Timeline: American History and Timeline: Americana
Timeline is a simple yet compelling game that takes a simple idea and pairs it with nearly limitless expansions – a perfect game idea! Players compete with each other to be the first one to rid themselves of all their cards.
PANAMAX
Copy provided by Stronghold Games
[Note: Normally, I prefer to play a game at least three times prior to writing it for the blog. However, given the time pressure coming up to SPIEL ’14, I have written up my thoughts on a number of games based on only one or two plays in order to cover as many new games as possible prior to the show. I fully admit that it is often not possible to see the full breadth of a design in a single play, and thus I shall not give a final rating to any game at this stage with such a few number of plays…]
Panamax is a very complex game where players attempt to make the most money by managing cargo deliveries in, around and through the Panama Canal. The game reminds me of the 18XX series because players have to manage both their own personal stuff as well as that of a company. Furthermore, players can buy shares in the different companies, so oftentimes it will benefit them to take actions involving other player’s ships and goods.
Sometimes, it’s funny how things work out. I was going thru the BGG Essen Preview (written by fellow OG contributor, W. Eric Martin) – and I noticed that there was a game called Da Yu. Surely, with a name like that… the game was destined to be good, right? In the comments, an old friend of mine posted (tongue-in-cheekly): “I’m looking forward to Dale Yu’s review of Da Yu.” As it turns out, the manager of manager of Taiwan Boardgame Design started a conversation with me, and before I knew it, a box full of games from Taiwan was on my doorstep.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. My experience with games from Taiwan is very slim, but my trips to the past few SPIEL fairs in Essen has taught me that there are a lot of good games being made out in the world outside of the traditional sources.
[Note: Normally, I prefer to play a game at least three times prior to writing it for the blog. However, given the time pressure coming up to SPIEL ’14, I have written up my thoughts on a number of games based on only one or two plays in order to cover as many new games as possible prior to the show. I fully admit that it is often not possible to see the full breadth of a design in a single play, and thus I shall not give a final rating to any game at this stage with such a few number of plays…]
Da Yu: The Flood Conqueror
Designer: Simone Luciani, Daniele Tascini e Paolo Cecchetto
Publisher: Cranio Creations
Players: 2-5
Ages: 8+
Time: 50 minutes
(preview from the rules and play-test on an updated version of the game)
I’m really curious about Tzolk’in theme new design so I tried to get as soon as possible informations.Since I’m sure I’ll not be able to play the final version of Dungeon Bazar before Essen and it is now quite different from the prototype I got months ago I decided to go throuhgt the rules (English and Italian) and ask Lorenzo Tucci Sorrentino (publisher and also deeply involved in the development of the game) something about this interesting Euro in a typical Cranio’s outfit.
Overview of the game
Players are merchants trying to get the right equipment to sell to heroes willing to enter a dungeon and fight the dragon. The board is a 9 tiles randomly assembled map with each room connected to others by open/closed doors. Inside the rooms weapons, spells, armors and other equipments. During the turn a player can make up to three actions and the round goes over until all player pass. Action are movement, open closed doors and place goblins. Goblins actually are used to control an area and, in the end of turn, the player with most goblins will get the better cards. Cards are objects that will be sold to the heroes revealed in the beginning of the turn. So, summarizing, you have to look what heroes are looking for and compete with other merchants trying to get the best cards and make the best deal. Ogres, dragons, including the baby-one, and accountants make the whole thing a bit more lively. Than a second seasons: new heroes and new equipments and than a third one. In the end the richest merchant will be the winner.
Camel Up
Camel Up has slowly made its way to the North American market. I was first introduced to the game back in April at the Gathering of Friends. I was lukewarm on the game at that time, but fellow OG writers (namely W. Eric Martin and Ben McJunkin) were raving about it. As it turns out, they were more in tune than me – as Camel Up went on to win the 2014 Spiel des Jahres.
Back in April, there wasn’t an EN version of the game, and I was unable to have a copy brought over at that time. Since then, Z-man has signed on for the English language version, and it is supposed to be available around the second week of October (i.e. very soon). So what is the game all about? Continue reading
Germany’s Fairplay Magazine has announced the results of 2014’s À la carte award, presented annually to the best card game released during the previous 12 months. The winner is Abluxxen, the clever game from Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling. This only adds to the excellent group of designs recognized by the À la carte since it began back in 1991. Second place went to Seiji Kanai’s Love Letter. (The AEG version of Love Letter actually placed third in last year’s À la carte; the version that managed a second place finish this time around is from Pegasus.) Ugo!, an innovative trick-taker, finished third.
Here is the complete top ten:
1. Abluxxen (Wolfgang Kramer, Michael Kiesling)
2. Love Letter (Seiji Kanai)
3. Ugo! (Ronald Hoekstra, Thomas Jansen, Patrick Zuidhof)
4. Port Royal (Alexander Pfister)
5. Kashgar (Gerhard Hecht)
6. Skull King (Brent Beck, Apryl Stott)
7. Parade (Naoki Homma)
8. SOS Titanic (Bruno Cathala, Ludovic Maublanc)
9. Morels (Brent Povis)
10. Koryŏ (Gun-Hee Kim)
Congratulations to Ravensburger, Kiesling, and the ageless Kramer!
This is probably the last significant award that will be made for some time. The Golden Geeks have been pushed forward to a January timeframe, to allow it to focus on games from the previous calendar year. I’m not sure when the voting for the Dice Tower Awards will occur, but I think it’s several months away at least. And the Games Magazine awards aren’t usually announced until December or so.
So to summarize, here are the winners of the major and second-tier awards for the 2013-2014 time period:
Spiel des Jahre: Camel Up (Steffen Bogen)
Kennerspiel: Istanbul (Rudiger Dorn)
Kinderspiel: Geister, Geister, Schatzsuchmeister! (Brian Yu)
DSP: Russian Railroads (Helmut Ohley, Leonhard Orgler)
IGA: Russian Railroads (Helmut Ohley, Leonhard Orgler)
À la carte: Abluxxen (Wolfgang Kramer, Michael Kiesling)
Spiel der Spiele: Abluxxen (Wolfgang Kramer, Michael Kiesling)
Meeples Choice: Russian Railroads, Bora Bora (Stefan Feld), Concordia (Mac Gerdts)
