Board Game News 29: New Games, New Magazines and even a New Sitcom…

This week’s news instalment shines a light on a lot of new Kickstater projects, but we’re not just talking games this week. Along with the usual collection of projects you’ll find The Casual Game Insider, a quarterly magazine with a focus on family and casual gaming. Plus a trailer for a new Board Game sitcom… I kid you not!

Wiggles 3D

Wiggles 3D is proud to announce the release of a new type of matching puzzle game: Smile Tiles!

Smile Tiles features 10 different monsters, each with a unique personality! Boomy was never built quite right, Dizzy is totally out of control, and Wheezy has never been able to get over his cough. We know you will learn to love them all!

Smile Tiles is not about matching colours like other matching puzzle games. You make smiles by moving and rotating monsters to match up eyes with mouths in a variety of different patterns.

Test your monster mojo! With challenging levels, thought-provoking puzzles, and hundreds of secondary goals to earn more stars, this game is guaranteed to be fun and addictive for hours. Every level has a different look from a heart to a bee, or even a moose! Do you have what it takes to race the clock and earn every star?

Smile Tiles is available for all devices on both iOS and Android platforms.

Happy Meeple

Announcing Version 2.1 with sound, music and more

Happy Meeple now comes with sound effects, atmosphere and music!
This adds a great new layer to the platform and the games. We are particularly excited about Lost Cities. In this game, atmosphere and sound effects do a great job to put forward the exploring theme. Try it out!
With version 2.1, we have also improved the following:

• more meeple animations (see login screen for a sequence of funny animations)
• various graphical improvements on Lost Cities and Finito!
• Improved management of the clock (now fully synchronized with server clock)

Play now!

Please visit our new media page:  Media page
And the platform: Happy Meeple

About Happy Meeple

Happy Meeple is an online platform offering carefully selected modern board games.

Our aim is to promote the board game hobby and reach new players.
Hundreds of millions of people play every day online. We believe that they should play modern board games rather than often very uninteresting ones.
Our games are: Lost Cities, Finito!, Level X, Keltis Card, Keltis Ór.

Casual Game Insider

Chris James would like you all to know about the gamer magazine Casual Game Insider which is now in it’s second year of publication and successfully funded on Kickstarter.

Casual Game Insider is the perfect resource to learn about great casual games, read up on interesting topics related to casual gaming, and share with your friends to get them interested in gaming!

CGI is published quarterly in print and digital formats and focuses on casual board and card games that are relatively easy to learn, quick to play, and fun for all ages. The first year of publication was funded here on Kickstarter, and we have had a very rewarding and successful year. In addition to our many direct subscribers, we now reach 2,000 game stores with the help of 3 major game distributors (ACD, GTS, and PHD). We also have the magazine available on the iPad through a 3rd party app (HP Magcloud).

We now need your help to fund another year of publication. If we gather extra support, we also hope to expand our reach by publishing directly to Apple, Android, Kindle, and Windows marketplaces and increasing our retailer distribution. Please help us continue our dream!

So, if you want to get in on the ground floor, go check out the Kickstarter now, because you’ve only got six days left!!

The Agents

The Agents is a brand new strategic card game that introduces a unique ‘Double-edged cards’ mechanic into the undercover world of covert operations and espionage.

As the Agency shuts down, dismissed and disbanded Agents all around the world are trying to figure out what’s next. Left without a cause, they team up and turn against each other.

You must enlist and lead your own faction of highly skilled professionals into an uncertain territory of betrayal and deception. Show no mercy, reveal no secrets.

The Agents is a deceptively simple card game; easy to learn, set up and start playing, but underpinned by intricate decision-making gameplay. Players must join their Agents into Factions, assign Missions and take their opponents down, to gather intel and win the most points.

Featuring the captivating artwork of collaborator Danny Morison (aka Dark Mechanic), ‘The Agents’ will challenge your imagination and brain power as you plan, plot and scheme your way to victory.

The Agents gameplay is based on a unique, new mechanic we like to call ‘Double-edged Cards’. Each Agent card features a ‘command’ on one end of the card and ‘points’ on the other end. However, the direction in which you place the card will determine from which asset you benefit. If you choose to perform the command, one of your opponents will get the points. If you keep the points for yourself, an opponent gets to perform the command.

Throughout the game, you’ll need both commands and points to advance. Commands will allow you to manipulate Agents, control your Factions, and influence other players. But you’ll need points to buy more Agents and Missions. And ultimately, the player with the most points wins.

Deciding how to place each card will require strategic precision and calculated foresight, as you try to further your own goals, and prevent your opponents from reaching theirs.

The Agents has already funded on Kickstarter (twenty times over) but there is still time to get in on the action. I will be publishing a review on this soon based on the preview copy I received earlier this year.

Latest Pursuit

The Oleg Story™: Survival is a prison based board game.

The story is based on Oleg D Tyler. He is an international hacker who is believed to have been captured and handed over to the U.S. Government, suspected of leaking confidential governmental information.

Oleg has been incarcerated in one of the most notorious prisons in North America and stands accused of killing two innocent people. Oleg has been sentenced to serve two life long prison sentences. He has refused to join any organised gang.

The Oleg Story™: Survival is a character driven prison survival game, with a wide range of comprehensive detailed miniatures. You and six other friends can control and co-operate with 6 different rival gangs.

The stories of 618 Nation, Ryder Brotherhood, The Asian Family, The Mobsters, Russian Spies and, finally, non-gang members, also known as NGM, who are led by Oleg, are all in your hands. Remember, the NGM are a group of people who are not associated with any organised gangs; they are called the non-gang members.

Can you survive the harsh realities of prison?

Play the game that allows you to control individual gangs and conquer other gangs. You will be able to play as existing gangs and engage in their active and ongoing battles. If you possess the right cards, you can also join an alliance with a fellow player and plan your attacks on other players.

You can back Oleg on Kickstarter right now… or check out the video below for more info.

Board With Life

A new comedy webseries based on board games is launching this week on August 8th from Moonrat Media.

Moonrat Media announces the release date of a long-form web series Board with Life: The Series. The series will debut on Thursday, August 8, 2013 with new episodes released on Thursdays. The ambitious show chronicles the misadventures of a weekly game night comprised of dysfunctional geeks who squawk and squabble through episodes of gaming, arguing and fun.

The recent release of their first few sketches (which they call "bits") has shown only a hint at the ambition, quality and scale of Board with Life: The Series. Each 12 minute episode is a smaller part of a larger narrative containing character arcs and deeper themes. The series delves into classic games including Catan, Dominion, Dungeon Twister and Magic: The Gathering, and features guest appearances from Ashly Burch, Christopher R. Sabat and others.

IELLO

 

THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

AN EASY AND FUN FAMILY GAME WITH A CLASSIC TALE!

As a little pig, your dearest wish is to build a strong and beautiful house in which you can spend your long winter evenings. Throwing the special dice will allow you to construct your dream home. But if you bring the wolf out of the wood, just take a deep breath and shatter other players’ buildings by blowing on the wheel!

This original game comes in a book-shaped box,
along with an illustrated version of the famous tale it is based on.

2-5 players | 7+ | 20 min.

published by IELLO & Purple Brain
design: Laurent Pouchain | artwork: Xavier Colette

THE PHANTOM SOCIETY

A SMART, INNOVATIVE GAME OF DEDUCTION AND GHOST-HUNTING!

Play as sly spirits seeking to ruin a Scottish manor hotel or, if you prefer, intrepid ectoplasm hunters who never falter in the pursuit of their prey. While the ghosts have to be cunning and use psychology in order to remain concealed, the hunters use observation and deduction to flush out their sneaky targets.

From award-winning author Hervé Marly (The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow, Skull & Roses...) and new talent Frédéric Colombier, with dazzling artworks from Naïade (Tokaido) and Vincent Dutrait!

2-4 players | 8+ | 20 min.
published by IELLO & Funforge
design: H. Marly & F. Colombier | artwork: Naïade & Vincent Dutrait

TITANIUM WARS

A SPACE OPERA CARD GAME OF ARMS RACE AND DIPLOMACY

Humankind’s greatest factions fight over Titanium, a new, super-powerful form of energy. Purchase buildings to master new technologies and increase your earnings. Buy units to expand your fleet and enhance your spaceships with powerful equipment. Explore the edge of the galaxy and adjust your tactics to seize control of new planets rich in Titanium.

Titanium Wars offers countless possibilities to build your own fleet, a fast and smooth gameplay with no downtime, and impressive artwork!

3-4 players | 12+ | 60-90 min.
published by IELLO & Euphoria Games
design: Frédéric Guérard
artwork: C. Hirbec, I. Polouchine, M. Rebuffat & A. Yakovlev

PREVIEWS OF OUR FUTURE RELEASES

ZOMBIE 15’
In a world where everyone above 18 has turn into a blood-thirsty, flesh-hungry zombie, most youngsters served as meat to quell their elder’s appetite…
As a little group of survivors, you must unite to escape the relentless horde of undead.
Run across town to find shelter or food, hold a strategic position, meet with new survivors and discover the truth about this terrible and mysterious disease!

Zombie 15’ is a new, innovative, frantic game in which players try to defeat zombies… and time!
Easy rules but real choices, to be made as quick as possible if you don’t want to get overwhelmed by zombies!
A team of 15-year-old teenagers, a 15-minute soundtrack to give each game its tempo, a 15-scenario, progressive campaign, and much more than just 15 zombies…

2-4 players | 14+ | 15 min. per scenario
published by IELLO | Kickstarter pre-orders in September, available Q4 2013
design: Guillaume Lemery & Nicolas Schlewitz | artwork: Biboun, Alexey Yakovlec, Anthony Wolff & Igor Polouchine | soundtrack: Eros Cartechimi

GUARDIANS’ CHRONICLES
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.

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.

DESIGNER FRÉDÉRIC CONDETTE AND SUPER NOVA COSPLAYER LEXI FARRON STRIFE WILL ATTEND GEN CON AND DEMO THE GAME AT OUR BOOTH (#559).

2-5 players | 14+ | 60-90 min.
published by IELLO & The Red Joker | available Q4 2013
design: Frédéric Condette | artwork: Louis, Sébastien Lamirand, Sylvain Guinebaud, Julien Carette, Anne Rouvin and Nicolas Fructus.

HEROES OF NORMANDIE
The time is summer 1944. The Sun shines on Normandie hedgerows. Gentle wind, fields of bright flowers, and in the background, the romantic staccato of a machine gun fire in the morning. In these typical French countryside landscapes, thousands of men are about to fight. And die. Bravely like heroes, or cowardly like wussies. But only heroes really matters. Those you see in Hollywood Golden Age war movies. Here lies Heroes of Normandy's inspiration; here is what the game has to offer: explosive and fast-paced battles; the pleasure to butcher your enemies through MG42 walls of lead, and to crush nazi bastards under tons of shells; basically, blood and guts.

Heroes of Normandie is a new, fast-paced WW2 strategy wargame inspired by Hollywood war movies. A tactical scale board-game opposing 2 players, and 2 armies: the German on one side, the American on the other. Secretly plan your attacks and ouwit your opponent. Block the opposing strategy and surprise the enemies. Deploy your units to and don’t turn back!

DESIGNERS YANN & CLEM WILL ATTEND GEN CON AND DEMO THE GAME AT OUR BOOTH (#559).

2 players | 10+ | 60 min.
Published by IELLO & Devil Pig Games | available Q4 2013
design: Yann & Clem | artwork: Alexandre Bonvalot.

STEAM PARK

As owners of a fantastic steam park, you're to build gigantic, coal-powered rides to attract as much visitors as you can... But building attractions won’t be enough: you'll also need to manage your employees, invest in advertising in order to attract and please the different kinds of guests visiting your park, and, above all, keep the dirt you park produces under strict control!

Steam Park is an easy to learn game, with two difficulty levels, one for the less experienced gamers and a more strategic one for those who want a more exciting challenge. In this management game you’ll have to build your own amusement park and make it the largest and most profitable in the region. By constructing the three-dimensional, wonderful rides designed by Marie Cardouat (Dixit 1 & 2), you will see your park grow right before your eyes. Choose your strategy! Build Stands to attract more Visitors, or Toilets to keep the Dirt under control. Whatever decision you take, take it quickly: the less time you spend planning, the more time you'll have to maintain you Park. Thanks to a clever, original action-choosing mechanic, winning in Steam Park is as much a matter of being the best... as of being the fastest!

2-4 players | 10+ | 60 min.
Published by IELLO & Cranio Creations
design: Aureliano Buonfino, Lorenzo Silva & Lorenzo Tucci Sorrentino | artwork: Marie Cardouat.

 

Gettysburg: The Tide Turns

With a only a few days left in the Gettysburg: The Tide Turns Kickstarter campaign, we are preparing for one final push. We've been impressed with the response of our community thus far. Their early support allowed us to offer the tabletop version of Gettysburg as a campaign reward and make many other improvements. 

To provide a rallying point for our supporters we are pleased to announce several stretch goals we hope to reach in this final push:

$30k - Alternate History Scenario #1: "Stonewall" Jackson at Gettysburg

Would the tide have turned differently if Jackson were at Gettysburg? This scenario will explore the ramifications of this powerful commander's presence at the battle.

$35k - Alternate History Scenario #2: The Cavalry Arrives!

Stuart's cavalry was late to the battle, but what if they had arrived when expected? This scenario will explore that event and what the outcome may have been.

$40k - Alternate History Scenario #3: Hooker Retains Command

What if Meade had not replaced Hooker just before the battle? We will prepare a scenario that explores what may have happened and how the divisions and brigades would have performed.

These goals will allow us to add more enjoyment to Gettysburg and improve the experience for everyone. We encourage our current supporters to help us reach these goals and to share with their friends. 

This Weeks New Releases

And finally it’s time to hand you guys over to our friend Paul from Board Game Guru to tell you about the latest releases…

The sun is shining on next week’s board game releases

The most popular is guaranteed to be ‘Creation and Control’, the first Deluxe Expansion for Netrunner Living Card Game . It includes 3 copies of each of 55 new cards.

Star Wars the Card Game also gets its first deluxe expansion– ‘The Edge of Darkness’ adds two new playable factions.

Not to be left out the Lord of the Rings Living Card Game gets Adventure packs two ('Druardan Forest’) and three (‘Encounter at Amon Din’) releases next week.

‘Planet Steam’, finally, has an English Language release. For the first time in their history Fantasy Flight has published a game with less bling than the original – which required an extension to your house and a remortgage to purchase. ‘Planet Steam’ is one of the best economic games of the last five years; it has a brilliant market mechanic an unforgiving economic engine and guarantees brain burn with every play. Guru recommended!

‘Zug um Zug: Deutschland’ (‘Ticket to Ride Germany’) is a German language only release.

‘Mascarade’, designed by Bruno Faidutti, a  game of bluff and identity fraud. This looks like it might occupy the same game space as Coup and Love Letter and I’m going to give it a try.

'Conquest of Kumnajaro' is a spell tome expansion for 'Mage Wars'

My pick of the week (in fact pick of 2013's UK releases so far) is ‘Fauna’. Despite it being released in 2008 and it has only just made it to UK distribution. I love this game and have played it more than any other in 2013. It’s a wonderful mesh of general knowledge , gambling and positioning – with the locations of hundreds of animals on world a map and weight and size scale. It is the rarest of games; one that is as popular with gamers as with families and non gamer friends. Nearly everyone I teach the game to buys a copy, i’d say it is almost an essential purchase for any gamer family.

War Games

‘Phantom Leader Deluxe’ is an upgraded edition of the Vietnam War Squadron command game and adds a host of extra cards and a Cuban Missile crisis scenario.

‘Roads to Moscow’, includes tow battles fought before Moscow in 1941.

‘Fall of the West’ is the fifth Battle Pack of for ‘Combat Commander’

‘Strategy and Tactics 282’ includes ‘War of the Pacific’ (a 19^th century dust up between Chile and Peru/Bolivia)

Restocks

‘Guns of Gettysburg’, ‘Ghost Stories’ and it’s expansion ‘New Moon’, ‘Seasons : Enchanted Kingdom’, ‘Kemet’ (I love this rather aggressive euro/ameritrash hybrid), ’10 Days in Europe’, ‘A-Wing’ and ‘Tie Interceptor’.

Pre-orders

'Robinson Crusoe' is expected in August and available to pre-order. Please contact me if you would like to pre-order the 2013 Cave Evil reprint

Happy Gaming

Paul