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In a week which Gloomhaven swept the board at the Board Game Geek awards, plenty of old favourites such as Mage Knight expanded and plenty of new games appeared.
Mage Knight Ultimate Edition is a complete collection
Mage Knight’s base game was expanded with a series of expansions, which included The Lost Legion (which creator Vlaada Chvátil deemed essential), Krang and Shades of Tezla. Now the studio behind Mage Knight are taking the trend for gamers packing expansions into the base box and turning it into Mage Knight Ultimate Edition.
This Mage Knight big box will include everything previously released for the game, as well as some new paint schemes for the figures, five new cards and a “comprehensive integrated rules text.” The Ultimate Edition is due out in September for around $125.
Bejeweled creator co-founds new games studio
Bejeweled is one of the bestselling electronic games of all time, and now one of the people who made it - Jason Kapalka – is entering the world of board games. Jason has teamed with industry veteran Glenn Drover to create Forbidden Games, and they’ve announced their first three titles for later in the year.
Railroad Rivals sees you building a network across the emergent US while profiting from the stock exchange. Pirates is card based and sees you as, well, pirates after treasure, and Racoon Tycoon is all about having fun with economics. Here’s their key quote on the launch:
“We feel that board games can be both accessible and deep; that a fast, fun gateway game can be as elegantly designed as a multi-hour miniatures-fest; that truly great games can appeal to casual and hardcore players alike.”
2017 Golden Geek: Gloomhaven wins a lot
Board Game Geek’s awards have been decided for 2017, and the winner is basically Gloomhaven. It was the best overall game, best co-op, best solo and several more, dominating the user voted rankings. Other winners included Azul as family game and Codenames Duet in the two-player category, whilst Through the Ages won best app with one of the best physical to digital game ports ever.
Knight’s Harry Potter games cancels Kickstarter and starts pre-order period
The Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game was supposed to be 'Kickstarted' into life, but Knight has cancelled that and decided to start an old fashioned pre-order on it’s own website. Unfortunately there was a mix up when releasing this information, making it appear the game would never reach retail and would only ever be available in this pre-order. Knight have now clarified that some parts of the game will go to retail, and some parts are exclusive to the pre-order.
Fans are still annoyed, however, because it appears that Voldemort, aka the main baddy of the Potter books, is still exclusive. Gameplay modes include players versus player skirmish and co-op campaign. Available to buy is a core game and expansions which will give you miniatures of the Harry Potter characters, and Knight are also offering an all-in package of three hundred euros.
Space Princess honours Carrie Fisher and raises money for charity
Space Princess is currently crowdfunding on Indiegogo, and as well as creating their board game the team is raising money for a bi-polar charity because the game is inspired by, and a tribute to, Carrie Fisher aka Princes Leia of Star Wars. The game involves one player trying to get their princess out of an enemy space ship while the Dark Zealot tries to stop her, and yes it’s basically Leia getting herself off the Death Star. Each game takes quarter of an hour and it’s $25 for a box.
Fisher was a prominent campaigner for, and sufferer of, mental health issues, and Nerdy Pup Games will be sending a portion of the fund raising to the International Bipolar Foundation.
Dinosaur Island go Liquid
The latest Dinosaur Island Kickstarter is live, and that means we now know about the expansion. We’ve reported before that as well as a reprint of the main game there would be a special two-player version of the neon dinosaur system, but there’s also a fresh expansion for the base game called Totally Liquid, which we seem to remember being the sort of thing people would say in the 90s.
This offers aquatic dinosaurs, enough bits to take the game to give player, plenty of new in game options and blueprints you can fulfil for more points. If you bought the game at retail you can also dive into the Kickstarter and order a pack of just the deluxe bits which bling out the game and make it very heavy. Weight wise.
Magic the Gathering goes to Europe
There’s a new Magic the Gathering game coming, and the surprise is that it’s being billed as a Euro game. Titled Heroes of Dominaria, the game will task players with exploring arguably Magic’s main realm, pulling mana from their surroundings and fighting an enemy known as the Cabal. Famed Magic locations appear, we presume the same of creatures, and the goal is to get the most victory points rather than crush your fellow players.
The release is set for August, with a basic edition and a deluxe version with pre-painted miniatures. Before then, however, you’ll be able to revisit Dominaria as it’s the setting of the latest releases of the card game.
Wizards of the Coast also announced Magic: The Gathering Creature Forge: Overwhelming Swarm, a new line of miniatures to be used as tokens in your card game. The first set is 28 strong and drawn from across Magic lore.
Pantone: The Game
Up until now, grades and types of colour in gaming was mostly the preserve of miniature painters and campaigners for better access for the colour blind (which seems to be bearing some fruit). But step forward Scott Rogers of Rayguns and Rocketships, because he’s designed a game around the Pantone colour type system.
Really.
A social deduction game for up to 20 people, each round an artist is chosen and they draw a figure from pop culture and have to convey who that is using colour swatches. E.g. white and black for a Stormtrooper… or is it a panda? Pantone: The Game is coming later in 2018.
Deluxe Expansion announced for Netrunner
With a second addition of Android: Netrunner, what better than a large expansion for it? Fantasy Flight Games have announced the Reign and Reverie expansion, whose 156 cards features additions for all 10 factions, new consoles, new identities and more. No release details as yet.
North Sea mastermind goes West
Shem Philips has scored acclaim with his North Sea Games, and now he’s teamed with newcomer S J Macdonald for a new trilogy. The first release, Architects of the West Kingdom, is set in the later Carolingian Empire, which makes your scribe hum in pleasure after several years of study, and is a worker placement game with some interesting new wrinkles.
You play builders trying to please your superiors, including building them an Abbey, and you can also take control of your rivals’ meeples. A morality system complicates your actions (well, only if you go immoral), and it’s already well past its Kickstarter target with a Christmas release target.
Monsterpocalypse goes full on hobby
Ten years after it initially appeared, Monsterpocalypse is getting a second edition / total reboot. The same ‘giant monsters battling’ theme is present, but this time the collectible figures will be full on glueable, paintable war game miniatures on a bigger scale than before. Rules are being revamped, two monsters a side becomes the norm, and there’s still a diverse array of big stompy things to smash the city up with. Release date is autumn.
Clank studio meets Power Rangers
Renegade, the studio behind the excellent Clank!, have announced a partnership with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. We don’t have much detail yet, but the announcement mentioned “tabletop games” based in the world of the neon warriors, so there could be miniatures.
DLP announce family game Moorea
DLP’s new card game is designed for family play of ages eight and up. It takes place in South Sea islands, and tasks you with making decisions like building canoes to travel, or buildings on your island and more. Moorea should be out spring 2018, and that’s very soon.
Samurai Jack: Back to the Past but not Forward to Europe
Project Raygun, USAopoly and Adult Swim have teamed up to release a game based on their Samurai Jack cartoon. In Samurai Jack: Back to the Past you will, well, travel back to the past to defeat an evil arch nemesis, with game design from one of the people behind Harry Potter Hogwart’s Battle, Andrew Wolf.
As one of Project Raygun’s missions is good collectibles, the game comes with vinyl figures for many characters. However, official retail is limited to the US.
Remnants of the Apocalypse
The studio behind Castle Panic, Fireside Games, want to take you into a post-apocalyptic future in Remnants. Every player has a compound they need to grow (and keep alive), by foraging in the wastelands and repelling enemy attacks. The winner is the player with the most oil, sorry we mean victory points, it all went a bit Mad Max then. Release date is June 27.