I was drawn to Brooke’s work through the Valka Kickstarter and loved his weird, desaturated art in that game – after following his Instagram I found that he is a person of many talents and passions.

I asked Brooke about his inspirations in his art, and Valka, and he says that his inspirations are varied. He credits ‘Fire and Ice’ an animated film by Bakshi and Frazetta as one of his favourite films when he was growing up.

I studied art after high school and draw a lot of inspiration from old
artists, particularly Albrecht Dürer, Goya and Pieter Bruegel the
Elder

Brooke credits Brian Froud and his book ‘Goblins of Labyrinth’ (from the movie ‘Labyrinth’) as one of his biggest influence, as well as:

artists like Russ Nicholson, Les Edwards, Ian
Miller, Gary Ward and Paul Bonner (from fantasy works in White Dwarf, DnD and Fighting Fantasy)

In relation to the development of Valka, Brooke states that his biggest challenge was play-testing to get the game as good as it possibly could be.

I’m not very patient and struggle with
rule-books, so that side of it took a lot of help from John DeCampos
from Terrible Games. Apart from that, I think it all went pretty well.

I asked Brooke about whether he has any other designs in the pipeline, and while he does have a few that he is working on, he’s not quite ready to discuss them at the moment. In the last few years, Brooke has also released a Tarot deck and more recently a Divination Oracle. I also mentioned Brooke as a polymath – so it would be remiss of me to not mention his music career which he releases music under several names, but primarily Saint Jude.

In his down time Brooke tends towards fantasy and adventure games with a “healthy dose of creativity” – games like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer 40,000 and playing Dungeon Mayhem and Stardew Valley with his kids.

I was drawn to Brooke’s work through his authentic disposition on his Instagram page, and thought that people might like to know a bit more about one of our own Australian creators. Be sure to check out and support Brooke where possible, most of his stuff you can find on captainbstudios.com

The post Australian Boardgame Creators – Brooke Penrose appeared first on Next Player.

The new to Gaming

Cockroach Poker – This is a great little game for the family. Lots of bluffing and silliness to go with it. Play it with a group who loves to banter and have lots of talk at the table otherwise it will descend into a bit of a boring affair. The aim is to make sure that your opponents have 4 of one type of card in front of them, first to have 4 is the loser.

Dutch Blitz – If you think of this as solitaire, but you are playing on the same piles competitively, then you will get the hang of what this game is about. There are quiet periods which then burst into chaos with cards going everywhere at once. This one is becoming one of my favourite family weight fillers and one that can be taken out when there is 10 minutes to spare.

The Kids

Zombie Kidz Evolution – I recommend this one all the time. Quick and cooperative gameplay with a hint of legacy, so it isn’t always the same game over and over. Probably around 15-20 minutes per game, so people aren’t ‘stuck’ at the table for longer than they want to be.

The Chess Player

Go – I just got into this one and it is great fun as a strategy game. Easier to learn than Chess and with countless ways to get good, there is a reason why this game has lasted for literally thousands of years. There is also something aesthetically pleasing about just placing those little black and white stones.

Just Chilling

You want something that you can quietly sit and play without too much strategy and deep thinking? Then I would be recommending Land vs Sea – a great tile laying, area building game. Primarily 2-player, with the ability to add a third or play in teams, this one has you trying to complete areas of your land or sea to score points. Reminiscent of Carcassone at times, which I would definitely recommend if you have more than 2 players wanting to chill.

A little more strategy

This is the hardest category. You don’t want to bring something that takes hours and excludes a bunch of people, but players of heavier games probably want something that will give them a bit of a challenge.

Hadrian’s Wall – A brilliant roll and write from Garphill Games, easy to set up and get played. Not a massive amount of interaction but great fun to see what you can do with your city/wall. For a bit of an alternative theme I would also recommend Fleet – The Dice Game.

The Soloist

You want something that you can play alone, but won’t take up a whole table? Then I would highly recommend Orchard – a great little puzzly card game of 9 cards or check out something a bit longer and strategy based like Star Realms – a game with a ton of content and also can be played multiplayer as well if the feeling takes you.

So what boardgames will you be playing at Christmas this year?

The post Boardgames at Christmas with the family appeared first on Next Player.

This is a living document, so I will update it as I find more!

Game Platforms

Boardgame Arena – is probably one of the most used of the platforms for playing games. There are games that are ‘Premium’ however you can still play them if a paid subscriber starts the game.

Tabletop Simulator – this is a paid Steam app which has a bunch of games available. Maybe it is just me, but I find the usability lacking and have avoided it myself.

Tabletopia – This one is a little bit of a mix between Tabletop Simulator and Boardgame Arena. Can be a little frustrating when the game doesn’t have rules built in and you find yourself stumbling through moves/scoring.

Yucata – heaps of Euro style games on here as well as a few others. I haven’t really used this one but it looks to have some games that you can’t find anywhere else.

Single Games

Android Netrunner – A ‘dead’ LCG which is anything but dead online.

Dominion – the classic deckbuilder is here for you to play.

Go – Easy to master, hard to learn, or the other way? You can play Go here for free, as well as learn how to play.

Keyforge – the every-deck-is-unique duelling game is here for you to play!

The post Free boardgames online! appeared first on Next Player.

Following on from the piece on how counterfeits impact the hobby, today we are looking at what can be done about the problem.

This time I also spoke to Kevin Chu, a consumer with an interest in tracking counterfeit products, in addition to industry professionals.

What are companies doing?

As you can imagine there is a fine line for companies, do they spend the money to chase the counterfeiters or do they continue to focus on their work and hope that counterfeits don’t have a significant impact on their bottom lines.

Ted Alspach from Bezier Games notes the following about their approach to combatting counterfeits:

Surprisingly, it is noted by several industry professionals that producing unique components does not seem to have a significant impact on counterfeiting, with these products still getting produced.

So what else can publishers and designers do? Jonathon Fryxelius from Fryx games reports:

We have reported many sellers on eBay and Amazon because they’re selling counterfeits

This is something that Pandasaurus and Steve Jackson Games also state – that reporting counterfeit sellers is a way that companies can start to approach the problem. However, as several interviewees mentioned, the issue is that the seller is the end point with a production and distribution chain behind them which is where the problem begins.

Unfortunately, these producers and manufacturers are a lot harder to track down and stop than their selling counterparts and there are other ways to ensure only legitimate copies are sold, but this process tends to be expensive and time consuming.

We’ve started using Amazon’s Transparency program, which places a unique QR code on every game that Amazon might sell. Amazon won’t sell any games without these if you’ve registered them with them. This costs us money both to procure from amazon and also to print on the boxes – Ted Alspach

The Consumer Advocate

When I started to look at writing this article I saw a few people on Australian sales Facebook pages asking if they had accidentally bought a fake copy. Kevin Chu was someone who stood out as an advocate for consumers and someone who was knowledgeable in the area. I would often see Kevin responding and updating a post on games that had been counterfeited and had been ‘spotted’ in Australia.

Kevin got into the game of tracking down counterfeits when he inadvertently bought some himself and was alerted by his gaming group.

I started looking into various counterfeit games, different sellers, different channels and even finding networks that sells them from China. I do this as an interest and also for public awareness. Been in contact with several publishers over this and from their help we manage to quash many counterfeit sellers both in eBay and other eCommerce channels.

One of the issues that I have noticed is that there seem to be a lot of pop-up games stores around in shopping centres or online. Kevin also recognises this and states that counterfeits in these stores may not reflect ill will by the seller, but moreso inexperience from their acquisitions teams. It is apparently common for these stores to get their stock from a “network of distributors” which often makes it hard to track down where the games are actually coming from.

Unfortunately, as Kevin puts it, the process of tracking these people down is often like fighting the Hydra – when one head is removed three others take it’s place.

As a positive to all of this, though, is the fact that Kevin believes that fake copies have never entered the hobby through legitimate board game distributors in Australia which speaks highly of the teams that acquire new stock from overseas.

What can you do as a consumer?

• Firstly, skip any stores that only stock games that are easily reproducable – these particularly include games that are just cards in a box – party games I am looking at you.
• Try not to engage in the race to the bottom – a cheaper game is an attractive prospect, but sometimes this means that you are buying a fake version of the game. This race to the bottom also pushes legitimate stores out as they are unable to compete;
• Be loyal to sellers – find the stores that work for you and sing their praises. This strengthens buying power of local sellers
• Do not buy from eBay – this is where a lot of illegitimate sellers hang out. Ali Barba, Wish etc are also very high on the list of sellers to avoid.
• Report, report, report – if you feel that you have purchased a game that is a counterfeit, report it to the store and if you are unsatisfied with their response, speak to the publisher.
• Stay informed – places like Boardgamegeek and Reddit will often have posts about fake copies in the market. Keep an eye on these posts to see what you might come across in the ‘wild’

The post What can we do about counterfeit board games appeared first on Next Player.

The industry of board gaming and tabletop gaming is growing exponentially, between 2015 and 2019 pledges for board games on Kickstarter have increased almost $100 million, with more than triple the projects successfully funding. Anecdotally, the industry is also booming locally with more and more people engaging in solo and family gaming due to COVID and it’s related impacts.

With success comes the downsides – and for a primarily paper and cardboard medium, this often means counterfeiting and fake products. In this article I have spoken to some industry professionals from successful companies in relation to how counterfeiting has harmed their business and the changes that they have had to make to combat it. In a later article we will talk about how to spot a counterfeit game and how to identify sellers who may not be legitimate.

The people that I have spoken to are:

How do Counterfeit board games affect business?

For the most part, most of the companies spoken to find that they haven’t noticed a massive impact on actual sales which is mainly due to one thing – that the industry is still growing. With a growing industry, it is hard to identify when sales are dropping due to no evidence on baseline sales. Essentially, as the industry grows it is hard for companies to measure the impact of counterfeits until sales and the industry level out, an often difficult thing to measure.

I asked the participants whether they have noticed a drop in their sales figures:

I’m sure it’s a case where there is lost revenue that is being hidden by an overall rise in sales. – Nathan McNair, Pandasaurus Games.

It is likely that our language publishers have seen a drop in sales, and it would be primarily in the English version, since that is the only one having counterfeits, as far as we know. But we cannot confirm it. – Jonathon Fryxelius, Fryx Games.

So what are companies doing about this drop in sales?

Absolutely (Bezier have noticed a drop in sales). English fake copies are abundant, and we are constantly working with our reseller partners to get rid of them – Ted Alspach, Bezier Games.

I will further address the topic of what companies are able to do to prevent loss of sales and how they address counterfeits in another article.

What are the biggest issues with fakes?

One of the biggest concerns that I noticed was that people who buy fakes are often unaware of the fact that they have bought a fake. It’s not usually the case of someone deliberately going to a site to get a cheap copy, moreso it is the case of people buying from online or pop up stores which tend to sell goods that maximise their own profit.

When someone buys a fake, they’re often receiving a substandard product that is shoddily-made and unlikely to withstand repeated plays. At times, the colors are off, the paper and card quality are inferior to the authentic game, and it’s a bad buy – Steve Jackson, Steve Jackson Games.

This issue is also mirrored by others in the industry, that when people buy a counterfeit they are unaware of where it came from initially, therefore they then chase up on the real company which leads to bad faith in the company, a poor overall experience and more costs to the company through time spent on the issue.

The quality of the counterfeits usually leaves a lot to be desired which leads to upset customers and then we have to make a choice to replace a fake product or have a customer with a bad experience with our company. Nathan McNair, Pandasaurus Games.

Another issue identified is that counterfeits end up adding to the cost of legitimate copies for the above mentioned reasons – more time spent chasing copies or following up on customer service, but also the fact that this potentially puts companies off actually producing games.

Counterfeit copies cost game companies an enormous amount of time and money. The end result is higher prices for “real” versions of the games, fewer games published, and fewer companies with the ability to create new games, knowing that counterfeiters might flood the market with those products. Ted Alspach, Bezier Games.

But what about me?

There will be the naysayers that believe that they should be able to buy whatever product they like from whoever they want to regardless of whether it is counterfeit. How much can it hurt, right? As mentioned above from a business point of view there are often small businesses that are affected by these sales. People who are just as passionate about boardgames as you or I and who deserve the right to make a profit through the production of original works.

Another consideration is safety – the OECD reports that, for toys, there are often measures skipped in terms of safety (safety costs money). In the board game world this could be anything from using inks and dyes that have been proven harmful through to inadequate finishing of wooden or plastic components which may have swallowing or other risks for young children.

Also, while it seems an abstract concept, counterfeit goods also have an impact on taxation in your country. Some of the cost of a product that we buy is made up of taxes meaning that the Government get a share of revenue. When counterfeits enter the market, they are usually doing so outside of legitimate channels and skip the step of taxation. The more counterfeits that sell, the more likely there are less Local, State and Federal funds to go around and pay for necessities.

Further Reading

What are the economic effects of counterfeit goods?
OECD Report on Counterfeiting
International Chamber of Commerce on Counterfeiting

Bottom Line

My recommendation would be to buy from only reputable stores that have a good reputation in the community. Check out Facebook pages for Boardgames in your country and ask about local or online stores and people’s experiences with them. Primarily, if the deal that you are getting for a new copy is too good, then it probably is.

Ours is a small hobby with passionate creators who often don’t make a great deal of profit, let’s look after them.

The post The impact of counterfeits on the board game hobby appeared first on Next Player.

Is Too Many Bones complicated? Is it worth the money to buy? Do I need to buy everything in order to properly experience the game?

As of writing, Too Many Bones currently sits at Number 55 in the rankings of board games on boardgamegeek.com. Being in the Top 100 is a pretty prestigious thing, but my feeling is that if a game gets a good ground swell of attention from reviewers at the right time it can make it into the Top 500 with relative ease and then behavioural economics takes over.

Huh? Behavioural Economics?

Behavioural economics is how we can apply psychological principles to the process of decision making, particuarly to the decision making around cost and purchases. Some of the principles that I refer to here are:

• Sunk Cost fallacy: we are more likely to commit to something due to it’s cost as we have already spent the money;
• Reviews = purchases: Research has shown that people are more likely to buy an item if it has a greater number of positive reviews (duh)
• Cost = Quality: Numerous studies have found that participants will more likely rate an item higher if it has a greater cost associated with it, following the rule of thumb that higher cost must mean higher quality.

Given that the BGG ratings are relatively secret (however a recent video goes into this a little more) it is often difficult to work out the rhyme or reasoning behind a games rating. My feeling is that if game has unique mechanisms, is able to be introduced to new players, has a unique theme and gets great or mixed good reviews has the ability to almost break this system.

A game can flood the system with positive reviews before they have even shipped due to reviewer and previewer opinion – look at the reviews for some of the big Kickstarters that have been completed, but not yet shipped, there are so many “I can’t wait for this game – 10 stars”. Both Frosthaven, the new Nemesis expansion and Etherfields are all approaching the 8 star rankings with almost a year until delivery.

So what does this all mean?

Let’s take Frosthaven, for example, which will make it on to the Top 100 list within it’s first 6 months of release:

• Gloomhaven already has the highest ranking at #1, therefore drawing users to it’s creator and to the sequel;
• BGG already has 164 ratings of 10 for the game (more than double the ratings of 1). This preloads the system, so once released if you are interested in a retail copy it will have a high rating when you look for it;
• The cost equals quality factors in, due to the fact that this is a game that will retail around the $200 mark;
• The sunk cost fallacy will also play into things here as well. If the game isn’t good people will feel the need to continue to play to try to recoup their ‘cost’ of purchasing and minimise buying regret. How many times have you heard “It really just takes a few (dozen) games to get going”;
• The sense of exclusivity will also drive the retail release, if people feel that it is hard to get, they will more than likely chase it at retail again building a user base that will vote on BGG.

I do not intend to take a shot at Frosthaven, I believe that Gloomhaven is a great game, but it also hit a lot of the above points which has rocketed it to the top. This is merely an example of how the ratings systems and behavioural economy work side by side. Obviously, ratings and reviews do have meaning but the ultimate test of game is how well it plays for you.

So, given all of this I was a bit hesitant about going in to buy Too Many Bones, a game that has high praise from those who have played it but also comes with a high price tag..But there were a few things that sold it for me and that actually went against the above points. So here I would like to talk a little more about those factors.

The Gearlocs take too long to learn/The Game is too Heavy/Is Too Many Bones complicated?

This is a really strange one to me. I have heard issues that the Gearlocs are hard to learn and that you are constantly reviewing the reference sheets, that the game is too heavy and finnicky. But let’s get this straight, when it comes to convoluted games I’m not the brightest tool in the drawer. I’ve tried to play GMT wargames and was the emotional equivalent of a deserter running away from the front lines (see here for my views on Labyrinth). So it was with some trepidation that I decided to go in and buy Undertow as my starting venture into the Too Many Bones world.

What was I getting myself into, was this another game that I would have to sell in order to switch over to become the most prominent HABA reviewer that this hobby has ever seen?

I cracked open the instruction book and found a book that was well designed and thought out, with examples of battle and how to play and activate dice. Iconography was clear and guided me throughout the book.

As for the referencing the Gearloc sheets, yes this happened often but I really feel that it didn’t happen more than many other games that I have played. After a few games I feel like I am starting to get the hang of characters and the only reason I am referencing character sheets is because that is part of the game, much like it would be in an RPG. In D&D you will need to check your spells or abilities in order to judge your ability to take on a task.

Checking your character is like checking your pocket your car keys, it is preparation not an indication that you have forgotten how to drive.

Are people judging the game on it’s literal mass? Because in this rather simple reviewers opinion, it most definitely isn’t a ‘heavy’ game.

Is it really all that replayable?

This one is an easy yes.

In the Undertow box you have 2 new characters who can be played together or solo against 5 new tyrants.

Quick maths suggest that is:

((2 x 1 solo characters) x (1 x 2 characters)) x 5 Tyrants = 20 unique ways of playing the base Undertow game which doesn’t include the randomisation of Baddies or Loot throughout each of those games.

If you add the 4 Gearlocs and 7 Tyrants of the base Too Many Bones then you are ending up with a massive amount of variance across the range. This also does not include additional Gearlocs that can be bought separately.

So, in summary if you are worried about whether you will be playing the same game over, then the answer is a hard no. Even if you decide to play the same Tyrant with the same characters you are still going to be encountering different Baddies and getting different Loot throughout.

Are those components really worth it?

It’s funny how things come full circle. I would have said no, that premium components aren’t worth it, but then Covid came. This time of isolation has really identified what I like about board games and besides the interaction and the game itself, it’s fiddling with little pieces of plastic and cardboard that I love.

Tabletopia, Tabletop Simulator and all of those other programs will let you experience a game and sometimes the interaction as well but they are no match for having the pieces in your hand. As a result, I have to say that the components in TMB are really worth the cost and given their quality I can see that Chip Theory Games are really putting their passion into this game and it isn’t just a cash cow for them.

There are plenty of components that you could add, Premium Health, Allies or other Gearlocs but really the amount you get in the base boxes is plenty and will keep you busy for a long time. I have even considered watching TV or doing other activities whilst rolling a chip in my hand like a James Bond villain (ugh, don’t get me started on James Bond).

The Ratings

So I said earlier that the ratings system could somewhat be manipulated, and given the above cost and worry about gameplay this was another factor in my reconsidering whether this game was for me..Do I trust the ratings? Especially given that I don’t know anyone who owns the game and in the Covid world I don’t have the ability to find a game group that plays it.

Too Many Bones currently has the second lowest amount of ratings in the Top 100, only after Vital Lacerda’s On Mars, and with Maracaibo and Paladins of the West Kingdom also being in the ball park (~5000 ratings). These titles, however, will continue to rise due to the amount of time that has passed since their release being relatively close (2019).

Too Many Bones, however, having the second least votes after 3 years of release shows that those people who are playing it are voting it very highly and overcoming the ‘buffer’ votes that are built into BGG.

This rather flimsy statistical analysis is yet another reason why I decided I needed the game.

After a while I decided yes, that this was a game that I could justify to buy to review and then sell it to someone else if I didn’t like it..But it never came to that did it…(now I’m currently considering Premium Health, another Gearloc or two…)

Overall

Before my Undertow experience I was following too many silly beliefs, that Too Many Bones was complicated, that is wasn’t ‘worth’ the price tag, that the reason that it was so popular was because of behavioural economics and people were justifying their bad financial decisions. Boy, was I wrong…

From the tactile element of the components to the gameplay, from the community to the product support, Chip Theory Games and Too Many Bones are absolutely knocking it out of the park. From the limited interaction I have had with the Carlsons, Josh, Shannon and others connected with the projects I have seen that this is a team that is in love with the products that they are making and it shines through in the gameplay and quality of this production.

Whether you are buying it, or borrowing it I would highly recommend Too Many Bones to anyone with an interest in board games and RPGS, it’s truly a don’t miss experience for me.

The post Why I didn’t buy Too Many Bones appeared first on Next Player.