News Collider – Board Games News 13/2/2019


There’s more news this week than you can shake a stick at, though how shaking a stick at something is a metric for anything is beyond me.  It’s barely an SI unit and has that stick been properly calibrated? Is there traceability on its origin? Has the stick shaking been taking place in a controlled environment? It just makes you want to hark back to pre-decimal days. 

So this week we present to you several Cow’s Grass (look it up) of news.

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: MEGACITY OCEANIA
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Over this last week, Hub Games released news of their next game, Megacity: Oceania.  A light dexterity game of city building, where players will literally be building up a unique and different city each game.

You’ll be competing for contracts, space and of course aesthetics as you try and solve the worlds over-population and rising sea-level problems with a pretty board game.

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: STAR WARS: OUTER RIM
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Steve is already chomping at the bit to get his hands on this from Fantasy Flight Games.  In Outer Rim players are the scum of a galaxy far, far away.  You’ll be looking to shift cargo and not ask any questions, pick someone up who may not want to be picked up and possibly interfere with some patrols.  Y’know, all that skulduggery stuff that is just good fun.  The more you do, the more (in)famous you become, the bigger the prize on your head. 
Expect to hear Steve talk about this on a podcast during Q2.

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SPACE COWBOYS

At this year’s Spielwarenmesse Space Cowboy’s announced some serious plans for a range of their games, including a reboot of T.I.M.E Stories and of Jaipur, along with some new 2-player games, Jodhpur and Ankhor.
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T.I.M.E Stories Revolution: A Midsummer Night is the first in the new narrative “blue cycle” arc.  The key difference with the blue cycle—other than there being no “base” game—is the focus on characters, with each Receptacle (the body inhabited when you play) will have a unique deck of cards which denote their personality and how they react to different charters and events within the game.  A Midsummer Night and The Hadal Project are the first two scenarios of the blue cycle and they’ll be hitting shelves and tables this Autumn.
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Jaipur is being reprinted with new art and components and it’s all being done in-line with Space Cowboy’s 2 player non-aggressive conflict games including the new titles, Jodhpur a tile-laying game about building a bustling market and Ankhor, which is a fast-paced resource management game of card drafting and set collection where timing and market manipulation are key.  These games have all been at least co-designed by Sébastien Pauchon (with the latter two being co-designs with Frank Crittin and Grégoire Largey), so I suspect these will have a similar feel even though being mechanically very different.  Games certainly worth looking out for if you are a fan of Jaipur.

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: MINECRAFT THE BOARD GAME
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Teased – I use that would very liberally – Ravensburger had on display the box for their upcoming board game of the hit video game that I really just can’t understand the appeal of.  At the recent Spielwarenmesse Toy Fair Ravensburger had a picture of the box on their stall banner and a little blurb that read:
“The video game phenomenon Minecraft comes to your table as a board game experience filled with epic adventures! More info coming soon."

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: DUNGEON OF THE MAD MAGE BOARD GAME
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Wizkids has revealed plans to release a board game based on one of the most famous and dangerous places in all of the Forgotten Realms. In Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage players will have to navigate through a labyrinth of 40 interlocking dungeon tiles, overcoming traps and monsters along the way to eventually best Halaster Blackcloak and escape Undermountain with all of that treasure.

The game can be played from 1 to 5 players and will feature multiple challenges and scenarios 

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: HADARA
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Hadara – the Arabic word for culture, is a civilisation game with a focus on growing a civilisation through diversity.

Available in the spring, this game features a twist on card selection by use of a rotating wheel that each turn will dictate which deck of cards a civilisation will be making their choices from.  You are free to build your empire as you want, with allies or enemies, military might or a booming economy but balance and diversity are the main ingredients to success.  

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: FROM CALLIOPE GAMES
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Rob Daviau is determined to design a successful nautical-themed game it seems, with ShipShape, maybe he’ll do just that.  In this game, you’ll be bidding to fill your ship’s hold with coins, cannons and contraband, covering up all the boring textiles and spices you’re meant to be transporting.  The better the booty, the bigger the score.
Until now, you’d probably struggle to think of a game about parade float design, but Calliope games have got you covered with Everyone Loves a Parade.  Coloured dice are the gathered crowds and you’re looking to please as many of them as possible with your float.
Spymaster makes use of one of my favourite board game mechanics, I-Split-You-Choose, in a game of espionage, area control and set collection.  Manoeuvre your agents from around the globe to meet the mission objectives and claim the rewards.

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: WATERS OF NEREUS
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From Dr. Finn Games comes a game of nautical adventure, of treasure and simultaneous action selection.  With everything a good ship needs, from a Captain to a scientist and a boatswain to a merchant, each player will activate a given number of these over each of the games 6 rounds trying to gather treasure to keep the crew happy.  Beth Sobel has provided typically impressive artwork for this and you’ll be able to see and experience it all for yourselves come May.

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: SLYVILLE AND ROUTE TO INDIA
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Hexy Studios, who brought us Starscrappers: Cave-In and Hard City, has recently announced their next two games, Slyville a bluffling, hand management and bidding game that is all about being a dick, and Route to India, a light game of pattern building as players sail to India and back trading all many of goods along the way!

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - ROGUES GALLERY
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IDW is releasing a push-your-luck Batman The Animated series game in may featuring wonderful new art from Chris Fenoglio, Jack Lawrence, Dario Brizuela, and Marcelo Ferreira.  In this game players will be some of Batman’s most iconic villains looking to oust the Caped Crusader and finally realise your nefarious master plan.

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM GAMEWRIGHT
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To celebrate it’s 25th birthday, Gamewright are releasing loads of games this year – I’m not certain of the relevance of their anniversary since surely that’s what game publishers should do every year...anyway:
Sushi Roll is a dice version of the very popular and easy to play Sushi Go!  This version features dice, believe it or not, where players will be rolling and drafting sushi dice.  It doesn’t feature the exclamation mark at the end of the game name any longer, so saying Sushi Roll is now less tiring, which is also a good thing.
In Bloom is a very light, very quick (and pretty darn cheap) game of set collection and dice drafting about creating plates of sushi…no, that’s Sushi Roll, this one is about bouquets of flowers.  Totally different.
Finally, there’s Punto, another very quick/light game of collectively building a grid of cards with your opponents, laying your higher scoring cards over theirs.     

EXPANSION ANNOUNCEMENT: EUPHORIA: IGNORANCE IS BLISS
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After six long years since its original Kickstarter release, Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia is getting its first expansion.  This expansion comes from some big names in the solo-gaming community of Morten Monrad Pedersen, Nick Shaw and David Studley, so naturally, there is the addition of an “intelligent AI system” taking the game to a 1 – 6 player count.  Adding new recruit cards and a new type of recruit this expansion offers alternative ways to play the game, rather than bolting new mechanics.

Expect this to be available (at least for a short while) around summer, but to be sure to get a copy subscribe for updates or follow the Euphoria Facebook Page.

EXPANSION ANNOUNCEMENT: BUNNY KINGDOM: IN THE SKY
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Released just in time for the Easter Bunny to include a copy in your basket, Bunny Kingdom receives its first expansion with In the Sky.  A 5th player is added along with a the Carrothedral – a 5-tower building, but will also allow players to link fiefs by means of the new Sky Board plus some other new mechanics to mix the base game up a bit.

EXPANSION ANNOUNCEMENT: A SONG OF FIRE AND ICE
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The Stark and the Lannister factions will be getting some much-needed reinforcements later this month with Hero box 2 being released for each. The former now includes the much anticipated Rickon Stark and his Direwolf, Shaggydog, to face off against King Joffery Baratheon.  The Free Folk will also see their numbers bolstered with the addition of the Cave Dweller Savages and Savage Giants.  Which is nice.

EXPANSION ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM AEG
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If you still care about Smash Up then you’ll be thrilled, thrilled I tell you, about another expansion for the zany shufflebuilding game. World Tour: International Incident introduces Luchadores, Musketeers, Mounties, and Sumo Wrestlers.
Mystic Vale Harmony, available from May, introduces Leaders and Amulets as well as some other advancements  With these amulets you can unlock a special power when you spoil and they’ll also bestow new abilities on your man tokens.
The Captain Is Dead: Dangerous Planet is a stand-alone game where the Spacefleet crew have crash landed on a terrifying class M alien planet.  Race through the modular tunnel system to find alien relics (there’s always alien relic lying around on these planets aren’t there?) and defend your self from giant bugs from July.
Do you want to know more?

JUST RELEASED: REYKHOLT
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A farming game set in Iceland that is all about out-doing your opponents in order to attract tourists.  Now, I’ve not been to Iceland, but if I did visit one of the most expensive countries in the world I probably wouldn’t go sight-seeing to a bunch of farms.  But that’s just me. In a nutshell, that’s what this game is all about and it’s available now.

PRE-ORDERS OPEN: JUDGE DREDD: THE CURSED EARTH
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Based on the Lost Expedition but now with a 2000AD twist, Osprey has just opened up pre-orders for Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth.  The game supports co-op, competitive and solo modes of play as you try and track down your target and bust some skulls.

With fantastic new artwork from Dredd artists Dayglo and Dan Cornwell this game looks ace and, if you place your pre-order before 21st February you’ll get some limited promo cards in with your order.

THE FINAL ENEMY
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On their monthly Twitch Stream, “Spoilers & Swag”, D&D senior director, Nathan Stewart and game designer Kate D&D fans with two pages from the upcoming release. The pages revealed looked a lot like a classic adventure “The Final Enemy”, and when I say a lot like, in some of the text visible, it’s almost a word perfect match.

IF this is true, then expect to be sneaking into a Sahuagin fortress from spring. 

SWITCHING TO D&D
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Remember those cracking D&D video games, like the twenty-years-old Baldur’s gate? Well, pretty soon you’ll be able to play it all over again on the Nintendo Switch.  Not just Baldur’s Gate though, Baldur’s Gate ll, Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights are all coming to a console in 2019.

NEW D&D MINIS
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This July, Wizkids is releasing a host of new unpainted D&D minis including many from Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures including a Male Elf Wizard, Female Half-Orc Barbarian, a Wereboar and Werebear.  There are also some young dragons, brass, bronze, and white.  There’s also some Pathfinder Depp Cuts minis too including a Clockwork Dragon and a Giant Eagle.

EXPANSION ANNOUNCEMENT: STAR TRAK ADVENTURES 
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Modiphius has announced the release dates for the next three supplements for Star Trek Adventures RPG.
The Science Divisions, available from 19th February, finishes off the trio of Starfleet Divisions allowing players to created fully formed science officers and gamesmaster to create aliens made of energy and spread truly devastating diseases.  Oh, and they’ve also added an exploration on including Q in your games.
Alpha Quadrant, released in July has a focus on Deep Space 9, including the Cardassian Union, the Ferengi Alliance, and the Maquis.
Then in August players can enjoy 10 new, original missions in Strange New Worlds with some of the most dangerous away missions you’re likely to ever face.

LICENSED TALISMAN
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In a move that none would have predicted, Games Workshop has struck a deal with USAopoly for licensed versions of the cult 80’s game.  No details have been released yet as to which two licensed versions of Talisman we can expect but I’m putting my money on a Harry Potter Talisman and an Avengers Talisman.

And on a very related, but different note:

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: RELIC
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Based on the Talisman system, Relic has players in the role over powerful 40k characters protecting the Antain System.  Players earn Relics by completing smaller mission objective before taking on the central enemy such as Kairos Fateweaver, Oracle of Tzeentch.  Naturally, being WizKids the standard edition available in July will have unpainted minis including space marine busts for the player pieces.  The deluxe version (at almost twice the price) will come fully painted.

FINALLY...

City of Games.  This weekend Steve, Andy, and Jon will all be at City of Games, if you're going be sure to stop and say hi, ask where I am, get an autograph, play games and have lots and lots of fun.

KICKSTARTER HIGHLIGHTS:

HERO - The Adventurer's Journal - an epic and fantasy Adventurer's Journal adaptable to every role-playing game to write the stories of your heroic characters!
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