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
- Capital Vices
- Capital Vices: Action Variants Expansion
- Mini Rogue
- Tempus Quest: Episode 7: The Point of No Return
This week's new games are all available at https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Capital Vices
In Capital Vices, citizens of the Capital take actions distributing colored food and money resources. Careful arrangement may earn you points at the end of the round but mistakes could generate a sin penalty! Sinning prevents you from scoring in the Virtue phase. Being the most virtuous earns you a bonus point. Work with or against your neighbors to position yourself into scoring while denying others. The first citizen to have 7 points at the end of a round is the winner.
A game with relatively few components but provides some tense gameplay in a dynamic, ever-changing landscape from round to round. Action cards are dealt out in a row and the players will take turns activating the action on the next face-up card in the row before flipping it face-down. However, the very first card in the row dictates both the Sin and the Virtue for the round, providing conditions to avoid (in case of the Sin) and to work toward (the Virtue) for scoring purposes. If you fail to avoid the Sin of the round, you will earn no points! Players will play until someone reaches exactly 7 VP (went over 7? You gain nothing that round!). Because the order of the cards, and the Sin/Virtue will change every round, the dynamics of how you want to move around and manipulate resources will continuously change in this game that plays from 1-4.
Capital Vices: Action Variants Expansion
This is a set of action variants to swap with those that come with the base game of Capital Vices. Come up with any combination of the 7 sins in order to have a unique experience every time you play. There are 14 new actions, 2 for each sin.
If you like variety of setups for your game, you won’t want to miss out on this small expansion for Capital Vices. Rather than the same 7 action cards each game, you can spice things up with new actions. The rules even come with suggestions for combinations to use in order to ensure fun and exciting gameplay. Not only that, it offers suggestions for how to integrate more resources into the pool, cranking the challenge of avoiding Sin and scoring Virtue to 11. So if you enjoy expansions that don’t change the core rules of the game but offer replay value this is one to check out.
Mini Rogue
Mini Rogue is a 9-card microgame profoundly inspired by roguelikes and roleplaying games. Monsters, hazards, treasures, bosses, dungeons, random rooms and encounters are all featured in Mini Rogue.
If you can’t imagine how 9 cards can contain a roguelike experience then you aren’t alone. I, too, wondered this long ago before I ran into Mini Rogue and let me assure you...it works. With a game experience that is as much about risk/reward and setting up your stats and inventory for success as it is about random luck - you’ll find this game delivers an experience far greater than you’d expect in such a small package. Run through things too quickly without gaining enough experience and you might find yourself completely outmatched on the next floor by the increasingly stronger monster encounters. That “harmless” trap card you are thinking about disarming? It has a chance of dropping you lower in the dungeon, helping you get closer to the end but also accelerating you toward more difficult battles that you may not be prepared for. If you want a solo adventure that is kind on table space and the time to set up, this is one to pick up and add to your PNP collection. It remains among this writer’s favorite PNP games ever, years after first encountering the game.
Tempus Quest 7: The Point of No Return
With their compulsory thieving behind them, the crew of the Tempus picks up a distress call from a crashed Liberation fleet. With some reservation, they decide to answer the call, knowing this will end their days of avoiding sides in this war.
Two ships have fallen and the time has come for the crew of the Tempus to choose a side in this war. They couldn’t remain Switzerland forever, after all. Like all of the other Tempus Quest entries, it follows a set of base rules and a set of scenario-specific rules. If you don’t know, it is like a roll and write game, except you use the time you started to determine what actions appear in which “spots” along the round. This is the 7th installment in a connected series of games, and if you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend scooping them all up if you can for an experience quite unlike anything else out there right now. In this one, the spreading Dynasty forces will be seeking to slow you down as you attempt to fix at least one ship and load some of the Liberation survivors on board before time runs out.
For all of the new games, visit https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
The game of the week is Liberation!
For hundreds of generations, the tyrannical Intercosmic Dynasty has ruled the galaxy with a titanium fist. Their power and reach is spreading, but so is word of their misdeeds. A band of resistance fighters known as the Liberation has begun striking at the Dynasty from a hidden base. Will you help the Liberation gain enough support before their secret base is discovered, or will you wield the awesome power of the Dynasty to hunt down these traitors and bring them to heel?
Hot on the heels of the latest Star Wars movie, you have a chance to grab Liberation as the game of the week. If you have played Star Wars: Rebellion, then some of what this game accomplished will feel like familiar territory. One player will be the plucky Liberation “heroes”, whose hidden base of operation needs to remain hidden for three cycles of the deck. But hope is not lost for the Dynasty, as they have the might of superior firepower on their side while venturing out across the 4-card galaxy. Each action card in the game corresponds to a location on the map, providing information to the Dynasty player about where the base could be (via elimination of that location as a possibility). Each card contains a different ability for each side, meaning you might want to hold onto this card just a little longer so the deck shuffles without it getting back in for your opponent to draw later. This is truly a cat-and-mouse game with a strong ebb and flow of emotions regardless of which side you happen to be on. If you are seeking a great way to pass time with one other player, this is a game you should consider adding to your collection.
Check out Liberation here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/game-of-the-week
See you next week with more information on our newest print and play games!