In Other News - Andor, Avatar, Subastral, Capstone Games releases, and a Great Western Trail Trilogy
Venture into a land of fantasy and legend designed by Michael Menzel, and Inka and Markus Brand! In this cooperative family game for 2-4 players, each player chooses either the magician, the warrior, the archer, or the dwarf, as they venture into a land of fantasy and legend. Andor: The Family Fantasy Game features more approachable gameplay for younger players that is similar to Legends of Andor and makes it a great introduction to the Legends of Andor series of games. Expect each game to last 30-45 minutes.
Start new cabbage stands, master the elements, loot coins from opponents, and send security platypus bears to shut down the competition in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Players can play as Aang, Katara, Zuko, and even the cabbage merchant as they build their cabbage empire in a game designed for 2-6 players, aged 8+. Expect Avatar: The Last Airbender Oh, My Cabbages Game to last 30-90 minutes.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender Uncle Iroh’s Dream Board Game 3-10 player follow the wise, firebender’s sage advice as they craft their own cartoon stories using characters, locations, events, animals, and special item cards. They then save their favorite written stories as mementos. Expect the game to last 15-20 minutes.
Capstone Games have announced 2 new games. In Juicy Fruits, each player has a small island paradise where they make a living growing fruit. The goal is to gain the most points by fulfilling ships’ orders and by adding businesses to their island. Moving tokens efficiently is the key to solving the myriad of puzzles the game poses as players balance clearing their island, claiming businesses, and finding the right time to thwart their opponents’ plans. Juicy Fruits is designed by Christian Stöhr, features art by Annika Heller, caters for 1-4 players, and plays in roughly 30 minutes.
The other Capstone Games release is Rorschach which uses the famous inkblot images (and many new ones) named after the Swiss psychiatrist Herman Rorschach to put 2 teams to the test. Teams earn points by correctly guessing how their teammates paired randomly selected words with the inkblot images. A player secretly pairs 3 words with 3 inkblot images and their teammates have to choose one of the images and guess the words. However, the other team can try to guess before the word is revealed in order to steal the points. Success is achieved by reading other players and learning their associations. Expect a great deal of fun in seeing how differently the images can be perceived. Rorschach is designed by Kristian Klooß , caters for 4-10 players and plays in about 15 minutes.
Great Western Trail has been immensely popular since its release and Eggertspiele, with Alexander Pfister (the original game’s designer), plan to make an essential edition of the game along with 2 follow-up titles to create the trilogy. Expect a graphical overhaul (goodbye grumpy cowboys) which draws inspiration from Western films provided by Chris Quilliams. A new edition of Rails to the North will also be available later which will be compatible with the second edition of Great Western Trail. The new edition of Great Western Trail will be available towards the end of Summer 2021, with the follow-up set in Argentina to be available in the Summer of 2022, and the final game set in New Zealand to release in the Summer of 2023. Both follow-up titles will use the core mechanisms of Great Western Trail (deckbuilding and a rondel) but will also add new mechanisms.
Subastral is a strategic card game for 2-5 players which takes 15-30 minutes to play. It's designed by Matt Riddle and Ben Pinchback (recent designers of Stellar) with art provided by Beth Sobel. The game features a blend of hand-management, set collection, and features a mechanism where the timing of the sets being collected matters. Players collect cards that represent their notes on 8 different biomes: subtropical desert, savanna, tropical rainforest, chaparral, temperate grassland, temperate forest, taiga, and arctic tundra. Expect Subastral to be released by Renegade Game Studios in June of 2021.
