Unlock! captures the feel of an escape room without having to actually go out and get yourselves locked in a room. And soon, you'll have three new adventures to go on as Space Cowboys has announced a
Unlock! captures the feel of an escape room without having to actually go out and get yourselves locked in a room. And soon, you'll have three new adventures to go on as Space Cowboys has announced a trio of Unlock! expansions based on Star Wars.
From the post:
This fall, Unlock! is moving to a galaxy far, far away….
Get ready for Star Wars The Escape Game. Three original adventures filled with ships, droids, and action!
CMON has announced a new game that they will be releasing next year. Originally announced by Space Cowboy, CMON has entered into an agreement to make Victorian Masterminds. In it, players will be some
CMON has announced a new game that they will be releasing next year. Originally announced by Space Cowboy, CMON has entered into an agreement to make Victorian Masterminds. In it, players will be some of history's most evil masterminds, who are seizing on the opportunity created by Sherlock Holmes' disappearance. But there's still the Secret Service to contend with. Will one of the masterminds take over the world? Will the Secret Service be able to stop them? That's up to you to decide.
From the announcement:
In Victorian Masterminds, 2 to 4 players assume the roles of evil masterminds looking to take advantage of the disappearance of the world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes. While Europe sits unprotected, players send forth their henchmen to different cities to utilize their varied abilities, collect material for the masterminds’ steampunk-inspired contraptions, destroy buildings, and complete missions. Meanwhile, the Secret Service follows their paths of destruction. Every evil mastermind’s contraption is unique and allows them to take different actions as well, leading to highly strategic, asymmetric gameplay. When an evil mastermind completes their contraption or the Secret Service will no longer stand for their villainy to continue, the game ends, and the player who generated the most victory points wins.
Eric M. Lang, Director of Game Design at CMON and Victorian Masterminds’ co-designer, says, “Working with Antoine Bauza on this project was a true pleasure, and I’m excited that fans will be able to get their hands on this game very soon.”
CMON is pleased to have worked with Space Cowboys to add Victorian Masterminds to its library of games. Fans will be able to find the game at their FLGS in 2018.
Sherlock Holmes was the greatest detective ever (... well... at least next to Batman). If you're looking to fit in his shoes and head to the streets of London, solving all sorts of cases, you're in lu
Sherlock Holmes was the greatest detective ever (... well... at least next to Batman). If you're looking to fit in his shoes and head to the streets of London, solving all sorts of cases, you're in luck Asmodee and Space Cowboy have announced that they're coming out with 10 new mysteries for Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective.
From the announcement:
The fog creeping its way through the streets of London envelopes you in mist. The streets are lined with gas lit lamps, highlighting the various shops and other establishments. Victorian London is known for its greatness, but within the dark streets, devious acts of crime are committed far too often. Outcries from the beautiful Queen’s Park can be heard, warning all that are within earshot that something is perpetually amiss. Whispers in dark taverns mention the mysterious Carlton House Mansion—the crimes that have been committed inside are both unspeakable and incredibly difficult to solve. However, even the most difficult cases to crack are only but a mere game for the world’s greatest detective: Sherlock Holmes.
Space Cowboys is proud to present a brand new standalone collection of 10 cases to solve in the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective game line, with Carlton House & Queen’s Park. Some of these cases include the long out-of-print expansions from the original game by Ystari, both updated and revised.
You find yourself in a dark and spooky house. Lightning strikes outside, briefly illuminating your surroundings. You start to hear strange noises from somewhere in the house. You run. You trip. You hi
You find yourself in a dark and spooky house. Lightning strikes outside, briefly illuminating your surroundings. You start to hear strange noises from somewhere in the house. You run. You trip. You hit your head. And that's when you wake up inside a submarine, deep underwater. The hull is creaking. Water is seeping in. You need to find a way out! You go from one room to the next, but bang your head on a portal as you go through. You wake up on a beach. It seems nice and pleasant, until a cutlass is pointed at your face and you realize you're surrounded by pirates! Those three adventures are the next in the Unlock! series of "escape room"-style games coming from Asmodee and Space Cowboys.
From the announcement:
A haunted house. An undersea submarine. Pirate treasure buried on Tonipal Island. Three new adventures and three new chances to escape from certain danger—three new Unlock! adventures are coming soon from Space Cowboys:
The House on the Hill The Nautilus’ Traps The Tonipal’s Treasure
Like the three previously released Unlock! adventures, each of these new adventures captures the pulse-pounding excitement and devilish puzzles of an escape room and brings it to your tabletop in a single deck of cards. While the Unlock! companion app ticks away the seconds and offers hints when you need them, you and a group of your friends must use your logic and deductive skills to find the solutions to a series of interconnected puzzles and escape the room. With the perfect mixture of intuitive mechanics, cunning puzzles, and only an hour to escape, each Unlock! adventure is a self-contained experience in a single box.
Many of you have played Splendor. Many of you have thoroughly enjoyed it (considering all the accolades it's gotten). But, perhaps, over time, you've grown too familiar with the game. It's good, but i
Many of you have played Splendor. Many of you have thoroughly enjoyed it (considering all the accolades it's gotten). But, perhaps, over time, you've grown too familiar with the game. It's good, but it could use something new added. Well, Asmodee and Space Cowboy are here to help with the Cities of Splendor expansions for the game. Yes, "expansions." This one box is actually four expansions in one. Pick and choose which to add to the game to create whole new experiences each time you play.
From the announcement:
The great cities of Europe at the height of the Renaissance—a place where enlightened thought is paired with astounding feats of architecture, sculpture, and painting. It is an age of great change in the world, but above all else, it is an age of undeniable splendor.
For years, you’ve reveled in the diamond-hard puzzles of Splendor, one of the most award-winning board games of all time. Now, Space Cowboys is proud to present a new expansion: Cities of Splendor. In Cities of Splendor, you’ll leave the comforting familiarity of the European gem trade and travel to the Orient, where new rules and cards invite you to adapt your strategies. With four expansions in a single box, Cities of Splendor offers you four thrilling new ways to experience the game, opening the door to new levels of replayability without sacrificing any of the original game’s unique elegance.
Cities of Splendor will go on sale at Gen Con and then to North American retailers shortly thereafter.
Well, it's almost like the week is getting back on schedule, even though it's Saturday. I woke up. I got groceries. I'm now typing up the Review Roundup in my living room while listening to music and
Well, it's almost like the week is getting back on schedule, even though it's Saturday. I woke up. I got groceries. I'm now typing up the Review Roundup in my living room while listening to music and contemplating the rest of my day. Sort of nice to get things back to how they should be. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Anyway, as it's Saturday, it's time to get you those review articles I know you all so desperately desire. So let's get to it.
Today we have: Knot Dice Deluxe, Via Nebula, Lords of Hellas, 12 Realms: Dungeonland, 1754 Conquest: The French and Indian War, Star Realms: Colony Wars and United Expansions, Tournament of Towers, Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, Tesla vs. Edison: Duel, Balloon Pop, Terra Mystica App, Star Trek Panic, Sagrada, Yokohama, Ravage: Dungeons of Plunder, and EXIT: The Game - The Secret Lab.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Lords of Hellas from Awaken Realms. This is the second video in a 2 part series looking at the game play and mechanics. The first video was an overview of the miniatures and components. So if you want to see everything up close - please watch the component overview video.
theMCGuiRE review takes a look at the new kickstarter 12 Realms: Dungeonland from Mage Company. This is based in the 12 Realms universe with all your favorite characters! The difference in this game vs 12 Realms is this is a fantastic dungeon crawler that is very satisfying as you customize your characters with skill tree's available to each character in the game.
Every now and then a game system comes along that delivers a refreshing jolt to all that’s come before it. It’s often something that makes you ask, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
1754 Conquest: The French & Indian War, the latest in Academy Games’ Birth of America Series, manages to bring the familiar game play of its predecessors, but with enough differences to make purchasing this historical gem worthwhile.
Star Realms Colony Wars stand alone expansion and the United expansion attempt to expand the success of releases with new ships and mechanics. Since I am covering several Star Realms in this review, I’ve broken them up more specifically below.
While there are a few different variants on play (family mode, mulligans, etc), the basic game play in Tournament of Towers has players stacking oddly shaped pieces with the goal of creating the tallest tower worth the most points. Using a system of piece values and card drafting, players must make it through two rounds of stacking if they hope to win the tournament.
Players sit in the roles of countries trying to develop industry and energy production over a period of time roughly from the end of World War II to the present day. Throughout the game, players will construct buildings, power plants as dice, and manage the pollution in their environment with the aim of scoring the most points.
Players in Tesla vs Edison: Duel take on the role of rival inventors trying to spread the gospel of alternating or direct current. In the game, each player plays projects and takes control of companies via a shared collection across three regions of the United States. What develops is card play with area control where the player with greater area strength claims the spoils. Players can win instantly or by accumulating points after three rounds.
In Balloon Pop! players try to score the most points by coming close to, but not reaching, the top of the scoring columns on their score sheets. Like Icarus, you want to fly as high as you can without getting too close to the sun. Each score sheet is composed of six columns of numbers, with a column for each side of the dice: the colors yellow, blue, and red, and the symbols star, moon, and diamond.
Terra Mystica (the board game and the app) is an engine- and network-building/resource conversion game for one to five players. Players control fantasy races in the land of Terra Mystica, trying to shape the land into habitable quarters and advance in the elemental religions. The player with the most victory points is the winner.
In many ways Ravage: Dungeons of Plunder is a typical dungeon crawler and in its basic premise I have to say that there isn't a huge amount of original ideas in the game. You'll venture into dark depths, kill monsters, grab loot, level up and hopefully last long enough to take on the story's goal. But Ravage puts a few interesting tweaks into the age old formula and wraps it up in a package of beautiful artwork and striking graphic design.
You may have noticed a surge in the number or Escape Room style board games appearing over the last few months. Fresh on the heels of cooperative puzzle games like TIME Stories comes a whole range of one-time puzzles based on the escape room phenomenon that is gripping the world. If you are like me, and live at the arse end of nowheresville you will most likely not have had an opportunity to visit one of these experiences.
Thankfully system like Unlock, Escape the Room and EXIT allow you to experience these cooperative puzzle sessions at home. We were lucky to receive a copy of EXIT The Secret Lab from Kosmos and so the opportunity of a bank holiday weekend meant I was able to lock ourselves into the dining room after a Sunday roast and see if the Tudor family was clever enough to escape a devious laboratory.
And we've come to another Saturday. Ah, the possibilities for today. I'm sure a lot of you are spending it at Adepticon. Me? I've picked up a bunch of snacks and some drinks and am going to watch some
And we've come to another Saturday. Ah, the possibilities for today. I'm sure a lot of you are spending it at Adepticon. Me? I've picked up a bunch of snacks and some drinks and am going to watch some MST3K on Netflix. Because I'm cool like that. ;) Anyway, I know what you're all here for isn't my choice of fizzy beverage, but for reviews. So let's get to it.
Today we have: Realm-Master, Unlock, WizKids Unpainted Miniatures, Arkham Horror The Card Game, Bushi No Yume, Ronin, Element, Guns & Steel: Renaissance, Bloc by Bloc, The Oracle of Delphi, Dragoon: The Rogue and Barbarian Expansion, RPG Coasters, Kingsport Festival: The Card Game, Running With the Bulls, Magic Maze, Faith: A Garden in Hell, and Moons.
If you follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram, you’ll know that we acquire a lot of miniatures at Nerds on Earth HQ. In fact, some folks would say I have a problem, but I can stop getting more miniatures any time I want. I promise.
Well, Wizkids came out with a new line of unpainted minis and I just had to have them.
Arkham Horror The Card Game certainly isn’t the first Lovecraft-inspired game in recent years. In fact, it’s one in a long line of games that uses your chosen character’s health and sanity as the counterweight to success and failure. Lose either of them, and you could become gravely wounded and die, or you might descend into madness. Remain “healthy,” and you keep hope alive, which is often more difficult than not.
Bushi No Yume (BNY) is a set of skirmish rules for fighting in ancient Japan, using either a historical of fantasy setting. They were written in 2010 by our friend Rich Jones.
BNY uses the same basic rules engine as Rich’s other set of rules, ‘Flying Lead’, so if you are a fan of any of those rules you will find much that is familiar.
To play Bushi No Yume, you will need several six-sided dice, a set of measuring sticks (size dependent upon miniature scale) 5-10 miniatures and area of play around 3? x 3? with some suitable scenery. You will also optionally need a set of Karma Cards. These cards can be found in the back of the rules – they will need to be removed, cut and placed in card prtocestors.
Ronin is a set of skirmish rules set in the Age of the Samurai, written by Craig Woodfield and published by Osprey Publishing as part of their Osprey Wargames series in 2013.
Each player has a warband, known as a Buntai, of between 4 and 20 models. A game usually takes place on a battlefield between 24? x 24? and 36? x 36?.
In Element players are wise sages with the power to control not only earth, wind and fire, but also water. Each will summon these forces in an epic battle – or fraternal hazing ritual – attempting to entrap their foes within a prison of nature.
Guns & Steel: Renaissance is a hand-building and hand-management civilization card game for two to four players. Players seek to steer their civilizations through several ages, adding civil, tactic, and military cards to their tableaus and collecting culture points. The player with the most culture wins.
Bloc by Bloc can be played fully or semi cooperatively. I’ve only played the semi cooperative version as it seemed to add more interesting elements to the game and I’m generally not a fan of fully cooperative games. As such, every player will be dealt a secret agenda card which will define how each player can achieve victory. Each agenda card has two separate win conditions. Every round, players check to see whether or not they’ve met one of the conditions to determine a winner. Over the course of the game, you’ll be manipulating the board state through your actions in order to meet your agenda conditions and hopefully win the game.
Players, acting as ancient mythological Greek heroes, are racing against each other to complete twelve tasks. They roll dice to take actions hoping to be the most efficient at combining tasks in nearby locations. The player to complete all twelve first and return home wins.
The aptly named Dragoon: The Rogue and Barbarian expansion adds two new roles to the game. Want to take a guess as to what they are?
All joking aside, this new expansion takes Dragoon from a completely symmetric game, where everyone plays the same role of a dragon, into the asymmetrical realm by giving players something new to try out.
RPG Coasters sent Board Game Quest a set of coasters with a nice wood stand that allows for the display of the coasters on a nearby human-sized shelf. The designs for this batch were of me and various nemeses that have tried to thwart me over the years. Tony says humans also like to roleplay that they are fighting the ancient ones in games of acting. It took me 15 human minutes to stop laughing. Apparently these designs reinforce human memory so they only need to look at the coaster to remember who they are. Sounds about right for humans.
In Kingsport Festival: The Card Game, players once again take on the role of cultists seeking to invoke the elder gods. Each round, players will be rolling dice and using the result to recruit elder god cards. These, in turn, will increase their action potential of the player on later turns.
In the game, players use handfuls of dice as runners, starting them at the top of the game board and playing cards to reroll those runners or influence opposing runners, with your goal for each of the three days being to get your runners to the fancy destinations (which are worth differing amounts of points) at the bottom of the board while avoiding the bulls that are chasing you.
Magic Maze is a real-time, cooperative game. Each player can control any hero in order to make that hero perform a very specific action, to which the other players do not have access: Move north, explore a new area, ride an escalator… All this requires rigorous cooperation between the players in order to succeed at moving the heroes prudently. However, you are allowed to communicate only for short periods during the game; the rest of the time, you must play without giving any visual or audio cues to each other. If all of the heroes succeed in leaving the shopping mall in the limited time allotted for the game, each having stolen a very specific item, then everyone wins together.
FAITH is set far into the future. Mankind has been conquered and become part of the Coalition, a uneasy truce between a number of alien races brought together to fight the Ravager, a genetically engineered hive like race kind of like a cross between Warhammer 40,000's Tyranids and Gears of War's Locusts, so hardly the kind of person you're going to invite over for afternoon tea.
Sherlock Holmes is arguably the greatest detective ever created. Jack the Ripper is one of the most notorious serial killers in history (who may or may not have even really existed). Pit one against t
Sherlock Holmes is arguably the greatest detective ever created. Jack the Ripper is one of the most notorious serial killers in history (who may or may not have even really existed). Pit one against the other and you're sure to have a "what if" for the ages. That's just what you get to do in Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures, which is now available for Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective from Asmodee and Space Cowboys.
From the release:
With light shed on the development of the Jack the Ripper campaign and the revisions on the West End Adventures, you're ready to begin investigating! The first of the new collection of Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective games, Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures can now be found at local game stores across the US.
The clock is ticking. Time is running out. You've got to escape. You're not entirely sure what happens when the timer hits 0, but you'd rather not find out. Thankfully, there's plenty of clues and hin
The clock is ticking. Time is running out. You've got to escape. You're not entirely sure what happens when the timer hits 0, but you'd rather not find out. Thankfully, there's plenty of clues and hints to help you figure out what the escape combination is. Now... you've just gotta figure out what all those esoteric items and clues mean. Get it right and get out. Get it wrong and time will only keep marching on. That's the story behind Unlock!, a set of cooperative card games coming from Asmodee and Space Cowboy.
Each deck contains 60 cards that you'll use to figure out the combination you're looking for. Up to 6 players will work together, having just an hour to figure out the correct sequence. A companion app with each one will keep track of the time remaining, as well as occasionally offering hints and new clues, plus it will let you know if you've entered the right code. There's currently 3 decks on the docket. You can expect them to be hitting store shelves in the 2nd quarter of next year.
Sherlock Holmes is widely known as one of the best detectives that has ever graced the literary world (along with Batman, of course). He got that way because he was able to solve difficult cases faste
Sherlock Holmes is widely known as one of the best detectives that has ever graced the literary world (along with Batman, of course). He got that way because he was able to solve difficult cases faster than anyone else by using his intuition as well as a very keen mind and attention to detail. But can you solve cases faster? That's just what you'll be trying to do in Watson & Holmes, coming soon from Asmodee and Space Cowboys, which is being adapted from a limited release by Ludonova (released last fall).
In the game, players take on the role of investigators looking to solve a crime. Obviously, you want to be the first one to find out what happened, as with being the first comes all the glory. Plus, you know, you solved a case and brought someone to justice. That's good, too, I guess. You'll do this by visiting various locations described in Watson's case notes in order to gain clues. However, only one detective can be looking for clues at a location at a time, so you'll have to get there quickly, or out-bid your opponents who are already there by spending Carriage tokens. Jot down notes on the clues given and deduce where to go next. Stuck in a bind? Call on your character ally card for a boost, or to set back your opponent's investigations.
Expect to see Watson & Holmes on store shelves sometime early in 2017.
Well, thankfully that mess is over. That was quite a horrid time, amirite? But that's done with and we can finally get busy making Nebula Valley back into the shining, lively, bustling place it used t
Well, thankfully that mess is over. That was quite a horrid time, amirite? But that's done with and we can finally get busy making Nebula Valley back into the shining, lively, bustling place it used to be. First, we gotta get some resources to rebuild our buildings. Of course, that means we've gotta head out into the meadows where unknown things still might lurk. Uh... you go first. That's the story behind Via Nebula, a new game from Asmodee and Space Cowboys.
In the game, players take on contracts in order to rebuild the Nebula Valley. Contracts will be posted and it's up to you to go and get the resources needed for each, clear paths through the meadow in order to transport said resources back to town, and then you can finally get to building. Finish a building and you'll get new abilities and riches, given to you by the thankful citizens. However, each contract can only be done by one player (the town doesn't need multiple City Halls, for example). And the contracts are available to every player. So you've gotta be quick if you want to be the first to finish them up.
After a player completes 5 buildings, that signals the final round of the game. Finish up whatever buildings you can and total up victory points. The one with the most becomes the Hero of Nebula Valley.
Expect to see the game on store shelves sometime in the 2nd quarter of this year.
Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!Saturday night's alright for fightin'! (as long as it's fighting battles out on the tabletop. Don't actually go out and get into fights, peopl
Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! Saturday night's alright for fightin'! (as long as it's fighting battles out on the tabletop. Don't actually go out and get into fights, people) When this posts, I'll be hanging out with Shaughn, our warehouse manager/resident tattoo artist, getting myself my 2nd tattoo. Should be good times.
Anyway, while I have some ink permanently injected into my skin, you can check out some game reviews.
This week our review/preview products include: Seven Card Samurai, 7 Wonders: Duel, King Chocolate, Sentinels of the Multiverse: Vengeance, Twilight Struggle Collector's Edition, Nippon, The Best Treehouse Ever, T.I.M.E. Stories, Bermuda Crisis: Discovery Dawning, Sheriff of Nottingham, Cthulhu Wars, Soldiers of God, Space Crusade, Concordia, Abyss, and Dark Stories.
Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) was a famed and prolific Japanese filmmaker. Noted for masterpieces such as Drunken Angel, Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, his movies were technical marvels and explored gritty themes surrounding the master-student relationship, heroes, man’s struggles against nature and of course violence. They were also grueling to make. Filming lasted hours and hours with abundant downtime for cast and crew. So they demanded entertainment between takes and other tasks. So Kurosawa invented this card game, Seven Card Samurai.
7 Wonders: Duel is a drafting/tableau building game for two players. Players collect cards to advance their civilizations. The player who achieves military or scientific superiority or who scores the most victory points is the winner.
King Chocolate is a tile-laying/production chain game for two to five players. Players are chocolatiers striving to earn money through controlling various steps in the chocolate-making process. The player with the most money wins.
You’ve played Sentinels of the Multiverse before, right? You should probably check out our review if you haven’t, but here’s a quick summary: one villain. Four (or five, or three) heroes. The villain takes a turn, which is automated, and involves drawing a card from the villain deck and activating any available powers. Then, each hero player gets a turn to play one card and use one power. Each superhero has a unique set of abilities that allow them to attack enemies, defend themselves and their allies, and provide buffs and boosts to the team. The game ends when all the heroes are defeated, OR when the supervillain is destroyed. That’s it in a nutshell.
Recently, young publishers Space Cowboys released a game called TIME Stories. This rather unique board game borrows from the premise of these great movies and sends players through a looping series of games. In TIME Stories, players are temporal agents who travel back in time to accomplish a specific mission. However, unless you are very lucky, chances are it will take you more than one game to achieve your goals. Does this looping mechanic work on our tabletop? Let’s dive in and find out.
TIME Stories is a Cooperative deduction game for 2-4 players that takes about 60-90 minutes to play. In my experience, TIME Stories plays best with 4 players.
Today we are going to look at a new tabletop game currently in funding on Kickstarter. Bermuda Crisis: Discovery Dawning is a game for 2-4 players that plays in about an hour.
The game uses a resource management system and technology tree for players to explore the island of Bermuda and discover interesting powers and artifacts that can be used throughout the game. The game can also feature a healthy dose of player negotiating if players hope to be successful.
Prince John is going to Nottingham! Players take the roles of merchants to gain profits by selling goods in the city while Prince is here. But at first, players must get their goods through the city gate which is guarded by the Sheriff of Nottingham. Will you play it safe with legal goods and make a profit or risk everything and sneak past with illicit goods? Be careful because Sheriff is watching for liars all the time and he can take your goods for himself!
Will you be able to make a deal with the Sheriff or will you persuade him to inspect another player while you quietly go through gate? It’s time for you to become strategy-minded merchant and get rich!
Cthulhu Wars – is a strategy board game published by «Green Eye Games» where players have an opportunity to become the alien race and god taken from the Cthulhu mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft. This game is quite large and includes 64 miniatures of cultists, monsters, aliens and Great Old Ones that differs in height from 20 mm to almost 180 mm. Main designer of this piece of horror is Sandy Petersen. The artworks have been created by Richard Luong.
Soldiers of God is designed for playing tabletop battles during the period of the Crusades. The book is in A5 format, is printed on high quality, glossy paper and comes complete with a deck of action cards to play the game – so the first thing to say is that the book looks great. It contains photographs of nicely painted miniatures, both to illustrate rules and as eye candy.
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. How you remember the games that you played many years ago can be very different from the reality. They were the games that defined your history in gaming so you place them upon a pedestal.
Space Crusade is one such game. It introduced me to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, opened my eyes to the world of tactical miniatures games and cemented my love of hobby board games. But is it any good, or do the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia obscure the reality?
A new Space hulk has been discovered by the Imperium of Man, and the chances of a millenniums old spaceship appearing from the warp and not be filled with the agents of Chaos is quite frankly next to zero so you take the role of a squad of Space Marines from either the Blood Angels, Ultramarine or Imperial Fists chapter, while another player controls the alien menace occupying the ancient space ship and blast the crap out of each other.
Could this be the end for Shut Up & Sit Down? The year has barely started and yet it already seems that Quinns is... is leaving us? For a board game? Have any of you seen him? Please get in touch!
Face it, this was inevitable. We all knew the day would come. But why, of all games, was it Concordia? What's so special about it? And how will Matt and I cope with the news? (Clue: WE WON'T.)
In Abyss you must gain ally cards to recruit lords and locations for Victory Points. This game has a blend of press your luck, resource management and set collection.
With this post, we'll have absolutely everything caught up since before Gen Con. We've had some Snippets. We've had some Terrain Corners. We've had a Podcast Roundup. Now it's just time to go through
With this post, we'll have absolutely everything caught up since before Gen Con. We've had some Snippets. We've had some Terrain Corners. We've had a Podcast Roundup. Now it's just time to go through the reviews.
So without further ado, here's your Saturday Review Roundup.
In this batch we have reviews/previews of: Sentinel Tactics Uprising Expansion, Marvel Dice Masters: Age of Ultron, Batman Fluxx, Codenames, Carcassonne, Arctic Scavengers: Recon, Elysium, Kahuna, King's Ransom Deluxe, Machi Koro, Machi Koro Harbor Expansion, Systema Gaming Base-0 Habitat Units 1 and 2, and Die Waffenkammer's T-34/76.
Age of Ultron is the latest expansion for Marvel Dice Masters. It has a bunch of Avengers and introduces the Guardians of the Galaxy and other new characters.
Codenames was the smash hit of Gen Con this year. It’s still perched happily atop BoardGameGeek’s “Hotness” sidebar, it sold out despite having a terrible name and a terrible box, and it’s the game I heard most people gossiping about. Under such crushing hype, and knowing that articles will soon be flowing in, today we're offering our review early.
While the rest of team SU&SD is away at GenCon, engaging in all sorts of cardboard debauchery, Paul takes the opportunity to sneakily make a video about an old classic and personal favourite, explaining why he thinks Carcassonne deserves the Shut Up & Sit Down treatment.
He also cooks himself.
We have nothing but apologies to offer for this video being a little late. That cooking (a pretty serious one), combined with some audio gremlins, was a bit of a setback. Don't worry, Paul is now regularly lathering himself in various balms.
HELLO! And keep your voice down. It’s me, Arctic Scavengers Quinns, from our Arctic Scavengers review! Contrary to popular belief I didn’t die at the 10:26 mark. Like all good cliffhanger TV you didn’t see me get shot, leaving the screenwriters free to bring me back at a whim.
And we’ve got one heck of a juicy whim for you today. Arctic Scavengers: Recon is a big expansion for this phenomenal deckbuilding game of frosty bluffs, fully compatible with the “HQ” expansion in the base game. It’s also available in a box that combines Recon, HQ and the base game, which is quite the offers if this deceitful game slipped you by the first time.
It’s 2015 now and the minds at Space Cowboys have finally given us their newest offering, Elysium. In this card drafting game, players take on the role of a Demigod who is trying to secure their place on Mt. Olympus. Will Elysium score this hot new game publisher a trifecta of fun games or have the finally made their first misstep. Let’s find out!
Elysium is a card drafting and set collection game for 2-4 players that takes about 60 minutes to play. Elysium plays best with 3-4 players.
I was offered a chance to review Kahuna, another two-player game published by Kosmos, and I jumped at the opportunity. Who wouldn’t want to take on the role of one of two opposing “ancient sorcerers of the Pacific,” a.k.a. Kahunas? I am NOT making this up… it is on the back of the box.
Kahuna is an abstract game about building and destroying bridges in order to capture and hold the majority of islands in a fictional tropical setting. It is a two-player game only and can be played between 30 and 45 minutes – 30 if you are both gamers, 45 minutes if one of the two gamers playing happens to be my spouse.
King’s Ransom is a fast-paced card game version of Chess with a constricted “board.” Cards represent the familiar Chess pieces and – in the base game – move in the usual manner. The Deluxe edition includes some fun, non-traditional adaptations of those units and adds a little deck-building element.
Machi Koro is a light card game and in it, you are the mayor of Machi Koro. Your job is to make your city the largest in the region. You will use your cards and dice to build buildings, collect income, and install public works. Succeed and your citizens will love you and probably build a statue in your honor. Fail and they’ll probably all move into the winner’s awesome city leaving you with nothing to be mayor of.
You’ve built your city in Machi Koro and become the Mayor that everyone loves. But, as with all politicians, you crave more. More Establishments! More Landmarks! More ways to make money! Machi Koro – The Harbor Expansion answers your pleas by giving you a little bit more of everything to work with. The question that has to be asked is this: Is more better, or is it just more?
We’re back with part 2 of our Base-0 wargaming buildings reviews. Last time we built and reviewed the HQ Unit, and this time we’re building both the Habitat Unit 1 and Habitat Unit 2 kits from Systema Gaming. These are laser-cut MDF modular terrain kits for wargaming, and suit sci-fi games like infinity and Warhammer 40k.
The order of days has progressed as it always does and we once more find ourselves deposited in Saturday. It's certainly my favorite day of the week. As this gets posted, I'm working on putting minis
The order of days has progressed as it always does and we once more find ourselves deposited in Saturday. It's certainly my favorite day of the week. As this gets posted, I'm working on putting minis together. That activity is my favorite part of the entire gaming hobby. As such, I'm having a really good day. Hopefully you are, too.
But to the business at hand: reviews of games.
Today's batch includes reviews/previews of: Splendor App, Ticket to Ride: Alvin and Dexter, Rhino Hero, Word on the Street, Awkward Family Photos, Traders of Osaka, Blood Rage, and Dawn of the Zeds 3rd edition.
The basic theme of Ticket to Ride is that five old friends have made a million-dollar bet to see who can travel by rail to the most cities within seven days in turn of the century America (or other destinations, if you buy the various expansions/map packs). Note that nowhere in that description is there any mention of aliens, dinosaurs, or science fiction of any kind. But that’s exactly what Alvin and Dexter introduces to Ticket to Ride. Aliens and dinosaurs are taking over the cities you’re trying to reach and, in the process, seriously complicating your efforts to build your rail network. It’s a very weird thematic addition and the question is: Do monsters make everything better, or do they just cause a train wreck?
Poor Rhino Hero. He just wants to save the day. Yet while he is able to scale buildings with ease, his enormous girth is often more of a liability than an aid to the lawful citizens he is trying to protect. With Rhino Hero around, the building is safe from burglars–but will it be safe from toppling?
When we here at iSlaytheDragon put together our gift guide last Christmas, I chose Word on the Street as my recommendation for best social game. After I picked it, I realized that we’d never properly reviewed it. Whoops. It took a while, but Word on the Street is finally getting the review it deserves… Just in time for “Christmas in July.”
When I was a teenager everyone at my school was into Oasis, I wasn’t I was into Metallica. This may seem to be an odd way to start a review but this how I feel about Summoner Wars, because everyone seems to rave about how good Summoner Wars is, and I really can’t stand the game.
On paper Summoner Wars sounds like my kind of game, you take a deck of cards to represent your faction of fantasy creatures and then play out combat over a strategic grid. The aim of the game is to kill the opposing summoner and you do this by summoning units to the battlefield, casting spells and careful manoeuvring. In short, Summoner Wars is a cross between Magic the Gathering and Warmachine, which sounds awesome.
Unfortunately I really don’t like Summoner Wars, I’ve tried but the whole thing just leaves me cold, so let’s see if we can work out why.
The board game Awkward Family Photos, based on the website of the same name that features photographs that should have stayed tucked away in the family album, invites players to ponder the inner lives of the sad specimens depicted on the cards in order to score and win. On a turn, the active player rolls the die, then moves a pawn around the perimeter of the game board to determine which question to ask about the photo revealed from the top of the deck. Samples questions include “Which celebrity would fit into this shot?” and “What was the last thing someone in this picture said before the photo was taken?” Each other player secretly submits an answer, then the active player reads them aloud and chooses her favorite answer. This player places a token on this photo image on the game board. With four or more players, the active player then guesses who submitted which answers; if correct, she places a token on the game board, too. The first player to place all five of her tokens on the game board – or to place three tokens in a row – wins!
I’ve always been a fan of games with a Japanese theme. From the old Avalon Hill game Shogun (renamed Samurai Swords and then renamed again to Ikusa) to the more “euroy” Ninjato to the family friendly panda game Takenoko, the far east as a theme is always high on my list of favorites.
Today, we are going to be setting aside our ninja hats (do ninja’s wear hats?) for that of a merchant. Welcome to Traders of Osaka (a reprinted and rethemed version of Traders of Carthage), where players enter into a fierce competition to deliver goods from Osaka to Edo. Will this game of commodity speculation and dangerous travel have you coming back for more or will it be consumed by the Black Tide. Let’s find out!
Traders of Osaka is an economic set collection and hand management game for 2-4 players that takes about 30 minutes to play. Traders of Osaka plays best with 2 players.
Before playing Dawn of the Zeds: Third Edition, I pretty much avowed myself away from having any interest in playing or owning a Zombie-themed game. I had played Dawn of the Zeds 2.0 long ago, but that game experience did not stick to my ribs as I would have hoped. When I was offered the chance to preview this version of Dawn of the Zeds, I was hesitant, but said to myself “It’s time to test the waters again”. Let’s see if I sank or swam.
Dawn of the Zeds: Third Edition in currently on Kickstarter and is a game for 1-4 players that takes around 90 minutes to play. Obviously, additional time will be needed for “learning” games. This game handles all player counts since no matter how many players are playing, 4 hero characters are selected to take on the Zeds. This game inherently supports solo play.
Welcome, friends, to Saturday. Another week is over and it's time to relax with some gaming. When this posts, I'll be in the middle of a D&D session. The current DM and I are gonna tag out once more a
Welcome, friends, to Saturday. Another week is over and it's time to relax with some gaming. When this posts, I'll be in the middle of a D&D session. The current DM and I are gonna tag out once more and I'm gonna take back over the campaign. Of course, that leaves my character I was playing. I've told the other DM I want him to go out in a blaze of glory. So we'll see what happens.
Anyway, we've collected together a bunch of review articles we've come across and present them to you here now.
In this batch, we've got reviews/previews of: Wrath of Kings, AquaSphere, DC Comics Dice Masters, Dragon Punch, Cauldron, Battlebards, Elysium, Panamax,
Mike Paschal from PHD has given us a great overview of the new Wrath of Kings miniatures game by Cool Mini or Not. Learn about the history of Arikania, the Ancient King, and how the 5 Scion Kings of the land (and water) are positioning their generals to seize the throne.
Each House has a unique theme and play style. The game's mechanics and great visuals make it easy to enter into this rich world.
AquaSphere is a worker placement game in which you are a scientist studying in an undersea lab. Can you utilize your time better than your opponents and score more knowledge points?
Dragon Punch is a tiny 15-minute fighting game for 2 players, inspired by video games like the Street Fighter series. It’s all about trying outwit your opponent with the timing and positioning of your attacks and defenses.
The game was designed to be super-portable: it’s just 21 cards so it’ll fit in any pocket, and you play it entirely in your hand, so it doesn’t require a table or other playing surface. Take it anywhere, play it anywhere.
Cauldron is the first game to be designed by Altema Games. Cauldron launched on Kickstarter today April 29th, 2015. In Cauldron, players chose a character with variable powers such as the Alchemist, the Wizard, the Druid or the Trickster. There are 7 different characters available for play. Each player will compete to develop different basic and advanced potions or spells to determine who is the greatest alchemist of all! Victory is achieved by being the first player to get to 35 victory points.
Battlebards is an on-demand, tabletop audio library replete with a built-in mixer and player that will bring your stories to life in a whole new way. There will be no more need for the DM to master accents, dream up some archaic sounding language or strain their vocal chords attempting to imitate a dragon as that foul beast turns the corner to attack. Now you can have professionally recorded voices, music and sound effects that complement and enhance your games narrative, creating a living, breathing world that your fellow gamers will remember long after the adventure ends.
Cauldron is a competitive board game set in a fantasy world. Taking on roles of powerful mystical characters like the Druid, the Shaman or the Wizard, players will brew potions to grow their magical power, while casting spells to stop others from getting ahead. Cauldron is a resource management game that plays with 2-5 players aged 10+ in 1 hour.
So you walk into your local board game shop, eager to make a purchase. An unhealthy, bubbly excitement starts building inside you, as if you were a shaken can of cola. You scan the shelves, letting your obsession rise from the pit of your stomach to slightly above your stomach. You’re taking one of these boxes home.
So you drop to all fours, ready to begin the hunt. The shop owner doesn’t give you a second glance. He’s seen it all before. You prowl between the aisles, buttocks undulating like a pair of bald men being ritually drowned. What’s this? Elysium... ?
It’s a brand new release from Space Cowboys, the hot young publisher of the wonderful Splendour and the entirely passable Black Fleet. Elysium looks great! It’s got cards, Greeks, gods, it looks lovely and it’s different every time you play.
So it turns out that Paul has actually always had something of a fascination for big ships. It also turns out that Panamax mixes big ships with big business and (very) big bucks. After all these years, could this be the way that Paul finally makes his millions?
Of course not. It's a board game. Still, it could be good, right? Let's see what Shut Up & Sit Down's North American Correspondent thinks in a video made in the style of some of our very first reviews.
In Impulse, each player controls fleets of transports and cruisers that are used to explore the galaxy, activate actions, and attack enemy ships. Players are able to gather resources and research new technologies in order to help their empire grow. Actions that each player takes on their turn is controlled by the Impulse, a set of cards that is continually refreshed and added to and shared by each player.
Players take control of one of seven magic wielders, each with their own unique skills on a quest to master the art of potion making. The game is separated into two phases, one being the harvest season, which will consist of harvesting resources from different fields and brewing potions to earn Magik (victory points). The second is the market season, where players will buy new potion recipes, spells, and plant new fields for more ingredients to harvest. To pay for these new things, players will need to spend the Magik they have earned during the game. This creates a balancing act for players to manage as they go throughout to the game. Unfortunately, the resources needed to brew potions are not unlimited and those pesky other potion makers are looking to make a name for themselves. Players will have to time their moves carefully to be the first to earn enough Magik points to win the game.
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