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Gaming necromancy this week as Fury of Dracula returns for a Fourth Edition, Dr Lucky is back in a new imagining, and Asmodee announce their Gaming Classics range.
‘Trade on the Tigris’ Trolls Tom
When vlogger Tom Vasel complained about a genre of games being cliché, a team of designers decided the correct response was to create exactly that kind of game and then make it awesome again. What started out as Trading on the Mediterranean became Trading on the Tigris, whose card mechanic allows the creation of city states with strong cultures. Tiny Minstrel Games will be putting it out this year. The designers hope Tom Vasel will enjoy it…
TIME Stories travels to Pirate territory
T.I.M.E Stories is an excellent mystery game, whose central conceit – time travelling agents – means you can be parachuted into any different era. The seventh expansion pack – Brotherhood of the Coast - is taking you to 1685 and the culture of piracy, and if you think we’re going to tell you any more than that you’re wrong, get the game and enjoy the mystery.
The Release date is set to be the third quarter of 2018, or now if you can also travel in time.
Kill Doctor Lucky is reborn as The Island of Doctor Lucky
In Kill Doctor Lucky, players competed to… well no prizes for guessing, you killed Doctor Lucky. Now the game is being reborn as a re-imagining called The Island of Doctor Lucky, in which you and up to seven other players rampage across the Isla Fortuna in an attempt to kill the titular doctor before your rivals, all while avoiding traps and creatures.
The rules have been revised, the cat has been turned into a panther, and no copy or knowledge of the original is need to play. Release date is August, perfect to play on a distant island with people who now no longer trust you.
Fury of Dracula Fourth Edition Details
That scream you hear isn’t the sound of Dracula being staked, it’s the falling value of Fury of Dracula’s previous versions now a fourth edition is here. The big change is the pre-painted plastic figures included in the set (what did we expect from WizKids taking over), including the vampire, while the cards are bigger, the price is good at $60, and the big mystery is whether the rules have been evolved.
Megaland is Endless Runner: the Board Game
Endless Runner video games task you with dashing forward on a loop to see how far you can get, before you either die or, like your scribe, get very bored. Now Ryan Laukat appears to have created an endless themed board game in Megaland, because up to five players take it in turns to use a card system to rush their character ever forward in the world, taking damage and collecting treasure until you either die and are reset or voluntarily finish the level, at which point they can purchase goodies.
Hit the target of 20 coins, after how many runs you need, and you win. We’re looking at a 20 minute burst of filler, but the main game is going to be getting it in the UK as it’s a Target exclusive.
A Gaming Table that can Support All the Skulls
Games Workshop have done a deal with Wood Robot to release official gaming tables for Warhammer and 40K, promising themed features and decorations which is basically going to be a lot of skulls isn’t it? No word on pricing, but to maintain the theme, be prepared to drop the cost of a Titan on one.
Asmodee announce Modern Classics line
Asmodee have a lot of games in their stable due to their subtle skill of buying everyone, and face an industry which is becoming more quick hit, flavour of the month than ever before. So how to keep selling older, but still brilliant, games?
Their answer is to launch the Modern Classics line, which is designed to be a group of ‘entry level yet pleasing to the experienced’ products, and the starting six fit this very, very well: Carcassonne, Catan, Dixit, Pandemic, Splendor and Ticket to Ride Europe. Entries on a postcard for the next batch to Asmodee HQ. Okay perhaps not that last bit.
Poetry Slam is your new Marmite
Poetry isn’t just for sixth formers, you can use it to annoy your friends as an adult too. Step forward Mayday Games and Poetry Slam, a party game for people who don’t get embarrassed. The central mechanic is having to hide words in a couplet (two lines of poetry which often rhyme, yeah I was in a Sixth Form), read them to the group and let them guess what your secret was. This is coming to Kickstarter in the future.
Wonderdice’s Alien game accused of plagiarism
Wonderdice have a game coming soon called Alien: USCSS Nostromo, which puts you in the shoes of the cannon fodder in the first Alien film. When we say they’ve been accused of plagiarism we don’t mean at the movie end, because there’s a solid licensing deal with the movie studio.
No, Wonderdice have been accused by designer François Bachelart of taking his game Nostromo, pitched to Wonderdice four years ago. Bachelart is backed by French designer’s union Société des Auteurs de Jeux, who have basically declared war by saying no you can’t copyright mechanics but they can make sure players boycott and the game fails.
So, what do Wonderdice have to say? They confirm they saw Bachelart’s design, and took steps to get a licence to publish it, but then went on their own course and invented an entirely different game using the Alien IP. They say both games are different in approach, and even offered to put out a version of Bachelart’s original design.