Boards to Bytes

Castles of Mad King Ludwig from Bezier Games has hit the app stores. There are pass-and-play and play-against-AI modes. Also a campaign mode with levels based on real castles.

Fantasy Flight Games has released Road to Legend, a companion app for Descent: Journeys in the Dark. The app acts as the overlord, giving everyone a chance to play on the same side. Road to Legend also includes a new campaign, Kindred Fire, and automatically adjusts content to the expansions owned by the players.

Descent Road to Legend

Long-term agreements with the National Football League and National Football Players Association has Topps publishing digital football trading cards through its Huddle app.

Antidote Lab Assistant provides a note-taking platform to help players with Bellwether Games’ deduction title, Antidote.

ScorePal is a board game scoring app for Android that features score sheet templates customized to individual games. At least 100 are included but more can be created by the user.

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Pathfinder Mobile Game Manager

Pathfinder RPG

Trapdoor Technologies’ Playbook iPad app is a comprehensive roleplaying game companion system with modules for players to create and manage their characters, game-masters to track encounters and share resources, and everyone to trade messages. Previously available for Pathfinder on a limited basis (using just the Pathfinder Reference Document), Playbook will soon benefit from a partnership with Paizo that is supposed to see the eventual integration of “the games’s complete rule set, artwork, connection with Pathfinder Society Organized Play events, and the extensive library of Pathfinder adventures.” Playbook for Pathfinder is scheduled for release by the end of June.

Playbook mockup

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Glass Road appThere’s a Call of Cthulhu computer RPG coming in 2017.

Expected sometime this month is a VR version of Reiner Knizia’s Lost Cities card game. When networked head-to-head play is offered (it may not be at launch), the idea is to have head movements tracked so one can see which card an opponent is staring at.

Ubisoft studio, Red Storm Entertainment, is making a VR version of Werewolf where the system will cause a player’s in-game character to move and make hand-gestures based on the position of their head and the tone and volume of their voice.

The Uwe Rosenberg title, Glass Road, is now available on Android and iOS, featuring online play and graphics from the board game version.

Another Uwe Rosenberg title, Patchwork, recently launched on iOS, Android, and Windows PC/Phone.

An unofficial but designer-approved Eminent Domain: Microcosm Scoring app is available on Android.

Sagnithi Systems is seeking support on Steam Greenlight for a computer version of Snakes & Ladders that’s a first-person shooter!

Another board game Greenlight project is for a single-player version of Stratego.

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Boards to Bytes

Talisman The Horus HeresyNomad Games is making a Warhammer 40,000 version of Talisman Digital (PC and Mac). With Talisman: The Horus Heresy, the game is scaled up so that players are competing for control of the galaxy. It’ll feature both against-AI and online multiplayer modes at release next month.

Another 40K game, Space Hulk, is seeing release on Nintendo Wii U courtesy of HR Games.

Accentuate, the game of imitating and guessing different accents, now has an iOS version. Keep in mind, though, that the app doesn’t speak; it’s just providing quote and accent cards, so you can play on-the-go.

Square Shooters, the dice as playing cards game, is being developed as a free-to-play mobile app. A version for online casinos is also planned. Development is being performed by students at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a class project.

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Digital Ticket to Ride India MapDigital versions of Ticket to Ride have undergone a major upgrade. Most importantly, all now support cross-platform multiplayer mode, so even us Android players can pick up live games with you iPad people. Also supported now are vertically-oriented maps. The first, of India, provides bonus points for looped routes. Digital Ticket to Ride is available on Android, iOS, and Steam.

Dominion, the original deck-building card game, has finally hit mobile. Both iOS and Android versions are free-to-play with the base set of cards. Expansion card sets are available as in-app purchases ($90 for everything). Beware though, even single-player mode requires a live internet connection.

Cogwind’s Revenge is an iPad app version of True Dungeon, complete with puzzles, combat, and even token-collecting.

Linkee, the trivia-ish party game of identifying commonalities, now has an Apple TV version. Instead of hitting a buzzer, the first to figure out a link is supposed to grab the remote and shake it over their head.

Defiant Development is in the process of releasing four separate new scenarios (three are out so far, one more will be before the end of the year) for the Steam version of its deck-building, action RPG, Hand of Fate.

Dragon+ via webDragon+, Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons mobile-app-magazine, is now also available via the web, so it can be read via desktop browser.

A Macau Challenge Pack has been added to digital Splendor. The twist with this one is that it requires players to capture specific cards.

Magic: The Gathering Puzzle Quest is now a thing and available for both Android and iOS (free-to-play but with in-app purchases). In the game, it’s match-3 puzzle play that produces mana.

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Le Havre The Inland Port mobile

Le Havre: The Inland Port has hit both iOS and Android ($5 on either platform) with online, cross-platform, multiplayer support at launch.

Steam: Rails to Riches, which I previously reported was available for Android, is now also available for iOS.

New DLC, The Jungles of Lustria campaign, is available for Warhammer: Arcane Magic ($4 on iOS). The campaign adds new wizards, spells, monsters, and challenges, as well as bug-fixes and GameCenter achievements.

The industrial revolution, in the form of the board game Brass, has reached both iOS and Android lands ($7 for either). It can even be played live cross-border (that is, both versions support networked multiplayer games).

Button Mash Games is developing Gamwright’s Forbidden Desert for iPads but has not yet specified a release date.

Kosmos’ puzzle game Ubongo, however, does have a release date. Conversions to Android and iOS (from developer United Soft Media) should both launch November 25th.

Inspired by video games, Krosmaster Arena returns to its electronic roots with a PC and Mac version through Steam. The basic tactical combat game is free but expansion packs with seven Krosmaster characters each run $15-20.

Krosmaster Arena Steam Screenshot

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Coup iOS screenshotHeroes of Normandie, the World War II, squad-based board game, is now available for PCs via Steam.

Martin Wallace’s Steam: Rails to Riches has hit the Google Play store for Android. It has pass-and-play mode and AI opponents with three levels of difficulty but online multiplayer is “coming soon”.

Indie Boards & Cards’ Coup can be had for iOS. It’s only multiplayer, which makes sense given that it’s a bluffing game. Also, it comes with some beautiful alternate card art.

Camel Up, Spiel des Jahres winner about camel racing, is available for both iOS and Android. Neither version yet includes a tutorial, so for now it’s best for those already familiar with the game.

Bases and battleships from the Star Realms Crisis expansion are now available as an upgrade to the electronic game on all platforms.

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Bishop trader ChallengeSplendor is now available for PCs via Steam. And Days of Wonder has upgraded the game (iOS and Android) with a fourth challenge pack, Saint Petersburg, based on Russia in the 13th-17th centuries.

Orchard Toys has ported some of their games for preschoolers to iOS.

Reiner Knizia’s Lost Cities card game is getting a virtual reality edition (Samsung Gear VR and VRFocus).

Dr. Knizia is also the designer of Dice Monsters, being brought to iOS by Timecode.

Hammerfall Publishing has launched Warhammer 40,000: Regicide on Steam. The game combines 40K, Chess, and gore.

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Kickstarter Preview – GemPacked Cards

pic2646024_md1-300x300We don’t play those games on facebook any more, but GemPacked Cards reminded us of Bejewelled and similar match-three-and-collect-points games. This is an interesting variation on those types of games that resulted in GemPacked Cards: a family-friendly competitive set collection game with a surprising amount of strategy.

There’s a 3×3 grid of cards, colored square and diamond gems. There is a selection of round “pips” you draw up each turn. Turn in two colored pips to match a colored square in the grid, you grab that square, which is worth one point at the end of the game. Combine colored squares to match a diamond’s color and grab that diamond, which is worth even more. Get a collection of pips, squares, and diamonds matching the requirements on a rocket card to gain a lot more. There’s a light space theme onto the game, with comets (“chomets”) resetting part of the board; asteroids giving everyone additional pips; and special sun, novas, and red dwarf cards for endgame bonuses.

gpc

For instance, in the above layout (upper right), let’s assume you have a blue square card, two red pips, and one yellow pip. You could:

  • spend the yellow and one red, which combine to make orange, and take the orange square in the upper left corner. Or
  • spend the two red pips to get the red square in the center, then turn in that red square with your blue square, and pick up the purple diamond in the lower right.

If you take that second action, you’re left with a purple diamond and red pip. Notice the three rocket cards in the top row of the image — you now have two of the four items to get that middle one.

648a7030473e7f380cd55a19769b73f0_originalThe game plays quickly with a simple knowledge of the color wheel, plus a bit of strategy. Should you break down your gems to build them back up for better combinations? There’s a bit of a slowdown in the later stage of the game when players have several options — breaking down gems to component colors, then rebuilding with what’s available — but the game plays quickly enough we didn’t find this a problem. (The box says each game takes about 20 minutes, and it doesn’t lie.)

In our games, we wound up with very close scores at the end. All three of us — husband, wife, and fourth-grader — really enjoyed it. In fact, as I’m writing this, my daughter is patiently awaiting her mom to come home from work to play another round.

GemPacked Cards‘ Kickstarter campaign has less than three weeks left, a $25 pledge gets you a copy of the game as thanks. A single-player puzzle game version is also available on iOS for $0.99.

A copy of GemPacked Cards was provided to Purple Pawn for review purposes.

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Quarriors!Quarriors! is a fun and fast-paced dice-building game that’s the basis for WizKids’ collectible Dice Masters series. It’s like an interactive card-based deck-building game but with custom dice and no shuffling. Fantasy-themed Quarriors! has players rolling dice to cast spells and summon monsters in a high-powered wizard battle. One of the things I like about it, though, is its offbeat sense of humor. There are some strange monsters in the mix.

An iOS version of Quarriors! is free through Friday. And with the support of WizKids, here on Purple Pawn we’re going to give away two copies of the original, for those like me who enjoy rolling real dice!

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment on this article. Tell us which version of Quarriors!, Dice Masters, or other WizKids game is your favorite (or most looking forward to) for an extra entry. The deadline for entry is noon Eastern Time on Tuesday April 14th, after which I’ll roll some physical dice to randomly select two winners.

Please watch for an email on that day. There will be a time limit to responding before I select other winners. Also, the games will be shipped directly by WizKids only to destinations in the United States.

Entries and comments are now closed. Winners will be notified later today.

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