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In any case, the BGG page for Umbra Via — the first published design from Connor Wake — is now live, and here I am sharing that cover with you.
As for what's happening in this 2-4 player design, which won the 2019 Cardboard Edison Award and which bears a March 17, 2021 street date, here's an overview:
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Just beyond the towering vines lies an ancient pathway into the unknown. Push back the thorn-riddled stocks to discover a clandestine garden, blooming with mysterious vigor. Vivid colors mark the way to intricate tiles zigging and zagging through the green. Within the flowers lies the key to greater meaning. An explanation for all things unknown...
In Umbra Via, players compete to control and complete the most cunning paths. Reach into your bag to select wooden flowers, then place them on your secret board in the order of the paths you want most. But when players reveal their choices, things get delightfully tricky. Experience the magic of Umbra Via and find out why this award-winning design belongs on any table.
In more detail, at the start of each round four tiles are revealed from the deck, with each tile showing part of a path, e.g., a straight line, a curve, or a T. Players secretly draw three cubes from their bag and place them on spaces on their personal board corresponding to these tiles. They all reveal their choices, move their cubes to the chosen tiles, then secretly place three more cubes, then move those cubes to the tiles. Whichever tile ends up with the fewest cubes on it is placed in the 4x4 grid first, maintaining the same orientation, by the player who bid the most cubes on that tile. (Some cubes in your bag are worth two cubes during the bidding phase, but are then removed from the tile and returned to your bag prior to placement.) Then the next tile is placed on the grid, and so on.
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When you place a tile, if all the "open" ends of that path are cut off — whether by the edge of the board or other tiles — you count how many cubes each player has on the path. The player with the most placed cubes retrieves "double-bidding" cubes from the reserve equal to the number of tiles in the path, adding these cubes and all other cubes to their bag. The player with the secondmost cubes on the path retrieves half this many "double-bidding" cubes, and so on. After removing and returning all the cubes on this path, remove the tiles from the grid, placing them in a discard pile.
As soon as a player has retrieved all of their "double-bidding" cubes from the reserve, they win!
In Umbra Via, players compete to control and complete the most cunning paths. Reach into your bag to select wooden flowers, then place them on your secret board in the order of the paths you want most. But when players reveal their choices, things get delightfully tricky. Experience the magic of Umbra Via and find out why this award-winning design belongs on any table.
In more detail, at the start of each round four tiles are revealed from the deck, with each tile showing part of a path, e.g., a straight line, a curve, or a T. Players secretly draw three cubes from their bag and place them on spaces on their personal board corresponding to these tiles. They all reveal their choices, move their cubes to the chosen tiles, then secretly place three more cubes, then move those cubes to the tiles. Whichever tile ends up with the fewest cubes on it is placed in the 4x4 grid first, maintaining the same orientation, by the player who bid the most cubes on that tile. (Some cubes in your bag are worth two cubes during the bidding phase, but are then removed from the tile and returned to your bag prior to placement.) Then the next tile is placed on the grid, and so on.
When you place a tile, if all the "open" ends of that path are cut off — whether by the edge of the board or other tiles — you count how many cubes each player has on the path. The player with the most placed cubes retrieves "double-bidding" cubes from the reserve equal to the number of tiles in the path, adding these cubes and all other cubes to their bag. The player with the secondmost cubes on the path retrieves half this many "double-bidding" cubes, and so on. After removing and returning all the cubes on this path, remove the tiles from the grid, placing them in a discard pile.
As soon as a player has retrieved all of their "double-bidding" cubes from the reserve, they win!
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As you might already know from your experience as both child and adult, "soon" is relative to many other things. In this case, "soon" means November 2021 as CMON Limited has launched a weeklong Kickstarter for what it's calling "The Animation Collection", a trio of games that includes the title above, as well as two games designed by Alexio Schneeberger that are related to one another: Looney Tunes Mayhem and Teen Titans GO! Mayhem. Here's an overview of these two games:
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Teams of toons and Titans square off in these two games, with each team racing to be the first to collect 5 victory points (VP).
The games are built around the "Mayhem System", a system for character vs. character team-based combat in which the most direct method for a team to gain VP is by KOing their opponents. Characters use items and powers to battle the enemy team, with battle damage changing each round based on the mayhem die. When a character is KOed, they are removed from the board and their opponent gains VPs, with the KOed character returning to play next round.
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When you're not fighting in Looney Tunes Mayhem, you might be able to gain VPs from classic cartoon locations. The "Poker Stars" location, for example, allows a toon that moves onto it to try their luck; if you roll a star on the mayhem die, your team collects a VP immediately. The "Home Sweet Home" location gives your team a VP the first time both characters from your team arrive there. The "Desert Road" location gives out ACME deliveries, providing characters with additional effects to make their opponents go KABOOM!
When you're not fighting in Teen Titans GO! Mayhem, you use teamwork to complete missions from the special GO! deck for a chance to gain VPs — but you might prefer to fight given that all of the Titans have a power that directly attacks their opponents, either through an attack or through fire tokens. Fire tokens deal damage equal to the mayhem die, just like a regular attack, but deal their damage at the beginning of each round.
The games are built around the "Mayhem System", a system for character vs. character team-based combat in which the most direct method for a team to gain VP is by KOing their opponents. Characters use items and powers to battle the enemy team, with battle damage changing each round based on the mayhem die. When a character is KOed, they are removed from the board and their opponent gains VPs, with the KOed character returning to play next round.
When you're not fighting in Looney Tunes Mayhem, you might be able to gain VPs from classic cartoon locations. The "Poker Stars" location, for example, allows a toon that moves onto it to try their luck; if you roll a star on the mayhem die, your team collects a VP immediately. The "Home Sweet Home" location gives your team a VP the first time both characters from your team arrive there. The "Desert Road" location gives out ACME deliveries, providing characters with additional effects to make their opponents go KABOOM!
When you're not fighting in Teen Titans GO! Mayhem, you use teamwork to complete missions from the special GO! deck for a chance to gain VPs — but you might prefer to fight given that all of the Titans have a power that directly attacks their opponents, either through an attack or through fire tokens. Fire tokens deal damage equal to the mayhem die, just like a regular attack, but deal their damage at the beginning of each round.
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