Skip to main content

New Discoveries - May 2019

Terraforming Mars: Turmoil

Another Terraforming Mars expansion, this time on Kickstarter! This expansion adds a political element to the game by the way of delegates and parties. The party in charge, which is the one with the most delegates, provides bonuses and alterations to the rules. This looks like it might be the largest expansion yet in terms of altering the base game. As a bonus, dual-layer boards are a stretch goal that has been unlocked for those who haven't yet purchased an aftermarket solution.


Space Base: Command Station

I recently played Space Base, and though it was a middling experience, I see the potential in the game and eagerly picked up the legacy expansion The Emergence of Shy Pluto. Now another expansion has been announced to up the player count and help with storing the game. Sounds like what I need since the game box was getting full!


On Mars

Another big box Vital Lacerda game - what else needs to be said if you are into heavy games? Again on Kickstarter, this one seems to take the Terraforming Mars experience and turns it up a notch. All of his games look fantastic and it's unfortunate that so far the only game I have played is Kanban, which isn't part of this line-up.


Bloodborne: The Board Game

This is the newest Kickstarter release from CMON, based on the Playstation video game of the same name. You can expect the same level of production as past CMON games with a bunch of Kickstarter Exclusives that becomes easy to get lost in. As a side note, and I might elaborate on this more in another post, CMON campaigns start off strong for me, but as the expansions and optional buys start getting released, I get overwhelmed and sometimes back out or at least reduce my pledge to the base. It generally becomes too expensive of a proposition for me.


God of War: The Card Game

And here is another Sony/CMON collaboration where they are bringing the God of War franchise into a card game format. It doesn't look like this one is going on Kickstarter, unless I am mistaken, so it might be a cheaper alternative to Bloodborne. Still, its surprising that they would select Bloodborne for a Kickstarter project over God of War, which is more recognizable but I guess might lack the depth of world-building that they can milk for stretch goals.


Die Macher

This classic game about the political system in Germany that was released over 30 years ago is now getting a reprint that looks very nice indeed. It still ranks just outside the BoardGameGeek Top 200, which is quite a feat in the age of the cult of the new. Definitely on my radar and almost in must-buy territory.


Hostage Negotiator: Career

One game that surprised me last year was Hostage Negotiator. Even though I am quite bad at this solo game, I found it quite fun even though at first glance the mechanics don't seem that inspiring and the theme might throw some people off. However, I found it to be quite the puzzle to solve. Anyway, a legacy implementation of this game has now hit Kickstarter, and even though I probably won't back it as it likely won't reach my thresholds and there are so many offerings on Kickstarter right now, I thought it was worth a mention.


Clinic: Deluxe

I have heard amazing things about this hospital simulation game that came out a few years ago, but copies were severely limited as each game was handmade. Now it is on Kickstarter in a deluxe package and I feel compelled to back it. All expansions are included and I cannot wait to see what all the fuss was about.


Silver/Silver Bullet/CABO

A trio of games by Bezier built off the mechanics created in the game CABO, with the first two  games, Silver and Silver Bullet, obviously set in the werewolf universe. In addition, Silver and Silver Bullet can be combined together. Throw in special powers and I think it should prove to be another popular filler game.



Manhattan Project: Energy Empire: Cold War

An expansion has been put up on Kickstarter for what is arguably the best game in the Manhattan Project series. I have not played Energy Empire yet, but really look forward to it. I also am confident enough in the game that I would have instantly backed the expansion if it were not for the extraordinarily high shipping fees. To Canada, the shipping is half of the cost of the game! That exceeds all thresholds I have and unfortunately I will have to wait until retail.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review #27: Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe Edition

# of Players:  5-75 Playtime:  30-60 Minutes Core Mechanic:  Deduction Theme:  Werewolf Type:  Party Weight:  Light Year:  2014 Rating: 7.5* This was the first social deduction game that I played and the most memorable social deduction moments may have come from playing this game - and I may never play it again. I'll elaborate on that more in a bit, but it in no way reflects on the quality of the game, which is very, very good. This game opened up the entire genre to me which is now a party staple and most deduction games can probably trace a big part of their game back to Werewolf. I might have played Mafia a couple times with a deck of regular playing cards, which is very similar to Werewolf, but the fact that I'm not certain just shows how much of an impact Werewolf had by comparison. There are two teams in this game - Werewolves and Villagers. The goal for the villagers is to eliminate the werewolves while the goal for...

Review #12: A Few Acres of Snow

# of Players: 2 Playtime:  2-3 Hours Core Mechanic: Deck Building/Area Control Theme:  18th Century North America Type: War Weight:  Heavy Year:  2011 Rating: 8* After discovering how fantastic a two-player game could be with Twilight Struggle, I was in search of something similar.  Around this time, A Few Acres of Snow was released and had just made its way into the Top 50 on BGG.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this release and I gave in, especially as people were calling this Martin Wallace’s take on Dominion, which was a game that I really liked at the time. Set in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries, one player is the British Empire while the other player is France.  The game is played over a map with each player building up a deck of cards consisting of either empire or location cards.  Location cards will be used to settle new villages, upgrade villages, build fortifications, and siege your op...

Review #2: Hive

# of Players: 2 Playtime: 0-30 minutes Core Mechanic: Tile Placement Theme:  Insects Type: Abstract Weight: Light-Medium Year:  2001 Rating: 8* Place a tile or move a tile you've already placed. Protect your queen. Surround your opponent's queen. That's it. Very simple rules but underneath these rules is a very deep and tactical experience. This abstract tile placement game has held off most newcomers and as of this review sits just outside of the Top 10 Abstract Games and Top 200 Games of All-Time on BoardGameGeek over 15 years since it's release. Impressive. This game is themed around a hive of insects protecting its own queen and attacking the enemy's (by surrounding it). As mentioned already, you and your opponent will be alternating turns, either placing a new hex tile into hive or moving an old one, until all six sides of one queen is surrounded either by friend or for and loses the game. With the exception of the first tur...