German amateur factory: Kosmos
To watch board games, you have to look at Germany, the origin of modern board games. There is a fairly old board game publishing house kosmos in Germany, founded in 1822, the original main business is to do book publishing, and then gradually involved in the field of board games.
Although making board games is only a "side business", the strength should not be underestimated. Catan, the iconic work of the modern board game, was published by Kosmos, and the recent hit "Star Quest" also came from his home.
In 2022, most of the publishing plans they have officially announced are new works in the series of existing products, what new tricks can the old games play? Let's take a look at the new work news they released
1.《Allie Gator》
This is a new game officially announced by Kosmos at present, it is a card game suitable for 2-5 players, the single game lasts about 25 minutes, and the current announcement of the news is very rare, only a short description.
In this game, the placement of cards needs to be as clever as possible, special card effects bring extra fun, the rules are simple and easy to use, and as far as the current information is concerned, this is a small-volume card game. But the painting style is still quite interesting, there are crocodiles, birds, praying mantises and fish on the cover, there seems to be a kind of "mantis catching cicadas yellow finches in the back" taste, you can look forward to it a little.
2.《The Adventures of Robin Hood: Brother Tuck in Danger》
Die Abenteuer des Robin Hood: Bruder Tuck in Gefahr is the latest expansion of the board game Robin Hood Adventures published in 2021 by Andor designer Michael Menzel.
Robin Hood is a well-known hero in British legends, as a green forest hero with outstanding martial arts, wit and bravery, who hates officials and priests, and is widely loved by the people for robbing the rich and helping the poor. So The Adventures of Robin Hood is an American game designed by the Germans with the British as the protagonist, and the elements are very rich.
The Adventures of Robin Hood was also nominated for that year's SDJ Awards, in which players play as Robin Hood and his companions, acting on a changing and free map. The game map changes as the game progresses, the player's mode of action is also very innovative, and various wonderful actions and secrets to be explored are buried in the game and will be displayed in the course of the story. The game's map can be a wonderful way to remember what the player has already explored or discovered, which is quite interesting.
The latest expansion adds four new quests for players to explore, new unknown enemies attack, old rivals will continue to fight against players, and Monk Tucker will use his special abilities to support players. However, the Robin Hood Adventures basic game has not yet introduced Chinese version, and there will not be many players who can experience this extended fun.
3. Dice Street: Special Edition
The well-known light strategy "Dice Street" is out of a special edition! Kosmos first published Dice Street in 2014, and this new edition commemorates the 200th anniversary of KOSMOS, with a special edition that brings into the game the history of the publishing house, which began in 1822, from books to board games.
In the game, players are no longer developing the city by adding new buildings, but by adding editing, marketing, sales and other departments to develop their own publishing house. Although it should not have changed much in essence, it is quite commemorative.
4.《EXIT:The Game – Shadow over Middle-earth》
It's the latest in a popular Kosmos board game series, Exit, this time set in The Lord of the Rings. In the game, players are companions of the hobbit Frodo, and the powerful wizard Gandalf sends you on a crucial mission that can only save Middle-earth from danger by embarking on adventures and completing missions.
Players will visit locations that appeared in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, solve tricky magic puzzles, and work with their companions against villains such as Rings and Half-Orcs.
The cumulative sales of this series of board games have exceeded 14 million copies, and now with the blessing of the powerful IP of The Lord of the Rings, this combination of strong and powerful is good news for fans of both sides.
5. Adventure Game: Expedition to Azkana
In addition to EXIT, Adventure Games is also a kosmos franchise, and its new game, Expedition Azcana, is on the agenda.
Compared with Exit, the series is more focused on storytelling and exploration, and the time limit is eliminated. Through co-op, players can explore common areas, talk to people, look for clues, and combine various props to reveal the secrets of the story. Depending on the decision made by the player, the course of the game's history will change and there will be no reversal.
Players can experience many different story paths, and there are multiple solutions and endings to the same story. Each game consists of three chapters, each of which takes about 75 minutes and is quite informative. In this game, the new location to be explored by players is Azkana.
Kosmos doesn't have many highlights of the game that will launch in 2022 so far. It seems that the impact of the epidemic on German publishing houses is greater than imagined, perhaps related to their relatively traditional work model. Hopefully, they can find a way to get back on track sooner and bring better work to players.
The German pioneer of the American base camp: RGG
Rio Grande Games (RGG), another publisher from the United States, is also well-known in board game circles, and it was founded in 1998 with the original intention of promoting German games in the United States, the home of American games.
After decades of precipitation, they have also launched many of their own German classics, such as "Galactic Race" and "Territory", what new games have they brought in 2022?
1. "The Field of Dice"
Dice Realms, a work that is often mentioned in the 2021 new travel outlook, finally jumped to 2022, and its designer's masterpiece is "Galaxy Race", the rules are concise and clear and playable, and this new work also inherits this point.
In Dice Realm, players will compete to strengthen and expand their own territory, the dice, to make themselves better victorious.
The core gameplay of the game is the dice construction, in which players can constantly upgrade the dice of their own dice and get new dice. The difference in each game also comes from this, as players draw five cards during setup to determine what additional dice are available in addition to the five standard dice: Scoring, Farming, Commerce, Defense, and Leveling.
The rules of the game are very smooth, but the complexity from the dice will bring a strong playability, and the most worrying randomness of the dice game, it is also relatively well controlled, a large number of re-throw opportunities, and the re-throw bonus brought by the re-throw dice also gives the player some additional benefits to re-throw the action, which is very good in similar games.
2. Territory: Reinforcements
This is the latest expansion of RGG's masterpiece Territory in 2022, in which players finally form an alliance with the barbarians of the North. People danced in the streets and rode horses across the dance floor to celebrate hard-won peace. Of course, the negotiations were difficult, and the barbarians didn't understand our rules at all, but in return, they brought new cups and utensils for mead and spices, and the players gave them forks, mirrors, pants, and other things in return.
Further news is not expected until mid-January, and it will be officially published around March.
3. "Galactic Race: Border Policy Expansion"
There's nothing new in this Galactic Race expansion, except that the three previously published Expansion Storms(The Gathering Storm), Rebel vs Imperium," and The Brink of War are integrated into a single box, and are compatible with the second version of the game. It's still a handy extended collection for players new to the series.
RGG's current list of officially announced new works is also not very rich. However, the main "Dice Field" is still worth looking forward to, excellent basic settings and long-term polishing superimposed together, the final product will not disappoint.