Kickstart Your Week! Cthulhu Keep

Keep

 

Tell me, what’s your obsession? I mean other than board games of course. Are you the Hoarder, enthusiastically grabbing produce from left, right and centre? Or are you more the merchant with a predilection for items? But then do you want him hawking his wares all round your cloister? Maybe you want everyone around because you’re a people person, just like the jovial constable!

While many of us can probably be accused of being hoarders, during Keep we will really just care about money! And more importantly, who can give it to us. Keep is a card drafting game, meaning a game in which each player simultaneously chooses a single card from their hand to play or keep, then passes their entire hand of cards to the player next to them. It’s a great system, where players will learn some information about the card distribution with every hand, and see what cards their opponents are collecting. Developing strategies, making the most of what you have and limiting your opponent’s opportunities drive the tough choices each round. As a bonus, the simultaneous play means no annoying downtime!

In Keep, players will be trying to collect gold from the Goods and Items they collect, but the core opportunities come from the various castle inhabitants that also form part of the deck. Each of these can be discarded for an action, driving player interaction beyond what you see in the classic drafting games like 7 Wonders, or they can be secretly added to your scoring area to boost your score in unique ways at the end of the game. You can flip one of these characters during the game to use their action too, but remember that tells your opponents what you are pursuing!

Keep is a nice filler game, featuring some elegant twists on the standard drafting game. The art is very nice, reminding me of video game graphics and it’s a steal at $13 (+more for international shipping, sadly). Definitely a … Keeper!?

 

Keep it moving until November 12^th.

Cthulhu Wars: Onslaught Two

 

*crash*

Matt: Oh for God’s sake, I only just got that window replaced!

Cloaked Man: Ha Ha! I’m back from your Cthulhu Wars review! I bring glorious news!

Matt: Yes I know, Onslaught 2 is on Kickstarter.

CM: I – oh.

Matt: It seems like everyone knows about it too, with thousands of backers spending piles of money.

CM: Well they are the best miniatures of any board game ever.

Matt: Plus it’s an absolutely terrific game. Part area control, part combat, with ludicrous player powers that really show us the meaning of “asymmetric”.

CM: Onslaught 2 is offering the chance for everyone who missed out before to get their hands on the glorious amount expansion content they’ve created for the game. New factions, new maps, hordes of neutral monsters and Great Old Ones that fight for whoever summons them first.

Matt: And they’ve added some new content to tempt back all the original backers! A cultist faction who can summon the other player’s troops, a map set in the mind bending Library at Celaeno, where players gain area specific spellbooks, but make sure you aren’t overdue. The Librarian won’t like that…

CM: Oh goodness no! Did I ever tell you about the time I forgot to renew my copy of the Necronomicron with them?

Matt: I – no, you’re a construct for story purposes.

CM: Oh, yes! Good point!

Matt: …

CM: Sorry about the window.

 

Your pledge will be overdue November 18^th.

 

Best of the Rest

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]The Society of Eccentric Inventors – Get your inventing hats on and join a cast of nicely diverse genius scientists and engineers in a friendly inventing contest. Manage your resources, expand your lab, invent and use that technology to help you with future inventions. There are also random events, personal eccentricities and awards that modify play round by round. Ends Nov 17^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Alkemia: Destiny’s Recipe – A game of item crafting and resource gathering. The world of Alkemia has become unstable, and only through crafting the legendary Crest of Creation will the world be saved and that alchemist raised to the highest seat of government. Collect resources from the fields of Alkemia, craft items to open up new abilities and skills, and bring yourself closer to completing your ultimate goal! Ends Nov 18^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Circus Flohcati – A bizarrely themed game, taking the idea of a flea circus to creepy heights! Contained is a classic Reiner Knizia set collection game. Try to collect a broad set of acts to impress the town, but push too far and you might go bust instead! Ends Nov 18^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Pandemonium – Welcome to Hell! You and other unsavoury characters must fight for your survival against the forces of evil. An undeniably ameritrashy game, with copious dice rolling and a theme that oozes ominously from every piece. Stick together, or face yet more events. Die, and accept a Secret Pact from the dark master of this realm. You’ll still be fighting for the group, but with a secret mission that certainly won’t be to the benefit of the group. Ends Nov 19^th.[/two_third][/row]

 

[row][one_third][/one_third][two_third]Space Movers – A cooperative game with a classic 50s sci-fi theme, and one of the best skill check systems I’ve come across! While it is based off of dice rolling, each die is rolled in sequence, and can be used to knock dice that previously failed to reach the target, adding a tense dexterity element to an otherwise random system! This Kickstarter is to fund some expansions for the base game. Ends Nov 21^st.[/two_third][/row]

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Credit for game images goes to Board Game Geek users justjohn, davenoid, Kinsoul Studio, huffa2, knagames, as well as the relevant Kickstarter project pages.