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Portal Games Reveals Upcoming Games in 2021 including a new Dune Tabletop Game

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Dune: House Secrets

Portal Games has announced their publishing plans for 2021 at this past weekend’s PortalCon. The biggest announced was a trilogy of Dune-themed cooperative adventure games using the Detective system. The first game will be released in the fall of 2021. The games come as a partnership between Gale Force Nine, Legendary Entertainment, Herbert Properties, and Genuine Entertainment.

Using the cooperative game system from Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, Dune: House Secrets has players taking on the roles of rebels. They must solve a series of missions with a finite amount of time and resources. Players must cooperate and decide on what regions to explore, follow leads, leverage allies, and overcome oposition. They’ll use a variety of physical and digital components to drive the narrative.

The experience begins with a Prologue meant to introduce players to the world of Dune and then from there are three adventures, each taking two to three hours to complete. Players will level up their characters and unlock new options in future gameplay. Each adventure can be played as standalone experiences. But, if players complete all three episodes, they will unravel a master game narrative that will have a lasting impact on the two future games in the trilogy.

Dune: House Secrets is designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and written by Przemysław Ryme.

Eleven: Football Manager Board Game

Eleven is the number of players on the pitch at any given time. To be the best in the league, it takes a lot, like an incredible manager. Eleven: Football Manager Board Game is a strategy game where players manage and grow their own football club.

During the game, players hire staff members, including trainers, physical therapists, PR specialists, and directors. They acquire sponsors, expand the stadium infrastructure, and take care of your club’s position in social media. Among many tasks on the list are also transfers of new players, and choosing the right tactics for each of the upcoming matches.

Eleven is a scenario-drive game featuring six different scenarios to challenge players with different starting situations and goals for the season.

The game is designed by Dutch author Thomas Jansen. It’s made for 1-4 players and the game lasts 60-120 minutes, depending on the number of players.

Dreadful Circus

Dreadful is a set collection game where players attempt to create the most successful circus. Over the course of the game, players buy cards that have special final scoring rules. As the game progresses, and more cards are gained, each player develops their own final scoring rules. The result is where every game is unique and no player scores the same way.

Dreadful Circus – designed by industry icon Bruno Faidutti – is for 4-8 players and plays in 30-40 minutes. Gamers will love this extremely clever card game.

Empires of the North: The Wrath of the Lighthouse

Empires of the North: The Wrath of the Lighthouse is a story-driven solo campaign for the award-winning engine-building card game: Empires of the North.

The expansion comes with 15 unique solo scenarios played in the order corresponding with the story included in the Campaign book. When playing the campaign mode, players gain access to the new type of cards including Event cards, Legacy locations cards that last from one game to another, and Lighthouses cards that are shuffled to Island decks. Additionally, each of the scenarios can be played individually, just like the scenarios in the base game.

In story mode, you will play alongside a Campaign book and slowly discover how the plot unfolds. Why is the number of lighthouses on the coast increasing? Why do the people so strongly oppose the cathedral being rebuilt? And those seas constantly assaulted by storms…

Empires of the North: The Wrath of the Lighthouse is designed by Joana Kijanka, co-designer of the base game and all previously released expansions to the game. The expansion includes 55 cards, a Scenario booklet with 15 unique scenarios, and a Campaign book with more than 50 story branches.

Neuroshima Hex: Beasts

Neuroshima Hex: Beasts is a new faction expansion to the best-selling Portal Games evergreen title Neuroshima Hex. The new army represents various animal species that survived Moloch’s attack. These beasts are fierce, and they have but a single goal: to protect their territory. They spare no one, including their own. The expansion introduces a new game concept – friendly fire. Ferocity and wrath are unstoppable and units in the new army can damage their own friendly tiles.

Neuroshima Hex: Beasts was designed by Joanna Kijanka and developed by Michał Walczak, both names highly respected by fans and well known for their work on previous expansions for Neuroshima.

QST, the New Tabletop Gaming Subsription Service Launches

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Gaming industry veteran Cory Jones has announced the creation of tabletop gaming subscription service QST and the launch of the QST Kickstarter campaign. Pronounced “Quest,” the service offers a brand-new, small form factor tabletop game directly to subscribers every month. Each game is a collaboration between three creative visionaries from different fields who work together to deliver the different elements of the game: concept, design, and art. These high-profile creators include Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini, and Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game designers Adam and Brady Sadler, among many others. The Kickstarter campaign offers backers the opportunity to get the service at a reduced price of $12.99 a month and receive exclusives, including the chance to own a game only ever offered to Kickstarter backers.

The list of renowned creators for the first year of QST is divided up in terms of concept, design, and art. Working on game concepts are Jordan Weisman, Marv Wolfman, Nolan Bushnell, Dan Povenmire, Paul Dini, Justin Roiland, Jhonen Vasquez, Monte Cook, John Kovalic, R.A. Salvatore, Cory Jones, and Brom. The creators working on design are Matt Hyra, Adam and Brady Sadler, Matt Riddle, Richard Borg, Florent Grenier, Bruno Faidutti, Ben Cichoski and Danny Mandel, Paul Peterson, James Ernest, Seiji Kanai, Adam Poots, and Matt Fantastic. The art for the first year of QST will be created by Jakub Rebelka, Robb Mommaerts, Dan Brereton, Eduardo Vieira, Skinner, Yoshi Yoshitani, Jon Vermilyea, Tan Zhi Hui, Erol Otus, Walt Simonson, Ben Templesmith, Vincent Dutrait, and Mihajlo “the Mico” Dimitrovski.

The collaboration between the three creators of each game begins with the person behind the concept defining “the big idea,” as he dreams up the themes, worlds, and story elements of the game. Next, the designer takes the concept document and works “top down” to bring the theme to life and make the most compelling game possible. The game may be a literal interpretation of the concept or an in-depth exploration of one specific aspect; the main criteria is to find the fun. Once the design is complete, it is handed over to the artist, who crafts a distinctive visual appearance and components that bring the concept and game design to life. Some of the QST artists come from parts of the art world that have not been represented in tabletop gaming before, so they will bring a distinctive perspective to their work.

Each set of three creators will determine the components needed in the small form factor box (4.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches)to bring the game to life, which could include—but are not limited to—cards, tiles, meeples, timers, dices, and spinners. QST games will target 2-4 players and a standard playing time of 30-45 minutes, but the creators are given free rein to adjust this however they see fit.

One of the goals of QST is to create truly collectible board games. The company will utilize high quality game production and packaging and feature art that will never be used again in that form, with a one-year, mandatory “cool down” period before a game is considered for reprint. In the case of a reprint, the art and packaging will be different and will not include any sub-promo materials, such as minor additions from the designer, variant cards, or small extra components.

QST is offering those that support the Kickstarter campaign a discounted subscription rate of $12.99 each month, plus shipping. Each backer will be allowed to renew forever at this price, as long as his or her subscription remains in good standing. For consumers who do not contribute to the Kickstarter campaign, the monthly price will be $19.99 (12 months) or $22.99 (six months).

As a promotion during the Kickstarter campaign, QST is running a contest to create the idea for a Kickstarter-exclusive 13th game. The promotion is open to anyone who tweets a picture of their game idea on the official template official template. The submission that receives the most combined favorites and retweets will be the 13th game sent to all Kickstarter backers as part of their subscription for the first year. The winner’s idea will be the base concept for an amazing game designer and artist to build upon. This game will not be part of the regular subscription and will never be produced again, instantly becoming the rarest of QST games.

The first QST game to be mailed to consumers will be FORECLOSURE: Dungeon Masters Tavern, created by the trio of Cory Jones (concept), Matt Hyra (design), and Robb Mommaerts (art). It is a 2-4 player blind auction game that pits players against “boss monsters” in a race to acquire the most precious loot. Players will have to outbid the other monsters and dodge the effects of angry adventurers by using the items they have acquired to buff their bids or sabotage the other players. FORECLOSURE: Dungeon Masters Tavern is set to mail to QST subscribers on March 1, 2018.