New Discworld Board Games from Modiphius

[Molokov]

Hi all,

Modiphius is in the process of delivering the Discworld RPG Kickstarter to backers, and the retail version (which is different) is also now available at your local game shop.

They've just (today) put up preorders for the two upcoming board games via their store:

Readers Digested:
https://modiphius.net/pages/discworld-adventures#readersdigested
This is a retheme of Reiner Knizia's Blue Moon City - so with that pedigree, you know it's got good mechanisms behind it. Not sure how well it will translate to the Discworld theme, but we'll see. There's a standard and deluxe edition, with the deluxe edition coming bundled with a few expansions and some component upgrades. (The standard version still looks to have good components though)

Kill Sam Vimes:
https://modiphius.net/pages/discworld-adventures#killsamvimes
Brand new card game designed by Dom Westerland. (No you can not actually kill Vimes, you will always fail).
Sounds like it could be fun, and I just adore the artwork.


Yes, the games are not cheap. Yes, shipping to Australia is super expensive. But I am hoping these are going to be good, because I love board games and we've not had a Discworld game since Clacks over ten years ago.

 

[Tonyblack]

Thanks for the info, Molokov!

 

[RathDarkblade]

I have never played a Discworld board game.

On the other hand, I played and replayed the Discworld computer games

 

[Molokov]

In all honesty, I don't think you're missing out on much. I've been a modern hobby board game enthusiast for more than a decade now, and in amongst all of the tens of thousands of games out there (and the hundreds of different titles I've played), the Discworld games are very much the middle of the pack.

Quick reviews:

Thud - a variation on Tafl-like games, and probably "chess-like" to those who know Chess better. It's got a few tricky-to-learn rules, and the only way it would see a lot of play is if two people played against each other often until they got really good at the various strategies. Not super easy to teach, and an experienced player would easily wipe the floor with a newcomer. (I wouldn't consider myself to be experienced either!)

Discworld: Ankh-Morpork - the best of the bunch; Simple enough rules, and a decent amount of strategy: how do you get towards your own end goal without revealing which goal you're heading towards? You also need to keep an eye on other players to prevent them from hitting their goals too. A little bit of take-that to other players, but the game rarely lasts more than an hour so it's all in good fun. Lovely artwork by Peter Dennis.

The Witches - a lighter cooperative game (the "semi-coop" scoring variant is stupid, IMHO). Doesn't seem to have the level of tenseness other coop games can have (e.g. Pandemic), and the ending can be quite an anti-climax. But still fairly fun. Let down by the rulebook which has some confusing wording around how to take your turn. More great art by Peter Dennis, especially the board which is a map of Lancre and surrounds.

Guards! Guards! - a bloated, confusing, chaotic mess. Chaos in board games can work well, but not here where the game can take up to 4 hours to play. I've not touched it in years due to multiple bad experiences. LOTS of take-that (which is not in my personal wheelhouse). Wonderful card artwork by Stephen Player, but that's probably the best thing I can say about this one.

Clacks - a nice small puzzly game where you have to use some spacial reasoning to work out which clacks lights to turn on/off to get the letters you want. Play the cooperative variant (race Moist von Lipwig to Genua) rather than the competitive variant (which seems a lot more chaotic and is definitely take-that)


So yeah... if you've never played them, and you aren't really a board game player, don't worry too much about it.


*"take-that" is a game mechanism where you take actions that deliberately hurt other players (sometimes targeted towards a specific player rather than all other players) without actually helping yourself. I am not a fan of games that use this as a primary mechanism.