Monday Morning Meeple
Good morning! This is the first in a series (?! - we'll see how long that lasts!) of posts where I share what games are on my table and what stuff that I am excited about that's coming out soon.
For those of you who don't know, I am currently the manager at a friendly local game store in Durham, UK, known as Meeple Games. We're currently in lockdown here in jolly old England, so what better time to focus on the the things that bring you joy - i.e. the board, roleplaying and card games that I seem to hoard like an ancient dragon sleeping atop its amassed treasures. As you might expect, working in easy reach of all the latest releases means that I generally have new games entering my house every week. So, let's see what's hit the table this week...
New games on the table...
With lockdown approaching and only having a few days that I'll be working in store, I'll definitely needed something to keep me entertained. However, my wife, Elizabeth, will still be working from home, so something that I could also solo was definitely a bonus. Therefore, I picked up both Cartographers and Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition from the store last week. And I got to play both of them last Saturday with Elizabeth!
Both games fall into the "Roll and Write" genre, although Cartographers uses a card-based system rather than the more traditional dice that Railroad Ink employs. In both, you are solving a puzzle using randomly generated terrain that you use to fill out a fixed grid in order to achieve your goal of gaining the most victory points. For a more in depth look at the gameplay, I'd recommend checking out the Shut Up and Sit Down reviews of both, which are pretty comprehensive (as well as a good laugh!).
While both are roll and writes, the two games are definitely different in their feel. Railroad Ink presents more of a tense brain burner as you move from dice roll to dice roll just hoping that the necessary pieces of road or track are generated that allow you to expand your network how you want, only for you to be left with random bits that you are forced to add, thus ruining any chance of an organised and pleasing series of routes. Cartographers, on the other hand, played as a more serene affair. I never felt overly stressed and mostly could add the different terrains to my map with relative ease. Yet Cartographers differs in that it adds player interaction, with your opponents getting to add the monster ambushes to your map in the worst ways that they can think of - this I loved, but again, never found it to be too much of an obstacle, despite those monster ambushes eventually losing me the game.
So, what did I think of these two little gems? Well, if that sentence wasn't obvious enough, I'd highly recommend both of them as additions for your gaming collection. They are both excellent roll and writes, and this is coming from someone who isn't a massive fan of the genre. One of the first R&W games I owned was Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age, which I enjoyed at first but it never really held up in terms of replayability. Not so, I believe, for Cartographers and Railroad Ink. I'd definitely check out both if you're able to.
Other new things on the table this week included In Too Deep, the latest mythos pack for Arkham Horror: The Card Game, which has to be one of my favourite games of recent years, if not of all time. However, while I've had a quick glance through the cards (and there are some stellar ones in this latest entry), I haven't yet set aside the time to play through the new Innsmouth expansion, so you'll have to wait a bit for my thoughts on this campaign.
I also picked up Dark Revelations, the latest Arkham Horror: The Card Game novella (yes, I am a sucker for this game and for the Fantasy Flight marketing machine...). I have to say that I have enjoyed reading through the Arkham novellas so far, with the last one, Blood of Baalshandor, being one of my favourites. Dark Revelations looks to follow in the same pulp weird fiction veins and has already hooked my attention after only four chapters. So if you're a fan of the previous novellas know that you won't be disappointed here. Plus, you get a brand new investigator in Gloria Goldberg, a new Mystic character with 5 willpower and 4 intelligence! Plus, her ability is specifically about manipulating the encounter deck. That's an insane combination of stats and abilities, and something I'm very much looking forward to building around. The Mystic class is probably my favourite, so I'm eager to get Gloria to the table!
Roleplaying shelves...
Roleplaying games are probably my first love. They are certainly what got me into the gaming hobby. And they are by far and away what I deposit most of my disposable income on! So, what have I been reading lately?
We'll, there is a developing pile of books on my desk, consisting of:
- Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden;
- Agon;
- Dishonored: the Roleplaying Game;
- the new Fiasco: Second Edition boxed set;
- Mork Borg: Feretory;
- and The Black Hack: Classic Monsters, the results of a recent Kickstarter.
Of these, I've made a solid dent in Rime of the Frostmaiden, which has to be one of the better Dungeons and Dragons 5e adventures that has been put out in recent years. There are plenty of pop culture references riddled throughout, including to Lovecraft and The Thing, and the whole thing drips with atmosphere and an underlying cold horror. However, I did notice that several of the encounters seem weighted against the players in the early chapters, which may lead to a TPK with an inexperienced GM or anyone looking to play the campaign straight from the book and who doesn't want to rebalance things. The adventure definitely doesn't play into the hands of "run it and gun it" adventuring parties, and there is definitely an emphasis on thinking your way out of difficult situations. Not everything can be solved by the swing of a sword and sometimes negotiation is best, even with evil creatures. This puts difficult choices on the shoulders of your players and that is something I love.
Agon is the other book that has been holding my attention. This is the new edition of John Harper's game of Grecian heroics. Harper is the author of Blades in the Dark, which has spawned a whole range of Forged in the Dark games. That game was slick and stylish with a simple ruleset that allowed you and your friends to take on the roles of a band of thieves in a fantasy city facing off against a multitude of rivals and sticky situations. Agon is no different other than the theme being classical heroes sailing on an Odyssey-esque adventure and travelling from island to island attempting to enact over the top heroics and drawing on the favour of the Greek gods. This slim volume contains a well honed ruleset that captures this theme to a tee and provides a banquet of inspiration that leaves you chomping at the bit to run it. If you've played Blades in the Dark and loved it, then buy this now. If you haven't, then I'd still recommend giving this a look. It brings a lot to the table and if different to the more traditional games like D&D that it will open your eyes to the possibilities of the indie RPG movement.
That's all for now!
That's all I've got time for this week, but there's always more to look at. Check out the "coming up" below for a hint of what's coming out next week that I am excited for and will hopefully be discussing next Monday. Plus, since you're here, why not comment and let me know what you're excited for? Got something you want to share with the world? Then hope over to our board game and RPG groups over on the Meeple Games Facebook and let us know there. While we're in lockdown, we want those community spaces to be used more - so if there is a new release you're just loving at the moment, or a game you're just really passionate about, we want to hear about it!
Coming up...
This coming week promises some interesting new games too. I've a copy of the hotly anticipated solo board game, Under Falling Skies, about to hit my doorstep courtesy of a BGG competition. In addition, The Children of Fear, Chaosium's newest campaign for Call of Cthulhu, my favourite RPG of all time, just dropped in PDF. Plus, there is the imminent release of Destroyer of Worlds, the new boxed adventure for the Alien RPG. Not to mention it's prerelease weekend for Commander Legends, Magic: The Gathering's latest set starting on Friday. So, there will be plenty to discuss next Monday!
Looking for any of the games mentioned?
Then check out Meeple Games! If we don't have what you want in stock, then just give us a shout via email or Facebook and look to order it in for you.