RDTN Episode 313: Plum Island Horror, Apiary, Unmatched – Sun’s Origin, Forest Shuffle, Lunar, Pyramidice

00:00:00 Intro
00:03:22 Dice + Diversions
00:12:10 Miniature Market
00:14:10 Pyramidice
00:20:30 Plum Island Horror
00:41:43 Gametoppers LLC
00:44:12 Lunar
00:49:17 Apiary
01:01:41 Unmatched: Sun’s Origin
01:06:45 Portal Games
01:08:33 Forest Shuffle
01:13:27 Outro

If winter blues have you down this year, then go ahead and block your calendar for Dice & Diversions in Atlanta next year when the dates get announced. A new board game convention that is definitely something to consider. We had a fabulous time.

We got to play some of the hottest games out on the market: Plum Island Horror, Forest Shuffle, and Apiary. We are killing horrors, we are growing trees, and we are making our subjects explore and get resources. Respectively, we have a cooperative game, a set collection game, and a worker placement game. I can understand why these games are getting some attention because while all the core mechanics aren’t new, how they use them are.

I will say that in Apiary, you are not using the bee’s tongues to suck up the nectar and store it in a special stomach called the honey stomach. Nor are you having the nectar mixed with enzymes that break down the complex sugars into simpler ones. Nor are you having your bees regurgitate the nectar into honeycomb cells, where they fan it with their wings to evaporate the excess water. Instead, they are exploring planets, collecting resources and then exchanging them for honey. But wouldn’t it be cool to have them do the above!!

Lunar is a trick-taking game that will challenge your group of four. We do not recommend playing it with two even though it is possible. The next Unmatched has some really interesting characters, some that if you had sworn off of getting any more expansions, might want to take a look.

Finally, Pyramidice is a comfortable dice game that with the God cards makes it an interesting engine builder with a push your luck mechanic.

Thanks for listening and in the next show, we might get back to our silliness of long banter and short board game discussions.

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