The Quest for El Dorado is Reiner Knizia’s take on the deck-building genre. It has been more than 10 years since the world was introduced to deck-building games with Dominion, but The Quest for El Dorado is Knizia’s first deck-building game. The Quest for El Dorado was released in 2017 by Ravensburger, but as of 2019, there is a new edition with gorgeous art from Vincent Dutrait.
It was a long-time wish of mine to play a Vital Lacerda game. I was a bit scared that I would be overwhelmed. Escape Plan from 2019 is reportedly his lightest game so I was glad to try it out first.
Endeavor: Age of Sail is a remake of Endeavor by Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray from 2008.
Burnt Island Games and Grand Gamers Guild held a Kickstarter for this edition which was a great idea, because is was hard to get a copy of the original version. I never played the original so let’s see if the gameplay matches the beautiful production this version has.
Everdell is a worker-placement, engine and tableau builder designed by James A. Wilson and released by Starling Games. In the game players build their own forrest city in a fable world, that really comes to life through the beautiful artwork by Andrew Bosley. The game has gained some notability through the use of a 3D tree that only serves as a card standard and is of hardly any utility in the game. But is a show stopper at your gaming table. Everdell was the Runner-Up at the 2018 Golden Geek awards in the artwork and presentation category. Is artwork and presentation everything Everdell brings to the table or is there more that meets the eye?
Wingspan is the newest game from Stonemaier Games. That is enough for some to be interested in this game. The game was designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and has beautiful watercolor-like illustrations by Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, Natalia Rojas and Beth Sobel. A complete women’s team! Wingspan created a lot of interest and hype among board game enthusiasts in the first quarter of 2019. The game, but also the designer got a nice spotlight article in the New York Times.
Mac Gerdts is a designer from Hamburg (Germany) known for using the rondel action selection system in a lot of his games. Most known games are probably Concordia and Imperial. Concordia also received a nomination for Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2014 and is still considered to be one of the best Euro games by many.
Stefan Malz has been designing games mostly with his son Louis. Most known games are probably Rococo (with Matthias Cramer) and Edo. Rococo also received a nomination for Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2014. With their upcoming game Valparaíso releasing at Essen SPIEL 2018 they have agreed to let us learn more about their design process as father and son.
I’ve recently had the privilege of getting an preview copy of Nanty Narking a retheme of DISCWORLD: ANKH-MORPORK. Because I’ve never played Discworld I can give my opinion not hindered by any knowledge of this original game by Martin Wallace.
The hype is real. The Mind from NSV has been taking over the board game community by surprise and a lot of vocal boardgame ambassadors on social media are advocating its greatness. Now that The Mind has actually been nominated by the famous Spiel des Jahres award, even more attention is drawn to this small game from Wolfgang Warsch. Is the jury out of their mind or is it legit? Is The Mind even a game? A social experiment? Magic? Or soon to be forgotten after the gimmick wears off…
Transatlantic was the new game at Spiel Essen 2017 from PD-Verlag. It has gone through multiple stages and has been in the works for several years. Now Mac Gerdts’ game about steamships is finally in the hands of the players. Transatlantic is all about buying steamships and using them to transport goods in different sea regions. Players can acquire historical ships such as the Rotterdam, New England and even the famous Titanic. The game even comes with a historical booklet with background information about all the ships in the game.
The Fox in the Forest is a trick-taking game for two players from Renegade Game Studios and Foxtrot Games, designed by Joshua Buergel. When I first heard of The Fox in the Forest I was immediately drawn to the gorgeous artwork on the cover and wanted to know more. After reading that this was a trick-taking game that actually works with two players I was even more intrigued. I’m normally not too keen on trick-taking games but for a quick filler this could be the one that does it for me.
It’s no secret that deck-building is a favorite game mechanic of mine. Especially when it is done in a unique way. Judging by its cover Concordia could easily be passed as just another “trading in the mediterranean” game. It is not. Mac Gerdts, who is well-known for the rondel mechanism, has managed to combine deck-building, and hand and resource management into a unique streamlined game. He even switched from his trademark rondel to a card version of the rondel.