Board Game News – The Gateway Gazette – 08/09/2016

Thankfully, as the fire flared up yet again, a strong ocean breeze pushed the deadly blaze away from our splintered group of investigators and leapt back toward the hotel. Father Mateo was in bad shape, clearly spiritual fortitude did not easily translate into its physical counterpart. But just as a prayer of thanks left his lips, a figure emerged from the waves, tentacled and moaning a low rumble that set my teeth on edge. This would not end well.

As much as I’ve enjoyed my time immersed within the fantastic atmosphere of the new Mansions of Madness edition, I do wonder whether I’m all Cthulhu’d out. I used to be happy to take his calls, like that one friend in your group you know will guarantee the craziest night of your life. But now when his Caller ID shows up I’m inclined to let it ring to voicemail. It’s not him, it’s me. Ripping portals in the fabric of spacetime is fun, and I like a good cultic chanting as much as the next guy, but if I see one more new release in this week’s news with a Lovecraftian theme, so help me Azathoth…

Coming Soon

Bruno Cathala has teamed up with Ludovic Maublanc to bring us a title that will be available at Spiel, called Pocket Madness. Based on the celebrated mythos of HP Love…well, damn. One week. That’s all I ask. Just one week without hearing the phrase ‘madness tokens’. Is it that hard? Seriously? It’s bad enough Stuart won’t shut up about the Arkham LCG every day. I mean, it’s Cathala so it’s probably going to be a decent game, but the idea of ‘driving your fellow cultists mad’ is losing its appeal. It’s all too much really, makes me seek solace in food. Stupid charming artwork.

And as luck would have it I can do exactly that with Nosh, from Crafty Games! Billed as a family-friendly card game, it’s essentially a bidding game for those with a sweet tooth. Only certain combos score points, but each player will also have secret favourites, so time your bid well!

If there’s one thing I can say about Rather Dashing Games’ Element, it’s that it’s well…rather dashing! Firstly it just looks gorgeous, but more importantly it seems to have captured that rather dashing elegance that the best abstract games possess. The object of the game is to encircle your opponents sage with Element stones. These stones have the classic Earth, Air, Fire and Water assignments, and it’s their interplay that will reveal the deeper layers of strategy. If you’ve found Onitama has awakened a hunger for an even deeper abstract strategy game, perhaps this is one to watch.

Keyflower aficionados will be delighted to hear that the next title in the Key series has been announced. Key to the City – London doubles down on what made Keyflower so popular, transferring the art style and game mechanics to the more urban setting of London. The similarities to the original are all apparently ‘structural’, so let’s hope there’s enough innovation present to lend a fresh feel.

AEG have a bumper harvest going into the 4th quarter of 2016 – Seiji Kanai who designed a little game you probably haven’t heard of called Love Letter, has turned his hand to cooperative dice games in Eight Epics. This is a localisation, so the good news is that there is a fair bit of media around on how the game works if it sounds appealing. Next up is Treasure Lair with it’s delightfully nostalgic fantasy boxart. Form a party, go adventuring and hope that you have the right party members to be able to retrieve the best treasure. And not neglecting their current popular titles, both Dice City and Istanbul are getting new expansions, with the latter being of particular interest to CBQ as we are big fans of the game. Letters and Seals will add more tiles as well as a postal system and an auction mechanic.

The galaxies most famous starship may already have made an appearance in X-Wing, but the Heroes of the Resistance set gives the iconic Millennium Falcon some new upgrades and a crew from The Force Awakens. Rey appears as a new pilot, and Chewbacca and Han get new pilot cards. Oh, and there’s a T-70 X-wing in there too.

Square Enix in boardgame news? That can only mean Final Fantasy, and indeed the 2011 TCG from Hobby Japan is making its North American and European debut in September. Three starter sets will be released in September under the Opus 1 banner. And if the thought of another TCG makes you balk, perhaps you should then consider another Square Enix release, Chocobo’s Crystal Hunt. It has Chocobos, do I really need to say more?

Kickstarter

It’s an oddly quiet week on Kickstarter, but there are still a few interesting campaigns to check out. The guys at Penny Arcade may be more famous for their videogame commentary, but they’ve always been big supporters of the tabletop world and now they’ve teamed up with Lone Shark Games to bring life to Thornwatch. It’s an ambitious project that’s part graphic novel adventure and part tabletop RPG, utilising Mike Krahulik’s signature art style on modular map tiles and storyboards. It’s also the first of three expandable games, and…well…the campaign page is probably the best place to learn more about the very unique approach.

When I say the word cake, you immediately think of sheep, right? No? Me neither. And yet the folks at Sizigi Studios clearly see a connection the rest of us don’t. Your sheepie battalions are starving, and they’re done messing around. Cake must be had, and the enemy is in possession of said cake. This easy to learn, super quick card game for two promises bows, shields, wizards and perhaps…wolves? Check out Cake Duel: A Light-Hearted Strategic Card Game.

Closing out the news the way it started, with the stuff of nightmares. Or, the stuff of Nightmarium to be more specific. Or to be even more specific, 106 unique cards of the most endearingly terrifying monsters, for your delighted assemblage. Combine body parts to create twisted denizens of the darkest recesses of your mind. The only thing that isn’t nightmarish is the backing price – a very reasonable $15 will net you a copy.

Local is Lekker

Tonight at The Big Box Cafe is Five Tribes night! Don’t let the threats of being chased naked in the desert deter you from having a good time. Quantum Gaming is hosting an Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn meetup on October the 8th – it’s a fantastic game and I really hope anyone interested comes through, the game deserves to develop an engaged community. If you’re looking to feed your Netrunner addiction, Quantum will also be hosting the SA Nationals on Saturday as well as a Star Wars Armada Tournament on the 17th.

The Unseen Shoppe will be holding a Star Realms challenge on Tuesday next week – R20 buy in and winner takes all! If you’re more inclined toward tabletop rpging, they’ll also be running a Pathfinder Adventure called Strange Aeons on Saturday. The very successful Pretoria Board Game Party organised by Timeless Boardgames will be getting a sequel on the 17th, so diarise for a guaranteed good time.

Essen Spiel looms upon the horizon, so prepare yourselves for another onslaught of new releases as the hype machine begins to crank into gear once more. CBQ has managed to stick around for a whole year, we’re hoping to refine our existing framework and bring you all a host of new content and ideas!