Crowdfunding Highlights

Scott Almes’ Heroes of Land, Air & Sea is much bigger than the Tiny Epic games he’s designed, but retains the epic-ness. In this 4X boardgame set in a fantasy world, 1-4 players try to take over as much as possible, collecting resources, building structures, and conquering regions. The base game from Gamelyn Games comes with four factions, the 5-6 player expansion comes with four more factions. The base game is a reward for a $79 pledge while a $139 pledge gets you that and the expansion next March. Is it already funded? Each box comes with 80 miniatures: of course it’s already funded.

Are you a fan of the series of games where villagers trying to uncover werewolves in their midst? You’ll want to check out Werewolf Coins by Home Run Games, where roles are stamped onto twenty-eight (base set: more added as stretch goals) different quarter-sized coins, fitting in a synthetic suede pouch. Um. That’s pretty much it. They’ll retail for $30 for the base set, but you can get one as a reward this summer for a $22 pledge to make the product happen. Will it happen? As I type this, they’ve blown past their goal by 2500%.

Dude. Ties. With d20s on them. Do I need to write more? A $15 pledge gets you a d20 tie in red, black, or blue in July. Again, already funded, with about $2500 of the $1000 needed to make this product happen. If Kaleb Mankey gets up to $3000 in backer support, they’ll add yet another color to the line. Unsurprisingly, we’re hoping for purple.

Looking to upgrade those wooden shapes in your games? Meeple Source (a past advertiser on Purple Pawn, although that doesn’t weigh into us highlighting them this week), has painted upgraded wooden tokens and custom-shaped pieces for games such as Camel Up, Pandemic, Colt Express, Above and Below, Catan, Carcassone, and more. Reward levels start with pledges as low as $10 for a single-color set for some games with expected delivery times of October and December of this year.

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Second Look - Boardgame reviews in depth. Check out that cat.Back in November, I had posted about the digital release of Colt Express for Steam, Android, and iOS. I finally got a chance to sit down and give the Steam version a try and put it through its paces.

What hit me right off the bat was how thematic the digital port is. Just like the tabletop version, the digital version is just oozing with that western train robbery theme. Initially, you’re brought into the tutorial which pretty much covers anything you need to know about playing the game, all while getting you familiarized with the interface and how things work. Everything is extremely streamlined and easy-to-follow.

Colt Express gives you pretty much what you’d expect in a digital tabletop port. You can play the game against other people, play online, and play against the computer in Classic Mode. What really makes the game shine is its Story Mode, a single player campaign with 6 playable characters and over 30 different missions. It’s a bit more rewarding that just playing the game over and over with bots.

It seems that digital tabletop adaptations are getting better and better, and Colt Express really shines. It’s certainly not a hastily thrown together port, but a finely crafted, polished game that’s worth every cent. If you’re a fan of Colt Express, there’s no reason for you not to snag this now. If you’ve never played Colt Express, I can’t think of any better way to give the game a shot and familiarize yourself with it.

Colt Express can be purchased on Steam for $9.99, Google Play for $6.99, and iTunes for $6.99.

If you’d like to see how the game actually played, I recently streamed myself through the tutorial.

A Steam copy of Colt Express was provided free for review by Asmodee Digital.

 

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Yesterday, Asmodee Digital released Colt Express on PC, iOS and Android. Developed by Frima studio, Colt Express is the digital adaptation of the Spiel des Jahres winning board game released by Ludonaute.

The game features an extensive story mode with 6 characters and 30 chapters. Each character has their own goals and features relating to game play. Of course online multiplayer will be included. Plot out your train heist then play out your actions cards along with your fellow outlaws to see who comes out with the most loot.

Colt Express can be purchased on Steam for $9.99, Google Play for $6.99, and iTunes for $6.99.

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Boards to Bytes

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Spiel des Jahres winner, Colt Express, is going digital and should be available next month on iOS, Android, and PC via Steam. Asmodee is working with Frima Studios on the title, which is reported to go beyond a simple port. Among the enhancements, six new playable characters are included, each with unique backstories (told in unlockable graphic novel chapters), as well as custom skills and objectives. The game will also include a story mode for variations on game-play. Online multiplayer will be available at launch.

spot-it-dobble-challengesOn another title Asmodee is working with Virtuos Studios to develop Spot It! Dobble Challenges, a mobile version of the tabletop game alternately known as Spot It! and Dobble. The digital version of the game will add special player powers and the ability to build some sort of combos.

The Red 7 card game is available on Android and iOS.

Flash Point Fire Rescue is heading to PC and mobile sometime in 2017.

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Colt ExpressThe 2015 Spiel des Jahres—German Game of the Year—has been awarded to Colt Express from publishers Ludonaute and Asmodee and designer Christophe Raimbault. Colt Express is a game of competitive train-robbing in the old west, played on three-dimensional rail cars. To win, one has to not only steal the most loot but also keep it away from fellow bandits. And then there’s the big bonus for firing the most bullets.

BS_lid_FR.inddThe Kennerspiel des Jahres, or Expert Game of the Year award, was given to Broom Service from publishers Alea and Ravensburger and designers Andreas Pelikan and Alexander Pfister. A remake of the earlier Witch’s Brew, Broom Service is a game in which the players collect ingredients for magic potions. Choosing a selection of roles to act on each round, they must also choose for each role whether to go with the stronger but riskier “brave” action or the safer “cowardly” action.

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The nominees for the 2015 Spiel des Jahres award have been announced!

Logo SdJ nominiert The Nominees for the Spiel des Jahres 2015:
Colt Express, Machi Koro, The Game.
Logo KiSdJ nominiert The Nominees for the Kinderspiel des Jahres 2015:
Push a Monster, Schatz-Rabatz, Spinderella.
Logo KeSdJ nominiert The Nominees for the Kennerspiel des Jahres 2015:
Broom Service, Elysium, Orléans.

Congratulations to all the nominees. Anyone care to start making predictions on the winners?

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