Cheapass Games
This is not the first time that I admit to having a giant man-crush on Pat Rothfuss, author of The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man’s Fear and, one day in the distant future, Doors of Stone. So I couldn’t ignore Cheapass Games kickstarting a card game based on his novels: Pairs, by James Ernest and Paul Peterson. It’s not a deep game re-telling the story but a light, quick card game with art by Shane Tyree based on them. It also may or may not make an appearance in the story. Your goal in Pairs is, basically, not to get any points.
Small Box Games
Small Box Games’ Facebook page has a card spoiler for The Nile Ran Red, one of their newest card game designs. Rules are to follow soon, but the card texts already hint at an interesting an involved game.
Pegasus Spiele / eggertspiele
Without any details whatsoever, another Village expansion showed up on the Pegasus website. It’s anybody’s guess what Village Port will add to the base game, but we do know that the expansion will be German and English and be available in August. But adding more to the Brands’ Kennerspiel can not be a bad thing.
Pilot Study
This good looking game on Kickstarter is for all of you that wanted to invade someone’s dreams after watching Inception. Your goal in Inceptor is the same as it was in the movies: get into your victims dreams and plant an idea so that he or she will think it was their own. You do that by moving around the different levels of the victim’s dreams, collecting cards, planting ideas and messing up your opponents’ plans, because everyone wants to plant a different idea. I’m still waiting for the rules to be posted, but for now Inceptor looks and sounds good.
Fantasy Flight Games
For a Knizia game, Age of War is far on the light side. In a battle to control medieval Japan, players capture castles by rolling dice and matching the symbols against those shown on the castle cards. If they can match all symbols, they conquer the castle. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe, your opponents can try to take it away from you, unless you control all castles belonging to that clan. Age of War sounds like a competitive Elder Sign, only without fancy special abilities and without Cthulhu. But given the dice luck of my regular opponents, at least this is a game I will likely win.
Mage Company
Back in November, we had this to say about a coming game from Mage Company:
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.
Two things have changed since then: one is that the title is now more international-keyboard-friendly Hoyuk, the other is that the Kickstarter campaign is on. Of, if you’d rather, you can support the game on Spieleschmiede. Where the project is still titled Höyük, but the box on the photos says Hoyuk. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see about that.
Funforge
Back when Antoine Bauza’s Tokaido was first published by Funforge, I said something to the effect of “prettiest game of the year”. I still stand by that, but now the crown will pass on to … the Tokaido Collector’s Edition. It still has the same, beautifully minimalist white background with a colourful trail to follow, but now the illustrations have been updated, there are really cute miniatures to play with and the point counters are bindles on sticks. Very cool. More relevant from a gameplay point of view, the Collector’s Edition will also include the Crossroads expansion. Now on Kickstarter.
This week’s photo, taken by Flickr user JasonParis and shared with a CC-BY license, shows Vizcaya Bridge in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. Cars don’t actually drive across it, they go on the gondola that is hanging from the bridge and are ferried over that way. The thing can carry up to six cars, plus some pedestrians. No matter how old I get, I still find things that surprise me.