Seen in the wild! There are so many cards. The box is gorgeous. I can’t wait to carve out some time to play this weekend.
11 Likes
Details please. At a game store?
https://www.theminttinguys.com . They have a distribution deal with Grey Gnome games and some other tin game companies. Free shipping and often have discounts. I find the quality is same as gamecrafter and I usually get the game way faster without a ton of extra fees. Problem is they have pretty limited stock of games (I got one of the last copies of this).
2 Likes
After a tip off from the man himself I have just played through my first adventure of Wyrd (from the designer of Rune, which I really enjoyed).
The rulebook was easy enough to get to grips with, but the game is sort of abstracted, so it’s way easier to learn by doing, and just try to catch any errors that show up, not sweating it if you don’t.
As with Rune, I fancied using some minis rather than tokens to liven up a potentially dry experience, so roughed up a flagstone hex map, found some bits for terrain, grabbed Krunn and Ser Quentin and jumped in. I fought through ghouls, goblins, vampires and finally a boss; the dice chucking doesn’t determine your success but rather your options, and then the game is puzzling out how to use your options to maximise your success.
The theme is fairly pasted on but I don’t see that as a bad thing. The game would work fine with basically any setting, but the great art work throughout helps keep my mind in the grubby streets.
My only ‘criticism’ is that it is a crime such a zineable product has a page count not divisable by 4, this seems like a wild oversight.
The game recommended starting with a 4+1 round adventure (of which I was able to skip a round, though retrospectively I would have liked the XP), which took about an hour. I am looking forward to diving back in for my next, longer adventure!
4 Likes
Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated
We have lately fallen into the employ of Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated, a venture of dubious charter wherein bold adventurers are dispatched to acquire artefacts, assets, and occasionally debts in the name of corporate glory.
PS. Five Missions in.. I must admit, it has proven most diverting!
4 Likes
I didn’t realize Chronicles of Avel could be played solo! Been thinking about getting it for a while. I’ve enjoyed playing Karak with my littlest.
3 Likes
Endeavour: Deep Sea
We’ve really enjoyed playing Endeavor: Deep Sea. It’s a medium-complexity euro with an ocean exploration and conservation theme. Embrace your inner Jacques Cousteau!
Plays well solo, co-op, or competitively, and feels like a solid stepping stone from gateway to hobbyist games.
Exploring the deep blue has a faint whiff of dungeon crawling about it… though I may simply have crawlers on the brain.
PS. I was lucky enough to meet designer Jarratt Gray in Wellington at a lunch.. pushed me overboard to get the game.
PPS. Between the sharks, the squid, and the abyss below, one suspects Nemo was less a recluse and more a realist.
3 Likes
Will be perfect to play with your kid. I loved playing Karak with my kids as well.
Chronicles of Avel is great, also check out CoraQuest which is fantastic too.
1 Like
Star Trek: Captain’s Chair
I’d avoided the Imperium series on account of its reputation for… commitment.
Naturally, I bought Captain’s Chair, which is Imperium disguised as Star Trek. I don’t much care for Star Trek, so this felt consistent 
I recognise few of the officers, aliens and allies, though someone clearly cared. The detail is everywhere. Am almost inclined to watch a few episodes to find out how these colourful characters fit in. Almost.
There’s a bit to take in rules-wise, but it settles quickly. What looks intricate at first proves very manageable once you get into the rhythm of the turn sequence.
Rather better than expected. It plays well solo or at two.
4 Likes
I’m really excited to get these played, especially Golden Age of Piracy and the Fallout Solo RPG. I’ll be spending a lot of time with Fallout this upcoming weekend.
5 Likes
I really like the look of that board! Very colorful.
1 Like
Man, I can’t tell you how frustrated I get when a zine is made in a PDF without proper page count for printing! Had this same issue with Wyrd.
Oh wow, that’s super cool! It’s really cool to see so many libraries branching out into other forms of physical media.
I love that VHS case so much! I’m super jelly of that. Looks awesome.
Since I posted my scathing critique, I noticed the pdf has since been updated with the character sheet and the map as the penultimate two pages (it would have been my suggested solution too). I suspect I had nothing to do with it 
2 Likes
I really love Hercules and the 12 Labors.
The next game in the series is on Backerkit now. I backed it.
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/envy-born-games/jason-and-the-argonauts-a-solo-quest-worthy-of-legends
2 Likes
Underquest is EXCELLENT. I can’t say more because I would want to write way too much because there is a lot to talk about. The combo of quest/encounter/dungeon deck cards builds such a cool emergent narrative that I always wanted more of from Jason Glover’s other games. This picture is the aftermath of an encounter with a hardened fish man that took me and my companion, Borko, down after we had descended into a deep crevice, making our way through an ominous skull laden corridor towards the Death Warden.
11 Likes
5 Likes
Far Away
Boldly go where no one has returned from yet.
An interesting one. Far Away is a 2-player co-op game that works easily enough solo. You take on two explorers engaged by a corporation full of cynical bureaucrats and an HR department that values you less than the equipment.
You start each one-shot mission by crash-landing on a far away alien planet. The base box has an eclectic collection of “lost in space” style capers. These all subvert the norms of a simple hexcrawl framework for exploring, crafting and dealing with the natives.
The most unusual mechanism is the local fauna. Animal life is drawn from a large deck of quirky creatures whose behaviour is roleplayed by the player. The unique combination of beastly antics makes for a very different game every time. The fascinating fauna can lead to very swingy missions where certain creature combinations may make survival impossible or a doddle. Deciding what mayhem the beasts get up to each round can make up most of your turn.
Negative/Positive. The open nature of these denizen decisions appears to exhaust many players. But if you like the strange contemplation of directing your own extra-terrestrial wildlife doco, you will be right at home.
Closest comparison from my shelves? Probably Unsettled by Orange Nebula.
7 Likes
Bah, jealous. Despite getting in early my estimated ship date is near the end of this month!
@stutzj @boardgamebrewer how does it play compared to Iron Helm?
1 Like