We had a brilliant time at the UK GAMES EXPO in Birmingham and had hundreds of responses from gamers as to which game they'd like to see from us next, between our upcoming Viking dice-stacking (drinking) game, SKAL! and our brilliant sci-fi strategy game, MERCHANTS OF INFINITY. We also spoke to some industry experts about shipping (which is currently a nightmare, as I'm sure you know), fulfilment and resourcing. The overall message was as follows:
a) Merchants looks absolutely brilliant and gorgeous and should definitely be made.
b) Shipping is insane and big box games are being told to wait until the shipping rate goes down to a sensible level.
Therefore, what we have decided to do is to agree with YOU, the voters and go ahead with SKAL! for a 2022 Kickstarter, to then follow up hopefully in the first quarter of 2023 with MERCHANTS once the shipping rate goes down enough!
Please click on our link for SKAL! above ( which you can also find via www.skalgame.com ) for more information. In the meantime, enjoy our latest review videos for MERCHANTS below!
For now, we have the newly updated and re-written rules available to look through, with all the extra content and added material in. Just click on the download link below and get excited!
If you'd like to have a look about what first Kickstarter looked like, here we go:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rogueartistcreations/merchants-of-infinity-0
JOIN THE CREW OF MANDELBROT
MERCHANTS OF INFINITY
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
WHO WOULD LIKE THIS GAME?
HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE?
WE HAVE A GREAT 2-PLAYER PLAYTHROUGH ON BOARD GAME RAMBLINGS WITH JOHANNES AND SUNNIVA!
CHECK OUT THE LINK HERE!
We made it onto the DICE TOWER show at last!
Thank you so much, Tom, for letting us on Board Game Breakfast!
9 thousand views and counting!
We are the very first review section, with Ryan and Bethany!
BEHOLD! Louie has been an absolute star during this reviewing adventure - really encouraging and supportive and full of enthusiasm. It is a pleasure to watch him talk about the game - not just how to play (although he does that pretty well!) but also about the real heart and soul of the game and what makes it special!
ROGUE REVIEWS RPGs!
#29 SKÅL!
“SKÅL!” Raise your cup and shout a toast to the Norse gods and goddesses! Drink to friendship, drink to victory, drink to glory!
“SKÅL!” (Cheers! in Norse)
SKÅL! is a Norse-themed dice-stacking, card-collecting game. It can be played as a fun game for all the family or (if you choose) a rowdy adults-only drinking game!
www.skalgame.com
ROGUE REVIEWS RPGs!
#28 MERCHANTS OF INFINITY
It's here at last! Coming to the UK GAMES EXPO in June for your delight and delectation. The sc-fi, worker-placement / resource-management board game from Rogue Artist Creations Ltd. It's a great game with beautiful art, fantastic meeples, great components and gameplay that gives a really good depth of strategy while being simple enough to play from the get-go!
Find out more at www.merchantsofinfinity.com !
So, what’s SKÅL! all about?
It’s a Norse/Viking dice-stacking game where warriors are sitting in the mead-hall, laughing and joking with each other, casting runestones (dice) and offering toasts of “SKÅL!“ (Pronounced SKALL = “Cheers!”) to their gods and goddesses. Each turn, you draw a card, then race to be the first person to stack your dice to match the design, raise your cup and call out, “SKÅL!“ Fastest player claims the card and whoever gets 9 points of cards first wins!
PROTOTYPE PLAYTESTING UNDERWAY NOW!
Here's the mood board for our artwork so far.......
ROGUE REVIEWS RPGs!
#27 CRYSTAL HEART
Originating from the wonderful webcomic UP TO 4 PLAYERS, Crystal Heart is a variation of the SAVAGE WORLDS ruleset. In a world where people literally have hearts of stone, the players are heroes/heroines (...or are they?) who scour the land for lost crystals of power, which transform them into superpowered beings! Are they the saviours of the land or troublemakers who leave chaos in their wake? It is up to you to discover that for yourselves!
ROGUE REVIEWS RPGS!
#26 MOUSE GUARD
The next chapter of ROGUE REVIEWS starts off with a personal favourite! Yes, we're now reviewing RPGs and one very close to my heart is MOUSE GUARD, based on the wonderful comics created by David Petersen and adapted for RPG play with Luke Crane. MOUSE GUARD takes you into a world where someone with a heart as brave as a mouse can make all the difference to a world in peril. Whether you face the evil machinations of weasels, fight off ravening foxes or (in my case) bring your players to the brink of all-out war, espionage, apocalyptic struggles and riddles within riddles within riddles, it is a JOY to play!
ROGUE REVIEWS #25
ABOVE AND BELOW
A richly-illustrated and beautiful game with great mechanics and a brilliant blend between resource management, worker placement and role-playing game RPG goodness! Gather villagers to build huts, collect resources, then go adventuring into the caverns far underground in search of glory! We really love this one at home and each game is a treat! Please check it out, like, share and subscribe now!
ROGUE REVIEWS #24
LIBERTALIA
Have you ever wanted to be a pirate? YARRRRRRR!!!
This week, we play LIBERTALIA, a brilliant [card/worker-placement?] pirate-themed board game, where you loot, plunder and settle down after a life of roguery. Will you pick up a chest of gold, follow maps to untold riches or be stuck with a pile of cursed relics! Adventure awaits, so let's set sail!
ROGUE REVIEWS #23
CENTURY SPICE ROAD
Who's up for a brilliant deck-building, spice-trading game, set on the fabled Spice Road? We have cinnamon, cardamom, saffron and turmeric to trade and a whole host of places to take it to! Build your game engine, cycle through your deck, upgrade your resources and fulfil contracts in this excellent game, which comes with metal coins and even sculpted resource bowls! Lovely!
ROGUE REVIEWS # 22 YEDO
YEDO! What a game! Have you ever wanted to play Samurai Lords Of Waterdeep in overdrive? Then welcome to YEDO! Plan, scheme, buy, trade, negotiate and rise to power in this absolutely stunning game! With incredible artwork, great components, wonderful depth of strategy, very deep gameplay and extremely rewarding play!
ROGUE REVIEWS #21
braggart
Come and get your BOAST ON! What happens when the heroes and heroines have returned from the dungeon, slain the monsters and looted the bodies? Well, they head straight for the tavern and boast about it! In this charming and silly little game, the ale flows and the tales grow ever-taller as you see who can become the greatest BRAGGART!
ROGUE REVIEWS #20
WAGGLE DANCE
BEE our guest, BEE our guest, as this game now we will test! Build your hive and lay your eggs to make your honey; it's the best! (Odd. Anyway..!) WAGGLE DANCE brings a new twist to resource management, from Queen Bee cards to collecting pollen - and did we mention the gorgeous BEE DICE?! Buzz on by and watch this little gem of a game now!
ROGUE REVIEWS #19
DOMINION
Long, long ago, someone decided to create a whole new type of game, a game where you didn't just play with a deck of cards, you BUILT YOUR OWN. DOMINION was the great-grandaddy of all the deck-building games around today and it has quite the reputation (plus a million add-ons and expansions). However, is the original game itself a joy to play or a relic of the past? Well, get ready to choose between your Feasts and Festivals, Militia and Mines, because we are about to venture into DOMINION!
ROGUE REVIEWS #18 SHERIFF
OF NOTTINGHAM
"WHY A SPOON, COUSIN?!" "BECAUSE IT'S DULL, YOU TWIT. IT'LL HURT MORE!" If you, like me, were first introduced to the amazing Alan Rickman not as Severus Snape but rather as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the utterly wonderful Robin Hood, Prince Of Thieves, then you have a soft spot in your heart for Nottingham and its Merry Men! This game is a brilliant push-your-players-to-near-breaking-point in social deduction and is a squirmtastic lot of fun!
ROGUE REVIEWS #17 ESCAPE
FROM THE ALIENS IN OUTER
SPACE
This was INSANE to film and is ridiculously funny to watch! Stuck in an attacked space station, with lights flaring, monstrous sounds in the darkness and hideous beasties hunting you, it's time to ESCAPE FROM THE ALIENS IN OUTER SPACE! This is a VERY intense game and sure to create hair-raising tension!
ROGUE REVIEWS # 16
SMALL WORLD
A packed-in-like-sardines, adventurous fantasy romp, SMALL WORLD plays fast and dirty with area-control and smash-your buddies... but all in the best possible taste! An entertaining and exciting game that is keen to remind you that you can't spell "slaughter" without "laughter"!
ROGUE REVIEWS #15 SUSHI GO
If you do not already own this game, order it NOW from your Friendly Local Game Store! SUSHI GO is a brilliant little "take one, pass them on" set collection game with super-kawaii artwork and massive replayability. Perfectly pocket-size and great for any audience, this is a much-treasured part of our game collection!
ROGUE REVIEWS #14 DIXIT
"Is this your card?" This isn't some vaudeville card trick, it's DIXIT! A bizarre, artistic French guessing game that is in fact a BRILLIANT gateway game, provided huge amounts of replayable interactive fun and make a beautiful present for those acquaintances of yours who should really, really PLAY MORE GAMES!
ROGUE REVIEWS #13
BETRAYAL AT HOUSE ON THE HILL
Welcome to our first horror spooktacular! BETRAYAL A.H.O.T.H. is such a fantastically wicked piece of entertainment. Mixing together the creeping horror of a collaborative trip to a haunted house with the panicking terror of competitive player-versus-player thrills. Whether you're facing the WOLFMAN, DRACULA or the dread PIRATE QUEEN, you have FIFTY DIFFERENT POSSIBLE ENDINGS! (Plus even more with the WIDOW'S WALK expansion!)
ROGUE REVIEWS #12
= CHRONONAUTS
Great Scott! This is heavy! Welcome to a time-travelling adventure that throws you back in time into the 20th Century, where you will re-write history, travel through reality, loot the past (and the future), fulfil your mission and go home!
SEASON 2
ROGUE REVIEWS #11
= ALIEN FRONTIERS
We're back! Starting over Christmas and progressing into the New Year of 2021 and what a year it's turning out to be so far. It almost makes you wish that you were far, far away in the distant future: journeying and exploring beyond the stars, in a land of ALIEN FRONTIERS!
ROGUE REVIEWS #10
= SEASON 1 FINALE!
= LORDS OF WATERDEEP !
Here we are at the end of our first season already and we are finishing (for the moment!) on a bang! The utterly amazing LORDS OF WATERDEEP is a titan amongst worker-placement / resource management games. It is much-beloved and justly so, for it combines excellent theme with great mechanics, so much depth and detail, wonderful artwork and also an excellent (and thematically appropriate) expansion! So, become a power behind the throne, a schemer in the shadows and get ready to steer the quests and destinies of the little people as you rule from above as a Lady or Lord of Waterdeep!!!
ROGUE REVIEWS #9 - PLANET
A unique game of tactical kinaesthetics, can YOU hold and build a WHOLE WORLD... IN YOUR HAND? Planet is a game of literal world-building, terrain mapping, set collection (and set avoidance), spatial reasoning and global safari challenges. When you hold the fate of the world in your palm, who will be the winner?
ROGUE REVIEWS #8 - VICEROY
Here is a game that many of you will not have seen before. It takes elements of several other successful games such as 7 Wonders, Splendor and Kingsburg and mixed them together. There is resource management, character powers, auction bidding and multiple victory goals. If you like the idea of this, then not only should you watch this, but also check out our previous videos on those excellent games
ROGUE REVIEWS #7 - 7 WONDERS
Take on the power and might of ancient empires and build their glory for yourselves. Become a military general, a great architect, a cunning trader and a supreme ruler. The mechanics are simple, but there is layer upon layer of strategy, different routes to victory and plenty of replayability!
Both in the family game and in the DUEL version (plus lots of expansion packs!) From the birth of civilisation, construct magnificence in a race to complete... the 7 WONDERS!
ROGUE REVIEWS #6 = KINGSBURG
KINGSBURG! A beautifully balanced game between theme and mechanics, with worker-placement/resource-management strategies, great production value, really fun gameplay and LOTS of replayability, especially with the absolutely cracking expansion!
ROGUE REVIEWS #5 = NOCTILUCA
Noctiluca is a delight of a game - wonderfully colourful, with so many beautiful dice to play with. The strategy is fairly simple but it's so much fun to play and we've come back to it again and again! A great experience for 2-4 players with lots of dice-wrangling fun and bonus points aplenty!
ROGUE REVIEWS #4 = FIVE TRIBES !
FIVE TRIBES - the game that gives you MORE and MORE and MORE and MORE !
A game which changed the way that we played and learned games. It also features a cracking expansion that we now ALWAYS play with (and three more that we use to varying degrees). A really good family game and one that works well with 2, 3, 4 (or even 5) players. Five tribes is a frequent and very welcome visitor at our table! Check out our BIGGEST REVIEW YET !
ROGUE REVIEWS #3 = SPLENDOR !
The absolutely brilliant small box game of jewel collection - THIS IS A GREAT GAME! Light on theme, simple on mechanics and infinitely playable! We have made people gamers by playing this game with them! Whether for a Christmas present, a family treat or just to reward yourself, you need this game in your lives!
ROGUE REVIEWS #2 = CARCASSONNE !
IT BEGINS! Episode #1 went up OK so let us now begin the ride! For our first independent review, we're looking at CARCASSONNE - a true classic game that spawned a thousand expansions and has seen game table time all over the world. Do we like it? Would we recommend it? Well, let's have a look!
ROGUE REVIEWS #01 -
TOP HATS AND TREACHERY !
This was our first attempt - to see if the format works and to play around with all our lovely video effects and animations. If you already know about T.H.A.T, then feel free to get onto our first independent review below = CARCASSONNE! If you'd like to hear us explaining where this strange and wonderful ride began, then head on in and check out TOP HATS AND TREACHERY!
SEASON 1 GAMES
01 - PILOT = TOP HATS AND TREACHERY
Our trial run, you might say. People say, "Write what you know,", so to test out the format, we reviewed own Victorian card game of prestige, backstabbing and hilarious shenanigans.
02 = CARCASSONNE
Some games become classics for good reasons and Carcassonne for many is where their journey into the hobby began. So let's discover the birth of the MEEPLE and adventures in medieval France!
03 = SPLENDOR
A wonderful little game of gem and jewel collection that has seen more than 100 plays in our house since we bought it! A definite must for any game shelf!
04 = FIVE TRIBES
An absolutely BRILLIANT game of genies/djinns, palaces, viziers, traders, camels and assassins! Well-worth watching and playing!
05 = NOCTILUCA
A fun, engaging and extremely colourful game of about a billion dice! Explore the wild pools, feel the magic and collect the NOCTILUCA to brew potions and win the game! A fun and easy-to-pick up game that will give you a lot of enjoyment!
06 = KINGSBURG
A beautifully balanced game between theme and mechanics, with worker-placement/resource-management strategies, great production value, really fun gameplay and LOTS of replayability, especially with the absolutely cracking expansion!
07 = 7 WONDERS! A truly great game and probably the most-awarded one that I know! A simple play mechanic but lots of strategy and massive replayability - both with and without the expansions!
08 = VICEROY = A game that combines several mechanics from other successful games... but will it be successful in its own right? Known in our house as "Seven Splendid Kingsburgs", will this game of empire building, character powers, auction, resource management and set collection be a royal treat for you?
09 = PLANET = To hold the whole world in the palm of your hand... That would truly be a marvel. Well, it is your opportunity to be great and powerful in this wonderfully tactile game of terrain mapping, spatial awareness, progressive scoring, set collection and kinaesthetic exploration!
10 = LORDS OF WATERDEEP! = THE MIGHTY! THE GLORIOUS! THE END OF SEASON 1 SPECIAL!
LORDS OF WATERDEEP!!! I wanted to finish Season 1 with a really special game and this is a legend of a worker-placement game to which many other games owe their allegiance. Steeped in theme and a brilliant example of its genre, this game is a worthy finale episode to our first Season of Rogue Reviews!
