In “Dead of Winter”, you and a group of survivors are trying to survive the harsh winter in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. Players will be receiving a secret objective that they’ll need to complete, on top of the colony goal chosen each game. Some secret objectives even involve being a hidden traitor, tasking owners to throw the game any way they can without being discovered. To top that off, your group of players are also responsible for more people than just yourselves…meaning you’ll have to endeavor to keep your no-named colonists fed each round while being sure to clean up the trash afterwards (literally). Only the strong will survive…maybe.
Board Games
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Raising shields and locking phasers never gets old, though I don’t get to do these things as often as I’d like. “Starship Battles”, as the name implies, is all about the “pew pew” without the hassle of trying to talk things out first. Each player commands their own starship with their ultimate goal being to destroy their opponents. Oh, and there’s a drafting mechanic with regard to the ship’s compartments so you’ll almost never have the same twice. Before I go any further, I’d like to thank Brian Schaeflein from Dwarf Cove Games for providing me with a press copy for review purposes.
I think it’s safe to say that a lot of us “Ghostbusters” fans are starved for content, so seeing this game come out really got me excited…excited enough to splurge and pick it up. The last “Ghostbusters”-anything I played was the PC game, which is totally awesome and worth picking up. It’s as close to “Ghostbusters 3” as you’re going to get (what with the actual actors voicing the characters) and is probably going to be better than the upcoming movie with the all-female cast. “Ghostbusters: The Board Game” is a cooperative game that puts players in the shoes of Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston as they attempt to bust some ghosts. Will bustin’ make you feel good, or will you cross the streams resulting in life as you know it stopping and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light?
I said a lot of great things about “Love Letter: Batman“, so I took a chance I picked up both “Cypher” and “Lost Legacy: The Starship” on a whim as they seemed to be somewhat similar. I have yet to play the latter, but “Cypher” appears to be like “Love Letter” in the sense that each character has special abilities that have a synergy with the others. However, “Cypher” takes it to a whole new level as it introduces a class system and gets rid of player elimination, among other things. Let’s have a look!
“Arboretum”, put simply, is a game about trees. Lots and lots of pretty, colorful looking trees. Your goal? Score the most points at the end of the game by creating the best looking & most luxurious arboretum. To do that, you’ll have to place cards in front of you in a grid-like fashion which will ultimately create various paths that will be scored at the game’s end. However, players have to earn the right to score a specific tree type in the first place based on what’s in their hands. Will you bark up the right tree and succeed in making something glorious, or will you make a like a tree and “get out of here”? Sorry, I watched “Back to the Future” recently…I couldn’t resist.
It’s been a while since I’ve played air hockey at the arcade…heck, it’s been a while since I’ve BEEN to an arcade. The ReplayFX event was a rare exception, but you generally won’t find as many arcades as you could twenty years ago…at least in my area. “KLASK” is similar to air hockey, but uses magnets and rolling balls instead of forced air. Before we touch on the rules and gameplay, I’d like to thank Kristian Ahjopalo for reaching out all the way from Finland and providing me with a press copy for review purposes.
“Planes” is essentially “Mancala” with cards in an airport…I’ll let you wrap your head around that for a minute. Players are tasked with moving the cubes of their color to the matching plane. Cards exist to not only allow you to take special actions, but to give you a way to score extra victory points. Are YOU crafty and agile enough to get your party to the right terminal, or will you miss your flight? Either way, you’ll be pleased to know that you won’t have to be frisked at security nor will you have to deal with baggage claim hell.
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If you’ve ever watched Thomas the Tank Engine, then you’ll know that freight cars are cheeky little buggers. How Sir Topham Hat is able to stay in business by having trains pull one or two cars at a time is beyond me, but we’re not here to talk about that today. Rather, we’re going to talk about “Yardmaster”, a game that tasks players with loading their train first by reaching their point goal. Will YOU be very useful, or end up causing confusion and delay? Hey, his words…not mine.
2015 has been a pretty good year for DGA. My YouTube channel has reached 9,000+ subscribers and contains over 2,500 videos, a far cry from last year’s numbers. While being diligent with my content is part of the reason the numbers continue to grow, it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of gamers like you. It also helps that there are a TON of awesome games out there just waiting for someone to discover and play them. Yes, it’s that time of year again folks…the 2015 DGA Awards are upon us!
Who’s ready to boldly go? I thought so…after all, who can resist the feeling of raising shields and exploring the unknown with the iconic characters we all know and love? “Star Trek: Five-Year Mission” does exactly that, tasking players with cooperatively getting through a multitude of events (called alerts) we’ve seen in the various episodes on television. Get through enough alerts before the Enterprise explodes and you win the game, though failing enough to plunge the Alpha Quadrant into darkness is indeed a real possibility. Will you choose characters from “The Original Series” or “Next Generation” (yes, you can play as either) and more importantly, will you succeed where they did?
Gamewright has been releasing a lot of dice games as of late, but I’m not going to complain. After all, “Dragonwood” and “Qwixx” turned out to be a lot of fun (just to name a few). “Rolling America” tasks players with filling in their individual map of the USA with numbers rolled on the dice. How well they group and position these numbers will ultimately determine who wins the game. Before we stand to respect our great country’s National Anthem (and shame on you if you don’t know it), I’d like to thank Marketing Coordinator Nora Meiners from Gamewright for providing me with a press copy for review purposes.
Mushroom Varietal Points…now THERE’S a term I’ve never heard used before. I suppose I should have expected it, seeing as how “Morels” is all about mushrooms. In short, “Morels” is a set collecting game that tasks players with gathering & cooking three or more like mushrooms in order to earn MVPs. Alternatively, they can sell sets of two or more for foraging sticks, which act as currency and allows them to expand their future collecting options. Sounds rather tasty…just keep an eye out for the Destroying Angel for it’ll make you incredibly sick. Allow me to explain…
While this game was published in 2007, I hadn’t heard of it until about a month ago. I seem to be doing that a lot lately…finding stuff I don’t expect under the “you may also like” section of Amazon’s various game pages. “Airships” tasks players with building a fleet of airships (surprise, surprise) with the intent on earning the most victory points. It can be compared to “Splendor”, but with a lot of dice rolling and calculating probabilities. I suppose I should explain the game a bit more before doing any more comparisons, so let’s get to it!
Folks couldn’t leave well enough alone. You see, Sheepland was a nice place…full of rolling green meadows, lush forests, and majestic mountains. Don’t worry, it’s not being invaded by orcs, trolls, or anything like that. Rather, someone had the bright idea of putting up fences (probably someone who had stock in Sheepland Timber Company). As a shepherd, you must compete with other shepherds in getting the most profitable lands by herding sheep onto land that you own. Then there’s the black sheep, whose rare black wool is worth a bit more. Will YOU be the richest shepherd in Sheepland?
One of the first games I played as a kid wasn’t Poker, Blackjack, or anything derived from your standard deck of fifty-two cards. It was a little French game called “Mille Bornes” released by Parker Brothers back in 1971 (though its original publication was 1954). It is widely believed that “Mille Bornes” was derived from “Touring”, which was originally produced in 1906 and picked up by Parker Brothers in 1925. Essentially, it’s a road race game where players try to get to the goal line by laying down distance/mile cards while trying to deal with hazards via remedies and safeties. “Iron Horses” works much the same way, though it takes places in the 19th century where railroads dominated commerce. Before we begin, I’d like to thank Chris Rossetti, the Founder, CFO, and Lead Designer for Rampage Games LLC, for providing me with a press copy of both the standard version and the Limited Edition for review purposes.