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• U.S. publisher Capstone Games has announced two Alexander Pfister titles that will be hitting the market before the end of 2021, one already known and one previously unannounced, so let's start with the new news first:Quote:With a group of pioneers, you have left civilization behind to settle along the shores of Boonlake, a long-forgotten region inhabited by humans long ago. This unexplored area beckons you! Become part of a new community and commit yourself to the common good. Explore the landscapes, build houses and settlements, raise cattle, produce raw materials, and develop your infrastructure. Do your best to automate these processes. Seize the opportunity to make the best of your new life in Boonlake.Boonlake originates from German publisher dlp games, which has served as the co-publisher of two prior Pfister titles: Maracaibo in 2019 and CloudAge in 2020. The game accommodates 1-4 players, has a playing time of 120 minutes, will retail for US$70, and is due out in October 2021.
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Boonlake is an expert game in which you are finding yourself improving your life — and your group's life — in this new territory...but how you accomplish this is completely up to you! Introducing a novel action mechanism, each game progresses differently. Will you focus on expansion? Or maybe you'll contribute to creating an infrastructure? Or possibly pursue your own agenda? Carefully consider what you choose as each action benefits everybody else...
The description above gives only a taste of what's in the box, so Capstone has also touted the game components to spur your imagination: 165 project cards, 150+ wooden pieces, innovative action board, and double-layer player boards.:strip_icc()/pic6313607.png)
• The other title is Maracaibo: The Uprising, a large expansion for the aforementioned Maracaibo from originating publisher Game's Up that includes a new campaign and four new scenarios, new co-operative and solo modes (with you playing against Jacques or Jean in the latter), five new modules to introduce new concepts to the game, home ports that give players asymmetrical abilities, new project cards, and more.:strip_icc()/pic6156464.jpg)
One element of the expansion was highlighted in a July 2021 article in The Atlantic originally titled "Board Games Have a Colonialism Problem" and retitled "The Board Games That Ask You to Reenact Colonialism". Here's the relevant excerpt:Quote:This year, Maracaibo will receive an expansion called The Uprising. Players are cast as indigenous people under colonial bondage, who will work together to liberate the cities of their island from foreign rule. "In the cooperative scenario, they win when all locations are free," Pfister says.The description from Capstone mentions that you can also play this "[push] the predominant nations out of the Caribbean" scenario competitively.
Maracaibo: The Uprising is due out in the U.S. in November 2021 and due out in Germany in October 2021 from Game's Up and dlp games.• As a side note on Pfister designs, that Atlantic article mentions that he is "giving Mombasa a to-the-studs renovation" in response to concerns over the roles that players take in the game and how the game presents its setting. Another article excerpt:/pic2611318.jpg)
Quote:When the game enters the market again in the indeterminate future, it will no longer carry art, terminology, or set dressing associated with 18th-century European expansion. Those days, he says, are over.
"Mombasa made gamers think about this awful history. But nowadays, I wouldn't use this theme anymore. That's the reason for a complete re-theme. It's good that the community, including me, became more sensible," he says. "We want our hobby to be inclusive."
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