Kickstart Your Week! Corrupted Monuments

 

Corrupted Kingdoms

 

It’s election time in the fantasy Kingdom and there seem to be any number of fine upstanding Princes charming their way to your votes. But what’s this? Canned platitudes, the strangest bills being passed through the senate that no one of their constituents wanted. And isn’t strange how Mainline Medical appear to be sucking the very life blood from the sick? You don’t think Big Industry have managed to get their all too real claws into them do you?!

Mwahaha! In Corrupted Kingdoms you’ll be taking on the vitally important role of ensuring the laws of the land continue to help your industry flourish, be that the Goblin bricklayers, the Draco Bank (Dragons) or indeed, Mainline Medical (who are, of course, Vampires) to name a few. You’ll be suggesting new amendments to legislation, gathering minions, sending them influence leaders on the council (and your minions can be very persuasive) and finally calling votes on legislation.

And in these votes lies the central hook of the game: negotiation. Anything is up for grabs and you should be ready to deal dirty to get your way with the your key votes, which of course are decided by the business leaders around the table rather than the actual politicians… Channel the spirit of Kevin Spacey (if you’ve seen House of Cards). In fact, that should totally be a card… Anyway, I’m a big fan of the classic negotiation game Chinatown, and if this game can capture half the genius of that you’ll be getting a great deal here! I’m just glad we can play this in a game and don’t have to live in a world like this in real life, eh?

Corrupt the Kingdom before March 10^th.

 

 

World Monuments

Oh I’ve been looking forward to seeing Notre Dame for so long! It’s supposed to be beautiful, and romantic, and… what the hell is that?

Hmmm… it doesn’t quite look the same on your tabletop, but at least you should have fun building it! In World Monuments you’ll take on the roles of master builders working together to build some of the world’s… monuments… like the Taj Mahal and the aforementioned Notre Dame, and trying to show off by building the really ornate higher up bits. Now, by ornate we really just mean differently coloured but, hey, use your imagination I guess?

Yes this is pure euro material, but one that is relatively simple to understand, yet offers some nice scope for push your luck strategy and tactical decision-making. Over several rounds, you’ll first take a trip down to the quarry where the bricks you want to take to the building phases are selected, then you take turns placing them into the monument. Different coloured bricks have to go in regions as described on the plan, and you have to build from the ground up (thematic!) but since the higher up bricks earn you more points, the colour balance of the chosen bricks needs to be carefully considered. Any unplaced bricks cost players points so you don’t want to get stuck! The game comes with 4 (8 in the Kickstarter edition) different buildings for variety, and the Kickstarter also offers a collection of Queen Games titles for a big discount.

 

Building of the World Monuments finishes March 8^th.

 

 

Other Great Games

 

The Opulent – A light cooperative game set in a 1920s speak-easy at the height of prohibition. Each player takes a different role: the doorman, barman, the band and the manager and keeps things running smoothly and the money flowing. With lovely art deco graphics and hugely detailed character descriptions that are just a joy to read, they are pursuing a thematic experience rather than challenging gameplay. Ends Mar 7^th.

 

 

Yokai Battle – A card based battle game, on a grid of terrain cards. Play monsters to a position and attack a neighbour, and hope to be the last player standing. Orientation of the cards is important, to defend a weaker side and to attack with a strong side, as is matching the monster to its terrain. Each player has a unique deck with very pretty artwork. Ends Mar 8^th.

 

 

Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia – A race to gain experience in a dungeon crawl game set in the Arcadia Quest universe. Dice placement action selection system, random tile draws and monster encounters with a multitude of take-that elements makes this a wild affair but I’m sure it’ll be a must have for Arcadia Quest collectors. Ends Mar 9^th.

 

 

Venom Assault – A co-operative deck building game with the feel of a G. I. Joe comic, sees you and the rest of Team Ameri – wait – Freedom Squadron going after the evil Venom. Featuring dice based combat and a selection of different scenarios to play, this certainly offers some differences to the Legendary Marvel Deckbuilder to which it draws closest comparison, but whether it is different enough I must leave up to you. Ends Mar 10^th.

 

 

Siege of Sunfall – An appealingly illustrated semi-cooperative game set in the post apocalyptic wastes. Must fight to defend your home from raiders through a blind bidding mechanism, yet you’ll only score VPs from working in your fields instead of fighting. Player elimination is present, but only for a particular round. Ends Mar 10^th.

 

 

Sentinels of the Multiverse: OblivAeon – The final expansion for the popular card game Sentinels of the Multiverse sees the sentinels facing off against an enemy so powerful he has a capital letter in the middle of his name. Win or lose, the Multiverse is coming to an end. Ends Mar 11^th.

 

 

Take a Penny – A very simple game in which players compete over a pot of coins by secretly selecting actions like taking from the pot, stealing from each other, or even gifting coins to each other. The player with the most coins when the pot is empty will win, unless someone has shot the moon and emptied their stash entirely. Super simple, but looks like surprising fun! Ends Mar 11^th.