No, that’s not the lead-in to an obscure fairy tale. It’s the boardgame publishers Avalon Hill (AKA Hasbro) and Horrible Guild. They just so happen to be near each other (in time, not necessarily in space) at my Gen Con visit. Avalon Hill is continuing its line of Talisman, HeroQuest, and Betrayal while the Horrible Guild was also offering up games on the lighter side of the spectrum. I was able to check out Spotlight, Flower Fields, and the soon-to-be-Kickstarted Railroad Tiles.
Horrible Guild
Spotlight
One friend was jumping up and down with excitement as I explained Spotlight, a 1-5 player game based around a sort of competitive Where’s Waldo hidden pictures search. Each player is given a sheet full of people and things crowded together in what one might call a standard setup. A playing card is then flipped up displaying a specific character. All players then have a limited time in which they can scan their card to count how many times that character appears – they do not have to be in the same pose as on the card! To make things more difficult, the boards are set up to be entirely black and one can only “see” the underlying characters using a special wand that you can move around giving one the feeling of controlling a spotlight (thus the name.) At the end of time, players guess how many times that character occurs and score points depending on how close they are to the correct answer. Players do not have identical boards, although the frequency of the characters are the same. Once players become so familiar with the characters that they remember the frequencies, the game has a mechanism to play using only 3 of the four quarters of their game board. The game also has a cooperative mode. Dice and cards are used to track a “moon” mechanism and players must keep scoring to stay ahead of the moon. Players are allowed to “share” their progress in order to help others catch up. Some of the cards providing the search subject are flagged with a heart symbol – indicating those are particularly good if you’re playing with a younger audience. The players’ spotlights actually come in two sizes. Flipping over the spotlight makes a significantly smaller field of view. This can increase the difficulty of the game, and could be used as a handicap against those pesky players who are just too good. Of course, reducing the timer is another great way to make the game harder.
Flower Fields
Flower Fields is a 1-4 player game that has players drafting tiles to create the best garden. On a turn, a player can take one of four actions: take a tile from the circle, take a tile from the middle (which costs 2 bees), place a bee in one’s own garden, or take two bees from the center of the table. At the start, small 1×2 tiles are placed in the middle of the table and then larger polymino tiles (3-5 in size) are placed around them in a circle. A sun is placed between two tiles in the outer circle. When taking a tile from the circle, a player must take the tile next to the sun but a player can pay bees to skip over unwanted tiles. Once a player drafts a tile, they place it into their garden. If there is a bee symbol on the tile a previously owned bee can immediately be placed there as part of the turn. In addition to providing flexibility, bees are necessary for scoring. Players earn points for their largest group of each color (red, blue, orange.) Some of the tiles will have an empty spot for a bee, if a bee is placed there, it will increase the scoring for that group. Points are awarded based on the number of tiles in the group times the number of bees in that group. Thus, if your largest group has no bees, it is not worth any points. Players also earn points for filling in a full horizontal or vertical line on their board. A fourth color of tile, white, provides a way to earn more bees. Each day (round), a player earns bees based on the number of honeycombs they are showing minus how many webs are showing on their tiles. White tiles will sometimes have honeycombs and will thus provide a player with a source of bees. Flower Fields will be releasing at Essen 2024.
Railroad Tiles
Fans of Railroad Ink should be excited to hear about Railroad Tiles. Rather than a roll-and-write about connecting roads and railroads, Railroad Tiles has players drafting tiles which are then arranged in front of a player to create their road & rail network. (There is a maximum size which I think was on the order of 6×6 I think.) To start, tiles are lined up at the station in groups of 2, 3, or 4 tiles. Players then take turns drafting an entire column of tiles. Taking a larger column will mean that that player will get to pick later in the next round. Players then place their chosen tiles into their tableau. Tracks connect to tracks, roads connect to roads, and city sides must connect to other cities. Some tiles include places for train, car, or people tokens which can be placed to increase scores. Each round a token is flipped from the stack in the clock tower. It will indicate a special scoring at the end of the round. At the end of the game, players score 3 points for each completed (surrounded) city, points for each tile in their largest full rectangle. Points are lost for any dangling road or track ends beyond five. For variation or more options, the game can be played with special objectives worth 4 points each
Hasbro
Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons
An expansion for Talisman 5th Edition, Fate Beckons takes the Talisman formula and adds a fully cooperative mode. Players join forces in one of five different trials to defeat the villain. Some Talisman games have a slow burn as players develop but the villains in Fate Beckons power up over time so players need to focus on progressing forward to reach the objective. Eventually, if the maximum “doom” level is reached, players can no longer heal and lose 1 health per round. In addition to the main villain, monsters spawn onto the board and move around – joining forces if they happen to overlap each other. The trials are laid out in a campaign, although any of them can be replayed. As players go through the trials the obligatory new cool stuff is unlocked like new characters and other fun. The expansion plays with 2-6 players, runs around $30, and should reach stores in October.
HeroQuest: Jungles of Delthrak
The classic HeroQuest continues to see additional content. Jungles of Delthrak is an all-new expansion (as opposed to redoing a classic one) and is out in stores now (about $45), featuring, surprise, a jungle theme. There are two new heroes (with male/female minis) and DINOSAURS! (Buried the lead, there…) The expansion plays like a choose your own adventure where gamers play through around 10 of 16 possible quests. Gamers wanting a challenge (or perhaps a more casual one) can adjust the difficulty of the scenarios.
HeroQuest: First Light
First Light is not a typical expansion. It is designed to be a way for gamers new to the HeroQuest franchise can take a dip into the game. Running about $50, it contains everything one needs to play the game. The included heroes have been seen before but sport all new figurines. However, monsters are represented by thick cardboard standees – except for an impressive black dragon mini. There is a new GM screen and (for the first time, I think) a double sided game board. There are 10 included quests, different from the original base game, but they occur story-wise about the same time. Thus, this is a fine purchase for new players or those already invested in the game. Although First Light is supposed to be a less expensive introduction to the game, it is fully playable with any of the available expansions. One does not need to also buy the base game. HeroQuest First Light should be in stores sometime soon.
Betrayal: Deck of Lost Souls
Deck of Lost Souls is a card-based hidden-traitor game in the Betrayal at House on the Hill setting. Everyone is given a role (typically someone is a traitor) and presented with a curse they have to overcome. Players draw cards, playing item cards to try to complete tasks. These tasks most likely need help from other players who can help or not, depending on their mood or perhaps the limitations of a player’s hand. If a task is not completed, the group takes penalties towards the overall goal of collecting a specific set of items to dispel the curse. If a player is just not pulling their weight (and you think it’s not because they have a pitiful hand) one can call out the traitor. If correct, the traitor loses some of their advantages. Choose incorrectly and it leads to even more penalties. Sometimes, the traitor may find it in their own interest to reveal themselves mid-game. Designed as an inexpensive Betrayal type experience, the game comes in around $20.
Asara
Released by Ravensburger in 2010, the 2-4 player Asara is getting a re-release with an overhaul on the art side of things (art not final in images shown.) It’s sort of a worker placement game where the workers are called broker cards and players need to follow suit when placing them. The goal is to build towers – many of them, tall ones, and fancier ones. Players use their broker cards to collect tiles to build, build towers with their tiles, gain coins, bribe (someone?) to look ahead at upcoming stacks, etc.. When all players have used up their cards, the round ends and points are scored based on the number and style of towers built. At the end of four rounds, scoring occurs again with bonuses also given to players with the tallest tower of each color, the most overall towers, and the largest overall tower. The game will be coming to the crowdfunding site, Gamefound sometime soon and will be available in a base game and a “premium” version with fancier bits (cards and tokens) as well as two expansions – supposedly a “reimagining” of Gift of the Caliph and House of the Genie, neither of which ever had an English release.
