Archive for the 'Essen Spiel 12' Category

Shadows Over Camelot Card Game (Days of Wonder)
The original Shadows Over Camelot was an excellent semi co-op game that you could get fairly light gamers to play.  The new card game version sounds intriguing as it has many of the same elements but a different core game mechanic.  Similar to the board game, it’s co-operative but there may be a traitor.  Each turn a player can turn over a card from the deck – many are rumours about the different quests (with icons showing the strength of the rumour) and there are other cards that affect gameplay like players not being allowed to communicate.  These cards get added to the ‘threat’ pile.  Instead of drawing a new card, a player can choose one of the quest icons on the previously drawn card and go on that quest.  This means they sort out the threat pile into the separate quests and activate any Merlin and Morgana cards which can help or hinder the questing player.  If the total number of rumour icons for the chosen quest  is 11, 12 or 13 then the player succeeds and one of the 7 white swords required to win is gained (otherwise, they gain one of the 7 black swords which will lose the game).  However, the rumour icons on the other quests  are also added up too and can result in black swords if there are 14+ of their rumour icons.  So, it’s a sort of push-your-luck game (with players trying to remember how many icons of each quest have gone past and what other cards are in there too).  Like the original game, players can also accuse each other of being a traitor too.
Check out the details and rules at Days of Wonder’s web site:  bga.me/soccard

Asgard (What’s Your Game)
What’s Your Game have published some great games in the past (like Vinhos and one of my favourite worker placement games Vasco de Gama).  After releasing no new games last year, it’s great to see they have two this year.  Asgard is a viking-themed, worker placement game where players place workers (influence) on different locations (gods) with lots of options and interesting decisions. The worker placement is interesting as players secretly select on which gods they will place workers, then take turns revealing one location and placing a worker (which sets the specific action for that god), and then take turns using each worker (and some get benefits for being the first one used on that god).  There’s a lot more to it too.  For more detailed info, check out my full On The Radar: Asgard piece for more info.  Sounds really interesting.

Oddville (What’s Your Game)
Oddville looks like it will contain an interesting mix of tile laying to build a city and using cards to gain resources.  Each card can only be used for one of its three uses – cash, resources or buildings – I always like multi-use cards in a game.  When players build a building, they place it to expand the city and gain bonuses including gaining characters which give special abilities.  At the end of the game, VPs are scored for the buildings each player built (they all score in different ways), characters  and remaining resources.

There are some other nice sounding game mechanics too like the way the players pay for resources by putting their worker on one of the limited market prices which determines how much it costs and shows they have that resource until they spend it to build a building.  Also, when obtaining a building, the card shows which of the buildings on display are free and which will cost money.  So, it sounds like a very interesting and clever eurogame.  For more detailed info, check out my full On The Radar: Oddville piece for more info.

James

From reading the rules, Oddville looks like an interesting mix of using cards to gain resources and tile-laying to build a city.  Now that may sound like a lot of other games but the game mechanics of Oddville look inventive and slick.

On your turn, you play 1 card from your hand or build 1 building.  When a player plays a card, they can do 1 of the 3 things on the card – gain the cash shown, gain 1 of the resources shown, or gain 1 building from the 6 building cards on display (the card affects the price).  I always like games where cards can be used for multiple purposes as it usually creates some interesting decision-making on how to combine  the cards best and, hopefully, can be combined differently to give you alternate options if you need to change strategy.

When a player chooses to gain one of the resources on their played card, they place one of their workers on one of the market prices for that resource which are limited in number – this determines how much the resource costs plus the worker shows the player has that resource until they spend it to build a building.  This should make for interesting competition over the lowest prices.

When a player chooses to gain a building, their card determines which of the 6 buildings on display are free and which will cost cash – the ones on the left (the oldest) are the ones most likely to be free.  This sort of mechanic is in other games (like Gloria Mundi) and I like it because it makes newly added buildings (added to the right-end of the row) generally more expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

A few more forthcoming games that have taken my interest recently.  (I’ve combined all the Spiel games on my radar on my Essen 2012 page too.)

Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar (Czech Games Edition)
Tzolk’in is a game where the turning of cogs are at the very centre of a worker placement game.  Players place workers on small cogs which are located around a central, large cog.  The large cog is turned as the game progresses and this turns the small cogs.  Players spend corn to place their workers (filling the cheapest slot) on the cog where they want to place a worker.  When a player, removes a worker, they get a benefit based on where they player is on the cog – the longer they remain on a cog, the greater the benefit.  One cog has an interesting element to it where a player can take corn even if it is not quite ready but at the risk of angering the gods.  There’s still a lot of information to come about this game but, so far, it sounds really interesting.

1969 (Cranio Creations)
A resource gathering, dice-rolling and card playing game where players are trying to reach the moon in a space race before 1969.  Players gather scientists, cash and intelligence cards to prepare for different missions.  They only get one chance at each mission which scores VPs.  To undertake a mission the player rolls the 5 dice (and moves an appropriate number of spaces along the mission track); however, then all players get to play intelligence cards that move the active player back down the track (and the active player gets to play cards to move themselves forwards) – all cards are played simultaneously.  The biggest mission is the moon mission and completing any other mission means a player can start further along the moon mission track.  Sounds very good (reminds me slightly of Airships by Queen Games – a game I really like – not through any specific game mechanic, but just in trying to prepare to achieve tasks).
Check out the details and rules at Cranio Creation’s web site: bga.me/1969

Blackrock City (Blackrock Editions)
Blackrock Editions published a great game called The Boss a couple of years ago.  This year they are releasing Blackrock City – a wild west game where players bid their outlaws. The winner of a round moves their outlaw chief a number of spaces (equal to their bid minus the lowest bid) and takes gold from the city they land on.  The player who is second in a round gets a silver from the stagecoach. However, there are some interesting twists: the outlaws you bid with have a limited usage; players can not bid the same as the leading bid; each bid moves the sheriff around the cities which foils outlaws; and, cities have different effects after they have been robbed.

It sounds like a short, fast bidding game but with some interesting thinking around the bidding as players try to work out how to win rounds (or at least move the sheriff to annoy others) whilst positioning their outlaw on a beneficial city.  One interesting feature is that, twice per game, each player can place a 15 second sand timer in front of an opponent and that player must take their go in that time.  Also, I like how it plays 2-player with an invisible 3rd player.
Check out the details and rules at Blackrock Edition’s web site: bga.me/brc

Couple of new games that have taken my interest recently.  (I’ve combined all the Spiel games on my radar on my Essen 2012 page too.)

Desperados (Argentum Verlag)
I like Argentum Verlag as they have released the extremely funny and backstabby Lifeboats as well as the excellent eurogame Hansa Teutonica.  This year it’s the Wild West and the game is Desperados.  All the players but one are the villains working together against the player who is the marshal and controls the sheriffs.  The players move their villains using a secret movement system by laying location cards face-down – this includes the marshal player too.  That element reminds me how Dracula moves in Fury of Dracula.

When 5 moves have been ‘programmed’, they get resolved.  An outlaw player in the same location as a marshal gets arrested, is in jail for the remainder of the round, and losses that location card for the rest of the game.  If there are more outlaw players at a location than sheriffs then they can fix a poker game, rob a bank or hold-up a stage coach if there is one.  The two stage coaches move along pre-programmed routes.  The outlaw players win if they net $4,000 per player or more.  I’m not sure about the win condition as it sounds a bit plain; however, Desperados sounds like a great mix and is definitely one I want to try.  The rules are online on their web site.
Check out the details and rules at Argentum Verlag’s web site: bga.me/desperados

Crash’em (Wacky Works)
A demolition derby game with players programming moves in a similar way to RoboRally but only programming 3 moves ahead.  I always liked the idea of RoboRally but the execution was always a bit disappointing as it took so long to resolve the moves and any one hiccup (like being pushed by an opponent) could destroy your race.  However, Crash’em only has 3 programmed moves each move, which should make it more controllable, plus the whole idea is to bash into people (rather than RoboRally being a race requiring accuracy) so should be much more suited to this type of gameplay.  No rules out yet but it’s another one I want to try out.

More games to watch out for at Spiel.  (I’ve combined all the Spiel games on my radar on my Essen 2012 page.)

Archipelago (Ludically)
This game looks like it has a vast amount of stuff in it – both bits and mechanics.  It’s a giant euro game with lots of simple systems but just loads of them, such as tile placement, exploration, an economic system, worker placement for actions, worker placement for area control, semi-co-op, events, evolution cards, and more!  Add to that each player has a secret card which states one of the ways that the game will end (it ends as soon as one of these is reached, or it may end with all players losing if rebellion takes hold – yep, there’s rebellion too caused by lack of employment, too many taxes, etc.), plus each player’s card shows one of the ways final scoring will earn points.  The core driver of the game though is the worker (discs) placement system to claim the mostly-limited actions each turn.  Oh, and the game has three different lengths that you can choose from.  Definitely looking forwards to this one.
More info on the Ludically site here: bga.me/archipelago

Robinson Crusoe (Portal)
This sounds like an interesting game with players on a desert island.  It’s by the designer of Stronghold so that gets my attention already.  Sounds like a good theme and it’s a co-op game which apparently has a decent AI.  Not many details yet but the designer has just posted a link to an introductory video on their web site which talks about the main elements of gaining food, building a shelter and tools, and exploring the islands and its mysteries (but no details on gameplay mechanics yet).
More info on the Portal web site: bga.me/crusoe

I’m The Boss: The Card Game (Gryphon)
I still have my copy of the original game by Sid Sackson and it’s a great negotiation game if you like humorous screwage.  I’m looking forward to finding out how the card game plays – I don’t think there was ever any real reason for a board in the original that cards couldn’t have provided just as easily; however, a brief look at the rules makes it sound like it’s played quite differently to the original boardgame.
More details and full rules on Gryphon’s Kickstarter page: bga.me/imtheboss

More games to watch out for at Spiel.  (I’ve combined all the Spiel games on my radar on my Essen 2012 page.)

Phantom (Ludonaute)
A 2-player game announced today by Ludonaute who say some people call Phantom a mixture of ‘Lost Cities’ with elements of ‘Magic: The Gathering’.  That’s a lot to live up to and I really hope it does as there have been few great 2-player games in recent years.  The game has players playing two restless ghosts in a house trying to scare the current occupants more than the other player by creating apparitions in the 4 areas of the house.  It sounds really interesting.
Check out the details and rules at Ludonaute’s web site: bga.me/phantom

La Loire (Emanuele Ornella)
I like Emanuele Ornella’s games (Il Principe, Charon Inc, Assyria) so I am looking forwards to his new one.  Players move merchants and messengers around the Loire Valley with an interesting game mechanic where they have to move the number of spaces equal to the number of horses with the piece being moved (and this number can change).  The location a piece ends on dictates the action the player can take, like buy or deliver messages, buying goods, build buildings, move their ship down the river, etc.  (If you’ve read this blog for a while, I interviewed him some time back.)
Check out the details and rules on Ornella’s web site: bga.me/loire

Nieuw Amsterdam (White Goblin)
A game of buying land, gathering wood and corn, buying furs, and shipping for profit.  Whilst that may sound fairly regular, there are some neat game mechanics that make it sound like it’ll feel different to other games.  The core mechanic is that players bid on sets of actions and the each type of action can be used for a few different effects.  Also, timing clearing your land to gather wood is important, and you can’t grow corn there unit you do.  Plus, there’s some area control too which gives you an advantage when using special actions rather than outright ownership of them which appears a nice balance.  Also, the setting of New Amsterdam (Old New York) is nicely original.  (How long before we can all agree that New York is longer new and can just be called York?)
Check out the details and rules at White Goblin’s web site: bga.me/NieuwAms

Clash of Cultures (Z-Man Games)
A civilisation game by the designer is the excellent Merchants and Marauders.  I know little more than that at present but that has me sold already.

Pyramidion (White Goblin)
White Goblin has two Egyptian-themed games this year and Pyramidion sounds interesting.  One of the 8 locations is selected and players allocate some of their people (cards) to it and each card has 3 characteristics (numbers).  If a player’s group doesn’t have enough of the first characteristic, they all get discarded.  Players with the highest totals of the second and third characteristics get various benefits.  Also, who doesn’t like a game with Merchants, Negotiators and Torturers??
Check out the details and rules at White Goblin’s web site: bga.me/pyramidion

It seems the Essen pre-hype began even earlier than usual this year with many, many new games being announced for release.  It’s interesting to see how many new publishers there are this year too.

I shall be posting about forthcoming games that have caught my attention.  As well as posting them, I have also added an Essen 2012 page where I will collate them as I go.  Hopefully, I will get a chance to play them at Essen and then review them too.

Here’re the first few:

Bora Bora (Stefan Feld / Alea)
Stefan Feld always seems to find some interesting game mechanic to place at the heart of his games (Trajan, Luna and many others).  In Bora Bora, players allocate dice to actions (the higher the number, the greater the effect of the action) and following players can use a previously used action but only with a lower value dice. So, a player could use an action with a low number and get little effect but would know following players would get even less out of that action.  Sounds neat (and humorously mean).

Aztlan (Leo Colovini / Ares)
It’s funny how it can take some time to notice you like a specific game designer’s games.  This game is designed by Leo Colovini so I checked what else he had done only to discover I have a lot of games by him and I like them too (Atlantis, Masons, Clans, Carolus Magnus).  Aztlan sounds interesting too.  From what I can tell, players secretly select a terrain type card (which determines where they get advantages) and then start placing meeple into regions for dominance (although can co-exist as well as fight) – players try to get control of areas whilst trying to figure out what terrain cards their opponents’ played so they know where they should pick their battles.
Check out more info on Ares’ site here: bga.me/aztlan

Rattus Cartus (Berg brothers / White Goblin)
I like the Berg brother’s games (Rattus and especially Oregon which is one of my favourite games) and the Rattus card game rules sound like it should be fun with some interesting mechanics that keep the theme and feel of Rattus but without directly duplicating it.
Check out more info on White Goblin site here: bga.me/rattuscartus

Balance of Power (Catalyst Game Labs)
Risk/Diplomacy looking game but using 3 types of unit that work in a rock/paper/scissors style.  On a turn a player gets one action with each type of unit and actions are to move, attack or duplicate themself.  Points are earned for controlling areas, capitals and your own country.  Sounds simple yet tactical and without any luck.  (This one just got released in the UK.)
Check out more info on the Catalyst site here: bga.me/balanceofpower

City of Horror (Asmodee)
I really liked Mall of Horror but it was broken as the person who controls the Security Room could hold it and win the game.  However, City of Horror is a mjaor re-working of the original game and looks like it will be the game the original one should have been with lots of new game mechanics.  Really looking forwards to this one.
Check out more info on the Asmodee site here: bga.me/cityofhorror

Call to Glory (Schacht / White Goblin)
Nice, simple card game.  Some push-your-luck element as you lay down sets of matching cards to get points but can’t add to them once they’re down and an opponent can take those points if they can lay down more cards of that type.  Players draw from the two draw decks or the two discard decks.
Check out more info on the White Goblin site here: bga.me/ctglory