Meople News: The Ruined Masks of Bora-Bora

I’m sorry for the lack of any interesting content this weekend, but we were once again stuck in one of those flying sardine cans that people insist are a great way to travel, despite the lack of an Internet connection. I really don’t see the appeal, but at least it gets you places. News were slow this week as well, publishers were probably preparing for various trade fairs around the world. But we’re not completely newsless!

alea / Ravensburger

Bora-Bora, the newest alea game by Stefan Feld, has the master of agonizing decisions playing with dice again. In order to lead your tribe of people to greatness on the tropical island of Bora-Bora you place dice on the available action cards – the higher the number you roll the more you usually get out of the action, but if there is another dice already you can only place lower numbers next to it. That alone will make you think hard about what to do and in what order. But that’s not the end of it: some actions let you take Man and Woman tiles from the board that allow you more actions after the dice. And the purpose of all those actions is to please the Gods with sacrifices, spread your tribe across the island and fulfill Goal Cards. There’s a lot going on here, but Bora-Bora is only a six on the alea scale of complexity: it’s definitely a game for gamers, but it’s also at the upper end of family friendly.

Bora-Bora (Image by Ravensburger)
Bora-Bora (Image by Ravensburger)

Fantasy Flight Games

The rules for Masques, formerly known as Intrigo, are available on the Interwebs. Now you can read for yourself how to best participate in the intrigue that is the ball at the Doge’s palace.

It’s expansion season again in the realm of Terrinoth. If you already killed the Wyrm in its lair, then Labyrinth of Ruin, the new expansion for Descent: Journeys in the Dark will supply you with your much-needed fix of monster killing. This time, you’re up against a vile sorceress and her minions, hiding out in the ruined city of Sudanya. Labyrinth of Ruin will contain an all new campaign with 19 new quests, new Hero classes, new Overlord cards and new miniatures, everything you could ask for in a Descent expansion.

The photo of the week shows the Phoenician city Gebal, named a World Heritage Site under its Greek name Byblos. It’s located in today’s Mount Jbeil district in Lebanon. The photo was taken by Keith Yahl and shared with a CC-BY license. Thank you, Keith!

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