News time again! Quite a few things going on in the world of tabletop! The biggest this week being the pre-order for Tapestry, the must-have game of 2019 for sure. The pre-order runs through 4th to 7th of September and your order will be filled by end of September! This is a chance to get it early as regular retail is only happening in November.

Kanban EV

Kanban is a classic title from Vital Lacerda. A wonderful game of worker placement, hand management and economic decisions. In 2020, it’s getting a reprint with a new title, new cards and tiles and some gorgeous artwork from Ian O’Toole.

From the designer:

“Kanban” — or 看板, the Japanese word for billboard — is a term for the visual cues that might be used in a lean, efficient assembly line in order to expedite and smooth workflow. These signals get the workers what they need, where they need it, when they need it to create a just-in-time (JIT) production system.

The setting for the game Kanban EV is an electric car assembly line. The players are ambitious managers who are trying to impress the board of directors in order to achieve as high a position as possible in the company and secure their careers.

Over the course of the game, you persuade the board and the factory tender to help you develop and improve automobile parts. You make shrewd use of the outside suppliers and the limited factory supplies in order to appropriate needed part when the suppliers come up short. Because the factory must run at optimum efficiency, production doesn’t wait for you or for mistakes.

Like the process itself, Kanban Electric Vehicles proves to be both innovative and rewarding. Game mechanisms tightly tied to the automobile manufacturing theme include:

• The factory manager is a game-driven non-player character with two modes of play (“nice” or “mean”) to offer a friendly or more competitive gameplay environment.
• Two independent player-influenced game timers — the factory production cycle and work week clock — provide timing tension to the game, trigger intermediate scoring phases, and factor into the game end conditions.
• A simulation of the factory assembly line with spatial point-to-point movement adds an element to the game that requires optimal timing.
• A design and innovation department, leveraged to manipulate the value of the various car models and component upgrades produced within the factory, drives the economy of the game.
  Departmental training and certification tracks provide players a means to operate more efficiently.

If you want a seat on the board someday, you need to show that you can keep a complex machine running smoothly, efficiently, with everything happening just at the right time. Kanban EV is a pure Eurogame focused on economics and resource management that puts you in the driver’s seat of an entire production facility, racing for the highest level of promotion.

Want!

Azul: Summer Pavilion

Another year, another Azul. The third in the series, this one looks more in tune with the first game. For those who love the series, this will probably be a must!

From the publisher:

In Azul: Summer Pavilion, players return to Portugal to accomplish the task that never began. As a master artisan, you must use the finest materials to create the summer pavilion while carefully avoiding wasting supplies. Only the best will rise to the challenge to honour the Portuguese royal family.

Azul: Summer Pavilion lasts six rounds, and in each round players draft tiles, then place them on their individual player board to score points. Each of the six colours of tiles is wild during one of the rounds.

At the start of each round, draw tiles at random from the bag to refill each of the five, seven, or nine factories with four tiles each. Draw tiles as needed to refill the ten supply spaces on the central scoring board. Players then take turns drafting tiles. You can choose to take all of the tiles of a non-wild colour on a factory and place them next to your board; if any wild tiles are on this factory, you must take one of them. Place all remaining tiles in the centre of the table. Alternatively, you can take all tiles of a non-wild colour from the centre of play; you must also take one wild tile if present.

After all the tiles have been claimed, players then take turns placing tiles on their individual boards. Each board depicts seven stars that would be composed of six tiles; each space on a star shows a number from 1-6, and six of the stars are for tiles of a single colour while the seventh will be composed of one tile of each colour. To place a tile on the blue 5, for example, you must discard five blue or wild tiles from next to your player board (with at least one blue being required), placing one blue tile in the blue 5 space and the rest in the discard tower. You score 1 point for this tile and 1 point for each tile within this star connected to the newly placed tile.

If you complete surround a pillar, statue, or window on your game board with tiles, you get an immediate bonus, taking 1-3 tiles from the central supply spaces and placing them next to your board. At the end of the round, you can carry over at most four tiles to the next round; discard any others, losing 1 point for each such tile.

After six rounds, you score a bonus for each of the seven stars that you’ve filled completely. Additionally, you score a bonus for having covered all seven spaces of value 1, 2, 3 or 4. You lose 1 point for each remaining tile unused, then whoever has the most points wins.

Dune

This classic will be hitting retail this month. A beautiful reprint of a game that has not had a new edition since the mid-’80s, Dune is a classic area control game that has the potential to ruin friendships. 🙂 Featuring highly unbalanced (on purpose) factions and a currency system that is worth different amounts to different factions, it’s going to be a spice free for all!

From the publisher:

Imagine you can control the forces of a noble family, guild, or religious order on a barren planet which is the only source for the most valuable substance in the known universe.

Imagine you can rewrite the script for one of the most famous science fiction books of all time. Welcome to the acclaimed 40-year-old board game which allows you to recreate the incredible world of Frank Herbert’s Dune.

In DUNE you will become the leader of one of six great factions. Each wishes to control the most valuable resource in the universe – melange, the mysterious spice only found at great cost on the planet DUNE. As Duke Leto Atreides says “All fades before melange. A handful of spice will buy a home on Tupile. It cannot be manufactured, it must be mined on Arrakis. It is unique and it has true geriatric properties.” And without melange space travel would be impossible. Only by ingesting the addictive drug can the Guild Steersman continue to experience visions of the future, enabling them to plot a safe path through hyperspace.

Who will control Dune? Become one of the characters and their forces from the book and . . . You decide!

Check out this fantastic video from the SU&SD guys!

Gugong: Panjun

Expansion time! It’s been a while since we had any good expansion news, so here goes!

Panjun is the first expansion to the wonderful Gugong. A game of card swapping and gaining influence within the Palace of the Emperor. The expansion contains 4 modules.

From the publisher:

The 4 different modules can be combined however players wish to, guaranteeing a lot of variety and replayability. The 4 modules are:

1. The Summer Palace: Players travel to the Summer Palace of the Emperor, where they can obtain extra servants, Jade, and even the services of the mysterious Court Ladies… Players will have to score majorities in order to obtain these bonuses, but will also be able to manipulate the results by exchanging specific Gifts with the officials, as word has it the Emperor is collecting a very particular type of Gift.
2. The Peasants Revolt: During the Ming Dynasty, peasants revolts were common. Although the Ming Dynasty itself came to power through a peasant revolt, this did not mean that the rulers had any more empathy for the peasants than the previous rulers. Players will gain a lot of support from the peasants in this expansion, but if pushed too far, players will have to work together to avoid their wrath.
3. The Palace Stairs: Moving your Envoy towards the Emperor will not be without consequences with this expansion module. Players will be able to choose a longer or shorter path leading towards the Palace of Heavenly Purity. The shorter path will require some achievements, the long path will earn players rewards at first, but when they get close to the Palace, they will have to pay certain taxes or risk seeing their Envoy take steps back.
4. Extra Decrees and Gift Cards: Spice up your game with new Decrees and special kinds of Gift Cards, lime the lamp and jade knives, which will add even more variety to your game of Gugong!

Good stuff! If you are interested, you can back it HERE on Kickstarter.

See you all next week!