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Many exciting developments, announcements and releases were afoot this week, and the one that caught our attention first and foremost was news of Merlin, designed by Stefan Feld and Michael Rieneck.
Merlin Board Game
There is limited information about Merlin at the moment, so limited in fact that the Board Game Geek page simply reads: "A large game with dice." By looking at the pictures, which were posted from a representative at Queen Games, they suggest this is due to either demo or release at Essen Spiel this year.
In these images we see dice, cards, resources, hexagons and some rather smashing artwork. Merlin almost looks like a cross between Troyes and Rococo. The theme, obviously centered on Camelot/Knights of the Round Table, looks super interesting.
Merlin will be the first release from Feld since Oracle of Delphi in 2016 and is co-designed with Rieneck, designer of Pillars of The Earth and more recently Brutal Kingdom, as well as many more. A Euro game from two top designers…. we’ll be keeping tabs on this one!
Dragon's Hoard Announced
Renegade Game Studios have been on fire recently, having released a series of hot games of varying mechanics and themes over the past 18 months: Clank!, The Blood of an Englishman and Flatline spring to mind.
Since announcing Sentient and Museum and Atlas, among others, at this summer's cons, they dropped another name into the mix for this autumn. Dragon's Hoard, by Nathanael Mortensen, was originally crowdfunded in 2013 and released by Kosmos in 2014.
This will be the first English Edition and Renegade is clearly passionate about the game - see the full press release.
This is a card drafting game about collecting treasure to appease a dragon by using chromatic sheep (?), whilst fighting off a host of creatures who want to nab your sheep.... and treasure!!
It sounds wonderfully and weirdly whimsical, and it looks beautiful. An interesting fact; Mortensen took colorblindness and accessibility heavily into consideration when designing the game; please have a follow the link above to read further.
Since announcing Sentient and Museum and Atlas, among others, at this summer's cons, they dropped another name into the mix for this autumn. Dragon's Hoard, by Nathanael Mortensen, was originally crowdfunded in 2013 and released by Kosmos in 2014.
This will be the first English Edition and Renegade is clearly passionate about the game - see the full press release.
This is a card drafting game about collecting treasure to appease a dragon by using chromatic sheep (?), whilst fighting off a host of creatures who want to nab your sheep.... and treasure!!
It sounds wonderfully and weirdly whimsical, and it looks beautiful. An interesting fact; Mortensen took colorblindness and accessibility heavily into consideration when designing the game; please have a follow the link above to read further.
An Expansion for Terraforming Mars
Terraforming Mars: Venus Next was another surprise announcement from Stronghold Games late last week. Having just released Hellas and Elysium (H&E), Venus Next is the second expansion for the core game.
Whereas H&E focuses on giving you further missions and milestones to achieve on Mars, Venus Next looks to be about ‘colonizing in the clouds to tame the fiery furnace below’. This has a tentative release date for October, so we could be getting down to some serious cloud terraforming business by the end of the year.
Time of Legends Demo
In preparation for an October Kickstarter, Time of Legends: Joan of Arc is demoing at GenCon this year. Brought to us by Mythic Games, who successful funded Mythic Battles: Pantheon last year, Joan of Arc looks epic.
Described as a ‘story driven board game’ it comprises of a card and resource management with a 3D battle set up, complete with nifty miniatures. Joan of Arc is a refreshing choice of theme, and will be the first depiction of the famous war heroin in a board game since 1998.
Mario Card Game
Super Mario: Power Up, by USAopoly, is scheduled to be released in the US shortly. Joining the likes of Mario Chess, the Level Up board game and most recently Super Mario Monopoly, this is a video game-as-card game mash-up.
Unfortunately it seems to be only available in the USA at present, but for any fans of the cult classic - keep your eyes open!
Pot de Vin
Lastly this week, Thundergryph Games has just announced Pot de Vin - pot of wine; a French term for a ‘pay-off.’ This is a 3-6 player trick-taking game about bribery, influence and skull-duggery packed into a deck of cards.
With super cool artwork by Luis Fransisco, whose abstract style can also be found on The Bloody Inn and Russian Roulette, it has a really vivid ‘please buy me’ appearance. Forgoing Kickstarter, Pot de Vin goes straight to pre-order August 21.
Have a great weekend everyone, and we’ll see you next week for more exciting games news!
This news round-up was brought to you by Lindsay Miller. You can find more information on Lindsay by visiting on her YouTube channel and blog.
Mario Card Game
Super Mario: Power Up, by USAopoly, is scheduled to be released in the US shortly. Joining the likes of Mario Chess, the Level Up board game and most recently Super Mario Monopoly, this is a video game-as-card game mash-up.
Unfortunately it seems to be only available in the USA at present, but for any fans of the cult classic - keep your eyes open!
Pot de Vin
Lastly this week, Thundergryph Games has just announced Pot de Vin - pot of wine; a French term for a ‘pay-off.’ This is a 3-6 player trick-taking game about bribery, influence and skull-duggery packed into a deck of cards.
With super cool artwork by Luis Fransisco, whose abstract style can also be found on The Bloody Inn and Russian Roulette, it has a really vivid ‘please buy me’ appearance. Forgoing Kickstarter, Pot de Vin goes straight to pre-order August 21.
Have a great weekend everyone, and we’ll see you next week for more exciting games news!
This news round-up was brought to you by Lindsay Miller. You can find more information on Lindsay by visiting on her YouTube channel and blog.