Watch Your Back: Week October 23 to 29 (Part 2)
Let's continue with the rest of the games that are expected next week.
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Hike It! The Backpacking Board Game is a 1-4 player competitive action point adventure game in which you are hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains.
You goal to is to gain the most VPs by moving along the trail, selecting what gear to keep in your backpack, and dealing with injuries and roaming bears. Solo rules haven't been revealed yet. It is launching on Kickstarter on October 25.
Personal opinion: I'm usually a fan of 'survival' games but we don't know how this plays solo.
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Tesseract is a 1-4 player cooperative dice manipulation game in which you are trying to control an alien artifact. The game is centered around a cube of 64 dice which players gradually remove and place into their labs.
Each character has a special ability which allows them to adjust the dice faces. Dice are first placed into the players' labs, if they are in sets of matching colour, or of three different colours. The goal is to place the dice into the 'container' on the main board, as long as the patterns match, and before the dice on the Tesseract are depleted. It is launching on Kickstarter on October 25.
Personal opinion: I would happily play this game with others, and possibly solo too. I'll look into it more.
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Lords of Baseball is a 1-4 player (expandable to up to 16 players) economic game in which you are the owner of a baseball charter franchise.
You will manage your team and stadium, take care of the fans and the press, and develop your investments. In solo, you play against a non-player team. It is launching on Kickstarter on October 26.
Personal opinion: This seems to be the American counterpart to Eleven (the football manager board game). I skipped that one because it felt too euro-y and too random at the same time. Perhaps the same is the case here too.
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Moving on to Die of the Dead: a 1-5 player dice rolling game in which players are spirits guiding the souls of the dead to the land of the living.
In the multiplayer game, players are placing their dice in coffins; each coffin has a special action which may involve e.g. shaking the dice inside it and then taking actions according to the results. The goal is to place your dice on cardboard stairs and manage to ascend to the village of the living. The Kickstarter campaign on October 27 will also include the Ofrenda variant which makes the game soloable.
Personal opinion: I'm not sure I see enough value for the solo player here. Perhaps it's a good deal if you occasionally play with other people too.
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And lastly, since it's Halloween time, we have Haunticulture: a 1-4 player tile placement game in which you are a monster gardener trying to cultivate a haunted garden and be crowned Head Haunticulturist.
Players place cards from their hand in a grid and take the actions indicated on the cards. Your goal is to score points in rows and columns, so that you earn tokens to plant in your garden slot. In the solo mode, you play against an AI. It is launching on Kickstarter on October 27.
Personal opinion: Nothing for me here.