Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. I have been out of town on a family vacation. I have still managed to get pulled into several Kickstarter campaigns though so I thought I would share them here.
Tiny Epic Defenders: A fun small box Co-op game set in the Tiny Epic Kingdoms world. The cost is pretty low at $16 and $24 with a lot of stretch goals hit and several coming up. See a really good review here Is it Tiny Enough by Nathaniel Hobbes. It is a really good write up with pros and cons listed. I highly recommend this game if you like Co-ops, play your family or want a highly portable game.
Harbour: A nice small box Market manipulation worker placement game. I have reviewed it here A Safe Habour in a Gaming Storm?. $20 for a game that has already hit plenty of stretch goals with some more easily achievable. Check out the Neighbor card and see if you can find the tribute to Lowly Worm in the form of Dargon the Dragon TMG’s mascot.
Scrapyard Empire: This game involves set collection but with a nice twist to the strategy. You can try to steal from other players cards that are laid on the table and you can trade because often you are attempting to collect different sets than your opponents. The collection also occurs in levels as you are collecting parts to build small machines and need the correct small machines to then build an invention to gain points. Some levels have miniatures of the adventures and one level has painted minis!
Yardmaster Express: Great small footprint game for $7-$9 per copy. This is again a cool little set collection style game but in this one you are trying to match number or color (sound like a familiar mechanic?) but you are doing it all on you own area with a card drafting mechanism. You start with a small hand of cards, play one and pass to the left. When the cards get handed to a person they draw a card to add to the hand. After 8 rounds the player with the most points, based on card values and some special runs of colors, wins.
Trekking the National Parks: Ever wanted to take an epic vacation with out all the packing, and driving, and yelling at the kids, and expense? Wow, why do we go on vacation? Well this is the game for you. You travel the country using a card based move system and collect beads if you are the first to get to a park and attempt to pick up the different National Park cards by having the correct cards in your hand to trade in for it. There are a few ways to gather points to keep this from becoming a mechanical or played out game. With the variability of different Park cards coming available and the random nature of the colored bead placement this is a wonderful game to get your family familiar with the National Parks and excited about visiting.
Well that is it. And remember…If no one cried, you’re not playing games with your family!
Board Dom I Nation - by Eric Ortega 