The Board Hoard – Your Weekly News Round Up!

I’ve had enough of games. I’m ‘bored’ of them. Ha. Ha ha. Pun intended. I mean, come on, what’s the point, right? Board gaming peaked with Cluedo, Monopoly and Guess Who. It doesn’t get any better than that, man. We’re all wasting our time, the games are all the same there’s no variety at all. I mean, if you could show me something with goblins in, or pirates, or please, please give me a game with cats in, then okay, it might keep my interest for a little while longer…

What do you mean, there’s all kinds of that stuff lined up right here, right now? Then stop messin’ around bro, let’s see it!

Goblins of Thorntooth Thicket

I’m going to make a suggestion here: goblins are in dire need of some professional PR help. You see, gremlins have this ugly-cute but evil-hilarious thing going on that works for them. Critters aren’t as appealing as gremlins, but they’ve still got the humour factor. Orcs, ugly and brutal, they’ve nailed that. But you don’t hear so much about goblins these days. They’ve always had this middle ground, not quite gruesome and brutal enough, not quite cute and funny enough. Perhaps we need to get to know them a little better.

This particular bunch of gobbos have lived for time beyond memory in Thorntooth Thicket, harvesting food and collecting treasure for themselves and living a secret but boisterous life. There’s always a ‘but’ though, isn’t there? But the barghests came, evil shapeshifters taking the oogly-boogly shape of the goblins themselves and infiltrating the community. Despite these problems, the deep caves and their glittering treasures keep calling, so the goblins continue their raids, with the added worry of barghests in their midst…

Goblins of Thorntooth Thicket from Brewist Tabletop is a card-based social deduction game for 4-8 players. In it, players will secretly take the role of either a wily goblin or a traitorous barghest, draft actions into a collective pile, and then use those actions to explore the caves beneath Thorntooth Thicket. Along the way, obstacles will impede the goblin expedition, allowing the barghests the opportunity to get their expedition killed. Barghests win by killing each non-barghest goblin player, and goblins win by defeating all barghests or collecting enough treasure to return home.

Up for a hilarious game to liven up a party or family gathering? The Kickstarter is live and right here.

Black Forest

You say Black Forest to me and my stomach fixate upon the world of cake. No point in denying it. That gateaux is a leader amongst cakes, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t necessarily a cake kinda guy – crisps for me, please, and crackers. We are not in the world of snacks for this game, however (and oh God am I suddenly hungry). Black Forest from Uwe Rosenberg is in effect a follow on to Glass Road and features the return of Uwe’s legendary resource wheels.

In Black Forest, you start out with a small domain in need of new buildings and livestock. You’ll travel from village to village, to enlist the aid of the best specialists. Exploiting the abilities of these specialists lets you collect resources, lay out new landscape tiles (e.g., ponds and fields), and build a variety of buildings, which come in four types: “Immediate” buildings with a one-time effect, processing buildings, buildings with an ongoing effect, and buildings that provide bonus points at the end of the game for various accomplishments.

Choose the right buildings, place landscapes, fire up your glass production, and expand your domain. Two resource wheels on your tableau help you keep track of your resources and production. Black Forest continues the story – as the name suggests – in the Black Forest. Among others, the main difference between the two games is the use of worker placement in Black Forest instead of simultaneous action selection.

A wide selection of buildings and their different effects offer many different paths to victory, so plenty of opportunities to test new strategies. Head to this page and check it out.

High Seas

Pirates!

No, before I start, before I get myself all riled up, I’m not allowed any more piratey games. I don’t need any more pirates in my life. There’s all the books I’ve written, the very specific series of five films that I’ve watched too many times for my own good, the Sea of Thieves board game which once ate up an entire weekend for one play. No more.

No more after this one.

The legend of the High Seas speaks of fearsome pirate captains who ruled the waves, their names whispered in awe and terror from port to port (this is the life for me, aaarr!). Now, the tides have shifted, and a new generation of Captains has risen, each vying to become the most notorious pirate to ever sail the open ocean. In their quest for infamy, these daring seafarers will pillage mighty Nation Ships, engage in fierce battles with rival Captains, and complete bold and treacherous bounties. Armed with cunning strategies and the unpredictable power of High Seas cards, these Captains will stop at nothing to secure their place as the ultimate scourge of the seas. Who will emerge victorious reaching the end of their Notoriety tracker and claim their legacy as the most feared pirate of them all?

This is a fully packed pirate adventure with stacks of components in the box. Piles of cards, some nicely detailed ship meeples, tokens for smuggled goods, pawns and morale, gold coins, lots and lots of dice, an excellent game board with a beautiful sea for you to dominate, and even Captain’s Logs to drive the game forward. The Kickstarter has already set sail. Hop on board here.

Tipping Point: The Climate Change Card Game

For UK based readers, this isn’t that Tipping Point. No, there is a board game based on that tv game show, but that show is utter rubbish and will not be covered in the Board Hoard. Nope, never. What we have here is a topical game with a sense of social and environmental responsibility. Games can still be tremendous fun and touch on issues that matter in the here and now (unlike Tipping Point the game show, which is basically a slowed down version of a funfair 2p pusher. Rubbish).

Tipping Point from Treecer is for 2-4 players, takes about 60-90 minutes to play, and is described as like SimCity with cards. Those three words have me sold, to be honest. Players build cities while trying to survive extreme weather disasters that become more and more common as carbon dioxide accumulates in the air. It’s a family-friendly game perfect fit for casual and strategic gamers. It’s also a great choice for teachers looking for a visual way of introducing their students to climate change.

The goal of the game is to grow, sustain and protect a large population. Players take turns pulling new citizen cards and purchasing new development cards to add to their city. Each citizen has their own special ability, including the construction worker who can help you repair your city, the educator who can teach your workers to use advanced technologies, and the solider who can help protect your city from outside attack.

There are dozens of different development cards to choose from, including oil wells which earn more money, hospitals which protect citizens from extreme weather, or power plants which are needed to power buildings. But this growth and development comes at a cost: the release of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2). If you fancy a Sim City card game with a conscience, it’s here.

Cats: The Conspurracy TTRPG

I knew it all along. There’s a reasonable explanation for everything, and finally here it is. Cats have been in command all along. And it isn’t simply because they’re cute. The reason they get to steal my seat the second I leave it, get fresh chicken cooked specially for them, and don’t get strangled when they yak up over the brand new rug is because they are psychic super spies. It’s obvious when you think about it.

Cats: The Consurracy from Black Book Editions is a tabletop roleplaying game in which you play as cats. Woah, woah, come back you lot! There’s a bit more I can tell you about the game before you go off purring and licking milk from a saucer (word of warning: don’t give your cats milk unless you want some kind of derrier disaster to occur). You won’t be playing as normal, every day kitties (a shame, as if I could be our Tonto than I could act like a complete fool with an empty head). You will be Awakened Cats – who are basically furry secret agents with whiskers and mighty, incredible powers, and psychic abilities.

The ancestors of these cats created humankind to do their bidding (this all feels right, doesn’t it?). It’s up to these Awakened cats to protect the Conspurrancy, a veil that shrouds reality, making us believe that cats are mere pets.

To play, all you’ll need is the core rulebook, a few sheets of paper and five ten-sided dice. All cats possess four physical abilities, four mental abilities, one special luck skill (my Tonto survives completely and utterly on luck) and a stack of special skills. The more you use your claws in combat or climb trees, the higher your skill scores for these abilities will be. You’ve also got Nine Lives to use, which can spent after a failed action to either try that action again or switch to a different action. Careful, though: once used, these lives are forever lost, so use them wisely.

I’ve only played one TTRPG so far, but even I’m very tempted by this fantastic theme. The Kickstarter is worth checking out for the fab feline artwork alone.

Escape From New York

“You go in, find the President, bring him out in less than 24 hours, and you’re a free man.”

This one’s been out for a few months, but it passed me by somehow, which means you might have missed it as well. I am honour-bound to pass on news such as this. Let’s just say it loud and proud: I want to be Snake Plissken. And I can almost guarantee I’ve wanted this for longer than majority of you. There is no-one cooler, apart from MacCready in The Thing, also played by Kurt Russell, also directed by John Carpenter, and here’s your chance to play as him.

In Escape from New York, an adaptation of the John Carpenter movie of the same name, you play as Snake, Brain, Maggie, or Cabbie and attempt to rescue the president and his precious tape and bring them to safety, while dealing with the gangs of the most dangerous prison in the world – all of Manhattan.

You will play the roles of the heroes, exploring the dangerous streets of New York, searching for the president, his case containing the government tape, and a diagram of the bridges so you can escape from the city without stepping on a landmine.

You can work together, searching for these three things, or you may decide to secretly satisfy your own personal objective at any moment during the game, escaping from New York alone and betraying your companions. Whatever your decision will be, you must face the Bands of Manhattan, headed by the Duke of New York, who will hinder you by moving Prisoners and Bosses to eat up as much of the short time-frame you have to complete your mission.

No need to wait for a crowdfunding campaign to finish – you can go buy this right now, then the only thing you’re waiting on is your postie. But don’t call your postie a ‘thing’. At least, not to their face. Here’s the page you need.

There you are, friends, another half a dozen treats for your consideration – although allow me to use my knobbly elbow to nudge you firmly towards the adventures of Mr. Plissken. I’ll leave you for just long enough that you have a chance to recover from these wonders… but I’ll be back with more soon.