News Collider: Eldritch Horror, Diskwars, Battlelore and Ender's Game

We’re still trying to play catch-up here at Polyhedron Collider HQ (which looks an awful lot like a cupboard under the stairs) and so there’s a lot of ground to cover. Today we’re trying to bring us all up to speed on the latest board game news. It’s not summer without Fantasy Flight Games releasing at least one new game and in the weeks in and around Gen Con the Minnesota giants of board gaming announced not one but three new games, as well as an Ender’s Game game (and if Ender buys it, is it then ‘Ender’s Ender’s Game game’?) from Cryptozoic.

Eldritch Horror

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a complete Lovecraftian nut and that I adore Arkham Horror, in spite of its problems. Therefore, I am extremely excited by Fantasy Flight Games’ latest Cthulhu based board game Eldritch Horror. Eldritch Horror takes the threat of the Great Old Ones global as players will travel all over the world to unravel the mysteries of the Cthulhu Mythos. Early demos suggest the game works similar to Arkham Horror but adds new mechanics and streamlines others.


The most intriguing aspect is the new doom track mechanic; the method of tracking how long players have to complete the game Eldritch Horror appears to have a more advanced and more plot-driven system than in Arkham Horror.

It may look a lot like Arkham Horror but Eldritch Horror is intended to act as a companion rather than a replacement.

To say I’m eager to play this game is an understatement and having to wait till “the fourth quarter of 2014” is too long.

Diskwars

Remember Warhammer? Well its back in Pog form, kind of. Diskwars is an old game, designed by the creators of Fantasy Flight Games. They have decided to refresh and re-release the game as Warhammer Diskwars which now it will use the Warhammer fantasy world as its setting.

I'm getting flash backs to Star Wars Tazos!

The game plays similar to a table top miniatures game but instead of tiny little plastic men and tape measures you use disks. Want to move your disk? Then flip it end to end. Top spice things up a bit there’s also cardboard scenery, but that’s not disk based, but it’s still flat, even the hills.

Its even looks like a miniatures war game, but flatter.

Disk Wars has some interesting mechanics for calculating range and movement but I can’t help but feel that this is an odd use of the Warhammer licence. Warhammer is a name synonymous with miniatures so why use that licence to make a miniature-less war game?

Move your troops by flipping the disk, it's obvious when you think about it.

Battlelore

The answer to why Fantasy Flight Games are releasing a miniature-less war game could be because they are also releasing a war game with loads of miniatures. Battlelore is a game with a glorious heritage, able to trace its ancestry through some of the table top greats such Commands and Colours and Memoir ’44.

You know this game is going to be pimped out to the max!

Fantasy Flight Games acquired the Battlelore licence sometime ago and released a Game of Thrones version but for the second edition has themed the game to their own Runebound fantasy world used in Rune Wars and Descent. There’s no doubting that this game looks beautiful and Battlelore is a known quantity so should be a top game.

Ender's Game Battle School

Ender’s Game Battle School is board game based on the Ender’s Game movie based on Ender’s game the book, did you get all that? Now if you can just ignore the whole ‘Orson Scott Wells is a homophobe’ for a moment , Ender’s Game is one of the best science fiction novels out there and has the chance to be a bloody good movie. What’s more the whole story is about tactical games, so surely the property is ripe for a damn good board game too. Well, Cryptozoic have taken up the challenge and have created a board game based on the story’s battle school scenarios.

Its a game based on a book where people play games, how can it not work?

“Ender's Game Battle School pits two players against each other in the zero gravity arena of the International Fleet's Battle School, with one player commanding Ender Wiggin's Dragon Team and other player commanding Bonzo Madrid and the Salamander Team. Commander cards for Wiggin and Bonzo come with special abilities, some that help the whole team, and some that only help the commander. Each player moves their team around a zero gravity arena in an attempt to capture the other team's gates or to freeze members of the opposing team with their laser-light guns. The player to either capture all of their opponent's gates or freeze the opposing commander is the winner.”

Its sounds like they’ve managed to lift the Battle School game straights out of the books, let’s hope Cryptozoic can capture the theme while still making a strategic game worthy of the licence.