The world of table top gaming had another big week. Announcements for some anticipated new releases were dropped. One of the most influential games in recent history is getting a reprint. Wiz Kids announces a big change to their organized play structure for D&D Attack Wing, and some exciting new Kickstarters hit the ground running.
Hans Im Gluck announced a rethemed Star Wars version of Carcassonne to be released in the Fall of 2015! Carcassonne is one of my favorite games and introduced me to the world of board gaming. The addition of a theme starring my favorite film franchise is very exciting, however I’m not entirely sure how it will work out. The above image is a prototype version of the game showing what appears to be some type of hyperdrive lane to replace the road system and some planets to replace the cities. I’m not sure what this will do to the city building and farming mechanic of the game or what the Imperial and Rebel Alliance logos will have to do with the gameplay but I am very excited to find out and will definitely be keeping my eye on this project.
Speaking of Star Wars, Fantasy Flight Games released an in depth look at the Rebel Alliance faction from their upcomming Star Wars Armada miniatures game. The game looks to build on the foundation of their massively popular Xwing miniatures franchise by introducing much more large scale combat featuring capital ships and squadrons of fighters in favor of the dog fight skirmishes that are featured in Xwing.
The ships featured are the Correllian Corvette, the Nebulon B Frigate,and the Assault Frigate MKII. For more info on these ships visit the announcement page here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5348
Wiz Kids announced a change to the organized play structure of their D&D Attack Wing miniatures game. Originally the company had each player bring a prebuilt 120 point value faction to the event. New rules now require the players to bring a prebuilt 90 point faction that will be supplemented by one of fiver blind box miniatures to be provided at the event.
Wiz kids offered a preview of three of these new miniatures along with the announcement featuring a fighter, druid and a ranger.
This new announcement is going to add a good deal of randomness to organized play events and will not only give a bit more balance in favor of gamers with less impressive factions but will also be a good source of sales for the stores hosting the events.
Stonemaier games released new artwork for my most anticipated game of 2015, Scythe! Scythe is a asymetrical miniature wargame combined with a worker placement economic game. The setting is in an alternate 1920s WWI scenario where players will have to harvest resources on a game map and construct different mechanized walking machines of war to defeat their enemies and defend their territory. The game features absolutely stunning art by artist Jakub Roalski who inserts giant terrifying mechs into scenes from the era. More artwork for this game can be found here: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/fact-vs-fiction/jakub-rozalski-killer-robot-paintings?click=pm_news#slide-1
El Grande, the game that introduced most of the world to the concept of the worker placement game is getting a much much deserved reprint. This big box reprint does not only give you a much upgraded version of the game featuring meeples instead of giant cubes and a nicer tower but you also get every expansion ever made for it.
The game communities excitement around this release is palpable and I am very excited for new information about a release date and price to come out in the future.
In Kickstarter news Stonemaier games announced that they will be launching their partner driven city building game, Between Two Cities, on February 25th. The game features an interesting mechanic where one player will have to build two cities collaboratively with the player on their right and left in an attempt to build the most impressive city in the world.
I am very intrigued by the mechanics of this game which will include a bit of co-op play, drafting, and tile laying. The artwork looks like a really appealing mishmash between Suburbia and Machi Koro and the miniature meeples featuring The St. Louis Arch, Taj Mahal, The Roman Coliseum, The statue of Christ the Redeemer, Eiffel Tower, Sydney Harbor Bridge, and the Great Pyramids all look really fun to play with.
Reportedly both standard and Deluxe versions of the game will be available at less than $40 pledge tiers which seems like a decent value for the game.
Slaughterville is a cooperative survival horror game featuring a group of college students exploring the haunted town of Slaughterville.
Each player will take on the role of a college student archetype such as the nerdy one, the angry guy, the goth girl, etc. They will be investigating the town of Slaughterville which is being haunted by a random horror movie monster like vampires or bodysnatchers. Throughout the game players will be finding powerups and different survivors to help them combat the different spooky events that will be randomly occurring throughout the game until finally they get strong enough to take on the big bad monster.
The artwork and style of the game is fairly reminiscent of Flying Frog’s a touch of evil. I like the combination of photography and illustration. It gives off a sense of realness to the terror that is going on in the game and seems like it will help bring the character further into the world.
The text on the cards looks a little small and wordy but it does look like it’s trying to add a lot of theme to the game and is adding some story elements to give a more immersive experience. Small text is never good for playing in dimly lit rooms which this game is pretty much meant to be played in.
The downside is that the game is currently hovering at about $2,000 of its $15,000 goal and has some pretty unimpressive stretch goals. The price point of $55 is fair for a game of this type and quality and I think that having a $10 print n’ play option is a nice touch so that you will at least get a playable version of the game at the end of the campaign.
The designer seems like a first timer and doesn’t seem to have a lot of game design credentials. Some rookie mistakes do seem to be getting made on this campaign by having some plain video work to describe his goals and game, small card text, and undervalued stretch goals. But the game itself does look solid and seems like a lot of fun.
Look for yourself at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2138513287/slaughterville-a-game-of-fun-and-horror
Finally, on kickstarter are these giant 40 sided spindown dice for use primarily with magic the gathering. I’m not really sure why Magic players prefer using dice to keep track of their life instead of pen and a piece of paper but these dice look like they would be very useful for the EDH and Two Headed Giant formats that require multiple dice to keep track of life.
The $20 price tag seems a bit costly, but then again just about everything is with Magic. If you are looking for a cool way to keep track of your life points and have a good conversation piece for your game then go fund this project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maxstats/40-sided-spindown-dice-life-counters/
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-Levi Bushue