Cornish Smuggling, Film Noir, All Out War, Superheroes and Documentaries, we’ve really got you all covered this week!
Grubin Games
Grublin Games is proud to announce the release of Cornish Smuggler, a strategic board game for 2-4 players. Cornish Smuggler has already smashed it’s goal on Kickstarter but you can still get in on the action here.
Cornish Smuggler, allows players to assume the roles of smugglers in 18th Century Cornwall. Players can buy and sell goods for gold while employing a network of local characters, secret knowledge, hidden locations, bribes, dirty tricks and a healthy dose of cunning to evade the attentions of the customs officers and the other players.
Smuggling in Cornwall wasn’t just an individual enterprise, it was highly organised and involved a staggering variety and number of people in the community. Fisherman and housewives, village carpenters, town clerks, miners, vicars and even witches…they were all in on it!
Cornish Smuggler represents a significant departure from the classical 'pirate' themed game. This is a game about dodging the Law, employing the local vicar, building a network, discovering and using secrets, renting out the mayor's wine cellar, and generally getting rich. It’s a surprisingly accurate historical representation, set in real places in West Cornwall!
In Cornish Smuggler, the choice of which goods to buy is key. As a player, you choose how much to sell your goods for; sell them cheap, and everyone will love you…your reputation and influence in the community will soar…but will you make a profit? With an increased reputation you can transport contraband more easily and evade customs, but to win the game you must have more gold than anyone else.
Customs officers will be constantly searching for contraband goods and their movements are entirely dictated by the actions of the smugglers, but…they can always be bribed! The higher the price you sell your goods for, the stronger the customs forces become...
Players can choose to buy large bulky goods, which are hard to fit on board ship (because goods and ships are all different shapes and sizes) or smaller, more easily transported goods which are worth far less. Also different sized towns offer different prices for goods. Smaller towns offer a lower price, increased reputation and a lower risk of having your goods seized by customs. Larger towns offer better prices and allow smugglers to sell more goods, but doing so is generally much more risky.
Cornish Smuggler is a balanced, fast-paced game that recreates the spirit of the smuggling age. Players are kept guessing about the outcome right through to the very end, just as the designers intended.
This is a game which is based on real things that happened to real people in a real place. All the things that you can do in this game are, to the best of our knowledge, things that people actually did. It’s not about one person sailing ships, commanding crews and firing cannons. It’s about building a network, a community of people, hidden secrets, secret coves, beer cellars, backyard sheds, mineshafts, mysterious signals and a whole host of other things that enable you to smuggle your goods.
We’ve researched what happened and we've done the absolute best job we can to capture the feel of the time within a game that is balanced, engaging, fun to play and keeps you guessing all the way through.
We didn't want to make a game where the theme seemed 'pasted on' or the mechanics seemed...overly familiar. We planned that every aspect of this game would complement all the others and, after more than 400 hours of testing, we feel very strongly that we've done just that.
IELLO Games
Guardians Chronicles is an epic semi-cooperative board game of superheroes and villains, in which the four brave heroes of the Liberty Patrol try to stop the dark schemes of one of their worst enemy: evil Pr. Skarov.
While one player plays the villain, safely retreated in his lair, the other players have to cooperate if they want to enter his base and evade all his minions and traps. Only by joining their forces will they succeed in stopping Pr. Skarov’s madness.
Guardians Chronicles provides an intense, immersive game experience, thanks to its abundant material (including miniatures of heroes, villains and minions!) and simple yet comprehensive game system. The rules focused on bringing life to the superhero in each player, by making them work as a team and combine together their own, unique superpowers in order to defeat Evil in several, different scenarios.
Guardians Chronicles is intended to be the first of a series of games telling the adventures of the Liberty Patrol against ever darker threats and enemies…
CROWDFUNDING
The game is currently being crowdfunded as a Kickstarter project. This allows the many backers to share their ideas on the game and give their input to the designer and publishers. Additional contents will be made available through many stretch-goals during the campaign, which ends on June, 18th and is already more than 70% funded. New insights on the game are revealed on a daily basis both on the Kickstarter page for the project, and on Facebook: artwork, rules, contents details, etc.
Titanium Wars
Also from IELLO comes Titanium Wars
FIGHT FOR TITANIUM, WIN FOR SUPREMACY!
When venturing in Limbo at the edge of the galaxy, scouts found a new form of energy: Titanium. First experiments showed it could push back the frontiers of technology, and even open new horizons for human capabilities. This news was more than enough to stir up the greed of humankind’s greatest factions. Each has sent fleets to take over nearby planets where Titanium is abundant – and even seems to be in constant expansion. From that point on, armed conflicts were bound to happen, and this war will be settled only by controlling the Titanium deposits...
Purchase buildings to master new technologies and increase your earnings. Buy units to expand your fleet and enhance your spaceships with powerful equipments. Explore the edge of the galaxy and adjust your tactics to seize control of new planets rich in Titanium.
Build your fleet, choose your enemies, and get the precious titanium!
FEATURES:
· Countless possibilities to build and equip your own fleet.
· Fast and smooth gameplay with no waiting for your turn.
· Impressive artwork.
Players: 3 to 4. Age: 12+. Duration: 60 to 90 min. Language: English.
Contents: 235 Arsenal cards (65 Units, 96 Upgrades and 74 Buildings), 12 Planet/Event cards, 50 Tactic cards, 8 Leader cards, Credits (50¢, 100¢ & 500¢ bills), Damage tokens, 1 first-player token, 4 Player-Aid cards and 1 rulebook.
Out: JUNE 2013
Suggested Retail Price: $39,90 / 29,90€
Dicey Llama
The guys from Dicey Llama would like you to know about their upcoming Kickstarter…
Glendale, CA – A local entrepreneur announces today that he will be launching a KickStarter campaign for his card game series, PLAN 4, on June 1st, 2013. Like many before him, he will put his creation on the Internet and place its fate in the hands of the world. However, unlike many before him, it will be done using only domestic resources from start to finish. No outsourcing. No overseas manufacturing. Just a genuine Made in the USA tag on the box. Dicey Llama’s founder and president, Trevor Wingett, has big dreams in a world of cutting prices and increasing profits. Especially in a time where digital is so much more popular than analog entertainment.
“It pains me to hear about businesses - large and small alike - closing their doors here [in America] and opening them overseas,” says Wingett. In an economy of cutting the fat and increasing profits, Wingett believes that America the beautiful can also be America the profitable. “PLAN 4 is a game about collecting the four resources you need to complete your ‘plan’. It isn’t much different from what I am doing now. My plan is to launch my game and the 4 resources I need are: a good design, capital, public awareness, and a domestic commercial print shop. I have the design and found a few print shops. The rest is where the KickStarter campaign comes in.” KickStarter is a crowd-funding website that specializes in creative projects in the arts and technology.
Wingett knows that others share his ideals of bringing back Made in the USA and is reaching out to them to spread the word about his project.
It will not be an easy venture and Dicey Llama is prepared for that. “Hard work and dedication has gotten me this far and it will get me even further,” says Wingett. PLAN 4 has gotten rave reviews from those lucky enough to test it out and will be having events from now until independence day for the public to get a chance to play the working prototypes. The KickStarter campaign begins on June 1st and goes until the 28th. For more information about the game or the company, check out www.facbook.com.diceyllama or, find it on www. kickstarter.com in the month of June.
Havoc Boards
The guys at Havoc Boards would like you all to know about their Kickstarter Campaign…
Havoc Boards are maps that can be used to play classic strategic war games on unique and real-life map locations. Each map has been painstakingly designed from scratch with incredible detail, with over six months of design going into our initial 15 maps!
Each map has been exactingly play-tested and offers an entirely unique playing experience. The maps are as geographically accurate as possible, with minor territorial changes to ensure excellent gameplay.
Remember, Havoc Board rewards include only a classic board style or engraved wood Havoc Board and one set of map specific territory cards, unique to the map ordered. If you intend to play Havoc Boards, but don't already own RISK®, go pick up a copy for the full Havoc experience!
The Big Fix
The guys behind the Big Fix would like you to know a little more about their Kickstarter Campaign,
The Big Fix is a strategic and psychological card game that puts each player in the shoes of one of Film Noir’s most iconic roles. As the Private Investigator, the Femme Fatale (or Homme Fatale), the Politician and more, players uncover clues and trick their friends, all while searching for their enemies’ true intentions. Six roles, five agendas, three vices, and twelve character cards combine randomly so that a new story is told every time you play.
From top to bottom, The Big Fix is designed to play and feel like a Film Noir. Our goal was to create a game which is not only fun and strategically deep, but makes its players think and act like they were a character in a Film Noir. The game emphasizes individual agendas, simultaneous and interconnected player storylines, and temporary alliances driven by mutual benefit - all of which are key themes and motives in Film Noir. Winning at The Big Fix requires strategy, cunning, and a hard-boiled attitude.
Adventures on the Tabletop
Douglas Morse from Grandfather Films would like you to know about his documentary….
Adventures on the Tabletop explores, in depth, board game design. We’ll take you from inspiration to prototype to playtest of both new and established games. We will get into the nitty gritty of game mechanics, game balance, and game theory. From prototype, we’ll bring you into pitch sessions as designers pitch major publishers from Hans im Glück, R&R Games, eggertspiele, and AbacusSpiele. We will discover what various publishers are looking for in theme, mechanics, and play.
Listen to The Game Whisperer Funding the Dream with director Douglas Morse
Furthering our exploration, we will then follow the games into the play testing labs of the publishers in both the US and Germany. We will watch as rules are probed, learn how designers collaborate with publishers and experience the extensive playtest and development process from mechanics to theme.
Then we follow games to manufacture as publishers and designers look at game packaging, tolerances, and of course consider cost of components. A game is then released to market to reviews, positive and negative, sales big and small, and potential awards like the Spiel Des Jahres.
In the movie, we will interview giants of the gaming world from Alan Moon, Klaus Teuber, and Reiner Knizia. We'll discuss the design of Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Lord of the Rings and many more. We’ll also take a comprehensive look at the independent designers and distributors such as Tasty Mistrel Games, Greenbrier Games, Game Salute and how Kickstarter is transforming not only distribution, but game design itself.
The plan: We have already interviewed designers and publishers at PAX East, Alan Moon’s Gathering of Friends and the New York Toy Fair -- amassing many hours of footage. To continue our journey, the filmmakers must travel: BGG.CON in Texas, Origins in Ohio, Tilt Factor and Game Salute in New England, game design companies and the Essen Game Fair in Germany.
This Kickstarter campaign will help determine travel to conventions, publishers offices, and designers labs
Out This Week
And finally, this week’s new releases courtesy of Board Game Guru
Its expansion week!
‘Village Inn’ (for last year’s Kennerspiel winner ‘The Village’) , adds two new buildings and the bits for a fifth player.
‘Serpents and Wolf’( ‘Spartacus Blood and Treachery’) adds new factions and team battles
‘Age of Enlightenment’ (‘Rivals for Catan’) includes three mini expansions
‘Pilot Academy’ (‘Phantom League’) adds new Captains,Ships, Missions and a tweak to the battle system
‘The Battle for Normandy Expansion’ lengthens the campaign till August and includes the maps necessary to play the Mortain and Falaise pocket scenarios
Other releases include:-
The reprint of the 6 Chapter packs of the 'Clash of Arms cycle' for ‘A Game of Thrones Living Card Game’
‘Five Points: Gangs of New York’ – an area majority game from Andreas Steding (‘Hansa Teutonica’. ‘Kogge’ and ‘Firenze’)
‘Dice Set for Descent 2 Edition’ – Another set of the nine dice from the base game
‘Sonne und Moon’ – a competitive patience card game with stunning artwork
I have added the games released (that I could source) whilst I was away to the new releases section. My pick is ‘Forbidden Desert’, the latest co-operative game from the master of the genre Matt Leacock (Pandemic, Forbidden Island)
Restocks
X-Wing Wave one ships are back in as is the base game.
'Netrunner' is back in as well as the fifth Data pack, 'Humanity’s Shadow'
Happy Gaming
Paul
Next Week….
Thanks Paul and there’s lots more still to come including the UKGMN’s coverage of UK Games Expo, a guest post from our friends over at Grim Tree Games and a review of the fun little filler Space Dice.
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