Board Game News 39–Trobils, Waggle Dances and Indian Gods

Whatever plans you’ve got for this weekend, cancel them and get down to Birmingham for the UK Games Expo! That’s right, this weekend is the best three days in British Gaming and I’ll be there with bells on… well, maybe not bells. Yes, the UK Gaming Media Network will be out in force, filming interviews and demos with anyone who will stand still long enough so feel free to look us up and ask for a game and if you can’t make it you’ll be able to see all the fun we had on these pages over the next few months with our collection of new videos!

And now for the news, we have a new game from a British company Grublin Games, Waggle Dance, a beehive building game… you know, for the man for has everything! As well as that we have a very orange game about eliminating space vermin, a family friendly game about writing computer code and a two player card game full of Indian Mythology. And of course Paul is here as well to tell us all about the new shiny must have board games.

Asking for Trobils

Asking for Trobils is a wacky, worker-placement board game where players hunt and rid the galaxy of space vermin called Trobils!

Asking for Trobils is a 2-5 player board game.  It's easy to learn with almost no downtime between turns while still having a strategic balance and theme.

Game time runs between 60-90 minutes, no matter how many players, and if you expose it to gamma rays, cool stuff happens (not really, don't do that).

Image does not represent the final product as stretch goals may increase production value of the game.

The O-Renj star system was full of wonderfully happy beings... until... Trobils appeared!  They're incredibly destructive and tenacious creatures.  Your job is to catch and eliminate as many Trobils as possible.

You'll make connections around the star system with pirates, smugglers, and other riffraff.  Deal with merchants, search the asteroid belt for ore, and build the perfect traps to catch the Trobils plaguing the system!

Why is Everything Orange?

We like Orange. And it's colorblind friendly!

A family test playing Asking for Trobils at our local game store 8th Dimension.

Check out Asking for Trobils on Kickstarter for more info.

Code Monkey Island

In today's world, programming is becoming one of the most important skills for students and professionals to have. And programming isn't just for programmers - even for designers like myself, knowing how to program is almost a requirement to keep up with the tools we use and build every day.

Already, countries like England, Finland, and Estonia have made programming part of the core curriculum for elementary school students, and in the past year alone, incredible tools have been built (and funded by platforms like Kickstarter!) to help teach very young children how to think like programmers.

I wanted to pick up where those tools left off, and create a crazy fun, family-friendly board game that could help kids ages 8 and up learn real programming concepts used by real programmers. Enter Code Monkey Island!

If Code Monkey Island sounds like something you’d like then check out the Kickstarter right now.

Grublin Games

Following from the 2013 overfunding success of Cornish Smuggler, Grublin Games is proud to announce their next Kickstarter: Waggle Dance, launching on the 27th May.

About the Game

Build a beehive, collect pollen and make honey – be efficient, be strategic, outmanoeuvre your opponents! Waggle Dance is a euro-style worker-placement dice game for 2-4 players, designed by Mike Nudd & published by Grublin Games Publishing.

“We wanted to design a game that had pure gameplay at its core, is beautifully designed, portable (we’re still working on the box size, but it’s probably going to be pretty close to the RftG size) with a truly impressive component count, and all for a very competitive price.” - Henry Jasper - CEO Grublin Games

Waggle Dance has been designed to be accessible by all, but without sacrificing any strategic depth. The entire game is language independent and with a brief concise rulesheet.

“Basically, we wanted to make the perfect gateway game”
- Henry Jasper -

Mike Nudd is an experienced game designer, already having one successfully published boardgame under his belt: (White Wolf’s Vampire: Prince of the City) and has been actively designing games for the last fifteen years.

“The theme of using bees and honey really appealed to me. I have long
held a deep respect for the creatures to the extent that I will try to save
exhausted bumblebees I find on the pavement by feeding them sugar and
water. I appreciate that their role in natural cycle of things is important and
I am concerned about the consequences of bees around the world going
extinct. If I can in some small way generate enthusiasm for bees and draw
attention to these issues then so much the better..”
- Mike Nudd - Creator of Waggle Dance

Links

Official Page: http://www.grublin.com/waggledance
BGG Page: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158572/waggle-dance
Images: http://www.grublin.com/waggledance/images
Grublin Games: http://www.grublin.com/about-us
Mike Nudd: http://www.grublin.com/MikeNudd
Mateusz Szulik: http://matszulik.com/

Maha Yodha

Maha Yodha is a two-player strategy card game set in the ancient and mystical world of Indian mythology. Maha Yodha is simple to learn but has hidden depth, captivating new players and challenging seasoned gamers.

By unlocking these ancient Indian stories and unleashing these warriors of yore, we have created a strategic card game with an unique theme, that is both brand new and several millennia old.

A game of two factions: Asuras vs. Adityas

Maha Yodha comprises two decks, each of which represents a Faction. Each Faction consists of a unique army of Warriors, Weapons and Scrolls.

You will go head to head with your opponent, spending valour to dispatch Warriors to the front-line to not only deal damage but also defend your life. As in the ancient myths, each Warrior has a chosen Weapon, which when paired together award bonus powers. Divine Scrolls, inspired from interesting characters and stories from the Hindu myths will award you with powerful bonus skills, extra valour and deadly force to help you take down your opponent.


Folk art meets modern fantasy art

Maha Yodha features exquisite traditional Indian artwork - Pattachitra, as well as specially commissioned illustrations of celebrated Warriors and Weapons in a visceral modern style. 

You can find out more by checking out Maha Yodha on Kickstarter.

 

This Weeks New Releases

And now here is Paul to tell us about this weeks new releases over at Board Game Guru.

Pick of the week has got to be ‘Ivor the Engine’ - it’s got the artwork of the original series artist Peter Frimin and the design skills of the masterful and eclectic Tony Boydell.

If rural Wales does not grab your imagination then the largest Star Wars mini should do. The ‘Tantive 1V’ was the first ship we ever saw in Star Wars and can now be the centre piece of Rebel vs Empire action on your table top.

‘Blue Moon Legends’ – Reiner Knizia’s 2 player card game re-published in complete form – all nine expansions to the original game are bundled in.

Three new Nightmare decks for Lord of the Rings the Card Game : - 'Return to Mirkwood', 'Dead Marshes' and 'Emyn Muil'

'Coconuts' - silly dexterity game. Look's great.

‘Hordes High Command Immortal Tales’

‘New Haven’

‘Talo’

On UK General release and allowing me to restock are 'Fungi', 'Port Royal' (superb – one of the best games from 2014 I have played so far), 'Camel up!' (short listed for this year’s Spiel des Jahres and I am going to be trying it tonight) and 'Istanbul' (short listed for this year’s SDJ complex award)

‘Unconditional Surrender!’ – hot on the heels of 'Supreme Commander', this is GMT’s second strategic level Western front ww2 game of 2014 and it has  been receiving rave reviews from the Grognard community for its  innovative economic and combat features.

‘Hoplite’ is the 15thh game in GMT’s Great Battles of History series.

Restocks include

'Little Prince', 'Pathfinder : Rise of the RuneLords', (one of my top 5 picks from 2013), 'A Touch of Evil : The Coast'

Happy Gaming

Paul

Thanks Paul.

And finally, I just want to say, due to the large volume of emails I get about Kickstarters I will now only be responding to those companies who address their emails to me. That’s Chris at unboxedbgb@hotmail.co.uk, thank you.

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