The Gateway Gazette – Board Game News – 5/11/2015

With November looming large on the horizon…shhh I’m busy reading the news to these fine gamers WHAT IT”S NOVEMBER ALREADY? Um, as I was saying, now that we’re in the first week of November it’s a rather glorious luge track straight to the Festive Season. No, we’re not about to string up the lights and roast chestnuts over an open braai (proudly SA), but it is that thrilling period before society is stricken with tinselitis when some of the year’s most anticipated titles hit local shores.

But what kind of amateur site would we be if we dwelt upon that which is actually available to be played? Oh no! Ours is a mission to generate unnecessary hype and make your wallets tremble with fear at the cardboard goodness that is to come!

I ain't afraid of no hype

I ain’t afraid of no hype

We begin with the news that Ghostbusters: The Board Game officially releases November 11th. Will this co-operative title from Cryptozoic Entertainment be yet another Kickstarter success story? Time will tell. Or stop as the souls of the damned rise up to terrorise the world. Who knows.

 

And they didn't even need $8,000,000

And they didn’t even need $8,000,000

In the New Announcements category, Fireside Games will be bringing Here, Kitty, Kitty to the table in 2016. Fireside are the creative team behind the Panic series (Castle,Dead,Munckin) as well as The Village Crone. HKK is described as a ‘crazy cat collecting game’ – watch out kittens of the explosive variety, you might have some competition. Critically acclaimed civ game Deus will be getting an expansion next year, and in app news the little known title The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. You heard me right, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s  first title in the Fighting Fantasy series, pretty much fantasy genre royalty, has been re-imagined for the digital generation. Check out the Kickstarter campaign if you need a massive hit of nostalgia.

 

It's a trap!

It’s a trap!

Hot off the presses, Fantasy Flight have announced…wait for it…another Star Wars game! I’d love to look down on you all from my lofty perch of indifference but hot damn this one looks epic. Star Wars Rebellion has two game boards and over 150 miniatures and I may need to go change my pants now.

Sticking to the crowd-funding juggernaut, here’s our pick of interesting campaigns worth checking out:

These cards can lift 100 times their own weight...

These cards can lift 100 times their own weight…

Reiner Knizia, mainstay of titles like Lost Cities, Tigris and Euphrates and Samurai, has his intriguingly named Circus Flohcati around halfway through it’s campaign. This is actually a reprint of his game first released in 1998 but out of print since 2006, a light card drafting game with a press your luck element about circus fleas. Yes, circus fleas. We’ve not heard of Circus Flohcati before, but the updated art is quite something to behold.

 

Now with added DLC

Now with added DLC

In a similar vein, complete with unusual theme and highly original artwork, is Asthree Works’ GOTY The Card Game. A retro-styled card game about competing studios attempting to develop the Game of the Year, this title should appeal to those who love pixel art and actually finished Fez.

 

We said JUKE, not cardboard...

We said JUKEBOX hero…

Card games are, for pretty obvious reasons, the bread & butter of boardgame Kickstarters, and unsurprisingly we have another light card game, but this one’s a dungeon-crawler with a variable play length that may just have a little more meat on its bones. Side Quest – Pocket Adventures is from Tap To Win, who make the lofty claim that two dice and a single deck of cards could offer a highly entertaining dungeon-crawl experience – well, given how popular Welcome to the Dungeon is at CBQ headquarters, it’s certainly possible!

 

Sailing, but no pirates? What madness is this?

Sailing, but no pirates? What madness is this?

Red Raven Games are awesome. Ryan Laukat is awesome. Islebound is on Kickstarter. The decision is obvious. More info? Fine.

‘In Islebound, you take command of a ship and crew. You sail to island towns, collecting resources, hiring crew, and commissioning buildings for your capital city. Each building has a unique ability, and your combination of buildings can greatly enhance your strength as a trader, builder, or invader. You also recruit pirates and sea monsters to conquer towns, which, once conquered, allow you to complete the town action for free, and charge a fee to opponents if they want to use it. Alternatively, you can complete events that give influence, which can be used to befriend towns.’

Right here on CBQ, we reviewed CMON’s The World of Smog, and we had our first guest poster breaking down the CCG and LCG hullabaloo for us. This weekend in Cape Town, be sure to come through to the Skycastle Event Centre Launch hosted by Skycastle on both Saturday and Sunday. Demos, clearance sales, and if that’s not enough encouragement, the entire CBQ team will be in attendance too. Well, maybe ‘encouragement’ is not the right word…

Determined not to be left out, Joburg based Timeless Board Games has a Board Game Party lined up for this Saturday. Tickets are R60, but from the legendary tales of gaming bliss we’ve been recounted with, that’s going to be R60 well spent indeed!

Next week, Stuart will try his hand at being controversial and we’ve got a bumper crop of new releases eagerly awaiting CBQ vindication. But for now, there’s something strange in our neighbourhood and we should probably call our elected council representative.