destroying the whole product.
The design is a straight-up puzzle and literally looks like one. Each toy/image – there are four you can assemble – is represented as a picture with sixteen tiles. One of these sets are mixed up and arranged in a 4×4 grid, image face up. Your job is to reorder them so that the picture is complete.
The catch is that your assembly line machinery only has four functions – and may only run a limited time before it shuts down!
First and foremost, the aesthetic of the cardboard version has carried over perfectly to the small screen. The style is instantly recognizable, with heavy use of slightly-textured white space allowing the focus to remain on the adorable character design. Everything has been translated into 3D animated versions of their paper counterparts, given life with subtle animation that compliments the design. Characters jog along the path to their next stop, ships float at sea, the river water flows. The landscape is still mostly white, but bursts with color where the action is happening. The tiny icons from the board have been fleshed out into detailed little models; all in all, the charm has carried over and even been enhanced with these little details.
I have been a big fan of T.I.M.E Stories. At the time of its release the Myst style puzzles, accompanied by amazing artwork and interesting stories, made it one of my favourite cooperative game experiences. But this feeling has been eroded. The introduction of ‘escape room’ type games follow a similar concept and Mansions of Madness second edition and the Arkham Horror LCG have both made games that offer similar experiences in a much more re-playable format.
This meant that although I was eager to play the latest T.I.M.E Stories expansion ¬- Expedition: Endurance - as I played it the other games in this genre preyed in my mind. To remain king of the hill, T.I.M.E Stories would have to deliver an absolute blinder of a puzzle. Unfortunately, it failed.
theMCGuiRE review take a look at Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle deck building game from USAopoly. This is a great title for the whole family and uses a very good simple deck building mechanic with a story driven design. I absolutely love the tuck boxes, releasing rules and game play as you progress through.
The game offers 7 secret boxes, each having new rules and components for the game! So go pick up a copy at your favorite retailer and dive into the the world of Hogwarts!
It's Saturday, the day that's full of possibilities (Ok, so every day is full of possibilities, but it just feels moreso on Saturday to me). With any luck, your day is full of gaming.But at the moment
It's Saturday, the day that's full of possibilities (Ok, so every day is full of possibilities, but it just feels moreso on Saturday to me). With any luck, your day is full of gaming.
But at the moment, I know you're all interested in what sort of reviews we've got for you. Well, I won't make you wait any longer (Saturday won't go on forever, after all).
Today we have: Dice of Crowns, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Mummy’s Mask, The Undercity: Black River Irregulars Expansion, Legendary: Deadpool Expansion, Firefly: Crime and Punishment Expansion, Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle, Tokaido App, Gloomhaven, Potion Explosion App, Planetarium, V-Commandos, Maximum Apocalypse, Jump Drive, The Colonists, and Stinker.
The Deadpool expansion adds Marvel’s looniest anti-hero to the Legendary deck-building series. It is a fairly typical Legendary expansion except that it brings Deadpool’s lunacy with it.
Crime and Punishment is the latest small expansion for Firefly the game. It adds more Misbehave cards, Alliance Alert cards and some new Setup and Story cards.
Tokaido is a unique board game about taking a journey. You gain VPs by stopping at different places along the path. Read about the digital implementation.
Gloomhaven is a game of Euro-inspired tactical combat in a persistent world of shifting motives. Players will take on the role of a wandering adventurer with their own special set of skills and their own reasons for travelling to this dark corner of the world. Players must work together out of necessity to clear out menacing dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process they will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make.
So let's get this straight; Potion Explosion is a board game, based on a mobile app that now been turned into a mobile app. Confused? Don't be, because Potion Explosion is a fun little game that works just as well on both the tabletop and your telephone or tablet.
The premise is simple, you need to brew potions and do it better than your opponent. To do this you will need to gather four different ingredients each represented by coloured marbles, in varying quantities. Each turn you are only allowed to collect one ingredient from the rack, but if by doing so two ingredients of the same colour come into contact then they explode and you get to collect all of those of the same colour. If by removing these ingredients you then cause another group of the same colour to come into contact then you also get to collect those as well. It means you can set off a cascade and grab a handful of ingredients by simply removing one key ingredient.
A few months ago when I took a peek at Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy, I may have let slip that I was a student of Astrophysics. Sitting in or on an observatory in the middle of winter was all very well, but it did have a habit of reducing one’s tackle to the size of a cashew nut given that the observatory in question was in Scotland. Thankfully it wasn’t all steering telescopes and going cross-eyed trying to discern one speck of light from another. Part of my study of all things “space” involved the formation of stars and consequentially, the formation of planets. I could start harping on about accretion disks, gravitational fields and potential wells, but I’m sure Steve doesn’t want to lose our readership.
Having said all that, it seems that Game Salute have an interest in planetary formation because they’ve recently released Planetarium following a Kickstarter campaign. Every time I hear that word, I instantly think of the South Park episode – not because of Cartman’s cheesy poofs try-out, but because Dr. Adams can’t pronounce the “T” in Planetarium. According to my better half, saying that repeatedly for 6 weeks starts to wear thin. I fail to see the problem myself.
Players in V-Commandos are WWII soldiers taking on missions of various types including assassination, rescue, stealing plans and overall sabotage. Even if certain commandos are killed on the mission, the team wins (usually) or loses as a whole.
Maximum Apocalypse combines the replay value of classic endless dungeon roguelikes (e.g. Rogue, NetHack) with the best parts of mission directed dungeon crawlers and campaigns (e.g. Imperial Assault, Conan). After randomly generating the map, players choose which survivor role to take on and then determine the post apocalyptic flavor of the day: zombies, aliens or nuclear fallout. Each hellish landscape has a unique set of monsters and missions to overcome and all the while, players are attempting to mitigate limited resources and degrading health.
If you aren’t familiar with Tokaido, can you start by reading our full review. However if you want the quick summary, Tokaido is a game about a journey from Kyoto to Edo (modern-day Tokyo). However unlike in race games, the pace in Tokadio is a leisurely one. It’s about taking in the sights, sounds, and experiences of the journey.
Over the course of this four day trip, players will be stopping at inns, hot springs, temples, and other scenic locations. The goal, of course, is to earn the most victory points by the end of the trip.
Jump Drive is a hand-management card game for two to four players set in the Race for the Galaxy universe. Players are expanding their space empires through researching technologies and colonizing (or conquering) worlds. The player with the most points wins.
The Epic Strategy Game. It’s emblazoned on the front of the box like a badge of honor. Or perhaps it’s a warning. With a self reported playing time of up to 4 hours, The Colonists isn’t shy to let you know that you’re in for a long night of gaming. But worry not. For a game that aims to steal away your evening, it’s relatively easy to learn and play. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not ‘My First Board Game’ material, but it’s not as intimidating as eight pounds of cardboard might initially suggest.
Stinker is a party game for three to six players. Players use their letter tiles to create the best answer to the prompt, judged by another player. At the end of the game, whoever has the most points wins.
Read More
