The news week was short this time, the last news roundup only being from last Thursday, but the news this week bring up some exciting new projects. After a couple of weekends without gaming, this last weekend we finally managed to find the time as well as the people. And play we did: besides trying Off Your Rocker we had a go with the very fun and slightly mean Ticket To Ride expansion Alvin & Dexter and tried the rather old but still very good Der Wahre Walter (The Real Walter, a German game that goes somewhere between Dixit and The World as I see it). On Saturday we even managed a game of Talisman – which was obviously rather long, but still followed by Dungeon Fighter. Maybe next time, we combine the two. And, to top it all of, Friday evening was our first time with the A Game of Thrones RPG. Yeah, we’re back in gaming. I missed it.
Egmont Polska
It’s moments like this that I regret not speaking any Polish: Swiat Gier Planszowych has reported on a new Martin Wallace card game, due October: The Hobbit. No other publishers have announced the game yet, but since the photo has an English bow cover we can assume it’s not going to be a Poland only release. W. Eric Martin’s speculation that Fantasy Flight Games is the most likely publisher for the US release is hard to contradict, however. For a UK release, the prime suspect is obviously Wallace’s own Treefrog.
Fantasy Flight Games
As we’re talking about Fantasy Flight already, there are some new previews in their news stream. There are always some more previews in their news stream.
We already knew the Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition by Adam Sadler would not be a mere reprint but bring changes to the game mechanics to make it more accessible – and probably shorter. This week’s preview showcases some of the changes concerning heroes: the characteristics and attributes, what to do with them and what to do at all on your turn.
Like every Talisman expansion, Blood Moon wouldn’t be complete without some new characters: voilà, the Grave Robber and the Vampire Hunter. While both look quite sinister, the Grave Robber really has the abilities to reinforce that impression, I’m very curious to try playing with that one.
Coming out of the fantasy corner for a moment, another remake is back on the radar: Fortress America. Designer Kevin Wilson has been consulting with the original’s Michael Gray to make the new edition as faithful as possible to the original. All the really new things, like Invasion Cards, are completely optional and the game is still the same: a very asymmetric strategy game pitting one player as the USA against up to three invaders.
Lookout Games / Surprised Stare Games
Lookout Games and Surprised Stare Games have announced their cooperation today to bring us all Tony Boydell’s Snowdonia. Snowdonia is a train game, but not like most other train games where you build your tracks and run your trains. Building your tracks is not so easy when your destination is the summit of the Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, and so you will have to excavate, construct viaducts, build stations along the way, all that in typical Welsh weather. I mean Rain. Capital R.
Small Box Games
We had a rough look at the rules of Tooth & Nail: Factions before, along with all those great illustrations. Now we can have a look at the full rules, and they look like there will be a good amount of strategy going on.
Sprocket Games
Ace of Spies by Mark Rivera and Michael Fox is a new project on Kickstarter. Both are new to designing games, but certainly not to games in general, and Ace of Spies looks like a worthy design début: a card game in the wonderful world of international espionage, the goal of the game is to complete missions by collecting the right cards to do so. But beyond mere set collection, you have some special actions to choose from and secret agent to support you with their special abilities, making Ace of Spies a light game that still sounds like a lot of fun.
The ocelot at the top was photographed by Mike Fisher with a CC-BY license. Thanks, Mike!