LEGO Ninjago: Destiny's Bounty Adventures schickt Familien in kurzen Partien gegen Schlangen und Piraten, und die vier Ninja wachsen dabei sichtbar mit. Zusammenbauen, Aufrüsten und Schurken wegräumen stehen im Mittelpunkt dieses kooperativen Spiels. Ob das auch Erwachsenen am Tisch reicht, verraten wir euch hier.

Dieser Beitrag wurde von Tim Billen geschrieben

An Evil Vizier and a Noble Prince were among a group playing Stellar Ventures. True to his wicked ways, the Vizier greedily bid to acquire the “best” corporation, only to discover that he could not retain control of it. The Vizier skulked as he lost.

The Noble Prince contemplated: ego led that one to believe that it could “control” a corporation, when it could not even control itself and attained enlightenment.

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Stellar Ventures tries to mix cube rails (like Chicago Express) with 18xx train rusting. There are certainly differences.

In Chicago Express anyone can put any stock up for auction (assuming there are “auction a stock off” actions available this round), which means that as long as a company has stock certificates left, it can be diluted. In Stellar Ventures the President can auction off a share each corporation round, and a single other share will be auction during the boardroom battle. As I wanted to mention in the first thread I listed (before deciding to make this a post), “Bidding too much for a company gives it capital, and the ‘best’ company will naturally attract investors wishing to a) share in the profits or at least b) dilute the profits for the President.”

I’ve still only played S.V. once … and like many of John Bohrer’s games it seems clear to me that groupthink is incredibly important in this game. You do not have the free form ability to weave incentive structures like silk is in his cube rails games; but there will be a raid each turn. It will be important.

It also goes without saying that while “paying too much” is a failure mode; so is “not being willing to pay the going rate.” Sure, you can sit on a stack of cash and miss the round 1 payments. Because the companies need trains spaceships their first payouts are $2 … if you buy nothing and then win the first boardroom battle (presumably for roughly as much as the second richest player has) you can do fine if you also pick up another cheap share. But will you?

S.V. has this weird thing where companies need money (for routes and spaceships) but players can basically pay for their routes (or expand them) during the Investor Round. A president with a broke company (that is not worried about a rust) can choose to put up a share in round 2 to get $10 for the company, at the cost of halving his income for the rest of the game … or perhaps he can pay $5-10 during the prior investor round, get 100% of the profits for that round, and only auction a share during the next board room battle (and, should it not come to that, issue one the following turn).

The other problem with “missing out” is that the companys’ president(s) can earn some Alien Cubes with company money, which can be spent on improving companies (probably the same ones, but you never know) or straight up laundered for profits.

And all of that doesn’t even touch on “Signing the Deal.” I don’t think it is right to sign the deal when you expect to miss (and have your stock tanked to a $1/share valuation at the endgame) … but it provides a burst of cash that might come close to compensating you (particularly if you use it to grab a replacement share or two. And, of course, if you sign the deal, get the burst of cash, and manage to actually meet the goals you are in a great position. But I’ll need more games to think about this.

For over five years (but fewer than seven), Postmark Games has published high-quality, low-cost print-and-play games. Oh, you need examples? How about roll-and-move titles like Voyages, Aquamarine, and Waypoints? Or ditties like Battle Card, Scribbly Gum and Koala Rescue Club? Or even 52 Realms: Adventures? Now the company is working on their first coin-flip title, Master of Coin. For today’s Space-Cast!, we’re joined by Rory Muldoon, half of the Postmark team, to discuss the beginnings, current status, and future of the company. How does one build a business on games that players print for themselves? Maybe we’ll find out!

Listen here or download here. Timestamps can be found after the jump.

TIMESTAMPS

2:06 — the origins of Postmark Games: when Rory met Matthew
11:33 — the first game
15:20 — roll-and-moves: Voyages, Aquamarine, and Waypoints
24:52 — licensed games: Battle Card, Scribbly Gum, and Koala Rescue Club
31:55 — Postmark’s compact form factor
40:19 — playing card games: 52 Realms: Adventures and 52 Duels
51:48 — from the customer’s perspective
58:28 — the current title: Master of Coin

 

(If what I’m doing at Space-Biff! is valuable to you in some way, please consider dropping by my Patreon campaign or Ko-fi. Right now, supporters can read the next installment in my series Talking About Games, this time tackling the topic of what makes a good list! Naturally, the piece includes a list.)

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After years spent engaging with publishers and designers – both at Capstone Games and through his Board Again Gaming podcast – Christopher High believes the several thousand new board games and expansions released each year are pushing publishers towards commercially safer bets. Now he’s wagering his company Valor Mountain Games can succeed by taking chances on the kinds of titles other publishers are passing over.

High, who spent the past two years as a product manager at Ark Nova and Gaia Project publisher Capstone, co-created Valor Mountain in 2023 alongside Tim Densham as an offshoot of the latter’s historical games-focused publisher Catastrophe Games.

He became sole owner of Valor Mountain in May after buying out Densham’s share of the business – and now plans to expand the company from creating small side projects into a business targeting five or six traditional print-run releases a year.

High told BoardGameWire he is “putting his own money on the line” betting on a strategy built around taking chances on games other companies might reject – saying he believes the hobby industry has become increasingly focused on commercially safe decisions, leaving opportunities to back more unusual designs and under-represented creators.

He said, “Generally publishers make safe decisions. And that’s their job. As far as breaking the mold, I rarely see a game anymore that truly ‘wows’ me in this sense.

“It happens, it just seems like our industry defaults a lot to what they think will sell a game rather than being willing to take a risk”, adding that he highly rates the kinds of designs currently being put out by publishers such as DVC, Hollandspiele and CMYK.

He added, “There are tons of games that get passed over in traditional publishing because they aren’t safe bets. I want to be a smart business person, but I also want to take some risks on designs and designers that are doing interesting things.

“There are literally thousands of products that come out each year which are just iterations of previous designers, maybe smashed together in a new way. It would be fantastic to give some games a chance at a larger audience which would be too risky for other publishers.

“I also want to give voice to more artists and designers who may be from overlooked or under-represented communities. As to genres, I would love to see a truly branching narrative euro game that isn’t afraid to let you push the limits of what’s acceptable in that genre.”

Asked whether his comments about ignoring what other publishers are doing reflected increasing “trend chasing” within hobby games, he replied “Yes”, adding “I have to do my own [thing].

“….What I do need is community and art. I want these things and my values to drive what we do as a company, not the market. The market is and will always be fickle.”

High’s new strategy has seen Valor Mountain seal a partnership with Pink Troubadour Games, which will see it bring several of the European publisher’s titles to the North American market – including Pilgrims: Curious Adventures, Movie Fight, Loony Clues and Dirt & Glory.

High’s previous employer Capstone partnered with Pink Troubadour while he was with the US company, to bring SETI creator Tomáš Holek’s design Galileo Galilei to North America.

High told BoardGameWire, “I had a good working relationship with the Pink Troubadour team when I worked for Capstone. However, I reached out after I was done working at Capstone to see if there were new ways I could work with them. 

“I am planning on taking steps to foster our relationship as I see their trust as essential, since in some ways we are a new company to the market.”

High added, “It’s exciting, and it came about because I reached out to them since I saw that these games were not available in the North American English market.  They are a wonderful team to work with, and it is my hope to do more games in the future with them as our capacity increases.”

High seems especially enthusiastic about bringing family-weight competitive movement puzzle game Pilgrims: Curious Adventures to North America, saying, “I played the video game it is based on and it is super quirky. The board game, like the video game, is very straightforward.

“If I had to describe it in one word: chill. I think it is that perfect type of game for those who want to explore board games without diving in too deep, it feels like you are doing something without being overwhelmed.

“It’s one of those bridge games between gamers and non-gamers and has delightful artwork from Amanita Design.”

Valor Mountain has also dipped its toes into crowdfunding again, following campaigns for a trio of small-box titles in 2023 and roll and write game Birdsong in August last year – all of which raised between about $1,300 and $3,000.

The new campaign features a trio of trick-taking titles – Supercollider, Growing Groves and The Franciscan Diamond, the latter of which High said was a great example of the kind of Valor Mountain release other publishers might not take a chance on.

He said, “Trick-taking games are probably past the zenith of recent popularity, plus this game has a super obscure scoring system. It’s by an unknown designer, but it is really clever.

“I love it. Will anyone else? Maybe? I think it’s going to be a divisive game though.”

He added, “I hope to eventually move away from crowdfunding. There are lots of reasons I don’t like it. However, with all of the capital outlay I have right now, I need just a little more to ensure I can do everything I want to do this fall.

“My project goal on there is a true goal, it helps ensure the proper operational flow of putting these games out.”

High also credited years of conversations with designers and publishers through the Board Again Gaming podcast with shaping his approach to publishing, and helping “keep my curiosity alive”. 

He said, “I love talking to and hearing from designers. It reminds me how little I know and how much there is to learn.

“The world is a big place and people have so much creativity. I want to help bring more of that to a wider audience.”

For High, that curiosity may ultimately be Valor Mountain’s defining characteristic. Whether betting on unusual designs proves commercially successful remains, by his own admission, an open question.

Asked whether a publisher can succeed by deliberately pursuing games larger companies pass over, High said: “I don’t know. I guess I will find out as I put my own money on the line.”

Valor Mountain’s latest Kickstarter campaign runs until August 10.

The post Valor Mountain challenges hobby game publishing’s “safe bet” mentality as it ramps up ambitions first appeared on .

Shownotes Redebedarf. Das Podcastformat ohne Format. Manchmal gibt es einfach Anlässe, Erfahrungen und Beobachtungen zur Spielszene die nur in einem kurzen Podcast untergebracht werden können. Das tun Georgios Panagiotidis und Peer Sylvester mit Redebedarf.

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All of this has happened before and will happen again. Everything comes back around, including games you could swear you’ve played before. Whether they’re remakes, reimplimentations, or rejuvenations, we’re tackling the world of board game revivals. Before what’s old is new, we talk about Agent Avenue, 7 Empires, and Stellar Ventures.

If you don’t want to miss an episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Google Podcasts/Stitcher/Spotify, or add our RSS feed to your favourite app. Reviews and subscriptions really help us and would be greatly appreciated! To download the episode directly, click here.

If you’d like to discuss anything in the episode, please do so in the comments below, visit our BoardGameGeek guild, join our Discord, or Facebook Group! Any feedback is also always helpful. If you’d like to show your support for the show, we also have a Patreon with some fun rewards, and a merch store!

Timecodes:

02:24 – Agent Avenue
07:25 – 7 Empires
18:26 – Stellar Ventures
33:52 – Remakes
39:01 – Blood on the Clocktower
40:55 – Zoo Vadis
48:03 – Dune Imperium – Uprising
54:14 – A Feast for Odin

Thank you to Heart Society for generously letting us use What’s On Your Mind, Kid? from their album Wake the Queens.

The post BGB Podcast #354 – Don’t Call It a Comeback appeared first on Board Game Barrage.

The post Gift Guide: Restoration Games’ Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appeared first on Graphic Policy.

Looking for a gift for comic fans that's not just another comic book? Check out Restoration Games' Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

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