Merge Islands in the Clouds, and Become One with Fernando Pessoa

Merge Islands in the Clouds, and Become One with Fernando Pessoa
BGG's SPIEL '21 Preview is coming along nicely, with 180+ titles listed as of July 13, more than three months ahead of the event taking place. Side note: This preview, along with all other convention previews and new game release catalogs, can now be found under the BROWSE tab in the header under "Previews".

Let's highlight a few titles on this list, starting with Pessoa, a 1-4 player game from designer Orlando Sá and publisher PYTHAGORAS that has a fascinating background driving the action of the game. Here's an overview from the publisher:
Quote:
Fernando Pessoa (13 June 1888 - 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher and has been described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets of all times. Pessoa was a prolific writer — and not only under his own name because he created approximately seventy-five others. He did not call them all pseudonyms because he felt that some did not capture their true independent intellectual life and instead called them heteronyms.

Board Game: Pessoa

In Pessoa, you are one of Pessoa’s most famous heteronyms — Alberto Caeiro, Ricard Reis, Álvaro de Campos, and Bernardo Soares — and move between the metaphysical space of Pessoa's head and the physical spaces of Lisbon to gain inspiration from the iconic cafés, visit bookshops to expand your library and knowledge, and seek inspiration to write poems, thereby scoring victory points. Whoever has the most victory points at the end of the game wins.

In more detail, Pessoa is a worker-placement game with special rules in which players can place their heteronyms since each player is a different heteronym, but all players are also the same physical person, that is Fernando Pessoa.

The game comes with two modules that can be switched on and off as the players wish. If you play with only the base game, Pessoa fares well as an advanced family game with straightforward rules, but interesting decisions and a more tactical nature. With the modules, Pessoa becomes a more crunchy game, in which extra layers of strategy combine to offer you a rich experience that tries to shine light on the complex figure that Fernando Pessoa was.

Board Game: Pessoa

The game's rulebook includes historical notes to explain how theme and mechanisms are interconnected, providing you an accurate historical background about this extraordinary poet and his metaphysical creations that had their own personality and writing style: his heteronyms. We hope that at the end of your first game, we have spiked your interest to learn more about Fernando Pessoa and his poetry.
• A second title from PYTHAGORAS is a Michael Schacht design for 2-5 players released in May 2021 titled Magellan: Elcano that plays as follows:
Quote:
In Magellan: Elcano, you assume the role of a captain on one of these ships circumnavigating the world, and you want to collect as many goods as possible. Each player has an identical deck of 15 cards, and you start with five random cards in hand. These cards have values on them in two colors (from red, blue, and green) on opposite ends, and three decks of ocean cards in red, blue, and green lie in the center of the table.

Board Game: Magellan: Elcano

Reveal the top card of each deck. Each player then takes turns playing a card from their hand in front of them, building up to three piles — one in each color — and rotating a player card as desired to make it one color or another. Continue around the table until all players have passed or have no cards remaining in hand. Whoever has played the highest total in red discards their played cards and claims the matching ocean card; all other players return their played red cards to hand. In the event of a tie, all players return their cards to hand, with the red ocean card remaining in place. Do the same with the blue and green cards.

All players draw two cards from their personal deck, then you reveal a new red, blue, and green ocean card, piling up cards of the same color if they weren't claimed the previous one. Continue playing rounds until all players' decks are empty. Total your claimed ocean cards. Whoever has the highest sum wins!
Board Game: Carolus Magnus
Eriantys is a new version of Leo Colovini's Carolus Magnus from 2000, with the look of the design from publisher Cranio Creations very much in tune with this era's "comic fantasy" trend.

Here's an overview of this 2-4 player game due out in Q4 2021:
Quote:
Hidden by the soft cloudy whiteness is a world where floating islands are home to great schools for young magical creatures from five realms. Cute little red dragons, clumsy pink fairies, spiteful yellow gnomes, small blue unicorns, and green frogs who dream of becoming princes show up at the gates of schools, with the hope of being admitted to the great hall and being able to admire the famous professors of their realm.

In Eriantys, a game full of strategy, tactics, and twists and turns, you run one of these four great schools and compete with other wizards to increase your fame! Carefully plan your moves and try to control your opponents' moves. On your turn, play a card, place three students, and advance mother nature a certain number of steps across the islands. The island on which mother nature lands is evaluated, and whoever controls it can erect one of their own towers, possibly taking control from an opponent. Additionally, adjacent islands controlled by the same player can merge with that one.

Board Game: Eriantys

The game ends if only three islands remain, if the students run out, or if a player builds all of their towers. At this point, the player who built the most towers wins.

With three different game modes, including team play, Eriantys always offers different and interesting games. In addition, if you play with the expert version, you can use the fantastic skills of the special characters; each adds many possibilities, enriching the fun and beauty of the challenge.

Related

Designer Diary: Brew, or Designing the Whimsical Wilds

Designer Diary: Brew, or Designing the Whimsical Wilds

Jul 13, 2021

I enjoy prototyping with circular colored stickers — the cheap kind you would use for a garage sale. The process is somewhat meditative and feels intuitive, creating a nice starting place for...

Game Overview: Cover Up to Win Dream Catcher and Rip Off

Game Overview: Cover Up to Win Dream Catcher and Rip Off

Jul 12, 2021

Today I'm covering two games that play similarly, games that challenge your visual perception and your ability to hide things from view.Dream Catcher from Laurent Escoffier, David Franck, and...

Struggle for Life in Nick Bentley's Meadow

Struggle for Life in Nick Bentley's Meadow

Jul 11, 2021

I've already written about one 2021 game release titled Meadow in January, and now I'm going to cover another game with the same name — but this time the game features no adorable animals and...

Wonder Book to Pop Up on Tables in Q4 2021

Wonder Book to Pop Up on Tables in Q4 2021

Jul 10, 2021

At the annual Spielwarenmesse trade fair, BGG tries to record previews of as many games as possible, but in addition to seeing what publishers are ready to talk about publicly, we often get a...

Game Preview: Coalitions, or An Intriguing Game of Diplomatic Area Control

Game Preview: Coalitions, or An Intriguing Game of Diplomatic Area Control

Jul 09, 2021

Prototype box and componentsUK-based publisher PHALANX launched a Kickstarter campaign in June 2021 for Coalitions, an interesting, diplomatic area-control game set during the French...

ads