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.

Pretty Crossroads card! And horrible Dead End right next to it.

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.

Planet of the Apes games coming to a table near you

Nostalgia is definitely becoming a bit of a watchword in the board gaming industry. First there were a few 80s callbacks (including two Big Trouble in Little China games that came out/were announced before I started this blog).

Now we’re going back even further, with IDW announcing a partnership with 20th Century Fox to produce Planet of the Apes games.

Yes, I know there are some well-regarded (I know I love them) recent movies that lead up to the whole world of Planet of the Apes, but the box cover of the first announced game definitely shows that they’re going back to the 1960s roots, at least for the first game.

This one is a cooperative game designed by Richard Launius (designer of Arkham Horror) with a premise so out there…well, I’ll just let IDW tell us (bolding mine):

Planet of the Apes puts 1-4 players on a crash course with feral foes, deadly environments, and unbridled psychological horror! In an innovative twist on the cooperative board game genre, each player takes control of one aspect of Colonel George Taylor’s psyche, and must work together to survive the Planet of the Apes!

That’s so crazy that it just might work!

Planet of the Apes is scheduled to be released in October for $59.99, but there are many more games planned.

If we get one with James Franco in it, we’ll know they’re starting to consider the  audience of the modern films too (we just won’t mention the Tim Burton one, ok?).

Review: Valley of the Kings – Afterlife

I didn’t realize this until just now, but I seem to have a thing for Ancient Egypt.

Nothing too untoward, don’t get me wrong. But with my love of the (soon to be reviewed) Imhotep and for Favor of the Pharaoh, and now this review for the wonderful deckbuilding card game Valley of the Kings: Afterlife, I might as well get my own Nemes.

I do have quite the golden face, so it should work!

But that’s very expensive, much more expensive than what this card game will set you back.

So why don’t we talk about that instead?

Valley of the Kings: Afterlife is another deckbuilding card game. Designed by Tom Cleaver (who is wonderfully responsive on Boardgame Geek for any issues regarding these games) with art by Banu Andaru and published by AEG, this game is simply phenomenal.

The game plays 2-4 players, and is very good with two. Scores will be lower in a 4-player game as the cards will be more spread around.

Lotus from Renegade Games coming to mobile

Sometimes when you get email, you groan because it’s yet another Nigerian Prince scam or a co-worker wants you to do something for them that they will never really thank you for.

But then sometimes you get an email like I did the other day from Renegade Games announcing that their well-regarded card game Lotus is coming to mobile late this Summer, developed by Dire Wolf Digital.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about this game, but for some reason I’ve just never been able to pull the trigger when I’m shopping for games. I’m not sure why it is, because I am definitely interested in playing it.

The artwork on the cards looks gorgeous and the game is apparently fun to play.

The mobile game will be previewed this weekend at Denver Comic Con and will be released on both iOS and Android later this Summer.

Dire Wolf also did the amazing Lanterns: the Harvest Festival digital app, so they do have a great track record.

Sounds like a great way to introduce myself to the game and see if I want to jump into the tabletop game itself!