It's New Game Friday David Wiley (Cardboard Clash) is here to tell us about the new games.
Here’s what is new this week:
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King & Peasant
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Zugzwang
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GRIMLORE Case File #15: Victor Harrington, Collector
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Charge & Spark
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Dangerous Space: P2-777, Repair Mission
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Power Creep: Tank, The Docks 2099
https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
King & Peasant
Embrace your inner strategist and deploy cunning manoeuvres in this game of calculated brilliance.
An interesting game where you’re both using the same shared deck of cards, but one player uses the top half only of a card, while the other player utilizes the bottom half. Both sides have different actions, such as Mobilizing Guards and Dispatching Rebels. They are each vying for different results, with the game being played until one player wins twice total after switching sides. If you enjoy asymmetric head-to-head games with card play, you won’t want to pass over this one!
Zugzwang
Zugzwang is a crazy, captivating complement to Chess, where practitioners play callous cards to force folly upon their furious foes.
Got a Chess set that sits and collects dust because it lacks variety? Well, look no further than Zugzwang, which adds a simple wrinkle into the mix: cards for each player. When you play a card, your opponent has to move the pictured piece, if able. If they cannot, they move a pawn. If they cannot move a pawn, they must move their king. The game eliminates Check, and also can be played as a variant where your card dictates who you move instead.
GRIMLORE Case File #15: Victor Harrington, Collector
Victor Harrington, 37, is a collector of obscure relics with a morally ambiguous past. Growing up in London’s shadowed alleyways, he learned early the value of knowledge and secrecy. A prodigy in arcane studies, he developed a fascination with the interplay of human greed and ancient curses. His reputation as an eccentric antiquarian masks his reckless pursuit of forbidden artifacts. Victor uncovers an ancient burial ground rumored to house the remains of a dark cabal. There, he and a companion unearth an elaborate artifact - a jeweled sigil radiating an unsettling aura. Soon, Victor is plagued by nocturnal visions and an unrelenting sound of baying hounds. As madness encroaches, the sigil summons supernatural entities seeking vengeance for its desecration.
While the presence of hounds is certainly fitting here, a part of me was hoping for a subtle reference to the Baskervilles - but that’s the Sherlock fan in me, and this is a system inspired by Lovecraftian mythos. You’ll deal with the dogs, and they have some interesting interactions with whether the Sigil has been used during your previous turn with one making things harder when you don’t, and the other ramping the difficulty if you did.
Charge & Spark
The location? Neo Cyber Setagaya City. The year? 20XX. Humanity has perished and Earth has succumbed to android control. Analog games have become a favorite pastime for androids, offering an opportunity to simulate proxy battles in a controlled environment. Assume the role of an android controlling their very own robot in this imaginary world, and seize glorious victory!
An interesting little game where you are trying to either defeat the opponent, or move to the end of your track first. Damage is fairly simple, with the higher attack dealing the difference between attacks if both people do an attack of some fashion in the same turn. There’s some chance that comes from moving along the track, as you fail to proceed if you take damage that turn so you need to time those moves wisely. If you enjoy fast-playing head-to-head games, this is one you’ll want to check out!
Dangerous Space: P2-777, Repair Mission
P2-777 no longer endures the old nicknames the humans gave him. He’s earned his preferred moniker of Pete.
Pete is going to have a few hindering effects that hamper him as he tries to repair the ship. Because the leaks and holes affect movement value and attack value (respectively). His movement and attack values aren’t super great to begin with, so you might have a little challenge in getting through fast or taking down threats. Thankfully, the repairing isn’t too horrible to accomplish, needing just two identical numbers adjacent to each of them, but you might find Pete gives you a run for your money this week!
Power Creep: Tank, The Docks 2099
The Radiation hasn’t dissipated as fast as some predicted. This forces many settlers to hole up in their shelters.
Cat lovers unite? Or perhaps it’d be more appropriate for the cat haters to jump all-in on this one, since the enemy is a Glowing Cat. Appropriately, each cat will make you do a radiation check when you first attack them, which means you’re going to need to balance that Radiation Level vs. how much damage these pesky kitties are dealing out to you each round on their own. Add in a boatload of radiation squares to move around, and you’ve got a slightly different risk-reward situation here on the Docks!
Game of the Week: Forest Floor on sale for just $2!
In Forest Floor, you and your friends hike into the woods to soak up the last few weeks of summer. You spot wildlife, hunt for bugs, pick berries, and marvel at the beauty of the forest floor. Each critter and plant has a role to play in this puzzle as old decay spurs new growth. Whoever finds the most diverse and vibrant section of forest wins.
There’s a lot of interesting game packed into this one. Not only is there a really cool and innovative way of rolling dice for the round - dice leapfrog each other, so each round you only roll 1 die and add the two together - but each total provides options for effects and symbols to trigger on your board. Layers of decisions are always a great thing, and this can play up to a very, very large number of players or down as low as providing 2 different ways to play solitaire. It even comes with a special head-to-head board for those playing with two, a very important feature for those who tend to only have a single person they regularly game with.
Check out Game of the Week here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/game-of-the-week
Mysticana: Realmseekers Expansion
Realmseekers serve as the Queen’s arm, commissioning joint expeditions of newly-discovered realms. Adventurers they hire are expected to return with promising information…if they return at all.
An interesting little expansion that has players going on expeditions, deciding each round whether to stay in or bow out as the stakes increase. Survive the threats and you can earn good points on your way to locking down 50 total, but if you fall short you’ll get nothing. Bowing out early can help you at least make some forward progress, albeit slowly, toward winning the game. With a range of 1-6 players for this one, you’re sure to find a way to get this one to the table regardless of who might, or might not, be interested in joining in on the game.
Check out the new Button Shy releases here:
https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games