Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
new edition of Spartacus from Gale Force 9 releases on April 17
Who can resist a TV show (or game!) that has bloody arena combat between two (or more) fierce gladiators, where death may come quickly or it may come slowly in quick, debilitating cuts here and there that leave your gladiator struggling to survive?
Gale Force 9 can’t! And neither can I.
A game I really enjoyed back in the day, Spartacus: a Game of Blood & Treachery is an intense game of intrigue and bloody fighting, where players are a Dominus, or head of a noble house in ancient Rome. They are vying for influence, fame, and the favor of Rome.
On April 17, Gale Force 9 will be releasing a new edition of the game, which is based on the old STARZ TV series.
The game was designed by Aaron Dill, John Kovaleski, Sean Sweigart. I don’t know who has done the new artwork. It was originally published in 2012 (which I guess means there won’t be a special 10th anniversary edition next year).
The game will have new artwork but the gameplay will be mostly unchanged with just a couple of variants (including one common variant that has now been made an official variant).
Read MoreSuburbia 2nd Edition coming from Bezier Games in March
A nice surprise in my email a couple of days ago came from Bezier Games.
After over a year of having just the Kickstarter “Collector’s Edition”, Bezier Games has now announced that a 2nd Edition of its classic game, Suburbia will be coming to stores on March 24.
From the pictures, it looks like it will be the same artwork as the Collector’s Edition, but without all of the bling that was attached to that.
It is kind of hard to tell from the pictures provided in the email, but it does look like Collector’s Edition artwork. Which is great!
Read MoreOnce again introducing Combat Commander Europe – #1 Fat Lipki
Re-blogging this post from Michal at the Boardgame Chronicle because he says it much better than I ever could.
Combat Commander has become my new obsession, and Fat Lipki was my initial free taste before I fell into the whole trap.
And I’m loving it.
Enjoy this!
I am big fan of Chad Jensen creation – Combat Commander series. I mainly play the European version – you can see my detailed review on this – and whenever possible, advocate to other players the advantages of the system: fantastic rulebook, great replayability and what I like most – the presentation of battlefield chaos and confusion in the game mechanics.
Not having too much options for live play and eager to introduce more players to that title, I am continuing series of asynchronous games with Dave (whovian223). We finished two sessions of Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul and after short discussion, decided on CCE as next.
We use Discord for files exchange as well as for online communication – it works surprisingly well despite all those opportunity fire or hidden mines/wire rules. And let us be honest – we play for fun and are able to evaluate who and…
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Boardgame Geek Top 300 – Play or Played – #300-291
Wow, I’m lazy.
Either that, or I’ve been in a bad mental space. You know, 2021 was supposed to be better, but so far it’s barely been marginally better and that’s only because 2020 sucked so much.
I finished the Top 200 BGG games on January 6 and here we are in mid-February and I’m finally getting to the Top 300!
I even downloaded the list in January but had to download a new version because it was so old.
But I finally made it. Even if two of them aren’t actually not in the Top 300 any more (yes, we have a new addition at #292 right now, with Garphill Games’ Viscounts of the West Kingdom, so congratulations Shem! Along with this is the latest hotness, Lost Ruins of Arnak hitting #293)
I’m proud of myself.
Of course, that could be because of the new confidence instilled in me by my new cult leader.
Yeah, the drugs are good…
So anyway, let’s get started with the Top 300 games on Boardgame Geek!
This is based on the list downloaded as of February 8, 2021.
Let’s get this show on the road!
Read MoreGravwell (2nd Edition) Coming from Renegade Game Studios
One game from 2013 that slipped under my radar (probably because I just really got into gaming in 2012) was Gravwell.
The game, designed by Corey Young, looks like an intriguing and quick-playing race game.
Yesterday, I received an exciting email from Renegade Game Studios saying that they will be putting out a 2nd edition of the game with an expanded player count (1-6 instead of 1-4), new art by artist Kwanchai Moriya and new unique player powers.
Let’s do a blurb on what’s coming:
“In Gravwell you’re among a flotilla of ships that survived passing through a black hole. The fabric of space and the general physics you’ve known have changed. You quickly discover that your engines are offline, but you can navigate crudely using your tractor and repulsor beams. By mining asteroids and collecting raw elements from space dust, you muster just enough force to move your spacecraft. You lock onto another object, perhaps a spacecraft, and creep toward it. But just as you’re about to engage your tractor beam, its captain engages his beam, catapulting his ship past you. If you don’t act quickly, you’ll be pulled the wrong direction! It’s a real mind-bender!”
Whoever reaches the warp gate first wins. If, after 6 rounds, nobody has, the closest player wins (I’m assuming that hasn’t changed from the original game)
The game sounds really interesting. It apparently plays fast (20-35 minutes according to BGG) so it will be another great lunch-time game, and 6 players will actually accommodate my lunchtime group! If we ever get back to the office, of course.
I love card games like this too.
I am definitely interested in this one.
More information to come on this one, but colour me intrigued.
In the Shadows – GMT Games
I’ve posted a few times about games on the P500 list from GMT Games, the system where once pre-orders reach 500 they will be put into the production queue.
It’s almost like Kickstarter, except you’re not obligated to pay until the game actually ships, which could be a year or two.
In the Shadows is a game that recently appeared on the P500 list and needs a little bit of help. It’s currently (as of this writing, on Saturday evening) at 339 orders and needs to reach 500.
The game is designed by Dan Bullock, Chris Bennett, and Joe Schmidt.
The game sounds really intriguing, so I want to trumpet it and see if my one or two readers may help push it over the top.
What do we know about the game?
Let’s take a look.
Read MoreCircadians: Chaos Order from Garphill Games to Kickstarter in 2021
Here’s some news that I’m excited about, but actually forgot to post!
That was until Shem Phillips posted a new picture of it on Boardgame Geek, anyway.
The next game in the Circadians series from Garphill Games, Circadians: Chaos Order, will be coming to Kickstarter at some point in 2021 and it already sounds cool.
Yeah, the date of the tweet does show how delinquent I’ve been.
Yesterday, though, Shem posted this picture to the game’s BGG page:
Once again this looks incredible.
What does the game entail?
Let’s take a little look.
Read MoreNew to me – January 2021
Ah, 2021.
The past year has been dangerous, depressing, disappointing, in some cases despotic, and many other words that begin with “d”.
Everybody was so happy to get rid of it, to see it in the rear view mirror, like stopping at a rest stop so you can both go to the bathroom and then you hurry back and drive away while 2020 comes running after you.
It’s dead! It’s gone! We won’t have to face it again!
And then January hits…and guess what…
He’s baaaaaaack!!!
January 2021 was almost worse than 2020!
Now that January is behind us, there is some hope on the horizon. Enough that we can actually picture seeing each other at a convention sometime during this calendar year (though likely not until the Fall at the earliest).
It’s been a quiet time here at the Cult of the New to Me. Frankly, I think they’re really liking not seeing me in the office.
Should I be offended by that?
Anyway, let’s get to January’s new to me games. This month, just one new game and one new expansion. But it’s something!
Without further adieu (all of my adieu was traded in for a bottle of hootch anyway), let’s begin!
Read MoreSentinels of the Multiverse Definitive Edition – Kickstarter on March 30
(Edit – 3/30/21 – And it’s now on Kickstarter! No wonder people are coming to this post.)
Double post day!
Just received this in my email and thought I’d post something on the same day instead of a day later.
What’s the news? (oh yeah, it’s in the title)
Greater Than Games has announced that, for the 10th Anniversary of the founding of Greater Than Games as well as the very popular superhero card game, Sentinels of the Multiverse, they will be issuing Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition, an all new core set with new art and improved graphic design, as well as some streamlining done as well.
The game, designed by Christopher Badell, Paul Bender and Adam Rebottaro with art by…well, we’ll see for this new edition, won’t we (though I’m pretty sure Adam’s involved at least).
Sentinels of the Multiverse is a card game where each player is a Hero with their own deck. The Villain you are fighting has its own deck and there is also an Environment deck with cards that may help or may extremely hinder you. There is no deck-building, which is nice in this case.
Let’s quote from the email a little bit to give you an idea of what’s going on.
“If you’re familiar with Sentinels, this is certainly still the game that you recognize, but cleaned up and improved in just about every way. All of the art is brand new. The writing and game design have both been stripped down to their core elements and rebuilt better and cleaner than before — the game plays more swiftly and smoothly now, and everything happening on the table is communicated in a way that keeps the players engaged, and the action moving forward. All of the graphic design is significantly improved, thanks to the expertise of our graphic designers, Rae Henderson and Darrell Louder. And the polish on the game shines brightly, thanks to the development and playtesting help of our developer Chris Burton and quite a few playtesters. We started working on this game in early 2020, and most of the last half of the year was spent in intensive playtesting to make sure this was the best version of Sentinels of the Multiverse that anyone had ever seen.”
One of the knocks against the game on the table (as opposed to app form, which does all of the calculations for you and is as smooth as silk) was the clunkiness of having to keep a whole bunch of modifiers and stuff in mind.
That’s one reason I never really picked it up.
I fell in love with it in app form, though, and if the game is streamlined enough to make it not seem like work to play it, I will definitely be interested in it!
Chris mentioned that it will be live on Kickstarter on March 30. Before that date, he will be sending updates with art teasers along with some of the new content.
What? New content?
Of course, the people who already own the game need a reason to pick it up.
The new core set will have 12 Heroes, 6 Villains, 6 Environments and “a bunch of other brand new things that we’ve never done before.”
If it follows the previous arc of the game, there will be plenty of expansions that add new Heroes, Villains, Environments, and maybe more of what they’ve never done before.
Chris will also be doing an AMA on the Greater Than Games Youtube channel on Wednesday, February 3 at 3:00 pm Central Time if you want to find out more information.
This is really exciting and I will be following it to see what changes are coming and if it’s something that I might be able to get to the table.
What do you think of this? Are you a fan of the game already? Could this get you interested? Are you getting tired of “collector’s” and “deluxe” editions and will the fact that this is called the “definitive” edition change your feeling at all?
Let me know in the comments, and go check them out!
More to come in the next 2 months…
Radlands by Roxley Games – Now on Kickstarter
Another day, another Kickstarter!
I’m a sucker for quick 2-player card games that can be played at work. I already backed one of them previously, and here’s another!
Radlands is a 2-player card game published by Roxley Games. It’s designed by Daniel Piechnick with art by Damien Mammoliti and Manny Trembley.
This hit Kickstarter yesterday and it’s already funded.
How could it not be given Roxley’s track record along with the design pedigree of Piechnick?
The game takes place after an Apocalypse (no word if it’s like one of the Umbrella Academy apocalypses or not) where water is the most treasured resource and your gang is trying to be the dominant one in the land.
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