It's New Game Friday! And David Wiley (Cardboard Clash) is here to tell us about the new games.
Here’s what is new this week:
- Chunky Fighters
- Mint Control
- Skulldug
This week's new games are all available at https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Chunky Fighters
In Chunky Fighters, humorous characters fight it out in an all-or-nothing brawl. Players choose their fighters, then roll them to determine hit points and weapons. Each fighter is composed of four dice — head, body, legs, and weapon — along with a unique special ability card. Combat involves rolling damage and hit location dice. As fighters take damage, you rotate their body parts to show the remaining hit points until they're finally destroyed.
In addition to the standard attack, players can choose to change weapons, perform first aid, disarm an opponent, or make called shots for increased damage. Be the last fighter standing to win the game!
If you have a friend of three available and want a quick, dice-chucking game to play to pass the time you might be interested in Chunky Fighters. The fighters are made from dice stacked 3 high, so the build might take a little time to get all these custom dice ready, but it looks to be an impressive little game to see in action. Games can be as quick as 1-5 minutes if everyone plays using a single fighter, and there is room for taking calculated risks in trying to “call” your attack’s location prior to rolling. If you succeed, it’ll do extra damage or, if you are daring enough to call a headshot successfully, to even outright kill the opponent. This game is sure to get some laughs and make for some memorable recollections to share with your friends.
Mint Control
The Mint Series is back again with a deep strategy meets ease-of-play area control game that fits in your pocket, teaches in under a minute, and plays in 30.
Straight from the brilliant Gallifreyan minds at Five24Labs comes their next bigger-on-the-inside Mint Tin game: Mint Control. If you have played any of the previous titles in their games, you know they value providing strong decision-making experiences contained within extremely compact rulesets and this one promises to be no different. If you like area control games and want something different than another generic “dudes on a map” game chocked full of overpriced minis, this might be the refreshing change of pace for your collection. As always, these games play 1-4 and I imagine the experience scales as well as the other games in the Mint series have so far.
Skulldug
In Skulldug! You play as explorers racing to explore an ancient cave and escape with its treasures. The cave is built out of individual passage tiles that represent its various corridors and dead-ends. You start the game with just a single Cave Entrance tile on the table, but you add a new tile whenever your explorer moves into an undiscovered passage, thus building a new cave every time you play!
You take turns exploring passages, fighting monsters, and dropping traps for your rivals. Once you’ve collected enough treasure, you’ll have to escape back out of the cave to safety, and since each treasure comes with its own deadly curse getting out may prove even more dangerous than getting in. Adventuring is a great way to make your fortune, but only if you live to tell the tale…
Put on your adventuring hat, because it is time to explore some creepy caverns in a game that is far more antagonistic than you might expect. The objective is simple enough: grab as much loot as you can and get out, much like in a game such as Clank. However, in here the board grows as you play via tiles, making every step into uncharted territory a strong risk. You can shove unwitting opponents into new, unexplored areas and force them to face whatever disaster is lurking there. You can throw things at them, forcing the opponent to lose health and drop items. And when things go really poorly, you’ll eventually have backup arrive and get to start back at the entrance for another chance to win. The game comes with special variants for solo, 2-player, and team games so there is a ton of variety packed into this one exploration package.
For all of the new games, visit https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Game of the Week: Avignon: A Clash of Popes
Avignon: A Clash of Popes is a quick influence manipulation card game in which the two players are rival candidates for Pope in the 14th century. Players gain influence by petitioning members of the medieval Church, such as Cardinals, Nobles, and Knights, and using the characters' unique powers to pull the character cards over to their side of the table (their congregation), or force an opponent to push cards towards them. The first player to get three characters into their congregation wins.
An old throwback for the Button Shy fans, and one of the successful games from their reprint campaign last year. If you want to see what all the hype is about, this is your chance to try out this clever push-pull card manipulation game. Additionally, those familiar with Anthelion: Conclave of Power will be right at home with the gameplay here, as that game was inspired by this classic. Your objective may sound simple: get three characters to your side of the “board” first. However, you will find that this proves harder to accomplish than it may seem as the powers constantly have you trying to balance what helps you get the cards closer to your side versus creeping cards into a prime position for your opponent. This is an easy-to-learn but difficult to master game with enough thinky decisions to make it a delight on the table.
Check out Avignon: A Clash of Popes here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/game-of-the-week
See you next week with more information on our newest print and play games!