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Three new releases this week.
First of is Z man’s deluxe upgrade of the classic Tales of the Arabian Nights. If you have reserved a copy or pre-ordered it’s here on Tuesday, unfortunately I have sold out of my pre-order allocation. I will be getting some more on the 3rd of August, and am now accepting pre-orders for those.
The second is the long awaited Tulip Mania 1637.This debut design from noted game reviewer Scott Nicholson looks like a clever market manipulation game.
The third is RAF lion versus Eagle, an update of the classic solitaire game. This version allows for 2 player games as well as solitaire.
Added to the import section are 2 games from Japon Brand.
Cheaty Mages, a game where you control mages controlling fighting monsters – and employing some leger-demain to get your monster to the top. Gorgeous art work and English rules.
Robo-Tory, a two player abstract from R-eco, Fairy Tale and Traders of Carthage designer Susumu Kawasaki. Between me ordering and receiving the games Asmodee have announced they are releasing a ‘smart’ version of Robo-Tory. Such are the risks I take when importing games….
Other additions include Tiki Topple from the Schmidt Spiel Easy play line, Keltis Kartenspiele and Hoellenhaus.
Re-stocks include the sublimely silly Fluch der Mumie, Incan Gold (the Sunriver version) , Stone Age ,Acquire and the 5th expansion for the World Cup Game.
On the playing side, apart from an excellent prototype from Nigel Buckle (Incidentally now Tulip Mania has been published Ascendancy is one away from the top of the production queue at JKLM, behind Tinner’s Trail) I have mainly been delving into older Euro games, Stefan Feld’s Notre Dame and In the Year of the Dragon , Goa , Ra and my favourite horse racing game - Winner’s Circle.
Ra has been reprinted in Germany so I guess it’s likely to be getting an English reprint soon. If you are desperate to get hold of a copy I will happily import one. Another classic that has been out of print in English for some times is Princes of Florence. I am planning on importing a few German versions as it’s a game I’m often asked for and no English reprint seems to be on the horizon.
New Releases : 21 July 2009
New releases are thin on the ground and include:-
Midevil Deluxe – it includes the base set and two expansions for the game that starts where Zombies left off.
The second new release is The Hell of Stalingrad – a card game that recreates the …you got it.
Tales of the Arabian Nights is now due next week – I will put it on the shop as a preorder when i am 100% certain of the date. It will be £35.99.
Re-stocks include
All of the Pitch car expansions.
And a re-stock of the fantastic Warriors of God – I don’t expect this to last beyond the end of the week and there are no more at the distributors.
From Germany I have had a re-stock of Fauna (according to the ‘Geek an English language version is about 9 months away), Perry Rhodan and Burgen-land.
Later in the week I am hoping to see a re-stock of Fluch der Mumie, 6 Nimmt! and Im Reich der Wüstensöhne and some new additions to the range including games from Japon Brand. They should be on the website later this week.
I have not had too much time for playing games this week as I have been fitting shelves to expand the stock room. I now have the space for a much wider range and welcome any suggestions for games you would like to see boardgameguru stock.
I have been playing a lot of Uruk: Wiege der Zivilsation at lunch time. Fun and frustrating – my colleague Alec beat me every time we played. Alec has reviewed Mecanisburgo for Tom Vassel’s Dice Tower Podcast, I’m hoping his next one will be of the excellent Hexer Von Salem (hint hint Alec)
Best wishes and happy gaming all
Paul
Midevil Deluxe – it includes the base set and two expansions for the game that starts where Zombies left off.
The second new release is The Hell of Stalingrad – a card game that recreates the …you got it.
Tales of the Arabian Nights is now due next week – I will put it on the shop as a preorder when i am 100% certain of the date. It will be £35.99.
Re-stocks include
All of the Pitch car expansions.
And a re-stock of the fantastic Warriors of God – I don’t expect this to last beyond the end of the week and there are no more at the distributors.
From Germany I have had a re-stock of Fauna (according to the ‘Geek an English language version is about 9 months away), Perry Rhodan and Burgen-land.
Later in the week I am hoping to see a re-stock of Fluch der Mumie, 6 Nimmt! and Im Reich der Wüstensöhne and some new additions to the range including games from Japon Brand. They should be on the website later this week.
I have not had too much time for playing games this week as I have been fitting shelves to expand the stock room. I now have the space for a much wider range and welcome any suggestions for games you would like to see boardgameguru stock.
I have been playing a lot of Uruk: Wiege der Zivilsation at lunch time. Fun and frustrating – my colleague Alec beat me every time we played. Alec has reviewed Mecanisburgo for Tom Vassel’s Dice Tower Podcast, I’m hoping his next one will be of the excellent Hexer Von Salem (hint hint Alec)
Best wishes and happy gaming all
Paul
New Releases : 14 July 2009
Most of the new the new releases this week are party games – it’s all about cracking open a party seven and putting aside the heavy stuff aside.( Note to self – must let Automobile sit on shelf for more than three days ….)
The first is ‘Gambit 7’, the rather uninspiring named ‘Commonwealth’ version of ‘Wits & Wagers’. I hope this is as good as the original, with a Lamont brother credited as a designer it promises to be good. ‘Wits and Wagers’ is the only game I have managed to get all my family (ages spanning nine decades) to play together. If you can guess which decade the person who thought ‘The Muppets’ was first aired on TV in 1856 it pays odds of 2 to 1……
The second is Tumblin’Dice (in a full and a medium sized portable version). This game sees 2 -4 players flicking or rolling dice on to scoring points on an attractive board.
Third is the fourth expansion for PitchCar – the ‘stunt car’ expansion adds a third dimension to the basic set.
Last of the party releases is ‘Are you the Traitor?’ from Looney Labs, a magical game of bluffing and deception.
There are also a couple of more serious games released this week.
The English language edition of ‘Sherwood Forest’ from Rio Grande will be with us next week.
And ‘Livingstone’ is released in an English edition by Playroom entertainment. I also have a few of the German (totally language independent) version from Schmidt Spiele left at a bargain price of. £19.99.
I have played Livingstone a few times – it shines as a game played with youngsters – they love the ‘Thebes’ like treasure bag.
‘Tales of the Arabian Nights’ is scheduled for release on Tuesday 21st July. It will be available for pre-order from the middle of next week.
The first is ‘Gambit 7’, the rather uninspiring named ‘Commonwealth’ version of ‘Wits & Wagers’. I hope this is as good as the original, with a Lamont brother credited as a designer it promises to be good. ‘Wits and Wagers’ is the only game I have managed to get all my family (ages spanning nine decades) to play together. If you can guess which decade the person who thought ‘The Muppets’ was first aired on TV in 1856 it pays odds of 2 to 1……
The second is Tumblin’Dice (in a full and a medium sized portable version). This game sees 2 -4 players flicking or rolling dice on to scoring points on an attractive board.
Third is the fourth expansion for PitchCar – the ‘stunt car’ expansion adds a third dimension to the basic set.
Last of the party releases is ‘Are you the Traitor?’ from Looney Labs, a magical game of bluffing and deception.
There are also a couple of more serious games released this week.
The English language edition of ‘Sherwood Forest’ from Rio Grande will be with us next week.
And ‘Livingstone’ is released in an English edition by Playroom entertainment. I also have a few of the German (totally language independent) version from Schmidt Spiele left at a bargain price of. £19.99.
I have played Livingstone a few times – it shines as a game played with youngsters – they love the ‘Thebes’ like treasure bag.
‘Tales of the Arabian Nights’ is scheduled for release on Tuesday 21st July. It will be available for pre-order from the middle of next week.
Musings on Steam and it's cousins
Boardgamers and trains seem to go together like ...train spotters and platforms. We do love a train game - all the way from Ticket to Ride to 18xx. I thought i had the train part of my collection sorted - Age of Steam, Railroad Tycoon, Ticket to Ride ,Steel Driver, Chicago Express, Canal Mania and Jet Set (the last two are train games masquerading as other forms of transport and 18xx a bit beyond me).
So when Steam was released i wished it well but assumed it was too similar to my other train games to be an essential purchase. Now i've read the rules i have changed my mind. It seems to fill a (small)gap that sits between Age of Steam and Railroad Tycoon (and it's expansion Rails of Europe). Actually the gap is small but quite important. Railroad Tycoon is lovely to behold, and in it's capital structure is forgiving enough for most boardgamers. However, the operation cards make it a bit of a lottery - especially in the base set. In a close game it can be very frustrating if the luck of the draw favours one player - whether a completed route bonus in the base set or a charter, hotel or build bonus in Rails of Europe that is more valuable to one player than another. In Age of Steam the game can be just too brutal to beginners. Goods growth, decided by dice, seems to to throw an element of luck into a game that demands crystal clear planning.
So Steam looks like the synthesis of design ideas and practical observations. For a start the prohibition on taking Locomotive as an action when maxed and the requirement to ship goods over at least half of your own track takes out two of the 'gamey' elements of Age of Steam. The change from Goods growth to City Growth also seems like an improvement of Age of Steam.
In basic Steam the brutality of the auction process and lottery of the operation cards has been replaced with an separate auction for roles - and this looks like a great middle ground for those of us who struggle with AoS but find RRT too simplistic and lacking some tension.
The other area i'm not unhappy to see changed is income reduction, again it seems too gamey. Having worked for eight years capitalisng the 'real' railways i have seen enough game playing at the expense of economic reality to want to see it in a board game. Instead we have a division in steam between victory points and income. This causes me a thematic problem - surely an economic game needs to reward money earned and invested? However, if i see the Victory points as the Net Present Value (in the same way that the final movement of goods cubes in Steel Driver is the Net Present Value of the companies networks) of my railway a the end of the game then it works.
I wonder how well my musings will stand up to actual play of Steam, but now having made them i am compelled to find out. There has been a lot of debate about the number of track tiles - that i most certainly can't comment on till i have played.
The Real Railway
The whims of government are the key to the real railways today. We can't do without a rail network but they can't survive in a free market. Hence vast public subsidy, a regulatory environment and decisions made on political expediency rather than the best movement of real cubes over a net work you have built. In fact there has been virtually no new track routes laid since the 19th century (CTRL excepted) - capital investment has been in signaling, renewals and systems to improve performance. Ownership of infrastructure and train operations have been separated into separate ownership and control. I wonder if there is a game to be made there?
So when Steam was released i wished it well but assumed it was too similar to my other train games to be an essential purchase. Now i've read the rules i have changed my mind. It seems to fill a (small)gap that sits between Age of Steam and Railroad Tycoon (and it's expansion Rails of Europe). Actually the gap is small but quite important. Railroad Tycoon is lovely to behold, and in it's capital structure is forgiving enough for most boardgamers. However, the operation cards make it a bit of a lottery - especially in the base set. In a close game it can be very frustrating if the luck of the draw favours one player - whether a completed route bonus in the base set or a charter, hotel or build bonus in Rails of Europe that is more valuable to one player than another. In Age of Steam the game can be just too brutal to beginners. Goods growth, decided by dice, seems to to throw an element of luck into a game that demands crystal clear planning.
So Steam looks like the synthesis of design ideas and practical observations. For a start the prohibition on taking Locomotive as an action when maxed and the requirement to ship goods over at least half of your own track takes out two of the 'gamey' elements of Age of Steam. The change from Goods growth to City Growth also seems like an improvement of Age of Steam.
In basic Steam the brutality of the auction process and lottery of the operation cards has been replaced with an separate auction for roles - and this looks like a great middle ground for those of us who struggle with AoS but find RRT too simplistic and lacking some tension.
The other area i'm not unhappy to see changed is income reduction, again it seems too gamey. Having worked for eight years capitalisng the 'real' railways i have seen enough game playing at the expense of economic reality to want to see it in a board game. Instead we have a division in steam between victory points and income. This causes me a thematic problem - surely an economic game needs to reward money earned and invested? However, if i see the Victory points as the Net Present Value (in the same way that the final movement of goods cubes in Steel Driver is the Net Present Value of the companies networks) of my railway a the end of the game then it works.
I wonder how well my musings will stand up to actual play of Steam, but now having made them i am compelled to find out. There has been a lot of debate about the number of track tiles - that i most certainly can't comment on till i have played.
The Real Railway
The whims of government are the key to the real railways today. We can't do without a rail network but they can't survive in a free market. Hence vast public subsidy, a regulatory environment and decisions made on political expediency rather than the best movement of real cubes over a net work you have built. In fact there has been virtually no new track routes laid since the 19th century (CTRL excepted) - capital investment has been in signaling, renewals and systems to improve performance. Ownership of infrastructure and train operations have been separated into separate ownership and control. I wonder if there is a game to be made there?
New Releases : 7th July
There are quite a few new releases from Zman this week, unfortunately one of them is not Tales of the Arabian Knights I am hoping this is no more than 2 or three weeks away . Given the box weighs in at a whopping 4 kilos fingers crossed the ship is not slowed down.
The first of the new release is Bridge Troll. You play a Troll balancing the need to charge travelers for use of your bridge, the need to feed (those travelers are quite tasty) and fight off adventurers (including Billy Goat Gruff) who are out to end your custodianship of the bridge (and your life).
The second is Long Shot, a family horse racing game that is beautifully produced. In this game you own and bet on horses to win races and then try to steer your mounts to victory using tactical and strategic cards. According to the box it plays in about an hour.
The third is Court of the Medici, a two player card game that pits you as a courtier trying to curry favour with the Grand Duke of Florence and eliminate your rival faction.
The Fourth is Babel 13, an expansion for Neuroshima Hex. The expansion adds two new armies, terrain tiles and campaign rules.
Mayfair has re-printed the classic crayon rail game EuroRails. The game has received a face lift and the Channel Tunnel.
I have added the collaborative card game Anima: Shadows over Omega to the range and its expansion (also a stand alone game) Anima: Beyond Good and Evil is released on Tuesday
Also released next week, and the first Risk game I have stocked, is Risk : Balance of Power, a two player game that sees players fighting over a map of Europe. I have heard good things about this game.
A batch of import arrived last week including Cavum (this is an international edition and includes English rules). Burgenland came and went. Big points and Finito are still in stock. I have also added the Pegasus Spiel special edition of David and Goliath (it comes in a rather smart metal box) and Ziegen Kriegen (can’t have enough games about goats).
I am expecting a re-stock of Small World on Tuesday. Bruno Faidutti has named it as his game of the year.
I have also had a re-stock of Vineta – which I have played a few times recently. It’s a, ‘anti’ area majority game, in which players are Norse gods throwing waves at Vineta (the Atlantis of the Baltic) to sink it beneath the seas. As a god you want to preserve part of the city and homes from destruction. The trouble is the other gods are trying to do the same thing. By clever card play you aim the waves at parts of the city you have no followers or interest in. The version i have been playing is the Winning Moves Deutschland edition which is far superior to the ugly edition which was released in English. It’s a light hearted and fun game that plays quickly and I think deserves a wider audience.
The first of the new release is Bridge Troll. You play a Troll balancing the need to charge travelers for use of your bridge, the need to feed (those travelers are quite tasty) and fight off adventurers (including Billy Goat Gruff) who are out to end your custodianship of the bridge (and your life).
The second is Long Shot, a family horse racing game that is beautifully produced. In this game you own and bet on horses to win races and then try to steer your mounts to victory using tactical and strategic cards. According to the box it plays in about an hour.
The third is Court of the Medici, a two player card game that pits you as a courtier trying to curry favour with the Grand Duke of Florence and eliminate your rival faction.
The Fourth is Babel 13, an expansion for Neuroshima Hex. The expansion adds two new armies, terrain tiles and campaign rules.
Mayfair has re-printed the classic crayon rail game EuroRails. The game has received a face lift and the Channel Tunnel.
I have added the collaborative card game Anima: Shadows over Omega to the range and its expansion (also a stand alone game) Anima: Beyond Good and Evil is released on Tuesday
Also released next week, and the first Risk game I have stocked, is Risk : Balance of Power, a two player game that sees players fighting over a map of Europe. I have heard good things about this game.
A batch of import arrived last week including Cavum (this is an international edition and includes English rules). Burgenland came and went. Big points and Finito are still in stock. I have also added the Pegasus Spiel special edition of David and Goliath (it comes in a rather smart metal box) and Ziegen Kriegen (can’t have enough games about goats).
I am expecting a re-stock of Small World on Tuesday. Bruno Faidutti has named it as his game of the year.
I have also had a re-stock of Vineta – which I have played a few times recently. It’s a, ‘anti’ area majority game, in which players are Norse gods throwing waves at Vineta (the Atlantis of the Baltic) to sink it beneath the seas. As a god you want to preserve part of the city and homes from destruction. The trouble is the other gods are trying to do the same thing. By clever card play you aim the waves at parts of the city you have no followers or interest in. The version i have been playing is the Winning Moves Deutschland edition which is far superior to the ugly edition which was released in English. It’s a light hearted and fun game that plays quickly and I think deserves a wider audience.
Masters Gallery - A Family Filler
I’m a philistine. I’ve been to (well dragged round by my art appreciating wife) Momo, Tate Modern, and a few other torture chambers masquerading as temples of culture . It all has the same effect - I get a head ache looking at all those swirls, colour explosions, pictures that look like nothing more than the pavement after a particularly drunken night out. . I just don’t get it. It got so bad that half way round a Brigit Reilly exhibition I had to leave the gallery to lie down - I was just about to throw up.
Go one stare at this for two minutes and see if your lunch stays down
Give me a picture with real things in, people and landscapes, even a bowl of fruit. I can look at one of those for at least ten minutes with out sweating and reaching for the Tylenol .
That’s the same way I feel about Masters Gallery vis a vis Modern Art. I admire Modern Art as a game design and I want to like it but I’m terrible at it. I suspect any game that has inspired geeks to write mathematical valuation formula that makes Black-Scholes look like the two times table is something that is going to be beyond me. So the news that a de-auctioned version of Modern Art was being released with pictures of old masters intrigued me. My initial reaction was ‘Ha, Modern Art for Dummies!’. And whilst Master’s Gallery takes the rocket science out of Modern Art it adds a great deal of game play and not only for the Modern Art challenged. It turns an auction game into a set collection game.
Master’s Gallery is a recent release in the treadmill of Gryphon bookshelf games. It comes in a small box that fits nicely along side the other games in the series. It consists of 100 cards, five place holders for each of the five ‘masters’ (Vermeer, Van Goch, Degas, Renoir and Monet) and ninety five cards divided unequally between the five starting with 21 Van Gogh down to 17 for Vermeer. The cards are made of good quality stock, though I would recommend sleaving them as mine are showing small sings of wear after ten games. The rule book is well written and easy to follow.
Game play is deceptively simple. The five place holder artist cards are placed on the table, Two to five players are dealt a stating hand of 13 random cards and an artist card is drawn and placed face up on the table. Each player takes it in turn to place a card from their hand on to the table in front of them. The round ends immediately when a sixth artist card is played on the table with the initial random draw counts towards the six. Cards are then scored, and a new round starts with players receiving more cards (except for the fourth and last round when no more cards are dealt) and another random card from the draw pile placed on the table. The game finishes after four rounds with the points being tallied and a winner decided.
Some of the cards allow special plays. One allows the player to immediately lay as second card of the same artist face up, the second allows a second card of any artist to be played face down (., another allows the player to draw a card, another has all players simultaneously playing a card from hand to the table and the last allows a 2 point award token to be added to one artist (and each artist can only have one of these tokens place on them).
The scoring at the end of each round is simple. The face down cards are turned up and the artists who has the most cards played (tie breaks are broken in favour the artist which have the fewest cards in the deck) receives a three value token the second a two and the third one. Players then multiply the artist cards (that came in the first three) in front of them by the total value of the points tokens for each artist. Tiles points on the artist place holder cards are cumulative and therefore some artists become more valuable than others as the rounds progress.
Key to success in the game is planning ahead, and trying to draw other players into scoring artists that you can score in later ( and more valuable) rounds. The ‘special’ cards add some spice to the game and timing when to play them can be crucial though I have seen some one win without drawing any throughout the game.
In a few areas Master’s Gallery falls down compared to Modern Art, first the table banter is missing from Master’s Gallery, players don’t talk up the value of their hideous pictures. You can get the hideous pictures in Master’s Gallery’s sister game Modern art the card game (and its a few bucks cheaper). The other area is that you can win in Modern Art without buying many pictures, just selling stuff at inflated prices. In Master’s Gallery you have to play a card each turn. Another concern I have is scalability the game is great with three or four players, Ok with two and poor with five. With five players the rounds finish so quickly you do not have time to play many cards and try and influence the outcome of the ranking. Despite these reservations I whole heartedly recommend the game for families and those who like the idea of Modern Art but not the valuation.
Comparisons with Modern Art are inevitable howeverthese are two different games that share a theme and some mechanics. Master’s Gallery is set collection and manipulation Modern Art other is a valuation and arbitrage game. Both have their place, though if both are on offer I will be found, wearing my dunces’ cap, sitting at the Master’s table.
Go one stare at this for two minutes and see if your lunch stays down
Give me a picture with real things in, people and landscapes, even a bowl of fruit. I can look at one of those for at least ten minutes with out sweating and reaching for the Tylenol .
That’s the same way I feel about Masters Gallery vis a vis Modern Art. I admire Modern Art as a game design and I want to like it but I’m terrible at it. I suspect any game that has inspired geeks to write mathematical valuation formula that makes Black-Scholes look like the two times table is something that is going to be beyond me. So the news that a de-auctioned version of Modern Art was being released with pictures of old masters intrigued me. My initial reaction was ‘Ha, Modern Art for Dummies!’. And whilst Master’s Gallery takes the rocket science out of Modern Art it adds a great deal of game play and not only for the Modern Art challenged. It turns an auction game into a set collection game.
Master’s Gallery is a recent release in the treadmill of Gryphon bookshelf games. It comes in a small box that fits nicely along side the other games in the series. It consists of 100 cards, five place holders for each of the five ‘masters’ (Vermeer, Van Goch, Degas, Renoir and Monet) and ninety five cards divided unequally between the five starting with 21 Van Gogh down to 17 for Vermeer. The cards are made of good quality stock, though I would recommend sleaving them as mine are showing small sings of wear after ten games. The rule book is well written and easy to follow.
Game play is deceptively simple. The five place holder artist cards are placed on the table, Two to five players are dealt a stating hand of 13 random cards and an artist card is drawn and placed face up on the table. Each player takes it in turn to place a card from their hand on to the table in front of them. The round ends immediately when a sixth artist card is played on the table with the initial random draw counts towards the six. Cards are then scored, and a new round starts with players receiving more cards (except for the fourth and last round when no more cards are dealt) and another random card from the draw pile placed on the table. The game finishes after four rounds with the points being tallied and a winner decided.
Some of the cards allow special plays. One allows the player to immediately lay as second card of the same artist face up, the second allows a second card of any artist to be played face down (., another allows the player to draw a card, another has all players simultaneously playing a card from hand to the table and the last allows a 2 point award token to be added to one artist (and each artist can only have one of these tokens place on them).
The scoring at the end of each round is simple. The face down cards are turned up and the artists who has the most cards played (tie breaks are broken in favour the artist which have the fewest cards in the deck) receives a three value token the second a two and the third one. Players then multiply the artist cards (that came in the first three) in front of them by the total value of the points tokens for each artist. Tiles points on the artist place holder cards are cumulative and therefore some artists become more valuable than others as the rounds progress.
Key to success in the game is planning ahead, and trying to draw other players into scoring artists that you can score in later ( and more valuable) rounds. The ‘special’ cards add some spice to the game and timing when to play them can be crucial though I have seen some one win without drawing any throughout the game.
In a few areas Master’s Gallery falls down compared to Modern Art, first the table banter is missing from Master’s Gallery, players don’t talk up the value of their hideous pictures. You can get the hideous pictures in Master’s Gallery’s sister game Modern art the card game (and its a few bucks cheaper). The other area is that you can win in Modern Art without buying many pictures, just selling stuff at inflated prices. In Master’s Gallery you have to play a card each turn. Another concern I have is scalability the game is great with three or four players, Ok with two and poor with five. With five players the rounds finish so quickly you do not have time to play many cards and try and influence the outcome of the ranking. Despite these reservations I whole heartedly recommend the game for families and those who like the idea of Modern Art but not the valuation.
Comparisons with Modern Art are inevitable howeverthese are two different games that share a theme and some mechanics. Master’s Gallery is set collection and manipulation Modern Art other is a valuation and arbitrage game. Both have their place, though if both are on offer I will be found, wearing my dunces’ cap, sitting at the Master’s table.
New Releases : 13th June 2009
With the Expo last weekend this weeks UK board game releases are non existent.
However I did pick up a new game at the Expo and it is a corker - Fzzzt! a simple card game that uses the build a deck mechanic from Dominion. I have written a review here. Everyone I have shown the game to buys it and i have had to re-stock afte ronly 4 days. Only 1500 copies were printed and I doubt they will hang around.
Imports
Rather a lot of games arrived in the shop this week, some new, some restocks.
Hab & Gut is a stock market game in which 3 to 5 players attempt to earn as much money as possible from buying, selling and manipulating stocks. What makes the game interesting is that players have limited market knowledge in the form of cards that will manipulate the market (up or down) which only they and their immediate neighbour to right and left can see. There is a further twist in that not only are players out for themselves the player who has donated the lowest amount to charity at the end of the game immediately loses. This game has been receiving a lot of hype on the 'Geek.
We have another two games from rising design star Jeffrey Allers the first is ….aber bitte mit sahne (everyone loves cake?)And the second Circus Maximus (a game about ticket touting in ancient Rome, comes in a metal tin).
I also have El Presidente an expansion forCuba, this is the German version
Boardgamenews has a couple of articles about recent German games here and here.All of these games are stocked by BoardGameGuru
Other games added to the imports range include Kreta from Stephan Dorra, Kutschfahrt zum Teufelsberg (a team game), Die Saulen von Venedig, Via Romana and Bushido.
I also have had a restock of Diamond's Club, which is one of my favourite Essen 2008 releases. From Rudger Dorn it has a feint flavour ofGoa, with an ingenious resource selection mechanism and many subtle paths to victory. It plays inside 90 minutes and works for both gamers and as a gateway.
Games added to the range include Golfprofi and Master Builder
Automobile failed to arrive this week - I am promised it will be with me on Monday. I played it for the second time this week and it confirmed my opinion that it is a great game - for me the best release of 2009 so far by a country mile.
'Prolific' is a double edged word, in the context of Balzac or Haydn it's a good thing, for 'Prince' not so. Recently Reiner Knizia has fallen into the 'Prince' category and his recent (prolific) releases have not been automatic purchases. However, one recent game is a complete return to form, if not in the style we are accustomed to. FITS is a simple work of genius, Tetris meets 'Take it Easy'. It's a huge hit with gamers as a filler and all non gamers I have introduced it to and it's back in stock.
However I did pick up a new game at the Expo and it is a corker - Fzzzt! a simple card game that uses the build a deck mechanic from Dominion. I have written a review here. Everyone I have shown the game to buys it and i have had to re-stock afte ronly 4 days. Only 1500 copies were printed and I doubt they will hang around.
Imports
Rather a lot of games arrived in the shop this week, some new, some restocks.
Hab & Gut is a stock market game in which 3 to 5 players attempt to earn as much money as possible from buying, selling and manipulating stocks. What makes the game interesting is that players have limited market knowledge in the form of cards that will manipulate the market (up or down) which only they and their immediate neighbour to right and left can see. There is a further twist in that not only are players out for themselves the player who has donated the lowest amount to charity at the end of the game immediately loses. This game has been receiving a lot of hype on the 'Geek.
We have another two games from rising design star Jeffrey Allers the first is ….aber bitte mit sahne (everyone loves cake?)And the second Circus Maximus (a game about ticket touting in ancient Rome, comes in a metal tin).
I also have El Presidente an expansion forCuba, this is the German version
Boardgamenews has a couple of articles about recent German games here and here.All of these games are stocked by BoardGameGuru
Other games added to the imports range include Kreta from Stephan Dorra, Kutschfahrt zum Teufelsberg (a team game), Die Saulen von Venedig, Via Romana and Bushido.
I also have had a restock of Diamond's Club, which is one of my favourite Essen 2008 releases. From Rudger Dorn it has a feint flavour ofGoa, with an ingenious resource selection mechanism and many subtle paths to victory. It plays inside 90 minutes and works for both gamers and as a gateway.
Games added to the range include Golfprofi and Master Builder
Automobile failed to arrive this week - I am promised it will be with me on Monday. I played it for the second time this week and it confirmed my opinion that it is a great game - for me the best release of 2009 so far by a country mile.
'Prolific' is a double edged word, in the context of Balzac or Haydn it's a good thing, for 'Prince' not so. Recently Reiner Knizia has fallen into the 'Prince' category and his recent (prolific) releases have not been automatic purchases. However, one recent game is a complete return to form, if not in the style we are accustomed to. FITS is a simple work of genius, Tetris meets 'Take it Easy'. It's a huge hit with gamers as a filler and all non gamers I have introduced it to and it's back in stock.
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