The Gateway Gazette – Board Game News – 14/01/2016

You’d think after the seasonal break there’d be a metric ton of gaming news to catch up on, and well for the most part you’d be right! CBQ may have gone into a food-induced coma over the Xmas break, but the industry stops for no turducken. In fact, there’s probably too much news than is healthy for one post, so in solidarity with all you New Year’s dieters, we’ll attempt to keep this week’s news as lean as possible.

Publisher Announcements

If it's as good as Five Tribes...

If it’s as good as Five Tribes…

Let’s crack on with newly announced titles, as if there aren’t enough games coming out in 2016 that you aren’t already champing at the bit for. Days of Wonder tend to follow an incredibly sparse release schedule, so any announcements are usually something to pay attention to. Quadropolis is a city-building game for 2-4 players that involves tile-laying and set collection. On the surface, it’s reminiscent of another popular title from 2015 namely New York 1901, but a quick synopsis of a typical game round reveals two very different games. Known previously as City Mania, Quadropolis has already been demo’d by a number of industry veterans, here’s an overview of the game although we can’t say how much may have changed.

Stronghold Games is another publisher that’s rapidly carving a stellar name for themselves and part of the process includes building their Games Pocket line. Designed around quick-play and portability, they’ve announced the 2nd game in that line up, Bear Valley. Not much is known about this card-based game as yet, though it will play 2 – 6 and it certainly seems to have quite a unique theme.

Bare necessities

Bare necessities

Keeping with card games, due out in January of this year is Z-Man’s revised version of their popular card game Archaeology – Archaeology: The New Expedition. New relics, new monuments and new art, Z-Man are hoping this new version will prove as popular as the original.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter shows no signs of slowing down either. CMON have Xenoshyft: Dreadmire up and already funded, a game which is both a stand-alone and expansion to 2015’s very popular deck-builder. Also funded up the wazoo is the latest in the Tiny Epic line – Tiny Epic Western. And all I can say is, yes please!

Capsicum Games, best known for their Fleet Commander series of space combat minis games, went live with the latest in the same series – Fleet Commander: Genesis. The minis look amazing, the reversible tiles are drool-inducing – I’ve steered clear of this style of boardgame thus far, but that may just end soon. You have 27 days to decide along with me!

Victory will be...er...fleeting?

Victory will be…er…fleeting?

With just hours left, Lone Shark Games and the team behind the Pathfinder The Adventure Card Game series bring you The Ninth World. Set in Monte Cook’s fantastic Numenera system (the same universe providing the foundation for a recent Thunderstone expansion and the incredibly well-funded Planescape Torment ‘spiritual sequel’ PC game), the game will be ‘One part deckbuilder, one part Eurogame, and one part RPG’. I know Pathfinder ACG is rather marmite-like, perhaps The Ninth World will prove less divisive.

If you’re of the opinion boardgaming can never have too many Mafia or Werewolf variants, be sure to have a look at Nikolay Nedev’s take on the system. The art looks fabulous and we’re all for supporting the littler fish in the pond.

Lastly, industry behemoths The Dice Tower are running their Season 12 Kickstarter campaign. If you value the work that Tom and his team put out week after week, consider supporting them!

Digital Apps

If I didn't like 40K, would that be...heresy?

If I didn’t like 40K, would that be…heresy?

Talisman is no stranger to the Warhammer 40k universe, Relic already having drummed up two sequels and all that, so it shouldn’t be of much surprise that after Talisman’s recent digital conversion, we now have The Horus Heresy headed our way in February. What is important to note is that this isn’t a digital version of Relic nor just a Warhammer reskin, but something completely new.

Thunderbox Entertainment will also be releasing their digital take on Tsuro soon, coming to iOS and Android. I’m sure a number of our readers have used Board Game Arena at some point, and will be delighted to hear that the site has been redeveloped for smartphone and tablet. BGA have over 80 digital conversion of titles such as Seasons, Caylus, Race for the Galaxy and a host of others – well worth checking out.

Industry News

It’s a double scoop of Asmodee gelato – in slightly older but no less important news, Asmodee have made some changes to their retail policies, the gist of which is that you shouldn’t be expecting to see deep discounts on any of their ranges (including FFG) from online retailers. BGG have a comprehensive explanation of what this entails here. The second but no less tasty scoop is that Asmodee have also picked up the English-language rights to Catan. We live in interesting times indeed.

CBQ are immensely thankful to you, our amazing readers, who ensured that the first 4 months of our infancy easily exceeded our expectations. We’re aiming to make 2016 an even better year – new features and interviews, new competitions and a commitment to developing the local scene, whether it’s local designers or promoting and organising local events. The Rand has tried to put an early damper on our spirits, but we’re going to rise above and with your continued support, our incredible hobby is going to shine brightly through the doom and gloom!

In that vein, please check out Stuart’s interview with the designer of Time Stories, and be sure not to miss out on our awesome Star Realms competition sponsored by the always supportive Boardgames SA. See you all next week!