New to Me – August 2017

August was the month of the Dragonflight convention (38th edition, see you there on the 39th maybe?) so it’s to be expected that I would get some new games in.

But surprisingly, not as many as I expected. I did get a couple of new ones in there, but we played a lot of the old mainstays, which is also never a bad thing. Still, three of my six new games were played there, and I also played for a second time one of my August new ones.

I always like a good mix, and August was definitely one of those (though there would be one more new game in there if it hadn’t been aborted on Turn 3 for reasons).

So why don’t I stop blathering and let us get to the good stuff?

Century: Spice Road (2017 – Plan B Games) – 2 plays

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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!

 

Raiders of the North Sea – Renegade Games

One bit of news came out while I was gone last week that got me a little excited.

Yesterday’s “New to Me – May 2017” post included my play of Jorvik, a viking game about settling northern England.

There seems to be a bunch of Viking games coming out over the last couple of years, some more enticing than others to me (or one that looks interesting but a friend of mine is already buying it so I’m not going to bother).

One that looked kind of interesting, but I discovered that it really wasn’t widely available around these parts (and not in English, apparently), was Raiders of the North Sea, a worker placement game where you are collecting resources and building up your crews so you can raid villages to get treasure and more resources.

The surprising news came out that Renegade Game Studios is going to be publishing Raiders of the North Sea in English for the first time.

Also according to Dice Tower News, both English-language expansions will be coming out as well.

This game has been nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres (German expert game of the year) for 2017, which is certainly noteworthy.

According to Renegade, the game itself will be available sometime this Summer with the expansions coming in the Fall.

I can’t wait!

 

 

Atlas: Enchanted Lands – New From Renegade Games

Wow, did this come as a bolt from out of the blue.

Renegade Games, publisher of the wonderful Worlds Fair: 1893, just announced yesterday a new game from the same designer, J. Alex Kevern.

Another beautiful cover!!!

Atlas: Enchanted Lands is a new card game coming out in Fall 2017. It will have art by the immensely talented Beth Sobel, this game sounds like it will be pretty cool.

I will let the announcement speak for itself (mainly because I probably couldn’t say it any better):

Atlas: Enchanted Lands is an elegant card game set in a world of fairies and magic. Play cards to reveal a certain place and time — and place your stake in one of the two. Explore a location at dawn, day, sunset, and night, or see what the whole land looks like in the dark. Each card offers two choices, and it’s up to you to uncover the world that awaits.

The MSRP will be $20, which makes it very possible that I will be picking this up when it comes out.

Renegade has been putting out some fabulous games in the past couple of years. This one looks like it will be another addition to that one.

Keep your eyes peeled for it.

Origins Awards Nominees Announced

I just saw on the Dice Tower News site that the Origins Awards nominees have now been announced.

In looking at the list, I see that I’ve played…all of two games in all the various categories put together (Terraforming Mars and World’s Fair 1893).

Thus, I can’t really comment on which games should or will win in their respective categories.

I will say, however, a hearty congratulations to Renegade Games and designer J. Alex Kevern for the Worlds Fair 1893 nomination in the Board Games category!

This is such a wonderful game that I could gush for hours on it (but I won’t…unless somebody ticks me off).

If you want to see me gush a little bit, you could check out my review of the game.

Renegade Games seems to have really come into its own this year, at least from what I’ve seen. This game, and two other games that I really want to play but haven’t had a chance to yet (Clank: A Deck-Building Adventure and Lotus) which were also nominated for awards, all of them are or sound wonderful.

Once again, congratulations to all who were nominated!

I’ll leave you with a Worlds Fair 1893 picture, just to once again showcase the beautiful artwork done for this fantastic game

It even works well with 2 players!!!

 

A Game That’s Played 6 times in 2 Months Has to be Good

(Previously published on Game Informer and BoardgameGeek)

I’m a gamer, but I’m also a history buff.

One of my new games bought in December manages to scratch both of those itches, and it is oh so pleasant a feeling! I picked it up the last week of December and played it 6 times between then and the end of February.

Worlds Fair 1893 (designed by J. Alex Klaven and published by Foxtrot Games & Renegade Game Studios) is a 2016 game that combines elements of area control and set collection, in a masterfully simple and quick game that also has a bit of a worker placement feel to it as well.

It is a game for 2-4 players, and it scales really well to all player counts. It’s not one of those “it’s really for more players, but here’s some mechanism so that you can play it with 2” games.

It goes for 3 rounds, with a scoring phase happening at the end of each round.