Game Nite
Free
the magazine of tabletop gaming
December 2018
Top 10
games of 2018
v
Issue # 31
“your town� book review
game reviews
In this issue: Interview 20
Serge Pierro Game Nite
mobile Review 06
Morels For Android and iOS
abstract games 38
game Reviews 10
Star Realms: Command Decks
14
Your Town
26
Wu Wei
34
Star Realms: Frontiers
Powerful Commanders.
Choose Your Own Graphic Novel.
Martial Arts Abstract. Lateast Star Realms Standalone
Abalone by Tom M Franklin
book Review index 44
Reviewed Books Index
Top 10
Mobile Review index 46
Reviewed Apps Index
04 Top 10 Reviewed Games of 2018
Interview Gallery 40
Past Interviews Index
Game Review index 50
Game Review Index
Calendar 60
January 2019
Contributors 49
Game Nite Contributors
Š Game Nite 2018. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. All information contained in this magazine is for educational purposes only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of release. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers with regard to the price of their products. All material remains the property of its respective creators. Opinions expressed by the writers are their opinions alone and may not reflect the opinions of Game Nite. Disclaimer: Game Nite receives review copies of games, but does not accept payment for reviews.
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Game Nite Issue #31
From across the table
Game Nite ISSUE # 31
W
e have a somewhat strange interview in this issue, as I have interviewed myself. Why? Because the designer/publisher who was supposed to be interviewed in this issue decided to inform me with less than 24 hours until this issue was to be released that he wouldn’t have the answers available for me until the end of December. He knew what the absolute deadline was and yet he didn’t make the effort to meet it. So… you are stuck with me… LOL I was the only one I could think of who could do an “interview” in the short amount of time before publishing the magazine. I thought that it would provide some insight into the person behind the magazine and hopefully there will be at least something of interest to you. Needless to say, I expect to have a real interview available for your next issue! ;)
Cover Photograph by Serge Pierro. Shifting Realms © Soaring Rhino
Editor in Chief/Publisher: Serge Pierro
This issue also features the Top 10 Games that I reviewed this year. It was tough to choose amongst those at the top. I love “Energy Empire” and “Root” was an innovative and interesting game, but I’ve just had too much fun playing “Raja of the Ganges” and I had to go with that as my #1!
Editor:
Eric Devlin
In this issue: Tom M Franklin’s Abstract Games column takes a look at “Abalone”. The Janurary calendar features “Wu Wei” and provides the release date for issue #32. If you are interested in contributing to Game Nite, feel free to contact us, as we’d love to hear from you!
Serge Pierro
Editor in Chief/Publisher editor@gamenitemagazine.com
Writers:
Photographers:
Tom Franklin Serge Pierro Tom Franklin Jeff Rhind Jeff Rhind
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Game Nite Issue #31
03
Top 10 -
Games Reviewed in 2018
1 Raja of the Ganges R&R Games
2
The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire Minion Games
3
Root Leder Games
4
Blood Rage CMON
5
The Ruhr Capstone Games
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Game Nite Issue #31
By Serge Pierro
6
Wildcatters Capstone Games
7
Shifting Realms Soaring Rhino
8 Master of the Galaxy Ares Games
9
The Veil Logan Gendron
10
Shards of Infinity Stoneblade Entertainment/ Ultra Pro Game Nite Issue #31
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Mobile Review
By Serge Pierro
Morels
W
hile I certainly enjoy playing and designing games, they are not activities that reign over my other interests. One such interest is Food and Wine. Having worked in a restaurant, prepare gourmet meals for myself and studied/maintained a wine collection, Food and Wine is a subject that I am far more interested in. Even my board game photography came about because of doing food photography. So when there is a game that features some aspect of food… I am always interested to see what it is about… and if that game is a card game, I’m even more interested! Morels is an award winning set collection card game based on the collecting and cooking of gourmet mushrooms. Having both foraged and cooked many of the fungi in the game, I was looking forward to seeing how the game played if it captured the theme. Normally upon loading the app you are greeted with a splash screen that features three main options:
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Local Game, Online Game and Options. However, the first time that you play the app you are greeted with a window that offers first time players an ingame tutorial. Since I had never played Morels before, I opted for the tutorial. The tutorial features a series of message boxes with instructions and a “tap to continue” message. There is a floating hand which will point out specific objects and such. I found the tutorial to be comprehensive and easy enough to learn. In case you should forget something, there is a Menu button on the screen which will allow you to access the Rules so that you can quickly refresh your memory. After the tutorial I was able to play the actual game with full confidence. Another nice feature of the help system is that it is available “in game” when you make a possible mistake. At one point I forgot I had an “Apple Cider” card in hand and the app reminded me both about its use and scoring bonus, as well as a check box to check if you didn’t want to see this help message in the future.
The Options area of the game has the somewhat standard selection of Music Volume and SFX Volume, as well as Language and Animation Speed. The most interesting sound effect is that of a set of mushrooms cards sizzling in the frying pan as you cook them. There are also various buttons for Credits, Rulebook, etc. One of the nice features of the game is the inclusion of seven Variants, including the Normal game play. These choices become available when choosing to start a new game. It also contains a robust list of Achievements to further pursue and provide yet another additional layer of replayability to an already addictive game.
The User Interface is fairly straightforward and clearly laid out. Each player has a graphic that displays the current point total, as well as the number of Foraging Sticks, cards in hand and maximum hand size. Your collection of cards in hand are organized by mushroom type and you are able to tap on the discard pile to see what cards have already been discarded. The graphics are suitable for the game play and there is minimal animation without any unnecessary special effect animations. The artwork is clear and somewhat whimsical and contributes to the atmosphere of the game. Continued on next page>
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Mobile Review
I am happy to say the Artificial Intelligence for the game is quite strong. It proved to be a tough challenge even on the medium setting. Both veteran players and newcomers will appreciate having a worthy opponent on any of the difficulty settings. Overall, this is a very fine app for those looking for a fun set collection game against a worthy AI or an online opponent. The games are fast paced, unless you get bogged down with AP and card counting, and are generally around five minutes or so. Because of the challenging AI, I found myself immediately wanting to play another game - especially after a close loss.
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(Cont.)
On a strategic level there were several things that needed attention. First up, the Night cards are quite strong. Since these count as two mushrooms (except for Morels) the AI was constantly playing for them, especially at the higher AI levels. So some games revolved around who was able to gain access to the majority of these cards. Which led to “conflicts� over the collecting of Foraging Sticks. And speaking about the Foraging Sticks, their collection is an important element of the game, especially when there are several Night cards available. This was perhaps the hardest decision in the game. Do you trade off some good mushrooms to gain enough Foraging Sticks to chase Night
cards and specific mushrooms that you need that are placed earlier in the row of cards to be chosen from ? Or, do you hold onto the mushrooms and hope to cook them in order to be able to outscore your opponent. This was particularly painful when you had 2 of the 3 Morels and there was no guarantee you’d get the third and you’d be stuck with two “dead” cards at the end of the game. To make the decision making even harder, you have to weigh obtaining Frying Pans (otherwise you can’t cook your mushrooms) and Baskets (to increase your hand size). It’s all these “little” decisions that make the game so interesting, especially as you can normally only take one card per turn.
While I have never had the opportunity to play the “real” game, I found that the app provided for an excellent platform in which to learn and play the game. So much so, that I am now considering buying the actual game to add to my collection! I’m happy to say that Morels satiates my appetite for a food themed game and is a welcome app on my tablet… and dinner table.
Version # Price: Devices:
1.00.01 $4.99 Android and iOS Developer: Mossbark Games LLC
Recommended www.mossbark.com
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Star Realms: Command Decks
By Serge Pierro
Powerful Commanders
W
hile Star Realms is probably my favorite deck builder, I was impressed with White Wizard Game’s use of the Character Packs in Hero Realms, which I felt elevated that game to another level. The concept of having specific decks tuned to playing as a Wizard, Cleric, Thief, etc. really added to the gaming experience. So, when White Wizard Games announced the release of Command Decks for Star Realms, I was both intrigued and excited to see if they delivered the same upgrade in gameplay and experience, as the Character Packs did for Hero Realms. Let’s find out. Although the products are described as Command Decks, the actual packaging and card count are more like an expansion pack. Each one comes in a foil pack that fans of CCG’s will be familiar with and includes 18 cards.
you draw a hand of 6 cards a turn and you begin the game with a starting Authority of 62. The back of the card features pt.2 of 2 (see below for pt.1) of the rules for the deck. Each deck also includes two cards for tracking your Authority. It uses a system of 0-9 on one card (vertical) and another card that uses the sides of the cards that have 0,10,20,30,40,50 etc. printed on them. You place the higher number over the 0-9 card in order to display your current status. Example: turn the top card to the side that has “40” and slide it until it displays “7” at the top and it displays “47”. This works wll, however, it also prone to being accidentally bumped. The higher number card displays the same art as the Legendary Commander card and the lower number card has the same art as the “Valken’s Enterprise”, though slightly enlarged.
And speaking of “Valken’s Enterprise”, each deck For this review we will focus on the “The contains two Gambits. In this case the second Coalition” pack, as it will give you an idea of what Gambit is “Coalition Efficiency” which also contains types of cards and deck/mechanic compositions on the back of the card pt. 1 of 2 of the rules. One that you can expect. of the Gambits has a once per turn effect, while the other has a once per game effect. Each pack will include a Legendary Commander card. In this case the Coalition (blue/red - Trade The core of each Command Deck is the assortment Federation/Machine Cult) Commander is “High of cards that have been designed for use for the Director Valken”. The card’s main stats are that specific Legendary Commander. For the two decks
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that I received (The Coalition and The Union) the card breakdown was as follows: 1 expensive card (cost 8) that was a combination of the two factions, 2 cards specific to one of the 2 factions, 2 cards specific to the other faction and 8 unaligned cards.
yet “Frontier Tug” has the synergy ability: “Shuffle the next base you acquire this turn into your deck.” The other card has a 2 Authority bonus. Both cards have the usual “Trade Federation” feel to them.
The Machine Cult cards also have their familiar feel to them, “Salvage Drone” allows you to gain 1 Trade OR Scrap a card in your hand or discard pile. However, it is the “Laser Drone” which uses the latest mechanism introduced into Star Realms, that of a Double Ally. Like most cards that have an Ally ability, this has the standard bonus, however, if you have two or more cards in play of the same faction, you get to use the second ability also. Example: “Laser Drone”: 2 damage, an additional faction card +1 damage, an additional two or more The other four faction cards are similar to cards faction cards +2 damage; totals = by itself 2 damage of their types in the base game faction. Example: with another card 3 damage and with two or more Each of the Trade Federation cards provide 2 Trade, synergetic cards 5 damage. The “prize” of the pack is the 8 cost card that is of both factions. These are powerful cards that are shuffled into the deck at the start of the game and either player can purchase it when it comes into the trade row. The lower right corner of the card displays the Command Deck icon for easy removal when you are done playing. (The other cards in the set contain the same icon for making clean up easier)
Continued on next page>
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Star Realms: Command Decks
Two of the unaligned ships had a faction specific ability. “Federation Scout” provided the synergistic ability of “The next Trade Federation card you acquire this turn costs 1 Trade less”, while “Viper Bot” has a synergistic ability of gaining 3 Combat if you’ve scrapped a card from your hand or discard pile that turn. Both of these proved to be quite useful and were welcomed by all players. The rest of the cards in the deck included a “Ranger” that produced either 1 Trade or 2 Combat, 1 Viper and 4 Scouts. The two recommended ways of using the decks are that each player has a Command Deck or two players use regular decks and go against a third player using a Command Deck. We primarily focused on one on one games, as this is our preferred format. However, we did play some 2 vs.1 games and the Command Deck won all of them. The one on one games were evenly balanced and since I would be reviewing Star Realms: Frontiers this issue, that was the set that we primarily used. We found that the Decks and Frontiers made for an exciting and fast paced game environment. Frontiers is a dynamic set that was further accentuated by the strength of the Command Decks. We felt that the inclusion of the second Ally ability led players to try just a little harder to try and build their decks to be more faction specific. And while this isn’t always a viable option, it did pay off when it was used.
(Cont.)
Each of the Command Decks had a unique feel to them and were well constructed. Although there isn’t the same “clarity” as the Character Packs of Hero’s Realm, as far as defining a specific archetype, the Legendary Characters provided a somewhat similar experience. Overall we were quite happy adding these decks to our one on one games, as they really made an impact on the gameplay and provided for some exciting games. I’m not sure that I would want to play every game with them, as their construction makes for a fast paced game and sometimes we would prefer to have a “slower” buildup towards the finale. With the Command Decks there are early turns in which you are already dealing a large amount of damage, due in large part to the ability to acquire the more expensive cards earlier. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to trying the other two decks to see what kind of effect they have on the game. If you are looking to add some “spice” to your Star Realms games, then look no further, Star Realms Command Decks are an exciting new addition to the game.
Designers: Darwin Kastle and Rob Dougherty
Publisher: Players: Mechanic: Ages: Length:
White Wizard Games 2-4
Deckbuilder
12+ 30+ mins.
Highly Recommended www.whitewizardgames.com
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Game Nite Issue #31
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Your Town
By Serge Pierro
Choose Your Own Graphic Novel
M
any of us can recall the series of Choose Your Own Adventure books of yesteryear and being engrossed as the story unfolded and we kept jumping from page to page based on the decisions we made. And while these books were quite enjoyable, there was just “something” lacking in them. With Graphic Novel Adventures, Van Ryder Games presents a “Choose Your Own Adventure” that brings interesting elements to the genre including graphics and dexterity/resource management mechanisms. Our adventure continues as follows…
The hardcover book measures 6” x 8 1/2” with the first and last pages of the book featuring a heavier paper stock. The paper is glossy and of an above average stock and does a good job of preventing the pages from bleeding through. It’s hard to determine how many pages there are, as the pages are numbered by the panels on the page and not the pages themselves. So, unlike other Choose Your Own Adventure books that have readers turn to specific page numbers and continue their reading, in this book we are referenced to specific panels to go to and the numbering on the bottom of the page facilitates that. Example: page “090091-092” is a page that contains three panels: Although there are several books within 090, 091 and 092. Though 70+ pages would the Graphic Novel Adventures series, we seem to be right. will be taking a look at Your Town, which apparently was originally printed in French by Makaka Editions.
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The graphic novel uses a limited palette of a few shades of orangish-brown, blue and white; and this works nicely with the marker renderings of artist “2D”. The art reminded me somewhat of a much looser and cartoony version of Moebius’s Blueberry Western series. The writing by “Shuky” is fitting for the genre, but since this is a graphic novel, the writing takes a bit of a backseat to the graphic elements. Though the dialogue and incidental text-boxes clearly fit the theme of the story.
Unlike other Choose Your Own Adventure books, Your Story is very much a game driven story. The book uses several mechanisms: dexterity, resource management, inventory management, grid layout and puzzles. These mechanisms are used throughout the adventure and it could be said that the story is secondary to the actual game itself. In Your Story you are the mayor looking to expand your town. You start off with a few buildings and some locals and you will manage your resources and build more structures, while trying to populate your Continued on next page>
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Your Town
(Cont.)
town with more residents and explore the require a specific building or town member, surrounding areas. in order to be built. Like other Choose Your Own Adventures you have a starting point and from there you branch out to other avenues to pursue. Due to the graphical nature of the book, some of the paths to pursue are slightly “camouflaged” and you have to pay attention to each panel, as there could be objects to pickup, such as horseshoes and gold coins.
The spatial/town mechanism is based on the fact that when you build a building it has to be connected to previously constructed buildings and has to have one side facing the street. This will prove to be challenging as you will eventually find yourself running out of room, so you need to plan out how you want to expand in your starting area, as well as how to build in other areas.
What makes Your Story interesting is the assortment of mechanisms that make for The combat system is based on a dexterity an interesting game, as compared to the mechanism. You are faced with a challenge adventures offered in other books. Let’s take in which an adversary is present and if you a look at some of the mechanisms: decide to “shoot” them, you will take your pencil and raise it 6 inches and then drop The main mechanism is Resource it on the page. If you hit the adversary you Management. You will be looking to build are told to go to another panel and if you a financial engine that will help you expand miss you are told to go to a different panel. your town. Each building you construct While this was an interesting mechanism, it contributes jobs, monthly income, and was one that I disliked, as I’m not much of a possibly some other perks. However, there fan of dexterity games and it didn’t seem to are some buildings that take away from your fit with the other mechanisms of the game. monthly income, so there is a balancing act Though I could certainly understand others in terms of how and when you build certain liking it, as it does a decent job of resolving structures. While many buildings have no combat. requirements to build, there are some that
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One of the secondary levels of interest in the game is that of the puzzles. Scattered throughout the book are several puzzles that can be solved for rewards and such. My experience was that they were interesting, but not essential for playing the game - as far as I know, perhaps future games will reveal more when they are solved. You’ll certainly want to solve them, but if you don’t you aren’t necessarily penalized. On my first run through I didn’t solve any of them, but I will certainly be paying more attention to them on my other attempts. The end of the game is reached when either 12 months have gone by or if you are killed. If the game ends after 12 months you are told to go to a specific page and you then tally your final score based on the criteria presented. After you have your total you will compare it to the list and go to the panel that corresponds to your score. Continued on next page>
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Your Town
(Cont.)
Overall this was a very enjoyable game/ book. Not surprisingly I was a bit clueless as to how to maximum my gameplay, since I didn’t know what the scoring was going to be based on, so I just built things to a specific strategy and saw where it took me. I’m happy to say that I lost my first game, as I was a bit concerned that it would be just an easy “walk in the park” and if I stayed alive I would have a decent chance of “winning”, whatever that meant. I’m hard-pressed at the moment as to whether I should attempt it again with the same path, or try a new starting point and see if that yields better results. Either way, I’m better prepared for the final scoring and would adjust my strategies accordingly. My only complaint with the book is that the art style sometimes got in the way of the game play. What I mean by that is that the artist tends to render foliage in spots that look like the number “3” and there were a couple of times where I thought that turning to panel “33” was a “thing”, but it wasn’t. It could be distracting at times, but not to the point of it being detrimental to the game play.
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Van Ryder games makes all of the pages that require writing on them available for download from their site. I highly recommend that you do so, especially the bookmark, as it contains all of the stats needed to track during the game. You will definitely want to play the game multiple times, so writing in the book is not something that you want to be doing. Well I thought I did a decent job, but the townsfolk didn’t agree and I was run out of town… Time to try and stake a claim somewhere else and see if I can do a better job next time...
Shuky Publisher: Van Ryder Games Players: 1 Mechanic: Resource Management, Grid Layout Ages: 14+ Length: ? Designer:
Highly Recommended www.vanrydergames.com
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Interview
By Serge Pierro
• Game Nite • Editor in Chief • Publisher Serge Pierro - Game Nite Thank you for taking the time to share your I might have to revisit that. My first original thoughts with our readers, can you tell us a little designs were sports based. I still have a Golf game that I’m still quite proud of based on something about yourself? I’m a guitar teacher, I’ve been playing for 41 years and teaching for 35+ years. And although I don’t practice 12-16 hours a day anymore, I still try to get in at least 1-2 hours a day. My other interests are food and wine, photography, reading, chess and most recently I’ve started to become interested in woodcarving. And of course, games...
Augusta National and I designed it to scale with the course and developed the statistic engine to have each player in the game reflect on their real life counterpart. I guess in some ways it is more of a simulation, but this was when I was a young kid and computer games weren’t quite in fashion yet.
What games over the years have you enjoyed most, from both the point of personal enjoyment, Did you start designing games at an early age? If as well as those that influenced your growth as a so, do you remember what your first game design designer? was like? Like many aspiring game designers, I started by tweaking the rules of existing games as a kid. I remember one game I called Gamma which was a backgammon variant that allowed players to move in both directions and led to many interesting tactical battles. Perhaps some day
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Obviously Chess, but as far as commercial games go: Legend of the Five Rings, Magic the Gathering, Trajan, Terra Mystica, Lost Cities, The 7th Continent, Star Realms, there’s just too many to list!
When the opportunity presents itself, what games I love Chess due to its depth and history. You are able to go over all the games of the past, have you currently been playing? Online I’ve been playing Chess, Star Realms, Trajan, Castles of Burgundy, Rajas of the Ganges, Mystic Vale and Eminent Domain. Most of the games that I play “in person” tend to be games that I need to play for a review or prototypes that I’m currently developing.
You have often stated that Chess is your favorite game. Why?
move by move, often with annotations by top grandmasters, and relive the game and the struggles contained within. No other game is really like that. Even sports such as Baseball and Football only give a glimpse of what happened in the box scores, but here you can analyze the same positions that the players were experiencing and wade through the variations to discover how they thought and how this information can help you improve.
Plus, as an avid reader, there are tons of books I’m a huge fan of Chess, both playing it and on Chess. following it. In my opinion, no other game comes close. It’s part science, part art and part Who are your favorite Chess players? sport! I like sinking into a deep line of analysis and seeing what I can find… and hopin it is I’ve always been a big fan of Jose Raul mistake free. Capablanca, as well as Anatoly Karpov. Though these days I tend to play sharper, so I’ve been I recently made it to the finals in a 90 player enjoying the maniacal games of Mikhal Tal, as tournament… and lost, and I’m currently in the well as many of Garry Kasparov’s games. I’m finals of another tournament of 98 players… all interested to see how Magnus Carlsen develops of which sounds impressive, but before that I over time. hadn’t made the finals in any of the previous tournaments over the last few years. Though I Who are your favorite game designers? did win one a few years ago. Stefan Feld and Reiner Knizia.
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Interview
(Cont.)
Is there a particular designer that you would be cards for several of their games and my interest interested in collaborating with? If so, what type of in Game Design grew and I started to get more serious about designing games and people were game would you be interested in making?
interested in what I was creating. My first game (self published) sold out of two printings I’d love to do a deckbuilding game with Stefan and I have a catalog of others waiting for me Feld, just to see what we would come up with! to do something with them… unfortunately, Game Nite has taken up a bit more time than I Can you tell us how you became involved in the originally anticipated.
game industry?
I used to own a couple of comic book/game stores and remember ordering Magic the Gathering from the distributor catalog thinking that if no one else was interested, it looked like something that I would like. So I was there from Alpha and it rekindled my interest in games. One of my customers was part of a gaming group and invited me to their sessions. I remember playing stuff like Carcassonne with the German copies of the game with hand typed rules in English. These guys were hardcore and I wound up playing many of the initial Eurogames as the came out. They were also collectors, so there was always tons of games available from around the world. Then I started to play in competitive CCG’s tournaments and became a top ranked player in Legend of the Five Rings and wound up playtesting for Alderac and Wizards of the Coast, among others. I was designing some
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What prompted you to publish Game Nite magazine? I remember watching a “Boardgame Breakfast” by Tom Vassel and he mentioned about giving back to the community and something about that resonated. I’ve met many excellent people in the hobby and industry and my closest friend is a result of gaming, so I thought it would be fun to do a magazine about games. However, I had no idea what I was doing, but I decided to give it a shot anyhow. Of course the problem was that I had expected 50-100 friends to maybe download it and read it, yet in the first week there were 2600 downloads and 1400+ reads on ISSUU and it just kept growing from there. All of a sudden there was an audience that I hadn’t anticipated on, I thought that I’d grow into it over a period of time, but instead I was thrust into a situation that was unexpected!
I’ve had offers for sponsorships and companies interested in advertising, but I keep avoiding that, as I don’t want to pursue that path unless I was going to do it full time. I’d like to keep things open so that I can stop anytime I want and pursue other matters, such as Game Design.
Of all the games that you’ve reviewed in Game Nite, which one did you feel was the best? Tough question. Though I’d have to say The 7th Continent. It is such a brilliant and original design that the experience of playing was like nothing else. I still have some expansions that I purposely have not played so that I can take it off the shelf again sometime and experience that level of mystery and excitement again.
What was the best book that you reviewed? “The Art of Game Design” by Jesse Schell.
What do you think of the current state of the industry? I guess here’s where I get in trouble. The one thing that I have noticed over the past 20 years is a certain lack of professionalism by the newer designers and publishers. Not all
of them, but there are clearly those who don’t handle themselves in a professional manner. A prime example of that is this interview. It was supposed to be with a designer/publisher that many people would know, but less than 24 hours before releasing this issue he said that he couldn’t give the interview answers until the end of the month. He had plenty of time to answer them. The sad part is that this is not the first time this has happened. The last time I was fortunate to have 2 interviews scheduled for the issue, so when the one guy “flaked” out I still had another interview to run. The only person that I could think of interviewing on such short notice was me, and I thought that maybe some readers would be interested in knowing more about the guy behind the magazine. Another current annoyance is when companies say they are sending a game and I leave a space for it in the current issue, and they never send it, thus causing me to scramble to fill the spot. If they don’t want to send it, no problem, just don’t tell me that you are and then don’t send it. I turn away several people every issue so getting review copies isn’t a problem, but I prefer to select what I think our readers would be interested in or give exposure to a small company that seems to deserve it.
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Game Nite Issue #31
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Interview
(Cont.)
I am a bit concerned about some of the Who has had the most influence on your guitar publishers, in particular the larger ones from playing? the past. Between Kickstarter and an influx of new publishers, there’s only so much cash that Allan Holdsworth and Pat Metheny. can be spread out and at some point there will be a reckoning. I saw it in the comic world and What advice would you have for would be game many of the same signs are appearing in the hobby. Companies will have to adjust to the publishers? new marketplace. We are already starting to see it with more games being printed with smaller The exposure that a reviewed game gets is far cheaper than an advertisement and if only one print runs. or two people buy your game because of it, then Who are your favorite authors? it has already paid for itself and you will still have been exposed to a wider audience that I have a very wide range of interests, however, might not have been familiar with your game for Fiction I enjoy Hiraku Murakami, Thomas and might consider purchasing it at a later date. Pynchon, Jonathan Carroll, David Mitchell, I’ve had small publishers tell me that there was Brandon Sanderson, Italo Calvino etc. I’ve a noticeable spike in sales due to a review in written over 1,000 book reviews on Goodreads, Game Nite and I’m sure it’s the same with other so you could probably go there to get a better reviewers as well. idea of the books I’ve read recently.
Who are your favorite bands/artists? Rock: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest Jazz Fusion: Allan Holdsworth, Pat Metheny, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Ralph Towner, Charlie Hunter Classical: Andres Segovia, John Williams, David Russell, Christopher Parkening Jazz: Jim Hall, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis, John Coltrane
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What advice would you have for aspiring game designers? If you want to self publish your game, do your homework. Study the material on sites that James Mathe and Jamey Stegmaier have made available. Also read/study some economics/ business books to understand what you are getting into. In actuality you will be more of a publisher than a designer.
If you want to focus on just doing Game Is there anything else you would like to say? Design, then understand the submission process and find an excellent group of playtesters that Yes, thanks to all of the readers of Game are willing to tear apart your game, as they can Nite!! I certainly appreciate your support and provide the insight to take your game to the encouragement! I would also like to thank all of next level. the writers that have contributed to the magazine over the years. Without their efforts we would Like anything else, the more that you practice have never reached the audience we have now. the better you will get. I was told by a designer I’d like to also thank all of the companies that that the best way to start to design a card game have provided review copies. As well as all is to make a deck of 10 cards from the game of the designers, publishers, artists, sculptors and see if it works the way that you expected. and everyone else who shared their time and This attitude carries over to board games as thoughts in responding to our interviews! well. Start small and add as you go along, the design will be tighter and there will be less blind Thanks again, everyone! spots as the game develops. For board games it is often the mechanisms that are removed from the design that make for the most progress of moving the game forward. And of course, don’t become attached to your prototypes, you will be making changes, so stay flexible and be willing to make dramatic changes if needed.
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Wu Wei
By Serge Pierro
Martial Arts Themed Abstract
G
ames based on Martial Arts always grab my attention. Having studied Tai Chi Chuan and Wing Chun, I’m continuously on the lookout for any game that integrates those themes into a game. Wu Wei by Gray Wolf Games had recently caught my eye, as an abstract game with a Martial Arts theme.
The 36 page rulebook is the size of the box and like the rest of the production is of a high quality. And while 36 pages would seem to be a lot for a game of this depth, much of it is devoted to Martial Arts quotes and books for further reading. The rules cover the three main difficulty levels of the game: Initiate, Master and Emperor, as well as the 3 stages of the Solo game. The rules and layout are decent, though the Martial Arts The first thing that you notice about the flavor text can be distracting at times. game is the size of the box and its weight. It measures 12” x 12” x 3 3/4” and is quite heavy. The board is further confirmation of the high Inside the box you are greeted with a custom, production values of the game. The four panel black plastic insert. The nicely designed insert board is very thick and sturdy and features even includes molded icons on the bottom of recessed areas for the placement of the wooden some of the storage areas to indicate where the tiles. I’ve seen this done on player boards, but I relevant wooden tiles go. The large section also believe this is the first time I’ve seen it done on a allows for the storage of the plastic Chi tokens main board. Very impressive and well done. within the cloth bags. There should be special kudos to Panda Games for the production quality of the box and components.
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As mentioned above, the game comes with chunky wooden tiles that are placed in the recesses of the game board. The 4 Directional tiles measure c.2” x 2” x 1/2” and are painted and double sided. One side has a silk screened English letter representing the direction “N” = North, while the other side has a silk screened Kanji representing the direction. We felt that playing with the Kanji side was the “proper” way to play. The other 30 wooden tiles (Temple, Palace, Towns), 4 Tower tiles and 2 Chi tiles are the same width and height as the Directional tiles, yet they are only 1/4” thick. Each of these are painted and have silk screened graphics on both sides.
Another production highlight is the inclusion of the 180 plastic Chi tokens and their corresponding cloth bags. Each token measures a little more than a 1/2” across and has an image printed on both the front and back. I tried scratching off the image with my fingernail, but was not successful. Each set of 36 Chi tokens can be stored in the associated bag. Each cloth bag has two drawstrings and is the same color as the tokens, as well as featuring a black silkscreened logo of the Chi token. Side note: upon opening the box you will not find the Chi tokens, as there is just so many components included in plastic bags, you will have to remove the insert and find the bags of tokens on the bottom of the box. Continued on next page>
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Wu Wei (Cont.)
The main pieces of the game are the custom Movement: This is the main step on your turn. dice. Each of them measure 3/4” and feature a You can move one, two or three spaces as long “+”, “-“ and a graphic of the animal representing as the one tile you are on shares an adjacent face your style on the remaining four sides. with another. You can’t move from a square tile to another square tile, as they are not adjacent. The 25 Animal cards measure 1 5/8” x 2 1/2”. Their use in the game doesn’t require sleeves. Students can’t share a space with other Students and Masters can’t share a space with other All of the remaining card board components are Masters. The only exception to this is when a made of a strong cardboard stock, in particular Student gains their 5th Animal card and trains with a Master to become a Master themselves on the Terrain Octagons. that turn. Since there are three levels of play, we are going to focus on the Master level of play, which is Masters cannot move until their Student has the 2nd of 3 levels. To set up the game board, become a Master themselves. follow the instructions in the rule book. During this step you are also allowed to Manifest A player’s turn is made up of the following four Chi. You can spend 1 Chi to move an additional steps: Meditate, Move, Align With Nature and space. You can spend 3 Chi to destroy a wall. Develop Discipline. You can spend 3 Chi to activate one of your Animal card’s “once a game” ability. As a side Meditate: During this step the active player will note you an always use “Alchemy” to trade 2 Chi check the Yin & Yang balance. If they are black of one type into 1 Chi of another type. and white, then any character can move. If they are both black, then only characters with black Another important thing to note in the Master in their design may move, and if they are both version of the game (as compared to the Initiate white, then only characters with white in their version) is that when a character moves off of a design may move. If a player is unable to move Yin or Yang tile, it is flipped over and the next a character this turn they have to declare one Character to move will be governed by the new of their characters to be “Undisciplined” and alignment. accept the appropriate penalty. (see rulebook)
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Align With Nature: During this step you check to see if you ended your movement on a Town, Temple or Palace. If you land on a Town you move the appropriate marker on the Town Board, as this will determine the new active element. Only active elements can manifest Chi. If you land on a Palace that is inactive you collect Chi as normal. However, if you land on a Palace that is active, you move the marker on the Palace board to the new position matching where you landed and you may then place a wall within that quadrant. If you land on a Temple, you move the marker one step to the right and then the new season indicates which tiles are impassable.
The last step is Develop Discipline. When a Student and Master share a space they are considered to be training and the Student receives an Animal card that matches the Master’s Lineage marker. Each Student may only receive one of each card. Masters will Cultivate Chi during this step by collecting 3 Chi matching their Lineage marker. Players will use these four steps on each of their turns and the first player to return both of their Masters back to the center of the board wins.
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Wu Wei (Cont.)
In addition to the three levels of the regular game, there is also a solo variant that can be played alone or in a campaign mode. Each of the three solo stages have three levels of difficulty, thus adding to the challenge and the replayability. I found the solo game to be interesting and on my first game I was able to beat the first stage with only one card left in the deck. The campaign mode is quite interesting as it takes the three stages of the solo game and arranges them for a continuous run-through, along with carry over effects and such from the previous stages. The rules section for the solo play has special icons to designate rules specific to the campaign mode. As a fan of solitaire games, I’m looking forward to further exploring the campaign mode. Overall this is a game that deserves a serious look. While the gameplay is quite “simple�, the components and additional rules can make it tricky to learn and teach others. The components are outstanding, however, more attention should have been devoted to the elegance of the design, thus avoiding most of the confusing elements of the game. But, nonetheless the game provides for an interesting experience, especially at the higher player counts when the tactical nature of the game kicks into a higher gear.
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We enjoyed the fact that there were different levels of the game. We found that the Initiate level was useful for learning the game, as well as providing an easier game for children to participate in, though the company recommends ages 14+. The Master level is considered to be the base game and the Emperor level is the advanced game. Gamers will certainly be interested in the Emperor level, as it adds quite a bit to the game play - including new components. The solo game is robust offering three different modes of play, each with three levels of difficulty, as well as providing an interesting Campaign mode. As mentioned above, the components are excellent. However, there is a price to be paid for this. The Palaces, Temples and Towns are designated by triangles, circles and squares and it was hard to keep track of which was which, especially on the initial play. This could have been easily taken care of with an icon indicating what each shape represented. For example: a small pagoda for a temple on the corner of the tile, while still maintaining the current graphic design. If you purchase this game you will probably wind up spending more time getting used to the system and having it become secondary. But new players will have to adapt to the learning curve.
Another strange graphic decision was having excellent illustrations on the dice, yet the “-“ and “+” were the symbols that were shown on the top of the die and provided for a lackluster playing piece. The animal symbols on the dice were awesome and should have been more dominant, as the plus and minus signs just weren’t interesting to look at.
On the plus side, the layout and design of the board is pretty amazing. The wooden tiles are chunky and add dimension to the board. But, more importantly they provide a support structure for the octagon tiles, as the tiles are held nicely in place by the wooden structures. Clearly a lot of thought went into the design of the board and its associated components.
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Wu Wei (Cont.)
The tasks in the game, especially during the solo mode, were somewhat reminiscent of Martial Arts, though I wouldn’t consider it immersive. Having said that, the theme does add a nice element to the game, and the game itself is an interesting abstract game, so the theme isn’t really needed as much to carry the game play. While it seems I might be a bit down on certain aspects of the game, that is only because there’s actually a lot to like here if this type of game draws your interest. There is a level of depth that is worth exploring and as mentioned above this is further brought out at the higher player counts when everyone is manipulating the tracking boards to limit their opponent’s moves and strategies. I can’t but feel that there is much more to explore with this game and I’m hoping to have the opportunities to do so, as I’d like to see what the deeper aspects of the game has to offer.
If you are interested in abstract games with a race element, then this is a game that you will certainly want to take a look at, as the components are excellent and there is a lot to discover, as long as you are willing to deal with the initial learning curve that keeps the game from being immediately enjoyable. It definitely grows on you as you peel back the layers and explore what it has to offer. “Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.” - The Art of War, Sun Tzu
Justin Waggle Publisher: Gray Wolf Games Players: 1-6 Mechanic: Abstract, Set Collection, Race Ages: 14+ Length: 45-90 mins. Designer:
Recommended www.playwuwei.com
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Star Realms: Frontiers
By Serge Pierro
Star Realms Standalone Expansion
T
he one thing that surprises me about Star Realms is that after alI the time I have spent playing it live and having 20-30 games going at once on the app, I’m still not bored of the base game. I’ve even bought all of the expansions for the app… and I’m not even close to exhausting the game play of those either. So, when Star Realms: Frontiers arrived, I was looking forward to seeing how this standalone expansion would compare to the base game and Colony Wars. For those who have been on the fence about Star Realms, this would make an excellent entry point. Let’s see why…
explain the various Formats that can be used to play the game. Pages 21-40 feature the excellent “Solo/ Co-op” Challenges. The last few pages give the backstory on the game’s Factions, as well as how they play within the game.
Star Realms: Frontiers comes in the same 6” x 4” x 2” sized box as the Hero Realms line of games. This is a welcome addition, as compared to the tuck boxes of Star Realms and Star Realms: Colony Wars. The box contains a standard cardboard insert that divides the box into two section in which to hold the cards.
There are 80 new cards in the Frontiers expansion, as well as 16 Explorers, 32 Scouts and 8 Vipers. Also included are 4 pairs of scorecards. With the generous supply of Explorers, Scouts and Vipers, this allows for player counts up to four players straight out of the box, as compared to the two player counts of Star Realms and Colony Wars.
Since this is a standalone expansion the 44 page rulebook covers all of the relevant rules. The first 15 pages are devoted to explaining the rules for first time players, as well as the new rules/ mechanisms for veteran players. Pages 16-20
Besides the inclusion of new cards for the game, perhaps the most interesting aspect of Frontiers is the inclusion of Challenges. These allow for solo and co-op game play and provide great value to the game. Each Challenge has a front a back to it.
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One of the best features of this new expansion is the inclusion of a series of Challenges that can be played solo or cooperatively. The 8 oversized cards measure 3 1/8” x 4 6/8”. Each of them are double sided with the front of the cards displaying the Challenge’s abilities and such, while the back provides the rules specific for that Challenge. (see below)
The front will indicate the starting Authority for the Boss (Each Challenge is considered a Boss - the opponent that you are playing against). It will also have the text for the rules/abilities of the Challenge/ Boss. On the back of each card are the special rules that are specific to the Challenge. And while the rules do a decent job of giving you an overview of the Challenge, they are further clarified in the rule book, with each Challenge having a couple of pages devoted to it. Another nice touch about the rule book is that at the start of each Challenge there is some backstory provided which sets the mood/ atmosphere for the encounter. Within the Challenge section of the rulebook is also a section on choosing the difficulty levels. These are primarily determined by shifting the turn order. Example: Beginner - Players take three turns
each before the Boss’s first turn, whereas Expert has the Boss goes first. There are also two other levels available, Intermediate and Veteran. We felt that most experienced Star Realms players will opt for the Veteran level at first and then adjust accordingly. Veteran is quite challenging and if someone hasn’t played Star Realms before, they should probably start at Beginner to get a feel for the game, as the Veteran and Expert levels are pretty brutal. Each of the Challenges were demanding and provided an excellent solo game. On both the thematic and game play level, I thought that the “Blob Assault” Challenge was perhaps my favorite. All of the Blob cards are removed from the deck and a special deck is formed with the cards. The specific cards are arranged in a particular order. It was fun to play against the Boss as you felt that Continued on next page>
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Star Realms: Frontiers (Cont.) you were playing against an alien invasion. I played several time with the Veteran difficulty level and only won once, which I loved, as there’s no point in playing a solo game unless it is a difficult challenge that keeps you coming back for more. As far as the Frontiers cards themselves go, the main new addition to the game is the inclusion of the Double Ally ability. Normally if you have two cards of a faction in play it will trigger any of the Ally abilities on the cards, however now with the addition of the Double Ally ability, if you have three or more cards of a faction in play you get to trigger this new ability, which is in addition to the others. Example: “Light Cruiser” does 4 Combat and target opponent discards a card. If you have another Star Empire card in play it receives an ally bonus of 2 Combat. However, if you have an additional 2 or more Star Empire cards in play it allows you to draw a card. With the Double Ally ability triggered, the net effect is 6 Combat, your opponent discards a card and you draw a card. This new ability had players initially trying to tune their decks accordingly, though it wasn’t always possible to do so. But, when you had your deck tweaked and were able to Scrap out cards, the Double Ally ability really shined. And speaking of Scrapping, I was a little disappointed to see that the Scrapping in the set was primarily of the “target hand” OR “target discard” variety. Fortunately there are still cards that still offer the choice of hand or discard. If there was one word that I would use to describe the set I would choose, dynamic. The game seemed a bit quicker at the start due to the inclusion of
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plenty of Trade options, while the mid/endgame featured many of the powerful Combat cards that rendered large attacks. Another nice touch were some new concepts, such as “Warpgate Cruiser” which allowed you to discard cards from your hand to deal 2 Combat for each card discarded, and then drawing a card, and on the Blob side there was “Pulverizer” which allowed you to scrap a card in the Trade Row and receive Combat equal to the Scrapped card’s cost. Overall, Frontiers is a welcome addition to the Star Realms universe and adds a lot to the game. I would need to play more games with it (and I will!), but currently it is my favorite version of the game, as there are new and interesting strategies to pursue and card interactions to exploit. If you have never played Star Realms, this standalone expansion is an excellent entry point, and the inclusion of the Challenges will provide you with an excellent “opponent” to practice against. White Wizard Games continues to expand and provide excellent material in their Star Realms line of games and I’m quite happy to add this to my game collection.
Designers: Darwin Castle & Rob Dougherty
Publisher: Players: Mechanic: Ages: Length:
White Wizard Games 1-4 Deck Builder 12+ 30+ Mins.
Highly Recommended www.whitewizardgames.com
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Abstract Games
By Tom M Franklin
Abalone
A
balone was designed by Michel Lalet and Laurent Levi in 1987. Between 1989 and 1991 it won eight international gaming awards including the Game or Toy of the Year in seven different countries. It won the Golden Ace (Game of the Year) in France, was a Spiel des Jahres Recommended Game, and was named “Invention of the Year” in Switzerland. In 1990, Abalone became one of the first games to win the Mensa Select award, thus becoming part of the standard for games that Mensa determines to be “original, challenging and well designed.”
or three. To move your opponent’s marbles off the board you must push them off with your own. Two of your marbles can push one of your opponent’s marbles; three marbles push one marble or push two marbles. (Four does not push three; equal numbers are at a stalemate.) Like most great abstracts, the concepts behind the game and the movements are simple, but gameplay is not. Players quickly learn that controlling the center of the board gives you more opportunities to attack your opponent’s pieces. However, by trying to push one of their pieces off the board you are potentially opening a series of your own marbles to an attack. Such trade-offs can be used strategically, particularly if you are in the lead and/or if you can force a two-for-one trade in your favor.
The game is played on a hexagonal board running five ‘holes’ to a side with a trench bordering the sides. Each player starts with 14 marbles of their color and work to eliminate six of their opponent’s marbles by pushing them off the board and into the trenches. In recent years Abalone has had its share of detractors, those who say that the game is flawed due to a The movements in Abalone are so simple that I player’s ability to stay in the middle of the board and have taught it without saying a word. Marbles may defend their marbles while making no attempt at move singly in a straight line or in groups of two pushing opponent’s marbles off the board. This has
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Photo: Tom M Franklin
been addressed in both Tournament play and by the game’s large fanbase. In Tournaments, judges can penalize overly defensive game play and/or games can be limited to a given number of moves and judged on the number of marbles occupying the center positions. Fans have proposed a wide array of new starting positions. In the standard game, all 14 marbles start on a single side of the board, grouped together. Alternative opening positions see each player’s marbles split into two or more groups that change the way even seasoned players approach the game.
Abalone has been described as sumo wrestling with marbles, but this only addresses the brute force pushing aspect of the game. It fails to capture the rather satisfying clack of the marbles as they push each other across the board and the ka-chunk as they land in their new positions on the board. It’s rare for me that sounds can play such an important part of enjoying a game, but this visceral aspect of Abalone is one that I share with almost everyone I’ve taught the game to. Ka-chunk! Highly Recommended
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Interview Gallery
Steve Jackson #1
Dan Verssen #1
Paul Herbert #1
Reiner Knizia #2
Franz Vohwinkel #2
James Ernest #2
Mark Copplestone #2
Reiner Knizia #3
Peter Adkison #3
Brom #3
Chenier La Salle #4
Ryan Dancey #4
Brian Snoddy #4
Beth Sobel #5
Bruno Faidutti #5
Tom Jolly #6
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Antoine Bauza #7
Dennis Lohausen #7
Ryan Laukat #8
Chad Hoverter #9
Matt Leacock #9
Greg Isabelli #9
Ignacy Trzewiczek #10
Jacqui Davis #10
Johan Koitka #10
Jamey Stegmaier #11
Michael Menzel #11
Kay Wilke #11
Vincent Dutrait #12
Mike Fitzgerald #12
Sandy Petersen #13
Mihajlo Dimitrievski #13
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Interview Gallery (Cont.)
Bruno Cathala #14
John Ariosa #14
Friedemann Friese #15
Joshua Cappel #15
Eric Vogel #15
Mac Gerdts #16
Keldon Jones #16
Steve Finn #17
J. Alex Kevern #18
Richard Ham #18
Ludovic Roudy #19
Bruno Sautter #19
Phil Walker-Harding #20
Luke Peterschmidt #21
Mike Richie #22
Grant Wilson #22
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Curt Covert #23
Daryl Andrews #24
Rob Dougherty #25
Nestor Romeral Andres #26
Leonard Koh #27
Rui Alipio Monteiro #28
Luke Laurie #29
Darwin Kastle #30
Serge Pierro #31
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Book Review Index
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Issue #1
Issue #2
Issue #3
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Issue #5
Issue #6
Issue #7
Issue #8
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Mobile Review Index
Issue #12
Issue #13
Issue #14
Issue #15
Issue #16
Issue #17
Issue #18
Issue #19
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Issue #20
Issue #21
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Mobile Review Index (Cont.)
Issue #27
Issue #30
Issue #28
Issue #31
Issue #29
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Contributors Serge Pierro Serge has playtested numerous games for several companies, including
Wizards of the Coast and AEG. He has also written for Duelist, Inquest and Gamer print magazines. His award winning photography has appeared in both newspapers and magazines. He has self published a game, and has several other designs ready... but, currently finds his free time devoted to doing Game Nite.
Eric Devlin Eric has been the North East Regional Representative for Wizards
of the Coast, the brand manager of Legends of the Five Rings, as well as working with Sabretooth and Third World Games. He has an extensive background in playtesting for top companies. He has also written for Games Quarterly, Duelist, Inquest and others.
Jeff Rhind Jeff is a single father raising a 19 year-old son and a 8 year-old daughter, and slowly coaxing them into the world of tabletop gaming. He has been gaming for many years and shares his love and appreciation for the hobby by reviewing and talking about games on his web site: completelyboard. com as well as his You Tube channel at youtube.com/completelyboard. You can also follow him on twitter @jeffrhind
Tom M Franklin Tom lives in North Carolina where he and his wife are staff to their five cats.
His writing has appeared in his agent’s Inbox and the occasional hand-written letter to friends. He grew up playing Abstract Strategy Games (back when they were simply called games) and still regards dice of all kinds with suspicion. His Board Gaming Claim to Fame is having taught over 300 kids how to play Chess. Considering he’s been playing board games for over 50 years he really should be much better at them than he is.
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Game Review Index (Isuues 1-6)
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• • • • • •
This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the 2-4 of Us Small World Stella Nova Shoot-Out Postcard Cthulhu Postcard Empire
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Tile Chess Cards of Cthulhu Samurai Spirit Golem Arcana Pairs Sutakku Timeline
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Baseball Highlights 2045 Samurai Sword Paperback For the Crown Trench Firefly Cutthroat Caverns Rise of the Zombies Shadow Throne
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Rhino Hero Attila Spurs and Sprockets Chaosmos March of the Ants AquaSphere Fidelitas Rise of Cthulhu Maha Yodah
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Animal Upon Animal Sushi Draft Stones of Fate WWII: Stalingrad Stockpile The Magnates Sentinel Tactics Flip City Space Movers 2201 Dark Tales
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Nevermore Gold West Arcadia Quest Dragon Flame New York 1901 Lift Off! Tesla vs. Edison Yashima Targi
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Outer Earth 1944: Race to the Rhine Runecast Cycling Tour Witkacy Firefly: Fistful of Credits Dozen Doubloons King Down
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Game Review Index (Issues 7-12)
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• • • • • • • • • • • •
Steam Works Web of Spies Cartography Xia: Legends of a Drift System Orleans Raiders of the North Sea Hoyuk Wizards of the Wild Myths at War Ring It! Hogg Wild for Wealth The Martian Investigations
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Cosmic Run Imperial Harvest Under the Pyramids (Eldritch Horror Expansion) Bomb Squad Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization Luna Biblios Dice Trekking the National Parks Fuse Skulldug! Horrible Hex
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Cuisine a la Cart Foragers The Shadow Over Westminster Scoville Valeria: Card Kingdom Onitama Knit Wit Worlds Fair: 1893 Flip City: Reuse Gruff The Walled City Empires at Sea
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JurassAttack! Oh My Gods! Looting Atlantis 13 Days Apotheca Tiny Epic Galaxies Automobiles Daxu Slaughterville Kheops Scoville: Labs Ancient Conflict Treasure Chest
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Dr. Eureka Stockpile: Continuing Corruption Sugar Gliders Dawn of the Zeds: Third Edition Vast: The Crystal Caverns The Networks Grifters Trajan Conspiracy! Secrets of the Last Tomb Best Treehouse Ever Matryoshka
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Imhotep In the Name of Odin Centauri Saga Draconis Invasion Dastardly Dirigibles Flamme Rouge Haspelknecht Hansa Teutonica Star Trek Panic Theomachy Commissioned San Ni Ichi Small City Game Nite Issue #31
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Game Review Index (Issues 13-18)
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• • • • • • • • • • • • •
Kanagawa Lunarchitects Hero Realms Santorini Vinhos: Deluxe Colony Sun Tzu Bermuda Crisis Tavarua Explorers of the North Sea America San Allies Crisis
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Hanamikoji Element Villages of Valeria Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition 7 Wonders Duel Oceanos Herbaceous A Feast For Odin Schotten Totten This Belongs in a Museum
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Ninja Taisen Space Invaders Dice! The Dresden Files Card Game Pyramids Quests of Valeria Amun-Re Cultists of Cthulhu Magic Maze Knot Dice The Cohort Crazier Eights Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu
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7&7 March of the Ants: Minions of the Meadow Honshu Web of Spies Saga of the Northmen Tournament at Camelot Haspelknecht: The Ruhr Valley Plague Inc. Zephyr Terrible Monster 5ive Duress
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Fantasy Realms Space Race Isle of Skye Unearth ION Escape from 100 Million BC Battle for Souls COG Near and Far Terraforming Mars Caverna: Cave vs. Cave Pocket Mars Terra Mystica Hafid’s Grand Bazaar
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The Climbers Whistle Stop The 7th Continent Witches of the Revolution Viral Sentient Road Hog PeltaPeeps
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Game Review Index (Issues 19-24)
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• • • • • • •
Mini Rails Nightmare Forest: Alien Invasion The Ruhr Summit Seikatsu Tulip Bubble Covalence
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Joraku Michael Strogoff Minute Realms Castle Dukes Rajas of the Ganges Cytosis
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Ancestree Exodus Fleet Tak Mistborn: House War Expedition: RPG Card Game
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ShutterBug Divinity Derby Wakening Lair Planet of the Apes
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Vast: The Fearsome Foes Vast Miniatures Expansion Vast Bonus Cards Wildcatters Alexandria Tzolk’in
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Gretchinz! Button Men The Flow of History The Game of Nines
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Game Review Index (Issues 25-30)
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Dicey Peaks Coldwater Crown Thanos Rising Peak Oil Wordoku
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Zombie Dice: Horde Edition Codenames: Marvel Fog of Love Cthulhu Dice
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Gearworks Grackles Maiden’s Quest The Veil
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Outpost: Siberia Outpost: Amazon Root Planetarium
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Shards of Infinity Blood Rage Mistfall: Chronicles of Frost
• • • • • •
Wish You Were Here Onitama: Way of the Wind Master of the Galaxy
The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire
Barker’s Row
Hero Realms: The Ruin of Thandar
Shifting Realms Hero’s Crossing
Game Nite Issue #31
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January • 2019 Sunday
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Issue #32 Release Date
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Next Month!
Issue #32