Tripflare & Torch: A Sunday-Night Feature Approaches

August 13, 2018 Tof Eklund 2

Welcome to what may become a regular SP Sunday-night feature, if you’re in the US (more like second breakfast or elevensies time in NZ). I’ve always fancied myself a decidedly non-prime hours horror host, in the vein of Vampira, Elvira, and Commander USA. Don’t remember Commander USA? Just imagine Watchmen’s The Comedian unconvincingly faking enthusiasm for El Santo movies and “drawing on” his hand with his cigar. I asked editorial for a wardrobe budget, but all I got back was a series of farty noises, so just imagine me in a LBD and a smoking jacket, wearing a wig stolen from a community theatre production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, sitting in a ridiculously oversized Gothic armchair next to a roaring fireplace (burning official strategy guides and AOL diskettes, ‘natch) and cradling a coffee mug bigger than my head in my arms with a degree of tenderness usually reserved for newborn babies and Alpha Edition Magic: the Gathering cards. Got it? Good, let’s go.

Asmodee can’t take a week off, sneak-releases Kings and Assassins

August 10, 2018 David Neumann 1

iOS, Android, PC • A week ago Asmodee Digital surprised us all with the announcement of Gloomhaven and other games coming out later this year and in 2019. I was at the press conference and took pictures of all the games they listed for the next 2 years and nowhere did they list Kings and Assassins. So, it makes perfect sense that, this week, they released Kings and Assassins. [insert head banging into wall gif here]

Handelabra (kind of) announces their next two projects: Aeon’s End and Spirit Island

August 8, 2018 David Neumann 4

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • Fresh off the success of One Deck Dungeon you’d think the folks at Handelabra would rest on their laurels and, perhaps, slow down and enjoy the, I’m sure, millions of dollars that come along with being a successful indie developer of niche board games. As you can probably guess from the headline, however, that’s not the case. Instead, Handelabra have announced two new ports that will be heading our way in 2019, Indie Boards & Cards‘ Aeon’s End and Greater Than Games‘ Spirit Island.

80s cardboard/electronic mashup, Dark Tower, being brought back to life

August 7, 2018 David Neumann 6

Tabletop • Deep down in my soul I know that, mechanically, Dark Tower isn’t a great game, and yet few games have stuck with me the way Dark Tower has. I was 10 years old when Milton Bradley unleashed this cardboard and plastic monstrosity upon the world, and I remember it occupying my every thought as 1981 crawled towards Christmas. I didn’t get a copy of the game that year, but my cousins did, and it didn’t disappoint. A game with little plastic, sword-sporting figures, 3D plastic buildings and awesome art of kingdoms in decline, and, of course, the massive black monolith standing at the hub of this strange fantasy world? I loved the game, eventually getting a second hand copy a year or two later and then forgetting about it when my tower, like so many others, stopped working. It’s the one grail game that I’ve considered spending $300 or more via Ebay to get a working copy to play with my kids only to realize that I’d then be divorced and probably wouldn’t be spending much time with my kids. Luckily, Restoration Games has picked up the mantle and announced a re-imagining of Dark Tower set to release in 2020.

Forest of Shadows arrives in One Deck Dungeon

August 6, 2018 David Neumann 1

iPad, Android Tablets, PC/Mac/Linux • One thing I look forward to every year is a Jeremy Handel sighting at Gen Con. He’s incredibly hard to find, but when you do you won’t be disappointed because he’ll be dressed as someone else. Sure, there’s a lot of cosplay at Gen Con, but not many people cosplay as characters from Sentinels of the Multiverse. This year, my son and I ended up getting sick on Saturday and our time in the convention center was nil from Saturday morning on, so I didn’t get a chance to find Jeremy this year [for the record, we did meet up with Jean-Marc Giffin of Handelabra who was affable as always -ed.], but I did get a chance to play a ton of his latest game, One Deck Dungeon. That’s because Handelabra released the major expansion, Forest of Shadows, the Wednesday night before the Con opened.

The Trese Brothers are back with Star Traders: Frontiers

August 6, 2018 David Neumann 6

PC/Mac/Linux • There’s something a little less exciting about a game releasing when it’s been available on Steam Early Access for a long time prior to going “live”. I mean, I’ve been playing Factorio for so long now that if they took it out of EA and into actual release, I doubt I’d really notice. That said, Star Traders: Frontiers is a Trese Brothers game and we kind of love those around these parts. If you need reminding, they’re the dynamic duo behind the oft-overlooked but much-loved Templar Battleforce. Star Traders: Frontiers went live while I was at Gen Con and I’m dying to dive into it.

Storm, Stone, and Salt – Sunless Sea: Zubmariner coming to PS4

August 5, 2018 Tof Eklund 0

There’s this obscure thing in gaming where some people, instead of or in addition to playing games on their a proper personal computer or mobile communications device, as HAL intended, attach things that look like gussied-up Blu-ray players to their home televisions and play “console games” on them. Well, some of these “console gamers” are in for quite a surprise, as the kind folks at Failbetter Games are bringing the best video and computer game of all time, Sunless Sea, complete with the Zubmariner expansion to a gaming console called the ソニー株式会社 プレイステーション 四,  roughly translated as “Sony Playstation Quatro,” and sometimes affectionately referred to as the “PS4.”

Asmodee announces Gloomhaven and more coming to digital

August 3, 2018 David Neumann 10

I wandered over to the Renegade booth to pick up a copy of Spy Club (only to find that they were already sold out) when I ran into the crew of Shut Up & Sit Down. Being incredibly “with it”, I knew that the SU&SD guys were hosting the Asmodee Digital press conference later that day so I meandered on over and struck up a conversation. If you know me, you know that conversation isn’t my strong suit so I mumbled a few things and shrugged and may have had a droplet of spit land on one of their shirts. May have. My charm, naturally, shone through and, next thing I know, they’re sharing that Asmodee was going to be making a huge announcement. I mumbled something stupid and wandered away, self-loathing at peak levels, determined to discover what it could be. A few short hours later, there it was: the new board game darling, Gloomhaven was going digital.

Short cut: Ganz Schön Clever

July 31, 2018 David Neumann 14

iOS, Android • I didn’t pay much attention to the Spiel des Jahres this year, so I’m a little behind on telling my Azuls from my Die Quacksalber von Quedlinburgs. Yes, that last one is a real game and it actually won the Kennerspiel des Jahres. Thus I was unaware of another nominee vying for “complex game of the year”, Ganz Schön Clever. A quiet release of a digital version has allowed me to give the game a go, however, and I’ve determined that the English translation of Ganz Schön Clever is “what the hell have I stumbled on?”

Stately Scrying: What we’re playing this weekend

July 27, 2018 David Neumann 17

It’s been a long, news-less week behind the scenes at Stately Play. Too much stuff to do and too little time to do it. So, I missed the launch of Banner Saga 3 and…well, that’s the biggest news bit you didn’t get from our front page. Next week is looking tough as well. I’ll be on vacation Monday and Tuesday and then heading down to Gen Con where I’ll be getting all sorts of news (I already have an interesting tidbit from CGE that I will share as soon as I’m legally able to). Will I be posting it right away? Hopefully. My plan is to write up what I saw each day and post it the next day, so you’ll get Thursday’s news on Friday and Friday-Sunday’s news early the next week. That’s the plan, at least, but you know how those go around here. If you don’t, please see my Liberty or Death or Darkest Night videos for an example. Onward to the weekend!

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