Keep Your Civilization from Suffering Empire's End, and Say Ahoy-hoy to the Mollusk Union

Keep Your Civilization from Suffering Empire's End, and Say Ahoy-hoy to the Mollusk Union
Board Game: Ahoy
Washed out by
a setting sun
• Let's cover a few more of the new and upcoming games that I saw at GAMA Expo 2022, starting with Ahoy from designer Greg Loring-Albright and publisher Leder Games.

Here's my summary of Clay Capra's overview from the GAMA media room:
Quote:
Ahoy is a lightly asymmetrical game in which players start in a playing area composed of a few tiles, with each tile being divided into a 2x2 grid that features water, land, and various icons.

When playing with only two, one player controls The Bluefin Squadron and the other The Mollusk Union, and you'll compete to control different areas of the revealed terrain, with exploration revealing new lands over which to fight. When you add a third or fourth players, they each act as smugglers who are trying to pick up various items and deliver them to indicated areas. If the items or areas aren't visible, then you better start exploring to turn them up!
Ahoy will be a direct-to-retail release in Q4 2022.

Board Game: Ahoy
Mock-up components

• During GAMA's game night, I got to look at Empire's End from designer John D. Clair and publisher Brotherwise Games, and my first impression was, man, that sure seems like a John D. Clair design, all right!

Here's an overview of the game from the publisher:
Quote:
You lead a grand civilization at the height of its influence, but can you save it from collapse? In Empire's End, 2-4 players compete to keep calamity at bay. Empire's End marries the intuitive and elegant mechanism of reverse-bidding with engine-building, long-term planning, and strategic depth. The result is a game with a quick tempo, abundant tension, and multiple challenging paths to victory.

Board Game: Empire's End

Players begin with a civilization at the height of its power. Play proceeds through a series of phases, varying as you progress through the game. During the Disaster phase, players face a common threat such as famine, a flood, or barbarians. The player who ends the bidding must take the disaster, which devastates one of their territories.

With each disaster that befalls an empire, its people grow in wisdom and resilience. In the style of the modern classic game No Thanks!, resources bid by all players will end up in the hands of the player who ultimately takes the disaster card. That player also gains a new ability, an innovation that reflects their empire's ability to adapt in the face of challenging times.

Each turn, players move along a progress track that dictates whether they will face a disaster or another type of phase. Players can gain new resources during Production phases, rebuild lost territories during Industry phases, and challenge one another during Military phases. At the end of the progress track, the game is concluded and the player whose civilization has the most points wins. Intact territories contribute points, but innovations and military successes can provide alternative ways to win.
From gallery of W Eric Martin

In slightly more detail, when you flip a card for a disaster, it will show 1-2 resource types and a number, with the number indicating which card in your empire will be destroyed by this disaster. Player take turns paying one of the depicted resources onto this card, and when someone can't pay or chooses not to, they take all of these resources and the disaster card. They flip the appropriate card in their empire face down, losing the points and effect depicted, then slide the disaster most of the way under this card, revealing only the special power granted by the disaster.

You can use resources to avoid disasters, to rebuild wrecked areas, and to play cards from your hand to grant your empire additional abilities — although these will be at risk from any future disaster targeting this spot in your empire.

Empire's End is due out in Q4 2022.

Board Game Publisher: Kids Table BG
• Canadian publisher Kids Table BG was demoing Roberta Taylor's Creature Comforts, which has been delivered to Kickstarter backers and is due out in retail in April 2022.

In the game, you spend spring, summer, and fall trying to prepare for winter, with each player starting the season by rolling a pair of dice to give them some idea of which resources and actions will be available. Players then move their family members to various locations to gain supplies or take actions, with plenty of room for everyone to fit. You're not pushing someone out the door to keep goods to yourself, but are instead simply trying to make better choices than everyone else. More dice are then rolled to complete the set-up and determine what's where — and if a family member chose poorly, well, they'll receive a "better luck next time" token.

In the end, whoever creates the most welcoming environment for their family wins.

From gallery of W Eric Martin

Japanime Games had a larger booth in the GAMA Expo exhibit hall than in years past, and a full schedule of upcoming releases, with its English-language version of TOKYO SIDEKICK from designer Yusuke Emi and publisher Little Future having just hit the U.S. retail market.

In this giant co-operative game, each player controls a hero and sidekick, with the teams all working together to take down various villains and the final boss. Little Future has released multiple expansions for the game in Japan, but for now Japanime Games has only released a playmat and acrylic standees as supplements for the base game.

From gallery of W Eric Martin

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