Keyforge: Age of Ascension
Well, well. An expansion for a Fantasy Flight game. Unheard of! Keyforge, the most gimmicky game of 2018, gets its first update in the form of Age of Ascension.
Journey deeper into the world of the Crucible in Age of Ascension, the second age of KeyForge! This continuation of the world’s first Unique Deck Game contains 204 new cards seamlessly integrated into a card pool that contains a total of 370 different cards, creating an entirely new collection of Archon Decks for you to discover, explore, and master!
The KeyForge: Age of Ascension two-player starter kit will provide players with all the tools they need to either begin or expand their adventures on the Crucible, featuring two unique Age of Ascension Archon Decks, a Quickstart Rulebook, two Poster Playmats, and all the keys, tokens, and chain trackers you and your chosen opponent need to start playing!
Not big fans of this. But hey, to each his own…
Jaws
Da-Dum…Da-Dum…Da-Dum-Da-Dum-Da-Dum…
Jaws is getting aboard game! Say what now! WHAT!? From the same team that brought us Jurassic Park: Danger!, Jaws is shaping up to be a fun little one versus many game. What we do know is that everybody and we mean EVERYBODY will want to play as the shark.
From the publisher:
In Jaws, one player takes on the role of the killer shark off Amity Island, while the other 1-3 players take on the roles of Brody, Hooper and Quint to hunt the shark. Character and event cards define player abilities and create game actions for humans and the shark. Gameplay is divided into two acts — Amity Island and The Orca — to replicate the film’s story:
- In the Amity Island phase, the shark menaces swimmers and avoids capture. Other players attempt to pinpoint the shark’s location and save swimmers from shark attacks.
- In the Orca phase, played on the reverse side of the game board, Brody, Hooper and Quint are aboard the sinking ship engaging in a climactic battle against the shark, while using additional action and strategy cards to defend the Orca from targeted shark attacks.
If humans kill the shark, they win; if the shark attack on the Orca succeeds, the great white shark wins.
Pity its not a huge table hog of a game as we could have uttered “We’re gonna need a bigger table” *runs away*
Tiny Epic Tactics
After out lovefest for Tiny Epic Mechs, Gamelyn Games have another ready to go!
In Tiny Epic Tactics, players will have a team of 4 unique heroes: a Fighter, a Wizard, a Rogue and a Beast. Each hero type, and each character within that type offers unique advantages to movement, attacks, and/or support. Finding the synergy in your team is key to victory.
In competitive play, players will pit their teams against one another in an effort to score the most victory points by the end of the game. Each turn, players will have 3 actions to assign across their team. They can move and/or attack with their heroes. Victory points are rewarded for area control, enemy heroes captured and keeping your own heroes alive. Gaining complete control of one, or multiple, specific areas offer the most victory points in competitive play. Gaining control of said areas requires your heroes maintaining majority presence in these areas over the course of a few turns. This requires a careful balance of offence and defence. The control of these areas can easily shift from one player to another based on which player has the majority heroes present in the designated spaces. Once a set number of areas are captured, or one of the players has lost all of their heroes, the end game is triggered.
Nesting inside the game box are 5 smaller boxes and a map/scroll. Players will set up the game by placing these 5 boxes, plus the box bottom, onto the scroll in designated areas. This creates the environment that players will explore and battle across.
Cannot wait!
Yinzi: The Shining Ming Dynasty
SpielWorkxx always releases beautiful looking games and their latest continues the trend.
In Yinzi: The Shining Ming Dynasty — “yinzi” meaning “silver” — the players represent merchant clans developing parts of China in the late Ming period in the early 17th century along the last 200 km of the Yangtze river before it reaches the China Sea.
The players plant crops, sell goods to the rural or urban markets, develop raw materials, build and upgrade factories, and sell their goods to ships already waiting in the port. In order to reach the port, the players need to improve their river transport capabilities along the Yangtze.
With gameplay being a combination of Worker Placement, Hand Management and Pick-up and Deliver, this is on our radar.
Terror Below
This had us hooked as soon as we saw it. It’s basically Tremors: The Board Game and that is in itself amazing. Currently on Kickstarter (HERE) and fully funded, Renegade Games hopes to get in your hands by October. However, if you are going to Gen Con this year, you can back it and collect from the Renegade booth there. A whole 2 months before release! Not bad if you are heading to Gen Con this year.
From the publisher:
Terror Below is a game of government experiments gone wild in the Nevada desert. The faster you move, the more vibrations you make, attracting the attention of the vicious worms underground. Navigate the difficult terrain to collect valuable worm eggs and deliver them to locations around town to claim bounties. If you’re feeling lucky, collect items and weapons to go hunt ’em.
The goal of Terror Below is to be the first player to score 20 victory points (VP) by collecting worm eggs and delivering them to locations around town — or alternatively, by hunting down and killing those vicious worms.
During the game, your squad of unlikely heroes will visit locations around the small desert town to find bounties, scavenge for weapons, and try to survive as you distract the worms. Eventually, those worms will attack. If you are in their path of destruction, you better be prepared for a fight!
Not a bad week. One Kickstarter backed and a new Tiny Epic game. See you all next week!
