Making history
This title might sound pretentious coming from the first issue of something, but bear with me :) I'm actually referring to a board game project that's on Kickstarter now - Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5.
Kingdom Death: Monster was a 2012 Kickstarter project from Adam Poots that collected $2 million in funding which was an enormous amount at that time. It is a cooperative board game set in a nightmare-horror world. In recent years we have been witnessing a renaissance in board gaming and an explosion of board game projects on Kickstarter. Few of them surpassed that amount, like Zombicide games, Dark Souls The Board Game, Massive Darkness and previous record holder Exploding Kittens, which collected almost $8.8 million.
Now an upgraded version, Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5 is on its way to set the new record. Already a most funded board game project and in top 5 of most funded projects on Kickstarter ever! We'll see at which spot will it land on January 7th.
Again, "making history" seems a bit farfetched, since Kickstarter is just 7+ years old. We could see the funding level of KD:M surpassed in few years. But, it's by no mean a small achievement.
Kickstarter and crowdfunding culture, in general, have done wonders for the return of analog gaming. We truly are living in a dream world for board game fans considering an amount of new and upcoming games, and we can thank crowdfunding for a great deal of it.
News
Asmodee Absorbs Heidelberger Spieleverlag, EDGE Entertainment and Millennium
With a new year comes the announcement of new mergers in the game industry, with Asmodee acquiring German publisher and distributor Heidelberger Spieleverlag, Spanish/French company EDGE Entertainment, and Spanish distributor Millennium.
The board hoard: your December guide to the best new board games
The Guardian presents best new board games in December 2016. Fighting desperate battles in the Star Wars universe, confronting deadly diseases in 19th-century Spain, battling for first place in a prestigious cycling race and leading warring clans in medieval Scotland.
Tabletopia - Virtual Tabletop for Board Games
Virtual tabletop, Tabletopia, launched into full commercial release this week. The service exited beta and early access stages with support for more than 300 board games - from the traditional, like Chess and Gin Rummy, to the hot new releases, like Scythe and Santorini.
'Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks Board Game' Arrives Spring 2017
The highly anticipated game will be materializing in our universe next year, by way of the BBC and Gale Force Nine. Two to six players will take on the roles of various incarnations of everyone’s favorite Time Lord as they look to thwart the Daleks and their plans to remove our heroes from the Matrix of time.
Lookout Games and Mayfair are reprinting Le Havre
One of Uwe Rosenburg’s classic games is finally coming back into print courtesy of Lookout Games and Mayfair, and that game is Le Havre. The game itself plays very simply in that on your turn you have two actions you can take, grab a stack of goods being offered, or activate one of the many buildings on the board.
Articles and Videos
Game on! The best board games of 2016
2016 might be a bad year for everything else, but not for board gaming. Ars Technica crew writes about the best board games of 2016.
Best Tabletop Games of 2016
GeekDad team, Jonathan Liu, Dave Banks, and Rob Huddleston share their top tabletop games of 2016. Some interesting picks here.
On Rules. And Breaking Them. Unintentionally. Sometimes.
Rules are what make games great or not so great. Rules define how mechanics work. Rules define how you win or lose a game. Rules define whether a game is a 4x or worker placement or tile placement or deck building, etc. Rules are the foundation of this hobby. So why are they so easy to mess up?
What's Next Top 15 Most Anticipated Games of 2017
Man Vs Meeple crew talks about their top 15 most anticipated games of 2017. Great list with some gorgeous titles.
What Games Are You Looking Forward To in 2017?
Another list of most anticipated games of 2017 by Richard Miles of Board Game Authority. Most of those are from Kickstarter projects he has backed. What are you looking forward to?
Crowdfunding
Dice Tower Season 13
Dice Tower, a group of gamers dedicated to growing and promoting the board game hobby, is collecting funds for a new season. Tom Vasel, Sam Healey, Zee Garcia, and many others produce weekly videos of hundreds of different games each year.
SECTOR 6: compete today, breathe tomorrow! by Draco Ideas
A fast-paced game where the most skillful in claiming oxygen points and altering the labyrinth will survive the stellar prison.
Tao Long by Gonzalo Aguirre Bisi
A circular abstract-like game in which both dragons are bound together, for each action taken leaves different options for your foe.
HEXPANSE by Korona Games
Lead your own faction through galactical battles in this easy to learn, hard to master abstract strategy game!
The Other Side by Wyrd Miniatures
A steampunk miniatures wargame set on an alternate history Earth featuring stunning preassembled miniatures and streamlined rules.
Twilight of the Gods: Age of Revelation by Victory Point Games
Choose your deity and fight to retain your glorious place among the Pantheon in this 2-4 Player Expandable Card Game.
Reviews and Playthroughs
Great Western Trail Gameplay Runthrough
Rahdo reviews Great Western Trail, a new western themed strategy game designed by Alexander Pfister. You are a rancher and repeatedly herd your cattle from Texas to Kansas City, where you send them off by train. This earns you money and victory points. Each time you arrive in Kansas City, you want to have your most valuable cattle in tow.
Stronghold 2nd Edition Review
A second edition is most often a chance for a publisher to take a game received well for its concepts and refine it to update the play style to fit a new audience or get it closer to perfection. Since Stronghold is a two-player only affair with much the same play style, it is to be assumed that Portal and Stronghold games intend for the latter.
The Blood of an Englishman (Renegade Games) Review by Man Vs Meeple
A two player game based on Jack and the Beanstalk. Players take on the role of either Jack or the Giant. The Giant must maneuver the Fee Fi Fo and Fum cards while Jack tries to create three beanstalks to steal the bag of gold, the Golden Goose, and the Singing Harp. Each player has different available actions and must carefully arrange the cards to achieve their goal.
Dale Yu: Review of Capital
Capital is one of many city building games out this year at Essen 2016. The theme for this is close to the publisher’s heart as it involves building up a new version of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland and the home of the publisher, Granna.
3 Wishes Game Review
Imagine if you had three wishes. You could have anything; be anything. Would you wish for power, wealth, or would you selflessly wish for others? Perhaps world peace? How about no more sickness, pain, or hunger? Your imagination is the limit, but in this game, your wits and memory are the keys to getting what you wish for.
Influencers
Matt Leacock
What person would be a better fit for a first issue than the co-author of #1 overall game on Board Game Geek at the moment - Pandemic Legacy. Beside Pandemic games, Matt is also author of other hits like Roll Through the Ages, Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert and Thunderbirds.
After the first version of Pandemic has been released, more and more cooperative games started to appear. That fact alone is enough to establish Matt as one of the top influencers in board gaming community. To learn more about him, take a look at Time Magazine's article or About.com's article.