Kickstart Your Week! Sieges, Coups and Ninjas

B-sieged: Sons of the Abyss

The idea of a band of heroes desperately defending a small Japanese village, a castle, an ice-moon base against an overwhelming force of bandits, orcs, or AT-ATs are stand-out features of the films I loved as a child. Video games have taken this theme to ludicrous lengths with the array of so-called Tower Defense games available, but the board game world has surprisingly few examples of the genre: Castle Panic, Ghost Stories and Stronghold maybe amongst the best. Now, Cool Mini of Not has thrown its Kickstarter Exclusive plastic hat into the ring with B-sieged: Sons of the Abyss.

Defend the idyllic city of Modhelm from the monsters of the abyss, leading brave heroes with silly names, like Osvith the paladin, Lugh the blacksmith, and Eileen the Archeress. To be distinguished from an Archer, because it’s a girl! (I notice Myrinia doesn’t have to be described as a smuggleress…) Anyway, you will be fighting a huge horde of beautifully sculpted plastic monsters, using spells, cunning traps and a massive catapult, while patching up damaged buildings and keeping the population fed. What elevates the challenge of this game though, is the need to send a messenger for help.

Now, not only are you defending the city, you are trying to clear a path for this (lets be honest) insanely brave man, forcing you to focus attention on one side of the city to the detriment of the other sides. And the horde builds up rapidly! You’re going to need those powerful spells, but using them burns through resources faster than angry Krohn through a Modhelm resident. You gain resources by visiting the locations in the city, locations that are under constant bombardment from the enemy. And once they’re destroyed you’re on your own! Looks like a challenging game with the usual high quality components Cool Mini or Not are known for. I just hope there’s enough variety to keep it challenging for lots of games to come.

B-Sieged: Sons of the Abyss will be fighting off the hordes till May 19^th.

Coup: Rebellion G54

In 2012, the card game of Coup was released and took the gaming world by storm. Its combination of simple rules and lying to your friends’ faces made it incredibly successful with gamers and non-gamers alike: it is a great gateway game! While not everyone is going to enjoy lying, those who can get into the role will have great fun bluffing and trying to guess at what their opponents are doing. The tight end conditions (everyone only has two “lives”) keep the tension high and the game length short.

Rebellion G54 expands the game substantially, taking the games original 5 roles, and multiplying up the options. There are now 25 different roles, each with their own rules, from which you chose 5 each time you play. That makes for a staggering amount of variety!

The roles are based on those of the release Coup: Guatemala 1954, shown at Spiel 2014, but not made widely available. This edition updates the setting to that of the original Coup, while remaining a stand-alone game. I’m a little disappointed they chose to change the theme, the historical setting of Coup: Guatemala 1954 was very interesting, compared to the generic sci-fi setting of Coup, but I can see that it’s a safer choice. While the original was a huge success as a gateway game, this edition is more targeted to gamers, the roles changing between games giving a fair potential for confusion. That said, if your friends love the original and crave some more variety, this could be a must-have!

Coup: Rebellion G54 will have killed off all opposition by May 20^th.

Ninja Bowling

When Ninjas need a night off from breaking into secure compounds, stealing and assassinating, they like nothing more than to chill out at the bowling alley. Next time you go bowling, keep an eye out; you can normally spot them by the death stars they’re throwing!

Ok, in reality Ninja Bowling is the very entertaining theme for a dexterity micro game that has you throwing cards (your death stars) at the triangle of bowling pin cards your opponent has set up in front of them. The pins beneath the card you threw are knocked down. Knock them all down with 3 cards and you get a strike (obviously!), or knock down more than your opponent to get a half. Two half strikes add up to a… go on… yes! A strike, and the first player to three strikes wins!

A simple, elegant use of cardboard that looks fantastic fun! Its one of those superb little ideas that you wish you could come up with yourself, and shows how even a silly theme can make a mechanic come to life.

The ninjas will be back at work from May 21^st.

 

Worth a look

Periorbis – A space mining game where balancing your needs with the orbit of asteroids is key. Compete for lucrative contracts or block opponents’ ability to fulfill them. Hire specialist workers to power up your business. Ends May 18^th.

 

 

Thinktanku – a party game of imaginative marketing. Players come up with titles, taglines or descriptions for concepts and the best is chosen by that turns “CEO” in a more imaginative implementation of the Card’s Against Humanity mechanic. Ends May 18^th.

 

 

Shadowstar Corsairs – A fast paced 4X space game that looks beautiful and has an elegant set of play mechanics. Aim of completing contracts to gain reputation as a corsair to win the game. Ends May 19^th.

 

 

Human Interface: Nakamura Tower – Megacorporations battling for control of the titular tower in a steam punk miniatures based skirmish game. Campaign and competitive modes. Battle physically and in cyberspace to wrest control of the buildings security systems. Ends May 20^th.

 

 

Vaults – Card game of safe cracking! Build and upgrade a crew, send on missions to crack safes but watch out for interference from your opponent. Only potential concern is the small number of vault cards making it possible to learn the contents after repeated plays. Ends May 22^nd.

 

 

Galaxy Command – Card game of resource management and empire building. Deck of systems to conquer and a deck of event cards to deal with each turn. Looks a little lacking in player interaction. Ends May 23^rd.

 

 

 

 

 

Evolution 2^nd Edition – Players control species and develop traits in order to compete for food in an ever-changing environment, with no trait ever being completely positive forcing constant adaption. Incredible artwork, and also comes with the Flight Expansion. The 1^st edition is already available. Ends May 23^rd.

 

Random Musings

This week we have a theme I most definitely can’t get my head around: Puppy Dogs from Space! The aim of the game is to collect 4, not distracted, puppies. Upon which this bizarre sci-fi theme is slavered. The game is obviously trying to be light hearted, and its creator is nothing if not enthusiastic in the video. Indeed, it’s a fast paced card game with a reasonable set of mechanics. Take a look, particularly if shopping with kids in mind.