Fort designer’s next game is another inventive deckbuilder, Nine Ravens
Remake of 2017's Five Ravens.
The designer behind last year’s card game Fort has revealed his next release, a remake of 15-minute thieving deckbuilder Five Ravens.
Grant Rodiek originally released Five Ravens via his own label Hyperbole Games following a Kickstarter campaign in 2017, with the game - retitled to Nine Ravens - now seeing a wider release through Cyclades, Captain Sonar and Treasure Island publisher Matagot. Fort was similarly self-published by Rodiek as Roman-themed card game SPQF, before seeing a re-release last year as the game about kids working together (or against each other) to build structures from household items.
Rodiek said Nine Ravens will feature new artwork from JJ Ariosa, with the gameplay largely the same. “The focus was polish, improved experience, improved presentation, and all done so coherently,” Rodiek tweeted last year. “If you like Five Ravens, Nine Ravens will be easier to teach, smoother to play, and better to put on the table.”
According to Matagot (via BoardGameGeek), Nine Ravens will effectively be a deluxe edition of Five Ravens, offering “more intuitive components and gameplay”.
Gameplay sees players using the same nine cards over just five rounds to try and steal the most valuable relics from the baron. Players choose to play one of their ravens for its action, or use it as a thief - with the higher-ranked thieves able to choose which relics they steal first. Thieves can be captured, which triggers additional effects for the player and permanently removes the raven from their deck for the rest of the game. Nine Ravens plays in around 15 to 20 minutes with two to four people.
Obtained relics are added to the player’s deck, making the game a mixture of a deckbuilder and tableau-builder, as players place cards both in front of them and into their individual deck, which is reshuffled each time it runs out, introducing new cards to the mix.
Matagot will reportedly release Nine Ravens later in 2021. The publisher announced on Instagram it would launch a Kickstarter campaign for the upcoming game, with a date for the crowdfunding campaign yet to be confirmed.