Page 32 - Spielbox Special 2022 - English

Current. Fall Preview 2022
Who is Waffle, who is Mind Flayer? Stranger Things.
fter the North Sea series and the
three-part West Kingdom saga, Schwerkraft is now publishing the third trilogy of New Zealand publishers Garphill Games. The designers once more include publisher Shem Phillips and Sam Macdon- ald, and illustrator Mihajlo Dimitrievski is also back on board. The first game is called Wayfarers of the South Tigris.
be completed before the first layer of the four-by-four-by-four block cube (see Builders & Biomes) is stripped down. Or else: game over. Which also applies if one of the heroes dies during the escape.
Of course we also want to employ the blocks ourselves, to make better equip- ment for a more effective fight against the monsters. Or to heal wounds. Or to repair our equipment, which—although powerful—already shows signs of wear and tear after a single use.
We have to work fast because of the Piglin tasks and because our escape fails if the last of the 64 resource blocks is mined. And it’s essential to fight well, so none of the heroes dies prematurely. All in all, one escape effort should take up to 60 minutes. Designer Ulrich Blum reckons that while Minecraft – Portal Dash is more challenging than Builders & Biomes, it also offers “many tactical and strategic possibilities.” The game is already available for purchase. (ab/cs)
SRepos Production
tranger Things – Attack of the Mind Flayer was inspired by Were- wolves. After being secretly assigned the initial roles of Waffles (equivalent to villagers) and Mind Flayers (werewolves), you take turns revealing the top card from the central deck and handing it to anoth- er player, not without discussing it first. As soon as someone has three hard hit cards that they cannot counterbalance with helping hand cards, then they are dead for the rest of the game and may only watch in silence, and in the hope that their team wins.
A player from the Waffle team switch- es (without announcing this) to the op- ponent’s camp when they have three mind-flayer cards that they cannot balance out at that point. Three times during the game, a meeting point card determines a special action, after which, for example, the active player asks anoth- er player to show them a hand card, or indicates two players swap seats. After each meeting point, you pass one card to each of your neighbors. If there is a Mind Flayer among the received cards, you may guess that at least one of your neighbors is possessed.
In the end, the Waffle team, minus renegades, wins if at least one of them survives. Just like in the original game, in- formation is scarce, and speculation
and accusations are rife, while the bad guys try not to let on about it. Stranger Things – Attack of the Mind Flayer has already been re- leased. (cc/cs)
STchwerkraft
his summer, the component-heavy Whistle Mountain from Bézier Games has been made available as Voll Dampf (Full Steam) by Schwer- kraft. According to the story, players have expanded their railroad empires and are now investing their wealth in new technologies. This involves every- one working together to erect a massive scaffold under a bridge crossing a river, for which points are awarded. Machines are installed on this scaffolding, which again earns points. Surprisingly, these machines in turn also generate points in addition to raw materials and effects, provided that you place your own work- ers on them. Initially, those are located in compartments next to the bridge and are constantly in danger of being washed away if the water rises. However, getting
them to the other side of the river means even more points.
You control your own ac- tions by using or taking back your three airships in different
sizes. You either park them in slots at the edge of the board to collect scaffolding parts, machines or cards. Alterna- tively, you fly them between the scaffolds, where they trig- ger the orthogonally adjacent
machines. All of this, combined with the flood tracks on the board, creates a flurry of tiles, meeples, and airships. The one player among the two to four participants who keeps a clear head de- spite this dazzling array over the good 90 minutes of playing time is the winner. As mentioned earlier, Whistle Mountain is already in stores. (sd/cs)
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Starting from Baghdad, everyone around the table has the job of mapping the world—land, water and sky—by collect- ing suitable cards and placing them on their own tableau. The driver of this game are the (initially three) dice you have to employ. But there are also neutral dice available. Once brought into play, they become common property. For example, if you buy a townsfolk card with a worker on it, then you keep that worker and can lat- er activate it for one turn, instead of a die. There is also the option of resting, when you get at least your own dice back and the opportunity to advance your marker
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Photos: Christwart Conrad, Schwerkraft Verlag, Spielworxx