:strip_icc()/pic7005934.jpg)
/pic6792853.png)
• The Board & Dice booth was an early stop for me on day one. My good friend Steph Hodge did an awesome job demoing the new dice management Renaissance game Tiletum, an upcoming SPIEL '22 release from Daniele Tascini and Simone Luciani, the designer duo behind Tzolkin: The Mayan Calendar and The Voyages of Marco Polo.
:strip_icc()/pic7005722.jpg)
In Tiletum, 1-4 players take take on the roles of rich merchants traveling throughout Europe during the Golden Age of the Renaissance. Each turn, you choose a die and gain a number of resources based on the pips and the color, then you take the corresponding action a number of times. The power of the action is inversely proportional to the value of the die, so the fewer resources you gain, the more powerful the actions you take and vice versa.
As an action you can move your merchant and architect to different cities on the map, placing pillars and houses and more. You can also advance on the king's track and complete contracts. After playing a round of Tiletum, I got Red Cathedral vibes from the resource dice drafting and some Orléans vibes from the map portion. It almost feels like an old school euro with modern twists. I'm looking forward to playing a full game when it comes out in October 2022.
/pic6949932.jpg)
Terracotta Army is played over five rounds, where you place workers around a rotating action wheel to take actions mainly to place and activate warrior miniatures within the mausoleum, forming groups which score at the end of each round based on the placement of two red pillars which players can manipulate.
:strip_icc()/pic7005757.jpg)
Clay is the primary resource you need to build statues in Terracotta Army, but your clay dries at the end of the round so you need to maintain keeping it wet to build the statues. There are four main types of statues which each have their own abilities when activated, plus there are special statues you can build that have helpful powers to enhance your statues' placements for scoring.
The kind folks at Board & Dice sent me home with a copy of Terracotta Army which I'm looking forward to digging into so I can provide more insight on how it plays.
• I enjoyed playing a few rounds of John D. Clair's Empire's End at the Brotherwise Games booth. Empire's End is a catchy game for 2-4 players where you spend resources to avoid disasters for your civilization, and to rebuild as necessary. In a similar fashion to No Thanks!, players bid until eventually there are enough resources piled that it's enticing for someone to claim the disaster, losing a part of their civilization (and victory points). As a consolation prize, you get a special power you can add to your civilization. Empire's End plays in 30-45 minutes and is coming to Kickstarter in Q4 2022.
:strip_icc()/pic7005946.jpg)
• I had a moment to chat and geek out with designer Mark Swanson to share my recent, awesome (!), 6-player Feudum experience with him. No major updates on the Odd Bird Games front, but I'm looking forward to hearing more updates on Fir and whatever else he's working on.
:strip_icc()/pic7005873.jpg)
/pic6555454.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic7005856.jpg)
/pic6858706.png)
:strip_icc()/pic7005944.jpg)
/pic6982333.png)
During the game, players take turns playing cards representing the characters, armies, items, and events of War of the Ring. Each round, the starting player activates one battleground and then one path, and the teams compete over each for victory points. Each card you play helps or hinders the journey of the Fellowship as it progresses on its Path, or can be used to defend or conquer the strongholds of Middle-earth, as you fight to control the new battleground cards activated in each round.
:strip_icc()/pic7006047.jpg)
There is a lot of hand management involved akin to a living card game (LCG) since you have to cycle a card every time you play a card. When you cycle a card, you discard it facedown. Plus you can only play armies to a battleground if the battleground card shows the corresponding faction's army. Similarly, you can only play characters on a path card if the character is eligible to be played on the corresponding path number. You can also play cards into your reserve tableau to deploy in future battles.
:strip_icc()/pic7005775.jpg)
It was hard to get a real feel for the game in a quick demo, but if you're a fan of Lord of the Rings and/or enjoy LCGs with tough decisions from hand management, you should definitely check out War of the Ring: The Card Game.
• Keepers was demoed at the Van Ryder Games booth during Gen Con. I didn't get a chance to play it, but I observed a game and discovered it's essentially a nature image spinoff of Dixit with a twist. Copies were available at Gen Con, and should be available at retailers in late August 2022.
Players take turns being the curator choosing one word (a non-noun) to describe one of their cards. The cards all feature stunning nature images from Byron Jorjorian’s portfolio of over 600,000 images of the natural world. Then all players play a card they think aligns best or least with that word. All players vote, and the cards with the most votes (best or least) are considered "keepers" which score their owner one point. The goal of the game is to have the most "keepers" at the end of the game.
:strip_icc()/pic3678408.png)
:strip_icc()/pic6991386.jpg)
/pic6645936.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic6991535.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic6972420.png)
