Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
New to Me – July 2017
It was a fairly lean month for new games, which involved me missing one of my game days due to illness.
But four is not a bad number! I love doing a mix of old favourites and “new to me” games. But I’m not “Cult of the New.” It doesn’t have to be a new game necessarily. Just new to me.
As you can see from a 4-year old game on my list!
Once again, there is one semi-brain burner on my list. It seems that I always have to challenge myself at least a little bit.
It’s also my favourite new game of the month.
So let’s get to the good stuff.
Great Western Trail (2016 – Stronghold Games) – 1 Play
Designer: Alexander Pfister
Artist: Andreas Resch
Players: 2-4
Funnily enough, the first of two Alexander Pfister-designed games on my July play list. I had no idea I had become a fan!
Flash Point: Tragic Events expansion on Kickstarter
No sooner do I pledge (see what I did there) that I won’t back any more Kickstarters this year (other than The Networks: Executives, of course), then I see word that there’s a new Flash Point: Fire Rescue expansion just popping up on Kickstarter.
Flash Point is a cooperative game where you are all firefighters attempting to save victims in a burning building of some kind. It’s a really fun game that I haven’t played in quite a while but definitely want to rectify that soon.
Called Tragic Events, this expansion will have no new boards, so you’ll still be using the same buildings as before.
So what does the expansion have, you ask?
I have a burning desire to tell you
(ok, I’ll get my coat)
The Networks: Executives expansion Kickstarter in September
I’m relatively new to the whole Kickstarter phenomenon, but I’ve backed a few things earlier.
I had decided, however, to not back any more games this year, but with one exception.
Today, Gil Hova (designer of the phenomenal The Networks) announced today that the Kickstarter for the Networks expansion will be opening on September 5!
Called The Networks: Executives, this expansion will add a bunch of new stuff to an already great game.
The Many Uses of Dice in Games
Many of us love dice.
We love to chuck them on the table, sometimes so hard that half of them roll off of it and onto the floor, making the cat sit up and take notice.
But sometimes, dice aren’t just for rolling. Sometimes games use them in other innovative ways.
I was reading the Shut Up & Sit Down review of Sagrada, the game where you use dice to make stained glass windows.
I haven’t played that game yet, but I know that while you do roll dice, you are placing those dice in certain specific ways on your window tableau and the colours represent the glass in the window.
That’s pretty neat.
I thought I would explore other uses of dice a little bit in this post.
Another Onirim app expansion – Door to the Oniverse
I started my vacation with Onirim expansion news, and I’m beginning my return from vacation with Onirim expansion news!
Earlier this week, Asmodee Digital released another expansion for the already excellent Onirim app. (If you’re not sure what this game is, I’m not going to explain it. You can see my post about the original game here)
The new expansion, “The Door to the Oniverse,” adds yet more cards to your dream deck, but with a twist this time.
There are 16 “Denizens of the Oniverse” cards (two of each type) added that have special one-shot powers that you can use to hopefully get all those doors open before your deck runs out.
New Visitors Expansion for Viticulture in 2018
Sorry I’ve been away so long. Was expecting to do some blogging on my three weeks vacation and…didn’t.
But what great news to come back to!
Viticulture is a game about running a vineyard for victory points (yes, those nasty victory points again).
I’m actually a big fan of the game. Not because I harbor fantasies about running a vineyard or that I’m a wine snob or anything.
No, I love it because it’s one of the rare engine-building Euro games that I am actually fairly decent at. I can actually win the game!
So imagine my delight when I saw the announcement on Boardgame Geek that a new expansion is coming out for it.
Onirim updated again – Crossroads & Dead Ends expansion
Aren’t surprises wonderful?
Ok, not always. It sort of sucks to be driving along late at night and then suddenly you’re in a construction hold-up in line with other cars that you weren’t expecting and there’s no way to turn around or bail.
But some surprises are wonderful.
Like when you see the badge on your App Store icon, go in to see what’s been updated, and you find out Onirim has a new expansion available!
Called “Crossroads & Dead Ends,” this expansion adds 16 more cards to your deck.
There are 6 Crossroads cards, two of each basic type (Sun, Moon, Key). What’s special about these is that they are multi-coloured, which means that they can be used as any colour.
Which is especially helpful when it’s a key and you draw a door, as it will open any of them.
Friday – App Review
Most of the time when boardgame apps are done on mobile, there is an announcement that it’s coming.
Recently, Friday dropped onto the App Store with no warning whatsoever (and a couple of key bugs too, which have now been fixed). This Friedmann Friese classic has you in the role of Robinson Crusoe, stranded on a tropical island and trying to get off (or at least survive your stay on the island). You must also survive two attacks by pirates at the end of the game. If you do all that, you win!
Friday is a solo deck-building game where you are trying to simultaneously defeat hazards to gain new cards as well as fail at defeating them so that you can get rid of really bad cards.
This tug-of-war is actually quite fun, though it can be frustrating at times.
New to Me – June 2017
It was a pretty lean month in June for new games. There were a few that I played for a second time, but that doesn’t count (or so the mean-looking guy behind me holding the truncheon says).
Only three new games in June, which is a pretty poor record. I will have to do better in July (he says, having played two non-new games on the first weekend of the month)
Still, the three that I did play were very good, with only one that I’m lukewarm on, and that could be because Martin Wallace is a sadist (I kid, though I wouldn’t be surprised if when he makes his kids clean their rooms, there is a way they could do it where they’re stuck doing it for months and can’t come out until they’re done).
So why don’t we start with that game?
Imhotep expansion – Eine neue Dynastie coming in October
I’m a big fan of the 2016 game Imhotep, the quick and easy game where you’re building monuments in ancient Egypt for points. It’s so good and easy that my non-gamer co-worker played it and loved it.
So I was excited to see the news a couple of weeks ago (yeah, I’m on top of things) that a new expansion for the game is coming in October from Kosmos games.
It’s so newly announced that it doesn’t even have an English-translated name yet! Titled Eine Neue Dynastie, this expansion will add a bunch of new things that we can only guess at what they mean.
Ok, five new places and fourteen market cards make sense. Adding to what the game already has.
But what’s this? Chariots? Gods? Mysterious new tiles of great import?
I have no idea what any of those are, and Kosmos isn’t telling us quite yet.
C’mon, Kosmos. It’s only 3 more months until it comes out. Throw us a bone!
Ok, here’s a bone, from the description:
God cards let players predict the progress of different buildings, with them being rewarded at the end of the game if they’re correct and otherwise being punished.
That sounds very interesting.
Until we know more, though, I’ll leave you with the picture of the beautiful cover.
Dude! Take Your Turn! 