New Game Round-up: Crysis at Queen, Frenemies at Mayfair & Replacement Parts from the Czech Republic

by W. Eric Martin

• German publisher Queen Games already seemed headed in a different direction with the announcement of Lost Legends in October 2012. A straight-up fantasy design from a publisher that's normally offered games based on world history? What would be next? Turns out the next step is Crysis Analogue Edition: The Board Game, a board game based on the first-person shooter video game series of the same name. Queen has announced little beyond a March 2013 release date, in addition to supplying the cover and a brief description:

In Crysis Analogue Edition: The Board Game, players will experience the empowerment of tapping into the Nanosuit's skill set as they bid to play their cards right and gain the upper hand on opponents. Along the way they'll have to adapt to ever-changing strategic situations, utilize weapons familiar from the video games, and employ tactical teamwork as they enjoy the authentic feel of Crysis combat in board game form.

Crysis Analogue Edition: The Board Game strives to recreate the intense gameplay and finely-balanced action players have come to expect from the Crysis games' multiplayer modes.

• U.S. publisher Mayfair Games has announced a new scenario for Klaus Teuber's The Settlers of Catan, with Benjamin Teuber being the author of Catan Scenarios: Frenemies of Catan, which has a $5 price tag and a Nov. 15, 2012 street date in the U.S. Here's a thematic overview of the scenario to put you in the right mood:

Hark, friend! Let us... help... each other. We live in a time of altruism on Catan. We give away resources to help lagging players. We move the robber to isolated locations to ensure the safety of our fellows. We even go out of our way to connect our roads with our neighbors' networks. Has everyone gone nuts?

Ah! Thanks to their beneficence, Catan's guilds reward such noble-minded behavior by handing out "Favor Tokens" (FTs). Each guild helps us in different ways: granting us roads, development cards, random resources, preferential trades, or even Victory Points.

In Catan Scenarios: Frenemies of Catan, everyone is still just in it for themselves as there is an ulterior motive for everything. In fact, sometimes you can "help a friend" while making things far worse for them.

Sigh. If goodwill really exists, it's not part of this scenario...

• Legendary, the Marvel universe deck-building game from designer Devin Low and publisher Upper Deck Entertainment, has a Nov. 13, 2012 street date in the U.S.

• The first four titles in AEG's shared world environment of Tempest – Courtier, Dominare, Love Letter and Mercante– all have a U.S. street date of Dec. 3, 2012 following their initial debut at Spiel 2012 in October.

• Czech Games Edition has posted info on how to get replacement items for Dungeon Lords: Festival Season and Galaxy Trucker: Another Big Expansion, both of which have a few cards with backs that differ from the card backs in the base games. (Bonus news item: In that same post, CGE notes that it plans to release Galaxy Trucker: Small Expansion in 2013, with the replacement cards being part of this forthcoming item.)