The board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending August 31, 2018.
- Stone Age is celebrating its tenth anniversary, so you better believe there’s a special edition on the way from Z-Man. There’s snow on the ground and everything seems to have become cold, but the game will include a double-sided board, upgraded components, and will retail for $80 when it hits stores in Q4.
- Our Jim Kelly reviewed KeyForge last week (and did a great job of it), but FFG has a preview of gameplay this week and, well, it is their game. So if you want to read their version, here it is.
- WizKids has Star Trek Galactic Enterprises, a Deep Space 9 game, available now. Don’t worry, you don’t need to know all the rules of acquisition—just some of them.
- It seems like Days of Wonder puts out about one new title each year—and it’s usually a really good one. So this week, when they officially revealed The River (the game was at Gen Con), people paid attention. It’s tile placement and exploration at a decent price point. Look for it in November.
- USAopoly has some pictures of their upcoming Harry Potter Codenames game. Check ’em out!
- Renegade Game Studios announced a Ghostbusters card game this week. The $20 set collector will allow players to capture ghosts and it will be available this fall.
- What’s hitting shelves this week? Well, among the titles on packing lists, I see Tower of Madness, which I reviewed yesterday. It’s Cthulhu-themed insanity in press your luck form. Plus, check out the components! From Smirk and Dagger.
- There’s Grackles from Fireside Games, which Logan reviewed this week. I played a demo of it at Gen Con and enjoyed it.
- Nyctophobia: The Hunted, the super-buzzy game about surviving the woods at night (and is played with blackout glasses), is shown to be on its way to shelves too. Look for a review from Jonathan soon.
- Also from Smirk and Laughter is Before There Were Stars. This is from the family game line and it’s a storytelling game where you create a mythology. A group of us played it at Gen Con and really liked it.
- Bezier Games has Ultimate Werewolf: Legacy coming to stores next week. Rumor is, that if you play the final game of the series on Halloween, one of you actually turns into a werewolf. Like I said, it’s a rumor. Also, can someone suggest to Rob Daviau that Emojito would make a great legacy game?
At GeekDad, we write a lot about tabletop games. Here’s what we’ve written about this past week:
- Logan Giannini reviewed Grackles from Fireside Games. It’s abstract strategy about those awful and noisy birds on power lines. And it releases next week!
- Again, proving we are a timely bunch, I reviewed the Lovecraftian-themed game with one of the best components ever, Tower of Madness. I also was lucky enough to review Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, which was a surprise announcement this week from Stonemaier Games. (It’s fantastic!)
- Jonathan Liu reviewed the people-reading and hand management game, Pikoko, which is quite beautiful (and this week’s image). He also has a preview of Thieves Den, just launched on Kickstarter. He also reviewed the prisoner escape game, Bandido.
- Simon Yule developed a great resource in his catalog of D&D DM Essentials. It’s everything you need (on the cheap) to be a great DM.
Finally, here’s what some of the GeekDad Crew has been playing this week:
- Michael Harrison: Arkham Horror: The Card Game
- Michael Pistiolas: Champions of Midgard
- Jonathan Liu: Bandido, GoTown, Most Wanted, Hippo, Tower of Madness, Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse!, Expancity, Forest, Jungli-La, Master of Orion: Conquest, Pyramid of Pengqueen, Team UP!, Thieves Den, Tyler Sigman’s Crows, Welcome to the Jungle
- Simon Yule: D&D Curse of Strahd, Risk Legacy, Boss Monster
- Dave Banks: Mint Works, Monster Crunch, Rise of Queendale, Spell Smashers, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Blue Lagoon, Startups, Welcome To…, Tower of Madness
