Merv (ft. Board Games In A Minute)
Today we discuss Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road designed by Fabio Lopiano and published by Osprey Games featuring Sarah Shaw from Board Games In a Minute! Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road is a tense economic game charting the rise and fall of the greatest city in the world. In Merv, players are vying to amass power and wealth in the prosperous heart of the Silk Road. Through careful court intrigue, timely donations to the grand mosque, and favorable trade deals, players attempt to redirect as much of that prosperity as possible into their own pockets. Meanwhile, beyond the city walls Mongol hordes approach. If you help construct the city walls, you give up on precious opportunities to build up your own stature, but leave it unprotected and you will burn with the city. The player with the most victory points by the third year wins! (Description provided by the publisher.)
Dreamscape (ft. Sarah Shah)
Today we discuss Dreamscape by Sylex Games with our featured guest Sarah Shah from Board Games In A Minute. Dreamscape is an action point, pattern building and thematic puzzle game. The players are tasked with building their perfect dream world by collecting dreamshards from 6 main locations; each with unique powers to take advantage of. The game is split into 5 rounds each comprising of 2 main phases: travel, where players will collect the disks they need based on pattern cards, and creation, where players will be able to place their collected disks. The player with the most beautiful Dreamscape, determined on point values, wins!
Petrichor
Today we discuss Petrichor by Mighty Boards and APE Games, an area-control, abstract and action selection game. The players create, manipulate and move clouds with water droplets, and then rain those droplets onto a modular board. Each of these areas will require certain conditions to be met before players can score them. Through a player controlled scoring system, the game is tense and dynamic throughout. You’ll need to plan carefully so that your clouds and droplets are in the right place at the right time.
Isle of Cats
Here’s a question: are first impressions still valid after 6 months? Today, we find out! Isle of Cats is a tile laying, card drafting and variable scoring game, where 1-4 players travel to an island being enveloped in darkness. It’s your responsibility to save as many cats as you can before the dreaded Lord Vesh arrives. Collect precious treasures, learn valuable lessons and…JUST LOOK AT THOSE CATS, AREN’T THEY SO GOSH DARN CUTE?
In Too Deep (feat. BoardGameCo)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always fantasized about living out some type of Hollywood crime (eg. bank robberies, heists, ect.). The level of planning, skill and sheer luck required seems electrifying. In Too Deep by Burnt Island Games let’s you do just that in order to save humanity from the insidious Syndicate. You’ll be hacking into criminals to try and gather enough evidence to bring the Syndicate down. Will you go deep undercover to maintain the peace or will you succumb to the power you’ve managed to acquire?