This new series will take a look at new games that popped up on my radar in the past month or so and a few thoughts on each of them.
Food Chain Magnate: The Ketchup Mechanism & Other Ideas
An expansion for one of my favorite games released in the past year? Yes please! I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about this, even if there are no details about what it includes. In a way, I am hoping that the core game experience doesn't change because I have grown more fond of it over the past year, but some modules to make it more forgiving for newcomers might be a good idea.
Takla
This simple looking dexterity game looks amazing, especially for the engineer in me. Players compete to try to build their structure upward and inward to be the first to touch the red ball. The difficulty can be adjusted depending on where the structure starts or how high it is. There are also several game modes - real-time, turn-based, or fewest pieces. My only hope is that I am actually good at the game!
Key Flow
I was finally able to play Keyflower this year and it will definitely be ranking high in my year end rankings. I have since been really drawn to some of the older "Key" games and want to try them, such as last year's Keyper. Now Key Flow has hit Kickstarter and looks really interesting as well. However, as will be discussed in an upcoming post, there isn't much momentum in the campaign so I will likely wait till the retail release.
Concordia: Venus
Similar to Keyflower, I was able to play this high ranking game this year. This game was actually not even on my radar until I saw the Shut Up and Sit Down review because of how boring the box cover looked. However, I like this even more than Keyflower and look forward to this standalone/expansion. I'm not sure how the personality cards will factor in but if they act in a similar manner to the forum tiles from Salsa, it will be a good way to mix-up the game!
Men At Work
Another dexterity game which looks more in line with Meeple Circus compared to Takla. In this game players will be stacking girders on supports, workers on girders, and hardhats, bricks, and wooden planks on the workers in an ever growing structure in the hope of becoming Employee of the Month. I look forward to seeing how this one plays out!
A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians
This slowly is becoming my favorite Uwe Rosenberg game and an expansion to an already deep game might be enough to push it straight to the top. New islands, new puzzle pieces, and new action spaces all look good, but it is the random start-buildings that I think might become my favorite new addition to the game.
Pandemic: The Fall of Rome
Although I haven't had the chance to play any of these special versions of the game, it doesn't mean that they still don't catch my attention! Rising Tide still looks like the one I want to play the most, but the theme of this one seems a bit more interesting and different from Iberia, so it probably slots second in the order of which I want to play first.
Blackout: Hong Kong
I have played a couple Alexander Pfister games now - Oh My Goods! and Isle of Skye, and have been reasonably impressed by both although I most anticipate playing Great Western Trail. The theme of this new game looks interesting enough without knowing much about gameplay. Combined with the star power of the designer, this is tracking on my radar.
Scythe Encounters
A mini-expansion to Scythe that adds more encounters to the game. Nothing groundbreaking but still adds a bit more to the replayability of an already very replayable game. If only I could finally getting around to playing Rise of Fenris. And Wind Gambit.
Illusion
The follow-up to The Mind, I don't know much about this game but consider how well-received The Mind was and how I found the system to be quite interesting, I am definitely interested in this. I do think I can only stomach one system like The Mind though and hope for something a bit more concrete in this game.
Food Chain Magnate: The Ketchup Mechanism & Other Ideas
An expansion for one of my favorite games released in the past year? Yes please! I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about this, even if there are no details about what it includes. In a way, I am hoping that the core game experience doesn't change because I have grown more fond of it over the past year, but some modules to make it more forgiving for newcomers might be a good idea.
Takla
This simple looking dexterity game looks amazing, especially for the engineer in me. Players compete to try to build their structure upward and inward to be the first to touch the red ball. The difficulty can be adjusted depending on where the structure starts or how high it is. There are also several game modes - real-time, turn-based, or fewest pieces. My only hope is that I am actually good at the game!
Key Flow
I was finally able to play Keyflower this year and it will definitely be ranking high in my year end rankings. I have since been really drawn to some of the older "Key" games and want to try them, such as last year's Keyper. Now Key Flow has hit Kickstarter and looks really interesting as well. However, as will be discussed in an upcoming post, there isn't much momentum in the campaign so I will likely wait till the retail release.
Concordia: Venus
Similar to Keyflower, I was able to play this high ranking game this year. This game was actually not even on my radar until I saw the Shut Up and Sit Down review because of how boring the box cover looked. However, I like this even more than Keyflower and look forward to this standalone/expansion. I'm not sure how the personality cards will factor in but if they act in a similar manner to the forum tiles from Salsa, it will be a good way to mix-up the game!
Men At Work
Another dexterity game which looks more in line with Meeple Circus compared to Takla. In this game players will be stacking girders on supports, workers on girders, and hardhats, bricks, and wooden planks on the workers in an ever growing structure in the hope of becoming Employee of the Month. I look forward to seeing how this one plays out!
A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians
This slowly is becoming my favorite Uwe Rosenberg game and an expansion to an already deep game might be enough to push it straight to the top. New islands, new puzzle pieces, and new action spaces all look good, but it is the random start-buildings that I think might become my favorite new addition to the game.
Pandemic: The Fall of Rome
Although I haven't had the chance to play any of these special versions of the game, it doesn't mean that they still don't catch my attention! Rising Tide still looks like the one I want to play the most, but the theme of this one seems a bit more interesting and different from Iberia, so it probably slots second in the order of which I want to play first.
Blackout: Hong Kong
I have played a couple Alexander Pfister games now - Oh My Goods! and Isle of Skye, and have been reasonably impressed by both although I most anticipate playing Great Western Trail. The theme of this new game looks interesting enough without knowing much about gameplay. Combined with the star power of the designer, this is tracking on my radar.
Scythe Encounters
A mini-expansion to Scythe that adds more encounters to the game. Nothing groundbreaking but still adds a bit more to the replayability of an already very replayable game. If only I could finally getting around to playing Rise of Fenris. And Wind Gambit.
Illusion
The follow-up to The Mind, I don't know much about this game but consider how well-received The Mind was and how I found the system to be quite interesting, I am definitely interested in this. I do think I can only stomach one system like The Mind though and hope for something a bit more concrete in this game.
Comments
Post a Comment