|
|
Board Game Guy Newsletter Any News of Interest from the Board game world.
Announcements Shadows Over Camelot: Merlin's Company  The swallows have long departed, replaced by sinister crows of dark omen. The land has grown more desolate, and travel ever more dangerous since a traitor was discovered in our midst. Rumor has it that Merlin himself is now scouring the plains around Camelot, rallying new knights to our cause. But will that prove enough to counter Morgan's newly assembled coven of witches?
Merlin's Company is an expansion for the popular Shadows over Camelot board game. It introduces a host of new characters - including 7 new knights and Merlin himself - to the Shadows over Camelot epic. The wise old wizard is now a full-blown independent character in the game, complete with his own figure. He travels the board lending guidance and a helping hand to the embattled knights.
Merlin's Company also introduces 63 new cards: the all new Travel cards - events that may occur as you move from Quest to Quest; additional Black cards, including 7 witches allied with Morgan; and additional White cards that will help you and your fellow knights in your battles against the forces of evil.
The Merlin's Company expansion, supports up to 8 players, including 2 possible Traitors, assuring that even the most innocuous Shadows over Camelot Quest will be filled with grave peril.
This expansion requires the original Shadows over Camelot board game.
Ticket to Ride card game announced from the Days of wonder website:  A New Train Adventure Begins!
The Ticket to Ride Card Game delivers all of the excitement, fun and nail-biting tension of the original Ticket to Ride board game, but with several unique game-play twists in a new stand-alone, card game format.
Players collect sets of illustrated Train cards which are then used to complete Destination Tickets - routes between two cities depicted on each ticket. But before their Train cards can be used, players must face the risk of "train-robbing", where another player may force them to lose their hard-earned cards.
Every fan of the board game will want to own a copy of the Ticket to Ride Card Game!
The Ticket to Ride Card Game is for 2-4 players ages 8 and older. It includes 96 Train cards, 6 Big Cities Bonus cards, 46 Destination Tickets and a rules booklet. Playing time is approximately 30 minutes.
The Ticket to Ride Card Game is the perfect portable way to take your next train adventure!
 Due to release in May 2008. Days of Wonder Price Change from the Days of wonder website: While we have resisted raising prices over the past few years, fast-rising fuel and raw material costs, combined with a weakening dollar, have led to significant increases in our production and shipment costs for games. These issues have finally reached a point where we can no longer ignore them.
Effective immediately we are changing the suggested retail price in North America of Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride Europe and Ticket to Ride Marklin to $50; Mystery of the Abbey, Pirate’s Cove, Shadows over Camelot and Colosseum to $60; BattleLore to $80; and Gang of Four and the Ticket to Ride 1910 Expansion to $20. Prices for games and expansion not listed here remain unchanged.
These new prices are already reflected in our web store, and we have notified our distributors and retailers.
Price increases are never popular, but we felt that we owed you an explanation for why these changes are necessary. They will enable us to continue to bring you fun games to enjoy with your family and friends for many years to come.
- The Team at Days of Wonder -
http://blog.daysofwonder.com/2008/02/21/price-changes-in-us/en/ Settlers Retrofitting, and Extra Catan Cards
Mayfair Games launched the 4th edition of Settlers of Catan at the end of 2007, and among the small changes to the design was an interlocking frame to keep the hexes in place. In March 2008, Mayfair will provide a way for gamers with the old Settlers to do the same thanks to a pre-2007 adapter kit. This kit, retailing for $10, includes the island frame, both for regular Settlers and for the 5-6 player expansion, as well as the harbor bits. With the kit, you can also use the 4th edition Seafarers expansion with an older Settlers game.
 In April 2008, Mayfair Games will publish standalone card decks for both The Settlers of Catan and the Cities & Knights expansion. These decks, which retail for $9 each, use the 4th edition graphics and allow you to replace the cards in your original game should they be work or icky. Source: Boardgamenews
ZOOLORETTO WINS GAME OF THE YEAR 2007!  Michael Schacht’s Zooloretto has won Spiel des Jahres 2007! This award is a first for Schacht, as well as for German publisher Abacusspiele. (English publisher Rio Grande Games, on the other hand, has a passel of SdJ winners in its line-up.)
While Spiel des Jahres winners of recent years (Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Niagara, Thurn & Taxis) have a history of releasing numerous expansions after pulling down the famed red poppel, Zooloretto comes front-loaded with expansions due to Schacht’s nature of tinkering with a game and offering multiple ways to play. The Zooloretto expansions already available include:
Expansion 1—Three Extra Pens: A giveaway postcard from Abacusspiele with three smaller animal pens. This expansion, as with all the others mentioned here, can be downloaded from the Zooloretto page on Schacht’s Spiele aus Timbuktu website.
Expansion 2—The Petting Zoo: A small enclosure for any animal newborns that nets you valuable coins when filled.
Expansion 3A—The Restaurant: The restaurant boosts the value of your vending carts.
Expansion 3B—The Souvenir Shop: The first player who has an animal offspring gets the souvenir shop, which counts as bonus points for each offspring you have.
Expansion 3C—The Pavilion: This tile costs three coins but fills an empty spot in an animal pen, possibly giving you a huge number of points instead of nothing.
SdJ jury member Stefan Ducksch, publisher Joe Nikisch, and designer Michael Schacht Congratulations to all the winners! Expect to see a lot more of that giant panda face in the months ahead… |
|