Looking for a cheerful, lighthearted game to take your mind off things? Or would you rather play a disease and wipe out a continent? Yeah, me too, so BTRC‘s Black Death [EDIT: a new version, apparently, not an entirely new title] seems right up my alley. For 2-6 plaguers – er, players – the goal is to kill off the population of 14th century Europe faster than the other competing diseases. Billed as “a different sort of conquest than your average wargame”, this PDF-only game looks as well made as any print wargame, with the advantages of zero shipping time and a $8 pricetag. Take a look, and pick one up if you’re willing to admit just how twisted you really are.
Black Death is not a new game.
I have a printed copy that BTRC published several years ago.
Which is probably why it looks as good as any print wargame.
It’s more than several years old, I think it was a 1993 print, that’s a 15 year old game. Allan, if you want a review of this, let me know. I know Greg well, and I can probably talk him into a review copy of the game.
Since I have the original version of the game, I can do a comparison. BTW — the new version of the game has FANTASTICALLY better artwork for the board. The original map was almost entirely abstract.
Greg Porter (of BTRC) really has the board/card game design bug in the last year or so, and really wants to produce some high quality board games, but doesn’t seem inclined to risk tens of thousands of dollars on each game and get back into the grind of dealing with the distribution chain, so he’s been working hard on finding the right games to bring to the PDF market.
I think this may be a good choice. I haven’t played Black Death in a while, but from my memory it’s one of Greg’s best designs.
I think the PDF version has some slightly altered rules options (like new types of specialized diseases, etc.) that were lacking from the print version.
If the Ogre Cave staff or Ogre Cave fans are interested in seeing a review of this, let me know.
Lee Valentine
Pookie & Lee: Ah, so it’s a new version of an older title. Gotta say, the website isn’t very clear on that, and neither is the press release I received. Still, a new version is worthy of mentioning, and I like the theme. Thanks for the clarifications. I think I’ll adjust my post’s title slightly. 🙂