Board Game News Brief: November 8th, 2017

Board Game News Brief: November 8th, 2017

Posted Thursday, 9-Nov-2017

More news coming out of Essen; Portal’s new announcements; what’s hot on Kickstarter and more in this week’s Board Game News Brief!

Prepared by Calvin Wong

Prepare for your Downfall

From the designer of Mystic Vale and the publisher of Orleans comes a 4X game in a science fiction future.

Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth with diceless combat, card drafting, and unique factions to play, Downfall is on Kickstarter with only hours left to go.

A eurogame with thematic bite, Downfall looks great and can be yours if you hurry!

Portal Games Announces New Stuff!

During their keynote speech at Essen, Portal Games publishers of Imperial Settlers, Robinson Crusoe, Alien Artifacts, and First Martians among others announced their newest games including expansions for Robinson Crusoe, Alien Artifacts, and Imperial Settlers – But also!

From the designer of Neuroshima Hex and Cry Havoc comes Monolith Arena, a hex-based strategy game of different armies fighting for dominance with their own unique abilities and units.

They also announced a new companion app for Robinson Crusoe which adds new content to the game as well as the ability to create seasonal events like First Martians. All this is exciting and they teased more to come! Watch this space.

Modern Art gets modern reprints

At Essen I saw no less than three new editions of Reiner Knizia’s Modern Art, which were all completely different from the CoolMiniOrNot reprint edition. They were all gorgeous.

First up we have the Taiwanese edition of Modern Art by GeGe games, which features the art of famous Taiwanese artist Chen Chengbo. This edition was created in conjunction with the foundation which bears his name.

Next up we have Oink Game’s very sleek German edition of Modern Art with famous Western artists.

And finally Dicetree Games produced a Korean edition featuring both Western and Korean art pieces to choose from.

Quick Kickstarters

Chronicles of Frost is an adventure card game that plays in an hour and lets you explore, quest, and fight.

Fast, fluid, and full of unique adventures, Chronicles of Frost looks great and you can get in on it here.

Full Moon Jacket has one of the snappiest taglines I’ve encountered in a while: The Vietnam war with Werewolves.

Fight through the night with a modular board and unique abilities for your squad. The game looks like a horde of fun.

Galactic Warlords may have a generic name but the gameplay looks slick and the art style isn’t what you’re expecting from a science fiction game.

With possibilities for team and solo play, this game from the designer of the upcoming Alexandria is worth your time. Have a look.

Community Centerpiece

Ant Lab Games is a YouTube channel that focuses on solo or two player playthroughs and it’s really fun to watch.

Here’s the video I’ve been enjoying recently; a two player playthrough of Anachrony, the time traveling worker placement board game. They really explain their actions and the rules so it’s really easy to grasp why they’re doing what they’re doing.