The News Shed : 07/09/2023

Welcome Back to the News shed, 

On this weeks episode, our News man Paul brings you all of this weeks juicy Table Top Gaming news & Crowdfunding campaigns we think you need to know about & of course the all important update on the BGG hotness so you are always in the loop of what is the hottest game on the market.

Transcript

INTRO

Who knew it would be this warm...

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Well I told you to stay out of the sun didn't I...

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Yeah, you are looking a little wonky...

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No, we can sort that out a little later...

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Suns gone in a bit, so we can head out to the paddling pool if you like...

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Yeah, I'll turn the sprinklers on too...

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Tell you what, you go get the pool topped off and I'll get the news done and uploaded...

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Oi...

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Button...

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One Job, Hit it...!

NEWS HEADLINES

Stonemaier Games has revealed it's next game due for release just in time for this years Essen Spiel, and that game is Apiary. 

It's the distant future, humans vacated Earth a fair old while ago, Apiary sees enormous honeybees now the dominant species on the planet. 

The cause of the human’s disappearance is unknown, we're bound to have messed something up, but their absence has enabled the humble insects to claim Earth as their own. Now ultra-intelligent and ultra-large, the honeybees have developed their own advanced civilisation that’s capable of exploring the stars. Come on it could happen.

An upcoming board game for one to five players, Apiary sees people competing to create and develop their own advanced honeybee civilisations. At the beginning of the game, competitors are able to choose from a selection of 20 different factions, each providing their own unique play through.

Each faction begins with their own hive, small collection of resources and team of worker bees. Using these starting elements players will need to develop their faction to become the most successful on the planet and beyond.

which takes about 60 to 90 minutes to play, depending on the player-count

Apiary is primarily a worker-placement board game, meaning that players will need to assign their various tokens in order to perform different actions and taking around 60-90 minutes dependant on player count.

Throughout Apiary, players are expected to carefully balance the various aspects of the game: from gathering resources, to developing their technologies to creating carvings to represent their faction’s achievements.

Along the way, players will be able to send their queenship out to explore and pollinate new planets, leaving them better than they were before. Players will then be able to advance along a progression track, depending on how they’ve built it. All of these things will translate into victory points at the end of the game, as well as players can balance their workers’ actions with needing to hibernate.

Apiary was created by Connie Vogelmann, with this being the Stonemaier colleague’s debut title, with the artwork for the game provided by seasoned artist Kwanchai Moriya.

The latest video game to jump from screen to table is incoming and it's from the  board game adaptation of PUBG: Battlegrounds, the blockbuster military battle royal series.

Originally released as Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, PUBG: Battlegrounds is a video game series published by Krafton, that sees players competing to be the last one standing in a deathmatch.

Inspired by the classic 2000 Japanese movie Battle Royal, PUBG has players fighting one another within a location filled with various buildings, equipment and weapons for them to take advantage of. As time progresses, players will be forced to move closer to one another in order to remain in a safe zone that gradually shrinks in size over the course of the match. Whichever player is the last one left fighting is named the winner.

Since its release, PUBG has become hugely influential in the video game industry, leading to the creation of the battle royal genre – including the incredibly popular Fortnite and the character shooter/battle royal hybrid game Apex Legends.

A crowdfunding campaign for the official PUBG board game was launched on a Korean platform called Wadiz in May this year. The total raised for the upcoming board game was 880 million South Korean Won, which amounts to roughly £600.

PUBG: Battlegrounds - The Board Game will host up to six players and will feature competitive, team and solo game modes.  In the game, players must utilise various weaponry and equipment in order to survive either against their fellow players, against the enemy team or against a collection of artificially intelligent opponents.

Every round, players spend stamina in order to move around the board, loot spaces and attack their opponents. Similarly to the video game it’s based on, the PUBG board game requires players to think carefully about their strategy for survival, as well as their offence against the enemy. 

Whenever players attack, they’ll need to choose a weapon that supports the range they’re firing from and roll a set of dice, with each face showing where players manage to hit their target. Players are able to attach upgrades to their equipped weapons in order to enhance their abilities. Other items in the video game board game can be used on the player or can be thrown at others.

As the game progresses, a blue zone spread across the board will gradually decrease in size, with players needing to remain within the zone in order to continue surviving. Players will be able to use vehicles to cover larger distances and travel through certain terrain types. Whichever player or team is left standing by the end of the game is the winner.

Battlegrounds: The Board Game is set to be published by Gemblo, Inc in November, with an English language version of the game yet to be announced although the game will be on display at this years Essen Spiel.

I don't know about many of you, whether you attend many gaming groups or games days but both I with Mid Sussex Meeples, and Jason and James with Crawley Gaming Community have indeed noticed a gradual upturn in numbers over the last couple of years since 2020's Lockdowns.

Well Merchoid have been conducted a study, in general, and has found that people are playing more tabletop games since 2020 lockdowns.

The survey, which involved roughly 1500 entertainment fans and was discovered that 37% of the people who responded to the study were spending more time playing tabletop games compared to before the lockdown period.

In 2020, much of the world remained in their homes and amongst their households in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, thereby restricting people’s opportunities to socialise with one another.

Since 2021, lockdown restrictions across the world have lessened, with most countries now enforcing little to no lockdown measures. As such, people have been able to socialise in larger groups and outside of their households, with many tabletop gaming conventions opening up and removing Covid-19 restrictions and measures.

The survey found that 76% of the respondents believed that “in-person interaction” was “essential” to their enjoyment, alongside the almost 40% of respondents who are playing more tabletop games.

As well as tabletop games in general, attention towards tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons has increased, with the survey identifying that interest has increased by 85% since 2020 and revenue for D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast growing by 46.1%.

Interest in miniature wargames such as the Warhammer franchise has also increased by 49% since the pandemic – with Games Workshop reportedly seeing a 53.8% increase in revenue since 2020.

Tabletop gaming conventions such as UK Games Expo and Gen Con have also seen an increase in attendance over the last three years. 

UKGE saw an increase to over 30,000 unique visitors compared to 23,000 in 22 and 10,000 in 2021. 

This year’s Gen Con – which took place earlier this month – saw its largest ever attendance, with over 70,000. Gen Con has also secured the Indianapolis Convention Centre to hold its events in the city until 2030.

With Disney Lorcana finally seeing its full release to online retailers after the soft launch to local game stores, the trading card game’s debut set The First Chapter is also looking to tease more details about how so many familiar Disney characters - and some less familiar ones, too - ended up in the same place.

Forget the hunt for stocked stores for a second and think about the world Disney are planning to bring you into for a second, as it weaves it's own story around the world of Lorcana, The Great Illuminary, Illumineers and Inkcasters.

Lorcana’s story was first teased during its pre-release at US convention Gen Con in early August, with a short teaser entitled The Story Begins showing an anonymous character - presumably the stand-in for the player - sucked into a glowing portal branded with the Lorcana insignia before arriving in the mysterious Great Illuminary, the titular setting’s central library that holds every story ever told.

A longer follow-up, titled The Power of an Illumineer, sheds more light on the lore attached to Lorcana’s central ink mechanic, with player’s Illumineers using magical ink to summon alternate versions of Disney characters known as glimmers.

Expanding the original teaser, the trailer shows the character encountering two companions and a magical machine, which then activates with a beam of light, leading them to a magical staff, the inkcaster.

The staff is touched on the floor, activating more machinery which ultimately beams a drawing of Hercules - specifically his appearance as seen on the Hercules, True Hero card in The First Chapter - from the open book on a podium into a living, breathing, winking Hercules in the Great Illuminary.

The latest video - referred to as the trailer for The First Chapter, rather than an explicit story trailer, despite continuing the previous story teaser - appears to set up some of the story details hinted at throughout Lorcana’s cards, with Lorcana cards in The First Chapter showing versions of the Great Illuminary in various states of splendor or disrepair.

We also know that Lorcana’s lore involves a catastrophic event known as the Flood, which appears to leave seaweed scattered throughout the realm - as spotted on multiple cards in The First Chapter - and leads to the creation of characters known as Floodborn, depicted on cards that offer distinctly different takes on classic Disney characters, from a supersized Tinker Bell and flying Captain Hook to a hooded rogue Mickey Mouse. Floodborn are explicitly said to tie more directly into Lorcana’s lore than characters’ more conventional appearance on Storyborn and Dreamborn cards.

Where could this all be headed? We’ll likely find out more as The First Chapter rolls out properly and Lorcana’s next set, The Second Chapter, prepares for it's release this November.

Well I told you we'd keep you up to speed on those stolen Magic Cards from Gen Con and so I bloody well shall.

The case reached a new milestone as the said stolen cards were retrieved from an undisclosed location 700 miles away in New York.

It's been four weeks since the pallet of Magic: The Gathering cards owned by Chicago based store and tournament organizer Pastimes was stolen during preparations for Gen Con 2023.

Following the announcement of an image showing the two potential thieves with one of them wearing a T-Shirt advertising the game 'Castle Assault,' the game's two designers TJ Dunbar and Pearson Giaume were reached out to by the IMPD.

In an official statement, IMPD announced that "IMPD Detectives requested the assistance of the New York State Police in confiscating the stolen gaming cards and appreciates their help. The cards are in the process of being returned to Indianapolis and held as evidence.

"Charges are expected to be filed with the Marion County Prosecutor's Office in the near future. The investigation is ongoing as detectives and prosecutors work through specifics of the case."

Whilst there has been a lot of conjecture regarding that the two designers who are persons of interest in this case are also based in New York, IMPD made sure to stress that "the suspects should be considered innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law."

No news yet on if any charges will be made regarding theft but it'll be interesting to see if there's enough plausible deniability that it's worth taking this case the court or if a plea deal will be made.


BGG TOP 5 HOTNESS

So these games on the list may be already out, due to come out, or crowdfunding at the moment, it tends to be a list based on what people are searching for on Board Game Geek right now.

On to this weeks top 5 Games making waves over on Board Game Geek, as of recording obviously...

In 5. Become the most influential clan in a Japanese stronghold known as The White Castle 

In 4. Voidfall maintains it's presence in the top 5 seeing players repel the Voidborn and attempting to restore Domineum in this space 4X Euro. 

In 3. Assemble your Viking crew to explore new destinations in the world and trade with a new title in the top 5 and thats Knarr.
 
In 2. Terraforming Mars the Dice Game, well it's Terraforming Mars... with Dice

In. 1. We've already had Hyper Intelligent Bees in the news and now we have Rats, explore the new house and expand your lair in Rats of Wistar.

CROWDFUNDING

And Thats How I Died
Mind Inventions
2-5 Players
15-45 mins
10+ Years Old
Ends 5th October

You are the world's mightiest heroes, but you're a little... dead.

Sitting atop Valhalla, you reminisce about your glorious deeds back when you were alive. Impress your peers with tales of heroic feats, compare your legacies, and see how each one eventually bit the dust... But... Who among you was the greatest?

That's How I Died is a light set-collection card game about tall tales and exciting adventures. You play as the spirit of a dead Viking warrior who went to Valhalla after a particularly epic or not so epic death.

Each turn you will form an Adventure by playing 3 cards: a Beginning, a Middle, and an End. You can access those cards from your hand of 6, or from the Pool in the middle of the table.

Adventure cards award you Glory points and provide you with powerful effects. If all 3 of your cards belong to the same colour however, we are looking at a Legendary Adventure worth double points!

Each adventure brings you closer to death - this is represented by accumulating Damage points. Get 15 or more Damage and you're dead - the game is over for you.

Unlike other games though, here dying is not a bad thing - when you are dead you score all your Glory points!

When all players are "dead", the one with the most Glory points is the victor and the greatest Viking warrior of all time!

You get two games in one! The back side of the rules contains a Party mode that focuses on storytelling. Forget about counting points and just make your friends laugh!

The Adventure cards are used to create your epic tale - they depict cunning actions, nasty monsters, and add unexpected twists and turns to the retelling of your Viking life!

The Achievement cards are used at the end of the game. You can claim only one of them and you must qualify for its requirement, but once you do, you get a bunch of bonus points!

Think of the Achievements as your title and your legacy - this is how the world will remember you!

£20 or $25 gets you the Standard Edition of And Thats How I Died.

Grab the Legend Collectors Edition which includes the game with holo edged cards, playmat and other exclusive additions for £36 or $45.

Or create a custom, one of a kind card, depicting whatever you wish to be included in your own copy of the game. Included obviously is the Legend Collector Edition with its shiney cards etc. This one will set you back £199 or $250.

OUTRO

Well folks we hope this found you well and cool... We're off to jump in the paddling pool...

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What you after now...

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Fluids, well at least your keeping yourself hydrated...

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Whilst your here, say goodbye to everyone...

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and it's a goodbye from me, keep safe Meeples, keep those dice rolling, the cards shuffling and we'll be right here for you next week...