That said, I can now point to one useful or meaningfully productive AFD joke, that being Fantasy Flight Games' announcement on April 1, 2019 of Barkham Horror: The Card Game – The Dogwich Legacy. Turns out that so many people responded positively to this gag that FFG has decided to release an actual dog-based scenario for Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Here's an overview of what's coming in the 2020 release Barkham Horror: The Card Game – The Meddling of Meowlathotep:
When this adventure kicks off, you are hot on the trail of a cat conspiracy. A catspiracy, if you will. Dogs all across town report seeing strange, unnatural cats prowling the streets of Barkham, and each day more and more pigeons are going missing. You've picked up the scent of something big, and once you sink your teeth into a story, you just can't let go. A little wet fur has never stopped you from finding the truth. Perhaps if you investigate the areas of Arkham most plagued by these sightings, you can root out the cat‐monsters that dwell within.
In Red Outpost, players get to control all of the settlers, each time a different one. You must expertly manage the resources and choose the jobs carefully so as not to upset the settlers: Keeping up morale is of utmost importance if you want to become the most prolific leader!
• In case you don't yet own Antoine Bauza's Hanabi, French publisher Cocktail Games is releasing a new version of the game in December 2019 titled Hanabi: Grands Feux that contains the game itself, card stands, and three expansions: "Avalanche of Colors" (ten multicolored cards), "Black Powder" (ten black cards), and five flamboyants (which come on six bonus tiles).
• At SPIEL '19, Belgian publisher Game Brewer showed off a prototype of Paris, a game due out in 2020 from the famed design team of Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling. Here's the short take on the game for now:
Paris is a typical medium-weight Kramer and Kiesling Eurostyle-game with straightforward gameplay, short player turns, and an ingenious point-salad mechanism. You mainly score points by obtaining the right buildings and collecting the right bonus cards.