I’ve done quite a few of these now. I’ll tell you an almost mildly funny story. I mean, it’s more a sequence of words than an amusing tale, but whatever. I cover six games in each of these hoards, right? The intention was to have a little celebration when I hit the 100th game. It’s quite a significant milestone: I’ve had to scrape around the bottom of my comedy barrel ninety nine times to come up with introductions for every single game covered here (there is one very, very good intro in amongst them: a prize if you find it). In a demonstration of how well organised I am, we have cruised past that milestone with barely a flutter of a bum cheek. I think it happened in episode 17, but I can’t be bothered to do the maths. I’ll tell you what. We’ll do the celebration today. What are we celebrating? The reporting of one hundred and some games! What is our reward? More games!
What else was it going to be?
Gazebo and Gingham
Well, aren’t these nice?
There’s a few things I like in life. Things I like a lot. Board games. That one’s obvious, otherwise we wouldn’t be here, haha! Holidays. Oh please, give me more holidays. All the holidays. Get me abroad! Then there’s lovely little board games that can take up the tiniest corner of your suitcase, wait patiently in the cargo hold, meet you on the other side, and then you’re sitting on the balcony with a cold beer and a board game on the go as the sun smiles upon your choices and George Ezra on the smartphone speaker gets drowned out by your drunken singing voice. I’m about to give you something better. Two travel games.
In Gazebo, you will fill a botanical garden with beautiful flowers and features as you set up gazebos and prized patios. How does this all happen then? You place the domino tiles – with lovely designs – onto the shared garden map (made of cloth) to form little nooks. Onto these
nooks you can place your gazebos. If you connect to an opponent’s smaller nook, you’ll be able to absorb it and replace their gazebos. Plan ahead with your domino placement if you hope to win. The first player to place all of their gazebos on the board wins.
What about Gingham? Don’t worry, not missing it out. Here, the players are ants who have stumbled upon a picnic blanket (cloth game map again, which is obviously thematically appropriate). If you’re clever with your placement of you queens around the blanket (I strongly recommend you are always clever with this), they will deploy their ants to connect the sweets and claim the stockpiles created. The longest connections and the tallest stockpiles will score the most points.
Both games come in beautiful clamshell cases, and are basically impossible to resist. Go to this crowdfunding page, and I’ll apologise in advance for the temptation.
Wraith and the Giants – A Solo Hero Series Games
It always seemed pointless to me to own every console of a generation. Most games would reach all platforms, there’s only a couple of exclusives you’d miss out on. I went Xbox, and was happy with the choice. Mostly. I caught up with Days Gone recently, and it was as great as I pretended it couldn’t be back when gameplay footage teased me. And there was Shadow of the Colossus. Oh, if only… If you missed out like me, or if you’re a long-time fan, then this board game could scratch a particular itch.
Wraith and the Giants is a solo game from Renegade Game Studios in which you’ll battle epic Elemental Giants and protect the village. Hopefully. Is there a story? Oh yeah, and plenty of it. Every 23 years since time unknown, Giants have risen from the lands beyond, marching towards the village to feed. Your grandmother fought and defeated these monsters while she
was alive; the duty had fallen to her upon the death of her grandmother, and so forth back as far as legend records. Your grandmother is gone, so you now must take up her sword and bow as a living shadow. Can you continue the story and protect the village from a catastrophic end?
As the game progresses you’ll take on four unique boss fights at three different Wraith ages for huge replayability. Chain your card combos to scar and defeat the Giants. Fancy your chances? Head on over to this page for a look.
Earth: Animal Kingdom expansion
I don’t often cover expansions here. Full disclosure: I’ve recently had the chance to test out the base game for the first time and this new expansion. I’ve had a funny old time with the base game. I don’t normally put my opinions in these news pieces (shut up at the back), but this might be worth mentioning. I was so-so about Earth – I’m probably in a minority – but as soon as Animal Kingdom was added, I felt like the game was elevated considerably. When you see this expansion, you’ll know why.
Animal Kingdom brings roaming animeeples to the game. It’s okay, you can read that again and let it sink in. And then you need to see how it looks on the table. Each animal has specific needs and requirements, and their abilities will be triggered if your tableau meets them. It’s time to play Earth in a different way and cast your old strategies aside. The Fauna Objectives just became more interesting: they can trigger the animals in your tableau, thereby turning passive goals into active opportunities to reshape your ecosystem and score (yet more) points. As animals occupy or move through cards in your tableau, their abilities activate. Cultivate the right mix of flora and terrain to guide them and maximize their impact.
There’s a Siberian chipmunk. Yes, you will end up wanting a real one. There’s a snow goose. You read that right too. The wild turkeys look like they could dance out a routine. The reindeer! Oh boy, the reindeer. We’ve got an adorable red panda, something called a quokka (look it up, but spell it carefully). I’ll let you discover the rest for themselves. It’s right over here.
Deep Regrets
Here’s a couple of hobbies for you. First up, fishing. Lots of people like doing that. Swinging a stick about with a line on the end, dipping the line in the water, and out pops a fish. Second up, joining a cult and summoning entities that could end the world, sacrificing the innocent, not worrying that if the world ends then they will end with it. What happens when you combine the two? Well, you end up with Deep Regrets… which is a dice-rolling, card-flipping fishing game of regret for 1-5 players from Tettix Games.
I talked about this a bit when it geared up for its Kickstarter launch, and now it’s hitting retail I’m going to big it up again, because around here I do what I want.
Decide what to eat, what to sell, what to mount, and how many regrets you’re willing to carry, as you push yourself too far and spiral towards a thrilling conclusion in this strategic horror fishing game. You’ll roll bespoke tackle dice at the start of each turn to determine your strength for that round and then decide whether you’ll stay at sea or return to port to sell fish, buy provisions, and recharge your energy. Survey the sizes of shadows on the backs of 9 different fish shoals at three depths, determining what you think you can afford to catch and if you want to risk it for a potentially better reward. Flip fish, spend dice, add them to your collection – but beware of reveal and catch abilities that can have various effects on the game.
Thematically and artistically, Deep Regrets is tremendous, and it’s got to be worth another look. Off you go, this page awaits.
Trailblazer: The Arizona Trail
Here’s another cracking little game that’s enjoyed a successful Kickstarter recently and is now finding its way to retail.
Trailblazer: The Arizona Trail from Mariposa Games is for 1-4 players, and will take you from Saguaro National Park and the Sonoran Desert, through the largest Ponderosa Pine Forest on Earth, and into the Grand Canyon, as you travel the spectacular 800 mile-long Arizona Trail. Experience the sights and sounds of the endless Mountains, Canyons, Plateaus and Deserts, Seek out the amazing variety of wildlife such as the Roadrunner and Javelina, while avoiding the dreaded Gila Monster. Perhaps you will sight the legendary Jackalope! Acquire as much Superstition Gold and Arizona Grit as you can while interacting with the incredible diversity of Terrain, Flora and Fauna found in State 48… aka Arizona.
The game takes place over the course of 8 Weeks/Rounds that represent roughly 100 miles of actual trail distance per week. Players can choose to travel by Backpacking, Running, Mountain Biking or Horseback. Through the 3 Phases of each week, players will acquire and manage their limited Currency and Resources, explore amazing natural sites, observe and interact with the diverse array of Flora and Fauna and most importantly create a personal Arizona Mural displaying memories of their journey. No need to risk your neck or ankles with the real deal! Race on over to this page for more info!
Night Soil
Let’s end on a classy note.
Some games are poop. Sorry, but it’s true. I’ve played some amazing games, and also a couple that needed to be carried away on a shovel while you pinch your nose. This game isn’t poop. The theme definitely is, though.
Night Soil from Grail Games is for 2-5 players with an hour and a half to spare, and is a worker placement game where no one owns the workers, a pick-up-and-deliver game where everyone is trying to move the same stuff around, AND it is both highly tactical and interactive at the same time.
As the exemplar of cultural progress in Europe, Tudor London in the sixteenth century is regarded as the pinnacle of cultural and technological development. However, as modern plumbing is still generations away, the city is gradually filling up with human waste, making it a terribly fragrant place to live. (We had a visit to York recently, heard a tale on the Shambles (a tale that reminds me how much I hate the phrase ‘the good old days’) about how meat would be displayed on shop window ledges while buckets of unmentionable stuff were flung out of the windows above. It’s a story that won’t leave me.)
Players are competing Night Soil companies. By night, Labourer cards will be used to carefully manoeuvre waste cubes through the narrow streets of London to turn a profit and to recruit workers. By day, these workers can be sent out into London to advertise, garner favour with local businesses, or to improve their company’s assets. However, crowds of workers do tend to add to the waste problem… At the end of the game, the player who has managed to make the most money shall win. Fancy getting stuck into a pile of that? Wade on over to the crowdfunding page and take the plunge.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this celebration of a game introduction that happened around about three editions ago. With any luck, you’ll stick with me until the next milestone I manage to miss by approximately a month. Perhaps the next celebration should be for the 400,000th character typed in this series (including spaces). Won’t that be exciting! Get counting those characters, kids. I wonder what I’ll reward you with when we reach that glorious landmark!
About the author:
Steve is currently a freelance boardgame blogger, but often dreams of life as a pirate, or as a ghost herder in the Lake District, or as an evil estate agent who sells haunted houses for his own dark pleasure. Instead of figuring out how to do these jobs in real life like a normal lunatic, he tries to write about them instead, and releases the resultant books upon the unsuspecting world via famous digital bookstores. More books are bound to follow. Find this peculiar entity here: www.instagram.com/positively.board
