Meople News: Arcane Pirate Disks

MAGE Company

The extra dark and extra creepy horror game The Amityville Project: Phobos has been live on Kickstarter for a bit already – you should still check it out there if you’re interested in an English version of the game – but now MAGE Company is also looking for funding for a German edition on Spieleschmiede. So if you want to participate in the battle for Ed Sullivan’s mind, you can now choose in which language to do so.

This one is not yet on Kickstarter, but will be in early 2014: Höyük. Höyük is Turkish for hill or mound – never mind how to pronounce it. The word is also used for prehistoric settlements in the region that have a characteristic, hill-like look from houses being build on top of older houses and the absence of streets between the houses: people entered through the roof. The game Höyük has you build one of those settlements, building houses, animal pens, ovens and shrines besides and above one another, scoring points for having the most of them in a block. Pierre Canuel’s game won a Designer’s Trophy in Parthenay in 2007 and is already available as a print&play edition, but the MAGE Company edition will come with some changes – details to be announced – and of course with professional and good-looking components.

Fantasy Flight Games

One thing I always worry about in games like Warhammer: Diskwars – I’m inclined to call them light wargames, but real wargamers would probably lynch me – is replayability. After all, even with a whole zoo of different units, how many different ways are there to eliminate the opposition? That’s why I was glad to read about the different objectives in this game, they promise to keep the game fresh for a good while. Every game, there is one common objective for all the players that introduces some kind of rule change, like reducing heroes stamina, and a way to score points, like eliminating heroes. Isn’t it lucky those two things come on the same card? But on top of that, each player also has their own, secret objective, creating many different scenarios. Knowing their objectives, the players create the terrain and only then deploy their units. Looks like you won’t have to worry that all your games will feel the same.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter!!! Why must you suck out all my money with projects pushing all my buttons? Here, let me give you a few key points about Machina Arcana, the newest of those evil projects: Steampunk, Lovecraft, gameplay vaguely reminding me of Descent, stunning illustrations, Lovecraft and Steampunk. Yeah, I listed Lovecraft and Steampunk twice – I guess thrice now – because … well, if you’ve been reading for a while, then you know. So, Machina Arcana is a game where your steampunky crew enters a dungeon crawling with Lovecraft-inspired horrors, looking for treasure, knowledge and basic survival in different scenarios. It’s also a cooperative game, and a joy to look at. You’ll have to excuse me while I dig out my savings in the backyard.

Ensignia Games

There’s always adventure to be found on the high seas, that’s why they’re a popular setting for all kinds of games. You can find the newest high seas adventures in Privateer, now on Kickstarter. Remember, a privateer is not the same as a pirate, and you can probably win at Privateer without attacking your fellow players – trade and transport are profitable operations, too. But then, if you can mess with your opponents, why wouldn’t you??? Your goal is to collect Infamy – otherwise know as victory points – by transporting, plundering and upgrading your Captain’s abilities. Captains come with different special abilities, suggesting different strategies. And if you’re looking for more strategy, then you can kickstart the Corsair expansion as well, making the game more strategic and increasing player interaction – Arrr!

The carved rock from this week’s photo lies in the Archeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua, an old Maya city in Guatemala. The photo was taken by Adalberto H. Vega and shared with a CC-BY license. Thank you, Adalberto!

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