Don’t Eat the Meeples, Issue Three
Winter here in Salt Lake City has had an interesting effect on my game playing, and it’s not because it’s incredibly cold and snowy. It’s pretty much the opposite, actually. We’ve had 50–60 degree days in February, and that’s sort of unusual.
After all, there’s nothing like bundling up and playing a board game.
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Games
An expansion for a game my work group can’t get enough of, Xia: Legends of a Drift System (released in 2014), hit the metaphorical Kickstarter shelves this week in the form of Xia: Missions and Powers. You can snag the base game, the 2017 expansion Xia: Embers of a Forsaken Star, and this new expansion here. [Kickstarter]
Planet Apocalypse is another game packed with miniatures, because hey, this is Kickstarter, and that’s the way things have to go these days. This one’s designed by Sandy Petersen, who worked on Doom, Doom II, and some Age of Empires titles. It makes me wonder how many other video game designers have crossed over or, more importantly, will cross over. [Kickstarter]
I don’t know much about Herbalism, but I do know it’s a game that was originally published in Chinese by EmperorS4, a Taiwanese publisher, and that this Kickstarter includes access to three other games from a new publisher, Deep Water Games. This one might be worth backing just to get a chance to play some games we wouldn’t otherwise be playing. This ships in March, so it’s basically a short-term pre-order. [Kickstarter]
Yes, you can get more miniatures with a game wrapped around them this week, and Laruna: Age of Kingdoms is one way to do just that. Now, I’ve got to say … I’m not excited about these games. Maybe I’m missing something. It’s a branch of an RPG world, so maybe that’s playing into this. [Kickstarter]
If you want to transport yourself back to 1920s detective novels, Pulp Detective might be perfect. It’s especially perfect if you’d rather play by your lonesome — this is a solo game, but it does have a couple two-player variants. [Kickstarter]
It’s not every day that a game already in the top 200 on BoardGameGeek ends up as a successful Kickstarter, and Endeavor: Age of Sail is more or less a second edition of 2009’s Endeavor, which was a Spiel des Jahres recommended game, among other accolades. This is one I’m seriously considering backing. [Kickstarter]
Other notable Kickstarters include…
- Cogs and Commissars [Kickstarter]
- Fields of Green: Grand Fair (expansion) [Kickstarter]
- Agents of Mayhem: Pride of Babylon [Kickstarter]
In other games news, everyone’s favorite game to hate just gave us all another reason to continue: Monopoly Cheater’s Edition is the result of some analysis that showed that 50 percent of people cheated when playing Monopoly. Maybe that’s because it’s just so miserable you have to do it? Yeah. Let’s go with that. [Deseret News]
In today’s video game adaptation news, Sonic: Battle Racers is coming to Kickstarter this month, and I just know this is going to be the game that makes me go back on everything I saida bout miniatures above. [shinobi7]
PC Gamer has a nice article about Twilight Imperium modders — it’s an interesting wrinkle on normal board game play that’s made easy with Tabletop Simular. Cool, huh? [PC Gamer]
If you enjoy that escape room feeling without that escape room cost, more Unlock! games are coming your way. [ICV2]
Finally, there are expansions for Portal Games’ Imperial Settlers, Alien Artifacts, and Robinson Crusoe. [ICV2]
News
Asmodee acquired a prominent Polish board games distributor and publisher, Rebel Sp. Z.O.O., which press releases indicate will give Asmodee greater access to parts of Europe. The company already acted as a distributor for Days of Wonder and Asmodee. This furthers the international efforts of the board game giants. [ICV2]
Here’s a nice look at crowdfunding’s future in board games: Jamey Stegmaier interviewed the creator of Breadmaker Games, who is looking to provide a long-term alternative to Kickstarter for games. [Stonemaier Games]
It sure seems like there’s a board game cafe being featured in a city across America several times a week, but I’m stuck wondering: Why don’t we have a dedicated board game cafe in Salt Lake City? There’s one 40 minutes south in Provo, so I’ll be trying to make a trip out that way soon.
Discussion
Prominent independent game designer Phil Eklund is talking about his issues with Game Salute’s fulfillment arm, Ship Naked — and none of what you read will reflect very well on Game Salute. Game Salute was just behind a very successful Kickstarter campaign for Everdell, but will that spoil some of the excitement? [Reddit]
What we’re playing
I didn’t end up playing too many games this week at all, but I did get in another play of Inis, this time with a third player. It really ramped up the tension from playing with two, in part because we all had a good shot at winning in the last two rounds.
With the recent release of Ticket to Ride: Germany, I gave its older descendent a play. Ticket to Ride Märklín features the same map, but it has a nice passenger mechanic that was a fun addition to the game — and it really changed the way scores ended.
Finally, our group got in another play of Charterstone — and while it’s been fairly straightforward most of the time, we had a surprise in this session that really delighted all of us. Especially me.
What I’m looking forward to this week
I’d still very much like to get a play of Hunt for the Ring in, and it would be nice to make some progress in Pandemic Legacy: Season Two. We’ll probably also play another game of Fog of Love, which is a real departure from most two-player games.
This week also marks the start of what we affectionately call “The Tournament” at the Utah Chocolate Society, wherein we take 64 single origin chocolate bars and whittle them down to one over the course of six weeks. It’s a real event.
