Fowltemptress' Poultry Presents: Board Games

[fowltemptress]

Brains . . . brains . . .

Er, what?

Okay, sorry. A certain little squirrel is demanding I add some squirrel-friendly options.

So, brains . . . and watermelon . . .
and Dead of Winter!

Brains and watermelon are both pink and squishy, so it stands to reason they're equally terrifying.

Whoa, wait, Dead of Winter again?

Not quite. This time, Dead of Winter collides with another game called Flick 'em Up to bring us Flick 'em Up! Dead of Winter, which takes all the horror of having to survive a zombie apocalypse and adds . . . flicking.

Yes, flicking.

You flick a disk to move your characters across town, you flick a plastic knife to stab zombies, you flick a tiny bat to bludgeon zombies, and, possibly best of all, you flick Sparky the Wonderdog to lay waste to all zombie hordes in his way - because what would a Dead of Winter game be without this beloved, overpowered goofball? Everyone loves Sparky!

Ahem, I'm being interrupted again to amend the above statement to add that not  everyone loves Sparky. Squirrels, I'm told, do not view zombies as particularly scary, but dogs are deemed quite creepy.

In this game you set up a miniature town you'll be navigating in order to gather supplies and fight zombies. Put away the chairs for this one, because you'll be on your feet and maneuvering around the table to line up that perfect shot, either to move yourself or to use one of the many weapons at your disposal. My personal favorite is the shotgun, which has you flicking three tiny disks at once in order to spray destruction across the enemy. That enemy could be the zombies, or it could be another player, as this game has setups for different maps and scenarios that allow for cooperative or competitive play. Either way, the town is full of zombies ready to chow down on your delicious, pink, watermelony brains!

Faustus the flying squirrel decides to use her turn to flick her way into the library and check out some survivalist nonfiction.

 

[DesertSplash]

Okay, here is possibly the only zombie game I would be interested in playing. Is it mainly because Faustus looks particularly cute perched atop the guide to mushrooms book?

 

[fowltemptress]

Okay, here is possibly the only zombie game I would be interested in playing. Is it mainly because Faustus looks particularly cute perched atop the guide to mushrooms book?

Knowledge is power, especially when boning up on ways to survive a world teeming with zombies. You watch; Faustus' newfound mushroom savvy will save us all!

 

[jajedo]

There's always this game as an option. I designed it with my son a few years ago because we love our backyard chickens. A small publisher put it out last year. Fun experience! It's already had its Kickstarter and everything, so this is not marketing. Just saw this thread and it seemed like a fun place to share that it exists.

 

[fowltemptress]

There's always this game as an option. I designed it with my son a few years ago because we love our backyard chickens. A small publisher put it out last year. Fun experience! It's already had its Kickstarter and everything, so this is not marketing. Just saw this thread and it seemed like a fun place to share that it exists.

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How did I miss this? And it's a deckbuilder! I love deckbuilders. When did y'all get the idea to create your own game? Did you always know you were going to get it published, or was it just a fun project to do together at first? It looks great.

 

[fowltemptress]

Click here for more zombie fun

As we shuffle onwards towards Halloween, it's time to show off my next spine-chilling game. Hold on to your brains as Rumplestiltskin presents my last zombie themed game, Dead Panic!

I know, I know, you can't see the game from behind Rump's majestic rump, but trust me, you don't want to see it. The art on the box is so grotesque that I probably wouldn't have bought the game had I seen it in person first.

No, seriously, trust me, it's disgusting. Please don't make me reveal it.

Fine, but I refuse to be held responsible for what you are about to see.

Gag! Choke! Dry heave!
Honestly, who okayed the art for this game?! Real zombies couldn't possibly be any nastier. Those of you with a keen eye will notice some strategically placed Lisa Frank stickers. I had to do something to offset the ugly.

Ahh, Lisa Frank polar bears. Just as willing as zombies to eat you, but easier on the eyes.

Once you get past the absolutely atrocious exterior, the game itself is actually kinda cute. Well, as cute as trying to survive an encroaching zombie horde while barricading yourself inside a dilapidated abandoned cabin can be. You and the other players fight back zombies as a team, trying to keep the cabin standing long enough to build a radio, call for your van, and escape. Every turn you'll be drawing more zombies from a bag to place on the board, so the sense of impending doom never eases up until the very end of the game. Of all my zombie games, this feels the most like you're playing out a classic George Romero film. And while I do prefer Dead of Winter and its "The Walking Dead" vibes, it's always nice revisiting the classics.

Today's presenter, Rumplestiltskin, was never meant to be my flock rooster, but by using a clever trick called "never attacking the hand that feeds him," he managed to earn his place as cock of the walk. He's also never died and come back to eat my brains. Funny how that'll bond you to a bird.

A look that could cow an entire swarm of zombies.

 

[jajedo]

How did I miss this? And it's a deckbuilder! I love deckbuilders. When did y'all get the idea to create your own game? Did you always know you were going to get it published, or was it just a fun project to do together at first? It looks great.

It definitely started as a fun project. We go to a few gaming conventions here in the SF Bay Area every year and we love hanging out in the Protospiel room where designers bring their prototypes to have people playtest and give feedback. After a while, we started tinkering with designs and this became our main project. It was always just for fun until our friend who is a small publisher played it and said he wanted to publish it. That was a fun journey!

Still working on the next big idea.

 

[fowltemptress]

Dead Panic

How did this happen? There's only three days left until Halloween! Forget broomsticks, it's time that flies. I better get cacklin' on showcasing my last three games. Here's Elise and Cinder, presenting Broom Service!

This game bewitched me with how absolutely adorable it is. I love the colorful board and cards, the cute little witch-shaped player pieces, and the purple, green, and orange potions.

I avoided buying Broom Service for the longest time because I've been known to be a sucker for cute, and not necessarily particularly good, games. Luckily I stumbled across this game for cheap in a thrift shop, else I'd have never learned how utterly, ridiculously bonkers I was to deny myself this game for so long.

In Broom Service you're trying to deliver potions for points, and you take turns revealing your cards and declaring whether you're a brave witch or a cowardly witch. Brave witches, it seems, don't fly away from opportunity, so stand to gain extra rewards - but later, braver witches may come along and claim those rewards for themselves. Cowardly witches are guaranteed to get a little something, but in their cowardice they may have missed an opportunity. Broom Service is all about recognizing opportunity and assessing risk. And the best part? This game is mean! Not mean mean: you're not going to be flipping tables and screaming at each other while playing. At least, I hope not. But every turn is an opportunity to screw up the plans of the people who revealed their cards before you, and no one comes out of a game without having experienced both crushing defeat and exultant power. It's an emotional workout.

Today's spellcasters, Cinder and Elise (collectively CinderElla), are two of my most spellbinding hens. Everyday I'll hear their cackling, and upon checking I'll find they'll have conjured a greenish egg as if from thin air - surely the work of witches. One day I'll have to see if they weigh as much as a duck and confirm my suspicions.

 

[fowltemptress]

Broom Service

Ack! I'm running out of time for my last two Halloweeny games! I had to take a break from my poultry's pumpkin party in order to get today's game pictures. It's okay, though. The geese were monopolizing the pumpkins with their ritualistic little pumpkin-worshipping drum circle. If it turns out they were channeling some weird energy to create a sort of Frankenpumpkin, I'm outta here. I enjoy a good Universal Monster as much as the next guy, but I prefer them to stay out of real life and stay on screen - or board game. Speaking of, here's Horrified, a game based on classic Universal Monsters!

Horrified is another cooperative game that has you fighting as a team against a combination of monsters. Each monster comes with it's own unique way to be defeated, and clueless idiots - um, villagers, will keep popping up to become monster fodder - I mean, to be rescued. You can adjust the difficulty level of the game by adding more or less monsters needing to be defeated. My personal favorite monsters are Frankenstein's monster and his bride, and the mummy, who requires you to solve a neat little puzzle in order to defeat him.

As far as Halloweeny games go, it's hard to top this one. I mean, it can be topped, but we won't be getting to that until tomorrow.

Seriously, this pumpkin seance circle is starting to freak me out.

 

[fowltemptress]

Horrified

Happy Halloween! In honor of today, my favorite hen, Bow, will be presenting my spookiest, Halloweeniest, most Octobery board game I own . . .

Oh no! Help! A predator has Bow by the back of the neck!

Oh wait, false alarm. It's just Betrayal Legacy.

Betrayal is the definition of a perfect Halloween game. It's split into two parts: in the first part, you're exploring a haunted house, basically building it as you go, picking up items and encountering events that may or may not prove helpful in the second half of the game. As someone who always enjoyed putting together dollhouses, I love this part of the game. As you pick up more cards, though, you increase your odds of triggering a haunt which leads to the second part of the game.

This is where the rules of the game come into play, and when you find out what you need to do to win, whether you're a traitor or a team member, and other details pertaining to the particular haunt you're encountering. There's something like 50 haunts in the box, and which you'll get will be determined by what item you discovered in which room when you triggered the haunt. It's actually a nifty concept, wildly swingy and unfair, and extremely fun if you're not too much of a snoot when it comes to rules and fairness. The haunts range a wide spectrum of common horror tropes, and - well, I don't know what else to say to describe it, except that this game always feels like you're watching a horror movie, minus the sleepless nights afterwards. Some of the haunts can be humorous, others surprisingly gruesome, and I'm always left wanting to play again and find out what new haunt I'm going to get.

Enough about the game - I know you're dying to hear more about my pumpkin colored beauty, Bow. Full name Bow Tie, for the little patch of feathers on her neck.

When my father visited us last, he saw Bow and asked what had gotten to her, and I had to explain what a naked neck was. My mother and husband think they're hideous and don't understand my love for these birds, thus proving that I am the only intelligent one in my family! Bow's managed to win over my man, at least, through pure boldness and sweetness. I never made any moves to tame my chickens, but despite that Bow always comes running when she sees us, is constantly underfoot when I'm trying to do anything, and often hops in my lap when I sit down. If she were any more perfect, she'd be a goose named Tex.

It's obvious when a hatched chick belongs to Bow. There's nothing cuter than a baby naked neck.