1989: Dawn of Freedom from GMT Games

In what is quickly becoming a regular series, today’s post is about another GMT Games P500 game that I’ve ordered but it hasn’t quite made the cut yet.

Previous attempts have born fruit! The Barracks Emperors has gained a whole 8 more orders! Last week’s Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East has gained 13!

That’s dedication, don’t you know. That’s success!

(Editor – Just bear with him, folks. Let him have his delusions)

This week’s game is a classic that’s up for its 2nd printing.

1989: Dawn of Freedom was designed by Ted Torgerson & Jason Matthews with artwork by Donal Hegarty, Rodger B. MacGowan, Leland Myrick, and Mark Simonitch. It is in the same vein as the highly ranked Twilight Struggle, a card-driven game that simulates the end of the Cold War just like its predecessor did with the entirety of it.

App Expansion Review – Talisman Origins – Eternal Conflict

Another month and another expansion to the really fun digital app Talisman: Origins. Nomad Games seems to be putting these out quite frequently, which is a joy for those of us who like the game.

Talisman: Origins – Eternal Conflict is about the eternal conflict between Good & Evil.

As with the other Origins expansions, this story has 5 quests that will give you a wide variety of things to do and characters to play.

Why I Won’t be Buying Mobile Terraforming Mars

(Edit 12/6/19: Apparently Asmodee has responded to some negative iTunes reviews by saying they are working to make the asynchronous experience better. If they do, I will certainly report that here and maybe even buy the thing.)

Original post below

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When Asmodee Digital announced that they would be producing an app for one of my favourite games, Terraforming Mars, I was ecstatic.

When it came out on Steam, I was reasonably happy but the game had some issues.

When the iOS beta opened up, I eagerly joined it. By this time, some of the issues had been addressed (the initial 15-day timer for online multiplayer games was horrible, but now they had added a 30 and 45-day timer which made asynchronous play a breeze).

I was pretty happy, though acknowledging that there were still issues that needed to be addressed.

Unfortunately, during the beta, developer Lucky Hammers closed their doors and Asmodee had to take over the app. I’m not sure if that’s the reason for the lack of improvements, but nothing major has really changed in the two updates (I think) that happened after Lucky Hammers was gone.

The app released on Wednesday, December 4, and it apparently still has all of these issues.

It’s good to know what colour you are, but everybody else?

Terraforming Mars mobile is available for $11.99 CDN (I’m not sure what the US price is, but maybe $7.99 or $8.99?) on iOS and Android.

Roll for the Galaxy App in Beta Soon

Wasn’t going to do a post today, but then received some great and urgent news in my mailbox from Temple Gates Games.

Yes, that’s right. Roll for the Galaxy, the dice version of the great Race for the Galaxy, is finally entering the beta stage for the new app that’s coming out!

What does the app have?

So I can get this out quickly, let’s do a blurb:

• 2 – 5 player with network multiplayer
• Asynchronous and real-time multiplayer modes
• Neural network AI by Keldon Jones
• Nine starting factions, nine starting worlds
• Fifty five developments and settlements

You can join the beta for Steam, iOS or Android

Temple Gates did a simply amazing job on the Race for the Galaxy app, a game that came out a couple of years ago and I still play religiously.

Can they keep that track record going?

Sign up for the beta and see what you think?

New to Me – November 2019

It’s December! The last month of the year, the Christmas (or whatever end-of-year holiday you celebrate) season is upon us, but before we look forward to all of those presents sitting under the tree (or sitting under whatever your end-of-year holiday object is), it’s time to reflect back to a time long ago.

Two days is long, right?

Yes, that’s right. It’s the new to me games played in November! Even with Christmas coming soon, the leader of the Cult of the New to Me has responsibilities to the time before.

There is always an undercurrent of unrest in the cult, especially when I play a lot of brand new games in a month. They think I’m a sellout to the Cult of the New or something like that.

I don’t know where they would get that idea.

But it’s not true!

Hell, I even played a game from 1997 in November.

It was a nice bunch of games, seven in total which is amazing since I actually skipped a week. They were all fun in their own way, but some definitely better than others.

Amazingly enough, for somebody who’s not a big fan of word games, two of the new games are word games! One incredibly fun and one…not so much.

I’m looking forward to a December that’s also chock full of new to me games.

So without further adieu (all of my adieu was eaten by a giant worm anyway), let’s get this thing started!

Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East from GMT Games

Since I’m in full-blooded GMT Fanboy Mode (can I trademark that? I think I should trademark that) with trying to get The Barracks Emperors over the P500 line (and having successfully done so with Flashpoint: South China Sea and I will not listen to anybody who says I didn’t have a part in that one), you know what I said to myself?

I said “Self” (because I always call myself “Self,” as opposed to naming the other voices in my head), “why don’t you see if you can succeed with some of the other games that you’ve ordered on the P500 list that haven’t quite made the cut yet?”

I then patted myself on the head (and rubbed my tummy at the same time) for such a great idea, and quickly went to my GMT Games account page to see what else could use some help.

Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East is the companion (not a sequel or expansion, but a standalone) game to the recently released Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea, a game I tried at Dragonflight this year and was a bit sorry that I hadn’t ordered it before it shipped.

Both games are designed by Christopher Vorder Bruegge and Mark McLaughlin with developer Fred Schachter. Inner Sea was really cool and this one looks like it’s going to be just as cool.

The Barracks Emperors from GMT Games

In another quest to get a cool-looking GMT game over the P500 hump, I have to write about The Barracks Emperors.

For those of you who don’t know what the P500 is, basically GMT Games has a bunch (actually, I think it’s more officially known as a “crap load”) of games that they are looking to see if they can garner enough interest in order to go into production with them.

It’s sort of like Kickstarter, except that you don’t have to pay ahead of time.

Instead, once the number of pre-orders hits 500, they are ready to put the game into production. This would include finalizing all of the rules, the artwork, graphic design and actual components, etc. A game can take 1-2 years to come out even after getting over the hump, but that’s ok.

You don’t have to pay anything until the game gets ready to ship.

In fact, you can even cancel your order ahead of time, all the way up until the time GMT starts charging.

I’ve already had one success in getting a game over the hump (ok, that one still took a few months and didn’t really increase the number of orders each time I retweeted it, but DAMMIT LET ME LIVE IN MY FANTASY WORLD!!!!) so let’s see if we can do it again.

What is so great about The Barracks Emperors that I want to get it produced?

Doesn’t that sound fun? (Banner is from the GMT page for the game)

First, it looks like an interesting game.

Secondly, its pedigree.

Let’s take a look.