Obligatory 2014 Gen Con Post Part III : Top 10 List (Part II)

This past Sunday marked the final day of Gen Con 2014, to the sadness of some and the excitement of others.  I’ve actually been watching the live feeds from Board Game Geek during the entire duration of the event to get an idea of what is going on.  It has actually been quite interesting to see the feeds and watch as people start to look more tired and haggard by the fourth day of the gaming convention.  I know this post is a little later than I wanted but I am still obliged to finish off my top ten list from Gen Con!  What follows will be numbers one through five of my list.

#5 - Shadows of Brimstone: City of Ancients/Shadows of Brimstone: Swamps of Death (Flying Frog Productions)

I am slightly cheating with this choice by choosing two games for one pick, but there is a legitimate reason!  Both of the Shadow of Brimstone sets are being released at the same time and they are both stand alone base sets that need nothing else to play than what is in the box.  I have seen some things from this game and I love what I’ve seen so far.  Shadows of Brimstone is best explained as a dungeon delver that takes place in a wild west theme.  

What makes this wild west theme so interesting is that there is a great evil rising from the depths of the coal mines, an ancient evil and darkness that is threatening the entire area.  Basically this is a spaghetti western with a Cthulu overtone!  How could I not be super-interested in this?  I also love that this dungeon run is a fully co-operative game because it really makes it interesting for my wife as well.  I have been able to get her into gaming greatly due to the co-operative experience in said games.  This may not be a purchase for a while due to the price tag and due to the need to build models, but it is just a matter of time until Shadows of Brimstone finds its way onto my gaming shelf!

#4 - Consequential (Asmadi Games)

This game is a tough one.  To be honest I don’t know a ton about Consequential but what I do know highly intrigues me, enough to put it into my top five interests of the convention.  What I do know about this game is that it is another fully co-operative game that tells a story over four acts.  Each of these acts is contained within the box but they are packaged separately so that when they are opened they contain new cards, new locations, and new mechanics.  This game also takes the idea of preserving your character throughout the different acts and leveling them as you go.  I love this idea of persistence as it is becoming a huge mechanism in board gaming right now.  Consequential also contains an app that helps to tell the story of the game which I find very interesting.  While this is high on my interest list it won't be a must-buy until more information is released about the game.

#3 - Argent: The Consortium (Level 99 Games)

Argent: The Consortium is a new game release by the fantastic Level 99 Games and it has climbed its way all the way up to number three on my list!  This is a fantastic-looking game that takes place in Level 99’s World of the Indines.  This is a persistent world that they have used for many of their games including the well received BattleCon.  This is a big difference from the majority of the games put out by Level 99 in that this game heavily relies on Euro-mechanics such as worker placement.  What makes this different than other worker placement games is that the workers you place in different rooms each have a special ability.  This gives worker placement a new and fresh mechanism that creates a new way of thinking about your moves.  Because of the interesting gameplay, the beautiful artwork, and the persistent world of Indines, Argent: The Consortium makes its way into the number three spot on my top ten list.

#2 - Lords of Xidit (Libellud/Asmodee)

Lords of Xidit is an interesting game that has been re-themed and re-released by Libellud.  Formerly, it was a game called Himalaya by Regis Bonnessee and has now been re-themed and put into the world of Xidit.  Xidit is a world that was first realized in one of my current favorite games, Seasons.  Seasons is also a game by Regis Bonnessee so I suppose they thought it was be a good idea to re-theme Lords of Xidit into the same world as Seasons.  I have to say, from some of the early pictures that I’ve seen of this game I am blown away by the art just as I am by the art of Seasons.  While Seasons is a card drafting and hand management game, Lords of Xidit takes on programming and pick-up-and-deliver mechanics.  These are some mechanics that I don’t really have on my gaming shelf and would love to have them in this beautifully realized game!

#1 - Samurai Spirit (Funforge)

And my number one game interest of Gen Con 2014 is Samurai Spirit by the great Antoine Bauza and released by Funforge.  First of all, being released by Funforge, I have no doubt that the components and art will be perfectly integrated into the game.  Second of all, it is designed by one of my very favorite designers, Antoine Bauza.  This game seems to be a return to some of his older designs (i.e. Ghost Stories) and that is some of the best news I’ve heard!  Ghost Stories is a fantastic (and sometimes super-mean) co-operative game where you take on a role of a Taoist Monk trying to protect a town from an evil ghost dictator.  Samurai Spirit puts you into the role of a Samurai attempting to save a town from bandits.  I have seen some play from this game and it looks totally different from Ghost Stories while keeping his fantastic game design and slightly cruel nature of co-operative play.  This game seems mean and I love that!  At the time of writing this I actually have a copy coming to me before the release date of October or November.  A friend was at Gen Con this year and was able to pick this game up for me as well as a promo card for it!  I am so excited about this game and will be sure to do an unboxing when I receive it.

Thus ends my second half of my top ten interests of Gen Con 2014.  I hope you enjoyed these posts and were possibly able to see some games that interest you.  As always if you have any questions of comments feel free to post then at the bottom and I will gladly answer them.  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory 2014 Gen Con Post Part II : Top 10 List (Part I)

Today marks the beginning of this year’s Gen Con, “the best four days in gaming.”  It is North America’s largest tabletop gaming convention, and according to them the largest in the world.  Regardless of the size it is a spectacle of the hottest games of the year.  

Before checking out this list feel free to follow this link:http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2014/08/obligatory-gen-con-post-part-i.html and read about my honorable mentions of the convention.  What follows will be the first half of my top ten list.  This post will include games six through ten and in the next day or so I will be posting the second half which will include games one through five.

#10 - Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles Base Set (Paizo Publishing)

This is the follow up to last year’s hugely popular Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords.  Paizo, the game company that releases Pathfinder, has really taken this game and made a great adventure out of it.  Em and I are currently working our way through the Runelords base set and we just finished the first adventure pack and have moved on to the second.  This set adds on more classes (including a swashbuckler and a gunslinger) and pirate ships to the mix.  The few previews I’ve seen make it seem like they’ve really upped the fun level in this set.  The only reason it isn’t higher on my list is because we are still working through the first base set and won’t get this one until we’ve completed Runelords.  That being said, Paizo is also creating more character decks so there is even more variability in the character selection.  I love what they are doing with this game and can’t wait to see what comes in the future for Pathfinder Adventure Card Game!

#9 – Shadowrun: Crossfire (Catalyst Game Labs)

In a similar vein of Pathfinder, Shadowrun: Crossfire is a co-operative deck building style game where you and friends take control of your characters and fight through obstacles and villains.  This is by Catalyst Game Labs and the theme is really what drew me to it.  The Shadowrun world is a cyberpunk world that also contains magic and the like.  The mechanics make it different enough that it doesn’t seem that it will take the same niche as Pathfinder does.  I love co-ops and I’m love the theme.  For these reasons this game has made it onto my top ten interests of this year’s Gen Con.

#8 - The Battle at Kemble’s Cascade (Z-Man Games)

The Battle at Kemble’s Cascade is a game that takes the old arcade top-down space shooters and turns it into a tabletop experience.  I love this idea so hard!  I am a child of the 80’s and have always been an avid gamer so this one hits every button perfectly!  The game is playable for 2-5 people and includes all the ideas of those classic shooters.  Each of the player ships can be fully upgraded and can get power-ups all through the game.  While you are the other players are shooting up the alien hordes, they are also getting more powerful and bringing in the “big bosses” that I remember so fondly!  The theme is perfect, the mechanisms sound perfect, and it is being put out by Z-Man Games which means that the components will be top notch!  An easy choice for the top ten!

#7 - Abyss (Asmodee)

Abyss is a set-collection and hand-management game put out by the highly touted Bruno Cathala and it boasts some of the most beautiful artwork that I have ever seen in a card game…period!  This game is contained within a theme that seems somewhat pasted on, but the artwork is so beautiful that I truly can’t find fault in it.  With a gorgeous look and some mechanics that I haven’t really gotten into but really want to, this game has pushed its way onto the list and up to number seven!

#6 - Hyperborea (Asmodee)

Another Asmodee game makes it onto the list at number six.  Hyperborea is another beautiful looking game that relies on area control, worker placement, and a newer idea that they call “bag-building.”  In this you have little cubes that represent workers with different “powers” that you place on the board.  This is a similar mechanism to deck-building, where you use the cards you start with to buy and create a new and stronger deck.  Instead of cards however, you have your cubes that are placed into a bag which you draw from during the game.  I find this to be an incredibly interesting mechanism and one that I think I’ll enjoy.  

An added bonus is that there is a certain level of luck which means that my wife will probably enjoy it as well!  She like games with strategy to a certain point, but she loves it when they have an element of luck, at least when they are player versus player.  This is also considered to be somewhat of a light “civilization-building” game which we don’t have much of right now.  Between the mechanisms of the game and the beautiful components (one of Asmodee’s specialties!), Hyperborea makes it into number six on my top ten interests of Gen Con 2014.

That concludes my number six through ten.  Think these are good looking games?  Think something else should have been mentioned?  Any guesses to my next five?  Post comments, I gladly welcome conversation!  Stay tuned, in the next couple of days I will have my top five game interests of Gen Con 2014.  Until next time, game on!

Obligatory 2014 Gen Con Post Part I : Honorable Mentions

GenCon 2013 - photo courtesy of www.shutupandsitdown.com

This week marks the ultimate board game geek-out event for American board gamers…GEN CON!!!  Gen Con (which takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana) is the largest tabletop gaming convention in North America and it is one of the two main events (the other being Spiel in Essen, Germany) for game releases.  Last year's Gen Con alone boasted it's largest attendance: 49,058 people.  

This year they are expecting over 50,000 attendees piling into the Indianapolis Convention Center in order to gawk at this year’s newest attractions in gaming.  I've gone through a list at a great gaming sight, BoardGameGeek, which covers over 600 games that should be making an appearance at Gen Con this year.  Now, understand that many of these games won’t be available yet for purchase, but most of them are.  Some of the games that are on the list are ones that are rumored or that their companies will be demoing for this convention.  If you are curious you can find the list at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/161427/gen-con-2014-preview.  I've decided to do this post as my top ten most interesting games of the convention.  Now, just so you are aware, some of these games may not have an official release at this convention but they are the ones that intrigue me the most.

Let’s start with a few honorable mentions.  The first honorable mention is King of New York.  This is the follow up to the hugely popular King of Tokyo released by Iello Games.  This game is based on the Yahtzee method of rolling dice and pressing your luck by re-rolling some of the die.  King of New York takes the ideas of King of Tokyo and apparently makes a much better game.  It is interesting enough for me to put it in the honorable mentions.

The second honorable mention is Colt Express.  This is a programming game where you are giving movements to your bandit characters in order to rob a train.  To be honest the biggest reason this gets a mention is because the playing board is a 3D model of a train and you move your piece on this board.  It is a cool enough idea that it makes the honorable mention list.

The third game on the honorable mention list is Imperial Settlers.  This is a game where card drafting and hand management are the main keys to the game.  Honestly I don’t know a ton about the game, but what I do know intrigues me.  This is also considered to be one of the main attractions of this year’s Gen Con and most people think it will sell out the first day of the convention.  This alone (as well as some cool mechanics and components) makes it interesting enough for this list.

The fourth game on the honorable mention list is Doomtown: Reloaded.  This game uses a few different mechanics including deck building, hand management, and area control.  The theme of Doomtown: Reloaded is really what draws me to it.  It takes place is a western town which also includes magic.  The mixture of the Wild West theme and the magical powers give it a seriously cool vibe which puts it on my honorable mention list.

The fifth and final game on my honorable mention list is Mice & Mystics: Downwood Tales.  This is the follow-up expansion to the excellent dungeon delver Mice & Mystics by Plaid Hat Games.  My wife and I have (and love) the original game and I am very much excited that they continue to release expansions for the game.  This one even gives more models (including a new gecko hero named Jakobe and different enemies) and more tiles for different environments.  I love the original game because it gives a very cool RPG-type experience with an awesome theme.  The only reason this didn’t make the top ten list is because it is not a stand-alone game, but rather an expansion to an already existing game.  Nonetheless, I am still excited enough to include it on my honorable mentions list.

That concludes my honorable mentions.  My next post (hopefully before Gen Con actually starts on August 14^th) will be the ten games that I am most excited/intrigued by.  Please join me then!  Until next time, game on!

Family Game Night #1

(L-R) Auntie Chainsaw, Em, Aaron & Romeo

Last night Em and I had our first “family/friends game night” and I think it was a success.  We have decided to have one night a month dedicated to having friends and/or family and/or friends-who-are-basically-family over to enjoy tabletop gaming and food/drink.  For the first gaming night we invited four friends over, Meghan (Auntie Chainsaw), Dave (Romeo), Brando, and Sean.  Unfortunately Brando and Sean were unable to make the night but Meghan and Romeo were able to come over and enjoy some gaming.

We chose the game Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak for a first gaming night and I think it was a success!  We chose a medium level scenario and started up the game right around 7:45PM.  After choosing our characters we set them up and started the zombicide.  For a while the game was going smoothly.  Romeo (as his character Grindlock) was able to find a concrete saw in order for us to be able to open the way into a well fortified prison.  With a little luck and some good weapon searches we made our way from the zombie filled street into the even-more-zombie-filled prison!

Around this time I (as my character Joshua) opened up some cell doors which held a ton of zombies and unfortunately killed off Grindlock.  The good news is we played in resurrection mode and he came back as a Zombivor (zombie + survivor…get it?) and was now even stronger!  Meghan (as Belle, the parkour star) was able to find a chainsaw (thus the new “Auntie Chainsaw” nickname) and start to empty the streets…or she would have if her dice rolls were better!  At one point some zombies moved a little quicker and were able to chomp her down as well.  She then came back as a stronger Zombivor and made quick work of the streets.

In an attempt to help out Grindlock I stupidly ran into a crowd of zombies and was unable to kill them all off with my claw hammer.  On their next turn the zombies finished Joshua off and on his next turn he also came back as a Zombivor.  While Grindlock (Romeo), Belle (Meghan), and Joshua (myself) were getting themselves chomped on by the crowds of rushing zombies, Em (as her character Shannon) quietly was killed off a ton of zombies with ruthless efficiency.  Her soldier background made her pistol use the best in the group and she made short work of most zombies.

Meghan sadly had to leave just before we finished the game to make her 2+ hour trek home but we took over for her and we were able to clear out the prison to create a safe place for our survivors (and now zombivors) and those who followed.  The last kill award goes to Romeo and he used his concrete saw to defeat a berserker abomination zombie before he got to the rest of us.  Woot!

Needless to say we had a ton of fun and can’t wait to have our next “family game night” where we believe we will be pulling out Munchkin.  Stay tuned to hear how that night goes.  Until next time, game on!

Mice & Mystics: Chapter One: Flight To Barksbury

Just a festival of geekery at our kitchen island last night (note the Tardis cookie jar we use to house our tea supplies)

All of my large game shipments have arrived and I now have a bunch of new games just waiting for me to play them!  My last post showed a quick preview of the different games that I now have in my possession so if you would like to see what they were just click back to my 7/7/14 post and ogle at the tabletop goodness!

This post is going to be the first in a series of posts that I will be creating that cover the story of one of my recent purchases titled Mice & Mystics.  This game is a “dungeon crawler” that is encapsulated in a ten chapter story.  The past two nights Em and I played through the first chapter.  I would say this chapter took us a total of about 2 ½ to 3 hours to complete and told the beginning of the story of our characters.

SPOILER ALERT!  If you are ever planning on playing this game you may not want to read ahead!  Otherwise enjoy the story.

Prologue:

This game tells the fascinating tale of a group of characters who live in an un-named fantasy kingdom.  They include Prince Collin, a warrior and son of King Andon, Nez Bellows, the tinkerer and forge worker, Tilda, the healer, and last but not least, Maginos, the king’s trusted advisor and mage.  These four friends come together when the king falls under an illness just as he is about to marry a mysterious and dark queen named Vanestra.  As the king’s illness progresses, Vanestra begins to take a greater hold over the kingdom, naming her own minions (including a man by the name of Captain Vurst) in charge of the house guard.  This is the point where Prince Collin and his three friends come together in order to create a plan to stop Vanestra from what her obviously wicked machinations.

Collin, Maginos, Nez, and Tilda meet in Maginos’s laboratory in order to formulate their plan.  Shortly into their gathering the door is kicked in and Captain Vurst and the house guard capture the four of them and throw them in the dungeon along with the worst criminals the kingdom had to offer.  While in the dungeons Maginos’s tiny ruby dragon, Meeps, brings a lock of Vanestra’s hair to the group.  Maginos proceeds to tell the group that with the power of her hair he can turn them into different creatures in order to escape.  However, as with most magic, it comes with a great price.  Whatever they turn into will be what they are stuck as for the rest of their lives as the spell has no counter.  A rogue, who is stuck in the same cell as them, a criminal by the name of Filch, suggests they turn into mice in order to sneak into the tunnels and escape.  It is decided that they will do just that and the spell is cast.

Chapter One: Flight to Barksbury:

The group now find themselves in the forms of mice.  They are able to collect their equipment (through an enchantment by Maginos) just as the guards notice them in their new bodies.  Vanestra turns her guards into rats and thus a chase through the undergrounds mouse-created tunnels ensues.

Story Break

At this point Em and I took control of two characters apiece (she chose the rogue filch and the mage Maginos while I chose the tinkerer Nez and the leader/warrior Collin) and played the game.  Perhaps in another post I will run through some gameplay, but now just now that we fought our way through the tunnels fighting rats (house guard), roaches, and centipedes as we went.  Halfway through we made the choice to do a side quest where we went back up into the castle to help an old friend.

Back to the Tale:

While fighting through the tunnels the group hears a shriek from the room above them and realizes that it is their loyal friend and the house cook, Miz Maggie.  The four friends and Filch choose to go up above and find Maggie screaming at a group of roaches that are trying to eat a wheel of cheese on the table.  As they poke their heads out Miz Maggie screams louder, “miiiiiiiice!”  Thankfully as Filch kills one of the roaches she realizes that they are dressed as her friends and she helps them by shooing the tomcat, Brodie, out of the kitchen.

The mice drop back into the tunnels and continue into the courtyards where they barely escape an old crow and make it to the safety of an old gnarled tree.  Inside the tree they find an entire bustling town of mice trading, working and living their lives out of the view of the human world.  They are brought to an elderly she-mouse named Linera who is lovingly called “Mother” by the other mice.  The group is fed and housed by the kindly Linera and it is during a meal that they realize something is vexing the mouse.  She then tells the group that many of her rangers have gone missing and included in them is her daughter, Lily.

End of Chapter One.

Thus ends the first chapter of the Sorrow & Remembrance book in Mice & Mystics.  As Em and I continue to play through this wonderful game I will post more of the story.  Until next time, game on!

Coming Soon...

This is just going to be a quick post letting you all know that I have a fairly sizable shipment of games coming in over the next week or so.  Below is a list of what's coming in so you'll know what to expect as you check out the blog.

I will be doing at least a small “unboxing” post for each of the games with possible reviews and playthroughs to follow.  As I continue to sell things and generate cash to buy new games, I will continue to grow my game library and post as this happens.

   

What follows is a list of the games that I have coming in soon:

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords Character Add-On Deck
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords Deck 2 – The Skinsaw Murders Adventure Deck
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords Deck 3 – The Hook Mountain Massacre Adventure Deck
• Hanabi
• Mice and Mystics
• Dungeon Petz
• Seasons
• Pixel Tactics
• Pixel Tactics 2
• Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak
• Shift

This is a pretty good mixture of games and I intentionally tried to keep it that way.  Some of them are a lighter and quicker fare, while others are heavier and more in-depth.  I can’t wait to get my hands on them and will release a string of posts when I do.  Until next time, game on!

Unboxing: Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise Of The Runelords

One type of post that I hope to do every once in a while (money permitting!) is an unboxing post.  These posts will be done when I obtain a new game.  This will be my first, in what will hopefully be many, to come.  

So, lately, Em and I went through our apartment and did a “faux-spring-cleaning” where we chose to do away with many things that we just didn’t need any more.  With the extra money I chose to buy the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game from Paizo Inc.

This card game was created by the fantastic Mike Selinker and pits a bunch of fantasy characters against the world of the popular RPG Pathfinder series also by Paizo Inc.  The box contains over 500 cards which come together to create a rich world that you are able to take 1-4 characters through in order to fight and level up.  This box contains the beginning of the first adventure path which is entitled “Rise of the Runelords” and within that adventure path it holds a basic three scenario adventure and then a five scenario box that can be added in as the next adventure.

This box is overloaded with cards right from the get-go!  I love that you can choose from 7 adventurers (11 if you have the character add-on deck) and go straight out on an adventure.  I opened up the box and played two scenarios right away that evening when Em went to bed and loved every minute.  I chose to fight with Valeros (a grizzled, human fighter) and Seone (a seasoned sorceress) as my first two characters.  The first scenario took me a little while to figure out the card mechanics but once I did I was hooked.

Within the 500+ cards you get your 7 characters, items, weapons, spells, blessings, armor, barriers, villains (the big baddies), henchmen (the “mini-bosses”), monsters (the “common” baddies), adventure cards, and scenario cards.  This is a ton of goodies in one reasonably priced game (got mine for $60 but have seen it for $45 on Amazon) and I have no buyer’s remorse over it!

I may eventually do reviews and/or playthroughs on the blog, but for now I just want to give an idea of what you get when you unbox this game.  It is a game with beautiful artwork and fantastic “curb-appeal” and I think I’ll be enjoying it for a long time!  Until next time, game on!