Can Stefan Feld Turn US Politics into Point Salad?

It’s been a busy week at Dude Central, so I wasn’t planning on posting anything this week.

Then I happened to check my Inbox (Editor – Always a bad move).

What was this email that made me have to hop on my computer and post something quick?

Renegade Game Studios has announced a new Stefan Feld game coming in April 2019.

About US politics.

Thankfully not current US politics (I don’t like orange in my point salads), but the election of 1828.

(Picture from the Renegade Games web site)

Revolution of 1828 is going to be a 2-player game about the election between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson with the candidates vying for people’s votes.

It’s a no-holds barred election, too (you thought today’s smear campaigns were bad).

I have to be quick, so let’s blurb this puppy from the web site.

“In this two-player game, you are trying to become the next President of the United States! To reach this lofty goal, each player will try to take Election tiles that suit you best and hinder your opponent’s campaign. Election tiles allow you to garner the allegiance of Electors and use the power of Smear Campaigns to skew the populace in your favor. If you also use the powerful Campaign Actions to your advantage and have the press look the other way, nothing should stand in your way!”

This sounds so intriguing, even more so because it’s a Feld game about a subject that doesn’t seem up Feld’s alley.

Maybe he can prove me wrong?

We’ll find out in April.

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Review – Majesty: For the Realm

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you became King or Queen? What policies would you implement to keep your subjects happy? Or would you even want to keep them happy? Maybe you’re in it for the money?

Even before you talk about policies for when you’re the Ruler of the Realm (and yes, capital letters are very important there), you have to think about how you would do your takeover.

I honestly wish it was as easy as it is in Majesty: For the Realm, a game published by Z-Man Games in 2017.

That’s not to say you don’t have competition for becoming ruler in the game, of course. But imagine if it were really as easy to do as having people in various professions that are important for realm-building just lining up and having you recruit them?

I’d take that in a flat minute.

But how does it play as a game?

Let’s take a look.

New to Me – October 2018

Holy moley, true believers!

October is usually a quiet month, but a gaming marathon at the beginning dumped five “new to me” games all in one day and it was only upwards from there!

That was the exciting part of the month. I was going to share it far and wide to the rest of the Cult of the New to Me, but unfortunately they all took great advantage of Canada’s new cannabis legalization laws and, well, this happened…

That seems to happen a lot when I’m talking, actually.

It’s obvious that fatigue is an on-going problem in our society.

Anyway, with nine “new to me” games on the list, my pal David over at Roll to Review should be happy.

So without further adieu (all of my adieu was taken by some dwarf and used to forge some stupid hammer named Mjölnir anyway), let’s get started!

Ascension – Valley of the Ancients drops on Digital

Hi, my name is Dave.

And I’m an Ascension addict.

I’m sure I haven’t even played as many games as some of my friends have.

I had a sponsor who was helping me with it, but when I showed him my online profile and the number of games I’ve played, he ran away screaming.

I’m not sure how to take that.

Anyway, I was about to head to bed last night, when somebody mentioned that the latest digital expansion for Ascension, published by Playdek and Asmodee Digital (Editor – Them again?) had dropped unexpectedly.

I quickly downloaded it and devoured a couple of games.

What does this new expansion bring?

App Review – Terraforming Mars – Steam

Digital boardgamers have waited with bated breath since it was announced that Terraforming Mars was coming to Steam and (eventually) to mobile devices, brought to you by Asmodee Digital and Lucky Hammers.

As anticipation ramped up and a release date was set, people were starting to hold their breath (the hospitalization rate was staggering, so I’ve been told).

Dave, the wonderful (and very well-groomed, from what I’ve heard) proprietor over at the Stately Play web site, even posted a glowing review of it the day before it launched.

Now that I’ve been able to dig into it some myself, does it hold up to all of this praise and anticipation? (Editor – Don’t look at Reddit or the Steam public reviews)

I’d say yes, but with some caveats.

Mars is very…red.

Let’s see how it works, first.

Can you Terraform Mars with Steam power? Why yes, yes you can

I’m so freaking excited, and I wasn’t thinking “freaking” there.

One of my blogging inspirations, Dave over at the elegant Stately Play web site, has posted his review of the Steam version of Terraforming Mars (produced by Lucky Hammers and Asmodee Digital) that will be dropping like a ton of bricks onto Steam tomorrow.

Look at that gorgeous screenshot from Dave’s review! Go over there and check out the other ones too. *loving sigh*

How many games will we be playing in that first day? Ten, maybe twenty?

I’m not sure, but I know what I will be doing as soon as I get home tomorrow night.

And Glory to Chuck, it has working asynchronous online multiplayer that apparently actually works. What could be better?

Look for a full review from me at some point, but I don’t know if I can say anything better than Dave already has.

But I will try.

In the meantime, after this drops, if you want to play some asynchronous multiplayer games, just hit me up for a game.

Assuming my keyboard doesn’t short out from all of the drool on it.

Book Review – War at the End of the World: Douglas MacArthur and the Forgotten Fight For New Guinea, 1942-1945

I am an avid military history fan, so give me a good book on World War II, and I’m in heaven. It may take me forever to get through it, depending on the density of the material, but I’ll be enthralled from page 1.

Today’s review is a fascinating look at a part of the Pacific war that isn’t talked about that much, other than maybe a small section or two in some grand strategic World War II overview book somewhere.

In War at the End of the World: Douglas MacArthur and the Forgotten Fight for New Guinea, 1942-1945 (don’t think I’ll by typing all of that again this review), author James P. Duffy chronicles the vicious fighting that took place all over the Papua New Guinea island in the South Pacific as US General Douglas MacArthur tried to make good on his promise to the people of the Philippines to return after his evacuation.