It's New Game Friday David Wiley (Cardboard Clash) is here to tell us about the new games.
Here’s what is new this week:
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Rome Must Fall
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Operation Barbarossa: A WW2 Roll & Write Game
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G.O.O.S.E.: A Game of Tactical Honking and Precision Mischief
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GRIMLORE: Case File #7: Jonathan Healy
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Power Creep: Chef, Uptown 2092
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Dangerous Space: Oliver, Quarantine Mission
https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Rome Must Fall
The year is 425 AD. The Roman Empire, once the world’s greatest power, is crumbling under relentless barbarian invasions, internal strife, and dwindling resources. The weight of this civilization rests squarely on your shoulders. Can you hold the empire together, or will Rome be overrun?
Roll-and-write meets wargaming in a crunchy, layered game of decisions as you try to fight back waves of barbarians. With six regions to defend, you’re allocating a die to each area to try and overcome the incoming threat long enough to survive to the end of the game. I’ve often enjoyed wargames in a similar fashion without the roll-and-write format, where you’re scrambling to play defense as best as you can to keep it all from falling apart. The name says it all: it’ll eventually fall. The key is seeing if you can hold out just a little longer to get that victory…
Operation Barbarossa: A WW2 Roll & Write Game
The year is 1941. Germany, at the height of its power, launches Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion in history, against the Soviet Union. The Wehrmacht pushes eastward in a brutal campaign to capture vast territories, destroy the Red Army, and bring the Soviet regime to its knees. Can you lead the Blitzkrieg to triumph, or will your forces be ground down by the Soviet resistance?
If the Roman Empire isn’t your thing, or perhaps you want a wargame where you’re the aggressor instead, you should look no further than Operation Barbarossa. Deploy your forces, maintain supply, and try to break through as far as you can before the end of the game comes around. Like the above game, this one is sure to provide quite the detailed experience that gives your brain a bit of exercise as you try to maximize the use of each die roll throughout the game.
G.O.O.S.E.: A Game of Tactical Honking and Precision Mischief
You are a highly trained and elite squad of Goose commando operatives, executing a mission of precision, skill, and tactical brilliance. You are absolutely not just a bunch of chaotic birds causing havoc at the village fete.
Let the chaos ensue! If you’ve never roleplayed as a Goose, then you’re missing out. After all, anyone could be a boring old human, dwarf, or elf. Why fret over wielding fancy weapons and slaying foes when you could try to wield a lawn chair and chase the mayor around honking at him? If you enjoy a little light-hearted fun with a group of people, this simple set of rules provide a setting for a very player-driven session of being Geese in a town. If that sounds too good to be true, then think again. Just remember…you are a goose, so think like a goose!
GRIMLORE: Case File #7: Jonathan Healy
Jonathan Healy, a reserved scholar from Arkham, specializes in obscure occult texts. His fascination with forbidden tomes like the Necronomicon leaves him insightful yet vulnerable. Befriending the enigmatic artist Celeste D’Asenath, Jonathan uncovers her experiments in possession and an ancestral curse. When a ritual succeeds, their souls are exchanged, trapping Jonathan in Celeste’s body. As malevolent forces close in, he must confront the ancient darkness she awakened. Isolated yet determined, Jonathan races to decipher a counterspell before it’s too late, his intellect and moral resolve his only weapons against the growing horror threatening both their lives.
Another week and some new threats to challenge this scholar. Make use of things like an Ebony Cane and Electro Gauntlets to help you travel through and craft your words. He’ll need some help to overcome the Asenath, which forces him to swap values of dice in Phase 1 of the next turn if they damage him this turn. And don’t forget the threat of Ephraim Waite, who freezes the Mythos Die until the end of the next turn. Venture into some more Grimlore, and continue to enjoy the weekly installments of this game.
Power Creep: Chef, Uptown 2092
A small reprieve - the raiders having moved on - allowing the settlers to scavenge for the scraps left behind.
Man, I think I miss those dang raiders! This poor chef just keeps on getting some brutal threats, this time in the form of Flood Snakes. And it isn’t even the fact that they are slimy serpents that makes them bad, but rather the fact that they remove health in an unclaimed health group when they damage the Chef. The leaders are even worse. You better hope you roll low on those dice because this one is going to blast through your health…quite literally…
Dangerous Space: Oliver, Quarantine Mission
Oliver likes to take a more considered approach to his dives. Slow and sure finds the prize…alive.
This is such a simple, yet sinister, mission that requires you to have a specific number in each room otherwise you face more evil dice. That’s bad enough, as the threats are pretty evil (Looking at you, Elite Hybrid, which lets the Evil Dice that didn’t trigger get rerolled). You’re facing the same issue on Oliver being limited on how far he can upgrade his movement gear, but he should be more than capable to handling threats along the way as he progresses…so long as you don’t auto-lose on those evil dice…
https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Game of the Week: Paper Pinball: Fight Back the Winter on sale for just $2!
Paper Pinball is a dice game that tries to capture the feeling of playing pinball. All you will need is a pencil, three dice, and about five minutes.
Each round, roll two dice and fill in one of the scoring zones. Some zones need to be filled in a certain way, and most will cause some sort of effect, so the order you fill them in is important. If you ever can't fill a zone, you'll lose a ball. Lose three balls and the game is over. Try to fill as many scoring zones as possible while triggering multipliers, opening tunnels, and getting the coveted multiball.
It’s been a hot minute or two since we saw some Paper Pinball here, so I know you’re all burning with desire to hear about this blazing-fast game. And if you’re like me, by February you are so OVER winter that you’re ready to do anything you can to send it packing, making this the perfect theme on the cold, snowy nights. In this case, Winter is a big and scary-looking monster and it definitely needs slaying so pull out your pencils and start dropping the proverbial quarter into the machine to rake up a high score.
Check out Game of the Week here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/game-of-the-week
Adventurous
Shrouded in myth and untold dangers, the vast ocean calls to those brave enough to explore its secrets. What marvels lie beyond the horizon?
You wanted to go on an adventure, right? This one has you cooperatively building a map as you sail around, uncovering encounters on the seas and discovering marvels. Your task is to build a continuous path, and be able to place cards with restrictions on what can and cannot be covered as you set sail, which makes sense because you cannot backtrack along the seas and then teleport back to a new place. One of the coolest parts comes from your decision each turn on taking the top card of the deck, or the unknown bottom card, as part of exploring to build out that map. The game comes with a ton of ways to modify your deck in order to adjust the challenge so hop on board and check this one out.
Dionysia
All of Athens has turned out for the Dionysia, a grand theatrical festival to honor the god Dionysus. Impress the crowds with your well-crafted drama to win the playwriting competition as well as the favor of the gods!
An interesting game of planning out which card to draft each round from the three in the center, placing it into one of three acts. I love how you can place it either on the top of the act (assuming it already started) to trigger an effect or its end-scoring condition, or else tuck underneath to simply add the icons. And those icons are important! You’ll be trying to line up patterns for all three of your top cards, but the patterns need to be left-to-right and up-to-down only. There’s plenty of room for those who love to hate draft, as well as those who prefer to focus on their own engine and see who does the best. Don’t miss this one with its awesome artwork and unique theme!
Check out the new Button Shy releases here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
See you next week with more information on our newest print and play games!