New Game Round-up: New Lands for Targi, Buildable Hobbits, Love Letter History & Inbreeding in the Middle Ages

Bilbo Baggins lives in the quaint village of Hobbiton, but today his comfort has been shattered by the arrival of 13 Dwarves. They have convinced Bilbo to embark on a most unexpected journey – but first Gandalf, along with the Dwarves Dwalin, Kili and Fili, must find the other ten Dwarves who are lost in the Hobbit holes of Hobbiton.

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the players first build the game out of LEGO bricks, then they take turns rolling a special six-sided die. If a player rolls 1-3, he moves his figure the number of spaces rolled and uses a torch to lift a piece out of the Hobbit hole on which he landed. Hopefully the bottom of the piece shows a Dwarf. If so, the player keeps the Dwarf and play passes to the left. If a player finds a Hobbit instead, he lifts a piece out of any other Hobbit hole on the board in an attempt to locate another Hobbit; if the player finds a match, he keeps the pair of Hobbits and is rewarded with the opportunity to peek at the bottom of a piece from any other Hobbit hole.

Instead of a Hobbit or Dwarf, some pieces feature a picture of breakfast. Matching two breakfasts allows a player to take a Dwarf piece already obtained by an opponent and return it to the Hobbit hole of his choice. The last possibility when revealing a piece is to find a picture of a rune. Matching two runes allows a player to select another Hobbit hole of his choice; if he finds a Dwarf in this location, he keeps it and play passes to the left. The custom die also features a picture of a map on one side. Rolling the map allows a player to move to any Hobbit hole on the board.

After all ten Dwarves have been found, the player with the most Dwarves wins. The game comes with variant rules, including one that shifts the location of Hobbit holes by swinging portions of the board into different configurations. Another variant requires players to find Thorin, the leader of the Dwarves, last. Another places Bilbo in one of the Hobbit holes.

A designer named Takuya Saeki devised an idea at "Game Market", a board game trade show that's held in Japan. The idea was to set an extremely low price (500 Yen) [approx. $6.50] and to design a game within that cost. A lot of game designers participated in the project and challenged that price cap by various methods.

I decided to go for the most obvious of methods: cut down on the component cost. A printer was in on the project, and had a special low-cost service for printing a set of 16 cards; the offset sheet was shared with other designers. I joined that. That was the birth of RR, a perfect-information two-player game, and it got a pretty good reception.

Aristoocrazy is a game about the Middle Ages which deals not with the clichés of that period – such as religious fanaticism or cruelty – but rather with slightly exaggerated relationships within the noble families. It offers deep strategic choices, but spices them with fun, humor, and player communication. Relive this comedy about the Middle Ages and have fun with Aristoocrazy!

Each player has ten unique characters from his family at his disposal – five noblemen and five noblewomen – but he starts with only one pair of aristrocrats. Throughout the game, characters will struggle to conquer neutral regions or those controlled by an opponent, in addition to using the benefits of their abilities. Each character has three abilities, which are helpful for gaining victory points (VPs) or attacking other characters. The game has nine different abilities, which are represented by cardboard tokens. When a male and female character marry, new characters are born into play, with the newborn children inheriting its parents' abilities.

If two characters with a close family relationship meet, however, there is a risk that their child will be "different". When such a child grows up, naturally you'll need him to take care of your domain or a military campaign that you're running – but if his wits aren't in the right place, he won't be of much help. (And who would want to marry such a dud in the first place?)

Aristoocrazy lasts twelve rounds, and at the end of each round the victory conditions for the current round are evaluated. The players try to optimize their actions – moves on the board, attacks, the use of abilities – in order to fulfill the victory conditions defined on the event card in place for that round. The players who best fulfill the victory conditions are rewarded with VPs or special action cards, which can help them in certain situations in future rounds. The player with the most VPs after the final round wins!