Kickstart Your Week! Rondels, Dragons and the Moon

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Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift

 

Perdition’s got a mouth so big people call it the “Abyssal Rift”! Also it’s full of insects. Yuk.

Oh no, wait! It’s ok, Perdition’s Mouth is a place, a deep, dark, dungeon-y kind of place. But it is still full of insects, and you and your friends will be crawling through the filthy chitin filled hallways to seal away this dark threat to the world. Let’s be honest, this sounds like every game of this genre ever. But there is something very cool that sets this game apart: the Rondel of Awesome!

 

 

Yes, ok, so it doesn’t look all that exciting, but this is how you determine you actions each turn. By spending action points, you can move that many segments around the rondel and then perform the action you land on, so long as your fellow heroes haven’t taken up all the space. Since this is a cooperative game, this mechanic means that you will be doing everything possible to coordinate your actions with those of your friends, not only on the board, but more importantly on this bland looking stone circle, your pieces pirouetting around one another on the rondel as your miniatures slice and dice the insectoid menace on the board.

The enemies too have their own rondel and the way they move around it gives you the opportunity to predict what they might do, but never be absolutely certain. Sometimes, they will manage to surprise you! More interesting still, the game doesn’t use dice, instead operating a card based combat system. Each hero has their own unique deck of cards, with actions and abilities, as well as cards that boost your score on a single action. You can also play these to help other players on their turns, so you’ll never feel out of the action.

Perdition’s Mouth has really turned the classic tactical miniatures game on its head with a new and unique combat system. And I’ve not even had chance to mention the campaign system, that sees your heroes carry wounds forward, making each new level harder as fatigue takes its toll. A really exciting take on a classic genre!

 

Let Perdition’s Mouth swallow you before December 11^th.

 

 

Simurgh

 

Sim-uuur-geh. Seem-ur-gah. Sim-urg. Sim- just, whatever, Dragons! The game is about Dragons, and the title Sim-ee-gah is the word for dragon in this world. And what a beautiful world this is, full of gorgeous art, with an amazing central board that displays the great white city in which you live, and the surrounding valleys that you will be exploring.

At its fiery heart, Sim-ag-ur is a worker placement game, but with an ever-evolving board. Players will build buildings that open up new actions for all players, but buildings will be destroyed if that area is ever empty. Most importantly, you’ll want to time the placement of these buildings carefully to ensure you get the best use out of them. Timing is absolutely key.

 

 

But more about the dragons! Everyone will be dragon breeders and those extra dragons you breed/collect with unlock special free abilities that you can use at will, but only once, unless you reset those abilities by visiting special places on the board. You also have dragon rider workers who are so awesome they can… visit special places on the board. Ok, maybe not as exciting.

This game may be challenging on the ears and tongue, but it is truly a treat for the eyes, and hopefully, the mind too! The worker placement genre already stuffed with games, but Sim-urg-hey soars above so many of them with some unique mechanics and beautiful artwork. Despite the apparently huge array of options available, this isn’t a time consuming game either. Definitely one to check out!

 

Release the Simurghs by December 4^th.

 

 

Lunarchitects

 

“So let us see your design then!”

“Oh it’s fantastic, look, we have quarters for the astronauts over here and an ore exporter down here, a water distiller, a –“

“What about rockets? You don’t have any rockets how do the astronauts get home?”

“Don’t worry about that, look at the scoring rules, you get 8 points if you don’t have any rockets!”

“I…”

In Lunarchitects you’ll be responsible for designing the best moon base, using a very neat tile selection rondel mechanism… that they took from Glen More. They’re very open about this though, and since Glen More is very difficult to get hold of, and rockets are a lot more interesting than sheep farming, I’m totally on board with this.

Players will move their pawns around the circular track of blueprint tiles in order to add them to their base design. There is no limit to how far you can move along the track to get a good tile, but much like Tokaido, the next move goes to whoever owns the last pawn on the track. Going too far can give your opponents the edge!

Placing tiles into your growing base will give an immediate reward, of either resources or victory points, and it will also trigger the rewards of all the adjacent tiles in your base! Clever building is rewarded! You’ll need these resources to pay for the blueprint tiles you pick up, but you’ll also need to arrange your ‘on base’ astronauts in the right locations to do the building. So you’ll want to be training new astronauts and moving them out to the bases’ edge, but if you can leave some in the centre you can convert them into victory points too! Oh God the decisions are spiralling, I think I’m getting space sick.

Lunarchitects sounds like a great little game! It might have been heavy, but the 1/6^th Earth gravity on the moon keeps things lighter than you might think! It does need to be mentioned though that this is a re-imagining of 2010’s Glen More. Adding a new theme and a few new mechanics might not be enough if you already own this previous iteration.

 

Lunarchitects will begin building on December 8^th.

 

Best of the Rest

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]You’re Fired – A simple filler game where you are trying to get your opponents’ bosses fired! Each player has an identical deck representing their department, it is how you use it that counts. Take a satirical look at the corporate world and the dirty tricks of survival. Ends Dec 5^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Victory and Glory: Napoleon – Fight through the full scope of the Napoleonic Wars in a 4-6 hour gaming session! One player will lead France to glorious conquest of Europe, while the other will control Britain and her allies, those countries still willing to fight! For this war will be won not only on the battlefield, but at the diplomat’s table too. Ends Dec 5^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Pick the Lock – Be the best safe cracker with a little luck and some clever guesswork. Grab treasures from the central vault, or from the other players. Your competitors’ safes are harder to crack, but each treasure they obtain will make it easier for you to steal from them. Ends Dec 7^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Endure the Stars – A cooperative survival game set on a crashed spaceship full of monstrous genetic experiments. The game is very reminiscent of Zombicide in style, but with a few unique twists. Firstly, unique player abilities mean the heroes really do feel different, but more importantly the monsters are only “Aliens”-like radar blips until you come face to face with them! Terrifying! Ends Dec 7^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Arcadia Quest: Inferno – A whole new standalone expansion to Arcadia Quest sees a whole host of new guilds descending into the hellish depths of the inferno to save the city of Arcadia from certain doom. A whole new branching campaign to play through, oodles of new miniatures, and a box full of cute pets with their own campaign to boot! Ends Dec 8^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Draconis Invasion – A cooperative deck building game featuring some drop dead gorgeous art. Build and train your army to defeat the forces of darkness, but more you fight the more your army will grow fatigued and terrified by the darkness they face. As your deck starts coughing up these terror cards, you’ll trigger new events and challenges that must be overcome. And at the end of the game, only one player will have earned enough glory to be recognised as the world’s saviour. Ends Dec 12^th.[/two_third][/row]