Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending December 4, 2020.
Gaming News
- Catan Starfarers is getting a 5-6 player expansion, which also includes an alien race to interact with and a new system, similar to the one in the 5-6 player expansion of Catan that decreases the downtime between turns. The expansion is available for order from the Catan website as of today.
- Fantasy Flight is bringing the Star Wars Clone Wars era to Armada today with the introduction of Galactic Republic and Separatist Alliance factions. The new factions have also prompted a set of rule changes.
- Unstable Games is accepting preorders for Happy Little Dinosaurs.
- Bob Ross – yes, that Bob Ross – is coming to Magic: The Gathering. A limited edition set called “Happy Little Gathering” will feature artwork from the TV painter on, of course, land cards. The cards are available to order through Magic’s “Secret Lair” series, but only until December 14.
- Stonemaier Games has announced that expansions for Wingspan, Tapestry, and Viniculture are in development.
- Not really a surprise, but the success of Netflix’s limited series Queen’s Gambit–the show is the streamer’s biggest limited scripted series to date–has created a huge increase in sales of chess sets and books on the classic game.
- With a post on Twitter this week, illusionist Uri Geller officially ended his 20-year legal battle with Nintendo, thereby clearing the way for the character Kadabra to return to the Pokémon card game.
- The next Unmatched set will allow players to pit Little Red Riding Hood against Beowulf. Yeah, it sounds like a weird pairing to me, too, but it does give me a chance to remind readers that Unmatched: Cobble & Fog is a finalist for the GeekDad Game of the Year.
- 1980s board game Block Mania, based on the world in Judge Dredd, is being updated and reprinted by Rebellion Unplugged.
GeekDad and GeekMom Reviews
- Michael Knight reviewed Tales of Evil.
- Robin Brooks posted a “Parent’s Guide to Marvel Champions.”
- Jonathan Liu reviewed Allegory and Twinkle.
- I reviewed Titanic: The Game.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Greg Howley played Lost Cities, Above and Below, and Sentinels of the Multiverse.
- Michael Pistiolas played Blokus, Gloomhaven, Shipwrights of the North Sea, and Can’t Stop.
- Michael Knight played Tales of Evil, and Pan Am.
- Robin Brooks played Warhammer Underworlds: Arena Mortis, The Crew, Abandon All Artichokes, Unmatched, Marvel United, Forgotten Waters, and Pan Am.
- Jonathan Liu played Kingdom Rush: Rift in Time, Twinkle, Marvel United, Pan Am, Under Falling Skies, Abandon All Artichokes, Allegory, Back to the Future: Back in Time, Calico, Chronicles of Crime: 1400, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Forgotten Waters, The Isle of Cats, Mass Transit, Santa Monica, Unmatched: Cobble & Fog, Via Magica, and Zombie Teenz Evolution.
- I played Marvel United, Pan Am, Abandon All Artichokes, Back to the Future: Back in Time, Calico, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Forgotten Waters, The Isle of Cats, Santa Monica, and Unmatched: Cobble & Fogg.
