David Neumann

Bearwaves set to…um…make waves with upcoming Feud

November 15, 2017 David Neumann 3

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • Regardless of how theme-heavy you like your games, I think everyone, deep down, has a soft spot for abstract games. Something about the simplicity, beauty, and nostalgia of playing a game in which pieces only come in two colors with the winner decided by a battle of wits instead of labyrinthine combat rules involving card drafting, custom dice, and a DNA sample. Hell, Chess and Go have been around for millenia; will we be able to say the same thing about 7 Wonders? Well, not us. We’ll all be dead, but you know what I mean. Bottom line, abstracts are kind of cool and it looks like we have a new one heading our way from rookie developer, Bearwaves. It’s called Feud and, much like their name, I don’t quite understand what I’m seeing.

Things we missed: Card City Nights 2 released last week

November 15, 2017 David Neumann 4

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • It’s okay, you can say it. I miss a shitload of news. I know it, you know it. I’d like to blame it on the fact that I’m the only one working the Stately Play news beat these days, but it’s more an issue with me just being a lazy bum and focusing only on the stuff I really enjoy. I don’t think I need to tell you that the stuff I enjoy is board games. I’m going to try and be better and cover more than whatever Asmodee is currently up to, trying to write about at least one non-board game every day. Will I stick with it? Mostly. I’m sure I’ll have days where I slip, but it’s going to be better than it has been. Promise. Today’s non-board game is Card City Nights 2 which hit the App Store late last week.

Stately Sessions: Liberty or Death, Turn 7

November 15, 2017 David Neumann 2

Tabletop • We’re back with our parade through (alternate) history via GMT Games‘ brilliant COIN title, Liberty or Death. I’m getting the sense that you, the Stately Players [I’m really trying to get him to stop. This will be the last time, I swear -ed.], are losing interest in these turn-by-turn walkthroughs, so I’m going to really try and wrap the whole thing up before Thanksgiving so we can move on to a different game. When I started the affair, I had it in my head that I would spend 5-6 hours playing the game and then chop it into a week’s worth of material. When I saw how much information had to be relayed while writing up the first turn, I realized I may have bitten off more than I could chew and moved to the one-two turns per day format. That works well for me, but it needs to work well for you as well. I’m new at this, and still learning. Stick with me. We’ll wrap up LoD as quick as possible and then throw something else on the table.

Have a great day in the UK with new Ticket to Ride expansion

November 15, 2017 David Neumann 4

iOS Universal, Android, Kindle, PC/Mac • Somehow I had forgotten that Asmodee Digital, our eventual lords and masters, had taken over control of one of the most venerable digital board games, Ticket to Ride. From our point of view, it’s not all that relevant who’s doing the publishing duties, but it did strike me that we seemingly can’t go a day without mentioning the Asmodee juggernaut. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a juggernaut. Today’s Asmodee news revolves around a new expansion for TtR, the UK.

One Deck Dungeon hits funding goal and is now coming to mobile

November 14, 2017 David Neumann 0

iPad, Android tablets, PC/Mac/Linux • With 16 days to go in the Kickstarter campaign, One Deck Dungeon has successfully funded. That’s not huge news considering that when we spoke about it on day 2, it was already well above 50% towards its goal. What is surprising is the update Handelabra released today to announce that funding was successful. Originally, One Deck Dungeon was being pitched as a Steam title with mobile being something they would look into down the road. Apparently, the road was rather short because today’s update announced that One Deck Dungeon is coming to iOS and Android.

Review: 7 Wonders

November 14, 2017 David Neumann 8

iPad • There were three board game ports that seemed stuck in development hell, never to actually make an appearance on our tablets. The first was Twilight Struggle which switched developers after years of development only for Playdek to save the day, releasing one of the best board game ports on the App Store. Then there was Through the Ages which was promised back when the iPad was a novelty, died when Codito’s license expired, and finally resurrected by CGE as one of the best board game ports on the App Store. Now we have 7 Wonders, which was nearly released several years ago, been through multiple beta tests, and has finally made its way to digital but, unfortunately, isn’t one of the best board game ports on the App Store.

Stately Sessions: Liberty or Death, Turns 5 and 6

November 13, 2017 David Neumann 3

Tabletop • We’re back after a long gaming weekend that consisted of playing a lot of old favorites with not one “new” game hitting the table. We had some new players, so game teaching was still in order, but far less stressful than trying to teach games I barely know how to play. That’s all in the past, however, and from this point on we’re going to focus on wrapping this game of Liberty or Death from GMT Games up. I’m hoping turns become faster and faster as I become more familiar with the flowcharts of the AI, so maybe we’ll finish this game before New Year’s? Let’s take a look at two quick turns, Turns 5 and 6.

Return to the world of Hand of Fate in creatively titled Hand of Fate 2

November 13, 2017 David Neumann 0

PC/Mac/Linux • Back when we ran another certain website a strange card game/roguelike/action combat game made its way to Steam. It was Hand of Fate from Defiant Development and wasn’t like anything we’d ever played, except for the combat which was like several other games we’d already played. That wasn’t a big deal, because the mix of everything into one big stew ended up being a tasty package indeed. I tend to not follow Steam as close as I should so I wasn’t aware of a sequel in the works but last week it stopped being in the works and became a full-fledged release. In other words, it was a happy surprise to be playing Hand of Fate 2 over the weekend.

If you don’t already love Zach Gage, FlipFlop will do the trick

November 10, 2017 David Neumann 2

iOS Universal • It’s already been a great year for solitaire card games on mobile. We’ve had Card Thief, Onirim, and Miracle Merchant, all of which are GOTY-quality apps. Zach Gage felt he needed to jump on the bandwagon–Typeshift didn’t suck up enough of my time earlier this year–and yesterday he released his latest title, Flipflop Solitaire. Yes, it’s just solitaire, but somehow Zach Gage has made it much more. How does he do it? I’m guessing it’s the little bit of love he puts into every app.

Stately Sessions: Liberty or Death, Turn 4

November 9, 2017 David Neumann 1

Tabletop • Due to our dining room table being needed for actual dining, I was forced to remove GMT‘s Liberty or Death from its resting place and put it all back into the box after Turn 3. Luckily, I had several badly taken and blurry iPhone pictures taken of the board at this stage, so setting it all back up wasn’t too much of a chore. Anyway, that’s why we had a slight delay in getting to Turn 4. Or, at least, that’s the story I’m sticking with. It had nothing to do with me being lazy, as far as you know. Onwards!