News Bits: 11/4/2013

This week's NEWS:

Asmadi Games opens prerelease preorders for Impulse [Link] This is very exciting news for me. This was one of the best games I demoed at Gen Con. It combines Carl Chudyk's multi-use cards we've come to know and love with the spatial elements of an epic space board game. This is a print-on-demand title, and the components will be better in the final published version, but those who preorder this edition will get 50% off the final version. I preordered mine...

Alpine Excursion (a review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland)

The Alps! Everyone loves the Alps, especially train enthusiasts. And what better Alpine vista is there than Switzerland's? The chocolate! The cheese! The lederhosen! (Though those are more in Germany. No matter.)

Such good cheer, and so widespread--so why is it so hard to get around? And why is Zurich so mired in bad train traffic? And why are the cards you need so very, very hard to find?

Ticket to Ride: Switzerland captures none of the feelings of Alpine goodwill but all of the excitement of a dangerous mountain train journey.

(Note: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland has been rereleased as part of volume 2 of the Ticket to Ride map collection--India/Switzerland. However, I have the original release, which is the Switzerland map all by itself.)

News Bits: 5/6/2013

Did anything happen in the real world last week? Because there is a ton of board game NEWS this week:

Fantasy Flight reveals X-wing wave 3 ships [Link] Star Wars: X-wing is a game I'm definitely on the outside about, but I know many of our readers care about it, so here's a link to the new ships soon to come.