Rally Ho is a trivia game about campers, aka recreational vehicles (RVs), made for the people who drive and live in them.

It’s available from RV Art Gallery, which also distributes assorted RV illustrated dominoes and playing cards.

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Pixar is offering a Wall-E board game available free to download, including board, pieces, cards, die, and rules. Wall-E is Pixar’s latest mega-hit animated movie.

Get it from the official site.

The game looks something like Robo Rally, except you roll dice instead of playing cards.

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Weird Times at Charles Fort High is a downloadable RPG from Hex Games.

Charles Fort High is a lot like your typical All-American high school in your typical All-American town. It’s filled with jocks, geeks, and stoners. There are cheerleaders, an AV club, an FFA chapter, and plenty of outcasts, misfits, and aliens. The difference is that at most schools, the homecoming queen can’t levitate a truck with her mind and the aliens were usually born on this planet. Fort High is an exceptional school for exceptional individuals, where super-humans, robots, mad scientists, and more go to class, join clubs, play sports, and work ceaselessly to get laid.

Hex games is an RPG company dedicated to light material, including their Quick Ass Game System, tools such as The Book of Dumb Tables, and modules such as The Dungeon of Moderate Annoyance. (I keep expecting to see John Kovalic’s artwork on their products.)

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LEGO makes various fancy chess sets, such as this Castle Chess Set, this Vikings Chess Set, and this Knights Kingdom Chess Set, but none match the simplicity (and low cost) of this mini travel Chess Set by Robert Chaplin.

The pieces all tuck into the bottom of the set when not in use.

(image)

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Excavations uncovered 23 game pieces that Vikings placed in boats they in which they placed their dead.

Vikings were notorious game players, and this discovery indicates that they believed that their fallen comrades played even while making their journey to the afterlife.

(source)

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The latest offering from Lock ‘n Load Publishing is a tactical war game depicting the battle between the U.S. military and Somali militia in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 3, 1993. Lock ‘n Load: A Day of Heroes includes a map of the market section of Mogadishu; over 150 counters illustrated to represent combatants, road blocks, and equipment; nine scenarios; a player’s aide card; and dice. Though a module of the Lock ‘n Load tactical game system, nothing else is required to play this game.

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Dave Chalker, reporting live from the Origins Game Fair, has posted the results of the annual Origins Awards over at Critical-Hits. The Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts & Design nominates products for the awards, but final selection is by votes of Origins convention attendees. And the winners are…

• Miniatures Rules: Classic Battletech by Catalyst Game Labs
• Miniatures or Miniatures Line: Titania’s Fury by Dragonfire Laser Crafts
• Collectible Card Game: Legend of the Five Rings by Alderac Entertainment Group
• Historical Miniature Game: Check Your 6! by Skirmish Campaigns
• Historical Miniatures Line: Romano-British 15mm by Splintered Light Miniatures
• Historical Board Game: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery by Tropical Games
• Non-Fiction Publication: Hobby Games: The 100 Best by Green Ronin
• Fiction Publication: Astounding Hero Tales by Hero Games
• Game Accessory: Call of Cthulhu Dice Set by Q-Workshop
• Roleplaying Game Supplement: Codex Arcanis by Paradigm Concepts
• Roleplaying Game: Aces & Eights by Kenzer and Co.
• Traditional Card Game: Zombie Fluxx by Looney Labs
• Board Game or Expansion: Starcraft: The Board Game by Fantasy Flight Games
• Hall of Fame Inductees: R.A. Salvatore, Vampire: The Masquerade by White Wolf, and Paranoia by Mongoose Publishing

I’ll put in a personal recommendation for Hobby Games: The 100 Best. The book is comprised of 100 essays, each written by a different established professional in the games business to describe their individual choice for best hobby game. You may not agree with all the entries, but the collection provides fantastic insight into the breadth and history of the hobby games industry.

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Trail of the Brotherhood is a card driven board game by the creator of Arkham Horror, Richard Launius. In fact, it was dreamed up by Mr Launius over 15 years ago, and has only seen the light of day in the form of three extant prototypes. In the game, one person plays the forces of chaos and the others try to stop him.

Every time he tries to get it to print, strange men with yellow eyes visit his house and draw unearthly circles on his front door.

Now Eos Press actually plans to put it into print, I expect that this is the last we will ever hear from Mr Launius.

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Texas Glory: 1835-36 by Columbia Games was originally called Remember the Alamo.

It’s a new block war game that starts with the preliminary 1835 clashes when the Texans expelled the Mexican garrison from San Antonio de Bejar. It then covers Santa Anna’s 1836 surprise late winter campaign that began with his recapture of the Alamo, but ended with Texan victory at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21,1836.

I’m guessing the name changed because they added additional scenarios.

You can pre-order the game for $40.

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Cannonball Colony is a new limited edition game from Adventureland. From its rules and description, it appears to be something like Settlers of Catan with cannons:

It is the golden age of colonialism and a beautiful deserted island has just been discovered. Unfortunately, ships from different countries have arrived at the same time to claim it!
You take the role of one of these countries in the fight for supremacy on the island. Build a strategic network of roads and forts to extend your influence. Set up cannons in the right positions to blow away your opponents. The player with the most forts standing at the end of the game wins the island for his country!

(information)

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