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Shape Rice Paddies, Build Pillars to the Gods, and Raid Outposts in the Red North

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by W. Eric Martin

Let's take another pass at a few titles debuting at SPIEL Essen 25:

▪️ In addition to Movie Tricks, which I wrote about in early June 2025, Norwegian publisher Chilifox Games will release Fortunes of Scoundrel Bay from Vegard Eliassen Stillerud, Eilif Svensson, and Åsmund Svensson.

Here's an overview of this 1-4 player game:

You have finally reached the archipelago of Scoundrel Bay! Here, amidst treasures and dangers, fortune awaits any crew daring — or foolish — enough to seize it.

In Fortunes of Scoundrel Bay, players are pirate captains who try to collect the most gold by conquering harbors, seeking hideouts, delivering crates, digging up treasures, and gaining reputation by fighting monsters. During the game, each player builds up their crew to unlock stronger actions such as digging for treasure, invading hideouts, and picking up and delivering crates. On your turn, play one card from your hand and choose one of three actions for it:

• Recruit
• Sail and shoot monster
• Invade

You may not pick the same action you took on your previous turn. The deck contains 84 unique, multi‑use cards, and every card works with all three actions. After each of five reefs, you resolve an event and feed your crew. The game ends as soon as a captain crosses the fifth reef. Sailing quickly shortens the game, but racing ahead might leave your engine too weak to claim victory.

▪️ At SPIEL Essen 24, La Mame Games released a small print run of Sær from designer James Dickinson, and at SPIEL Essen 25 Mighty Boards will release a tweaked version of this design as Red North. Here's the pitch for this 2-4 player game:

Battle horns echo across the North...the time for conquest has come! Sharpen your axes and send your fiercest heroes and raiders to seize control of the Northern Outposts. Early victories may bring glory, but beware for during Ragnarok, the Gods themselves may tip the scales. Only those who outsmart their enemies will claim victory.

Red North is a combative game of hidden information and bluffing in which players compete, through hidden hands of various factions of warriors, to conquer outposts of corresponding factions. Knowing when to commit and when to bow out is key in winning you the game!

Players will deploy raiding parties to try to gain control of various outposts. By deploying more raiders, jarls, and heroes, a player reveals which outposts they are battling for, giving away their strategic position. Resources are scarce, so players must balance their deployed warriors with the need to reserve a party large enough to compete in the final "Ragnarok" round — where even the Norse Gods become involved.

This new edition of the design features a remixed set of outpost abilities, with some outposts giving tokens that you can use despite not owning the outpost, as well as eight unique gods.

Non-final cover▪️ Speaking of Mighty Boards, I'll pop off focus to mention a 2026 title that will undoubtedly be demoed at SPIEL Essen 25 — Agea: Pillars of the Gods, a 2-4 player game from the design team of Trevor Benjamin, Brett J. Gilbert, and David Thompson:

As a seafaring builder in ancient Greece, in Agea you'll navigate the archipelago, constructing towering monuments to the gods and vying for control of sacred islands.

Agea is an elegant, yet deeply strategic area control game for 2-4 players in which every stone shapes your path to victory. The rules are simple: Sail the seas to establish new towers or strengthen existing ones. Along the way, collect God stones and unleash their divine powers at the right moment. With eight unique God powers, each game offers fresh strategies and dynamic gameplay, ensuring high variability.

▪️ Paddy is a 2-4 player game from Alberto Camaño that will be the fourth title in 2Tomatoes Games' "Natural Wonders" series following Coral, Islet, and Gold Nugget.

Here's a summary of what you're doing in the game:

In Paddy, you transform the landscape by creating terraces of rice paddies in the mountains of southeast Asia. On each turn, you decide what type of tile to add to the paddy and whether to place it in the day or night half. With each new tile, the paddy grows and adapts to the flow of water, preparing the ground for your species to thrive.

While you collaborate with others to sculpt a landscape of terraces and water channels, you also compete to secure the best pastures for your species. With each decision, you influence the growth of the paddy and the irrigation of its fields. The winner will be whoever has the most points at the end of four cycles.

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