News Bits: 2/25/2013

Sorry, folks. The news is a bit late (and a bit sparse) this week because of an illness (which by now has hopefully run its course). Here is the news:

An interview with Matt Leacock (Pandemic, Forbidden Island) on In the Lab and Forbidden Desert [Link] I just taught Pandemic to someone this past week, and I am continually amazed at how that design hums and just how tense it can be...though I haven't yet hopped on any expansions.


Soulblade Games launches lightning campaign to fund Ascension for PC and Android [Link] I originally thought I had missed this, but no: the campaign is just moving FAST. I've heard great things about Ascension on iOS (many of my Twitter friends play frequently), so I'm glad for the Android implementation. I don't care for Ascension very much, but @Futurewolfie likes it. And the more games on Android, the better!

Escape promos available in the Board Game Geek store [Link] I don't often include promotional items in the news section, but I've been waiting on these for a while, and I thought some of you might have been too. The Pit and Doomed were originally only available to Kickstarters, but they've made their way to the rest of us as well. Each small expansion is $5.

Last week on the Dragon [News Bits, For the Crown review, Escape: The Curse of the Temple review, Guide to Gaming: The FLGS] We posted a lot of good stuff last week: the news, two reviews, and another article in our Guide to Gaming. Stay tuned this week for more reviews and another post in our Guide to Gaming series.


Kickstarters of Note

Still lots of good stuff on Kickstarter:

• Ascension Online: Note that this project did not appear on this list last week, and it's already at the top of this week's. This one is flying through, with only a ten-day campaign. Still, it was able to raise over $130,000 so far to bring Ascension to Android and PC. Check it out. Various pledge levels.
• Wizard's Brew: Another reprint has come to Kickstarter, this one a first English printing of Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum's Das Amulett. The buy-in is $50.
• Metal money/VP tokens: Minion Games just recently (way over-)funded their 4X space game Hegemonic, but they didn't quite reach the metal coin goal. This Kickstarter is specifically for the metal coins, but anyone can pledge for them. They look nice for use in any game. $17 gets you the coins.
• Doppelganger: The Universal Game Piece: Okay, this is weird, but kind of cool. It's a game pawn that's like those digital picture frames. So your pawn can be whatever you want it to be. Kind of neat. $25 for one, $45 for two.
• Odin's Ravens: I've seen this game referenced everywhere as a great two-player-only game, but copies have been scarce. The reprint for this just went live on Kickstarter. $28 gets you the game.
• Dragon Whisperer: This is a trick-taking game from Albino Dragon Games. The artwork is evocative, and the designer's name--Richard Borg--is well known. It's already been funded, and the $25 buy-in is reasonable.
• Drum Roll: This game has already been produced, but Artipia Games is funding their second printing via Kickstarter. (The first printing had limited availability in the States.) The game looks beautiful, and the theme is fairly novel. $50 gets you the game.
• Evil Intent: This game looks interesting. It failed its funding the first time (though the reason looks like the way-too-high goal), but it's back with a vengeance and almost funded now. $45 gets you the game.
• Legacy: Forbidden Machines: This is the expansion to Legacy: Gears of Time, a time-traveling board game that was successfully funded on Kickstarter. I've not played the original, so this one isn't really tempting me, but I know the game has its fans. $27 for the expansion.

What I've Been Playing
Unfortunately, due to the above-mentioned illness, I had to miss my monthly big game night. But I was still able to play something worth talking about.

• Coup: Coup is a sleek game with few components (15 cards, a few player aids, and a few tokens to mark money). You can think of it as a bluffing game boiled down to its essence. I brought this in for my work group on Friday to play over lunch, and it was great fun. We were all new to the game, so we didn't bluff as much as I anticipate we might in the future, but it was lots of fun. I can't wait to play this one again.