New Arrivals – August 2017

We’re still seeing lots of new summer arrivals. Here’s a quick run-down of our new offerings that are in stock now and a few games we’re expecting later this month.

Lovecraft Letter

It’s the 1920s, and the world is in a state of confusion following WWI. You and your friends find yourselves amidst mysterious events. You are surrounded by strange figures, letters with unreadable texts, as well as sudden appearances of beings unknown. Relying on your connections, you set out to investigate these incidents. Unknown to you are the frightful truths that lie in wait ahead of you…
Lovecraft Letter is a card game that combines the Love Letter system with the world of H.P. Lovecraft. In addition to the standard sixteen cards in the Love Letter game are new versions of the cards that include special insanity powers. If you have one of these cards in your discard pile, then you are insane (at least for the current round) and on future turns can play insanity cards for their regular power or their special power, giving you more options during play. The risk, however, is that you must undergo a sanity check at the start of each of your turns, drawing as many cards from the deck as the number of insanity cards in front of you; draw one or more insanity cards, and you’re out for the round.

If you win the game, whether by being the last person standing or the player with the highest single card after the deck runs out, you win a token colored to reflect whether you were sane or insane. Win enough tokens of the right type, and you win the game. Cthluhu can also help you win the game if you release it at the right time…

Will you put an end to the evil schemes as an investigator, or will you help guide the world to destruction as one of insanity’s disciples? It all depends on you.

Lovecraft Letter supports 2 to 6 players, ages 10 and up and plays in 5 to 15 mintues.

Concordia

One of our favorite strategy Euro games, Concordia, is finally back in print. It plays like an advanced Stone Age with a very different theme.

Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire ruled the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. With peace at the borders, harmony inside the provinces, uniform law, and a common currency, the economy thrived and gave rise to mighty Roman dynasties as they expanded throughout the numerous cities. Guide one of these dynasties and send colonists to the remote realms of the Empire; develop your trade network; and appease the ancient gods for their favor — all to gain the chance to emerge victorious!

Concordia is a peaceful strategy game of economic development in Roman times for 2-5 players aged 13 and up. Instead of looking to the luck of dice or cards, players must rely on their strategic abilities. Be sure to watch your rivals to determine which goals they are pursuing and where you can outpace them! In the game, you send colonists out from Rome to settle in cities that produce bricks, food, tools, wine, and cloth. Each player starts with an identical set of playing cards and acquires more cards during the game. These cards serve two purposes:

• They allow a player to choose actions during the game.
• They are worth victory points (VPs) at the end of the game, like the multipliers in Stone Age.

Concordia is a strategy game that requires advance planning and consideration of your opponent’s moves. Every game is different, not only because of the sequence of new cards on sale but also due to the modular layout of cities. (One side of the game board shows the entire Roman Empire with 30 cities for 3-5 players, while the other shows Roman Italy with 25 cities for 2-4 players.) When all cards have been sold or after the first player builds his 15th house, the game ends. The player with the most VPs from the gods (Jupiter, Saturnus, Mercurius, Minerva, Vesta, etc.) wins the game.

Concordia supports 2 to 5 players ages 13 and up and plays in 90 minutes.

We have the Salsa expansion for Concordia in stock, too. It adds salt to the mix of goods, two new maps Byzantium and Hispania, and Forum Cards, a new feature that provides players with one-time or ongoing benefits. Salsa is an excellent addition to an already great game!

Cottage Garden

I’ve been looking forward to getting a copy of Cottage Garden for months! Dan was kind enough to introduce me to it on TableTop Day – he brought it back from Germany.

Cottage Garden is similar to the two-player game Patchwork with a few extra twists, much prettier artwork and support for up to four players.

In Cottage Garden, you compete in the art of gardening and are working two beds with a variety of flowers. Whenever no unplanted box is visible on a bed, you have completed it, then you count your points and replace it with a fresh, unplanted bed. You gain points for all of the visible pots and planting bells.

In more detail, players select various polyomino tiles of flower beds from a central market grid, depending on the location of the gardener, then place them on one of their two personal garden boards. Each board has several garden elements that are worth points when not planted over, and these are scored on two different tracks as soon as a garden has been finished. Crossing over a line on each track awards bonus tokens that can fill in empty spaces or give you a better selection of the flower bed tiles. Whenever a garden is finished, you receive a new one to complete. After the gardener completes her fifth lap around the market, the game enters its last round. The player with the most points from their completed gardens at the end of the game wins.

Cottage Garden supports 1 to 4 players, ages 8 and up, and plays in 45-60 minutes.

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Another game that’s been out of stock and print for awhile is Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. It’s in stock now at Here Be Books & Games. Social deduction game fans will want to check this one out! It supports a pretty high player count.

In Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, players find themselves in a scenario of intrigue and murder, deduction and deception.

One player is the Murderer, secretly choosing their weapon and the evidence they leave behind. Another is the Forensic Scientist who holds the key to convicting the criminal, but is only able to express their knowledge through analysis of the scene. The rest are investigators, interpreting the clues to solve the crime – and the killer is among them.

Investigators must collaborate and use their wits, their hunches, and their keen deductive insight to correctly identify the means of the murder and the key evidence to convict the killer. The Murderer must mislead and confuse the investigators to save themselves.

Do you have what it takes to see through the lies and catch the criminal in your ranks or will they muddy the waters long enough to get away with murder?

4 to 12 players, ages 14 and up can play this social deduction game, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, in 15 to 30 minutes.

Legendary: Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four expansion for Marvel Legendary: A Deck Building Game has been going for crazy prices online since it went out of print. Now it’s back, unchanged, and you can pick it up for the more reasonable price of $19.99 at Here Be Books & Games.

Legendary: Fantastic Four, the second expansion to Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game introduces Marvel’s first family into the world of Legendary. Play as your favorite heroes while battling Masterminds such as the World Devouring Galactus and the ever elusive Mole Man.

Marvel Legendary: Fantastic Four can be played solo or with up to 5 players, ages 14 and up, in 30 to 60 minutes. A base game is required to play.

Carcassonne: Under the Big Top Expansion 10

Carcassonne: Under the Big Top, the tenth expansion for Carcassonne adds a traveling Circus complete with animals, acrobats and a ringmaster!

The Circus travels with its animals from place to place. Once the Big Top goes up, nearby meeples come to take in the attractions.

The Ringmaster, a new meeple for each player, leads a fairly normal life, but he truly shines when he is surrounded by acrobats and the circus. The Acrobats are true performers. As soon as they find a suitable spot, their first instinct is to stack and form a meeple pyramid.

Carcassonne: Under the Big Top supports 2 to 6 players, ages 13 and up and has a playtime of 50 minutes. A copy of a Carcassonne base game is required to play.

Codenames: Duet

Codenames: Duet keeps the basic elements of Codenames — give one-word clues to try to get someone to identify your agents among those on the table — but now you’re working together as a team to find all of your agents. (Why you don’t already know who your agents are is a question that Congressional investigators will get on your back about later!)

To set up play, lay out 25 word cards in a 5×5 grid. Place a key card in the holder so that each player sees one side of the card. Each player sees a 5×5 grid on the card, with nine of the squares colored green (representing your agents) and one square colored black (representing an assassin). The assassin is in different places on each side of the card, and three of the nine squares on each side are also green on the other side!

Collectively, you need to reveal all fifteen agents — without revealing either assassin or too many innocent bystanders — before time runs out in order to win the game. Either player can decide to give a one-word clue to the other player, along with a number. Whoever receives the clue places a finger on a card to identify that agent. If correct, they can attempt to identify another one. If they reveal as many as the number stated by the clue-giver, then they can take one final guess, if desired. If they identify a bystander, then their guessing time ends. If they identify an assassin, you both lose!

Now just two can play Codenames, cooperatively. Codenames: Duet supports two to four players, ages 11 and up, with a 15 to 30 minute playtime.