Board Games News – The Gateway Gazette – 20/04/2016

A couple of weeks ago, the Bells Tolled for my internet connection and finally I’ve had everything respawn to allow me time to put together the news for this week. It seems that I have awakened to a dark and horrific time for news, but it’s with an evil cackle this is simply the tone of games being released and not the lack of great news coming for gamers. So before an unexpected creep severs my proverbial mouth from this site again, let’s dive into the darkness together and see what lurks beneath the surface.

Those Miniatures send mixed tingles down my spine every time I see them.

Tying in with the release timing of the latest video game developed by From Software all about the fragility of a warrior’s existence, Dark Souls: The Board Game brutally beat down wallets to find itself funded in less than 4 minutes. With beautiful miniatures and an interesting looking fighting mechanic, Dark Souls: The Board Game aims to deliver everything that fans love about the franchise to a tabletop space. Brutal enemy attack patterns that can be learnt by players, unique loot, a combination of health and stamina management and the beloved estus flasks are all in this title being developed by Steamforged Games. At £80, excluding shipping (R2670 with shipping) you’ll first savour the death of your spending money for a month or two before only seeing the game in 2017. If you’re interested, Skycastle Games are looking to get a retail order in which should benefit South African buyers.

In a shocking twist, out of the depths came this expansion that fans have been waiting for.

Betrayal at House on the Hill became a cult classic a couple of years ago after being played on Will Wheaton’s Tabletop and copies were harder to find than evidence of ghosts haunting your school were as a child. With the renewed sales after a reprint, Avalon Hill has finally announced an expansion called Widow’s Walk. With around 20 new haunts, written by an all-star cast lead by Mike Selinker, The expansion will offer players the opportunity to explore the roof with new omen cards, items, event cards and more monsters creeping from under the beds. After reading fan created haunts, it’s great to see Avalon Hill and Wizards of the Coast creating a touch more terror with the great designers of Cards against Humanity, Pandemic Legacy, Dead of Winter as well as great female writers and designers all offering their brains on a platter to terrify you in the dark.

Resource management really means life and death in sacrificing important things to be able to pick locations.

I’ve always dreamed of doing Route 66 as a holiday, driving down to the beaches through the winding canyons stopping off at small towns to pick up some local delights while feeling the wind in my hair. As a compromise, Martin Wallace has announced with Space Cowboys and Asmodee USA a Zombie travel game called Route 666. In this game I’ll be racing down to Los Angeles sneaking into towns to look for ammo and petrol to survive whilst avoiding the local zombie’s intent on feasting from my corpse. Players will have to work through an adventure deck, bidding to get to opportune locations by offering more manpower, gasoline and weapons than other players, but carefully managing for the long trip. With a pulp 50’s art style and some strong mechanisms expected, Route 666 has got me looking forward instead of at the hordes in my rearview mirror.

Rounding up some of the news, The Gathering of Friends (An annual designer’s invitation event hosted by Alan Moon of Ticket to Ride fame) has given us some amazing things to look forward to this year and while details will coming later, there is a lot to be excited about:

• Codenames is getting a new version in Codenames: Pictures from Czech Games and Vlaada. We love Codenames, it’s hands down my favourite party game, and this looks to be the official iteration of what many have being trying with Dixit cards. Due later this year probably around Gencon.
• Voted by many as best 2 player game in 2015, 7 Wonders Duel is seeing an expansion, with a prototype being tested and tweaked by the mad genius Bruno Cathala and others at the Gathering of Friends. This expansion deals with deities and actions that you can take to curry some favour with the Gods.
• Pretzel Games, with cattle rustling Flick ’em Up success in 2015, have a new dexterity game in development called Junk Art. In one of ten different game modes, players will claim wooden pieces from the centre and build unique and tall works of art from junk pieces. With a few tricks up its sleeve, the player with the tallest work of “art” standing at the end is the winner. More details on other game modes are expected in coming months.

For every “Artist” who believed that it’s more the method than the result that should be admired.

Lastly on the local scene, don’t forget to check with your local game store as to what events are happening on International Table Top Day next weekend. With great promos and an annual event to celebrate gaming and open doors to introduce more people to this great hobby, get out there and have a great day trying new things! We know that with all the new releases, you’ll find something that you love and that others can love too.