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:
- Artisans of the Taj Mahal
- Personal Space
- Twisted Minions
This week's new games are all available at https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Personal Space
Welcome to your Personal Space. A continuous game of living your best life.
In Personal Space, you’ll play once a day (if you would like to) and experience a little bit of the daily life on your planet. You can go to your job, collect resources, explore side moons, interact with your neighbors, interact with other players, and much more.
There are real life elements to the game (your real life weather and time of day will matter), and there is some real life communication involved as well (you can interact and trade with other players - and the game - online - for example, do you want a better job in game? You can apply online for it.).
There are also continuous or legacy elements where you place stickers onto cards, customizing your experience and making your game unlike any other.
Ah yes, Personal Space. The game you can play daily for a new experience every day, one of the most ambitious (and impressive) games created so far. I’ve enjoyed my time with Personal Space, although the pressure of playing daily wasn’t quite my cup of tea (even knowing it was self-imposed pressure, as you don’t have to play every day!). There’s even a Discord channel just for the players of this game, where you can find activities, shops, and folks from your same home planet to discuss the game with. If you want an immensely replayable game with a core community and social aspects, this is definitely one to check out. And even if you aren’t certain it is right for you, this game is so unique it is worth at least trying out to see what is possible in the game design space.
Artisans of the Taj Mahal
The spectacular marble-clad mausoleum of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, is instantly recognizable. Construction began in 1632 and lasted 17 years, with an astounding 20,000-strong workforce involved in its fabrication. Tragically, only a handful of the craftspeople involved are known by name today. You can find out more about this incredible feat of engineering and the people that inspired this game.
Another roll-and-write for those who enjoy the genre or the ease of crafting said Print-and-Plays within that genre of game. This one is unique because there’s multiple options within the number on where to place values, and all players involved are using the same two dice results each turn. Think you can outplan and outwit your opponent? Here’s your chance to prove it, as neither of you can blame the luck when you both have the same degree of luck. I also like the added touch of needing to water the fruit trees you activate otherwise you’ll lose points at the end of the game - something that I am sure adds a nice, light press-your-luck element in some plays.
Twisted Minions: Rules to Spice up Your Encounters with Minions in Four Against Darkness
Not just the same goblins again.
Twisted Minions is a supplement for Four Against Darkness that adds a spin to minion encounters. Using a d100 table, you will create complications and unexpected twists every time you encounter a group of minions. Zombies are slow, but this time they ambush your party and gain the initiative; orcs fear magic, but those orcs have just robbed a wizard’s library; those kobolds seem harmless, but they can call a medusa for help...?Features:
106 twists for minion encounters;
The Prisoners scenario, for when your party is captured;
Tables for chaos abilities and unusual treasure;
6 Minion Secrets.
This is not a stand alone game. This supplement for characters of all levels requires the Four Against Darkness core rulebook.
Looking for something new to add some flavor and challenge to your Four Against Darkness experience? This promises to do all of that and then some. I mean come on, who wouldn’t love to tell the tale of encountering some harmless-looking kobolds that summon a Medusa to fight on their side of the battle? Random battles will never feel as dull with this encounter table, something that helps add extra replay value and keeps the player engaged longer. Almost guaranteed to help you die more often. If you play 4AD, you’ll definitely want to add this into your catalog.
Check out all of the new games here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Game of the Week: Animal Kingdoms
In Animal Kingdoms, each player takes on the role of a house leader, battling to gain control of the five kingdoms. Cards in your hand represent noble beasts that have pledged their allegiance to you. Over the course of three ages, you must deploy your beasts to the various territories – making sure that you adhere to each kingdom’s decree – to try and improve your influential position in the kingdoms. The house that gains the most influence by the end of the third age is declared the one true leader of the realm.
Apart from the nice artwork and interesting theme, this game has some interesting choices layered in. Case in point, being the first to withdraw from the round will net you a tile with hidden points - but only if you are first. One of the three actions - Rally - is only able to be used so long as no one in the round has Withdrawn, meaning you don’t want to stall too long before making that play, either. Most of the game flow will be adding animals to your kingdoms (who would have guessed that, right?) and each round will have a scoring session. The twist here is that if several players are tied for first on the round, they have to battle and play a card from their hand...and if both an 8 and a 1 are played, the 1 is valued as the winning card (otherwise the highest number wins that battle). If you like fun games to play with a group, I don’t think you will want to miss this one.
Check out Game of the Week here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/game-of-the-week
See you next week with more information on our newest print and play games!