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Fortress America

Fortress America is a board game of strategy and survival for two to four players. This updated version of the 1986 classic pits one player, in control of the beleaguered American forces, against up to three others, who team up to assault the U.S. on three fronts.

Featuring beautifully crafted components (including over 300 detailed plastic figures), Fortress America thrusts players into a frightening geopolitical scenario in which diplomacy has failed, and World War III has begun.

Wu-Feng, the Lord of Nine Hells, has discovered the village hiding the funeral urn containing his ashes. Four Taoist priests protect the village, as hordes of ghosts and demons descend on the town to reclaim the remains of their evil overlord. Can you hold out against the forces of eternal darkness, or will Wu-Feng recover his ashes and destroy everything in his path?

In Ghost Stories, the players work together as the Taoist priests attempting to turn back the tide of evil and save the doomed village. With mystical powers and ancient martial arts, the heroes will battle wave after wave of ghosts and demons until Wu-Feng himself rises to claim his remains. Working together is your only hope, as the ghosts increase in number and force the Taoist priests to sacrifice resources, time and even their very lives in this desperate battle against the hordes of Hell.

Ghost Stories is a cooperative game for one to four players. With modular playing tiles and a randomized deck of ghastly foes, no two games will be alike. The cards and tiles boast fantastic illustrations inspired by kung-fu legends, and a variety of excellent plastic playing pieces will draw you into the game. Gather your forces and battle the Lord of Nine Hells in the ultimate battle of good versus evil!

In D-Day Dice, players are Allied soldiers trying to organize improvised units for an attack against a machine gun nest. Each player starts the game with a unit of a few soldiers and nothing else. As the game progresses, he will roll dice to collect resources and advance on the beach, sector by sector, as his unit grows stronger and deadlier. He will succeed… or die trying!

D-Day Dice will get you right there on the beach. You will experience the fear of getting killed by enemy fire, the anguish of losing your men, and the thrill of surmounting seemingly impossible odds to accomplish your mission. And since this is a cooperative game, all players are on the same side, fighting like brothers (and sisters) in arms! This game can be played by anyone (you don’t have to be familiar with World War II) and has been enjoyed by families and wargamers alike.

Quinns: We’re used to board games testing our brains, reflexes, even our privates. But lungs? That’s a new one.

Enter Antoine Bauza’s Rampage, which should be landing this year. Bauza’s one of our favourite designers here at SU&SD, having crafted 7 Wonders and Ghost Stories, both of which are capable of collapsing your face into deep thought like a strong man might fold a deck chair.

With Rampage, 2-4 players will be dropping their wooden kaiju monsters to crush buildings, blowing on civilians to claim their pathetic lives and even flicking themselves at one another in foul, animal anger. Doesn’t that sound perfect?

Shut Up & Sit Down Presents: Board Gaming's Golden Age

Last year Quinns gave a 40 minute talk at UK video game festival GameCity, designed to teach people about what’s happening in board games and why gamers the world over MUST get involved.

Hear Quinns’ caramel baritone as he provides evidence of why board game sales are rocketing up, three deadly arguments for why video gamers need to be playing board games, and even some jokes. Yes, JOKES.

[Introducing friend of SU&SD and games journalist Leigh Alexander.]

Quinns: So here’s what happened.

Leigh: OK.

Quinns: A while back some SU&SD readers joked that we should review Tease: The Liberating Game for Couples and Groups. I got in touch with the PR

Leigh: Oh, I’ll bet you did.

Quinns: I GOT IN TOUCH WITH THE PR, who said she wasn’t sure they
should send a game to a site that would probably just make fun of it. Which was a fair cop. I just wanted to do a video where four men play Tease and are forced to give one another massages.

Except then they sent me the game anyway! And… it’s… pretty good!

Captain Swallow has always dreamed of pocketing a large nest egg in order to retire on a remote island – but he never counted on stiff competition from Captains Stanley Rackum, Dirk Chivers and others, greedy and cruel enemies who always manage to attack the same ships as him. If he wants to finally sink back and enjoy peaceful days in the sun, he must become the most cunning pirate!

In Libertalia, you must thwart the plans of competitive pirates over the course of three rounds while using cards that show the same crew members as your piratical comrades-in-arms. Yes, not only do they attack the same ships, but they employ the same type of ravenous scum that you do! Can you take advantage of the powers of your characters at the right time? Will you be outdone by a pirate smarter than you? Jump into the water and prove your tactical skills!

Paul: How’s your tux?

Quinns: A little tight. How’s yours?

Paul: I went with the dress. It was cheaper. HELLO, ladies and
gentlemen, boys and antiboys. It’s time for our top 5 games of 2012, which will almost certainly be as well-organised and halcyon as our top 10 Upcoming Games of 2012 feature, which ended up being 14 games, none of which we agreed on.

Quinns: Step this way, banishing all preconceptions from your mind, AND ALSO any thoughts that this feature is three months later. And let’s kick things off with…

Quinns: The technology behind podcasts is beyond us, as stars are beyond the humble antelope. I’ll tell you what, though! Paul and I can totally put a mic on a table and shout at it for 60 minutes. Poor mic. Hit play! That is, if you’d like to hear us talk about The Resistance: Avalon, … Read more

Quinns: You know when you buy a game, and you know it’s going to be good… and it is?

Space Cadets is a game where 3-6 players fly a Star Trek-like space ship together in real time. That makes it a lot like SU&SD favourite Space Alert, but where that game compresses your flight (and the game’s jewel-like puzzle) into a brown-trousered 10 minutes, Space Cadets’ flight fills a whole evening.

It also has everyone manning different stations. We’ll be doing a full
review when we’re a more competent crew, but for now, let me just walk you through each station. I can’t think of a better way to persuade you why you need this box in your life.

Fortress America

Ghost Stories

D-Day Dice

Games news! 25/03/13

Shut Up & Sit Down Presents: Board Gaming’s Golden Age

Review: Tease

Libertalia

Our Belated Top 5 Games Of 2012

The Fourth Ever SU&SD Podcast

Your Guide to Space Cadets

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