Category Archives: tabletop

My Imperial Assault Wish List

imperial assault, star wars, tabletop

I've just read a great post over on Couple vs Cardboard about 5 Things They Want In Imperial Assault.

This got me thinking what would I like to see added to this game?

First up on my list is I want character cards for the released allies like Luke, Han and Chewie so that those characters can be played in the supplied campaign instead of the characters that come in the base set. I don't just want to play with them as allies to a mission. I want to play the campaign as them.

I'd love to see a separate campaign/skirmish designer book released. One of the things I loved about the Zombicide scenario book that was released was the excellent designer advice section that gave advice on how to create your own scenarios. What makes a great campaign? How do you balance the game? What makes a great skirmish scenario? You get the idea. Add in a mini campaign and a couple of skirmish scenario s with maybe some designer notes and I think this would fly off the shelves. Imperial Assault screams making your own scenarios for it, and this would help guide people in making enjoyable ones to play.

I'd love to see an expansion that covers the conflict between the rebels and imperials on the planet Hoth. It screams tiles that cover the rebel base, and also the rebel defences. I can see the Tauntaun models now with plugin riders for Han and Luke. And how awesome would a Wampa model be?

At some point there has to be Ewoks. Toughest creatures in the Empire! Look how easily these little guys with little more than sticks and stones took on superior forces that were far better equipped and won.

What would you like to see added to Imperial Assault?

 

Tabletop Gaming the Magazine

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At the UK Games Expo a brand new tabletop gaming magazine was launched called Tabletop Gaming.

As the cover shouts out in no particular order they list 101 games that you need to play. I'm not going to comment on the list too much, these sort of things are always contentious, everyone will have some games that they think should be on the list and there will be others on the list that they think shouldn't be.

Each game has a small but reasonable bit written about it, that summarises the game nicely. But I would have liked to know why the game made the list, what made them stand out as a must play.

It's because of this list of 101 games that I feel it's unfair to really judge the magazine as a whole. The list takes up the majority of the first issue, space that I'm hoping in future issues will be taken up by other features and reviews.

I will comment on the features and interviews that the magazine manages to squeeze into its pages.

For me in both the features and interviews way too much space is spent describing the game itself. In the case of the features that is the majority of them. The first looks were more the style of writing that I was expecting in the features. The best example of this is the Guild Ball first look. My ideal feature tells me about the game, the ideas behind it, influences, what makes the game unique. I want a bit of the writers personality to come through.

I grew up reading the video game magazines like Crash! And Zzap64. What I liked about the reviews in these two magazines (both by the same publisher) was that you had little talking heads for each of the reviewers on each review giving their personal view of the game. You got to know what the reviewer liked and didn't. It was then possible to judge a review by the preferences of the reviewer. If that reviewer had similar tastes to yourself and they liked a game, then you knew there was a good chance you too would enjoy it.

I would like to see something like this come through in the reviews for this magazine. It is sadly missing from magazines these days, very few credit who is writing the review. Hopefully when proper reviews start appearing in the magazine they will be in the Crash,/Zzap64 style.

Another thing missing from the magazine were columnists. It would be cool to see regular columns on various aspects of gaming, such as maybe a Netrunner column, or Magic the Gathering. I'd love to see Leigh Alexander write one of these columns. Her writings in Edge were always a joy to read, and her pieces on Shut Up, Sit Down continue to be a joy to read

In this modern digital age with so much content being free and more up to date it has been a rocky time for established magazines. So for a new publication to start up they are facing an up hill struggle in a shrinking market place. However there is hardly any competition for Tabletop Gaming magazine, especially as a general gaming magazine on the newsstand, but it is the online stuff they have to compete against.

Tabletop Gaming needs to offer something that stands out from the online competition, and there are glimpses within the magazine that they are able to do that. It's early days, the first edition so it's hard to be too judgemental. I think a truer indication of the type of magazine this will be will come in the second edition.

Terminator Genisys

For the duration of the show those that purchased the magazine also got three plastic figures for the soon to be released miniatures game Terminator Genisys. I wasn't really impressed with the figures, especially that they required some assembly, and seemed really delicate. These figures were an opportunity to sell me on the upcoming game. They just didn't grab me.

There was a photo of the game in the magazine, that showed the game being played on a war torn landscape with the odd semi destroyed building, very reminiscent of a post apocalyptic future showing the aftermath of the war between man and robots. No boards or game tiles, looking more like something a war gamer would be playing with.

I already have miniature based games like X-Wing, Imperial Assault, Zombicide, and the just added Krosmaster Arena, and they are all pretty heavy on the collectable side. So despite liking the first two Terminator movies a lot (the remaining films were watchable at best) and being predisposed to wanting to play a Terminator themed game, this game is not the game for me.

Tabletop Gaming will be available from a local newsagents/supermarket magazine shelf from the 19th June.

 

 

Summer 2015 Hot List Predictions

hot list, tabletop

Below is a list of games and expansions I think will be “hot” over the Summer months. These are all being released and available (allegedly – delays do happen for whatever reason) between now and September. I'll do a new one of these types of posts then with what I think will be “hot” for the Autumn and Winter.

Naturally it will be safe to assume one or two of these will end up in my collection ^_^

  1. Star Wars Imperial Assault Twin Shadows Expansion
  2. Star Wars Imperial Assault Ally & Villians Packs: Boba Fett, C3-PO & R2-D2, Kayn Somos
  3. Five Tribes The Artisans of Naqala Expansion
  4. Ghostbusters the boardgame
  5. Legendary Encounters Predator
  6. Alien v Predator: The Hunt Begins boardgame
  7. Bang! The Dice Game: The Walking Dead
  8. Machi Koro Millionaires Row Expansion

Hopefully this have given you some ideas, maybe alerted you to something you had missed was coming out. What do you think will be hot? What are you looking forward to buying and playing over the Summer?

UPDATE 2/6/2015: How could I miss off the list Magic the Gathering the board game?! It really should be on this list as well

Confessions of an UK Games Expo Noob

dice masters, krosmaster arena, netrunner, new arrivals, tabletop

The UK Games Expo took place at the NEC the last three days. I think it's safe to say that this is the UK's largest board gaming related event. With it getting bigger next year! (More on that later).

So the thing I think most people will want to know is what did I get at the show.

As the photo above shows I have finally caved and got Krosmaster Arena. What swung it was it was being sold at a very good price, saving about £15 on it, plus it came with two promo characters. I also found a copy of Get Bit! Which was on Tabletop a while back, and looked a fun filler game. Now Sushi Go! Was bought after having a demo game at one of the stands. It was really good fun, quick to learn, and not that expensive.

At LAST! I was able to get a Machi Koro playmat. It's a lovely mat in my opinion.

Naturally I got some Netrunner stuff. Luckily the new data pack Chrome City had just come out, and was available. Plus I picked up a couple of old data packs I didn't have. Plus as the photo below shows an awesome beautiful looking official playmat.

I managed to get a copy of Roll For The Galaxy along with three Wolf Dice bags.

Then finally today I also picked up a spare set of dice for Krosmaster Arena, another two characters and a second map for the game.

While waiting with Zoe and the boys for Todd to have his lunch break from playing in the Netrunner nationals I got talking to one of the X-Wing competitors who was on a break. He made an interesting statement that he had looked at getting into Netrunner but was put off by the “high” cost of entry to be competitive at a competition level. His argument was that in the two or so years that Netrunner has been out with the expansions it is now too costly to buy them all.

I disagreed with him over this, pointing out that X-Wing at the level he was playing at could also be looked at that way, having to buy ships that you may never play with just for a card, and the game he had once played Magic The Gathering was astronomical to get into at a competition level. I also pointed out at least with Netrunner you could either just buy the cards you needed or the data packs with them in, which would of been one solution. Thinking about it, you could probably buy everything for Netrunner for the cost of one or two of the more rare Magic cards (I know some of the cards go for two or three hundred pounds each, maybe even more).

However it got me thinking. You don't need to buy all the data packs in one go. I'm not, I'm buying a couple a month, targeting specific packs if I need a particular card.

But then I'm not looking at the moment at playing at competition level. I know this is what some people like about playing some of these games the competitive competition side. But for me the first and foremost side is that I'm having a good time playing the game. I want to be good at playing the game. But if I don't get to a competition level then it won't kill the game for me.

Saw the guy today and found out how well he did in the tournament. He did well finishing 36th, just in the top third, and if I remember correctly he said yesterday he was flying two IG-88 ships.

Dicemasters

On Friday I took part in the D&D Dicemasters tournament. There was only four of us in this, the majority of players were taking part in the DC/Marvel tournament.

At the start there was some confusion about the format of the competition, on the Facebook page for the show the format was declared as rainbow draft, while the organiser was going to have it as a constructed match. I'd only bought my basic action cards along for this because that was all that was needed for a rainbow draft game.

The organiser settled on the rainbow draft format, which gave each player twelve packs each to open. So after the passing round of cards you end up with twenty four cards and dice to choose a team of eight from.

The organiser was generous in that we were given a playmat plus a Pheonix Force promo card. PLUS to make up for the confusion over format we got an alternate artwork Beast Mutate #666 card plus an alternate artwork Harley Quinn card.

To cut a long story short I came fourth or last depending on the spin I want to put on this. I could of come joint second! How? Well my last game was against Scott, and after a mega, and I mean mega long first game which I won I was drained. Scott took the second game, which was a lot quicker. But I was exhausted by now. So I conceded the last game giving Scott the win. That put Scott into second place with two wins. If, and it's a big if I had gone on and won the third game that would of given three of us out of the four players with one win and making it a three way draw for second place.

I have to say it took me a while to work out how best to play my team and what the possible win conditions were. A more skilful player would of got to that point a lot lot quicker.

But still I got ten boosters for the D&D set as a prize. So for the ten pound entry fee, a playmat, twenty two boosters, three promo cards, not a bad return on the investment.

Plus this was my first time playing rainbow draft which was a great experience, and an afternoon playing Dicemasters.

I was down for taking part in the constructed nationals for Dicemasters but I hadn't really had time to look round and there were a couple of things I wanted to get before the show closed, and I was enjoying my time with Zoe, Todd and their two boys Ethan and Tristan.

Final Thoughts

I had a great time at the expo. I bumped into people I knew from my local FLGS, and a friend or two. Plus I met up with Zoe, Todd and the boys.

It was very hectic. On Saturday the main open play area was taken over by the Netrunner and X-Wing nationals which meant there was a severe shortage of space to play games.

The expo could of done with more space. Which I know from the expo guide they will have next year.

The expo staff were really polite and helpful.

Lots of cosplay especially Dr Who related, the two daleks were great fun, and a few Star Wars related ones, the Stormtroopers were very popular.

I think the half hour lunch that the Netrunner nationals and also the X-Wing were allowed was rediculous. The queues were ridiculously long for food, over fourty minute waits to be served. Unless you had the foresight to bring a packed lunch there was no chance of players getting something to eat, let alone have time to eat it.

There were no previews that I saw. With Origins on next week in the US I think they are being saved up for that. So why weren't we allowed to have previews? I'm talking of stuff like the new Imperial Assault expansions, or cards from the Age of Ultron Dicemasters, or games that will be out a month later at GenCon (another US show). Do we not warrant the same treatment as the US games buying public? Is this a drawback of timing? Would we have gotten some if the show was between Origins and GenCon? It does kind of make me feel we in the UK are not treated the same as our American brethren. Oh wait we aren't.

I was hoping to get a copy of the new artwork Resistance but the only copies I saw were the original/current artwork.

It was great to get a game of Netrunner with Todd, managed to answer one burning question I had about the game, and getting some advice on my deck. Naturally I lost. There will be a better write up of the deck in another post.

Overall a great first time experience at the show. Definitely going next year.

 

How many sidekicks does a hero need?

dice masters, tabletop

Just how many sidekick and basic action dice do you need?

The photo above doesn't include the dice I have in my dice bag for playing. These are the spares from all the four Dicemasters starter sets so far (if I remember correctly I bought two of the Uncanny X-Men set). Plus this will grow a little bit more when the DC one ordered arrives.
Plus I'm getting a nice little stock of the awful waxy dice bags they give in the starter set.

 

Five Tribes Politically Correct Expansion

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In previous posts I have mentioned that I had ordered this expansion from Board Game Geeks store. I think I also mentioned also about the fuss that a certain card had caused. In new printings of the game that controversial card has been replaced. However for those that have one of the earlier printings (I'm assuming there have been more than one to meet demand for the game) you can get this expansion to replace the card that can't be named.

The expansion isn't expensive five dollars if I remember correctly plus a dollar shipping. So a bargain really. Plus to sweeten the deal you also get a djinn card to add to the game too.
So here is that controversial card (on the right) plus the new card (on the left). I can see both sides of the argument that of the designer and those that find it offensive. For the record I am against slavery (heck Wisbech is the home of Thomas Clarkson a key figure in the abolition of slavery).
Now I'm sitting on the fence here on whether the card should be played with in the game. However I think when I play Five Tribes with friends and others then I think I need to be able to take the other players opinions into account. So by having both versions I can do that.
However if they do find the card offensive, sadly they will have to put up with the card being referred to in the playing instructions and player reference cards as the slave card. I assume that in the reprinting this too will be replaced with the new cards name.
Will the djinn card included in this expansion be included in the reprinting? I don't know. I would be surprised. As I hinted at the top of the post this djinn card is a sweetener to make having to buy the replacement cards more palettable. So if I was to bet money on this I'd be placing my hard earned cash on that it wouldn't be included.
So is it worth getting? For me yes for the reason given above. Yes if you are a completionist and must have everything for a game.
Remember it's not essential to the game, which can still be enjoyed without it.
 

 

Coffee Addiction

tabletop

I don't think it's any secret about how I feel about coffee. I love it.

Yes I buy from those tax avoiding establishments like Costa and Starbucks. It's only been the last couple of years that we have seen the corporate tentacles of these giants reach out and strike Wisbech.

Wisbech isn't big enough to support a hip and trendy artisan coffee shop like those that can be found all over that cesspit London. These corporate behemoths are the closest we get in the town. Oh we have coffee shops but you couldn't describe them as an artisan coffee shop. One or two have really nice cakes to have with your tea or coffee but this does not make a coffee shop.

I'm loathe to call the staff at these local establishments baristas, although technically they are. However if you asked for a flat white they would be clueless about what one is, and even more lost in trying to make one. They can make a passable coffee. But there is no technique or true artistry involved. Coffee isn't their passion. That for me is what separates a “coffee” shop from a coffee shop. And to be fair to these local pervayers of beverages Starbucks and Costa are no better.

So what do I make my coffee with at home? I use an Aeropress, I just love the coffee that this inexpensive device makes. Plus it's quick to clean up afterwards too.

I have a moka pot which I use when I want to make espresso in a large quantity. I got one of these after I had an espresso machine. But that sadly was a costly mistake. It just didn't make enough coffee in one go. When I drank large mugs of coffee, I needed more than the one cup that the machine made in use. So I ended up getting a moka pot to make enough espresso in one go.

I do take my coffee seriously but I haven't reached the hipster heights yet of roasting and grinding my own beans yet (that is a whole new level of expertise for me). I've also not made the jump to having a kettle I can get the exact temperature of boiling water I need for making the perfect brew.

So you can see why the theme of the game VivaJava the coffee game the dice game appealed to me. You have guessed the theme from the title haven't you?

If you haven't guessed it's about finding coffee beans, and making that perfect blend for the coffee company you are working for. All this by rolling dice!

Wait coffee and dice? Wow this game was made just for me wasn't it?

I love the box, the artwork, the whole look and feel of the packaging. Open up and the look and feel is continued inside, even down to a burlap storage bag!

I did find it easier getting to grips with the rules for the game watching the really excellent video that Dice Hate Me produced on their website.

One of the reasons I got this game is that it plays solo. Which is great for me.

I know you can download and print addition score sheets free from the Dice Hate Me website but it would be nice to buy new pads as well. I think Dice Hate Me are also missing a trick not selling the Dice Hate Me mug that you see in the box cover art. It would be really cool to be drinking a beverage(coffee preferably) from a Dice Hate Me mug while playing the VivaJava the coffee game the dice game.

The dream scenario for me with this game is to be playing it at a coffee shop with friends while enjoying a hot beverage and cake. But I'll settle with playing with friends on a game night.

Don't forget that there is also an expansion for this game that if you can get them means getting hold of the the Dice Hate Me Angry Dice although you can just use normal six sided dice. Apparently the Angry face side of the Angry Dice is normally where the three is.

Anyway all this talk of coffee has got me craving for a coffee…

 

Little bits and pieces

new arrivals, tabletop
Ok my liking of Love Letter is becoming more of an obsession! Officially this is my fifth version of the game. This version of the game is the Kanai Factory Limited Edition.
This uses the art work from the original Japanese release of the game.
I actually like this art work a lot. I can see how the art may not be everyone's cup of tea. But I do like the cartoony look, along with the pastel colours. Another thing I like about this version is that there are also two promo cards that allow you to change the gender of the princess, ie use a prince and also an alt art version of the princess.

Epic Spell Wars

After watching the season Tabletop episode where they play this game I had a look for it. Strangely enough it was not to be found anywhere, or if you could it was the usually Amazon stupid amount from a third party. However I believe this scarcity was there before the Tabletop episode aired.
But then again it could be due to Tabletop and that people snapped it up when they saw it on the list of games to be played in season 3 that was released before season three started airing. It's what I did with Marvel Legendary. I had been undecided about buying the game over the Summer. I'd watched reviews, and game play videos. Knew I was going to buy it, and had placed it high on my to buy list. But hadn't got to that point that I was going to buy it. Then in September Wil Wheaton put up the list of games for season three of Tabletop. I knew then that as soon as that episode aired I'd want to buy it, and the Tabletop phenomenon of games getting hard to buy after being on the show, would just upset and frustrate me as it would be sold out. So I went and bought it there and then (not regretted it once) before supply dried up.
From the art work, to the title of the game, this game has a look and feel of eighties rock bands, or Jack Black and Tennacious D. I'm really looking forward to playing this one with my friends, with big hair eighties pomp rock blasting in the background.
Look Wil Wheaton is a geek God ok. How could I not pick up the Wil Wheaton promo card for Five Tribes? It had to be done. I just need to track down the other promos from this years International Tabletop Day that I want. Well the Ms Day Dead of Winter promo would be nice for starters.
What is it about promos that I like? Well they aren't necessary to enjoy a game, so not needed. However for me I like them because it's like personalising the game. Ok technically there will be other people out there with the same promo in their game. But it makes the game feel to me like it is mine.
It may if the people have played the game before and not seen the promo add a small bit of variety to the game, a “oh I've not seen that before” moment.
What I don't like about promos is when companies only hand them out at certain events, or limit them to kickstarter only. I side with Tom Vassel here and that I don't mind a time window of exclusivity, however they should be made available to everyone to get easily after that period has expired. White Wizard games I think have (hopefully) got the approach spot on. Next year they will be releasing a 2014/2015 promos card expansion that will be all the promos from the kickstarter, OP events etc from those two years. I'll be buying this to get the only promo I'm missing the Star Market.
Making these promos easily accessible to fans of the game (it's community) shows that the publisher cares about the games fans and doesn't want to see them fleeced having to pay heavily inflated prices on eBay to get the promo that a lot of the time was FREE!
Sadly this is not the case with a lot of the publishers.
The Ticket to Ride 1910 expansion has been on my list for a long time. Finally I've crumbled and bought it.
The Game of the Year expansions for VivaJava the coffee game the dice game also arrived. There are a couple of mats that are purely decorative as the Lord of the Beans one (as shown above) illustrates. The thing is with kickstarter this expansion came with some dice called Angry Dice. This is a separate mini game Dice Hate Me sell, however they are also used in the Angry Dice expansion that adds an aggro element to the game. However this expansion doesn't come with these dice and therefore you have to buy the dice separately. Like most things these aren't available in the UK, and I've tried looking very hard using my extensive Google ninja skills. Ordering the dice from the Dice Hate Me store sees a whopping $60 shipping fee for a $15 order ($5 for Angry Dice and $10 for a card version of a Brewing game they do), madness. I've actually had to resort to asking a big favour from a friend in the US if he could order the game for me. Even then they charged him $15 for shipping.
 

 

Which Love Letter?

love letter, tabletop
With eight editions/versions of the game already out in the wild, and two more on the way, Love Letter has become a bit of a phenomenon in the gaming world. Yet ask most people that aren’t gamers and they won’t have heard of it. AEG have excelled on the marketing front and getting licences to brand the game with. For licensing Love Letter is like the gamers version of Monopoly (not as prolific on the number of themed versions yet) with its licenced versions.
The game is a simple game that can be taught in a couple of minutes. For gamers it acts as a great filler game, for non gamers it acts as a nice little game they can enjoy without being bogged done by complicated rules or lots of set up.
My first copy of the game was the tempest version, the three in the photo above weren’t out then. Just the name, the lovely red velvet material storage bag, was enough to put some macho types off playing it. But if they fought those feelings they soon discovered a really nice little game that they got a lot of enjoyment out of playing. I’m hoping that the friend I’ve lent this version too will also discover that, and also think it’ll make a great game to take on the family holiday.
So which version to buy and play?
They are all basically the same game, however with the newer released games AEG are starting to make small changes to the game that fit in with the theme of that licence.
For me the deciding factor should be which of the themes appeals to you most. Tolkien fan then get The Hobbit tie in, into superheroes then get the Batman one, like Munchkin get Loot Letter. I knew a friend loved Christmas and everything about the holiday season so I bought her the Santa themed edition as a Christmas present. Know some-one getting married there is a wedding themed version!
After you have decided on the theme, you then have to decide whether to buy the boxed version or the clamshell version.
What’s the difference? The clamshell version comes with a very nice little storage/carry case for the game. That matches the theme. The boxed version is a nice solid cardboard box with lovely art work related to the theme. However the drawback is as much as I love the box it’s not very portable compared to the lovely bags. Which fit easily into a pocket. Plus there is also a lot of wasted space in the box. It could be a lot more compact. So you need to decide between a sexy little storage bag and a sexy art work box. Which is your preference? Personally I wish AEG would combine the two so I didn’t have to decide. And it would justify the box size a little better.
I hope that this short post has helped you decide which Love Letter version to get.
Oh the new ones coming out? An Adventure Time themed version, and an Archer themed version. I’m not an Archer fan so can’t see myself getting that, but I like the Adventure Time universe so will get that when it’s available.
A completely unrelated random off shoot – I saw that there have been tournament/organised play events for Love Letter. I do hope AEG release details for this. I think I can work out something but would love to see if I’m close to what they came up with.

 

 

Start of May Arrivals

elder sign, new arrivals, tabletop

This is my fourth version of Love Letter that I own! And the fifth that I have bought (the Christmas themed Letters to Santa as a present to a friend). So get the impression that I like the game?

Currently my original version in a nice little red bag is out on loan to a friend to see if they like the game and suitable for going on holiday with.

At its heart it is still the core Love Letter game with a couple of little twists. I know I know I've complained about the rebranding of Monopoly sets, and Love Letter is getting nearly as bad.

The only draw back about the editions I have for this version, Batman and Loot a Letter is that the versions I've managed to get are not the clam shell packaging with the really nice little storage bags. Maybe at some point I'll get those versions and use these ones just for work for my students to use.

Five Tribes was one of the hot games of 2014. I was undecided about it at the time, so never was one of those that were singing its praises. I also missed the controversy about the slave card. However as usual Will Wheaton and his Tabletop chums played the game recently. Well you know how it goes “that looks interesting and fun”, the next thing you know it's at the top of your wish list on Amazon. Then somehow it migrates from there into the basket and is on its way to you.

Personally after a game has been on Tabletop it's usually very hard to get hold of. This wasn't the case this time I don't know if that was because this episode wasn't very popular, the publisher made sure plenty of stock was in the supply chain having been given a heads up.

I've just checked this copy has the controversial slave card which I thought had been replaced in newer copies. So obviously this one was before that change. However it is possible to buy the replacement cards from the Boardgame Geek Store, which also comes with a single card expansion for the hefty $5 asking price!

I like Elder Sign so these were a must despite the limited times I have played the base game. I love the theme, the quality of components are fantastic, the icing on the cake would be if they did a playmat for this game. There are some great fan created ones out there, but why no official one?

Another game that has been on my wishlist for a longtime. A semi cooperative competitive dice game with a coffee theme. I kinda love coffee so the theme is already something I'd love. I can't wait to play this with friends, especially if we can play it at a coffee shop.