All posts by Darren

Autumn and Winter Hotstuff 2015

hot list

I did one of these style posts for the first time a the start of the Summer if my poor memory hasn't let me down. So I thought I'd give it another go of talking briefly about the new games coming out between now and this side of Christmas that have caught my eye.

  • Another deluxe expansion for Android Netrunner called Data and Destiny hits the stores mid October. This one gives some love to NBN and three new none faction runners. There are lots of spoilers out there for this expansion already because FFG sold some early copies to those lucky enough to get to GenCon. There is also a new data cycle starting also, this one is called The Mumbad Cycle. This cycle brings to life another part of the Android universe the Indian Union.
  • Ashes Rise of the Phoenixborn just made this list because it officially comes out on the 18th I believe, plus I have it already! But still I'm very excited about this game.
  • Epic card game is due out late September/October. By White Wizard this is another of their everything you need to play in a single affordable box. This time we get a fantasy themed game that supports two to four players in a draft based magic type card game. It has been getting some good buzz (lucky really because I backed it on kickstarter, and my copy is on its way), will it be as popular as Star Realms?
  • 7 Wonders Duel, the two player 7 Wonders themed card game.
  • Thunderbirds the boardgame. A co-op game by Matt Leacock based on the popular puppet TV series of the same name. You play as various members of International Rescue trying to foil the schemes of The Hood. Luckily I backed this one on Kickstarter, so I don't have to worry about if I can get a copy.
  • Fury of Dracula. This reprint/update by FFG will fly off the shelves. The previous printing has been going for silly money on the net, so when this was announced the market adjusted a little (downwards), although there was all of a sudden a rush of copies being sold trying to capture the old silly prices. This is a hidden movement game where one player is the count himself while the others are trying to track him down and stop him.
  • Risk Game of Thrones. Two maps based on Westeros, Game of Thrones theme, Risk. The whole product looks stunning. I'm looking forward to getting this.
  • Imperial Assault will be getting another big expansion called Return to Hoth, plus more Villians and Allies packs. It still seems like the Rebels are being under represented.
  • Pandemic Legacy Season 1. Another Matt Leacock game this one co-created with the designer of Risk Legacy. It's Pandemic with a legacy element. Which maybe a too basic description but should give you a good idea about the game. The game takes place over a year, with the board etc changing during and between plays. I'm hoping that the Fenland Gamers will be up for playing this.

Also keep an eye out for AGES coming to Kickstarter, along with Lunarchitecs the space themed version of Glen More also hitting it.

I hope the above have given you some ideas of something to try. I'm definitely excited about getting and playing them.

 

Hot New Arrivals Mid Sept 2015

new arrivals

Finally my pre-orders have arrived. I know most have been out for up to a month. But I decided to group all my pre-orders together into one delivery so I saved on the postage. The final piece of the jigsaw that the rest were waiting on, was the Legendary Encounters Predator game that came out last week.

I'm happy with the little delay in getting my games. As long as I knew they were coming I wasn't in a rush, and it saved me money. Sometimes patience is a virtue!

Other good news it looks like the Coup: Rebellion G54 and One Night Rebellion (was originally Resistance) that I backed on Kickstarter are just about to start shipping.

I'm looking forward to introducing the students to One Night Rebellion. I think they will really enjoy the game.

 

These aren’t the droids you are looking for

expansions, imperial assault

In this post I'm going to look at the contents of the third expansion that makes up the second wave. This time it's the Allie pack R2-D2 and C-3PO. Yep we get two miniatures for our money in this pack.

I have to admit when they announced this as an expansion I was puzzled. Then again I was trying to think just how useful would they be in a skirmish game. I couldn't see them being in many squads. Yeah if I was playing campaign maybe it would be nice to have them instead of the tokens. But still didn't the Rebels need some more options other than these two droids?

So in this expansion we get two sculpts one of R2-D2 and the other of C-3PO, the rule sheet with the skirmish map and campaign side mission, three deployment cards, a side mission card, five command cards, a condition card and two skirmish mission cards.

Let's look a bit more closer at the two sculpts of everyone's two favourite droids. I really do like the sculpts, they are up to the usual FFG high standard.
In this expansion there are two deployment cards for R2. One for skirmish games (left) and one for campaign play (right).

C-3PO only gets the one deployment card.

Here are the two skirmish mission cards.

Here is the side mission card.

Like Boba Fett this expansion comes with a Weakened status card, and these five command cards.

I can see “Hard to Hit” and “Single Purpose” making a command deck. They are nice general cards. I'm not too sure about the specific ones and how useful they would be.

Then finally we have the rule sheet, with the skirmish map, and the unshown campaign mission.

After looking at the expansion I can see a use (just about) for the droids, but would they make a rebel skirmish squad for me? No. I do feel that the rebels are getting the short end of the stick in the expansions. It looks like the Empire and Villiany groups seem to be getting all the love.

As a completionist I had to get this expansion. It's nice to have the extra skirmish map. But I think this is a weak expansion for me and wouldn't have been one I would have made available.

 

BGG Order Arrives

castle panic, new arrivals

So what arrived for me from the Land of the “Free”? Well I made use of the excellent BGG store and got the two promos they had for Castle Panic. While I was there ordering them I finally caved and ordered Deep Sea Adventure.

Deep Sea Adventure is a little Japanese push your luck game based around diving for treasure. I knew it was a small game but when I opened the parcel and saw how small the box was I was a little shocked. It's tiny.

Naturally I'll be looking at Deep Sea Adventure in more depth in another post.

So not a big order but a nice little one adding a little customisation to a game with promos, and a new game to play.

Still in the postal system somewhere…

  • Epic is shipping, my friend Freddy in the U.S. Of A. has already got his copy.
  • Game of Thrones the Boardgame, just over a week ago was posted but no show yet.
  • My pre-order I made has finally all the pieces in and is now on its way. But I'm not going to ruin the surprise.
  • Dead Drop is being played by Americans but who knows where the international copies are.

 

I think Tiny Epic Galaxies is due to ship any day now, so hopefully will arrive by end of the month.

 

Power Up! King of Tokyo Expansion

expansions, new arrivals
As regular readers will know I picked this expansion up last weekend when I visited Nath. It had been delivered there the weekend before but I failed to get it then due to that epic car fail on the Friday.
Power Up! Is the first expansion for King of Tokyo.

Let's have a look at the contents of the box that make up this expansion for King of Tokyo.

Ok first up there is a small rules pamphlet that explains the rule additions that cover this expansion. Plus you then get seven little cardboard tokens that will be used by some of the new evolution cards. Which nicely brings us on to the fact you get fifty six evolution cards (which I will cover in a minute). Then finally you get a new monster called Pandakai, this means you get a new cardboard figure and stand for Pandakai, plus a monster board.

The main addition this expansion adds to King of Tokyo is the evolution cards. Each monster within the game has a unique deck of cards that can be acquired and used through out the game. These evolution cards give a monster either a temporary power or a permanent one. They remain secret during play until the player decides to use the card.

This looks like a great addition to the base game, and I can't wait to start playing with it. Plus I believe the first expansion for King of New York is also a Power Up! Expansion. And this has made me even more excited for that too.

 

Painting Stormtroopers Part 1

imperial assault, painting

So finally I've got round to start painting some of my miniatures that come with my games. I'm starting off if you hadn't guessed by the posts title with the Stormtroopers that come with Imperial Assault and also Kayn Somos Trooper Commander the just released Villians expansion.

These posts will be documenting my first efforts in painting miniatures, something I've never done before. Capturing my successes and my many failures. Hopefully you will enjoy watching the trainwreck happen.

Today I've done the easiest part of the whole thing, and the quickest part also. What am I doing? I'm applying the primer coat to the miniatures.

For this stage I'm using Elmer's Tack, and Citadel Corax While model paint. In total I will be priming nine Stormtroopers and Samos, so a total of ten miniatures.

Before applying the primer using the Elmer's Tack I attached the miniatures to some cardboard. In my case it's some old Amazon packaging. This allows me to hold the figures and turn them around as I spray on the primer.

Next I went out side and sprayed the primer coat onto the models, turning them so that I covered them from all angles. While applying the primer coat I was trying to make sure that I wasn't applying it too thickly, so that I didn't cover up any detail on the miniatures.

Finally I left them to dry ready for stage two – applying a base coat. Naturally during this stage I made sure that the dark destroyer of plastic miniature figures Loki was safely relocated round my Nans.

Lo lo as I also call him, may look all cute and innocent. But I must remind you of the damage and expense he has inflicted to three of my Zombicide figures.

Right now I need to go “research” what base coat colours to use.

This series of posts are dedicated to my great friend, mentor and Scottish version of me! Duncan. Who I know will continue to nag me to get these done, and offer advice and tips.

 

Saturday with the Fenland Gamers

Fenland Gamers, game night
Wow another great time playing games. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Well ok out on the hill with a wild camp would technically beat it. But if we add the criteria when you are stuck at home. Then my statement is accurate.
But I’m jumping ahead of myself. This afternoon saw me meeting up with the Fenland Gamers again for an afternoon of gaming.
The gaming session started off with a game of Ticket to Ride with the 1910 expansion used for the larger route cards. The route cards in the base game are small and lots of people don’t like them. So most folks buy this expansion just to upgrade the route cards.
I did complete my three routes only just. Our host won so convincingly, with a score well over a hundred and forty points. His score wasn’t too far off from being double my final score. I do own the game and the expansion but rarely get to play it, and have to usually settle for AI opponents in the app. A refreshing change to play against people.
After Ticket to Ride it we moved onto the bluffing game Coup. This was the first time I have played the game since purchasing it. I think it was also the first time for everyone else too. I think we must of played three or four games of this. In one of the games when there were three of us left, and all of us were claiming to be Dukes, I came up with the line “the Dukes duking it out”.
It was then onto a new game for me Glen More. In Glen More you are a clan leader trying to increase the influence and power of their clan in the 1600s. The game had several mechanics I enjoy in games. For example like Tokaido the last player on the board goes first, although Glen More was doing this long before Tokaido. Buying the tiles and placing them in your village reminded me a bit of Alhambra.
The market in the middle was a nice way to get the odd resource that you were short of to buy a tile.
And I just don’t like the game because I won. Ok won very convincingly.

Glen More is currently out of print and apparently hard to get. Which sounds like a challenge. In the meantime it has been added to my bgg wish list. In my initial searching I did come across the useful to know bit of information that Glen More is being reimplemented in a new version of the game called Lunarchitecs. Which gives the game a space theme. I’m not sure if there will be any tweaks to the game play. Personally I don’t think it needs any. This will be hitting Kickstarter in November, you can find more info HERE.

Below my winning village.

The final big game was another attempt to save the world from total destruction by playing Pandemic. Despite finding a cure for the yellow virus, we still failed to stop the destruction of mankind.
But we did have fun on the way to oblivion if that helps make your slow painful death from the pandemics we failed to stop and better.

The final game we played before I had to leave was Love Letter. This was a new game for the others. I think it is safe to say they enjoyed the game a lot. I managed to win getting the required four tokens. But it wasn’t a walk away victory. I think most of the others won at least two tokens.

I really did have a great time, once again great company, great games. There is also the potential that I will get to play Memoir 44 during the week. Plans are a foot for it to happen. So very excited about that.

I’m hoping my less than subtle subliminal programming will get the others into accidentally buying Android:Netrunner.

 

A Kickstarter Arrival

new arrivals

This morning A Chaotic Life a game I backed on Kickstarter arrived.

Below is a photo of the contents of the box.

Now I know that the designer/publisher has been listening to feedback from backers (those that had already received and played it) about the gameplay. So at the moment the rules are being updated based on that feedback and under going play testing at the moment.

I love that the designer is so responsive to the community, this is definitely a benefit a small company has over larger ones. Looking at the Boardgame Geek page for the game the designer is engaging with the games community. Love it.

However even with all this love, I'm in a quandary. Do I play the game with the current rules or wait for the rules update?

 

Ashes finally arrives

Ashes

Finally the joyous day has come that Ashes Rise of the Phoenixborn arrived. And boy that box is even more beautiful in reality.

The art work is stunning, and the white box as the background just makes it pop. I think this has to be the best looking game box I have seen.

So let's look inside this beautiful looking box. The first thing you are treated by is even more beautiful art work. This time the cover of the games rule book.

Below that are the tokens waiting to be popped out. I love popping the tokens out, it's almost as therapeutic as popping bubble wrap.

Then at the bottom there are several packets of cards, some empty plastic bags and the dice that the game uses.

Below the promo Phoenixborn Dimona Odinstar Phoenixborn of Rayward that comes with the game when ordered from Plaid Hat Games.

In my next post on Ashes I'll start looking at the contents in more detail.