Watch your Back: Week March 26 to April 1
March ends with a heavy hitter by Chip Theory Games and two other projects, let's dive in!
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So, Chip Theory brings an adaptation of The Elder Scrolls video game to tabletop: The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era is a 1-4 player cooperative adventure game in which heroes try to stop an evil scheme, earning experience points along the way.
Expect neoprene map tiles, a lot of dice, and of course, chips. Heroes will journey across the land, and, if they reach a town, they will get a town event; if they end their movement elsewhere, they will have either a peaceful encounter or a fight. Once the two quests included in the game are completed, you enter the end phase which will differ according to the results of your quests. It is launching on Gamefound on March 28.
Personal opinion: I have never played a CT game before, and I'm seriously considering this one. Free shipping is certainly an incentive.
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On the same day (March 28), also on Gamefound, we have Tir Na Nog: a 1-5 player drafting and hand management game in which you are a storyteller travelling to the land of Tir Na Nog seeking to narrate the best saga when you return.
In each round, players lay claim on multiple cards and then draft one card and play another card from their hand. Not much else is known at this point, solo rules included.
Personal opinion: Beautiful artwork but it's a competitive game, so let's see how it plays solo.
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The last game for today is Crown of Ash: a 1-4 player worker placement and area control game in which necromancers send out undead armies to fight for a claim to power.
On their turn, players place a worker on the board to either gather resources, build a base to control the area, or fight an opponent. In the solo mode, you play against an AI. It is launching on Kickstarter on March 28.
Personal opinion: I believe area control games are best multiplayer.
I have two other games launching next week on my list:
- on March 28, the relaunch of The Thinning Veil, already reviewed by Athena here.
- on March 30, Dungeon Saga Origins, a "classical Fantasy" dungeon crawler with minis.
I have now read the rules for Crown of Ash - the rulebook is neatly written, which is always a good point. I am actually very tempted by it, and would back it without much hesitation if I had a gaming group. For solo play... the AI seems well done, of the kind I can endure - that is, easy to manage, with action cards for the AI to occupy the board in an organic manner. Still, it's an AI (what else could have it been?), so, we'll see if the game is affordable or not.
I know, it's a Worker Placement and I usually pass on these... But here, it has a strong "RTS" feel: workers are assigned to…
I'm a fan of Elder Scrolls video game series. However I'm moving away from big games and also it's easier for me to pass on the "stupid reasons" like "oh look dice, multipass" than trying to find out space for yet another huge game. I have my burncycle (which I love), so probably won't delve into this one. What they showed so far is both charming and repelling me, which leaves me in the "I'm not sure, I won't back" camp.
Tir Na Nog looks great, though the text being white on the variable background seems to make it a bit harder to read. I do prefer to have text on some neutral beige background in black just for readability.…
I've also been following all three of these.....
Strangely Elder Scrolls is probably the one I'm most interested in. It will, however, need to get over my natural aversion to all the previous CTG offerings to tempt me to back it so I will be watching this one closely....
Tir na Nog looks great and I will be also looking closely at this one. I do though already have Call To Adventure which at the moment looks quite similar! Who knows maybe the difference will be big enough for me to back it!
Lastly Crown Of Ash is the least interesting to me and will probably have to blow my mind in order for me to back it, the more…
I may want to back The Elder Scrolls game, but I'll have to sell my Too Many Bones collection then. To be able to afford it - and I think it won't make sense for me to own both.