What Board Games Will You Be Purchasing?

[chas]

Titans is here and I've played it 15 times at all possible player counts 1-5. Empire of the Stars should be here in about a week. Ankh: Gods of Egypt has 25% of its orders stuck in a reimposed Covid Quarantine in South China. These and The Great Wall now all have unboxing videos of advanced copies on BGG or elsewhere.

[chas]

Have played 8 games of Ankh: Gods of Egypt. Empire of the Stars and Rurik Stone and Blade expansion have arrived and been prepped and 'multiplayer' solitaired to get the rules down. I also tried the former's solo mode, which went pretty well.

These games all have great replayability!

I've consolidated Ankh from 6 to 4 boxes. I waited a month to implement a storage solution to see what others were doing, and combined several ideas to also facilitate set up.

The Great Wall and Hellenica Leaders & Legends Expansion are delayed until November.

I backed a $25 small expansion to Swords and Sails. I am also still waiting on a Forever Delayed GMT redo Deluxe Fifth Edition of The Russian Campaign. Its the old Jedko/Avalon Hill favorite, which I never owned. Taeblewalker has played it with me (only my second game after its original issue) and lent me his old original copy.

A new board game I played several times but will not be buying is Oath. Its very interesting, but not my thing. It was in the category of "Won't Buy But Would Like to Try."

[chas]

Just preordered the new Brian Boru: High King of Ireland. The $60 game available on Amazon and etc. was only $38.99 at Miniature Market yesterday, but they are now out of stock! Mine will be available in December; other vendors have it now at the higher price.

Its an ingeneous card drafting/trick taking(or alternate action)/ area control board game that takes 3-5 Players and lasts 60-90 minutes. The focus is on controlling towns on an abstract Medieval board of Ireland, repelling Viking raids, building monasteries and making marriage alliances. I don't usually play games this short, but the historical theme got my attention right away!

When visiting Dublin we passed through the area now part of that city where Brian's the final historical Battle of Clontarf was fought in 1014, although there is nothing there to mark the spot today. However, the historical museum in the city center there has exhibits on both Celtic and Viking life.

Merry Irish Christmas to me.

My last two Pre Pandemic Kickstarters, The Great Wall and Hellenica: Story of Greece Leaders & Legends Expansion, should be here this month.

The Kickstarter for its sequel, Spring and Autumn: Story of China, which I've playtested with the designer, should be going up this month or soon after as well.

(Edit) The Gamefound Campaign for it starts Dec. 1; a draft page is up now.

[chas]

Ordered Undaunted Normandy when a pal told me about a Sale of the Day. Another friend picked me up Undaunted North Africa at a store sale. I've played the first and am playing the second online on TTS. The next expansion should be out soon, with new features for both simple deck building WWII combat games--Undaunted Reinforcements. Later another will follow moving the game to a new theater--perhaps Eastern Front or The Pacific.

[chas]

The Great Wall is due before Christmas; most have finally been shipped out. Hellenica: Story of Greece Leaders & Legends Expansion is now due in late January.

After being fully funded, Spring and Autumn: Story of China had its Gamefound campaign withdrawn, it will reappear on Kickstarter now, hopefully in January.

Within two weeks of each other, all three previously mentioned Undaunted boxes have also arrived.

Yuletide gaming has begun; it took three tries to get Brian Boru to the table, but its challenging and lots of fun!

[chas]

Time for another purchasing roundup!

1. New games that are recently arrived and being played:

Undaunted Stalingrad
The Russian Campaign Deluxe 5th Edition
Heroscape: Age of Annihilation
(This Haslab Offering failed last Fall. But with the help of others here on the fan site and my own mini proxies, we've been playing our own fan version of it for months now. See my signature thread for accounts of our games, including photos.)

2. Games due in March:

The Great Wall Update Kit (Rules Book 2.0 and revised cards)
Spring and Autumn: Story of China

3. Games backed for Fall:

Dune: War For Arrakis (September?)
Bretwalda (October?)

4. New Kickstarters Backed for 2024 publication:

The Last Kingdom (Kickstarter offering due in a few days; based on the TV series)
Song For War: Mediterranean Theater (Kickstarter has about a week more to run)

5. Retail Games Expected in 2023-4

Commands & Colors Napoleonics Expansion #7 La Grand Battles
Commands & Colors Medieval Expansion #1 The Early Crusades


Gaming Goodness! Check them out.

[caps]

At the recommendation of a friend I recently ordered Age of Galaxy while it was on sale on Amazon, which I would describe as a Tiny Epic style (not from Gamelyn Games though) rendition of Twilight Imperium; supposedly plays in 45 minutes. Very streamlined gameplay. The rulebook and text is clearly not from a native English speaker but it seemed clear enough. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, sadly, but I'm hoping to try both it and Tiny Epic Vikings soon.

[Taeblewalker]

I'm waiting for my FLGS to get Dragonquest: A Fantasy Dice Game in the mail. Another dungeon-based roll and write! Who knew?

[chas]

caps,

And Gamelyn Games is the publisher of The Last Kingdom.

[caps]

Yes, I saw the last kingdom Kickstarter. It did not look like my kind of game, but I expect I will try it if some of my friends get it.

[chas]

RECENT GAMES RECEIVED

The Russian Campaign, Deluxe 5th Edition--We have played through the five scenarios.

Undaunted Stalingrad--We're halfway through the 15 scenario campaign.

Spring and Autumn: Story of China--played three times so far, with a fourth game scheduled for this month (May 2023).

The Great Wall Update Kit--2.0 Rule Book and 19 revised game cards.


GAMES EXPECTED NEXT FALL

The Last Kingdom I just watched the five season series, and am on the 12th book of the 13 book series by Bernard Cornwell.

Bretwalda A very different second treatment of Anglo Saxon England invaded by Vikings.

Dune: War For Arrakis 2-4 Players (mostly 2) in a medium length game by the designers of War For The Ring. Great minis by CMON.


AWAITING REOFFERING ON KICKSTARTER

Song For War: The Mediterranean Theater The designers of this first game for them failed to fund, but they will revamp the offering. Originally scheduled for next Fall as well.

[chas]

The old 70s game Kingmaker has just returned, revised and modernized, by its original company. Kickstarter backers have their game, and I'm hoping to have a retail copy here later this month. Two pals used to own and play it many moons ago. At least two others have expressed an interest in playing it.

I played it several times, but never owned it, because it had some problems. It seems these have all been now addressed by the redesign. The subject is the English War of the Roses.