Meta Games for Small Pockets: Deck Building and Unpub

by Dice Hate Me Games

One should generally treat any news or announcements coming on the first of April with a grain of salt and a soupcon of suspicion, but in this case, the folks at Dice Hate Me Games are quite serious about their latest offerings in their line of rabbit-sized games.

Both Deck Building: The Deck Building Game by Christopher Badell and Unpub: The Unpublished Published Card Game by J.R. Honeycut & Doug Levandowski are available through this three-day-only project.

Feel the Meta. Enjoy the Meta. Be at one with the Meta.

Every now and then, an idea or two pops up from designers in the board game space that seem so absurd – and absurdly obvious – that just the publishing pitches feel a bit like a practical joke. Deck Building: The Deck Building Game and Unpub: The Unpublished Card Game are just these sorts of jokes – um, we mean games.

No joke, these really are games. Good games. Fun games. Games that, when we first heard the pitches, we almost felt dared to publish them.

Wizards of the Wild

by Adam West

Adam West and Dan Schnake of Crosscut Games Inc. have brought us Wizards of the Wild, a dice and card game for two to four players, and featuring some sweet artwork. It’s a known fact that I’m a fan of the anthropomorphic genre, so when a well-made game of this sort comes out, I always take a good look at it.

Animal wizards battle in the ultimate magic contest at Stonehenge. Acolytes of the Lost Masters run the games, setting up many challenges and spells. But they also solicit bribes and punish contestants. The Acolytes will crown the winning contestant as King of the Forest!

In Wizards of the Wild, you’ll use custom sorcery dice to build your powers, acquiring unique spells and overcoming difficult challenges. Scheme to find clever magical combinations, or even take the shadow path to put your opponents in a tricky bind!

Tumblin’ Dice

by Eagle Gryphon Games

Dexterity games have always been a bit of a hit at the League, despite me generally being utter rubbish at them. This particular one, which has been a touch hard to get a hold of lately, we had the opportunity to play during our foray into the Extra Life gaming marathon last year. Excellent fun was had by all, but you’ll need a good sized space to set up, and hopefully minimize crevices which can swallow wayward dice!

Tumblin’ Dice is a dexterity dice board game consisting of a multi-colored playing field with four sets of colored dice that a player can slide, roll, and flick down its stepped surface.

Orcs Must Die

by Sandy Petersen

Orcs Must Die! – The Boardgame is designed by Sandy Peterson (recently of Cthulhu Wars fame) with help and licensing from Robot Entertainment to bring the excitement of the PC game to your tabletop. There’s two versions of this game on offer, it seems – letting you take the traditional side of the Order in their fight against the invaders, or alternatively back the vicious Unchained versus the humans!

While each version of the game supports 1 to 4 players in a co-op fashion, putting both games together lets you take up to eight players on a team-based head-to-head match! A bit pricey, though, at $90 a pop, although the Hero pledge level that includes both is a steal at $150.

The award winning game Orcs Must Die! has at last made its way to the table top! Orcs Must Die! The Boardgame dares you to preserve your stronghold besieged by orcs. You have traps & weapons galore, and can team up with your friends to obliterate the nasty orcs and their grotesque allies. Build an exciting fortress using our tile-based system, then watch as swarms of baddies plunge through your defenses to wreck your Rift.

Norsaga

by Meromorph Games

Check out our Preview of Norsaga from Meromorph Games right here – Norsaga | Preview

Norsaga is an epic 2-4 player puzzle battle card game where players vie to recount their heroic exploits and ancestries while undermining each others’ stories at every turn. It features fast-paced, highly interactive gameplay, gorgeous art and simple rules that make it fun and easy to pick up. Five asymmetric trees of upgradeable powers plus special attack and combo cards give you loads of strategic options. In the end, only one player’s saga will stand the test of time!