New games for October 23, 2020 - Oh My Alternate Locker Mail

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:

• Chain Mail: Alternate Character Pack 1
• Davy Jones Locker
• Oh My Lair

This week's new games are all available at https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games

Davy Jones Locker

Davy Jones’ Locker is a VP-collection game with a unique moving-target mechanic that provides a good amount of player interaction, a bit of take-that and just the right amount of luck.

Each player controls two ships: The pirate ship can bury treasure, which becomes a target for other players to dig out, and can attack other ships to steal from them, and the sailing ship must move onto landmarks on the board using limited movement dictated by a “wind” die, while being also a target for attacks. Both the treasure and the actions players can use come from chits drawn from a bag throughout the game. You win by having the most points in hand, buried under your treasure markers on the board, or from collected landmarks. The game can be played from 2 to up to 6 players.

A fun little game with room for bluffing, aggressive attacks, and exploration around a map. The idea of placing any number of chits as you bury treasure, and making potential bad stuff happen in the form of booby traps and fish, is absolutely delightful. This is likely a game that plays better as it gets more players, but should still provide a fun time when it hits the table regardless of player count totals. There’s light player “elimination” which essentially makes you lose items from your hand and respawn, and I imagine there will be plenty of respawning to go around as you try to be the best pirate.

Oh My Lair

You are a dungeon lord and you are drinking your favorite cavern coffee when suddenly your spy informs you that a hero wants to slay you. It’s that time of the year where heroes will come out and try to destroy you and your lair. Prepare for the attack! Oh My Lair is a solo game where you control your minion to conquer regions, collect resources to summon creatures, and defeat the hero before he reaches you.

Two pages to print (that includes the rules) and a dozen or two chits to cut out and you’ll be on your way with this one. You may want to take those chits and glue them onto some cardboard or something similar to give you some ability to mix them - as well as pick up and move them - which is something that paper (and even cardstock) cannot offer. This one is simple in what you do each turn, but with the challenge of figuring out how to defeat that pesky hero invading your lair. If Boss Monster was more managing your underlings than designing a dungeon, it would probably look a little bit like this in practice. I know I’ll be checking this one out, as it promises a quick and easy solitaire experience.

Chain Mail Alternate Characters

The characters you know and love have fallen into an alternate universe. Okay, that isn’t canon but work with me here. Fan favorites like the Shepherd are getting a visual reimagining, bringing them back to life on your table as you explore more adventures in Earthshine. Bring out the new Thief, for instance, and imagine your surprise to find their icon placement is different. Say what? Better yet, you can run a dual Shepherd, dual Thief party at long last - we know you’ve been clamoring for it. Don’t deny it. Or use the new Cleric, Brute, Mushketeer, and Ranger for a brand new experience in a game you came to love in 2019. New to Chain Mail? Now is the perfect time to explore this solo game.

Check out all of the new games here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games

Game of the Week: Adrift on sale for $5

The emergency grew of the U.S.F. Montoya are suddenly awoken from their deep sleep when something goes terribly wrong. Together, the four of them and their smart-circuited auto-pilot must navigate the damaged vessel making repairs and fighting off alien orcs and their pets. Adrift is about survival in space, a test of skills in combat and engineering, and working as a team.

Oh man, I didn’t need to see this. I really, really didn’t need to find this game. But now I’ve found it, and fair warning: the file might have you print a good number of pages out. The good news is that only a handful of them are related to the rules - which are really quite simple with a focus on just four core aspects - and the rest giving you different adventures to read and explore via management of your crew. If you don’t like reading, this will probably not cater to your preferences in a game - but if you like games with a strong narrative, this one should be right up your alley (it is definitely up mine). And at a bargain sale price, now is the time to snag it if you’ve been holding off.

Check out Game of the Week here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/game-of-the-week

See you next week with more information on our newest print and play games!