The board game innovations from Asmodee are impressive - even in the Corona year, for which one or the other player had expected major disruptions to the release plans. And so the "purple truck" is not only doing its rounds now, but also well into the winter. A total of 38 titles on the loading area – from a horror board game to a chibi-style Marvel game to various extensions.
Instead of a press event, there is an Excel list, instead of a physical trade fair on site GAME'20 via the internet lines to the players' homes. A lot is different this year, even the game itself: first via messenger services, now in small groups, fans meet for their board game round. There were fears - especially at the beginning of the corona pandemic - that the supply of new products could dry up. Now it can be seen that the publishers seem to have largely mastered the crisis; The industry giants had it at least a little easier than the small publishers. In the middle: Asmodee, whose line-up for autumn 2020 is impressive.
Asmodee novelties in September
September closes the third quarter of the year, but not without exciting new announcements. Already at the beginning of the month appears with Small world of warcraft the new WoW board game that Asmodee and Days of Wonder are bringing to market together with Blizzard Entertainment. The title is based on the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, uses its license, but is playfully based on the board game Small World by Philippe Keyaerts, which was first published in 2009.
It won't stop there in September. The Dark Tides Expansion for Arkham Horror 3rd Edition. The add-on takes players beyond the city limits of Arkham to investigate the incidents in the coastal towns of Innsmouth and Kingsport.
It contains four brand new scenarios with branching, changeable stories, new city districts and locations, eight new investigators with unique abilities and starting cards as well as all kinds of new supports, encounters, conditions and monsters. This expansion also introduces new game mechanics, including new types of encounters, monster abilities, a new consequence for doom in Arkham, and several game modes that allow you to adjust the difficulty of a scenario as you wish.
The extension also “only” provides additional content "Nuclear Alliance" for the board game Fallout. The name suggests why it works: all scenarios from Fallout: The Board Game and the expansion Fallout: New California can be played as cooperative versions with the release of the expansion. In a scenario played together, the survivors work together to achieve the goals. In addition, new Fallout expansion contains modifications that players can use to improve their weapons and equipment. In addition, there are mutations that bring both advantages and disadvantages to heavily irradiated survivors, as well as a support cube with which the survivors can support each other in battles.
Even Just one will be expanded to include new terms in September. This becomes the Game of the Year 2019 breathed into life again so that the word game comes back - or for the first time - on the home gaming table. The revised edition of the civilization game will also be released in midsummer 7 Wonders on the market, in parallel with the three expansions Armada, Cities and Leaders. The board game will on the occasion of the anniversary visually revised, including a box type and clearer maps.
Asmodee fall novelties in October
The trade fair month is full of innovations, hardly surprising. However, the board games will be presented online this year. 18 new items are on Asmodee's timetable for October 2020, including a few extensions - the rest are full titles. One of the new games is Toyes Dice by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges and Alain Orban a roll-and-write strategy game that invites participants to discover the history of the historically significant city of Troyes on the Seine.
Society is organized around three orders: the nobility, civilians and religion. The responsibility of the First Order is to protect the land and to bring about justice; the responsibility of the middle order is to work hard and ensure supplies of the food and goods essential to the life of the whole city; and for the latter the task is to provide for the awakening of spiritual and cultural development. The dice game originally published by Pearl Games is aimed at 1 to 10 players, ages 12 and up, and takes around 30 minutes.
Our Marvel United A board game will also appear in October that looks like it's for children up to the age of 12 - the idea by Eric M. Lang, clad in the so-called chibi style, is aimed at players from around 14 years of age. The premise of the superhero board game is familiar: Red Skull, Ultron and Taskmaster are attacking the city, each with their own evil plan for destruction and domination. To stop them, heroes like Captain America, Iron Man and Captain Marvel join forces in the well-known mission "Save Mankind". 1 to 4 players act cooperatively Marvel Unitedto stop a supervillain’s plans. To do this, players use the strengths and abilities of the individual heroes, and also work with the strengths of each other to achieve additional effects - so it's about exploiting synergies.
The cupcake academy. Together with colleagues from the pastry shop, players have to fulfill the trainer's orders. "Get together as a team and talk to each other quickly," says Asmodee about the autumn novelty. There isn't much time left to pass the Cupcake Academy entrance exam: exactly seven minutes.
Players try together to distribute the cupcake molds to match the current order card. With every order you have to fill your plates with the molds of the right color. So it gets hectic in the board game by Erwan Morin, which was originally published by Blue Orange and is aimed at 2 to 4 players, ages 8+. The specified playing time: 10 minutes. Seven for the game round, three for dessert - or, alternatively, the setup.
They are probably something for fans Story cube for the Harry Potter franchise by Zygnomatic. Players write their own stories in the enchanting world of Harry, Ron and Hermione, grab the Nimbus 2000, flee or ally with Aragog or help Hagrid out of a mess. Creativity follows a simple idea: Throw your nine story cubes and let yourself slide through the world of wizards and witches.
Families are looking forward to the unusual card game with the equally unusual name in October Throw throw burrito. The party game could hit like a bomb, at least it worked for Exploding Kittens. Instead of cute cats, the makers are now relying on fiery burritos. What it's about is self-explanatory: Throw Throw Burrito is a party and card game. It combines the best of card games with the best of ball sports: You collect cards, points and throw burritos at each other - for 15 minutes.
The idea is aimed at 2 to 6 players, ages 7+. There are points for triplets, minus points if you let yourself be hit by the burrito, and some triplets trigger fights. If you have a burrito fighting triplet, you call the name of the type of fight: shelling, battle or duel! As soon as someone starts a fight, the rest of the game is interrupted. A round ends when the last burrito bump has been dealt. Whoever has the most points wins this round, receives the "Kneel Down" medal and is proud to display it in front of you. Whoever has won the first round and has the most points at the end of the second round wins the game. If another player wins the second round, he must fight a duel for victory with the winner of the first round. Oh: the enclosed burritos are of course not (!) Made of reinforced concrete.
It will be adventurous in October Call to adventure, a card game in which players pull together, against each other against the cardboard AI or as part of a solo mode in the heroic adventure. The humble squire becomes a legendary knight. An orphan girl claims her birthright as Queen of the Empire. A nobleman joins the vigilante group after his parents are tragically killed.
The stories change, but the themes are timeless - and every hero's journey begins with a call to adventure. The focus of the game from Brotherwise Games is therefore the stories of the heroes. Chris and Johnny O'Neal want to tie 1 to 4 players to the gaming table for around 30 to 60 minutes. There are also adventures, but with pirates Forgotten Waters in focus. Asmodee will release the localized version of the board game with "digital companion" in October. In Forgotten Waters, players slip into the roles of the highest-ranking crew members on a pirate ship and embark on an adventure. Together, the crew serve under the same pirate captain, helping him complete his assignments. However, every player also seeks his own luck.
Every game of Forgotten Waters is a new pirate adventure full of discovery and exotic islands. It is - typical for pirates - about looting and treasure as well as nasty rip-offs.
Players discover a huge world with many unexplored secrets. You play exciting scenarios in which your ship is led by a different powerful pirate captain, whose intentions can drive you all to certain ruin. Each player experiences and shapes their pirate's personal story, from his absurd past to his grand, dishonorable finale! Confront major fateful events that can fundamentally change the course of your game.
Forgotten Waters is a Crossroads game. In these games, decisions made later in the game have a clear impact. Moral dilemmas await you and you have to decide whether you are closest to yourself or want to act for the good of all. For the first time, one of the crossroad games is supported with an app. With it you can save your adventures on the high seas in between and continue later. It also accompanies you through the game. Hat Games Plaid With Forgotten Waters is aimed at 3 to 7 players, ages 14+. The board game by Isaac Vega, J. Arthur Ellis, and Mr. Bistro lasts between 120 and 240 minutes.
A small highlight should be Dixit mirrors be from Libellud. The multi-award-winning game (including Game of the Year 2010 and Game Hit for Families 2010) is complemented by new facets with 84 cards. The colorful motifs by Sébastien Telleschi create a mirror image of the world and thus form a brand new extension for Dixit.
Also from Libellud Mystery Park. Players go to a fair - the classic among horror scenarios! - looking for the director. Strange things have been happening at the fair since the night she disappeared. As spiritualists, players are of course convinced that a ghost haunts the hype and want to help it bring the truth to light. Mystery Park is the spiritual successor of the deduction game Mysterium, a cooperative game that again works with ambiguous illustrated cards. The spiritualists try to understand them and so first to prove the innocence of suspects and then to rule out possible crime scenes. After that, they only have one chance to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and find out what really happened to the headmistress. They only have six days to do this before the fair leaves town again. 2 to 7 players, ages 10+, take part in the puzzle game by Oleksandr Nevskiy.
The board game is also about paranormal phenomena Paranormal Detectives by Gaming Rules. 2 to 6 players can take part in this deductive party game by Marcin Łączyński, Szymon Maliński and Adrian Orzechowski. A player takes on the role of the ghost of a recently deceased who has been the victim of tragic circumstances. The others are detectives of the paranormal, trying to find out how the ghost died. Using their supernatural abilities, the detectives communicate with the ghost and ask questions about the circumstances surrounding his death. Whoever clears up the case first by answering all five investigation questions correctly, wins the game together with the ghost. Clever highlight: At the same time, you can also play the game in a cooperative version.
2 to 4 players go on a long journey playing a board game Red Outpost from Lifestyle Boardgames, which will be released as an autumn novelty at Asmodee in October. The first person on the moon was the beginning of a technological adventure - and only the beginning of a long-haul flight through space. A secret Soviet mission was sent out to colonize a new world far beyond the moon in which all people have equal rights and work for the common good.
Eventually, the Krasnaya Zarya spacecraft crash-landed on a habitable planet that is now owned by the players. The Soviet Spirit: “Your fathers worked hard to recreate in this place the best of the old world they left. Now it is your task to lead your comrades to happiness and prosperity".
Players share control over the workers of the communist settlement in the far reaches of space. But not only that, the resources produced are also there for everyone. If you thought Red Outpost was a cooperative game until now, you thought wrong: Every player strives to become the only true leader of the universe paradise. The aim is to earn victory points (VP) by motivating workers to be more productive, delivering common goods on time and keeping influenced workers happy.
The game ends after the second day, then the score is settled: You now receive the victory points for your contribution to the construction of the Palace of the Soviets (see The Palace of the Soviets on page 5) and 1 VP for every 2 crystals in your personal supply. Add these points to your points on the victory point track. Whoever has the most victory points overall is the winner of Red Outpost, the board game by Raman Hryhoryk.
The expansion for the new edition of Civilization, Civilization: A New Age, is no less strategic. Fantasy Flight Games brings under the title "Unknown land“ new material and new possibilities in the basic setting of the base game, which is based on the video game by Firaxis Games and 2K Games.
With Terra Incognita, players have the opportunity to explore their surroundings, explore new landscapes and dynamically design the game board during the game. Cities develop new districts that enable new skills. New forms of government offer advantages, and combat is redefined with more armies. Also included are ten new leaders - doubling the number of playable civilizations. With Terra Incognita, up to five players can now build their civilizations and discover new areas. For fans of the base game Civilization: A New Era, the expansion will likely be an essential addition.
October has more novelties ready: Asmodee Germany brings next Megacity Oceania, Paleo and Hellapagus including extension also new content for the Bloodborne-Card game. With the "Hunter's Nightmare" expansion, new monsters and bosses, among other things, find their way into the game. fans of 7 Wonders: Battle are happy about the add-on "Agora", with which the Senate can play a role. This is made up of six separate chambers that offer advantages to the player once they occupy a chamber. Senate chambers can be claimed by claiming the Senate cards obtained in the new expansion. Should a player successfully take control of the majority of the Senate Chambers here, they automatically win the game. Conspiracy cards, two new wonders, two new progress tiles, new military tokens and senator cards provide new strategies and possibilities in the duel variant of 7 Wonders by Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala.
Board Games: This is new from Asmodee for November
The road to Christmas is packed with potential gifts. Asmodee also has some top-class innovations ready for November, including for example Unlock: Star Wars or a Expansion Lord of the Rings: Journey through Middle-earth - Creatures of Darkness.
The latter continues the cooperative fantasy adventure in the app-supported miniature role-playing game from Fantasy Fight Games. Regardless of whether you face the new challenges of the Ghosts of Thal campaign or re-explore the trials of the Dark Paths campaign, you will face powerful villains like Ollie the Troll or the Disciple of Morgoth. With the figure package Creatures of darkness you can bring these villains to life with new premium figures. There is also another mysterious and eerie shadow from The Ghosts of Thal. New items and titles help players get through missions safely.
Magic is also with Harry Potter: A Year at Hogwarts in the game. Fans compete as young witches and wizards from the houses of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin to earn the points for the House Cup. The board game is of course based on the novel. So slip into the roles of the most popular heroines and heroes such as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Draco, Ginny and Cedric in this magical competition for the house cup. You can even compete against each other in teams - and there is also a solo version. The whole saga comes to life with 30 mission cards and Quidditch matches. You can adjust the difficulty and length of a game according to your wishes. With the optional variant of Voldemort's Return, there is even more to experience: One of you joins the Death Eaters and wants to help the Dark Lord return, the others stand up to him as heroes in order to destroy the seven Horcruxes.
The mutants also rehearse the uprising in November. In X-Men: Mutant Rebellion Players take on the role of iconic heroes and send them on missions around the world - be it to recruit new mutants, catch criminals, protect innocent lives or fight some of the most iconic X-Men villains.
The focus of the game mechanics is on dice and the heroes' related skills. Players put together a team of mutants - including characters like Rogue, Wolverine and Storm - and team up with Shadowcat, Magik or Forge. Eight different scenarios await fans in the game that Fantasy Flight Games announced as part of the Gen-Con livestream. The game can be played solo or with up to five other players.
Things are a little happier in the amusement park of meeple country from blue orange to. As amusement park directors, 2 to 4 players compete to build the most popular amusement park of all time. Great idea: You are sure to get the most beautiful attractions, attract visitors to the parks with advertisements and offer them the best service. But be careful: If you neglect your visitors, you will drive them into the parks of the competition.
Players have to buy the placement game Meeple Land by Cyrille Allard and Frédéric Guérard the most exciting attractions and fit them into the park so that there are no dead ends. Otherwise your visitors will be dissatisfied and your popularity will decrease. Attract as many visitors as possible and increase your income. The more popular the park, the closer you are to victory as a player.
It is also about visitors Yukon Airways from Ludonova, or travelers. The subject: It's summer 1979. Travelers cavort on the jetties of Schwatka Lake in Whitehorse. You are impatiently waiting to experience one of the last places of unspoiled nature up close: the Yukon.
So players do what players have to do: get behind the wheel of their own seaplane and take the travelers to their destinations in the land of the midnight sun.
In Yukon Airways from Al Leduc - the man behind Cupcake Empire! - you fly your own seaplane.
Your job is to transport travelers in the Yukon. To do this, you take passengers on board, who are represented by dice, and fly them to different locations on the game board using your ticket cards. Every passenger brings you money, and if the destination is of interest to them - i.e. the color of the dice and the color of a place marker at the destination match - you can even make improvements to your aircraft.
At the end of the game you will receive additional money depending on how many different places you have visited. Whoever has earned the most money at the end of the week wins. The game has a solo mode, but can otherwise be played with up to three players. The age requirement is there Asmodee at around ten years old. A game should last between 60 and 90 minutes.
Is that in November? No, because the hit comes at the end. The huge expansion is likely to provide extensive gaming fun Prophecy of the Kings for Twilight Empire 4th Edition ensure, to care. The package is filled to the brim with new content: the galaxy is getting significantly larger, seven never-before-seen factions find their way into the game. Forty new system and hyper route panels add new planets and obstacles to the map. In addition, games in two new colors can now play Twilight Imperium with up to eight players.
But that's only a fraction of what can be found in this extension. To give your chosen faction even more game depth, you will receive a wealth of unique leader cards that support each faction in the game and give you powers that you can unlock during the game. Clumsy 'Mechs stomp onto the battlefield as powerful new ground forces with unique special abilities. The exploration deck brings new planets and discoveries into the void of space, including fragments that you can combine to form impressive relics.
With new action cards, agenda cards, goals, technologies, contract cards, legendary planets, and much more, Prophecy of the Kings is an essential addition to any Twilight Imperium fan. You still have to bring time with you, more than ever before: Asmodee specifies 360 game minutes as playing time, in practice it sometimes takes many times longer.
Asmodee brings more new board games in fall 2020
Asmodee Germany has announced four titles, albeit without a release month, but with a release window in the fourth quarter of 2020. The first is the prequel to the Pandemic trilogy: Pandemic Legacy Season 0, with which Matt Leacock and Rob Daviau conclude the series. For 2 to 4 players, it's about the time of the Cold War. Over the course of a year-long in-game campaign, players will be tasked with quests that will take them to the far corners of the world: from the familiar corridors of Washington DC to the desolate tundra of Siberia. Each success or failure will bring you closer to the truth about the Soviets, "Medusa" and even the fellow agents.
Just like in the first two seasons of Pandemic: Legacy, each game brings new cards, rules and conditions that affect future games. Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 continues the legacy of evolving the spirit of the Pandemic franchise while maintaining its cooperative gameplay mechanics.
The board game dream catcher is aimed at the next generation and, according to the publisher, is playable from four years of age. The title dictates the topic: It's about nightmares - and they are not to be trifled with. Cuddly toys provide a remedy in the board game by, David Franck and Lauretn Escoffier. They turn the bad dreams into beautiful stories. Players choose the right cuddly toy to cover up the changing nightmare creatures and thus collect good dream tokens.
In the children's game Dream Catcher, each player has a cloud tile on which the good dream tiles are collected. The cuddly toys have different sizes, the smaller the selected animal, the more tokens the children receive. Whoever has filled his cloud first wins. A game should last around 15 minutes.
Watch out, horror inside!
Also in the fourth quarter, two new horror board games will appear, with a bit of luck they might match Halloween. Zombicide - Night of the Living Dead is based on the horror classic "Night of the Living Dead" with which George A. Romero caused a stir in the late 1960s. The film is considered a milestone and breathed new life into the horror genre with the debut of zombies. In the Zombicide spin-off, players try their luck in the 1968 setting. 1 to 6 players assume the roles of the film's survivors and battle ghouls controlled by the cardboard AI. It is important to fulfill all defined goals in the chosen scenario.
Annoying: The further the night progresses, the more ghouls come and get in the way of the players. The survivors use whatever they can find as weapons to destroy zombies and slow down the ghoul invasion. The most important weapon in the game is collaboration. In Zombicide - Night of the Living Dead you win or lose together. Only in a team can the players get the best out of the characters and unlock powerful skills, as well as get access to the best weapons. Working together is the key to survival - and therefore to victory.
Granted, vampires aren't the most innovative topic for a board game right now. Nikolay Aslamov and Ares Games have chosen the board game Masters of the Night nevertheless let in on it. Asmodee plans the release for the fourth quarter of 2020. 1 to 5 players (solo mode available) are on the road as members of a vampire clan. Their dichotomy: follow the temptations of blood thirst or keep the vampiric identity a secret.
Masters of the Night is a cooperative game where everyone is on the same side and either wins or loses together. With the help of followers you fight against the agents of the Inquisition, spread fear in the hearts of the people and prepare in different parts of the city for the great blood moon ritual.
But be careful: the longer players prepare for the ritual, the more difficult it becomes to actually perform the ritual. Enemies are constantly on the lookout, and even vampire powers do not protect players from them. It is important to maintain a balance between the use of powerful blood magic and the indispensable secrecy of your own identity.
Various strategic options have to be considered: Decide which dice you choose for your turn - you can only get new ones if you use all of them. Recruit minions to take control of key locations in the city. At the same time you must try to stop the dangerous inquisition. In the end really stupid for you already battered vampires: There are several ways to defeat and only one to victory.
