Northgard (First Impressions)

Posted on August 15, 2020 by Mark Jackson

I’m not sure if I’m showing my age and/or my relative immaturity here… but any time I play a game about Vikings, this is what pops into my head.

So, let’s just start with a simple statement of truth. The Muppets, led by Jim Henson, are one of the cultural touchstones of the 20th Century.

Oh, yeah… I’m supposed to be giving you, dear reader, my first impressions of Northgard, the new board game based on the popular video game. (Actually, I have no idea if it’s popular or not – I don’t play that many video games any more. I do know that I can order it in a variety of different formats… and since I have teenage sons, at my house I could play it on Steam, the Nintendo Switch, or our Xbox One.)

Once again, I have managed to chase a rabbit (this one made of pixels) and get away from the point of this article: a preview of the Northgard: Uncharted Lands board game which is currently on Kickstarter. Seeing as how I am unsure of your level of patience, I’ll proceed with that forthwith.

First, thanks to the good folks at Open Sesame Games, who know how to do prototypes right. The quality of the components were top-notch and made for a good solid first impressions experience. In addition, they provided me with the means to create a proxy version of the Creatures expansion – more on that later.

Second… well, there is no second. It’s just time for me to play the music and light the lights!

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Dale Yu: Review of Escape the Room – The Cursed Dollhouse  (SPOILER FREE)

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Dale Yu
  • Designer: Nicholas Cravotta and Rebecca Bleau
  • Publisher: ThinkFun
  • Players: 1-4
  • Ages: 13+
  • Time: about 90 minutes
  • Times played: 1, with review copy provided by ThinkFun
  • Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/3fRoOoK

The “Escape Room” genre is one of the most prolific areas of growth in 2020 for our hobby (at least in my opinion).  There seem to be plenty of new games coming out in this area, as well as a huge growth in physical escape rooms as well.  In 2020, due to safety concerns, I really haven’t been able to do too many actual escape rooms, but I have been able to get some of that experience via these board games.

This particular series was amongst the first that we ever played and reviewed:  Escape the Room – Dr Gravely’s Retreat and Escape the Room – Stargazer’s Manor were both well received by our group.  The Cursed Dollhouse is the third installation in this series, and it immediately seemed to be a more involved matter.

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OPINIONATED DRINKERS, PROPER SOCIAL DISTANCING EDITION

Posted on August 12, 2020 by Tery Noseworthy
Social Distancing from creatures with many legs is always a good idea.

If you had asked me in March if I thought we’d still be in the midst of a pandemic in August, I would have said no. I don’t think my brain could comprehend that 5 months later I’d still be working from home and missing out on some gaming events I expected to attend.  Board games are still important, though; thankfully there are many games that work well with 2 players, and I have been doing more on-line gaming than I ever dreamed I would.  At the start of the pandemic I had zero interest in playing any “live” board games online; I always have a few turn-based games going, but the idea of spending 2 hours in front of my computer moving pieces online seemed terrible. Fast forward a month and I was signed up on several sites and had downloaded Steam.  I’d still rather be playing in person, but I do appreciate the multiple opportunities to “see” some of my favorite people.

SENTINELS OF THE MULTIVERSE PAIRED WITH KINGS COUNTY BREWERS COLLECTIVE SUPERHERO SIDEKICK

Sentinels of the Multiverse is a cooperative card-game where each player is a different superhero, working with their superhero friends to defeat an evil villain. You can read our full review of the game here; it came out way back in 2012, but it’s a game that still hits the table for me 3 or 4 times a year, despite it taking up an entire game bag all by itself. 

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Dale Yu: Review of Break In: Alcatraz  (Spoiler Free)

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Dale Yu
  • Designers: David Yahos, Nicholas Cravotta, Rebecca Bleau
  • Publisher: Play Monster
  • Ages: 10+
  • Time: 2hrs on box, 64 minutes in reality for our group
  • Players: 1-6
  • Times played: 1, with review copy provided by Play Monster
  • Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3i4f9gj

To be clear – there are no spoilers in my review – but there are a number of strong cautions (EASILY FOUND IN SHOUTY CAPS) included below to help you avoid possible spoilers!

Break In: Alcatraz is part of a new series of escape room games – but this one has a slightly different take on the usual story.  Instead of trying to break out or escape, in these games, you’re trying to break in!  The box and components here are a huge part of the game.  The box is a slanted hexagon that contains a 3D diorama of what you’re trying to break into… in this case, the island prison of Alcatraz.

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Designer Diary: First Monday in October

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Talia Rosen

I always swore that I’d never design a board game.  Whenever I told people about my strategy board gaming hobby, I would almost inevitably get a question about when I would make my own game.  It’s not that simple of course.  There are so many strategy board games these days.  There seemed like a ton when I started down this rabbit hole in the late 1990s, but now the volume is truly mind-boggling.  And yet, the idea for First Monday in October just would not let me be.

The concept took root many, many years ago.  After moving to Washington, DC in 2009 for work, I joined a new game group, which happened to be hosted at Jason Matthews’ house.  I was already a fan of his work, but I had no inkling at the time of wanting to design a game inspired by Twilight Struggle.  Then one fateful evening a couple years later, Jason made an off-hand remark about never having figured out how to make a historical card-driven game about the Supreme Court.  We were in the midst of playtesting 1989: Dawn of Freedom and discussing the various historical themes that could be interesting to explore.  Jason mentioned his concern with who or what the players would reasonably represent in an overarching Supreme Court game, and I made a joke about loving the bizarreness of the parrot fish and shrimp in Reef Encounter.  I promptly moved on with my life, but my subconscious had other plans.

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Stick ‘Em (2020 Capstone Version of Sticheln) (Game Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Chris Wray
  • Designer: Klaus Palesch
  • Publisher: Capstone Games
  • Players: 3 – 6
  • Ages: 10 and Up
  • Time: 20 Minutes
  • Times Played: > 20

It took nearly three decades, but Sticheln — one of my favorite card games — has finally received an English-language printing!  Capstone Games recently released the game as Stick ‘Em (rules available here), using artwork similar and high-quality cards similar to the NSV game that has been available in Germany in recent years.  

I’ll admit that I’m biased by my love of Sticheln, but I see the game as a great step forward in the design of trick taking games. Sticheln threw out all of the old rules, becoming one of the first entries in a generation of trick taking games that no longer resembled the public-domain games of the past. One trump suit? Nah… every suit not led is trump. Must follow? Nope… play any card at any time. And let’s vary the number of suits — and the number of cards in a suit — for the number of players.

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