Games on my Radar: Rune Age

Deck building games seem to bring springing up all over of the place these days. Another one of these types of game has been announced by Fantasy Flight Games called Rune Age. They haven’t released a ton of information about the game, but what they have posted shares a good amount about how the game will play and really shows of some amazing artwork. Here’s what we know so far:

• 2-4 players (competitive and cooperative modes)
• 252 cards
• 1 D6
• Damage tokens
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The Swarm: Don’t mess with seaples!

Prologue

Not too often would a game with only 1 review on BGG interest me enough to purchase it, but The Swarm has a few things going for it that many of those other games do not. For starters, the designers Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer (Tikal, Tikal II and the soon-to-be released Artus) are two of the most respected and accomplished boardgame designers in the industry. Secondly, the theme is simply very unique. Each player in the role of leading a research team set on discovering the unknown marine life that has started to destroy the ecosystem. Fortunately The Swarm popped up on Tanga one day so I decided to pull the trigger.
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Review: Is BoardGameExchange.com really Netflix for board games?

Over the past few years, the board gaming hobby has become very expensive for someone who wants to stay current with all the releases throughout the year. With games retailing anywhere between $10 to $70, many gamers has to pick and choose the games they want to invest in. That is, unless there was a way to be able to play these games without having to commit to the full purchase price. This is where BoardGameExchange.com comes into the picture.
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Interview with Galen Ciscell, designer of Atlantis Rising

Galen Ciscell…you probably haven’t heard of him before, but you will very soon. He is the designer of an upcoming Z-Man Games release called Atlantis Rising and this has “hit” written all over it! Don’t feel bad if you know nothing about this game, the only reason I’m aware of it is because of a quick but friendly email sent to me from Galen himself. Basically he noticed that I posted an article about a couple cooperative games and how I’m very fond of that genre. So he just thought I should take a peak at what he’s come up with. And luckily for me, I obliged. Sure enough when I dug into the details about the game, it started checking many of those “things that I like in a game” boxes. Co-op, check; 2-6 players, check; beautiful artwork, check; engaging theme, check…well, you get the picture. Then it hit me, I don’t think I’m the only one that would be interested in a game like this. So I asked if he would be willing to spend some time and answer a few questions about the process of designing the game. He was also gracious enough to pass along some never before seen artwork from the game.

Without further ado, here is my conversation with Galen Ciscell.
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How I resist the “Cult of the New”…most of the time

With so many really intriguing new games coming out these days, along with my Twitter followers always trying and recommending new games, I’ve had to come up with some guidelines in order for me to resist becoming the newest member of the “Cult of the New”.

First and foremost, it must be something that I can play with my fiancée. This means the type of game has to be one that we’ll both want to play, along with having a 2 player experience that holds up just as well as playing with 3, 4 or 5. Sure, Through the Ages, Dominant Species and Memoir ’44 might be great games, but they will all just sit on my shelf and never see the light of day, except for that rare time they might get played at game night or a convention.
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