Boardgames, Card Games and RPG Adventures (Board Games)

[QualityChimp]

It's a tricky one because whereas I understand where you're coming from, these things are usually the true essence of Kickstarter where someone has an idea, floats it with people and if enough people back it, they get the funds to produce it, normally once.

On the flipside, it annoys me to see people with a game from a shop that I backed and am still waiting for.

Anyway, Asura, you're in luck here because Kozz has recently done a sequel game, Dark Tomb: The Ice Chasers:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kozz/dark-tomb-the-ice-chasers

You can late pledge and you can buy the first two games in the series using the pledge-manager (I think!).

[Asura]

Weird question QualityChimp, does each player need a tin? Or is 1 tin for 5 players?

I ask because it says 1-5 player, and the Kickstarter offers to buy multiple tins.

[QualityChimp]

I've backed a couple of other games, thinking I'd play at my lunch, but still haven't.
Boardgames are treated with the same level of wishful enthusiasm as videogames for me, it appears.

Anyway, I backed Roll a Coaster and that's live now, so I should have access to the pdf files.
I'll try and download and play it.


I've got a load of dice, so I backed the cheaper print 'n' play version of Five By Five.


Paper Apps Galaxy is a lovely little notepad with a bunch of solo scenarios where you can roll a dice or even the pencil that has 1-6 on the sides!
Sadly, the shipping was more than the game, so I backed the PnP again and need to print the levels off, but it's definitely missing something without the pad and dice-pencil.


Heroes of the Sanctum looks great and I've had a look at it a few times as it's really small adventure game that's got some great artwork and isn't luck-based.
It was a bit of a layered crowdfunding campaign where the base game was a decent price (£21) but there were lots of other bits that could've bumped the price up - Multiplayer expansion, Epic expansion, Comic expansion and base game bundle which cost (£59), losing that budget-friendly price tag.
They're doing a sequel at some point in 2025 if you're interested in that or this game:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/firetapgames/heroes-of-the-sanctum-2025?ref=4gos18

Finally, I've backed another solo game, that I've not got yet called 20 Strong: Tanglewood, which looks interesting and was fairly cheap.
I probably shouldn't have backed it though, looking at this post and my shelf of shame...
Plays like a compact Slay The Spire, I'm told!

[QualityChimp]

Weird question QualityChimp, does each player need a tin? Or is 1 tin for 5 players?

I ask because it says 1-5 player, and the Kickstarter offers to buy multiple tins.

I'm so sorry, I didn't see this at the time.
Mentally, I thought you were asking about "Heroes of the Sanctum" and its sequel's release date, but you were asking about Dark Tomb.

In answer to your question, up to 5 players can play with just one copy, with 4 playing co-operatively and one controlling the monsters. The players get a player card and cube each.

Although I've realised you weren't asking, I've already copied the link for the next HotS game, Kickstarting on the 29th April.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/firetapgames/heroes-of-the-sanctum-2025

[Asura]

I'm so sorry, I didn't see this at the time.

It's fine I actually went for one of the tins in the end. Looking to play it soon!

[Tobal]

Went to the last day of the 3 day UK games Expo held at the NEC, first time going and i've been a few different events at the NEC but never one so massive, 3 Halls taken up, 2 and 1/4 of them for stalls and demos, the last 3/4 of hall 4 was a break out area to play something you bought or rented from a pop up library in the area.

Next year i'll definitely go for 2 days as there is to much to see and try to fit it all into one day, as i would have really liked to have tried out the new Gwent game the makers had out demoing ahead of the full release but the 4 tables they had setup where always full. Most of the other new stuff demoing fell in to euro style economy tablet building, deck building versus and tactical wargaming/strategy with minis all of which i've forgotten the names of, aside from the Pac-man game which a reskin of Quoridor and Cubyria which is a 3D house building game which looked excellent, didn't get a chance to play it sadly as we found the table right before the 4pm kick out, but it's definitely one i'll look out for which it hits kickstarter https://cubyria.games/

I didn't get away without spending (way to much) money though... as i came across Flick Fleet, the demo of it looked alot of fun as a cross between Subbuteo and Star Control with dice rolls for extra combat. Walked away with the playmat, core box and the first expansion (of 4), looking forward learning it, during the week.

If that wasn't enough my kickstarter from last year Bloomchasers turned up Saturday night, 3D plastic tree planting flowers on branches in vs and co-op score puzzler, not had a chance to look at it either.

[QualityChimp]

Noice! I was there on the Sunday too!

I've been going for years now and this year was not only the biggest, but had the most attendees, so as a hobby, it's still not shrinking.
I do wonder how Trump's tariffs will affect this as so many games are manufactured in China. I guess we'll see the impact at the 2026 show.

As with videogames, being a boardgames consists of two different and completely separate hobbies - buying games and playing games.
Sadly, I seem to be firmly in the former camp, with a desire to play more damn games on my shelf!

I agree, Tobal, the show was massive and we didn't even manage to get around everything.
It's such a massive show, we never get time for the bring and buy, gaming sessions in the Hyatt hotel, live talks, game shows (Knightmare etc.) and so on.
You could easily go all three days and have a different experience each day.
We're planning on doing 2 days next year to fit it all in and maybe play something!

I bought Kreel Manor (Yet another Dungeon Crawler to my collection of unplayed Dungeon Crawlers), but had a lovely chat with the designer, Tristan Hall.
I was tempted by a puzzle game by either The Mystery Agency (Balthazar's Stone is a top-tier escape room-style puzzle) or The Detective Agency, but felt they were both a bit pricey, so may source 2nd-hand.

My son bought a few bits, but we went to the Hachette stand and span the lucky wheel and he won a copy of MicroMacro!

I think the Sunday was "quietest", but even then, it was heaving, so if you're not a con' fan, then you won't have fun.
However, if you love your hobby distilled into one massive expo, it's a dream weekend!

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[Asura]

Frustratingly this month I got bitten by wanting to play X-Wing, only to find out that after the relaunch a year ago it's now been totally discontinued, and the materials are already as rare as rocking horse poop at shops, with eBay prices going through the roof.

That's left the Star Wars gaming brand in a weird situation where they used to have a ground based wargame (Legion), a ground based skirmish campaign game (Imperial Assault), a space based wargame with big ships (Armada) and a space based dogfighting skirmish game with small ships (X-Wing).

They've since cancelled most of those.

Now Legion is still going but is in the midst of a rebrand/relaunch (which is what killed X-Wing so I guess the Legion fans might be nervous) and they introduced a different ground-based skirmish game called Shatterpoint.

Now, Legion and Shatterpoint are different games. But it's a bit of a shame that they used to have 4 games that were extremely different and now they have 2 games which, while far from the same, are still both boots-on-the-ground wargames.

[Tobal]

Noice! I was there on the Sunday too!

Probably walked past each other few times

Remembered few others games, 'Things in Rings' looked great and i'll likely pick that up soon, and One Card Maze which has been going a while, only problem with that is replayability, its one and done with a price of £11 a pack of cards.

Frustratingly this month I got bitten by wanting to play X-Wing, only to find out that after the relaunch a year ago it's now been totally discontinued, and the materials are already as rare as rocking horse poop at shops, with eBay prices going through the roof.

That's left the Star Wars gaming brand in a weird situation where they used to have a ground based wargame (Legion), a ground based skirmish campaign game (Imperial Assault), a space based wargame with big ships (Armada) and a space based dogfighting skirmish game with small ships (X-Wing).

I saw countless old and new SW game types at the expo, my friend with me wanted Star Wars Rebellion which is out of print, we found 2 boxes for new for £88 so he mumed and arrred about it all day, when he we back to buy it the boxes had sold. I saw alot of Shatterpoint mini's, that stuff looks expensive to get into.

The most i touch SW games is Unlimited (have the first Luke/Vader Starter pack and £15 spent on alot of commons off ebay), which is ok to play but i think has serious balance issues with the way defence works compared to MTG.