Let’s start the week with some Kickstarter board game campaign previews and announcements! We have 3 games for you: from 2 promising debuts to an unexpected sequel.
Night Market – March 9th
Even though the mechanics are what cement a game as good or bad, themes often make us interested in the first place or at least lure us to check out the game. In this case we’re dealing with something pretty unique for a board game theme. Taiwanese night markets filled with delicious food.
Night Market was designed by Adam Zwein, who spent a part of his life in Taiwan and grew in love with its food culture. The game is made for 1-4 players and the manual describes it as “a spatial worker-placement, resource management, & recipe fulfillment game”.
The action takes place in the city of Taipei. When setting up the game, you construct it from a variety of tiles that can either mark regular parts of the city or red lantern districts. Gameplay is divided into 2 phases. During the day phase you send your 5 workers to city tiles and use them to get your hands on food resources available there. Lantern districts allow some special actions like hiring chefs, building new stalls and attracting customers. You can also get resources there if you give up some of your own ones. It is also possible to place meeples close to each other and create stronger combos.
The night phase lets you place your goods on your own stands, cook your signature dishes and of course: sell them to all hungry clients. Each person has their own food and location preference. Selling certain types of signature food makes it more popular and gets you more rewards. The game also has a goal system, which also adds score vital to determine the final winner.
Volfyirion Guilds – 2021
Volfyrion, a card game by Tabula Games, was another addition to their constantly evolving Mysthea universe. Some time has passed since its release, and looks like we’ll get a brand new game in this series. Just like the original Volfyrion, the new game is also designed for 2 players, but if you have both installments: it’ll be possible to play them with a total of 4 players. A co-op and solo modes will also be available.
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Volfyrion Guilds is a stunningly looking, fast paced, deck building game that expands a lot on its predecessor. There are plenty of new cards, some including new types of abilities and mechanics. The goal remains the same: you have to destroy the cities belonging to your opponent using a wide variety of tools and resources. The titular dragon called Volfyrion is present again and players can attempt to tame or defeat him to use his powers/treasures to their advantage. Fans of Tabula Games and their brilliant storytelling can learn more about Volfyrion Guilds on the official website.
Hidden Leaders
The emperor of a land known as Oshra has died, and left nobody to take the throne after him. The country-wide conflict started instantly and turned various factions against each other. Literally everyone seems to be fighting: the empire’s old army, tribes living in the hills, so-called “water people” who’d prefer more peaceful solutions and even the undead. Each group has their own goal to achieve: from peace to the absolute destruction of Oshra.
The story might already sound complex and colorful, but the illustrations by Satoshi Matsuura make everything even livelier. Hidden Leaders is designed to be played by 2 to 6 players and contrary to what we expected: it’s a fast paced game lasting for up to 40 minutes each time you play it.
Faction leaders are what makes this game unique. Each player draws 1 of 6 available and keeps them secret. Every leader can work with 2 of 4 factions, and each faction has its own way to win. That leaves each player with 2 options – all kept secret from other players.
The central part of the table hosts an influence track and two markers that show how powerful the red (imperial army) and green (hill tribes) factions are. Playing hero cards from your hands can turn the tides of conflict and often change these influence values. Other actions available each turn include discarding heroes and drawing cards.
When a single player has 7 heroes placed in their play field – the game ends. The winning faction is determined by the position of the faction markers. The blue (peaceful, water tribe faction) wins when both markers are on neighboring locations. The black (undead) faction wins when both markers are in the “war” zone near the end of the track. Red and green win when they’re ahead of their rival. Careful planning and playing in a way that nobody suspects who you’re supporting is the key to victory.
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