Point of Sale: Two Big Games Hit the Road
It was time to free up some space on my game shelf again, what board games did I sell this time?
Where to jump in on board games, anime, books, and movies as a Nerd
It was time to free up some space on my game shelf again, what board games did I sell this time?
Based off of the Runelords novels by David Farland, this game allows you to battle and take endowments to be the best lord out there.
Something I’ve been waiting for, for a while showed up yesterday. Really, compared to when it might ship for some people, I didn’t have to wait too long, but I have the rest of the Tainted Grail stuff, the two big expansion campaigns, the Echoes of the Past character add-on, and the Red Death post any of the campaign campaigns. I am stoked for playing them and playing more Tainted Grail in general.
I got the box around 2, I want to say, and I was very patient and didn’t actually open anything to even look at the outside of the boxes until nine that night when I did an initial live stream of it on Malts and Meeples. I consider that to be pretty good patience on my behalf because normally I’d have stopped my work day to bust it open.
Of course, I also had a beer, otherwise would it truly be Malts and Meeples? Last nights beer came from Surly Brewing Company out of Minneapolis. Fall to Pieces is a hoppy refreshing beer. I am not sure it’s the best for the winter, but it was nice last night. For me, it’s a very refreshing beer with a nice crisp taste which is generally what I’m looking for.
Do you like the unboxings? And what did you think of the lighting for the stream? I’m working on getting everything set as I want it and hopefully have a nice close-up camera set-up sometime in the future as well.
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Normally you get to hear about all of the games in a given order, but this time you won’t. There will be one game in the order that won’t be talked about, because it’s going to be a gift. But I can, of course, talk …
Based off of an app game, Epic Seven Arise is a dungeon crawl, fantasy, adventure where you play as the heir of the covenant trying to stop the cycles of destruction. Pros Epic fantasy game Theme Artwork Campaign Solo Cons Artwork Price First time company …
So this was one of those giant Kickstarters that I was really excited for. In fact in yesterdays list, I talked about it as my #2 Kickstarter that I was most pleased that I backed in 2020, and I finally took the time to play the base game yesterday, so let’s talk about the game. This won’t be a full review because I’ve only played it once, two player, with Ant-Man and Wasp.
In this game, you are trying to defeat some villain, in our case it was Red Skull. They have their plan, Red Skull is trying to create havoc and get Hydra to take over, and they have placed threats all around the city. As the heroes you are going around, fighting his minions and thugs, doing heroic actions to thwart his plans and rescue bystanders all so you can get to the point where you can punch Red Skull and take him out.
To do this, you are playing cards out on your turn that do one to two actions. These cards either have you moving, punching, a heroic action, or maybe a combination of some of those. There are also cards with wilds on them. Now that doesn’t seem like much, but you also get to use the symbols on the cards of the person before you. So in our game, if Ant-Man did two heroic actions, and the Wasp played a wild, she’d get to do two heroic actions and then an action of her choice.
Every third player turn, the villain goes. The villain actually starts off the game as well, they will move, possibly, around the board and then do several different things. There are bam effects that they do, this might be doing damage, or advancing their threat. If they ever complete their goal, they win, if they don’t have any more scheme cards to draw, they win, if a hero has no cards in their hand or to draw, they win.
This is a very light weight cooperative game, and that’s not really a negative, it’s just a fact. Marvel United is meant to be a game that’s played by families or with people who aren’t as much gamers, but the Marvel theme appeals to them. This is what I was expecting from the base game, and I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed. I already can tell that I’d definitely recommend this game to families with younger children as well, because most of the cards don’t have text on them, and the board even has a limited amount of text that kids will probably learn after a few plays of it.
There is also a good amount in the box. You get 3 villains and 7 heroes in the base box, so you have a lot of different combinations that you can play. We picked Ant-Man and Wasp because they are a team-up group, obviously, and also because their minis are great with Wasp taking off from or alighting upon a die, and Ant-Man getting ready to leap off of a quarter. But all of the minis are great in the game, Red Skull is a little boring, but in all fairness, he isn’t the most dynamic looking character. And in the base box, you have a lot of great heroes, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Widow round out the rest of them, so you have a great variety to play from.
I also like that each hero has a normal selection of cards ranging from heroic actions to punches, to maybe a move and a punch, but they also have three unique cards to them. These cards do have a bit of text on them, but are really the cards that give them flavor. Ant-Man, for example had a card that is called Quantum Realm that has no symbols on it, but it allows him to go back through the cards that he’s played and swap that card with any of them. Or he has a card where he shrinks which means that he can’t take damage for a turn, or grows so he can punch one villain really really hard.
As a negative, I think base box only, it has enough game play for a family game, but for hobby gamers, you’ll miss not having at least an expansion for the game. This is meant to really be that retail version that you can pull off of the shelf at Wal-Mart or Target because you see it there, and it won’t be too much to play. The expansions, according to what I’ve heard, are supposed to add in more interesting game play and challenges that might be a bit tougher and more gamer.
This is a fun game that for me is going to need more. However, I have more of this game coming. And even without more, I had a fun time playing it, and I think it’ll be a game that’s good for a ton of people. If you have kids who are interested in Marvel movies, cartoons, comics, whatever it might be, this is a great option of a game to get them, I should have said that pre-Christmas. If you know someone who isn’t a gamer who likes Marvel, they might like this game as well. It really should be an evergreen recommendation for a family weight game, and then the expansions, when they come to retail, people can pick and choose if they want more. Overall, though, a good experience playing Marvel United and a game that I want to play again and play with more.
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So last night, GloryHoundd and DrGloryHogg did stream for their Top 10 Kickstarters of 2020. Turns out, unknown to me, that they were doing their Top 10 that they played in 2020, either from being fulfilled. So they asked for people to chime in, so …
We’re back again with more Kickstarter goodness, this time I’m looking ahead to games that I want to at least checkout on Kickstarter. The Runelords Board Game This one has a launch on KS and then was taken down after it wasn’t funding well. It’s …
So I started this last year, and you can see what I wrote here. It was kind of a mish-mash of everything thrown together, I’m doing that again this time but I’m going to split it out into three areas. First are games that I kickstarted in 2020 or before that should be coming out in 2021, then games that I am hoping to kickstarter in 2021, finally are other games that I’ve found on BGG that I don’t know that much about but look interesting for 2021. This one is just going to cover Kickstarter.
What Coming In The Mail
These are the games that I’ve kickstarted which should be getting delivered in 2021.
Etherfields
Technically a 2020 game, it is getting delivered now to backers, but I picked 1 wave shipping, which I’m fine with, because I have more than enough big games to get through, but this one for me will be coming in 2021. I am excited to dive into the dream world and see everything that Awaken Realms has to offer as I’ve really liked their other games that I’ve played, Lords of Hellas and Tainted Grail.
Frosthaven
This was targeted for a 2021 March release but is now probably mid 2021, which I’m fine with. My game group who would probably just jump into this once we wrap up our current game at that point in time is playing Tainted Grail now and hopefully we can do Apocrypha some as well before Frosthaven gets here. But I’m still really excited for it, for the new classes and the city building aspect of it.
Oathsworn: into the Deepwood
This Kickstarter had a target date of December 2020, which I knew was not going to close to being hit as this is a big game and it’s the first game for the company, I’m still stoked for this one and I’ve borrowed a few concepts for my own game design, though mine is different, with this game being split into two parts, an exploration/mystery part as you find your way to the boss monster and then fight that boss. I like the legacy, but not legacy feel to it with how the boss monsters are revealed but nothing is destroyed so you’d just know the boss monster when you play it again.
Hel: The Last Saga
This has a targeted date for 2021, and while I think that Mythic Games can probably hit that, I wouldn’t be shocked if this got pushed into 2022. I backed this one for a Viking campaign game with a theme that is dark but interesting. I liked the religion piece of it too how some characters can only pray to one god or another because of their background, but then some can pray to all of them to get their blessing. This seems like a good grim dark Viking game.
ISS Vanguard
Should be coming at the tail end of 2021, I think, though they are targeted earlier than that, This is something, depending on how much it’s been playtested before, that probably will have a slight delay to it, though Awaken Realms is pretty good with it. I like this one for the epic space nature of it and the less linear story that it tells.
Roll Player Adventures
This one was a late back for me, but I just like the Roll Player stuff well enough that I knew I’d want this lighter campaign game. Playing it at GenCon in 2019 was a blast and the size of the story just seems like a lot of fun. I like that it looks like it’s a few smaller stories that play through a few different scenarios and can be turned into an epic campaign, but doesn’t have to be.
Cartographers Heroes
This stand-alone expansion to Cartographers was an easy back. I really like Cartographers, and I think with more plays it might move up the list. This adds even more cool things, and the level I backed it at comes with the colored pencils to make it look pretty and a big box to hold everything, and three more maps besides the new one from the Heroes part of it. I’m really excited for this.
The Night Cage
GloryHoundd and DrGloryHogg sold me on this one, I’ve backed so many games that are campaign games that this one seemed like something smaller but a lot of fun. I then got a chance to play it at GenCon and was glad that I’d backed it. It’s a nice tense game but one that plays fast and has a lot of cool things around it. I like the every shifting maze, I like the push and pull of trying to find the keys as fast as possible but not reveal too many tiles at once, and I like the race to the end to see what can happen.
Crash Octopus
This one I got for the bright awesome octopus and the silly fun dexterity piece to it. Also because Itten has a good track record with with their game Tokyo Highway. That game is just great and this one looks like it has more game to it but more silliness as well. I love the idea of flicking things that are floating in the water trying to grab as much as you can before an octopus activates and gets you and steals some of your stuff. It’s a silly idea that seems like a ton of fun.
Marvel United
So, I already have the base game of Marvel United, but they just released pictures of new stuff for it, all the expansions and what not, and that’s going to be getting produced really soon. I’m excited to get that into my hands and just to play that game in general because it seems like it’s going to be so much fun. I need to play my base copy.
Midarra
I had this one on last years list, but turns out it’s coming out this year. They say that the 2nd and 3rd act will as well, I only got the first act, but I suspect that’ll be 2022 or 2023. This is a dungeon crawl with a ton of stuff, Gloomhaven style that way, but has more dice chucking and has a very anime theme. I’m excited to get this one to the table for sure just for the different theme that it has and some of the fun things it does.
Now that’s a lot of games that I have been excited about for this year and before with Kickstarter that’ll be coming. Next article I’m going to talk about games that are going to Kickstarter, maybe, in 2021 that I’m excited for. Expect it to be much shorter since that’s much harder to find out as a lot of companies won’t talk about Kickstarter plans yet.
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This is a special edition one because ISS Vanguard is a new game from Awaken Realms. This is a massive space game, and I have liked Lords of Hellas and Tainted Grail, but will I back this one? Unfortunately I can’t drop in anything more …