Category Archives: new arrivals

new arrivals

My 2020 Has Been Mainly Expansions

expansions, new arrivals

With the arrival of Twilight Imperium: Prophecy of Kings yesterday that is the last of the expansions and the focus of my purchases for 2020.

I have bought games published this year. Well one for sure. That was the new Marvel themed Love Letter.

And I have bought one or two other games such as Smash Up, the new edition of Love Letter, Dungeon Mayhem and Star Wars Outer Rim.

There have been no games released in 2020 that have grabbed me as must buys. It has been the expansions that have stolen that place.

Although there has been one recent game that has got my attention, and has been preordered. That’s Dune Imperium. It’s due out in December. I’ve seen late December. So it looks like it could be hit or miss whether it makes 2020.

But I have to admit I am happy with just the expansions for games I have. New content gives an excuse to get them back to the table (eventually).

Three of the expansions were pleasant surprises when they were announced or I found out they had come out. I wasn’t expecting expansions for TI4, Targi or Civilisation: A New Dawn. But I was going to make sure I got them. I really like those games and especially for TI4 and New Dawn must haves.

Not shown in the photo above because I have thrown the packaging away (it was very thin cardboard and not of any use) is the expansion for Civilisation: A New Dawn, Terra Incognita.

I have to admit when I talked about the expansions I was looking forward to in a post a while back now. I didn’t include the Wingspan expansion (as was pointed out to me by Jonathan in a comment on the post). I was sceptical that it would make 2020 with all that was going on. Or that is the excuse I used to justify that I had forgotten to include it.

There is one expansion I will get, but it can wait until next year. I’m not in a hurry. And that is the new expansion for 7 Wonders Duel, Agora. I need two copies of this any way. I buy myself a copy and also Nathan one. He loves the game too and has his own copy. which I also pimped out with the same promos etc.

Despite knowing I won’t be playing the games with the expansions until sometime next year (which I am very much looking forward to doing). The way the board game hobby is. If you don’t get the expansion/game when it comes out, the likely hood that it is between printings, out of print when you want to get it, is pretty high. And that route only leads to resentment and rants about paying stupid money for plastic and cardboard to a stranger on the internet.

What expansions did you buy this year? Is there a game I should have got excited about?

Even more big monsters arrive

new arrivals

The arrival of the Cy-Gull promo for King of Tokyo (KoT) sparked something inside me.

Initially it was to get the remaining character packs Anubis and Cybertooth that I didn’t have. But to be fair I wasn’t aware I’d missed them until I looked.

I then discovered that the Power Up and Halloween expansions had been updated to second edition with new art work. Well I needed them as well.

Which meant with the other item the KoT Dark Edition I ordered technically I’d have three copies of the game. More on this later.

Below are the standees for the Power Up and Halloween expansions. On the left is the new art for the second edition version. Whilst on the right is the original first edition version.

All art is subjective but I’m not convinced the new versions are an improvement.

As I mentioned above I caved and got the Dark edition of KoT. This has been out for a little while. But I just love the box art. It’s amazing.

It will be interesting to see how this “new path to victory” works and effects play.

For the first edition stuff or my spare third copy I did the following.

First I took out the two characters not in the second edition Cyber Bunny and Kraken and added them to my copy of the second edition.

With the Halloween and Power Up first editions added into the base game I feel happy I can pass this game on (for free), because it has seven monsters to play with. Despite me removing two. Plus the relevant power up cards.

I did check with a couple of friends but they already had the game. So I’ll pass it on to a family member who might like to try it.

In the meantime I think KoT might be a game playable using a webcam I might talk to my friend about trying it out.

Some recent arrivals

new arrivals

There have been some new arrivals to add to the pile of shame and list of games to get to the table.

First up is the latest cinematic adventure from Free League for the Alien RPG, Destroyer of Worlds.

Next up was the arrival of the gaming equivalent of lotto cards, or loot boxes, MtG booster packs. I’ll talk about the pulls in another post.

Finally I was one of a lucky handful (if your definition of a handful goes up to a hundred) to get the Cy-Gull promo for King of Tokyo/New York that was done for the UKGE (well its virtual replacement) this year.

I was pleasantly surprised to find included with Cy-Gull another promo for the game X-Smash Tree. Which until I saw it I didn’t know I needed.

I do like the promo monsters but they do have one drawback. They don’t have power up decks. So they can’t be used in a game using that expansion.

Still to arrive at some point is the Tapestry expansion Plans and Ploys. Tomorrow I pick up the new D&D adventure, plus the Zendikar Rising prerelease kit. So I’ll bore you with those over the weekend.

Star Realms Frontiers KS arrives

new arrivals, star realms

At some point this weekend I have a job ahead of me that needs doing. Not house work, something more important.

Finally the mega slow UK fulfilment side of GamesQuest got their act together and sent me my Star Realms Frontiers Kickstarter stuff.


I doubled down on everything because Nathan has a copy too. He loves the game, so I always order double.

There is another Kickstarter somewhere between here and the US. But this one will keep me busy checking it’s all there while I wait.

Oppressive board state

Commander, magic, MtG, new arrivals

The past week there has been a more Commander slant to our games of Magic at work.

Last week I was playing my decks (Dinosaurs Tribal, Mono Red with Land Hate, the cheaply upgraded Arcane Wizardry 2017 precon, even my first ever built Commander deck with Scarab God saw play). But this week I wanted to play with the two Anthology decks (Guided by Nature and Evasive Maneuvers) that I hadn’t played with yet.

The first game with Guided by Nature that I played really did drag on. It was one of those epic long Commander games. Constant board wipes stopped me from getting set up. Eventually one of the students won with one of their 2017 precon decks. I don’t remember which one it was.

Yesterday instead of playing Evasive Maneuvers I went once more with the Guided by Nature deck. I had a great start to the game, after about 4 turns I was ahead on mana, I got my Commander out, was starting to build up a board presence. Then bam! Board wipe. I survived a second one too but with not such a big board state in front of me. Then I got the card Praetor’s Council that put my graveyard back in my hand, gave me no maximum hand size for the rest of the game. It was basically game over after that. I had a lot of mana, was able to tap Priest of Titania for lots of extra mana, I was getting an elf token every time I cast an elf, all my green spells cost one less to cast, my Commander gave me an elf Druid token, I was drawing a card for each none token creature that entered the battlefield that I cast. My turns were getting insane. Then I drew into Wellwisher and adding 1 life for each elf on the battlefield. The maths was getting silly. The inevitable happened I was able to swing in with lots of creatures that had been buffed up to some insane levels, and get the damage through as if the creatures had not been blocked. This deck was working just like the Strictly Better MtG Pauper Elf Deck. Which I enjoy playing.

I was going to build an elf tribal deck for Commander. But I think that Guided by Nature has a lot of the cards I want in my deck, including the Commander. So I think I may get a second copy of this and upgrade it. There are a few big creatures in this deck that although they have some great abilities are not elves, and so not really suitable for an elf tribal deck. So I’ll change my plan and look at how to upgrade this deck.

The photo below is my board state when I won with Guided by Nature yesterday. The photo was taken by a student who kindly gave me permission to use it here.

When I got home the latest kickstarter to come to fruition arrived The Flow of History. I’d nearly forgotten about this one until the email arrived saying it was being sent out. Somehow TMG had been a bit lapse in sending out kickstarter updates, or if they had I’d missed them totally.

I had to watch a YouTube video to refresh my poor memory what exactly the game was about. I also had to go back to the kickstarter page and remind myself what the extras were from the stretch goals. So basically I have here a card based civilisation style game, that has an auction mechanic, and is pretty aggressive! There is even a 2 player variant that uses a ghost third player.

I think this will be my third civ style/themed game in my collection. At the moment I think the three would all fall on the light to mid scale of things. I really do want to try one or two of the heavier/longer civ games out there.

Along with Tao Long this will be burning a hole on my shelf’s waiting to be played. Soon to be joined by The Manhattan Project 2 which is getting sent out to the kickstarter backers in the next couple of weeks I believe.

On the road to recovery

new arrivals

This flu thing has ruined half term for me. Today is the first day I’ve felt remotely human, and not one of the living dead. Unfortunately my Mum and Nan who live next door have now got it too. Which is the last thing I wanted to happen. Nan is 91 as of the start of the month. She takes much longer to get over these things than younger people do. Yes both of them have had the yearly flu shot, but it’s done little to protect them from this evil thing.

So with illness curtailing my half term gaming, it is going to impact into next week as well. Luckily my suffering from physical ails timed with life events affecting others in my gaming group meant very little gaming was going to happen anyway.

With the Ta Seti expansion for Kemet on its way from the publisher Matagot, a couple of other expansions landed on the door mat today. Which I think is going to sum up my gaming year for me. There is still no game I’m thinking “yeah I can’t wait for that to come out” (although I’m thinking that about one game hitting Kickstarter hopefully soon). I’m more concerned about making sure that when expansions drop for games I have and enjoy, that I get them. Maybe 2018 will be a year of old favourites getting new fresh leases of life.

Sunday Surprise

Fenland Gamers, Game day, magic, MtG, new arrivals

I knew that my second order from Card Kingdom was somewhere between their location on the west coast of America, the Atlantic and our postal system. So when the 2 battle decks, rookie deck, and sideboard starter turned up today I was a little surprised. Like the latest MtG duel deck I was expecting it next week sometime. But both early on a Sunday. What a pleasant surprise.

I’m a fan of the MtG duel decks. They are great for casual players who just want that MtG experience without all the investment and deck building etc. I’m really looking forward to playing this latest set of Merfolk vs Goblins. Especially when I’m hoping there are cards in the merfolk deck that I could use in a merfolk tribal deck for Commander. Yeah I have a merfolk deck on my list of Commander decks to build. I think Ixalan will be inspiring lots of tribal decks for Commander players. With this duel deck, Explorers of Ixalan and the next set Rivals of Ixalan there will be plenty of options to build tribal decks around merfolk. Naturally I’m not counting cards from earlier sets, because I don’t have many. So I build from what I have. Besides I won’t break up a duel deck, so if there are cards I want I’ll have to target buy or buy another copy. Anyway I digress.

These duel decks are my “let’s play a game of magic” for my friends and myself. Or sometimes for my students to use to play with.

The battle decks from Card Kingdom are their version/equivalent to the official Planeswalker decks. So I went with their new merfolk and dinosaur decks. After that digression earlier I bet you can guess why I got these two decks. Which might eventually be their final destination. But in the meantime they are going to fill the same kind of job as the duel decks which I think they are ideal for. Naturally at $10 a piece you are not going to be getting any high value cards. But used as I intend to they are a bargain.

The rookie red deck is just a basic deck I can use along side Welcome Decks to teach the game. Whilst I wanted the sideboard to introduce the concept to my students.

Naturally it goes without saying I’m rather keen to try these decks.

Saturday

Yesterday Justin, Jonathan and myself played a couple of games. Our first game was Sub Terra. The baggage this game has is a nice source of banter at my expense. But then again it’s banter if you give it, you also have to receive it. This was a first time in the depths underground for Jonathan and Justin. Jonathan was designated first player by the fact his arm had been down a manhole recently. Which sadly was the nearest any of us had been to being underground. The criteria for choosing the first player in the rules is the person who most recently has been below ground. Thematic but still.

Jonathan and Justin both went off exploring in one direction while my two characters went off in another. A Horror didn’t turn up until the second half of the game. Unluckily for me the exit was on the side of the cave complex that Jonathan and Justin were on. Even worse for me was there was not a chance I’d make it over to them in time before we were out of time. Which didn’t matter, even with two horrors on their tails, both my cavers became unconscious. Still 4 out of 6 escaped. So we won the game!

Our second and final game of the afternoon was London (Second Edition). Which to cut along boring story short I won. Justin thanks to having lots of poverty ended up with a negative score. I think played right his tactic of 7/8 stacks could work. But when you ran the city you’d have to have zero cards in hand by the time you got to the calculating poverty stage.

A great afternoon gaming, and once more a big thanks to our hosts The White Lion for allowing us to play there.

The Computer Loves You

new arrivals

Way back in 2014 I backed the reboot/update of an “old” rpg called Paranoia. (You can read more about the game after all the photos, where I blatantly steal the publishers words.)

It was estimated to be delivered for June 2015.

Yesterday I finally got my Director’s Commentary level pledge. Yep a wee bit over due.

So I thought I’d celebrate its arrival by showing off its content here.

So that level included “the complete Paranoia Box Set, special Ultraviolet Kickstarter Edition”. Which means I get this neat A5 white box with the logo in white. I like this design a lot. 

Inside the box are found four A5 books. These make up the rules (game master and player), missions, and a guide to Alpha Complex.

I like the size. The binding seems ok. Although some have on the Kickstarter comments section raised concerns about the binding. 


There are also four wipe clean boards for players to record their characters on. Although I doubt I’ll use these. I have a PDF of the form, plus copies in the forms pack. So I’ll just print copies off and use them.

We also have cards to use in the game. They aren’t the best quality and will be getting sleeved. But I still like these better than the Munchkin Letter cards (which long suffering readers will remember I dislike). 


There are also five dice included. And the publisher is getting a lot of heat for these. Rightly so. I’m ok with the red computer die, but the four little player dice. Dire. It’s not the end of the world but still, I’d expected better. I’ll be replacing these with better normal sized ones.


I thought I’d include some pictures from the back of the books and one from the Interactive Screen, that hint at the humour of the game.


I did buy two add ons for the game.

The first being two forms packs for the game.

The second item was the Interactive Screen or otherwise known as the GM screen.

I also got special PDFs of the rules “with annotations from the designers so I can see what influenced their writing, along with a … MP3 file in which the designer’s talk about the design process.”

Over all I’m happy with what I’ve received. Yes very relieved that the Kickstarter has finally delivered. Now it’s time to do some reading and recruit some agents to do the computers dirty work.

A Big Copy and Paste Job From The Kickstarter Page About Paranoia…

Quick aside: I’ve done this bit to save people time so they can find out more about this release of the game. I don’t usually copy and paste this much, and I feel cheap and dirty for doing so. But I also save time in not having to paraphrase it etc.

“Paranoia is a roleplaying game set in a darkly humorous future. In Paranoia, a well-meaning but deranged computer desperately protects the citizens of an underground warren from all sorts of real and imagined enemies. You play one of The Computer’s elite agents. Your job is to search out and destroy the enemies of The Computer. Your worst fear is that The Computer will discover that you are one of these enemies.”

“Paranoia: A light-hearted game of terror, death, bureaucracies, mad scientists, mutants, dangerous weapons, and insane robots, which encourages players to lie, to cheat, and backstab each other at every turn.”

“The all new, rebooted Paranoia box set has been designed to be played almost immediately from opening the box. It offers fast, manic game play through the use of streamlined mechanics and substantial components including Computer Dice and high quality cards (my note not as high quality as we were lead to believe from this) to represent equipment, mutations and much more

Paranoia now offers a thoroughly modern roleplaying experience, allowing you to get into the game even quicker:

  • Streamlined, simple rules with new card play that allows maximum carnage while allowing you to concentrate on the action (and survival).
  • A 21st Century approach to Alpha Complex – Terrorists have taken their proper place as the greatest threat now but Commies are still lurking in the background, and the Computer’s benevolent surveillance capabilities are as all-encompassing as they were envisioned in 1984 (Paranoia’s original release!).
  • …
  • Minimum effort, maximum fun – with the simplified game system and card decks, you will be able to get into Paranoia within 10-15 minutes.”

The saga ends

new arrivals, tabletop

Guess what was waiting for me when I got home?

I had been tipped off earlier in the day when others in a Facebook boardgame chat group for the UK started posting theirs had arrived unnounced.

So here is the contents from that massive box.


As far as I can tell at the moment everything is there, apart from six dice. But they might actually be in one of the unopened sealed boxes.

So having learnt my lesson with Kemet, I now have a long task making sure every box has exactly what is meant to be inside them. 

I am going to keep to my word, this is the last CMoN project I will back it buy. It’s left too much of a bad taste in my mouth to want to have anything else to do with them.

Very minor building works we5Jun16

new arrivals

I finally caught up with the latest Android Netrunner data packs for the Mumbad Cycle. Somehow missed Salsette Island coming out. I know shocking, how did I function without it? Yesterday on the way home from the NEC I was listening to Terminal 7 run through the cards for The Liberated Mind (the latest data pack), and was getting excited about a couple, and thinking how do I fit them into my deck?

I have to say there are cards from Salsette Island I want to fit in as well. Looks like I'm going to be tinkering with my Noise and NBN decks. I also got an idea for a Criminal deck too, which was given to me by the Run Last Click guys from the live podcast recording I went to at the weekend. Which I think will also have one very special card in it.

Also arriving too late to go with me to the expo, but it didn't matter because I didn't get to play the Magic duel decks I took anyway, was the latest duel decks Blessed v Cursed that is set in the Shadows over Innistrad world.

For a casual Magic player like me these duel decks are brilliant. I don't have to worry about deck building (which I have dipped my toes into using my limited card pool), and two of us can battle it out using “balanced” decks.

All the expo building work that was done at the weekend will be in its own seperate post when I write up the happenings of the expo.