Game Nite Magazine Issue 39 by Game Nite Magazine

Game Nite

Free

the magazine of tabletop gaming

September 2019

Phoebe wild ludo cherry

Issue # 39

top 10 games of gen con

sandy petersen game designer

In this issue: INTERVIEW 24 52

Phoebe Wild Media Manager

Sandy Petersen Game Designer

mobile Review 06

Santorini For Android and iOS

game Reviews 10

Space Explorers

Montmartre

HEXplore it: Valley of the Dead King

Return to the Valley of the Dead King HEXplore it expansion.

Chakra

Reviewed Books Index

Reviewed Apps Index

Game Review index 76

Game Review Index

Adventure and Story.

Yoga Themed Game.

04 Top 10 Games at Gen Con

Calendar

Mobile Review index 72

Artistic Splendor.

Top 10

book Review index 70

Splendor Killer.

October - November 2019

Interview Gallery 66

Past Interviews Index

ÂŠ Game Nite 2019. 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.

Game Nite Issue #39

From across the table

Game Nite ISSUE # 39

ecently something strange happened. Much to my surprise, I received the responses to an interview with Sandy Petersen. However, these were responses to the interview we did with him two years ago! Somehow his email inbox was put in a state of disarray and he thought that the questions were for a new interview. (which explains his comments about “Orcs Must Die!”). Having read the responses, I thought that they would be worth publishing, as they were a bit different than those in issue #13 and provided further insight. For those who have read issue #13, it is worth comparing the two interviews, and those who haven’t read the previous interview, will have the opportunity to see what Sandy’s current thoughts are. Interesting stuff! For those who may have missed the announcement, we have returned to a bimonthly release schedule, as this will allow us to work around games that arrive late, etc. We are striving for quality and not quantity, as the last issue was unacceptable and embarrassing.

Cover Photograph by Serge Pierro. Chakra © Blam!

www.facebook.com/GameNiteMagazine Follow us on ISSUU:

https://issuu.com/gamenitemagazine Follow us on Instagram:

In this issue:

@gamenitemagazine

I would like to thank Sandy for allowing us to publish this interview - it only seems right, especially since he took time from his busy schedule to share his thoughts with all of you.

I would also like to thank Phoebe Wild for taking the time to share her thoughts on various topics.

Visit us at:

@GameNiteMag

www.gamenitemagazine.com

With the new schedule there will be two calendars each month, however, only one of them will have the release date for the next issue. 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

Game Nite Issue #39

Top 10 - Games at Gen Con

Black Angel Pearl Games

Destroyer of Words Mixlore

Shards of Infinity: Shadow of Salvation Stone Blade Entertainment

4 Unmatched: Battle of Legends Restoration Games

Funkoverse Strategy Game Funko Games

Game Nite Issue #39

By Serge Pierro

Set a Watch Rock Manor Games

Mageling Familiar Games

Tsuro: Phoenix Rising Calliope Games

9 Old West Impressario Tasty Minstrel Games

Zodiac Clash Spin Master Game Nite Issue #39

Mobile Review

By Serge Pierro

Santorini

t wasn’t long ago when the current production of Santorini hit the market and was greeted with accolades, due in large part to the excellent production values and the variety of God cards. With its simple, yet, strategically satisfying, gameplay, the game has appealed to a wide range of players - from children to serious gamers. So when a game like this is made available for the mobile platform, we are most certainly interested in seeing how well it is ported over. Let’s see if the gods are left smiling. For those who are unfamiliar with Santorini’s gameplay, it is essentially an abstract strategy game that can be played with or without the God cards. On a player’s turn they will basically do two things: Move and Build. You are able to Move one of your two miniatures one space in any direction, including moving up to the next level of a building. After moving you are required to Build by placing a level of a building either on the board (1st level) or upon a previous level building. You can also strategically place a “Cap” on top of a three level building to prevent someone from winning. And getting your miniature to the top of a 3 level building is how

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you win the game (although you can also win by your opponent not being able to move, thus they would lose). However, while that is the basics of the game, once the God cards are used, the playing environment can change drastically and players will have to adapt to the new situations. Upon the app loading you are greeted with a colorful opening screen that displays some of the “cute Gods” overlooking the Santorini board. You are offered a “Play” and “Helper” option. Not surprisingly the Play option will take you to the main section of the app. However, the Helper option is a bit different, as this intended to be a companion to the actual board game and offers several choices: Tutorials, Select Gods, Log Match and Buy the Game. It’s almost similar to getting two apps in one. But, for the most part you will only be dealing with the Play option. The aforementioned screen also contains the icon for the Settings. The Settings section is quite sparse and only features “Sound Volume” and “Music Volume”, along with buttons for “Credits” and “Store”.

Disappointingly the Tutorials are video based and require an internet connection. The Tutorials themselves are not bad, and will get you up and running in no time, however, I wasn’t happy to see that I had to connect to the internet in order to access this feature. I feel that Tutorials should be part of the app, so that they can be accessed at any time, any where. After choosing the Play option from the initial screen, you are greeted with the game selection screen which offers: Online, Local and Odyssey. The Online play is somewhat disappointing, as it doesn’t feature asynchronous play. I’m too busy to sit down and play an entire game at once against an opponent, though if I have the option to make my moves at my convenience, I’m much more likely to

play online. However, if you enjoy playing “live” games, then this feature is available for you. The Local button is the one that will see the most use, as it allows you to play against the AI, as well as with a Pass and Play option. Here you will choose your God and the AI (or other player) God. By selecting each God you are greeted with its fully displayed artwork and their Abilities. Once both players have been selected, you are greeted with the pre-game screen that shows what Gods are involved and each of their Abilities. The Odyssey button takes you to the Odyssey section of the app, which essentially is a campaign mode that allows you to play against various AI/ Gods and unlock rewards. Continued on next page>

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Mobile Review (Cont.)

The User Interface is clean and intuitive. It should be noted that since the board and pieces are modeled in 3d, the camera is movable and you can rotate the board to various angles. This will sometimes become necessary, as when the board starts to fill up with buildings as there can be some “blind” and “hard to reach” areas. It is simple to move or build, all you have to do is select a miniature and the interface displays all of the possible moves and you just have to tap on the one that interests you. The same is true for building, point on an empty space or a previously built structure and the app will place the appropriate building. As mentioned above, the graphics are 3d based polygon models and render nicely. All of the other screens share the same bright/happy graphic design and add a cohesive element to the app.

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I was quite happy with the AI, as even on the lower setting it proved to be a bit challenging and on the higher settings proved to be quite strong. Besides the basic strategic nature of the base game, the AI was also able to handle all of the God powers that I faced off against nicely. It proved to be a welcome opponent, and one that I will be interested in further experimenting with. When the game is won, the miniature and the surrounding area turn a “blinding” white to signify the end of the game and it is then replaced with a “Victory Screen” that offers the options to Replay, Swap Gods or Exit. The Gods that were used in the game are displayed along the bottom of the screen and the winner is noted.

I’m happy to say that the port of the game is excellent. I hadn’t played the real game in a while and lost my first couple of games (a good thing!) and then was able to get in the flow and found that the AI played an interesting game. The various God Powers made for a challenging and varied experience. It should be noted that the game comes with 34 Gods, yet there are an additional 25 Gods available for separate purchase (5 packs of 5 Gods). This has been a point of contention in online discussions, but the base game will prove to be challenging enough without the other 25, though serious players of the game are going to want to indulge themselves and purchase the full experience.

The only real improvement I can see would be the addition of asynchronous play. I would then gladly add it to my list of “daily online games”. But, for now, this is a game that I will happily play against the AI and I might even be interested in seeing what more the Odyssey mode has to offer. If you enjoy abstract games, then this is a game that you will definitely want to add to you mobile platform.

Version # Price: Devices:

1.82 $4.99 iOS and Android Developer: Roxley Games

Recommended www.roxley.com

Game Nite Issue #39

Space Explorers

By Serge Pierro

Splendor Killer

have often been surprised, when I hear that there are people who don’t enjoy playing Splendor, as they feel that there isn’t much to it, and they would prefer something with a little more depth. While I have always enjoyed playing it, I could see where others might want a little something “extra”. Space Explorers is probably what they are looking for, as this game has the feel of Splendor, yet it is more of a “gamer’s game”, while at the same time maintaining the ease of play.

an additional three pages for the clarification of the Specialist cards. Overall, the rules are clearly stated and easy to follow. The cards are standard sized and feature a linen finish. They seem to be a little bit on the thin side, but certainly not detrimental to the gameplay. Sleeving should be considered optional. I will not be sleeving them, as they should be fine as they are.

All of the game’s linen finished cardboard Space Explorers comes in a 8” x 8” x 1 3/4” components are made of a sturdy cardboard box. The insert is of the standard cardboard stock. variety, with two shelf areas to support the player aides and rulebook, while having two The four, double sided, player aides measure 7 wells for the cards and other components. 1/2” x 6” and are made of a decent card stock. They are nicely laid out and provide excellent The 16 page rulebook is approximately the reference for use during the game. same size as the box and features printed tabs along the right edge of the odd numbered pages Setup for the game is easy and straightforward. to help the user to find the appropriate section The Specialist deck is shuffled and six cards are as quickly as possible. There are also three randomly revealed in the center of the play area. pages devoted to “in game” examples, as well as The number of Project tiles used for the game

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is two plus the number of players (Example: a 2 player game would use 4 tiles). Each player will receive a Research & Development Hub, one of each of the Research tokens, a player’s aide and one Specialist card to start the game. A first player is chosen and given the First Player token. The token comes into play once one of the endgame conditions is met and makes sure that all players have had an equal number of turns.

Taking a Specialist card: Simply stated, you can take any card from the Center area, or draw “blind” from the top of the Specialist deck and place it in your hand.

The Recruiting of a Specialist is the main part of the game and you have the option of either Recruiting a Specialist from your hand or from the Center area. In order to do so, you follow three steps: Choose the Division section of your Hub that you are going to be placing the Gameplay is fairly straightforward. On a Specialist. Determine the Recruiting cost. Pay player’s turn they will take one of two available the Research cost. actions: Take a Specialist card or Recruit a Specialist to your Hub. Continued on next page>

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Space Explorers

(Cont.)

Choosing the Division is easy, as most of the There are Specialists who contribute Resources Specialists can only be placed in the Division as if they are the top Specialist on a stack. indicated on their card, however, there are some Specialists that have multiple Skills and can be Once the cost has been paid the Specialist is placed in one of the two Divisions indicated, added to the Division, however, any previously your choice. played Specialist in the same Division loses their abilities and the new Specialist’s ability is now in The Recruiting cost is a fairly interesting effect, though it can’t be used on the same turn mechanism, as the cost can be reduced, it comes into play. determined by how many Specialists are already located at that Division. Example: If you have 2 Besides scoring points that are listed on the Engineer Specialists, each having one Engineer various Specialists, there is also the opportunity Skill, then you will ignore the bottom 2 Research to complete a Project. At the end of your turn costs on the card you are now attempting to you can do this by meeting the Skill requirements Recruit to the appropriate Division of the Hub. of a specific Project. You can complete only one If the card cost 3 Research, only the top 1 needs Project per turn. For example: The Apollo 11 to be paid. If you had 3 matching Skills available, Project requires 4 Engineering, 3 Construction the card would be free to Recruit. Each card has and 1 Space Flight. If you have these Skills a small triangle at the bottom of the Research available at the end of your turn, you may take cost area as a reminder that the “discount” for the tile and score the Project’s 5 victory points at purchasing the card is determined in order from the end of the game. the bottom of the icon list to the top. Play continues in this fashion until one of the Once the cost of the card has been determined two endgame triggers have been met: all of the it needs to be paid accordingly. There are three Projects have been completed or one player payment methods: has recruited 12 Specialists. Then each player continues to play until it reaches the player with Pay the cost in Research tokens to the player the first player token, they don’t take a turn and to your left. the game ends, thus granting all players an equal number of turns in the game. Discard any amount of cards from your hand and receive 2 Resources of your choice for Final scoring is calculated by adding the points each card discarded. The discarded card(s) are from completed Projects and all of the points placed, face up, with the other available cards in listed on the Specialist cards in their Hub the center of the play area. - including those that have the “*” icon. All

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Specialist cards are counted, even those that are The only real downside to the game is that placed underneath other cards. The Specialist there is initially a bit of a learning curve due to cards that are left in your hand at the end of the the use of icons on the cards. However, with game score zero points. The highest score wins. the excellent player aides, this is less of an issue. Otherwise the game is quite straightforward Between the ease of play, interesting abilities and and offers a decent amount of replayability due period influenced artwork, there’s a lot to like to the double sided Project tiles (each side being about Space Explorers. This game has replaced different), as well as the deck of Specialist cards. Splendor for me, as it has more depth, while at the same time maintaining the aforementioned Due to the fact that there are two endgame “ease of play”. Everyone that has played it thus triggers, players will have to choose whether or far, has pretty much said the same thing - this is not they want to emphasize obtaining Projects a “Splendor killer”. or racing to acquire 12 Specialists. We found that if you were able to get a lead of two projects over the other players that it was well worth Continued on next page>

Game Nite Issue #39

Space Explorers

(Cont.)

it to try and race to 12 Specialists as soon as possible. Not surprisingly there were players who attempted to “hate draft” in order to slow down other player’s attempts at racing to 12 Specialists, while they themselves pursued a heavy Project strategy. Both strategies are viable and it all comes down to the available cards and your strategic style. I enjoyed switching between the two styles each time I played to see how viable each one was, and was quite happy with the results. There were also some tough decisions regarding the Specialists, in particular as to when to cover them with a new one, since only the ability of the top Specialist on a stack contributes their ability/bonus. Many of the lower cost Specialists aid in providing Resources, however, it is a tough decision as to when to “switch gears” and cover them to exploit the advantages of the higher cost cards. We also liked the fact that each Specialist type had a “*” Specialist card that provided a special endgame bonus based on their skill. Example: At the end of the game score 2 extra points for each Project you have completed. These cards helped influence players into certain strategies, and rewarded them nicely if they were able to specialize in fulfilling these types of cards. One of the more interesting mechanisms in the game is the one pertaining to reducing the cost of “like minded” Specialists. This made for some strategies that accelerated the obtaining of the 12 Specialists for triggering the endgame, as there comes a point where it is possible to

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be acquiring Specialists for free due to the cost reduction. You had to always be aware as to what your opponents were up to in order to not let them “run away” with obtaining their key Specialists, while at the same time trying to implement your own strategy. The artwork of the game is quite impressive, as it really captures the style that was common during this time period. However, there is one downside, the artwork of each of the Specialists is the same and the only difference is that the image is “zoomed in”. Understandably, artwork of this quality would probably be prohibitively expensive for the amount of it required to make each card unique. Overall this is a game that I will be happy to add to my collection. Gamers who frowned upon Splendor may want to take a look at this, as the gameplay is a bit more interesting and the special abilities and replayability make for a more pleasurable gaming experience - especially for those looking for a little more substance in their games.

Designer:

Publisher: Players: Mechanic: Ages: Length:

Yuri Zhuravlev

25th Century Games 2-4

Set Collecting, Drafting 12+ 20-40 Mins.

Highly Recommended www.25thcenturygames.com

Game Nite Issue #39

Montmartre

By Serge Pierro

Artistic Splendor

ecently there seems to be a bit of a trend towards art influenced themes. These games tend to feature some well known art or artist, with the game being built around them. In Montmartre, players will take on the role of artists attempting to sell their paintings with the aid of the famous French art dealer, Ambroise Vollard. The game’s artist, Jeanne Landart, does a fine job of rendering works in process and provides an enjoyable “feast for the eyes” that is fused onto a light, yet interesting, game.

to be a little unclear due to the translation from the French. However, after a second reading, it becomes clearer as to what the intent is. There are several examples highlighted to make things easier to understand. The tarot sized cards are of a decent card stock and measure c. 2 1/2” x 4 1/2”. Since the only shuffling in the game is to randomize the cards at the onset of the game, sleeving should be considered optional. They should be fine, as is.

The linen finished, cardboard tokens for the Montmartre comes in a 5 1/2” x 8 1/4” x 1 game are made of a sturdy cardboard stock. 1/2” box and contains no insert. The setup for the game is fairly straightforward. The 12 page rulebook is printed in both The four stacks of Collector cards are placed French and English, thus the rules for the at the center of the table and are arranged, in game are actually only 6 pages. Although numerical order, with the 2 on top and the 10 the game is fairly easy to learn, your first time on the bottom. The three stacks of Contract reading the English instructions will prove cards are placed alongside the Collector cards

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and are stacked with the highest value on And speaking of the end of the game, this is top. The Ambroise Vollard standee is placed reached when one of two conditions is met: near the piles at the start of the game. two of the four Collector piles are emptied or if any player has 15 or more Francs. The 60 card deck is shuffled and each player receives 4 cards. The remaining cards are On a player’s turn they have to take one of distributed evenly among three stacks, with two actions, Paint or Sell. the face of the cards facing up. The Paint action is mandatory and you One player is chosen is given the First Player have to either place any one card from your token. This is used to be sure that all players hand into your “Painting Workshop” (your have had an equal number of turns during tableau) or you may instead place two the game, after one of the endgame triggers cards, if they don’t add up to more than “5”. takes place. Continued on next page>

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Montmartre

(Cont.)

Example: you may play a card with a value of “6” or you may play two cards, “0” and “4”. If there are more than one card of that color in front of you, you have to place them in a stack so that other players can see how many cards you have of that type. The rulebook states that you should stack them in order with the highest number on top, we agree, as it allows you to not only see how many cards they have of that type, but it also lets you know what their highest number is. As we shall see, this knowledge is vital to the game play. The Paint action also has an optional subaction, “Sell of at the Market”. This allows you to sell any number of paintings from one style for 1 Franc each. There is an end of turn limit of 6 cards, so there may be turns in which you are forced to sell off some paintings to bring you down to the maximum of 6. Since Francs are worth 1 VP at the end of the game, this was a subtle strategy that was worth dabbling in, especially if you played the “lowball” strategy of playing 2 cards per turn, as this forced you to sell paintings and gain Francs.

to choose one stack of cards and then draw only from that stack, until you are back to 4 cards. There is no “cherry picking” across the 3 stacks. The other main action is the Sell action and it is also mandatory. This is where you will trade in your cards from your tableau for the Collector cards which are worth points. To Sell your cards you have to meet either of these two conditions: You have the most of that color/style (Example: most Yellow paintings) or your Paintings of that color/ style are worth more points than the other players (Example: you have a Yellow “8” and another player has the following Yellow cards, “0”, “1”, “2” and “3”, for a total of 4 cards, but they only add up to 6, so the Yellow “8” is able to be sold).

Another precondition for the Selling of a Painting is that the Ambroise Vollard standee can’t already be on the Collector stack that you are interested in selling to. Example: You want to sell to the Yellow Collector, and the Standee is on the Blue Collector. You move the Standee to the Yellow Collector and Sell the Painting (see below) and take At the end of this action phase you draw up the Collector card and place it in front of to your max hand size of 4. However, there you face down. However, if you want to is a proper procedure for doing so. You have sell to the Blue Collector, you can’t, as the Continued after the following page>

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Montmartre

(Cont.)

Standee is already on the Blue Collector, you will either have to sell to one of the other Collectors or wait until someone else does, making the Blue Collector available again. If the above conditions are met, a Painting is sold as follows, you take the highest value card of that color/style and place it in the discard pile and move the Standee to the Collector that you are selling it to and then placing the Collector card face down in front of you. As the game progresses you will have the opportunity to use the last sub-action of the Sell action, “Draw for a Newspaper”. These Contract cards are worth victory points at the end of the game, with the cards on the top of the stack being worth more points, thus rewarding players who meet the requirements first. However, there is a bit of “push your luck” involved. As soon as you meet the requirements for one of these cards you have to decide to either immediately take the card, or you have to wait until you meet the requirements of the next card, and then you have the same option, either take or play for the next one. The longer you wait the larger the rewards, but you run the risk of missing

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out on obtaining one of these cards should the game end before your next opportunity to do so. The card requirements are based on how many different, color Collector cards you have obtained. The first one is worth 4 Vp’s and only requires 2 different colors, the next one requires 3 different colors and is worth 7 Vp’s for the first player to meet the requirements and the card below it is worth only 3 Vp’s, and the last stack requires all 4 colors and offers 12 Vp’s for the first player to meet the requirements and 5 Vp’s for the next player to do so. As you can see, it can be a bit tricky as to when to pull the trigger, as you may pass up the first opportunity of 4 Vp’s to only settle for being the second player to take the next opportunity and reap only 3 Vp’s. Each player may only obtain oneContract per game. Play continues in the proceeding manner until one of the aforementioned endgame triggers occurs. When each player has had an equal number of turns, the game is scored as follows: Total points from Collector cards + Total number of Francs + Contract value. The player with the highest score, wins.

The gameplay mentioned above is for a The artwork certainly elevated the gaming player count of 3-5 players. There is a small experience. Seeing as how I’m a fan of ruleset change for the 2 player variant. Alphonse Mucha’s artwork and Art Nouveau in general, it was nice to see Jeanne Landart’s With it’s gorgeous artwork and ease of play, nod to the style, as it even worked well Montmartre proved to be a pleasant surprise. amongst pieces with a Picasso influenced This is another game that has a Splendortype look to them. And speaking of the artwork, I feel to it, which is not surprising, since loved the progression of each of the paintings Splendor has proven to be quite a popular used for each of the cards. The only downside game over the last few years. Yet, this game was that they would get covered up during is able to stand on its own and should appeal the course of the game. to families, as well as a gateway game.

Continued on next page>

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Montmartre

(Cont.)

We found the main mechanism of the game to be quite interesting, as having the most cards or highest scoring stack of cards, captured everyone’s interest. Initially there were some questions as to the usefulness of the “0” cards, but players quickly came to realize how powerful these could be. This was especially true if you were able to play multiple “0”’s and other low number cards per turn, thus gaining a longterm advantage on the “larger stack” option. Yet they also proved to be quite powerful towards the start of the game, as dropping a couple of different “0”’s often allowed a player to grab some quick Collector cards in colors that other players hadn’t played yet. Not surprisingly after the first game or two, players were eyeing the low numbers. Of course the high numbers were of great interest as well, though the timing of their play could be tricky. While an “8” can have an impact on winning a Collector card, if it is played too early you will reap a low amount of Collector points, as compared to playing it later in the round when the Collector cards have a higher value. It was this strategic balance between the low and high numbers that made the game interesting.

It should also be pointed out that the strategic use of the Ambroise Vollard standee proved to also be an important element in the game. Often times you are able to gain a tempo on an opponent by moving (or not moving) the standee, thus negating their main scoring attempt that turn. The use of the standee become even more important towards the end of the game where you were trying to grab a high scoring card, while denying an opponent of doing the same. Overall, this is a fun, quick filler type game that has enough strategy and decision making to make it a worthwhile addition to any gamer’s collection. It’s worth repeating that the “gateway game” element is noteworthy and should broaden it’s appeal for those looking for a fun game that can be played with family members and non-gamers alike.

Florian Sirieix Publisher: Blam! Players: 2-5 Mechanic: Hand Management, Set Collection Ages: 8+ Length: 20 Mins. Designer:

Recommended www.blam-edition.com

Game Nite Issue #39

Interview

By Serge Pierro

• Ludo Cherry • Cardboard Vault • Bezier Games Phoebe Wild - Media Manager, Reviewer, Entrepreneur Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with our readers, can you tell us a little something about yourself? Absolutely, thanks for the opportunity! My name’s Phoebe Wild, and I’ve been working in various positions in the board game industry for about 5 years. I’ve played board games all my life, but my passion for making them into a career kicked in when I was on exchange in the US for university and had the opportunity to attend many of the large conventions over there. I went to Origins, Gen Con, PAX East and Prime, BGG.Con and some smaller ones around Washington DC where I was based. By the end of the year, I’d started my own board game review website Cardboard Vault. Since then, I’ve worked for Bézier Games (Ultimate Werewolf, Suburbia, Castles of Mad King Ludwig) as their social media manager, worked with a number of publishers to playtest

and develop their new releases, and currently work for Melbourne’s top rated escape room, Ukiyo. Now I’m also creating LudoCherry, my own clothing line inspired by tabletop gaming and general geekiness!

Were board games and card games an integral part of your childhood, or did your passion for them develop at a later time? I’ve played board games for as long as I can remember! I’m an only child, but I grew up playing games with my parents - I have a small but well-loved collection of Ravensburger games that were played constantly, along with all of the classic kids games like Uno and Monopoly. When my parents were busy, I’d even play Monopoly against myself sometimes! When I was about 8 years old, my parents bought me a copy of Settlers of Catan, and my obsession with modern strategy games blossomed from Continued on next page>

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Interview

(Cont.)

there. My mum and I joined a local board game club in my small hometown of Albury, and I’d spend long Saturdays there playing as many games as I could. I’d like to give a shout out to the main organiser, Neil Thomson, who’s at least 50% responsible for my love of board games and the gaming community!

What are some of your favorite board games? It’s so difficult to pick a favorite, but the first that springs to mind is Carcassonne. This was one of the first modern strategy games I ever played, but I still love it and play it regularly I’ve clocked over 300 plays at this point! Playing Carcassonne brings back some great memories from when I first started playing board games, but I love it because it’s such a simple game with incredible strategic depth. Turns are quick, the gameplay is easy to understand, and scoring is as straightforward as it gets, but once you know the game there are so many interesting tricks and strategies you can use. I’ve been playing it for more than 10 years and I’m not sick of it! Some of my other favorites published more recently include Pandemic Legacy (I played Season 1 four times, with four different groups), Spirit Island, Hanamikoji, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Wingspan, and Just One.

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What are some of your favorite card games? I have great memories from high school where my friends would pull out a deck of cards and we’d just teach each other a different classic game. I love 500 (although I’m terrible at it), and there were a few hilarious months where we just played Mao (or Chairman) every lunchtime. Recently, my fiancé Mark and I have started playing the Arkham Horror LCG, which is absolutely incredible. We love the story, and the character progression as you play through each chapter and upgrade your skills is incredibly satisfying. We also love Hanabi, and Shipwreck Arcana - you can tell we’re suckers for cooperative games!

What are some of your favorite video games?

When the opportunity presents itself, what games have you currently been playing?

I grew up playing Xbox games with my dad we’d play splitscreen if it had a co-op mode, or Mark and I have been playing through Aeon’s just take turns for single player games. I have a End: Legacy. There are a lot of deckbuilders out special place in my heart for the Halo and Gears there, but Aeon’s End is a deckbuilder with no of War series, as well as Splinter Cell. shuffling. It’s an intriguing system where your discard pile flips over to become your new deck, Since I play so many board games now, the so you can anticipate the cards you’ll draw video games I play are usually single player and set up your deck for the perfect combos games with a large world or story to explore. in advance. We play any Legacy game we can The Elder Scrolls series is my favourite RPG, and get our hands on, and this one has added some I also loved playing Breath of the Wild recently. really clever twists to the base Aeon’s End system.

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Interview

(Cont.)

We also just received our Kickstarter copy of The 7th Continent expansion, so we’ll be moving onto that as soon as we’re done with this Legacy campaign!

Who are your favorite game designers?

While we call our rooms “escape rooms”, they’re actually a very unusual experience At the moment, my favorite game designers that’s completely unique in Melbourne (and are Jamey Stegmaier and Elizabeth Hargrave possibly the rest of the world). Our rooms are I’ll buy anything with their name on it without narrative driven, and they use a safe and open knowing anything else about the game! environment to explore ethics, philosophy, life, death, and more. Other than them, I don’t really have any designers I particularly watch for. Games that Our first room, Deep Space, is a sci-fi thriller catch my eye are games that do something with multiple paths. How the story ends is unique or innovative, either through an unusual totally up to what you choose to do along the theme or an original aspect of the gameplay. way. Our second experience is The Crumbling Prince, a multi-chapter narrative in the theme Wingspan, Nyctophobia, and Prêt-à-Porter have of a Japanese fantasy adventure (imagine the all captured my attention with their focus on aesthetic of The Legend of Zelda or Spirited Away underrepresented themes (and based on their as an immersive, interactive experience). popularity, I’m not the only one!).

Can you tell our readers what it is like to What were your responsibilities as Social work at the Escape Room company, “Ukiyo”? Media Manager for Bezier Games? It’s fantastic! I’m a part of a small, close-knit team, and everyone is incredibly passionate about making amazing experiences for our customers to enjoy. We have two rooms at the moment, but we’re working hard on creating more experiences as well!

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My primary responsibilities were managing our social media presence, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and BoardGameGeek. This included creating and posting regular content for our fans and followers, as well as using those platforms for outreach to gamers who may not have heard of our games.

The board game industry is booming and I also managed press outreach, such as sending out early press releases to reviewers and there are more games being released than ever organising review copies, as well as our general before. With so much competition, players and publishers need to be able to notice a game in newsletter. the crowd. People are looking for games with I also helped manage a number of our unusual themes, games with rich stories to delve Kickstarter campaigns, which included a lot of into, and games with a unique perspective. Not work on marketing and social media, as well as only does this increasing diversity of games make individual titles stand out, but it means that helping with backer questions. more people can be welcomed into the hobby. What was the impetus for creating your Elizabeth Hargrave, the designer of Wingspan, has noticed that birders who love the theme review site, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cardboard Vaultâ&#x20AC;? (www. of her game have played it, and become more cardboardvault.com)? involved with other board games as a result. There are so many passions and themes in the I created Cardboard Vault after having the world, and board games are starting to reflect opportunity to attend many of the large US those much more now. conventions while being in the country on exchange. I had easy access to many of the hot While the Legacy game trend is starting new releases, and was consuming a lot more to die down, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also been a shift towards content from reviewers as well. campaign games, and games with hundreds of hours of playtime in them. Gloomhaven, The 7th I wanted the opportunity to share my own Continent, and Middara are all highly successful thoughts on the games I was playing. I also examples of this. wanted to create content that might help new gamers find games they love to play, since there Can you share your thoughts on your role as are so many choices out there that it can often a game developer? be overwhelming. To me, the role of a game developer is similar Having worked as both a reviewer and within to the role of a book editor. My job is to help a game company itself, what observations have shape and polish a game to be the best it can be, you noticed in the hobby over the last five years? while still working with the designer to preserve their original intent for the game. Continued on next page>

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Interview

(Cont.)

I’m still learning a lot about game design and development, but I really enjoy the process of figuring out what doesn’t quite work in a game and tweaking it. I don’t have the skillset of a designer, to make an entire game system from scratch, but my experience as a player and a reviewer gives me the ability to critique games and see what’s missing or not quite right.

What is the gaming scene like in Australia? Strong and growing, especially in Melbourne! We have a large and dedicated group of designers here, and a thriving community of players. In the city alone, there are at least 5 large board game stores within a few blocks of each other, plus a number of popular board game cafés close to the city. We also have PAX Aus in Melbourne every October, which is a fantastic way for us to meet designers and players from other parts of the country (or even from overseas).

Is there any special significance to the name of your company, “Ludo Cherry”? Choosing the name for my clothing line was the single most difficult thing I’ve done so far! It was a process that took weeks of brainstorming, and involved myself, Mark, my parents, and Calvin Wong (a fantastic copywriter that I hired).

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I knew I wanted the name to be unique and memorable, and I wanted it to clearly convey the gaming focus of the clothes as well as a classy vintage vibe (my aesthetic is heavily inspired by 50s fashion). Finally, I didn’t want the name to just be descriptive - I wanted it to sound like it could be a brand even if you didn’t know the meaning behind it. Finding a business name that says all of that was a difficult task, but as soon as I created LudoCherry I knew it was perfect.

“Ludo” literally means “I play” in Latin, and it’s also the name of a popular classic game. The “Cherry” is a reference to the classic vintage motif of stemmed cherries, which you can often find on dresses and accessories. The cherry motif also inspired the d20 cherries which became our logo design and the LudoCherry Signature fabric.

You are going to be running a Kickstarter Campaign for your line of game related clothing, what inspired you to design such a series?

The main inspiration was that I realised the only geeky clothing I owned was casual t-shirts and hoodies! I’ve always had to choose between wearing something that showed off my love of gaming, or wearing something that matched my 1950s aesthetic. I realised there aren’t any clothes for tabletop gamers that let us show our love for the hobby while still being smart and dressy, so I wanted to create it. LudoCherry is the geeky clothing line that I’ve always wanted to wear, and I have my fingers crossed that other people want it too! Continued on next page>

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Interview

(Cont.)

Your line of button up shirts are both classy and casual, what made you choose this type of design, as compared to a “simpler” one such as a t-shirt?

There are so many amazing geeky t-shirt designs out there already (and I own a lot of them myself ), but I wanted to do something completely unique! Creating my own clothing designs has made the process much more difficult than simply creating a tshirt design, but I’m incredibly proud of how I wanted LudoCherry to be a different kind the garments have turned out so far. of clothing line, one that lets you dress up and Size inclusivity is also incredibly important to feel a bit fancier than a regular gaming tee. I’ve always loved vintage fashion, especially the me. Currently we’re planning to offer the shirt in 1950s silhouette, so my clothing designs are sizes S-4XL, and the skirt in sizes 6-24 (but this range may increase depending on feedback over inspired by that style. the next couple of months).

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Who’s idea was it to use dice and meeples in such a subtle and aesthetically pleasing manner for the clothing designs? All of the design concepts for the fabric are mine, and I’ve worked with some incredibly talented artists to help me bring my vision to life with original art. I wanted the clothes to be subtle enough to be worn in “real life” (to the office, or a nice dinner out). Only the most observant geeks will notice you’re wearing your love for gaming on your sleeve!

At the moment, all of the designs relate to tabletop gaming in general, but in the future I’d love to reach out to publishers to create designs based on specific games. I have a couple in the works already for stretch goals, but you’ll have to wait to find out about those...

Will your clothing line be available at retail, post-Kickstarter? That’s the plan! I’m still working out the details, but I’m planning on reaching out to retailers before the Kickstarter to let them know about Continued on next page>

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Interview

(Cont.)

the project, and I’ll be including a retail pledge during the campaign. If you’re a retailer and might be interested in stocking LudoCherry after our Kickstarter, feel free to reach out to me at hello@ludocherry.com. I’d love your thoughts on how I can make it as easy as possible to stock and sell my clothing!

Are there any other upcoming projects that you are at liberty to discuss or announce? At the moment all my spare energy is going into LudoCherry! I always have more projects I want to work on, but I want to make sure this campaign launches with a bang.

What advice would you have for anyone interested in working for a game company? The first thing I’d suggest is to be involved in the community. Participate in discussions on BoardGameGeek or in related Facebook groups, be an engaged member and keep your ear to the ground for potential opportunities. By starting out with reviewing board games, I was able to meet many different publishers and designers, and also learned a great deal about the industry. By reviewing games, I learned more about game design and development, and you can further those skills even more by following game design

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blogs or podcasts (I’d recommend Ludology, Board Game Design Lab, and Meeple Syrup Show). If you can afford to go to conventions, many publishers will look for volunteers to demo games (often in exchange for some combination of games, a hotel room, a badge, and/or pay). That’s another great way to become familiar with working at conventions, and to meet some of the publishers who may have opportunities available at some point in the future. Finally, there’s a Facebook group called Tabletop Game Jobs, where lots of people in the industry post a variety of openings when they become available. Join that and keep an eye out, you never know what opportunities will come your way!

Game Nite Issue #39

HEXplore it:

The Valley of the Dead King

By Serge Pierro

Let the Adventure Begin!

any gamers enjoy the character building/leveling up aspect of Dungeons and Dragons, yet would prefer not to invest the copious amount of time necessary by participating in a prolonged campaign. Several companies have understood this dynamic, and have offered their attempt to capture that essence and distill it into a board game. With HEXplore it: The Valley of the Dead King, Mariucci J. Designs have nicely captured the aforementioned experience and assembled it in a well produced package that will offer fans an exciting and challenging adventure to participate in, while offering a huge amount of replayability. Let’s take a look at this “Editor’s Choice Award” winning game!

its side. Inside the box is a two part, custom insert, with one of the trays being removable to display another section of storage below. Each of the bottom sections of the insert have been custom molded to provide for the storage of the larger hex tiles and board sections. Although this is an excellent setup, it would have been nice if there was instructions as to how to store the pieces, as it’s a bit of a puzzle on your first couple of attempts. Otherwise, the insert does a great job of keeping everything sorted and stored in a compact manner.

The 80 page rulebook is beautifully designed and sounds more intimidating than it really is. After all the book measures 5” x 7” and would have less pages if it was in an 8 1/2” x 11” format. The rulebook, like everything HEXplore it: The Valley of the Dead King else in the box, has a high production value, comes in a heavy 13” x 11” x 2 3/4” box using a card stock cover and nice interior that resembles an old book when stored on paper. Everyone was impressed at how

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great it looked and how the binding aided in splaying the book open. Both the Table of Contents and the Index proved to be quite helpful for locating relevant answers to questions that were raised during the game. Though I would have preferred that the Keywords and Conditions were available separately as a player aide, so we didn’t have to keep thumbing through the book to learn what a new word meant. And if the rulebook wasn’t impressive enough, the game also includes a special Story Book that can be used to provide story elements for many of the encounters and

settings within the game. Measuring 8 1/4” x 6 1/4” and containing 60 pages, this book added a tremendous level of immersion to the game and provided just enough information to make you feel like you were part of the campaign. Fans of thematic games will love this. One of the interesting things about the components, production-wise, is the inclusion of dry erase markers and player boards. Each of the boards used in the game are double sided and feature a coating that facilitates the use of the dry markers. These are made of a decent cardboard stock and Continued on next page>

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HEXplore it:

The Valley of the Dead King (Cont.)

measure 10 1/4” x 6 1/4”. The 7 dry markers all have a black pigment and have a large eraser attached on the cap. These proved to be quite popular amongst the players.

d6 has a “HEX” symbol for the “6” and the d10’s have a “HEX” symbol for the “1”. At first this proved to be a bit confusing when we started to learn the game, as we didn’t always remember what the “HEX” symbol The main cards used during the game represented on each die without having to measure 2 1/2” x 3 1/2”. These are made rotate the die to find out. of a decent card stock and each of the three decks comes with their own tuck box for One of the surprising aspects of the game storage. This is a great feature and I’d love to is the inclusion of the two plastic Reaper see other companies follow suit, as it makes Miniatures. Several players immediately storage and setup/breakdown a breeze! All recognized the miniature used for the group. of these cards are used more as “tokens” than I felt that this was a very creative method in playing cards, as they are not held in hand. which to include miniatures in a game (via Sleeving could be considered optional, but licensing), without having to go through the only reason to do so is that you might find the process of designing, sculpting, making yourself playing this game quite often and molds, etc. you are concerned about wear. Otherwise, they should be fine as they are. Essentially there are two steps to setting up the game. The first is to choose your Hero. A The Race cards were 2 3/4” x 4 1/4” card Hero is made up of a Role board and a Race stock with squared corners. These are only card. This can be done either randomly or used for choosing a Race and there is no need allowing players to choose their own combo. to have them sleeved. Since there’s a large amount of potential combinations, we felt it was best for us to All of the Hex tiles and cardboard components choose a character that would be best suited are all made of a sturdy cardboard stock. towards working together as a group. There are 5 available Role types: Striker (Damage), The game comes with four different colors Assist (Buffer), Healer, Sapper (Debuffer) of custom dice, yellow, blue, green and and Utility (Specialty). Each Role type has purple. The purple die is a d6, while the multiple Role cards available to choose from. others are d10’s. It should be noted that the For our first adventure we used a Striker

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(The Brute) and an Assist (The Guardian), as we wanted to see how the game played without the use of a Healer. Once a Role has been chosen, the next step is to choose a Race card. We used a “deal 3 and choose 1” method for selecting the Race. There are 24 Races available in the base game. Our first group was a Striker Gray Dwarf and an Assist Half Elf. Not surprisingly each of the Race cards have a different effect on each of the Role boards.

The Brute Role board has several areas that will be marked with the dry marker throughout the game. Alongside the left edge of the board is the main stat area. This contains: Attack, Defend, First Mastery and Second Mastery. Each Role has a starting number that is modified by the Race card. In this instance the Brute has a base attack of 3. The Gray Dwarf Race card modifies this by +1. You would then take the dry marker and write “4”, in the appropriate hex. Each of the hexes on the Role board may be Let’s take a quick look at the Brute Gray potentially modified by the Race card. The Dwarf combo. Continued on next page>

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HEXplore it:

The Valley of the Dead King (Cont.)

First and Second Mastery sections are the special abilities that the Hero has. The Race cards also provide a special ability. There are also sections for tracking Gold, Food, Energy and Health, as well as a larger area for keeping track of what items your Hero is carrying.

represent Navigate, yellow will represent Explore and the blue will represent Survival. The concept of Navigate is interesting, half of the group will have to succeed on their Navigate roll in order to arrive at their planned destination, if they fail, a d6 is rolled and you adjust the movement one hex according to the graphic printed on the board. The Navigate skill is one that can by upgraded, and it would be advised to have at least half the group do this, in order to not Wander while moving.

Once all of the players have written their stats on the Hero boards, it is time to set up the actual board. Fortunately, this is quite easy and the rulebook has an easy to follow section on assembling the map/board. Then all that is left is to roll the d6 and place your Group miniature on the city that corresponds A successful Explore die roll will allow that to the results of the die. member to discover 2 Gold. This is another skill that can be upgraded, and we felt that Each turn of the game is made up of 5 phases: at least one member of a large group should Movement, Skills, Circumstance, Event and try to increase their stats so that they have an The Dead King. We wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go in-depth on additional source of income. all of the intricacies, but the following is a general overview. The Survival skill was another interesting, though â&#x20AC;&#x153;frustratingâ&#x20AC;? at times, mechanism. Movement: There are four types of A successful roll meant that you foraged for movement available. These include: Camp, food that turn, however, if you fail, then you Cautious, Normal and Reckless. Each of have to consume food equal to your Food these have their advantages and disadvantages Rating. Carrying enough rations to stave off and the group will have to decide which one starvation will be an important element of they will want to use that turn. Players will the game. We felt that it was worthwhile to then move onto the Skill phase to determine upgrade this stat as soon as possible, otherwise if they reached their destination or if they you could wind up spending much of your Wandered about. Gold on rations throughout the game. Skills: During this phase each player will roll their three colored dice. Green will

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After players have rolled and resolved their

Skill phase, they will either move onto the If you should end your Movement in a City, Circumstance or Event phase, depending on Shrine, Boss, Ruin or Quest location, then you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t roll for a Circumstance, instead you where they finish their movement. partake in the particularities of the location. The majority of the time you will be rolling For instance, if you end your Movement in a a d6 to determine what Circumstance is City, you can spend your Gold, turn in one going to take place that turn. There are five completed Quest and pay 1 Gold to Heal face up Circumstances on the board and a back to full Health. roll of 1-5 will choose which one will come into play. On a roll of a 6, the top card of the The last part of the turn is devoted to The deck is turned over and used instead. There Dead King. There is a triggering mechanism are different types of Circumstances available for his arrival on the board. When he does in the deck and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enough of them to arrive, a d6 is rolled and the result will make each game a unique experience. Once indicate which city he will target to become chosen, the group will have the effects take a Fallen City. He will move in that direction place, this can include engaging foes in until he arrives at the City and a Fallen City combat, or having some other effect take token is then placed on the hex. On his next place. Continued on next page>

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HEXplore it:

The Valley of the Dead King (Cont.)

turn he will do the same until all of the cities have Fallen, then he will turn his attention to your group and move towards you. We really enjoyed this aspect of the game, as The Dead King moves 1, plus an additional 1 movement for each Fallen City, and as the game progress he moves faster and the dynamic tension within the game increases. We liked this timing mechanism, as it forces players to not waste time during the game.

You can certainly play the game without the use of the Story book, but to do so would be to your disadvantage, as it really immerses you into the atmosphere and lore of the game.

Perhaps the only real downside to the game is that you are facing off against the Dead King every game, though the other aspects of the game will be different, especially when you consider all of the possible Hero/Race Play continues in this manner until the end combos available. Then again, this situation of the game is reached, by either defeating has never stopped anyone from playing any of the Lord of the Rings games, where there is The Dead King or he defeats your group. the same sense of a recurring villain. While many games try to pursue the â&#x20AC;&#x153;holy grailâ&#x20AC;? of a Dungeons and Dragons board While the game is clearly enjoyable at all game, very few have been able to come close. player counts, for those interested in a solo HEXplore it: Valley of the Dead King is one game that is story driven and well done, then that should satiate the appetites of those this is a game that you will probably want looking for such an experience. From the to add to your collection, as there is just so high production values and insane amount of much to pursue with all of the possibilities replayability, this is a game that many D&D that you will be engaged with the game for fans are going to want to take a serious look quite some time. at. There is a lot of game within this package, Another major plus for the game and its especially when you take into consideration that there are several Options presented at replayability is that you can set the game the back of the rulebook to further customize to different difficulty levels. We have only spoken of the early levels, but you can increase your experience with the game. the difficulty for yet more replayability. The amount of replayability is quite high, and we havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even taken a look at the expansions!

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One of the more enjoyable aspects of the game is the initial choosing of the group, especially after you have played a couple of games. We found that with higher player counts we could have some characters specialize in certain aspects of the game. For instance, you might have a character who specializes in Exploring and discovering Gold, in order to help fuel the groups purchases as the game progresses. We originally used a party of two to start the game so that we wouldn’t have a large party to deal with and “waste time”, however, more players don’t really add much more time to the length of the game, so you should be encouraged to add up to the maximum and give it a go. However, keep in mind that unless you take an early loss to the Dead King or one of the Bosses, the game can last for a while. For solo games I wound up leaving it set up on a table. The time listed on the box of 60-180 minutes seems accurate, and if you choose to play “in character” and with the Story book, it might be a little longer. There aren’t any analysis paralysis moments in the game, so the length of the game is really determined by how engrossed you are in the adventure and whether or not your group gets killed early.

Another interesting aspect of the game is the use of Quests. These are laid out on the relevant section of the board and each of them has a bit of a story and a requirement, each one providing a reward upon completion. But, what makes this interesting is that each of the Quests are tied to a particular tile on the board, and it is possible that at the start of the game some

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HEXplore it:

The Valley of the Dead King (Cont.)

of the Quests will be unattainable because the group hasn’t done any exploring to add the additional Hex tiles to the map. This is accomplished by moving to the edge of the map/board and then placing a random tile to connect to that edge. These tiles may have Ruins, Shrines and other important points of interest. Players will have to balance the experience gained from exploring with the preparation of facing The Dead King. There are a lot of choices offered to the players, and each group will have to decide on which path they wish to pursue, as each game can be played in a different manner.

The dry erasers and the boards were an excellent means of tracking all of the stats. We loved how we could quickly adjust stats on the fly and that all of the relevant upgrade information was present on the boards and we could just “cross it off” when we purchased the upgrades. Although the game is for 1-6 players, there are 7 dry erase markers included.

Overall this is an excellent package that should appeal to fans of this genre. The production values are high and there is a great deal of replayability. I will happily add this game to my collection… and I have a Combat is an essential element of the game, feeling that you might, too! as there are Circumstances that will have you engaging an enemy and there are several locations on the board where you can test Designer: Jonathan Mariucci your groups fortitude by fighting against Boss Publisher: Mariucci J Designs, LLC enemies. While Combat is easy, it generally 1-6 takes several Combat turns before there is a Players: result. Should you win, you are rewarded Mechanic: Character Building, Adventure 14+ with possibly Gold, Food, and/or Power Up Ages: 60-180 Mins. cards that allow your character to increase Length: the stat(s) listed on the card. Combat is the Highly Recommended easiest way to build up your characters and www.hexploreit.com prepare them for the final battle with The Dead King.

Game Nite Issue #39

Return to the Valley of The Dead King

By Serge Pierro

The Dead King Lives!

ince I really enjoyed playing, HEXplore it: The Valley of the Dead King, I was quite interested to see what the expansion, Return to the Valley of the Dead King added to the game. Not surprisingly, it adds even more replayability to a game that already contains a large amount of it. However, what really stands out is that it allows a player to play as The Dead King against the rest of the players. Let’s take a look at what it has to offer. Right from the start you realize that the same high production values that were pertinent to the base game, are here as well. Carrying over the design theme of the original box, this box is also designed to look like a book on a shelf when stored. Measuring 13” x 11” x 1 1/4” and featuring a custom plastic insert, it does a fine job of storing all of the new components. This time the insert is only one level, though there is a storage area beneath the player boards for cards and the rule book.

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And speaking of the 5” x 7” rule book, it weighs in at 52 pages and features the same style of layout and design as the original. The majority of the book is devoted to having one of the players play as The Dead King. Needless to say that you will need to have played the base game before attempting this one, as the base game/rules and game flow are essential in order to make use of the new items. Before taking a look at the main feature of the expansion, playing as The Dead King, let’s first see what else has been added to the base game. First up, there are now 3 new Heroes, and they are all more powerful than the ones included in the base game. This is due in part that each of them are having two traits. Example: The Beast Lord is both a Striker and a Utility. Also included are 7 new Races. I was intrigued by “Highlander” whose ability is that if they are the

only one dealing damage to an opponent, they may spend 2 Energy to deal twice the damage. This is a good indication of what you can expect throughout the expansion, as many of the newer additions add a bit more dynamism to the game. As if the new Heroes and Races weren’t enough, there is now a new addition to make the Hero/ Race combinations even more interesting and varied… Traits. Traits are 2 3/4” x 2 1/2” tiles that can give additional abilities to your Hero/ Race combo. Like the player boards, they have been surfaced for use with the dry markers. Each of the Traits has a requirement that needs to be met, in order to move on the printed Trait track.

Once you have completed the required number of Trait Points, you are able to level up and get additional bonuses. Example: Headstrong: When using this Trait you alter your starting stats by +1 Defend and −1 First Mastery. It has a Trait Track of 2, which needs to be fulfilled in order to level up. The requirement is that you have to “End Combat with full Health”. When you have reached level one of the Trait you gain the ability: “You deal additional damage equal to twice “Headstrong” rank while you are at or above full Health.” There is also a stronger bonus for when you reach level 6. All of the Traits have stat bonuses for when you reach level 3 and 6.

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Return to the Valley of The Dead King (Cont.)

The 8 Legendary cards are another new addition to the game. Essentially these are rewards for either completing a specific Quest or defeating a specific Boss. These come in the form of either an Ally that joins your Group or an Item with a special ability. These are quite powerful and add more interest to the game, especially for those who have already played the base game several times and are looking for new achievements/ challenges to pursue during the game. These provided a “mini game” type element within the game, as we sometimes went a little out of our way to try and obtain one, if possible.

of the card types have a “bug” for the expansion so that you can identify them later, should you choose to remove them from the main decks. But, you probably are not going to want to do that, as there are some strong cards included - especially for the Power Up deck. Quest Arcs are a new type of card that can yield nice rewards for those willing to take the time to complete them, as well as providing the means for turning in multiple Quests at one time, thus making it more viable to pursue a Quest strategy.

However, the real highlight of the expansion is the ability to have one player play as The Dead Four new Bosses are introduced, and each of King against everyone else. Of course there are them have specific triggers that bring them into several items included to support this version of play. The Gray Wolf Pack is the one that will game play. see the most play, as it is a Level 4 Boss that is triggered by rolling a Hex after your Group First up is an actual Villain board, which shares has Wandered. However, each time that you many of the same characteristics of the Heros Wander the chances of encountering the Pack boards, and is also usable with the dry markers. is increased, so if you don’t face them on your The board is actually double sided, with a Reward initial roll, the next time they will appear on Table printed on the reverse side, as well as the turn either a “5” or a “Hex”, and this continues, sequence. The main difference is the lower section each time increasing the number of “successful” of the board featuring areas for use of Rituals (see result attempts. The other Bosses have different below). triggers based on Locations, Quests, etc. Other than the Villain board, The Dead King also Each of the decks from the original game receives his own set of dice, a deck of cards and receive some new and interesting cards. Each various tokens that represent Minions and such.

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As mentioned above, Rituals are an important element of The Dead King’s arsenal. These are basically customizable abilities that can be changed and expanded upon. The Dead King starts with one Ritual in the leftmost slot on the board (determined by a die roll at the start of the game) and more can be added by spending Ritual Points. Ritual Points can be accrued by meeting the requirements during the “Roll

Your Abilities” phase during your turn, as well as possibly obtaining one during your “Make an Action” phase. Besides the Rituals, The Dead King has several other interesting cards at their disposal. “Anytime” cards can be considered to be like “Instants” and are playable at any time during the turn. “Fallen City” cards provide interesting

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Return to the Valley of The Dead King (Cont.)

effects, yet they need to be triggered by having the amount of Fallen Cities listed on the card in play. “Ambitions” are similar to Quests, however, they are hidden from the Group and only The Dead King knows what they are. Either The Dark King or one of his Minions are able to attempt to complete an “Ambition”. Each of the “Ambition” cards corresponds to one of your Abilities and present interesting strategies to pursue.

The only real downside to the expansion is that since there is now a player controlling The Dead King, the game can now be expected to last longer. We felt that it was a worthwhile tradeoff, as the pros outweighed the cons and made for a more thematic experience.

Return to the Valley of The Dead King is a worthy addition to the base game. It wasn’t long before each of the players were saying “the next time we Overall we felt that this was a strong addition play, I want to play as The Dead King”. And I’m to the base game and further enhanced the pretty sure that you’ll feel the same way, too! already, high, replayability factor. There’s a lot of interesting concepts contained within the expansion and I only briefly touched on some Designer: Jonathan Mariucci of them. We thought that the Traits are an excellent addition to the game. While adding yet another level of bookkeeping, the interest that they brought to the game was worth it. There is a decent range of Traits that affect things such as Gold, Food, Movement, etc. Not surprisingly, we all thought that these were now an essential element of the game and we couldn’t see ourselves playing again without them.

Game Nite Issue #39

Publisher: Players: Mechanic: Ages: Length:

Mariucci J Designs, LLC 1-6 Character Building, Adventure 14+ 60-180 Mins.

Highly Recommended www.hexploreit.com

Game Nite Issue #39

Interview

By Serge Pierro

• Cthulhu Wars • Call of Cthulhu • Doom Sandy Petersen - Game Designer

Did you start designing games at an early Your interest in H.P. Lovecraft is well known. age? If so, do you remember what your first What is it about Lovecraft’s writing that game design was like? continues to captivate you after all these years? I loved games as a child so much I would stay in from recess to play board games such as Clue or Stratego. I started modifying or adapting games in my early teens. At 12 I was making up rules for my Airfix plastic figures to fight in tactical battles with my friends. At 14 I was modifying the rules of Avalon Hill’s 1914 game to cover the whole of World War I. We even picked out individual plastic figures to represent us as individuals in the Airfix battles, which I later found out was exactly what Gygax & Arneson were doing in their own miniature games at about the same time. In their case it eventually led to Dungeons & Dragons. But before mine had evolved to that stage, D&D came out while I was in college.

Game Nite Issue #39

First, his stories went beyond what anyone else was doing, and on a regular nature. A whole town where everyone was a monster! A menace from outer space which was literally a sentient color! A race that traveled through time mentally, destroying other species in their entirety! Every story had such creepy overtones and the style was amazing too. I mean, I’d read plenty of other stories, and I really liked horror, but he was the absolute best.

Besides Lovecraft, are there any other authors “Call of Cthulhu” was largely responsible for whose works you enjoy and what would be exposing Lovecraft to a large segment of the your favorite books by them? public. At the time did you realize that this was going to be an innovative RPG and were I like a lot of authors. Rex Stout is a favorite – you surprised at its success? anything featuring Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe. Another is Jack Vance – some favorites by him are his Tschai: Planet of Adventure and the Dragon Masters. As a kid I liked Edgar Rice Burroughs a heap, but I really haven’t read much of him in years, so I guess his influence has dimmed.

I thought it would be a minor cult game that only the few Lovecraft fans would play. Instead it became Chaosium’s mainstay, eventually surpassing RuneQuest, and introduced hundreds of thousands of people to Lovecraft. So yeah that was a surprise.

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Game Nite Issue #39

Interview

(Cont.)

When “Call of Cthulhu” first came out it Who are your favorite game designers? was a groundbreaking RPG due in large part Shigeru Miyamoto, Greg Stafford, Don because of the unique theme; however, 30+ Greenwood, and the Eon Games team kinda years later there is a great deal of product sorta as a group (Kittredge, Olotka & Eberle). available with the Cthulhu theme. What are your thoughts on the proliferation of both Lovecraft and Cthulhu products in today’s If you had the opportunity to co-design a game with another designer, who would you marketplace? like to work with and what type of game I have to take the blame for much of that, would it be? because Lovecraft was incredibly obscure before 1981-1985, and I did the very first Lovecraft- Frank Chadwick, and it would be a hard-core based game. I guess I am happy because wargame. Probably go for all of World War Lovecraft is now a well-respected author, and II using his brains and my brawn. Frank, you a little annoyed that there are so many cheap reading this? knockoff or kitschy versions.

You have a unique perspective, having What games have you been playing lately? worked in the video game, RPG and board The most recent three games I played (not game markets. How do you approach these counting my own games I am testing) were different formats from a design perspective Contract Bridge (the classic card game), and which one presents the best opportunity RuneQuest (the RPG), and My Time in Portia (a to deliver your vision? digital game).

If gaming is a feast, I view the format as the final dish you are presented with. My vision is the What games over the years have had the ingredients. I hope that makes sense. The most interactive with the players is the RPG, because most impact on you as a game designer? you have many hours over which to present Dungeons & Dungeons, Cosmic Encounter, your vision. In a video game it’s snappy and if Panzerblitz, Magic Realm, Civilization (the they blink they might miss it. The board game board game), and Dungeonmaster (the computer is kind of intermediate or maybe balanced. At this time I greatly prefer designing board games game).

Game Nite Issue #39

and/or RPGs mainly because doing a video game requires a huge team and far more time than I am willing to allocate to this. Look at it this way. Here at Petersen Games, in 5 years I’ve authored or co-authored nine full boardgames, two long RPG supplements, and about 50 game supplements. That’s about 2 games and 10 expansions a year. I worked in video games for 24 years, and was designer on about 15 games and expansions. That’s about 2/3 of a product per year. This means I am more than three times as productive making paper products. On the other hand, my video games reached a vastly larger audience of many millions. But on the OTHER other hand, the video games die after a while. After all, few still play the original 1993 Doom. Meanwhile Call of Cthulhu is just as strong as it ever was.

Having worked on so many successful video games, what do you feel they have You’ve worked on some very impressive contributed to your skillset in the designing computer game titles, such as “Civilization”, of board games? “Doom”, “Quake” and “Age of Empires”, Here are three specific things I owe to video what was it like to be part of a creative team games. First, that players should not need to develop a game that was not your personal to earn the right to have fun; they should be vision, as compared to your own games? having fun from the very first turn. Second, that players should learn by playing, instead of by reading. Third, I learned how to properly balance asymmetric forces. There are other things I’ve picked up of course, but I could probably write a book on that. But I don’t want to – I want to design games.

I loved being part of a creative team. The fact is that during the entire 24 years I was a video designer, I got to pick the topic for my game precisely once (Lightspeed). Every other time, the game’s theme, topic, often play style was determined by someone else. But, I was still the Continued on next page>

Game Nite Issue #39

Interview

(Cont.)

designer. The secret is that you find something in the game you are assigned to make your own, and exult in that topic, rather than whining about how it isn’t your dream game. If the suitand-tied owners of your company decree that you are doing Age of Empires II, then by heaven get immersed in the middle ages and the wealth of awesomeness it provides. And that’s what I did. That said, I do also like being my own boss at Petersen Games. I’m still not entirely my own man – I’ve been secretly wanting to do games about zombies for decades and haven’t managed to pull it off.

Which one of your games do you consider your best design, and why? Cthulhu Wars, though a lot of fans, possibly even a majority, tell me that Gods War or Hyperspace is better. Of my pre-Petersen Games days I’d have to pick Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs. That was a masterwork IMO. They were the most asymmetric, exciting civs I had designed to date, and they helped pave the way to Cthulhu Wars.

What do you think defines your “style” as a game designer, is there a specific mechanic, rule set, etc. ?

6-12 hours to complete, I don’t seem willing to design them. Third, replayability. I like having every play session be different, so I add aspects to invigorate or switch things around. I myself am better at reacting to things on the fly than following a carefully-constructed plan from start to finish, so I design games that reward my style of play. And why not?

Cthulhu Wars was a tremendous success, raising over $1,400,000 on Kickstarter. Why do you think this game resonated so strongly with the Kickstarter and gaming community? Because they trusted Sandy Petersen, they loved the art and the huge figures, and nothing like it had been done before.

You have just released a board game based on the popular video game “Orcs Must Die!”, what was your approach from a design viewpoint of taking a popular video game IP and turning into a board game?

“Just released”? That was some time ago! It’s almost out of print now. I actually played the video game only a few times, but I understood the concepts behind it, and my playtest team were First, strong asymmetry. Always the heroes or the actual designers, artists, and programmers factions are strongly differentiated. Second play of Orcs Must Die, so they kept feeding me ideas time. While I personally enjoy games that take and thoughts. I really liked the process.

Game Nite Issue #39

Your latest design “Glorantha: The Gods War” looks like it is going to follow in the direction of “Cthulhu Wars” and feature asymmetrical play along with high quality miniatures. What can you tell us about this project? Well it is finally released and in the market. If Cthulhu Wars is a knife-fight in a back alley, Gods War is a formal duel by contrast. In Cthulhu Wars, you’re rolling around in the dirt, eye-gouging, and stabbing at the kidneys. In Gods War there are rules and politeness. But in the end you’re still trying to kill each other. When I was playtesting both Gods War and Cthulhu Wars, I would play Cthulhu Wars for a week or two with my group, then they’d rebel and want Gods War. After a couple weeks of Gods

War, they wanted Cthulhu Wars again. (Except one guy, who only ever wants Gods War.) So I guess the games scratch slightly different itches, despite their similarities.

Many of your recent games have featured high quality miniatures. What is the typical workflow of the miniature designs -- from your imagination/concept to the final sculpture? First I work with my artist (currently, and for the indefinite future, Kent) and ensure we have the same vision for the product overall, so the art is coherent.

Continued on next page>

Game Nite Issue #39

Interview

(Cont.)

Then when we get down to individual figures, I prepare a concept guide for the 2-D artist, with a paragraph or two of description and background, and a bunch of images from books or movies or the internet to help inspire him. For instance, I might say, “I want the gaunt and sickly feel of the Pale Man from del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, except it’s a quadrupedal beast, rather than a human. Here are some cool arachnid pictures to help you. Look closely at the Palpigrade, it’s pallid and weird. Also the weird horse-things from Dark Crystal might help.” My current favorite artist always prepares three separate concepts and then we discuss them. Sometimes I pick one. Sometimes I want to mix and match parts from several. Sometimes none of them work for me. Sometimes I like them all, and tell him, “pick your favorite.” Once we have a final concept, we send it to a 3-D sculptor who creates it in ZTL format. We have lots of back-and-forth during this process too, and sometimes I horn in, but by this time my concept artist (Kent) does most of the work since he knows what we are looking for. When we are happy with the 3-D sculpt, we send it to our factory, and they look it over to see if they have to make modifications for manufacture. If they find any, we have to approve. The factory sends my production manager 3-D prints of the sculpts to examine, and I look at them too. If we are happy, we then pick a color for the plastic and off we run.

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What advice would you have for aspiring game designers? Build a playable prototype first thing, even before the rules are complete. It will show you a heap of possible issues and solutions. Listen carefully to your playtesters. While they are almost invariably wrong about how to FIX a problem, they accurately identify the problem itself. Don’t dismiss the latter because of the former. If you are striving for asymmetry, don’t design a “vanilla” faction then try to modify it to create other factions later on. You’ll end up with a bunch of different flavors of vanilla.

Game Nite Issue #39

Chakra

By Serge Pierro

Gorgeous Yoga Themed Game

t seems that nowadays that it is almost impossible not to know someone who is taking a Yoga class. While it has proven to be popular over the years, it seems recently that there’s been an explosion of interest. So, it should come as no surprise that a Yoga theme has found its way into a board game. Chakra takes an element of Yoga studies and melds it with a puzzle/race mechanism that should appeal to fans of light, luck driven games.

Although the game does come with punchboards, the main player boards come pre-punched. Both these and the punchboard components are linen finished and are made of a sturdy cardboard stock. The Energy crystals are made of plastic and come in the following colors: red, orange, yellow, light blue, dark blue, green, purple and black. All of them are translucent, except for black, which is opaque.

Chakra comes in an 8” x 8” x 2 1/4” linen finished box and has a clean look that features Also included is a large cloth bag with a some of the game’s whimsical artwork. The drawstring to draw the Energy crystals from. game contains no insert. To start the game each player assembles their There are two rulebooks included, one in player board, receives 5 Inspiration tokens and English and one in French. Each is printed randomly picks a Meditation token and place it on an elongated, double sided, sheet of glossy alongside the matching Chakra color on their paper, that folds into six sections/pages. The board. booklet is cleanly designed and is heavily illustrated with numerous examples. You should be up in running in no time.

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The Lotus board is placed in the middle of the play area and seven Plentitude tokens are each randomly placed, face down, on each of the Karma areas on the board (the extra token is placed back in the box, without seeing what number it was). Then each of the nine Maya spaces are filled by randomly drawing a Crystal from the bag until they are all filled.

On a playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turn they will take one of three actions: Receive Energy, Channel Energy or Meditate.

If a player chooses to Receive Energy they may take one of each color from one of the Maya rows on the main board. You are not allowed to take more than one of the same color. If a black Crystal is present in the row, you also A first player is chosen and give the First Player have to take it along with any other Crystal(s) token. This will be used to make sure everyone you choose. Example: If there is a red, yellow has had the same number of turns, after the end and black Crystal in the row, you can take red of the game has been triggered. and/or yellow, but you must also take the black, regardless. One thing to keep in mind is that Continued on next page>

Game Nite Issue #39

Chakra

(Cont.)

you are not allowed to have more than three of down 3 Chakra, move 1 Crystal down 2 Chakra any one color on your player board. and move another one down 1 Chakra, move 3 Crystals down 1 Chakra, etc. This is adds a Once you have chosen your Crystals you have puzzle like factor to the game, as you have to try to place them all at one location. This will to figure out how to move them to the correct either be at the top of the board, or if you should Chakras in the most efficient manner possible. choose to use one of your Inspiration tokens, you can place them in one of your Chakras by If after moving your Crystals a Chakra placing the token in the cutout along the edge becomes Harmonized (3 matching Crystals) of the board. Once the token is placed the you can remove an Inspiration token if it was Chakra canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be used in this manner again until attached to the Chakra. Chakras that have it has been Harmonized (three of Crystals of the been Harmonized are passed over in following matching color of the Chakra) and the token rounds, thus allowing the Crystals to move up is returned from the cutout. One of the main and down the board quicker. strategies of the game is the judicious use of the Inspiration tokens and knowing when to use The last action that you can choose from is the them with the Chakras. Meditation action and there are two parts to it. First you remove all of your Inspiration tokens After the Energy has been placed on the board from the Inspiration area of your player board the empty spaces on the Maya board are refilled (not from the cutouts along the edge!). Then by randomly choosing a Crystal(s) from the bag. you take a new Meditation token and place it alongside the corresponding Chakra on your The second action available on your turn is to board, thus granting you the ability to sneak a Channel Energy. This also uses the Inspiration peek at the value of the associated Plentitude on tokens, but this time you place your token over the Lotus board. the Inspiration space of your choice on your player board and take the associated action. Play continues in this manner until one player These actions provide you with the means to has Harmonized 5 Chakras and each player has moving the Crystals on your board. Some of your had an equal number of turns. Then the game choices include: moving one of your Crystals ends and the scoring takes place.

Game Nite Issue #39

Once the game has ended the Plentitude tokens on the Lotus board are flipped over with the number side facing up. Each of the Harmonized Chakras score the amount of Plentitude points indicated by the Plentitude token that matches its color. Each of the Alleviated Crystals (black Crystals that reach the bottom of the player board) each receive 1 Plentitude point. There is also a +2 Plentitude scoring bonus for the player who has the most Aligned Chakras. The player with the most points wins. Chakra is an ideal game for players who enjoy solving puzzles and planning ahead, and also don’t mind a bit of luck. The gameplay does a good job of capturing the theme of aligning your Chakras in harmony. We found that after a couple of plays the game proved itself to be have also used and I have long despised its use. more interesting than we had originally thought. When I play a game I expect to be rewarded for my skill/strategies and not lose games due to the However, we hated the randomness of the randomness of the scoring system. scoring of the Plentitude tokens on the Lotus board. With a range of 1-4, it is possible to lose Related to the above is the use of the Meditation the game while Harmonizing the most Chakras, tokens to look at the value of the Plentitude especially if the opponent scores both “4” tiles tokens on the Lotus board. Other than the for 8 points and you don’t score on either of first few turns, these essentially proved to be them, yet score the “1” point tiles instead. The worthless, as the randomness of the Energy range of points proved to be excessive, though Crystals drawn will dictate how players will the above scenario is not likely to happen often. proceed to place and move their Crystals on the This is a scoring mechanism that other companies board.

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Game Nite Issue #39

Chakra

(Cont.)

We really enjoyed the use of the Inspiration tokens, as you had to balance their use in placing Energy Crystals in the lower Chakras on the board, yet losing their usage until that Chakra was Harmonized, as well as using them for the movement actions on your board. The actions themselves proved to be varied enough that you were often able to do a few of them before having to Meditate to get them back. However, there are times when you will want to place some random Crystals at the top of the board to aid in moving other Crystals, as the closer you get to Harmonizing several Chakras the less you will want to move the Crystals already on the board. Since the game is rated ages 8+, this is an ideal game to play with families with young children, as they will learn how to plan ahead and strategically develop their boards, while at the same time being mesmerized by the gorgeous artwork and the shiny Crystals. However, I would not recommend this as a “gamer’s” game, as the luck of the draw and the luck of the Plentitude tiles could prove to be unappealing. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable game and will appeal to those who enjoy light games, as well as those looking for a game that is Yoga themed.

Game Nite Issue #39

“Since the game is rated ages 8+, this is an ideal game to play with families with young children, as they will learn how to plan ahead and strategically develop their boards, while at the same time being mesmerized by the gorgeous artwork and the shiny Crystals.” Designer:

Publisher: Players: Mechanic: Ages: Length:

Luka Krleza Blam! 2-4

Race, Action Management 8+ 30 Mins.

Recommended www.blam-edition.com

Game Nite Issue #39

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

Antoine Bauza #7

Dennis Lohausen #7

Ryan Laukat #8

Chad Hoverter #9

Game Nite Issue #39

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

Bruno Cathala #14

John Ariosa #14

Friedemann Friese #15

Joshua Cappel #15

Eric Vogel #15

Mac Gerdts #16

Keldon Jones #16

Steve Finn #17

Game Nite Issue #39

Interview Gallery (Cont.)

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

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

Justin Gary #32

Tom Lehmann #33

Shem Phillips #34

Game Nite Issue #39

Philip duBarry #35

Sen Foong-Lim #36

JT Smith #38

Phoebe Wild #39

Sandy Petersen #39

Game Nite Issue #39

Book Review Index

Issue #1

Issue #2

Issue #3

Issue #4

Issue #5

Issue #6

Issue #7

Issue #8

Issue #9

Issue #10

Issue #11

Issue #12

Issue #13

Issue #14

Game Nite Issue #39

Issue #15

Issue #16

Issue #17

Issue #18

Issue #19

Issue #20

Issue #22

Issue #24

Issue #26

Issue #32

Issue #33

Game Nite Issue #39

Mobile Review Index

Issue #12

Issue #13

Issue #14

Issue #15

Issue #16

Issue #17

Issue #18

Issue #19

Game Nite Issue #39

Issue #20

Issue #21

Issue #22

Issue #23

Issue #24

Issue #25

Issue #26

Game Nite Issue #39

Mobile Review Index (Cont.)

Issue #27

Issue #28

Issue #29

Issue #30

Issue #31

Issue #32

Issue #33

Game Nite Issue #39

Issue #34

Issue #35

Issue #36

Issue #37

Issue #38

Issue #39

Game Nite Issue #39

Game Review Index (Isuues 1-15)

• This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the 2-4 of Us • Small World • Stella Nova • Shoot Out • Postcard Cthulhu • Postcard Empire

• Tile Chess • Cards of Cthulhu • Samurai Spirit • Golem Arcana • Pairs • Sutakku • Timeline

Issue #1

Issue #2

• Baseball Highlights 2045 • Samurai Sword • Paperback • For the Crown • Trench • Firefly • Cutthroat Caverns • Rise of the Zombies Issue #3 • Shadow Throne

• Rhino Hero • Attila • Spurs and Sprockets • Chaosmos • March of the Ants • Aquasphere • Fidelitas • Rise of Cthulhu Issue #4 • Maha Yodah

• Animal Upon Animal • Sushi Draft • Stones of Fate • WWII: Stalingrad • Stockpile • The Magnates • Sentinel Tactics • Flip City • Space Movers 2201 Issue #5 • Dark Tales

• Nevermore • Gold West • Arcadia Quest • Dragon Flame • New York 1901 • Lift Off! • Tesla vs. Edison • Yashima Issue #6 • Targi

Issue #6

• Outer Earth • 1944: Race for the Rhine • Runecast • Cycling Tour • Witkacy • Firefly: Fistful of Credits • Dozen Doubloons • King Down

Game Nite Issue #39

Issue

• 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

• Cosmic Run • Imperial Harvest • Under the Pyramids (Eldritch Horror)

• Bomb Squad • Through the Ages: A New Story... • Luna • Biblios Dice • Trekking the National Parks • Fuse • Skulldug! • Horrible Hex

Issue

#10

• JurassAttack! • Oh My Gods! • Looting Atlantis • 13 Days • Apotheca • Tiny Epic Galaxies • Automobiles • Daxu • Slaughterville • Kheops • Scoville: Labs • Ancient Conflict Treasure Chest

Issue

• Imhotep • In The Name of Odin • Centauri Saga • Draconis Invasion • Dastardly Dirigibles • Flamme Rouge • Haspelknecht • Hansa Teutonica • Star Trek Panic • Theomachy • Commissioned #12 • San Ni Ichi • Small City

#14

• 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

#11

• Cuisine a la Cart • Foragers • The Shadow Over Westminster • Scoville • Valeria: Card Kingdom • Onitama • Knit Wit • World’s Fair: 1893 • Flip City: Reuse • Gruff • The Walled City • Empires at Sea • 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

Issue

• Kanagawa • Lunarchitects • Hero Realms • Santorini • Vinhos: Deluxe • Colony • Sun Tzu • Bermuda Crisis • Tavarua • Explorers of the North Sea • America #13 • San Allies • Crisis

#15

• 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

Game Nite Issue #39

Game Review Index (Issues 16-31)

• March of the Ants:Minions of the Meadow

Issue

#16

Issue #18

• Honshu • Web of Spies • Saga of the Northmen • Tournament at Camelot • Haspelknecht: The Ruhr Valley • Plague Inc. • Zephyr • Terrible Monster • 5ive • Duress

• The Climbers • Whistle Stop • The 7th Continent • Witches of the Revolution • Viral • Sentient • Road Hog • PeltaPeeps

• Joraku • Michael Strogoff • Minute Realms • Castle Dukes • Rajas of the Ganges • Cytosis

Issue #20

Issue

• 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 #17 • Pocket Mars • Terra Mystica • Hafid’s Grand Bazaar

• Mini Rails

• Ancestree • Exodus Fleet • Tak • Mistborn: House War

• Nightmare Forest: Alien Invasion

• The Ruhr • Summit • Seikatsu • Tulip Bubble • Covalence

Issue #19

• Expedition: RPG Card Game

Issue #21

• Shutter Bug • Divinity Derby • Wakening Lair • Planet of the Apes

Issue #22

• 7&7

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Issue #23

• Vast: The Fearsome Foes • Vast Miniatures Expansion • Vast Bonus Cards • Wildcatters • Alexandria • Tzolk’in

• Gretchinz! • Button Men • The Flow of History • The Game of Nines

Issue #24

• Dicey Peaks • Coldwater Crown • Thanos Rising • Peak Oil • Wordoku

Issue #25

• Zombie Dice: Horde Edition

• Codenames: Marvel • Fog of Love • Cthulhu Dice

Issue #26

• Gearworks • Grackles • Maiden’s Quest • The Veil

Issue #27

• Outpost: Siberia • Outpost: Amazon • Root • Planetarium

Issue #28

• Wish You Were Here • Onitama: Way of the Wind • Master of the Galaxy • Hero Realms: The Ruin of Thandar • Shifting Realms • Hero’s Crossing Issue #30

• Shards of Infinity • Blood Rage

• Mistfall: Chronicles of Frost

• The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire • Barker’s Row

Issue #29

• Star Realms: Command Decks

• Your Town • Wu Wei • Star Realms: Frontiers

Issue #31 Game Nite Issue #39

Game Review Index (Issues 32+)

• Darwinning! • GoVenture Card Game • Highlander the Board Game • The Forbidden Sanctuary

Issue #32

• Highlander: Princes of the Universe • Architects of the West Kingdom • Tricky Dungeon • Perdition’s Mouth: Revised Ed. • Warigin

Issue #33

• Tara Wolf: In Valley of the Kings

Issue #34

• Timebreaker • Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done • Perdition’s Mouth:Traitor Guard • Frazetta: Card & Dice Battle Game

• RevoltaaA

• Embark • Kings of Israel • Terminator:Rise of the Resistance • Cheese Quest • Libraria Issue #36

Issue #35

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