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In this week's news; Blue Orange Games have revealed four brand-new games to be released in August. Elsewhere, KeyForge hits one million registered decks, and a swarm of other publishers reveal new games.
Four for Blue Orange Games
Blue Orange Games have announced four releases for August 2019. These are:
Kindomino Duel
A new roll and write game for two players based on the popular 2017 Spiel des Jahres winner, Kingdomino. The dice are rolled, the active player takes one, the second player takes two and the active player takes the final die. Each player will have two die that make up a domino that is added to their sheet. Kingdomino rules apply for matching dominoes on one side. This looks like a nice two-player implementation of Kingdomino and, consequently, is worth keeping an eye on if you like the original.
Detective Club
A four to eight player social deduction game, think a mash up of Spy Club and Dixit. Each round, players play two cards with Dixit style art that best match the chosen word. One of the players (the conspirator) does not know the word and has to choose what to play based on the other player's cards. Players then defend their choice of cards before each player (apart from the active player) votes on who they think is the conspirator.
Papi Winchester
A two to five player auction game where players are auctioning off pieces of land. The money from the winning bid is equally divided to the other players, with extra money being earned from public and secret objective cards. The player with the most money at the end of the game is the winner
Dragon Market
A two to four player collection game where players will be acquiring goods from boats to prepare for a royal wedding. Players will have a card which details the goods they need to collect from the boats which are floating around the board. Players can perform a number of actions based on a die roll such as moving their heir and collecting goods, moving a boat and rotating a boat. The first player to collect their goods is the winner.
1,000,000 Decks
KeyForge, the unique card game from Fantasy Flight Games, took the board gaming hobby by storm when it was released. It seems that the popularity for KeyForge is still strong and growing. The Master Vault App, where players can register their decks, has just reached a major milestone of 1,000,000 registered decks. Bearing in mind that there are probably a lot more decks out there that have not been registered yet, it seems like this number will continue to grow in the coming months.
Sovereign's Chain
WizKids have just announced Sovereign's Chain, from designer Robert J. Hudecek. This is a quick playing hand management game due to be released this summer. Sovereign's Chain is a two to four player card game where players take turns placing Class Cards from their hand on to the end of an ever growing tableau, called a Chain.
The Class Cards come in two suits (Planets or Stars) and are numbered. One of the interesting twists is that Class Cards can be played on your own Chain as well as your opponents with the game ending when a Chain reaches seven cards. The player who has the greatest difference in total value between the two suits when the game ends is the winner. This sounds like it can offer some interesting card play with placing cards to reduce that difference on your opponents chain and increasing the difference in your chain.
In addition, cards are placed face-up activating abilities which manipulate the chain such as adding values to a card, removing or adding cards or protecting cards from further abilities. Cards can be placed face-down (including the starting card of a Chain) and then revealed at the end of the game triggering last minute abilities and potentially turning the tide of the game. There are also Event cards which add a random element to the game.
Old Masters
Keep Exploring Games have revealed the upcoming release of Old Masters. This is a two to four player painting/art themed game by Nicolas De Oliveira.
Players take on the role of a talented painter participating in a competition held by Le Bateau-Lavoir, a Parisian painter's studio located in the Montmartre district. The competition is being held to find the next Monet, Renoir and Can Gogh. Do you have the artistic skills to be the next famous painter?
Old Masters is a worker placement, engine building game where the board moves one space each turn. Players can leave workers on the board between turns and are faced with predicting what other players need and thinking/planning ahead to future turns. Players will improve the painting tools and techniques and fulfil orders.
Old Masters is due to be released in September 2019.
Shadows in the East
Fantasy Flight Games have announced the next expansion for the Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, A Shadow in the East. This eighth deluxe expansion for the game comes with three normal scenarios which sees players travelling along the River Running, investigating a series of abductions in Dorwinion and entering an ancient temple to rescue people from the cult of Sauron.
A Shadow of East is also the beginning of the Vengeance of Mordor cycle. The expansion introduces master cards, contracts and a doubled sided heroes.
Roll and Cut
Renegade Game Studios have announced a new take on the roll and write genre featuring scissors. ClipCut is a one to four player where players will be taking turns rolling dice, cutting and building a park.
Players are competing to change a urban landscape in to a stunning park and complete five park cards. This is a unique take on the genre and it will be interesting to see how it plays.
Four for Brain Games Publishing
There are for new games coming from Brain Games Publishing.
Team3
A three to six player co-operative game. Players work together to build a 3D structure from different shaped blocks as quickly as possible. The twist with this is that one of the players can't speak, one can't see and the one in the middle can't hear (thematically speaking anyway). The non-speaking player can use gestures to the non-hearing player, who interprets them to the player who can't see. This looks like a great fun party game that is sure to generate some laughs.
Farm Rescue
Another co-operative game for one to five players that seems to be geared towards young children. Players are working together to outsmart the bad wolf by flipping cards face-up and trying to remember where certain animals are before the wolf can get them.
Pigasus
A two to eight player card matching game where players are trying to match pairs of animals (similar in mechanisms to Farm Rescue). In Pigasus, the animals appear in weird and wonderful combinations of animals.
Snowman Dice
A two to four player dice rolling game where players are attempting to build a snowman and get him to the North pole by rolling dice. Dice also have snowballs which can be used to knock over your opponent snowman.
Kickstarter Expansions
Thunderstone Quest is back with another expansion, New Horizons. It features two new quests (Vengeful Sands and Clockwork Destiny) which follow on from the previous quest. The expansion also includes a promo card for the Barricades Mode (Ezuzrius' Lair). There campaign will also offer level four heroes as an add on if the campaign reaches $400K.
Endeavor also has an expansion on Kickstarter at the moment, Age of Expansion. The expansion comes with 35 buildings and seven new decks of cards for more variety and differing paths to victory. There are new mechanisms such as trading, fortifying, conscription and mobilisation. The expansion also adds a new system called Prominence. Using this, players can gain prominence in Europe for more ways to score and unique benefits.