Review – Sentient

The Robot Revolution is upon us. Soon, robots will be taking over our lives, providing us with every luxury, moving us around, serving us, fighting our wars, and all of that good stuff.

And our economy will tank because nobody’s actually working.

Then we’ll be ripe for the picking. Skynet is giggling gleefully.

Maybe because of the wrecked economy is why there is actually no money in the Sentient game?

Food for thought.

But I digress.

Sentient is a 2-4 player game designed by J. Alex Kevern with art by Anita Osburn, Chris Ostrowski, and Gordon Tucker. It’s published by Renegade Games and came out in 2017.

And it is a really simple brain-burner, depending on how you feel about arithmetic.

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Lord Eradikus Getting More Annoyed in August

To end the week, how about some news that I missed out on while I was saving the world away?

One of my favourite games played in 2017, Clank! In! Space!, is expanding! (too many exclamation marks…I’m going to run out! Damn, there’s another one…).

This beautiful, wonderful deck-building heist game is getting a new expansion this August.

Renegade Game Studios recently announced Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse! (oh, my poor exclamation mark key! Damn it, did it again…)

From the Renegade  blurb:

The deck-building adventure of Clank! In! Space! continues. Small pockets of resistance continue to oppose Lord Eradikus, but the evil cyborg now plots to wipe them out with one grand and wicked scheme!

Thwart the efforts of Lord Eradikus!
Reap the rewards of noble (and sometimes reluctant) heroism!
Save the galaxy…. And get rich in the process!

Maybe you can avert the Apocalypse! (Or at least escape with the treasure while someone else does!)

The original game has so many cards with nods to popular science fiction properties that I’m surprised they could find more.

But I trust designer Paul Dennen to come up with some!

The game comes with 35 new cards, two double-sided modules (the only expansion the game really needed was more modules to vary the map even more), 8 scheme cards (schemes? Hoo boy!!! This sounds awesome), and somebody named Lord Haldos.

I can only imagine what he’s doing there and his relationship to Lord Eradikus!

Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse! is scheduled for a GenCon release and to hit stores in August, and to retail for $25.

And I’d better end this post before I totally wear out my exclamation mark key! (Damn it)

 

 

Arboretum Coming from Renegade

I know what you’re thinking.

Two posts in one day? Really? Dave, are you sick?

As I was finishing today’s review, I received an interesting email with exciting news, especially since it refers to a really hard-to-get game that I played for the first time recently and really enjoyed. I couldn’t wait to share it.

Yes, the brilliant Arboretum card game (designed by Dan Cassar and originally published by ZMan Games back in 2015) is being published by Renegade Games Studio and coming out in Autumn 2018!

Wonderful logo! Taken from the Renegade Games Studios site

This game of tree-growing and vicious back-stabbing gardeners is very highly-regarded and I was excited when I finally got to play it back in March.

It lived up to its reputation.

But it’s so hard to find!

Not for much longer.

This new edition will have brand new art by the wonderful Beth Sobel. The new edition will have the same rules, but some new types of trees will be on the cards and the game will be made more color-blind friendly, which is definitely a plus.

I can’t wait to see images from this version of the game.

Here’s a picture from the previous version, just to give you an idea.

I need a robotic hand for these pictures.

Until then, we’ll have to settle for that great logo above and wait with great anticipation for Autumn to come.

Arboretum is expected to retail for $20.

 

New to Me – March 2018

I’m tired.

It’s been a busy month of playing new games! So I’ve definitely enjoyed it.

But I’m tired.

If I hadn’t been writing this post as I played the games, I’m not sure if it would have come out. This is a long one.

It totals 12 new games. My month of March itself consisted of 21 games played a total of 24 times.

Woo!

So, without further adieu (I lost all of my adieu in a card game that I was too embarrassed to put on my play list), let’s begin.

Raiders of the North Sea (2015 – Renegade Games Studio, Garphil Games) – 2 plays (owned)

Designer: Shem Phillips

Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski

Review – The Fox in the Forest

I’m a big fan of trick-taking games, most especially the wonderful game Diamonds.

But what happens when you’re sitting there with only one person, trying to figure out what game to play? You’re both fans of trick-taking games, but there are only two of you. No trick-taking games work with two.

What can you do?

Suddenly, an annoying-looking man appears with a Shamwow. And with a game that will suit your needs!

That’s a sly-looking fox

That game would be The Fox in the Forest, designed by Joshua Buergel, with art by Jennifer L. Meyer and Keith Pishnery, and published by Foxtrot Games and Renegade Game Studios. It was published in 2017.

This is a two-player trick-taking game that overcomes all of the limitations in regards to why trick-taking games are terrible with two players.

Let’s see how it works.

Renegade & Garphill Move on From Vikings

As a huge fan of the Renegade Games and Garphill Games production of Raiders of the North Sea (I haven’t played the other two in the series, Shipwrights of the North Sea and Explorers of the North Sea), I was really excited to see today’s press release of a new game.

Designer Shem Phillips, along with first-time designer S J McDonald, has moved on from the Vikings. I guess maybe he felt like he’d done enough with them?

Apparently he’s moving on to Carolingian history instead of North Sea. Today’s announcement was for a really interesting-looking game, Architects of the West Kingdom.

Another series of games?

Maybe. Which has this History buff going nuts.

I’ll try and calm down.

(Looking at the Architects page, it does look like this is a new trilogy)

App Review – Lotus

Sometimes you just need a little tranquility in your life. Your day at work was terrible. The kids are getting on your nerves.

Zombies are rampaging down the street.

You know, a typical Monday.

On days like that, you need a game that’s peaceful, that will contribute to your inner Zen.

On those days, you’ll pick up your mobile device and open the Lotus app.

(Hopefully you downloaded it before the Zombie Apocalypse cut all the power)

It’s peaceful right from the beginning!

Lotus is a beautiful 2-4 player card game published by Renegade Games. The app is published by Renegade and Dire Wolf Studios.