Watch your Back: Week February 5 - 11
We skipped an overview post last week as we knew of only one game launching, but all kind of games unexpectedly popped up. Boo! At least for this week we know what's coming. Or do we?
First up: Trailblazer: The Arizona Trail (1-4 players). Walk 800 miles and build a mural of your sights with polyomino tiles. It's unclear how the solo mode works, but all will be revealed soon.
This game is a follow up to the John Muir Trail which will be available in the campaign as well. On Kickstarter on 6 Febuary.
Personal opinion:Â Andrew Bosley's art is always nice. But this is a solo board games website, we'll have to wait until launch to see how it plays.
More content for Aeon's End! Aeon's End: The Descent (1-4 players) is a standalone box again, that can be combined with any previous edition. This is a change after the Past and Future campaign that had expansions that could only be used with one of two previous games in the series.
As usual, it will have a full Expedition with mages, nemeses and cards. The story this time is a prequel, about the founding of Gravehold. It also features the new Friends and Foes module by Dávid Turczi. This adds allies (that make the game easier) and rivals (that make the game harder) and you can mix and match these with any Nemesis you already own. The Descent will launch on Gamefound on 6 Febuary.
Personal opinion:Â I don't care for Expeditions and I've sold all Aeon's End boxes from The New Age onwards as the experience got less and less enjoyable with each new iteration. But that Friends and Foes module looks like a cool addition to add to my old content. So I'll definitely back this one.
Pencil First Games will have a campaign for three games this week. Snowfall over Mountains (1 player) is the real solo one, but both Sunrise at the Studio (1-4 players) and Floriferous: Pocket Edition (1-4 players) can be enjoyed by us as well.
Snowfall is a compact tile laying game, Floriforous the compact version of the previously released set collection game. Sunrise completes this nature-themed trilogy and has you creating beautiful pottery at your local ceramics studio. The bundle will launch on Kickstarter on 6 Febuary.
Personal opinion:Â I did not make that up, creating pottery is a nature theme according to Pencil First Games. Well, nature sells. And I love good natured things. Athena tells me I missed out on Floriforous, so I hope to pick up this pocket edition in retail later.
Conservas (1 player) is a game by Scott Almes (Tiny Epic games, Warp's Edge etc.) that's being published by the Spanish Salt & Pepper Games (Resist!).
In this game you will go out fishing, then canning and selling the fish - all the while watching out for the impact on the environment. As next generations will need to fish too. A spiralbound book contains 12 scenarios, each having their own win conditions. The game will launch on Gamefound on February 7.
Personal opinion:Â Scott Almes has designed 200 games. I've got two of them, for now that's enough. But I'll take a look anyway.
Then we have Isla (1-4 players), a roll and write game in which you explore a curious island whilst battling exhaustion.
Each round you will decide if you want to explore, research or rest, then roll the dice and take that action. Who knows what you will discover? On Kickstarter on 8 Febuary.
Personal opinion:Â Typically a game I'd like to try one day out of curiousity, but won't be spending money on.
Last one this week (that we know of) (and like I said, we don't know much) is Cookie Champion (1-5 players).
Choose your recipes, gather your ingredients and decorations, and then sell your cookies for cash - or deliver them to the presentation tables for the judges to score. This is a game of card management and area control that promises a challenging solo mode of which we know nothing. It will launch on Gamefound on 8 February.
Personal opinion:Â Does not look like something I'd enjoy, and that's even before they tell me it has a bot that I'll have to beat in a bake-off.
I will leave you with some expansions. Conquest Princess: Night of the Necropede (1-4 players) does not have a page on BoardGameGeek yet, so I refer you to the page of the base game. It's a cooperative bag-builder and I kind of missed the first campaign. I don't think it has been delivered yet. I'll see what it's about this time.
Todd Sanders' Pulp Invasion will have a fourth expanison, X4 (1 player). It will mainly add a galactic map. I once owned this game, but it was not for me. Still, good news if you enjoy it.
You'll find both of these expansions on Kickstarter on 6 February.