A Pair of Saboteurs
As most of the board games we cover here on Space-Biff! are comfortable members of the ruin-your-partner’s-evening genre, today I figured we’d take a break from that by looking at a friendly little pair of games that are all about working together, promoting peace, and being superfriends!
Except they’re totally not! They might not look it, but Saboteur and its expansion, the improperly named Saboteur 2 (“2” infers a sequel, not an expansion), are possibly the most devious games ever to sport a happy pipe-smoking grandpa-dwarf on the cover. Little does grandpa-dwarf realize, he’s about to get worked.
The Other Defenders of the Realm
Defenders of the Realm: Battlefields holds the unfortunate distinction of being the game everyone gets excited about for all of five seconds before someone realizes it’s not the original Defenders of the Realm. “Hey, is this that really good co-op game by Richard Launius?” Somerset asks excitedly when she sees it sitting on the table. Just kidding, she doesn’t know Richard Launius’s name off the top of her head. Worse, five seconds later she’s disappointed because she can see the box is way too small, not to mention it’s got that apologetic “battlefields” hiding under the main title like a bashful turtle.
Instead of holding that against Battlefields, let’s give it the benefit of the doubt and examine whether this tiny turtle is too timorous for success.
Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension
Dominions 4. If you’ve played Dominions 3: The Awakening, the mere mention of another entry to this utterly unique series should send shivers down your spine. If you haven’t, then… well, this article might not be for you. In that case, I recommend getting up to speed with my game diary RPS Ascension, or maybe taking a look at some articles I wrote about one of Illwinter Game Design’s other titles, the similar-yet-distinct Conquest of Elysium 3.
Returning to those of you who know exactly how remarkable this series is, today we’re going to walk through my first match, and take a look at a few of the ways Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension is refining its own formula.
How to Write a Board Game Manual
Hi there! I’m Dan Thurot. I’m not a professional at writing board game rulebooks, but I’m here to tell you how to write board game rulebooks.
If you’re now thinking, Well why the hell should I listen to you?, here’s my response: Wow. That was kind of harsh. Maybe I’m just some dummy, but I’m a dummy who reads a freighter’s worth of board game manuals every year, and I’ve come to appreciate certain details that make them easier to read and much better at actually teaching me your game. What follows is a list of ten tips I’d appreciate you following the next time you’re seated at your computer trying to type out your new board game’s rules.
Archiwhatago?
Turns out 2013 is one hell of a year to be playing board games. Back in March, I wrote about a game called Kemet that I assumed would be one of the best titles of the year — and it turns out it still is, though now it has a competitor in the form of Archipelago, the latest from designer Christopher Boelinger. Now, maybe at this very instant you’re muttering that Archipelago technically released in 2012, but I have two counters for that: one, I had no idea this gem even existed, and we’ve always run things on our own time here at Space-Biff!, and two, if you knew that off the top of your head, why are you even reading this review? Surely you know it’s amazing by now? Why don’t you go play it instead of hassling unpaid board game reviewers?
Anyway, Kemet and Archipelago would be about as different as two games could be if it weren’t for precisely two similarities. For one thing, both force their players to ration a limited pool of actions like precious canteens of water in the desert; and for another, they’re both determined to make you despise your friends for the evening. This time around though, it’ll be because your best friend just swindled you out of a bumper pineapple crop. That little turd.
Infested Planet: 20,000 kills, 20 minutes
On Tuesday afternoon, my elite squad of bug-hunters descended into a particularly overwhelmed mine shaft, squashed over 20,000 space-slugs, and secured it permanently against further infestation — and all in under 20 minutes.
This is Infested Planet from Rocket Bear Games, a highly polished spiritual sequel to their earlier free experimental game Attack of the Paper Zombies. Just like in Attack, Infested Planet is all about facing down an ever-evolving enemy that has no shortage of cannon fodder and always seems to have you surrounded. Just another day in the life of your regular space marine.
Not Such a Bad Legacy After All
Everyone’s been talking about Rogue Legacy, the new side-scrolling roguelike from Cellar Door Games, and there isn’t much for me to add except that, just like everyone else, I really, really like it too.
So that’s it. We’re done here. Unless you haven’t heard anything about Rogue Legacy, then feel free to read on and find out exactly what I’m also liking it about it.
Dungeon Heroes vs. the Pit of Asymmetry
One of the things I love most about Kickstarter is that it helps bring weird little games like Dungeon Heroes into the world. Why call it “weird” and “little,” you ask? Well, the second adjective is easier: it is rather little, which is a point in its favor considering how crowded my shelves are these days. As for the other, its Kickstarter pitch described it as a “lunch break dungeon crawl,” which seemingly not only misses the epic-length point of dungeon crawls, but takes a detour through an entirely different town than the one the point is living in. Weirder yet, it’s so asymmetrical that the dungeon master is playing a totally different game than the one the adventurer is playing. But does it work? Let’s take a look!
Signal Oops
One of my earliest attempts at writing here on Space-Biff! was on the superb Atom Zombie Smasher, which I argued was the “most frightening” thing I’d played that year thanks to the way it made its players complicit in the ruthless containment of a zombie outbreak by a remote authority with a surfeit of power and a shortage of conscience. Just thinking back to the leveling of entire blocks of healthy city to keep them from falling into the hands (and mouths, more critically) of the approaching horde gives me the chills.
So when I heard that Signal Ops, the new indie title from Space Bullet Dynamics Corporation, intended you wrap its players in the shadowy cloak of Big Brother himself, I had little choice but to refill my censor’s pen, charge the old police scanner, and prepare for all the history-rewriting, evidence-planting, and dissident-sacking I was sure it would provide.
The Other Steve Jackson’s Sorcery!
Time for a board game history lesson! Buckle up, because this one might get a little convoluted. I promise there are treats afterwards. Or a review of Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! on iOS, but that’s a type of treat too.
SPACE-BIFF! 