Anyone else doing a 10×10 (or other) board game challenge for 2018? I think I’ve found what will be the first game I play 10 times this year.
Through Jungle and Desert
Days of Wonder announced Through Jungle and Desert, the second in the second series of Memoir ‘44 Battle Maps. According to the DoW blog, “This expansion offers two new decks of combat cards, along with six pre-printed standard scenarios and two pre-printed Overlord scenarios.”
Source: http://blog.daysofwonder.com/2018/01/08/through-jungle-and-desert-the-new-battle-map-for-memoir-44/
Mayfair Expands
After laying off some employees late last year, Mayfair has announced it is expanding its relationship with Alliance Game Distributors. According to ICv2.com, “Alliance is now handling shipping for all trade channels and for direct-to-consumer orders on Mayfair products, and has taken on an expanded sales role for non-hobby channels.”
Source: https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/39203/mayfair-games-expands-relationship-alliance
Empires of the Void II
According to the ACD Distribution blog, Red Raven Games’ Empires of the Void II will be released next month. In Ryan Laukat’s latest “each player has been given command of a mission by an alien empire to establish a foothold at the fringe of the galaxy. The game begins when their massive Worldships reach the fringe, where they must explore, wage war, use diplomacy, and construct buildings to gain victory.”
Source: http://acddistribution.blogspot.com/2018/01/empires-of-void-ii-new-from-red-raven.html
The BoardGameGeek Show Debut
The first episode of BGG’s The BoardGameGeek Show is now available on YouTube. Scott Alden, Eric Martin, and Lincoln Damerst talk about recent plays, conventions, and more.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ypXcv9BY3w
A Walker in the Barenpark
Over on Board Game Babylon, there’s a quick five-question interview with Barenpark created Phil Walker-Harding. “The game originally had an amusement park theme. So, instead of 4 different types of bears, the pieces represented 4 different types of rides – rollercoasters, waterslides, etc.”
Source: http://boardgamebabylon.com/2017/12/26/5-quick-questions-barenpark-phil-walker-harding/
Plan B’s Next Move
Fresh off their successful releases Century: Spice Road and Azul, Plan B Games announced its new publishing branch, Next Move Games. According to Dice Tower News, “Next Move Games, much like Plan B, is focused on creating short, punchy, and high quality games that focus on elegantly simple rules and exemplary table aesthetic but feature incredible strategic depth … The only noticeable difference is that each game from Next Move will only have 4 letters in the title in order to drive home the point of their design and publishing goals, which leads us to their first of such titles – REEF.”
Source: http://www.dicetowernews.com/plan-b-games-announces-new-publishing-studio-and-reef/49112
Codenames XXL
Also from Dice Tower News comes a report of Codenames XXL, due out in the second quarter of this year. “The primary feature of this version is the larger cards, designed for bigger groups to play more easily, as players won’t be leaning over each other and squinting nearly as much. The original’s cards were 2.6″ x 1.7″, but the new version goes big, not home, with 4.7″ x 2.8″ cards, almost 3 times larger (in terms of card area).”
Source: http://www.dicetowernews.com/codenames-goes-big-xxl-big/49109
Looking Back at Galaxy Trucker
Good retrospective on Galaxy Trucker by Jason A. Holt on BGG, as he talks about translating the rules and the experience of producing such a popular game. “It sounds crazy, but ignorance of a game can be an advantage when I am translating. It means I have to understand the game only from the rules, which makes it easy to spot places where a new player would have questions.”
Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/72414/truckers-guide-galaxy-retrospective
Upcoming Board Game Conventions
January 19-21. Cascade Games Con. Bellingham, Washington.
January 19-21. HexaCon. Denver, Colorado.
January 19-21. Protospiel Minnesota. Bloomington, Minnesota.
January 26-28. EsCon. Escondido, California.
February 16-18. Con of the North. Minneapolis, Minnesota.
February 16-19. Orccon. Los Angeles, California.
February 19-25. PrezCon. Charlottesville, Virginia.
February 23-25. Great Plains Game Festival. Lincoln, Nebraska.
March 9-11. Granite Games Summit. Nashua, New Hampshire.
March 16-18. MeepleCon. Las Vegas, Nevada.
March 22-25. AdeptiCon. Schaumburg, Illinois.
March 23-25. ConnCon. Stamford, Connecticut.
April 5-8. PAX East. Boston, Massachusetts.
April 19-22. Kingdom-Con. San Diego, California.
April 27-29. QC Game Fest. Davenport, Iowa.
April 27-29. Gaming Hoopla. Mundelein, Illinois.
May 4-6. Heroicon. Decatur, Illinois.
May 11-13. CMON Expo. Atlanta, Georgia.
May 17-20. Geekway to the West. St. Charles, Missouri.
May 25-28. KublaCon. Burlingame, California.
May 25-28. Gamex. Los Angeles, California.
June 1-3. NashCon. Nashville, Tennessee.
June 13-17. Origins. Columbus, Ohio.
June 24-30. Rocky Mountain Gaming Vacation. Park City, Utah.
July 4-8. Dice Tower Con. Orlando, Florida.
July 12-15. HistoriCon. Fredericksburg, Virginia.
July 21-29. WBC. Champion, Pennsylvania
August 2-5. GenCon. Indianapolis, Indiana.
August 24-26. MegaMooseCon. Richburg, South Carolina.
August 24-28. Coulee Con. La Crosse, Wisconsin.
August 31-September 3. Gateway 2018. Los Angeles, California.
Visit casualgamerevolution.com for more convention listings.